Secret twin - Mark makes casual mention of him not being the only or first clone and Miles can't figure out if he's telling the truth or lying. DOES HE HAVE MORE BROTHERS TO RESCUE.

Miles very excitedly bursts in on Gregor and wails "I could have had twelve clones!" and Gregor is just... "General can we pause this meeting for just one moment while I deal with this."

(I have to move this back over here; it's getting squished all up on the right hand side of my screen.)

Anyhow! Ivan thinks everyone is acting really weird, and the 3rd or 4th time Gregor comes over for pizza and beer, he asks if Gregor has any idea what's going on. Gregor, of course, just looks innocent and says it's nice to just have some time to not have anyone making any demands on their time, they can just be alone and not worry about anything.

Ivan's like yeah, that's how my evenings usually are if Miles doesn't call. And when I'm not being expected to show up at dinner parties. And when my mother doesn't call and ask what I did last Thursday and why is Lady Vorwhomever mad at her about me. But she hasn't mentioned trying to marry me off in *months* it's awesome. It's so much nicer hanging out with you, Gregor, than most other people I could name, at least when you're not being the Emperor at me.

Gregor *looks quietly smug* *drinks his beer*

Across the hall, ImpSec agents are quietly high-fiving each other and the betting pool frenzy increases as to when and which of them pops the question.

Ivan feels a chill down his spine and has no idea why.

Ivan enjoys spending time with Gregor, just the two of them, and doesn't even mind when Gregor decides to sit right next to him on the couch to watch movies, because cuddling's nice, okay?

Then one day Gregor asks him about his favorite flower or plant, and Ivan's like, whatever, depends on the situation, like intimate dinner for two isn't the same as a fancy dinner party and Gregor gives him a dry look and says "For a fancy reception." And Ivan just says whatever comes to mind because he did learn from his mother the proper way to decorate for just about any occasion. Then later it's what's his favorite color, does he have a favorite piece of music, and Ivan's just okay, maybe Gregor's trying to make conversation? Get to know you stuff?

One day he's checking the news in the mornings - he always skips the front page because he either already knows what happened or he doesn't want to know, but on the arts and culture page there's an article about Gregor's upcoming wedding and Ivan is just. No one told me he was getting married? That's awesome, but why did no one tell me? But he figures he'll find out eventually, no big. He'll probably have to go to some family dinner party where he gets introduced to Gregor's fiancee.

Some journalist asks him while he's getting coffee at his favorite bakery, what he's wearing to the wedding and Ivan is like, Probably my dress uniform? Before ImpSec scuttles her away and Ivan thinks that's so weird.

His mother yells at him the next day because of course he isn't wearing his standard dress uniform you've thrown the entire city into chaos because everything thinks they have to change what they're wearing, now, and all the tailors are mad at him, and Ivan is just. What. What did I do.

It occurs to me that if you wanted to do an epistolary fic for these two dorkheads I could totally co-write it with you.