ArchivedLogs:Lucien Breaks Peter (AGAIN)

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Lucien Breaks Peter (AGAIN)

also wolf spider jesus

Dramatis Personae

Lucien, Peter, Ivan, Desirée, Matt, Sera

In Absentia


2013-02-25


Peter and Ivan visit Lucien and his siblings after the fire. Lucien and Peter talk; Ivan SUPPORTS.

Location

<NYC> Tessier Residence - Greenwich Village


"Okay," Peter says as they approach the front door. "So, they don't *know* who I am, except maybe Sera and Gaelan but they only saw my face for, like, TWO seconds, and there was a lot of fire and smoke and I'm going to -- I'm going to totally put on my 'not-Spider' act here and there is *no* way they'll be able to tell I'm him." Peter sounds like he's trying to convince himself of this -- not Ivan. "Anyway, backup plan is, if they, like go all Sherlock Holmes on us -- you just drop the spiders. ALL of the spiders. Everywhere. Into the room. And in the resulting chaos, we run. Uh, not poisonous spiders though. Just, uh, kinda scary ones."

Peter is *actually* dressed rather respectfully today; a blue collar shirt with tie and black dress slacks -- and a loose-fitting red hoodie (TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the black hoodie he wore the other day!). At Dr. McCoy's insistence, his left arm is now in a sling; his webshooters are stuffed in his back pocket (not that he plans on using them but IT IS GOOD TO BE PREPARED). As he approaches the door, he waffles between the doorbell and knocking -- and eventually, decides to do both.

Trotting along with Peter today is Ivan, equally in a fancy dress shirt, though it is white and half the hem around the bottom seems to have come loose at some point. He alternates between walking next and just behind Peter, occasionally giving a nod to acknowledge the fact that he's still listening as Peter chats away, always alert, always looking around at just about everything that's come into view ever since they left Xavier's. But as they get closer and closer to their destination, he seems to prefer a position behind Peter more and more. And so that's where he stays when the doorbell and knock happen simultaneously, peering at the door with a mixture of curiosity and idle hesitation in his expression.

From inside there's a hurried racing of feet, a young voice squealing something eagerly in French: "{I'm getting it!}" Though this is countered a moment later by another, less eager: "Sera, wait." The door unlocks, revealing one bright-eyed face rather low down, peering up at the boys from beneath a neat-strait mop of bowl-cut brown hair. Higher up there is another, a girl perhaps the teenagers' age, willowy-slim, her brown hair a good deal longer. She peers out at the boys curiously. "-- Hello?"

Peter blinks -- then straightens, and grins. "Hi! Uh, hi. I'm --" He glances back behind him at Ivan, then back at the girl at the front door. "We're, uh. I live in Queens," Peter says. "I was there when -- the fire and everything. I mean, I was walking by, and I saw all that *bizarro* stuff with -- and I know this sounds really dumb and everything but uh, a friend of mine told me where you ended up going and I just wanted to check in and see if everyone is... okay?" Yes, Peter. BEST. EXCUSE. EVER. "Also, Ivan's totally into spiders. The actual kind."

Ivan's response when the girls appear at the door is to double staring power, first at the shorter one, then at the taller. He doesn't even attempt a greeting, but it's easy enough for anyone to assume that what Peter says about him being into spiders is probably very true, seeing as he finally cracks a smile at it being said. He stays half hidden behind Peter, though, leaning ever so slightly to the side to get a better look past the girls. What IS this place.

"Spiders?" the smaller girl says first, eyes widening excitedly and her face splitting into a huge smile. "I love spiders! /I/ want to get a tarantula." The taller girl smiles, too, but hers is a good deal more reserved. "Really? Which friend?" she wants to know, her tone light and her eyes skimming first one boy and then the other, thoughtfully. "It's nice of you to check up."

Uh oh. Peter did not think out his careful plan as carefully as he thought. But he is _nothing_ if not a _very_ quick improviser: "Uh, a friend of the --" A sly look to the left and right. "-- costumed persuasion." Peter clears his throat after that, before adding: "-- he's really kind of camera shy, though. He wanted me to -- well, _I_ wanted to, too -- just, uh, make sure everything's okay. Also --" He looks down at Sera, suddenly, and adds: "Ivan has tarantulas. He even let me hold one of them. Her name's Lena. She's _pretty_," and Peter grins, before adding: "At least when she's not trying to crawl into my hair and build a nest."

