Alfred reached out for the remote to pause the movie when the time came, his excitement momentarily switched form the movie tot he food, which actually smelled pretty good from what he could get in the living room. He stood up from the couch, Penny protesting at the movement, but settled back down since she as still being held. And the funniness that they were watching Captain America while eating Russian food didn't go unnoticed by him and he had to bite back a giggle, trying his best to try to reign himself in before he ended up knocking something off a table. "Aw man it smells so good, Vanya! If it tastes anywhere near as good as it smells I know I'm gonna love it," he said, grinning at his companion.

Ivan stood up as well, intending to help, and he gave Penny a little smile. Since she'd grown up around Alfred, it was natural that she'd be used to this kind of thing, but it seemed that she still made token irritated utterances over it. That was cute, he mused, wondering why Alfred was bringing the cat with them. Why was his friend amused? Ivan didn't get it, but then again, what was the harm? It was enough to know that Alfred was happy - he didn't need to know why. "Ahh, thank you~" He responded, bashful in the face of the anticipatory praise sent his way. After slipping on a pair of oven gloves that had been left out for this purpose, Ivan opened up the oven and retrieved the trays one by one. There was a surge in the strength of the delectable aroma in the air as he did so, and the pastry shells of the individual pieces of Russian cuisine were looking nicely golden-brown. "I wonder whether this would go with popcorn?" He mused briefly, turning off the oven and reaching for some plates. "Ah, do you think you could pour us something to drink? I would like cream soda, please."

Alfred set Penny down, pausing a moment to sniff the air before he grinned. Man that smelled delicious!

((I was thinking of putting nightmares in as well, but not all of them HetaOni related... Yeah, it's similar, isn't it? Apparently people call it Steve, though. Not sure why, to be honest. I might add in some HetaOni related habits, but I should probably check my facts before I do - would it be reasonable for either of them to feel uneasy in a room with the door left open, and going to make sure it is shut?))

"Popcorn can wait until after, then." Ivan replied, pleased that Alfred had thought of that. It was nice, having someone around who cared about his feelings - and his cooking. Handing one of the plates over, with its load of pelmeni and pirogi steaming gently, he took hold of his own and of the drink Alfred had poured him. "Should we eat while watching, or do we eat first? I do not mind either way, though I am interested to see what will happen next." He added, before considering Alfred's latest utterance. Pondering it for a moment, he began to giggle, somewhat amused. "Oh, da! I hadn't thought of it in that way, but it is funny~"

((Probably yeah ahaha. I'm pretty early on into this particular playthrough watch though ;v;))

((There's a bunch of HetaOni songs on YouTube, like Where I Fall - have you heard any of them?))

"That sounds good to me." Ivan agreed readily, following Alfred back into the living room and retaking his seat next to the exuberant blond. "It is? I suppose that you would know." He added, before sneaking a glance over to see whether Alfred was enjoying the food. He was surprised to see that the temperature of the freshly-cooked pelmeni did not seem to bother Alfred, but he did not say anything. Alfred might reply, and that would delay the reaction that Ivan was waiting for. Not that he was being creepy at all, he just wanted to see if his friend liked it.

((I have not ovo I have seen various artworks for it though))

((Those can be kind of heartwrenching, can't they?))

Ivan watched as Alfred took a bite, seeing his friend brighten briefly, but then lapse into puzzlement. What did that mean? Was it good, or wasn't it? Before he could worry himself too much on that score, Alfred piped up, and Ivan listened carefully to what he had to say, bewildered. “I am glad that you like it~” He began, focusing in on the positive first, before responding to the slightly odd aspect. “Perhaps you have simply tasted something similar? Many cultures put meat into pastry, often with some kind of spice – it could be that this reminds you of something more familiar? Besides, the meat inside is from burgers, da? You have definitely tasted that before.” It was only a little thing, something that could be easily brushed off on its own, but this wasn't the only such thing he'd tried to rationalise lately, and he was beginning to wonder whether he ought to be nervous. He shunted the notion aside for the time being, not wanting to spoil his movie experience by dwelling on the inexplicable deja vu incidents that kept cropping up like daisies.

Alfred nodded slightly. "Yeah, maybe that's it," he responded before he grinned and reached out for the remote to hit play on their movie to take away his sense of remembrance. That one wasn't like the rest, where it had brought an intense feeling of fondness. For some reason it brought a very unfamiliar...yet at the same time very familiar sensation that Alfred decided wasn't pleasant. The food itself was great, though, and the initial jolt aside nothing else seemed to be going on so he continued to eat rather happily, glad for the movie to take their minds off of weird things.

