The Extent of Love

13

The sound of running water from the kitchen filled the house as Alfred slipped on his shoes. A few seconds of clanking as Ivan put the dishes in the dishwasher before he came beside him, slipping on his own shoes.

His chin was lifted, and a kiss was placed on his lips.

"What was that for?" Alfred asked, tilting his head.

"You're cute."

"Are you drunk again?"

"You are going to make fun of me for that forever aren't you?" Ivan questioned, already knowing the answer. Alfred started giggling, just proving his point.

Grabbing his wallet and keys, the two walked to the car, him getting in the driver's seat and Ivan taking shotgun. Turning on the radio, he broke the silence.

Ivan hummed along to the radio. The two weren't even mad at each other. Neither felt like talking. To early anyways.

It took about forty-five minutes to get to where they were going. Walmart. Ivan looked surprised by the sheer size of the building, if not the amount of people around. It was nine in the morning on a Tuesday. Why were there so many people here.

"Why is there a market bigger than the colosseum in front of me?" Ivan asked, looking over as Alfred laughed and got out.

"This one ain't even that big," Alfred giggled, the two walking through the streets. Two Karen's were fighting in the middle of the street, but both men ignored them, "Also, watch it. Your perception of time will get freaky as soon as you enter."

Alfred got a cart, and Ivan followed behind him as the two entered the store.

"Why is there a market that touches every horizon?" Ivan asked, looking around. He noticed an older woman stare at him a few minutes before fleeing. He was curious, but it didn't matter.

"Because, capitalism," Alfred replied nonchalantly. He took a notepad out of his pocket and ripped off the first page, handing it to him.

"Uh... " Ivan stuttered, taking it and looking it over, "I'm... not that good at English. Reading is difficult for me."

"There's always one person in a store that speaks Russian. They'll be white, and they'll be very, very loud. Not that hard to find," Alfred shrugged, "I'm gonna be around."

Alfred waved at him, taking the cart and walking off.

Time to play a game of match the word. What was flour? Tsvety ili muka? (Flower or flour?)

Probably muka.

And he should probably get a basket. Grabbing one from outside he started walking towards... baking was like making cookies and shit, baker was someone who made cookies, and bakery is where you get the cookies. And cookies got flour.

Sure.

Walking over to the bakery aisle, he tried to silently figure out whether walking five minutes to find something was plausible. Seemed it was.

He was lucky. Most of the stuff Alfred had given him was in the same aisle. Next... milk area. Where all the cheese was. Word escaped him.

Four boxes of cream cheese, greek yogurt, sour cream, stuff like that. No idea what it was for, but Alfred wanted it so whatever.

Another good question was why the fuck does someone need four boxes of cream cheese. Actually, some nice American who realized the imperial system was weird put the conversions. Why would he need 900 grams of cream cheese?

Watch it would be something extremely weird and unnecessary. Or completely necessary and he just didn't understand.

Now he just had to find Alfred. Easier said than done.