Sera /squeals/ at the sight of the spider, bright and excited as she worms her way past Desiree to bolt closer, lifting her hand to stretch a finger out towards the large spider, brushing it lightly against the large body. "Ohmygosh that is the /cutest/!"

Desiree does not look exactly like she shares the younger girl's opinion of the spider, but she at least doesn't look particularly freaked out, either. She stays in the doorway, watching the spider with faint curiosity. "Spiders. Really. Do they help with the crazy rescue missions?"

"{Desi, who is at the door?}" In French once more, this voice is deeper, from somewhere in the house. There is the quiet pad of socked feet against wood, and Lucien pulls the door open just a little wider to look out at the nicely-dressed boys with eyebrows raising. "I am sorry," he says, mildly, "we have already heard all about Jesus." Only then does he look down and notice the large spider in Ivan's palm. His eyebrows raise higher. "---" It's kind of a mouth-open mouth-close wordless brief noise. "Why," he asks, still rather mild for all he is distinctly /puzzled/, "are you giving my sister a spider?"

Peter's eyes pop open a bit wider at the sight of Lucien. Really, he has no idea _why_ he's surprised; he knew that Lucien would be here. But somehow, seeing him just makes his DANGER SENSE tingle.

"But have you heard of /wolf spider/ Jesus? He chases down your sins and eats them." Then: "Um hi, my name's--" Ohcrap he knows my name. "--Parker. This is Ivan. We heard about the fire and we just wanted to make sure everything's okay because that whole thing sounded _crazy_," Peter explains. He sounds different when he's in the mask; more confident, less spastic teenager. But when Lucien confronted him, he wasn't _quite_ that confident. "Also it's totally cool, Ivan is awesome with spiders, it won't bite. Unless she like /squishes/ it or something. Don't squish it," Peter quickly adds, as if this is wisdom he is imparting to Sera.

Why is Ivan giving this guy's sister a spider? WHY NOT would be the better question! ... Oh that's right because she's a little girl and he's a stranger and it's a /spider/. The more timid of the two visitors seems to interpret the question as being rather harshly reprimanded, and his smile rapidly dissipates. The spider stays right where it was, resituating itself on his knuckles as he pulls his hand closer at the comment about /squishing/ the spider, and he just gives a firm shake of his head as his focus changes from the girl to Lucien, blankly peering up at him from below. Don't make me make wolf spider Jesus angry.

"{They say,}" Desire tells Lucien, also in French, "{That the crazy superhero kid from the fire told them where we were. They say he's a friend. I think it's a friend like, 'Hey, my /friend/ just had an accident with some lube and a pool ball and what do I do now?'} -- She won't squish the spider," she tells the boys, switching back to English with a quick smile.

"Does it have a /name/ Luci look /spider/. Is he spider Jesus?" Sera wants to know, and second, "I'm going to follow wolf spider Jesus now, okay?"

"You can follow whatever religion you wish," Lucien murmurs, looking up from the spider to the boys. "Everything is fine," he adds, quiet. "My brother was in the hospital from the smoke, but he is better now. My mother is still in. Would you like to come in?" He opens the door a little wider, gesturing the boys inside.

The back-and-forth in the foreign tongue gets Peter's interest -- but regrettably, he does not speak French. At the mention of the boy in the hospital, he perks up with interest; at the mention of the mother, he perks down. "Oh -- oh, okay. That's --" Good? "--I'm glad to hear he's okay," Peter finally settles on, before -- rather hesitantly -- exchanging a glance with Ivan. "-- uh, sure...!" Then, to Sera: "Wolf Spider Jesus demands sacrifice, though. You gotta feed him a steady diet of flies. Also, spiders -- wolf spiders eat _other_ spiders." He glances back at Ivan, as if for CONFIRMATION. Peter is not the spider expert here, after all. He hesitantly will move into Lucien's household, if allowed -- feeling, perhaps briefly, like a fly wandering into a spider's web. OhGod what is he getting himself into--

Ivan relaxes again. Lucien shall have to be evaluated later, but a more genuine smile reappearing on his face shows that Sera has been approved. He shows no sign of having understood any of the French comments, and the offer to come inside is met with barely visible reluctance. He rises to his feet with the hand-mounted spider drawn close to his chest, but it isn't until Peter moves that he moves forward as well, picking up his pace to rush after him.

