Ivan glanced down at the mug and smiled. "Thank you," he replied sincerely. "It's from my vacation last year."
"Kennedy Space Center?" Alfred guessed.
"Yes," Ivan confirmed, opening his history textbook. A collection of notes, all written in angular Cyrillic, bookmarked the chapter on World War II. "Have you ever been there?"
"Not yet," Alfred said, "but I want to. I'm telling you, if my eyesight didn't suck, I'd go out to be an astronaut."
They chatted for another few minutes about their birth country's space programs and the pros and cons of going into space (pro, awesome as hell; con, some foods, such as burgers and pirozhki, were simply not meant to be consumed as a paste) before officially starting their project. Ivan had brought out his own laptop, but it was very old and barely ran PowerPoint—and he was the better notetaker of the pair, so he read the information, which Alfred translated into slides.
Alfred had just clicked "New Slide," bringing the total up to four plus title card, when the front door opened and closed and another person could be heard milling about the front room. Alfred's head lifted with interest; Ivan's only response was to stand. "Excuse me," he said politely before disappearing into the entryway, speaking to the unseen newcomer in quiet Russian. "Tam v chay na kuhne."
"Posetitlyam?" Came the reply.
"Iz shkoly," Ivan answered. "My rabotayem nadproyektom vmeste."
More words were exchanged, still in soft, rapid Russian Alfred couldn't even hope to follow, so he turned his attention back to his laptop. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see an older man, tall and broad, in a steel grey suit pass by and pause at the stove to pour himself a mug of tea and leave just as quietly as he came in. Alfred leaned a little closer to his screen, pretending to work and that the chill that entered and left the room with the grey-suited man was just his mind playing tricks on him, and Ivan returned, turning something over in his hands. "My apologies," he said sincerely. "That was my father home from work."
"It's that late already?" Alfred asked in surprise, his eyes flicking from the clock on the kitchen wall to the clock in the corner of his computer screen. How had it gotten to be almost five-thirty so fast?
Ivan nodded. "Are you getting hungry?" he asked.
"Kinda, yeah," Alfred replied, hitting Ctrl-S (who the hell used the "Save" button, anyway?). "I'll probably be headin' home soon so you and your old man can eat."
"Ahh, Papa gave me money for our dinner," Ivan said, almost awkwardly, holding up the thing in his hand—a credit card, sleek and black and no doubt carrying a very high credit limit. "I can buy if you like."
"Are you sure?" Alfred said. "If you're willing to put up with me for dinner, I'm totally cool with going Dutch."
Ivan paused, his eyebrows furrowed as if he was processing what his classmate had just said. "…I do not understand—you wish to eat dinner with Albert van der Meer from my calculus class?"
Although the statement wasn't meant to be especially humorous, Alfred couldn't help but laugh as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. (Now there was something he hadn’t been expecting to do when he pulled up in front of the house…!) "I'll explain it as soon as I phone this in—is pizza okay?"
I promise you, OP, we're getting to the meat of your request. I'm forever incapable of getting right to the point—I always need to do a buttload of buildup. o~o;;; Also, I apologize profusely for the no-doubt poorly done Russian.
I would be scared of Ivan's dad even if he wasn't General Winter in an alternate reality.
Wiki's entry on "going Dutch" is so funny. The Oxford dictionary says it's meaning is insulting, but it's considered the fair, non-oppressive way to pay in the US now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Dutch
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
Lol no worries anon! This is great so far! Though I would recommend you post a like to this thread in the fill list (I didn't realise you update XD)
This fic is going fabulously so far! I just love Ivan, and Alfred is perfectly written. General Winters appearance *shivers* that man gives me chills. No matter where he is. I love it :)
(A!A replies! Hopefully nobody saw the initial de-anon fail. >_> ) Thank you very much, OP. I'm really glad you're still enjoying this fill. Writing Alfred and Ivan is such a huge treat. (I added the fill to the fill list, and I'm going to try super hard to remember to add the update when I add it. ^^; )
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
I like it so far! :D Alfred's initial impressions of Ivan and how they then easily bond over space stuff... And Ivan's dad being creepy... And the bits of Russian are nice too. Sadly I don't know how accurate they are since my own Russian sucks ass. I can barely understand those lines.
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(A!Anon replies!) Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Writing Alfred is really fun. The space stuff came rather naturally, given the space race. It was fun to work that in. Characters like General Winter aren't my usual fare, so I'm glad he's still got that creepy / disquieting air about him.
At one time I used to understand the Russian alphabet, but the knowledge has since fallen out of my head. The translations are as follows: "There's tea in the kitchen." "Visitors?" "From school. We're working on a project together."
Hope that helps. (:
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(A!Anon replies!) I'm incredibly shy about asking for betas. (Which is weird considering how I crave feedback... >>; ) I mostly Google the hell out of what I'm looking for and fact check it against my Russian-English-Russian dictionary.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-03 03:03 am (UTC)(link)"Kennedy Space Center?" Alfred guessed.
