To Russia With Love

Written By: D’be-D’be


David walked into the house with the smells of his favourite Russian food emanating down the hallway from the kitchen.

“Hey, Ollie, what’s up with the Russian food?” he yelled as he threw his top coat over the stairs banister. “I thought we were having beef tonight,” he continued as he made his way to the kitchen. He found his partner dishing out the final carton of takeout into two separate plates.

Before Oliver answered his younger partner, he took the time to place a long romantic kiss on the parted lips.

“Mmm….Okrosh,” David remarked, licking his lips as he moved away from Oliver.

“Yeah, I have to admit it. I couldn’t resist one spoon full of the soup as I poured it into the bowls.”

David moved over to the table and took in all his favourite Russian dishes. The Okrosha soup for starters, the pan fried meat balls called Kotlety along with baked and steamed vegetables and if his instincts were right, Oliver had the raspberry fruit dessert Kissel waiting in the fridge.

A sudden grip of fear came over him. Did he forget an important anniversary or something? He knew it wasn’t Oliver’s birthday or their anniversary.

Oliver saw the look in his lover’s eyes and began to chuckle. “Don’t worry, baby. You didn’t forget a thing. I just wanted this night to be special. I mean after all, I am leaving for Russia in a couple of days to cover the presidential elections there.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me. You’re going to be away at the same time that my firm is giving me a few days off. Talk about bad timing.” David knew his tone had a pout to it but didn’t care. However, he put a smile on his face because the last thing he wanted to do was to spoil this evening. “Come on let’s eat. I’m starving,” he commented as he grabbed Oliver’s hand and hauled him over to the table.

The men ate by candlelight and talked about each other’s work day over the meal and wine. When the last of the main course was gone, Oliver asked David if he wouldn’t mind getting the dessert out of the fridge and put the coffee on. When his Brat was distracted, Oliver reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope and laid it at David’s place setting.

David was chatting away about this certain union leader as he came back into the dining room holding a tray with coffee cups and fruit-filled dishes dripping over with oodles of dream whip.

“Got carried away with the dream whip again I see. I hope you saved some for later.” Oliver laughed as David blushed at the connotations of that statement.

David placed the tray down in the middle of the table and was about to serve his partner when his eyes came upon the envelope. “What’s this?” he asked

“Open it and find out,” Oliver stated without giving him a hint at what it might be.

David did as he was told and for a second his mind and his eyes couldn’t come to terms at what he was seeing, then clarity hit home. It was an airplane ticket from Delta Air with his name on it. When he looked inside he began to jump up and down in excitement as he read Flight 30 Business Class leaving JFK on Friday 4:20 Friday afternoon arriving at Moscow Airport at 10:10 am Saturday morning. Oliver was taking him along; he was going to Russia.

The young man let out one huge whoop at the same time jumping into Oliver’s lap. “Oliver, you’re taking me. Oh, Oliver, I love you!” That’s all he got out as lips fell on top of his. Then as the dessert lay uneaten on the dining room table, Oliver let David show him how grateful he really was.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In David’s mind, the next two days seemed to crawl by. In those days he helped pass the time by catching up on last minute details at work, then shopping for a few travel items. He accompanied Oliver to the American Embassy where they attended a short meeting on the proper protocol and behaviour the Russian Government expects from their visitors. The one thing the lady conducting the meeting couldn’t emphasise enough, was to never and she repeated never go anywhere without your passport. The Russian police can stop anyone on the street at any time without any need for authorization and can demand to see a passport. If one does not have a passport on them, they are taken to headquarters and can be detained for hours, days or even months if the authorities so desire. The visitor has no constitutional rights and the Embassy help is limited as to what they are allowed to do. Another major rule is to be very careful what you take pictures of. Just read the signs or ask before you take pictures as it will avoid trouble in the long run. Moscow is a very beautiful city and there are a lot of things tourist can take in. If you follow the rules you will have a tremendous time, she reassured the group of people sitting before her.

When the lecture was over, Oliver took her aside to ask her a very private question. “Miss Proude, I was wondering how the Russian Police feel about homosexuality?”

The tall blond women took a step back and glanced over at David who had remained in his seat when Oliver got up to pull her aside. “Is your friend gay, Mr….?”

“Newman.”

“Yes, Mr. Newman, is your friend gay?”

“As a matter of fact he is, Miss Proude, as am I. We’re partners.”

Having spotted Oliver in the crowd during the meeting and finding him very attractive, the woman was a little bit disappointed in hearing that fact, but did her best not to show it. “Well, as you know, Mr. Newman, being a reporter and all, President Poutin, as well as his government openly object to homosexuality, so the police can come down quite hard on a gay person. But if you follow the rules and don’t show affection for each other in public, you shouldn’t have any difficulties.”

“We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your time.” With those words, Oliver gestured to David that it was time to go. Before they left, David managed to grab a few brochures on items of interest he would like to take part in while in Moscow for five days.

On the way home David studied and took notes as to what he could do to pass the time in Moscow during the day when Oliver was at his meetings. He was glad they would have the weekend together to explore the great city and to have Oliver’s help in getting around.

“Hey, Oliver, can we go to Gorky Park Saturday afternoon? It states here in the brochure it’s kinda like Central Park and Coney Island wrapped into one. There are trails and gardens to walk through and it even has amusement rides and everything.” Before Oliver could answer, David shoved another brochure in his face. “Or what about the Tretyakov Gallery? Wow, they have some great exhibitions going on now. Can we, Ollie?”

Oliver pulled David into his arms and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead as he chuckled. “Yes, David, we can and don’t forget that the Moscow Times who are sponsoring our visit, has obtained ballet tickets for Saturday evening and that on Sunday evening we have to attend the Presidential Reception.”