Lucien is studying the boys' expressions thoughtfully, after mention of his mother, but it is with only a slight tightening of his smile that he gestures them inside. "Right. Parker. It is so very kind of you to check up on them," he says, though his tone is slightly dry. "Can I get either of you something to drink? Eat? I am afraid we are fresh out of flies. I have cinnamon bread or roasted chicken."

Sera is not caring about food. She is caring about /spider/. She is watching the spider with no apparent diminishing of her excitement, and reaches for Ivan's un-spidered hand to try and tug the boy further into the apartment. "MATT LOOK A SPIDER!" she is squealing, while Desiree winces. "Sera, I think he's sleeping --"

Or was sleeping, anyway. There's another man curled up in a nest of blankets in an armchair in the living room. Thin and very pale, he /has/ evidently been asleep, though he is groggily stirring at the squealing of his name.

"Ohno, I mean we don't want to stay long or eat any of your food or stuff I mean we just -- we were just *worried*," Peter finally confesses as he steps in, eyes darting this way and that -- as if on the look-out for danger. The boy's a nervous ball of energy, now; he's *always* a nervous ball of energy. Even more so than when he was in the burning house -- danger has a way of placating him. In social environments, he looks like he wants to hide. More than that; he looks like he's perpetually preparing an apology to the universe for the inconvenience of his existence.

When Peter sees the thin and pale man on the chair, he tries not to stare. But he can't help it, really. His thoughts immediately go back to the mother in the apartment -- and he starts to wonder -- and now he's looking at Lucien, and there's a little apprehension and fear in his expression.

Ivan, whether or not he is aware of it, suddenly finds himself the complete opposite of Peter's cautiousness. After a surprised blink he easily lets himself be lead around by Sera, hesitation quickly turning to timidly contained amusement. The sight of sickly Matt seems to do little to diminish this, though he does give a tug back at Sera's hand to try and get her attention as he lowers himself to a knee. "/Shh/," he whispers, and promptly offers her a better look at the spider, holding it close and steady enough for her to reach for it, if she so wishes. It turns to face her, its movements slow.

"Hello." In his chair, Matt sounds tired; groggy, still, as he shifts to turn his head towards Ivan and Sera. Despite this, he's smiling, chapped lips tugging quickly upwards. "What do you have there? -- Oh, wow. He's, uh, big. Hi." This time, it's to Ivan, eyes lifting to flick over the teenager. "Is he yours?"

"{It's the twitchy one,}" Lucien says to Desiree, closing the door as the boys step in. And then in English, his voice warming slightly with amusement: "Very well, then. You needn't be so twitchy. I only wanted to thank you for the great /consideration/ you've shown my family."

Desiree curtseys. Her smile is quick, if rather amused. "He makes great cinnamon bread," she informs Peter. "I don't think we've met properly." She extends a black-gloved hand towards Peter. "Desiree. And that's Luci, and Sera's the excited one. Matt's the skeleton."

As stupid as Peter is, he's quick on the uptake. When Lucien speaks to Desiree -- and puts emphasis on the word 'consideration' -- he suddenly blushes. Viciously. And then he looks to Desiree, and blushes even more so when she curtsies -- and when she offers that blacked glove hand... he rushes forward to take it, albeit rather awkwardly. "P--Parker," he repeats, and then -- with a slight glance toward Lucien. "Peter Parker. Um. Hello! It's a pleasure to meet you, Desiree." He is as red as an apple as he looks at her. Though, at the mention of Matt being a skeleton... Peter seems to relax a little. He is pretty sure the deal isn't the same as the mother's, or they wouldn't be so... _open_ about it.

"Actually I, uh, I came because I wanted to ask Luci something about that night," Peter says, stumbling a bit over his words. "I mean I totally wanted to... make sure you were all okay, too!" he quickly adds. "But, ah," he looks toward Luci, almost _squirming_ in his skin. "Um, could I... talk with you a minute?" He's trying to -- in a poor attempt at subterfuge -- mosey off to a corner of the room that isn't brimming with people.

The bundle of bad manners and lack of introduction called Ivan occupies himself with watching the spider take indecisive little steps back and forth, though he does offer Matt a glance in recognition of hearing his question. It takes him several seconds to answer, and he does it with an indecisive shrug that seems to startle the spider, causing it to tilt its front half upward slightly, two limbs raised. "I found her." Though his voice is quiet, the obvious Russian accent further cements the theory that he may not, in fact, be the proverbial 'friend'. His focus returns to Sera, his face unwillingly mirroring part of her excitement. "Do you want to name her?"