Ivan got the distinct impression that something was bothering Alfred, for all that the response to the food had been rather positive, and he wondered whether it was the same creeping sense of unease that he'd felt earlier. The blond's whole demeanour brightened up a notch when the movie was resumed, which made Ivan smile, fondly musing over the starstruck look that now gleamed in Alfred's blue-sky eyes. It was clear that he had not been kidding about holding this film in high esteem, and it was somewhat endearing to see his wholehearted immersement into the plotline for what must have been only the latest in a long string of instances in which he'd watched this. It was also good to see that he was munching contentedly, consuming the food they'd prepared with ready enthusiasm. That made Ivan happy, and he wondered what else he could make for his friend to eat. Chewing on a morsel of his own, Ivan settled his attention on the screen once again, allowing the story to draw him in.

Alfred continued through the movie happily, only kept silent by the fact that he was eating. He still giggled softly at his favorite parts and he'd look over at Ivan to see how he reacted to various things, like Peggy shooting at Steve when he picked out his shield and the ex
pression he wore afterwards. He wanted to watch how the Russian reacted to his favorite movie and wondered then how many movies they should watch after that one. One, two more maybe? Then it would likely be time to sleep so they could do more awesome things together the next day since Alfred had the day off and neither of them had any classes. So...maybe Thor and Thor 2, and leave the three Iron Man movies for the next day. Or at least the two that came before the Avengers, leaving the third one until after.

Ivan, too, found some parts of the film funny enough to giggle about, such as the ex
pression on the Captain after being shot at. He liked the way that humour was woven into this movie, for all that it wasn't in the comedy genre - it added a certain something to it. He was intrigued by the Tesseract device, and he wondered about its origins as the story wove itself through his head. He got quite involved in the plot in those moments when Barnes was in danger, and the Captain was trying to rescue him, pausing in his eating when things got intense. He wasn't really paying all that much attention to Alfred at the moment, completely sucked in by the movie, so he had no thoughts on what his friend might be contemplating. It was quite obvious that Ivan liked the film, though, given that he had allowed it to draw him in so.

Alfred seemed pleased with the fact that Ivan seemed to like the movie and turned to watch as well, biting his lip at the scene where Bucky was alongside Steve in the train car. He glanced away a bit, this particular scene the only one in the movie that seemed to really bother him at all. He wasn't even really sure why, but watching Steve lose Bucky tugged harshly at him no matter how many times he watched the movie. It had been liked those de ja vu moments he'd been having with Russia, but so much more powerful and...terrible.

Ivan gasped a little when Barnes tumbled, stricken, and he felt the loss of this character more keenly that one might have thought he would. It always tugged at his heart when he was watching or reading something, and a character who was important to someone was lost. It was odd and unpleasant, a sick little lurch inside, but he didn't connect that immediately to the deja vu he'd been experiencing - he was under the impression that it was simply his mind reacting with empathy to these losses. "Are you okay?" He asked, noticing that the American beside him had moved, and was no longer looking at the screen for that part. Knowing how much Alfred seemed to identify with the people in this movie, Ivan wondered whether he should offer some form of comfort, so he patted his friend gently on the shoulder. "I feel bad for them too."

"This part in the movie always bothers me," Alfred responded, looking over at Ivan with a small frown before he looked towards the screen again. "It's actually an almost similar feeling to all that familiar stuff we've been experiencing today, like it's something I've gone through before, losing someone close to me, but...honestly I haven't, that T can remember." He furrowed his brows a bit before he shook his head. "W-well, ah, the movie does get better after that, though, I promise," he said with a sheepish smile, though he did relax considerably with the pat on the arm Ivan had given him. It actually really had helped quite a bit, that amount of contact enough to reassure some small part of America's mind that the Russian was indeed actually there.

"Hmm? This sort of thing tends to make me uneasy also." Ivan responded, his earlier disquiet threatening to resurface. "I had not thought of it that way before, but I suppose that the feeling is similar." He was prevented from dwelling on the matter, though, when Alfred assured him that it would get better, and he nodded, deciding to take his friend's word for it. The contact between them had been soothing for Ivan as well, as had watching the blond calm down in response to his patting - it reassured him of the here-and-now, moving his perception back into the awareness that nobody had actually died. He supposed that he'd succeeded at assuring Alfred that he was there for him, even if it was only a movie, but why would a scene like this have such a profound effect on the pair of them? To his knowledge, he hadn't lost anyone either. Come to think of it, could all this be in any way related to the feeling of isolation he'd carried with him all this time, or was that just him? It was hard to be sure anymore.

