It had been an early start for Mike and Steve to make it to the station for the train to Moscow, but they'd made it. They were in Russia for the confederations cup football, and had been to watch a match in the stadium at Kazan the night before. As part of the tickets, they were entitled to travel on the free trains the Russian government had put on to help fans travel between games.
This was why, at 6am, they stepped into one of 17 carriages on the Kazan to Moscow charter train. The platform was fairly quiet, which surprised them, as they expected a large number of the Chile fans, who had seen their team victorious over Portugal the previous evening, would have been on to get to the final.
They found their compartment, the train designed in the old format of a passageway down one side of the carriage with four-berth compartments on the other. Dumping their stuff on the floor, the took a breath for the first time that morning.
The train pulled away on time, and the city limits of Kazan soon gave way to vistas of grassland and woodland. The train wasn't going particularly fast, they weren't due into Moscow until early evening, nearly 11 hours' time, and soon the scenery lost its appeal.
A film later, they'd gone through their snacks and were getting a bit of cabin fever. Looking to explore, they slowly wandered down the carriage, noting all of the empty compartments. In fact, only one was occupied, two down from their own, by a man and women who seemed to be in their mid-thirties.
Taking advantage of the water boiler to make a tea, they returned to their compartment, and continued to while away the time. Soon another tea break was a decided, and they headed back to the urn. They were filling their cups up when a door opened, and they turned to see the man exit from his compartment and head in their direction.
As previously thought, the man was in his early thirties. He wasn't the stereotypical Russian, with bald head and bruising shoulders, instead he was athletic, well-toned without being either too muscular or too fat. As he arrived at the urn, he smiled at them.
"Hi, I'm Vlad."
"Steve," Steve replied.
"Mike."
"It is so quiet, this train, yes?" Vlad said, as he took his turn at the urn.
"Yes, we were surprised," Steve said, "we expected more."
"Ah well, nice and peaceful for us though," Vlad smiled.
"Indeed."
All their drinks were made and they headed back down the passageway. As they reached the door, Vlad turned and said,
"Why not join us for a bit. It would be good to have some other company, and help pass the time."
"Sure," Mike said, looking at Steve who nodded in turn, and so they followed Vlad into the compartment.
His companion looked up as the door was opened, and Steve saw she was stereotypically Russian. High cheekbones, fine featured, and exceedingly attractive. Beside him, he saw she was having an effect on Mike who couldn't tear his eyes from her.
"Maria, we have company on this train," Vlad joked, introducing the two Englishmen.
They took seats on the benches, which were really the bottom beds of the bunkbeds set up either side of the room. Mike beat Steve to take a seat next to Maria, and Steve ended up next to Vlad.
Soon they were chatting away, the small talk of why they were there and what they thought of Russia breaking down any initial wariness. It helped when Vlad pulled a bottle of Vodka out of his bag, and four shot glasses to go with them.
Steve wasn't sure how long it had been, but he was starting to feel the effects of the vodka. Glancing at the bottle, he saw that they had nearly polished the whole thing off. Glancing over the table, he saw Mike deep in conversation with Maria, obviously flirting like mad. It seemed to be working, she was brushing her hand up against his arm and laughing at all his jokes. Steve thought it a bit odd, but then remembered than Vlad said he and Maria were siblings, not an item.
All of a sudden, Maria piped up, "Mike says he's got some youtube videos he thinks I'd like. We're just going to your room and watch them, you don't mind."
"yeh, erm, videos," Mike stammered, as Maria just got up and pulled him by the hand through the door, pushing it shut as they disappaeared.
For a moment Steve and Vlad sat in silence, before Steve turned to Vlad.
"Are they..." he started.
"Yes, I expect so," Vlad replied laughing, "Maria is a free spirit, she likes someone, she has them."
"Lucky Mike," steve said, laughing into his vodka, before turning morose for a moment, "at least someone gets some action this holiday."
"You don't have a girlfriend?" Vlad asked, receiving a shake of his head in reply. "Boyfriend?"
Steve noticed a change in tone at this, and turned to look at Vlad. He'd noticed the other guy had been subtle moving close to him as the day had gone on, random little contacts that weren't needed.
"I don't know why, a good-looking guy like you." Vlad said, placing a hand on Steve's thigh.