Lucien looks at Peter long and thoughtful, and then just shrugs. He gestures off towards the adjacent kitchen, leaving Matt to deal with SPIDERS. He is, also, evidently set on feeding Peter. There is a warm loaf of bread on a cooling rack on the counter, and he moves it to a wooden board to slice off a few slices. He takes one before gesturing to the loaf in invitation. Desiree moves to the couch, settling down where she evidently had been seated before, pulling a laptop into her lap and tucking her legs up beneath her.

"Found her? That's neat." Matt's voice is a little hoarse. He has turned to rest his head on his arm, across one arm of the armchair. "I didn't know they were so friendly."

"Yeah neat!" Sera parrots. She lets go of Ivan's hand so that she can lightly reach out to brush a finger against the spider again. "Yeah name her! I think she's named /Jesus/."

Peter... said he didn't want to eat! Why does everyone he meet insist on feeding him?! But Peter's also not good at disobeying direct orders from people older to him -- so when Lucien gestures to the loaf, Peter reluctantly moves toward it, hesitantly plucking up the knife to slice through it. He gives another quick glance behind him -- to the others back there -- and then, to Lucien, as he plucks up the piece of... Wow, he cut that piece pretty thick.

"I'm sorry to just -- I mean, _show up_," Peter says, and then he adds: "I -- I know this all seems bonkers and dumb and this was probably a _terrible_ idea, but I -- I just --" Calm down, Peter. He takes a breath, then shoves a chunk of that bread into his mouth, *forcing* himself to be quiet for a moment. Once he's thoroughly chewed and swallowed, he tries again:

"This was my first time. Doing this, I mean. I want to keep doing it. But there are so many _things_ you have to keep in mind, so many _things_ that can go wrong, and I can't stop thinking about all of them at once. And -- and I just -- is it going to be alright? Are you going to be able to -- keep them?" And then, quieter: "Is -- is there any way I can... help?"

Ivan's eyebrows shoot up for a moment when his attention blinks to Peter leaving the room. For a moment it looks like he's not quite sure whether or not he should follow. But there's /spider/ stuff going on over here, and Peter can handle himself, right?

"They are not always friendly." Ivan replies matter-of-factly, still looking toward the kitchen, before resting his eyes back on Matt, and then Sera. "But Jesus will be nice." As if to demonstrate the point, fuzzy tiny eight-legged Jesus calms once more as she is petted, then suddenly moves to climb aboard Sera's hand, threading and leaving a miniscule, silky safety line attached to Ivan's hand, just in case.

"Will you sleep better at night if I tell you it's going to be alright? That they're going to live here and have a happy life?" Lucien's dry tone does not sound like he is particularly invested in how well Peter sleeps at night. He nibbles at his slice of bread slowly, watching Peter with a level gaze. "Because it's not going to be alright. She's going to get out of the hospital and they'll return to her. Do you know what that means?"

In contrast to Lucien's dryness, in the living room Sera is all excitement. "OhmygoshJesushi!" She has /frozen/ as the spider climbs onto her hand, or, mostly frozen, eyes wide and her hand held in place like maybe if she moves too much the spider will break. She is kind of /quivering/, though, from the exertion of trying to stay Very Still. "Mattlookshe'sonme!"

"I see that," Matt says, his smile widening. "Are you a friend of Desi's?" It's clearly a stab in the dark, going by the teenager's ages. On the couch, Desiree snorts. It's not unkind, though. Just amused.

Peter sucks in a breath when Lucien asks that last question. The nervous energy is gone; now, there's a peculiar tranquility that seems to have settled over him. His chest constricts, tightly -- he can hear Sera squeaking in the other room. He lowers the bread, suddenly staring at Lucien's chest -- almost blankly. When he speaks, there's a slow, unsure gait to his words -- as if he wasn't well-acquainted with them:

"What if I could... /make/ her leave them here?"

Completely oblivious to the tension in the other room, Ivan seems pretty content just staring at Sera handling the spider with such care. The question and following snort are responded to with a quick shake of his head. "Not a friend."

Jesus seems pleased with her new mount, exploring the unfamiliar and comparatively smaller hand and pushing to find a crevice to hide in, though she never quite ventures further than the wrist.

"How do you propose to do that? She is quite attached to them. Or at least to the check the government cuts her for having them as dependents." Lucien is still nibbling at his bread. He's watching Peter with a studied calm.