"Yes," Ivan confirmed, opening his history textbook. A collection of notes, all written in angular Cyrillic, bookmarked the chapter on World War II. "Have you ever been there?"
"Not yet," Alfred said, "but I want to. I'm telling you, if my eyesight didn't suck, I'd go out to be an astronaut."
They chatted for another few minutes about their birth country's space programs and the pros and cons of going into space (pro, awesome as hell; con, some foods, such as burgers and pirozhki, were simply not meant to be consumed as a paste) before officially starting their project. Ivan had brought out his own laptop, but it was very old and barely ran PowerPoint—and he was the better notetaker of the pair, so he read the information, which Alfred translated into slides.
Alfred had just clicked "New Slide," bringing the total up to four plus title card, when the front door opened and closed and another person could be heard milling about the front room. Alfred's head lifted with interest; Ivan's only response was to stand. "Excuse me," he said politely before disappearing into the entryway, speaking to the unseen newcomer in quiet Russian. "Tam v chay na kuhne."
"Posetitlyam?" Came the reply.
"Iz shkoly," Ivan answered. "My rabotayem nadproyektom vmeste."
More words were exchanged, still in soft, rapid Russian Alfred couldn't even hope to follow, so he turned his attention back to his laptop. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see an older man, tall and broad, in a steel grey suit pass by and pause at the stove to pour himself a mug of tea and leave just as quietly as he came in. Alfred leaned a little closer to his screen, pretending to work and that the chill that entered and left the room with the grey-suited man was just his mind playing tricks on him, and Ivan returned, turning something over in his hands. "My apologies," he said sincerely. "That was my father home from work."
"It's that late already?" Alfred asked in surprise, his eyes flicking from the clock on the kitchen wall to the clock in the corner of his computer screen. How had it gotten to be almost five-thirty so fast?
Ivan nodded. "Are you getting hungry?" he asked.
"Kinda, yeah," Alfred replied, hitting Ctrl-S (who the hell used the "Save" button, anyway?). "I'll probably be headin' home soon so you and your old man can eat."
"Ahh, Papa gave me money for our dinner," Ivan said, almost awkwardly, holding up the thing in his hand—a credit card, sleek and black and no doubt carrying a very high credit limit. "I can buy if you like."
"Are you sure?" Alfred said. "If you're willing to put up with me for dinner, I'm totally cool with going Dutch."
Ivan paused, his eyebrows furrowed as if he was processing what his classmate had just said. "…I do not understand—you wish to eat dinner with Albert van der Meer from my calculus class?"
Although the statement wasn't meant to be especially humorous, Alfred couldn't help but laugh as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. (Now there was something he hadn’t been expecting to do when he pulled up in front of the house…!) "I'll explain it as soon as I phone this in—is pizza okay?"
I promise you, OP, we're getting to the meat of your request. I'm forever incapable of getting right to the point—I always need to do a buttload of buildup. o~o;;; Also, I apologize profusely for the no-doubt poorly done Russian.
A Greater Battle - 3 / ???
(Anonymous) 2013-04-03 03:05 am (UTC)(link)Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-03 05:14 am (UTC)(link)Wiki's entry on "going Dutch" is so funny. The Oxford dictionary says it's meaning is insulting, but it's considered the fair, non-oppressive way to pay in the US now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Dutch
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-03 05:57 am (UTC)(link)Then I have done my job. I wanted him to be (pardon the pun) very cold and distant.
That was quite the informative little read. The etymology of the phrase was quite interesting... Thanks for the link.
OP
(Anonymous) 2013-04-06 03:06 am (UTC)(link)This fic is going fabulously so far! I just love Ivan, and Alfred is perfectly written. General Winters appearance *shivers* that man gives me chills. No matter where he is. I love it :)
Re: OP
(Anonymous) 2013-04-08 02:26 am (UTC)(link)Thank you very much, OP. I'm really glad you're still enjoying this fill. Writing Alfred and Ivan is such a huge treat.
(I added the fill to the fill list, and I'm going to try super hard to remember to add the update when I add it. ^^; )
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-06 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-08 02:33 am (UTC)(link)Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Writing Alfred is really fun. The space stuff came rather naturally, given the space race. It was fun to work that in. Characters like General Winter aren't my usual fare, so I'm glad he's still got that creepy / disquieting air about him.
At one time I used to understand the Russian alphabet, but the knowledge has since fallen out of my head. The translations are as follows:
"There's tea in the kitchen."
"Visitors?"
"From school. We're working on a project together."
Hope that helps. (:
Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-17 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Russia, anyone; Teenage AU, the reason Ivan wears that scarf
(Anonymous) 2013-04-19 06:03 am (UTC)(link)