((So tempted to just have Alfred  cuddle all up to Ivan but I wanna save it for a more intense moment ;v;))

((I know what you mean - and Ivan's quite a snuggler if given the chance, but it is a little soon. Ivan's still got his teddy, though. :3))

Though Ivan regretted the loss of brightness in Alfred's smile, he was glad that it was present, and he finished his meal soon after Alfred with this thought  n mind. He put his plate down on the floor by the couch, turning to his cream soda instead as he watched the movie progress. “Hmm? I think that is quite understandable – it is normal to see things like this and wonder 'what if that was me', otherwise nobody would write these movies. While I have not dreamed of being a hero, I have also thought that it would be fun to have abilities beyond normal – such as more strength.” He responded, glad that the conversation had taken a more palatable turn, one that did not jangle his nerves like bells on a string. “Batman? Is not his butler named the same as you?” Ivan continued, stumbling on one of the few pieces of superhero trivia tucked away in his brain. He chuckled a little at the mental image this produced, that of the Alfred he knew all dressed up fancy and formal with a tray in his hand, and reflected that his friend would probably not do well as a butler – that was a job more suited to people who could keep track of and instruct multiple other members of a household. “I would hope that you would be a hero more prone to smiling than the dour one of Gotham – err, that is the right city, da? All that frowning would not suit you at all.” He added, after pausing so that they could hear the dialogue of the movie. Indeed, Ivan was quite convinced that a smile was the ex
pression that suited Alfred the best – the way that the sunny-haired American grinned lit up every room he walked into – and it warmed him every time he saw it.

For some reason, warmth was of key importance to the lavender-eyed Russian, and a sure way to please him was to bring heat to him – or him to heat. For all that he had a more than decent tolerance for low temperatures, he didn't like them very much, preferring by far to be snug and toasty. This wasn't something he'd admit readily to a foreigner, being as he was from a nation famed for its harsh winters, and he did not wish to seem like a wimp or a whiner. He tended to keep it from other Russians as well, for similar reasons. What was the point in complaining of the cold? He could cope with it just fine, after all, so why speak up? Still, he tended to be quite emotive when he was able to surround himself with warmth, and he loved to do so at any opportunity. Would Alfred ob
ject if he wanted to bathe after they'd watched all the movies they had slated for that night? It would probably be best if he left his friend the option of taking a bath first, seeing as it was the American's bathroom, and Ivan likely wouldn't be quick. After all, it would be an opportunity to soak in steaming water. If Alfred wanted to use the bath first, that would give him the time to pull his nightclothes out of his suitcase, so that he would not forget to have them ready when he got out. It would be the height of humiliation to exit the bath and find that he had to go searching for apparel, seeing as he would have to clutch his towel to him every moment in order to protect his modesty – and his friend's eyes. He was certain that Alfred would rather not be accidentally flashed, however hospitable he was being. Even the thought of this happening was embarrassing, and he fought the urge to fiddle with his scarf. This was one thing he really didn't want to explain. Well, the movie was nearly over, so he could soon distract himself with the popcorn he had reason to believe was inevitable. He didn't know what movie Alfred would pull out next, but he was sure that it would be interesting.

Alfred laughed, nodding. "Yep! His name is Alfred and I swear i he didn't have him Batman wouldn't know what to do with himself sometimes," he said, settling down into the cushions, unaware of Ivan's current thought processes regarding warmth and the like. "Oh! Uh, let me know if you want any popcorn," he said, smiling sheepishly. "I mean, we did just eat so I'd assume you don't want any but I mean hey, everyone has different appetites and stuff." He rubbed the back of his neck after setting his cola aside, bending down to lift up Penny when she got close enough so he could snuggle the feline in his arms. "Oh and yeah, it's Gotham City that Batman lives in. I never really understood why he always lets the Joker get away though considering he always tries to kill the citizens and he just puts him back into Arkham Asylum, where he always escapes again."

It was good to hear his friend laugh, Ivan reflected, watching the end credits scroll past on the screen. "Is that so? Well, I suppose that it is always good to have someone to rely on." He responded, smiling. "Oh, I am not too full for popcorn, do not worry." He added, reaching over with one hand in order to give Penny a rub behind her ears. "If you would like popcorn, I would be happy to join you - if not, then it does not matter. I would be content either way." He was slightly satisfied to find that he had indeed named the correct city, despite his relative ignorance of the topic, and he listened with vague interest as Alfred spoke of the Joker. "Perhaps he does not know what else to do?" Ivan suggested tentatively, unsure. "I do not know very much about Batman, so I may be wrong. Maybe he should put money into making the asylum more secure? Would that help, do you think?"