Sera giggles, bright, at Jesus's exploring. "Ohmygosh she /tickles/." This is delightful to her, apparently. She lifts her hand up towards her face, slooowly, the better to watch Jesus's poking around with wide eyes. "He's /my/ friend," she tells Matt, having apparently just come to this snap decision. "Can I get a spider where do you get spiders?" She looks to Ivan for this question, as the Arbiter Of Spider.

"I--know someone," Peter says, and now he's shifting his gaze back to the other room, back toward Ivan, as if the thought of Ivan overhearing this conversation gives him ALL sorts of heebie jeebies. "Someone who can, do things. To..." Lower: "People's heads."

He looks back to Lucien, now. "He's not very hesitant about doing it to people," Peter adds, and then he takes on a pained expression -- a flash of the thoughts Hive drilled, however briefly, into his skull. "I am pretty sure... if we--" Peter sighs, then looks down at his shoes. "If you tell me the hospital and her name, I think I can talk him into coming with me and visiting her. And maybe... he can put something in her head. Something that will make her *never* want to see them again."

Peter clearly does not like this idea. The thought of messing with someone's head like this is definitely on his list of 'Bad Things To Do'. But after what Lucien told him... the thought of Desiree, or Gaetan, or Sera -- back in that place. It makes him a little ill. He _looks_ a little ill.

Ivan is Sera's friend now! He seems to have a bit of trouble processing this, either because he is not a terribly expressive person, or because... he's trying to eavesdrop. Possibly both. He does look a /little/ distracted, staring straight through Sera now, and Jesus seems to opt for doing /exactly the same thing/.

That is, until concern causes Ivan to spread his attention too thinly between two different places at once, and the spider promptly pulls to one side, climbing underneath the hand to start a slow descent toward the floor on another thread of silk. Ivan, meanwhile, stands to stare toward the kitchen properly now, with no intention of hiding his worries about the hushed voices. But if he's caught any word of ill intentions, he's certainly not showing it.

The mention of doing something to people's heads draws Lucien's attention away, eyes shifting out towards where Desiree sits in the living room. He leans back against the counter, something weary in the slight sink of his shoulders. "Can he also convince the caseworkers at OCFS? And a judge, perhaps, who I would need for revoking her custody and granting it to me instead? I would like nothing better," he says, with a thin slice of smile, "than a magic bullet to get her out of their lives. These things all have consequences, though. Ones that you might perhaps keep in mind next time you get the urge to play superhero."

"Ohno she's falling!" Sera says, alarmed, the thin strand of silk wobbling as she lifts her hand higher to watch the spider's descent. "Oh no it's okay!" she announces straight afterwards, clearly /sure/ that everyone else was as concerned as she was, "She has a rope!"

Matt's gaze has shifted, too, towards the kitchen, his smile dimming slightly. It's perhaps an attempt at distraction that prompts him to ask, more cheerful in tone than his worried expression, "Where do you know each other from?"

"They're superheroes," Desiree answers, without looking up from her laptop.

When Lucien mentions the complexities involved -- complexities that resist simple, albeit dangerous, solutions -- Peter's shoulders sag in a gesture that mimics his. "I know," he replies to Lucien's last comment, although it sounds deflated. "I'm--trying. I want to--*help*, but I can't, and when I try to help I'm terrified I'm going to make it worse, and..." He sucks in a slow breath, steadying himself.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have come here I really like your siblings I hope--I hope nobody hurts them *ever*," he says, all rushed out at once, all as he is stuffing that slice of bread in his pocket (causing it to promptly crumble), blushing furiously and turning around to emerge from the kitchen, looking to Ivan as he makes a rather *fast* b-line straight for the door. "Um Ivan I think we should go now," Peter mumbles, red-faced and flustered.

'They're superheroes.' The words bounce through Ivan's brain for a while before they finally manage to hit somewhere that sticks, and he turns his attention to Matt and Desiree with eyes wide. Nh? "Nyuh-uh." He replies in unintentional not-English with at least three shakes of his head, then two more for good measure. "Not-- everybody from Xavier's school are heroes." He blurts out, slightly louder than intended, though for him that likely means a perfectly acceptable inside voice. But he immediately looks like he regrets saying it, and is left frowning ponderously. Leaving the spider to on its own, which apparently means tumbling to the floor and making a run for the nearest piece of furniture.

When Peter comes into clear line of sight again and adds another layer onto Ivan's confusion, he seems to just /give up/. He is /lost/, and for now, not moving. "Is-- something not good?"

"Xavier's School?" This does cause Desiree to look up from her computer, curious. "Do you guys go to school with Shane and Sebastian?" she asks, first, and second, "-- Is /everyone/ from your school a superhero?" This, despite what Ivan /just/ said.

Sera is getting down on hands and knees, head pressing to the floor as she follows the spider's path, oblivious to all other tension in the room. "Jesus is under the couch!" she announces for the room's benefit.

Lucien doesn't follow. He watches Peter, for a moment, but then just stays where he is, leaning against the counter as his knuckles rub, exhausted, at his eyes.

Peter moves to clutch at Ivan's sleeve with his hand -- caked in bread mush -- and just *pull*, moving toward the door. He looks... tensed. Tight-lipped. Like a nervous wreck. And he's just *pulling*. "It's fine," Peter tells Ivan, voice strained. "Everything's fine. It was really nice meeting you, Desiree. Sera. Matt. But, we should, go."

Unless Ivan moves to stop him -- he's just about *dragging* the boy outside of that house. And the moment they're out of earshot, he tells him -- in a hushed, trembling voice: "I think -- I think I need to stop."

Hkk-- Ivan is pulled away from the conversation only half willingly, the other half caught off guard and obliging in more of a confused stumble than a walk. "Sera can you take care of Jesus." The sentence lacks the intonation a question should have, as though he's not even really sure he should be saying it. In a desperate attempt to right a wrong on his way out, the last words aimed into the conversation he was so hesitantly part of are, "Yes-- no--", though his departure leaves it unsaid that the answers should be in /that order/.

Peter, afterwards, simply gets the Ivan Stare of Not Understand, but no attempt to break free is made. "Stop-- walking? Stop what."

"OHMYGOSH I'M TAKING CARE OF JESUS." At least /someone/ is happy about this whole exchange. Sera is lying flat on her belly as the boys leave, watching the wolf spider /carefully/.

Lucien is heading out of the kitchen. He doesn't address them anymore. He just moves over to seat himself on the floor at the base of Matt's blanket-nest-armchair, closing his eyes to rest his head against Matt's knee.

"No," Peter says. His grip on Ivan relaxes; he moves slower, now, moving away from the house behind him. "The other thing. The --" A glance back to the door they're retreating from, then back to Ivan: " -- the _superhero_ thing," he says, his voice hushed. "I'm not -- any good at... this. And if I do it, I am pretty sure all that's going to happen is a lot of people are going to get hurt."

He looks back up to Ivan. "...we can still be friends if I'm not the Spider, right?" He sounds one hundred percent serious. Like this entire relationship was PREDICATED on him dressing up in a ski mask and running around the city doing outrageous stunts. He also looks like he's about to cry. Let's face it; Peter Parker is a bit of an emotional wimp.

And let's face another thing; Ivan Dravovich is a bit of an emotionally illogical friend. But hopefully the 'friend' bit of that will be the most important.

Though his face remains neutral as Peter explains his sudden exit, Ivan's answer comes immediately afterward- "Peter," He starts, tone as confident as his friend's face is sad, "Imagine people crying. Silent talking. Everyone in black clothes. Multiple coffins." He stops walking entirely, shoulders pushing back as he observes Peter's face. "You stopped /that/. That does not stop /you/."

Peter stops, stiffens, and makes a little sniffling sound as Ivan talks. He doesn't seem able to bring himself to look Ivan in the eye as he speaks -- but then, somewhat tentatively: "I, I guess. But I can't fix everything and I know it's _dumb_ to even care about that, but if I had been --" He searches for the right word, here. He isn't sure a right word _exists_. "-- _strong_ enough to, just, like, let that terrible lady..." He can't even bring himself to finish that sentence.

And then, almost instinctively, Peter just *POUNCES* Ivan with a hug. Only with one arm, though. The other remains tightly locked to his chest. "I'msorryandI'mgladyourmyfriend," Peter mumbles, before adding: "I just need a break for a while." Which he's getting, on account of that sling.

Now it is Ivan's time to freeze up, his face betraying the fact that a hug was one of the last things he expected to happen. But he manages to stay upright, at least, and though it is a little... unpractised, he returns the hug, one-armed as well, not long after he's been given it. A little awkward but well-meant.

Then, mumbled in Russian, "Yes you will. Please take a break because I don't want to find someone to break your legs, too."