“I know; but I thought if you could help me get to the Gallery and shops from the hotel, I won’t have that much trouble getting there on my own on Monday.”

“Are you nervous about going, baby?”

“No, not nervous; a little anxious maybe, but I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Me too, and just as long as you follow the rules, everything will be just great.”

Friday finally arrived and soon the men were sitting in first class on the nine hour flight to Moscow. They amused themselves by watching the movie, reading or just simply relaxing. When Oliver took out his briefcase to go over his notes one more time, David took the opportunity to catch a little nap. He snuggled up as close to Oliver as the seats would allow and was soon fast asleep. Before he knew it, Oliver was shaking him awake.

“We’re about to land, baby. Place your seat up and get your passport ready.”

“Jesus. Oliver, would you stop harping on that. I have my passport. It’s right here around my waist in the money belt you gave me, so relax all ready.”

Oliver was about the remind his young partner as to why he had to keep harping about the passport but was interrupted by the pilot’s voice instructing the stewards to prepare for landing.

The landing went smoothly as did the departure and customs. They were met at the Delta Terminal by the Editor and Chief of the Moscow Times who to David’s annoyance and Oliver’s amusement reminded the two men about the importance of holding on to their passports at all times.

Martin Pushkin, who insisted they call him Marty, was a very distinguished looking gentleman with thick wavy grey hair and beard. He had a friendly and open manner to him that made the two Americans very comfortable in his company. He gave Oliver the itinerary on the way to the Golden Ring Hotel which is one of the hotels affiliated with the Department of Affairs of the President of the Russian Federation and because of this, is rated one of the highest luxury hotels in the city.

Both Oliver and David took note as they approached the entrance that the hotel was centrally located and had great access to many restaurants and The Arbat, which is Moscow’s favourite pedestrian street and an ideal place for visitors to stroll amongst the souvenir stalls and watch lively street performers. It is also not to far from various museums or the metro station where one can jump on to reach all the downtown locations.

“It is perfect,” Oliver stated and thanked Marty for his choice in accommodations.

As the hotel staff took the luggage from the van, Pushkin took the men aside and whispered a sort of apology and explanation for the hotel rooms chosen. “Oliver,” Pushkin cleared his throat. “Um, please do not be offended by this comment because it is not my intention to offend. Due to the laws here in Moscow, you and David cannot share the same room. However, I did manage to get you adjoining suites with an adjoining door, so you will still be able to share in each other’s company but without sharing the same bedroom.”

Both Oliver and David could see it embarrassed the man to have to separate the lovers and they let him off the hook easily. “Don’t worry about it, Marty,” Oliver commented as he placed an arm around the big man’s shoulder. “We understand completely and you can assure the rest of your staff that David and I will be very discrete.”

Pushkin let out a sigh of relief as he led the way into the lobby. When he was sure the two men would be fine on their own, he bid them goodbye until 8:00 pm when he would return to escort them to the Russian Ballet.

After the bellhop had shown him to his room, David waited about ten minutes before knocking on the door that he knew lead to Oliver’s room. When Oliver answered, David struck a seductive pose and with the best imitation he could muster of a total queen, he threw his arm around Oliver and teased, “Well, well, what do we have here? A real man just for me. Can I cross your threshold, big boy?”

Oliver let out a laugh as he pulled David to him for a passionate kiss; which lead to two kisses and in turn lead them into testing how well the Moscow hotel beds held out under extreme movement.

The weekend was fabulous. They both slept in because of the fact that they both had a very late evening out at the ballet then drinks with Puskin afterwards. Before saying goodnight and proceeding to their own rooms, they agreed to meet for brunch in the hotel dining room at 11:00 am. After breakfast they began to explore the city. Around 4:00 pm, they made their way back to hotel to get ready for the Presidential Reception which was being at the Russian Embassy. The food and music were exceptional and Oliver even got a chance to speak with the President and introduce him to his colleague, David Bradford.

Monday morning greeting them with clouds with a chance of rain but by mid-afternoon the skies turned blue, so David set out on his own, to explore the city in more depth. He even remembered all the rules he was taught at the seminar. He carried his passport and money in the money belt hidden under his shirt, he didn’t take any shortcuts to the metro station and he watched his P’s and Q’s as he browsed the museums and malls. He even managed to pick up a couple of tickets for the circus for Tuesday evening. When he got back to the hotel he was totally exhausted but the sight of Oliver waiting in the lobby took all the fatigue away.

“Hi, Oliver, how did your interviews go today?” he asked casually, all the while struggling with the fact that he wanted to throw his arms around his lover and give him a hello kiss.

“Everyone was very cooperative during the question period and Martin set up a meeting with President Putin for tomorrow morning at 10:00 am. How was your day?”

“It was great! I got some great pictures, picked up postcards for the things I couldn’t take pictures of, purchased some great souvenirs and got us tickets for the circus. Tomorrow I’m going back to visit Gorky Park.”

They agreed to have dinner at one of the outdoor cafés then just relax for the rest of the evening. To anyone observing the two men together they seemed no more than very good friends. The hint that they were more than that never showed. As Oliver listened to David going on and on about his day, he felt himself relax more and more. His fear that something would go wrong during this trip seemed a faint memory now. David was on his best behaviour and having the time of his life. Oliver was very pleased that he had taken him along.

They went up to their rooms around 7:00 pm. Oliver spent some time with David in his room then kissed him good night around 9:30 pm. He returned to his own room to go over his notes one more time before shutting off the lights.

If he had the psychic powers he sometimes had concerning David, he would have never have fallen into such a peaceful sleep. Tomorrow would find his pleasant and uneventful trip turn into a total nerve-racking disaster.

David slept right through the first wake up call which made him late to meet Oliver for breakfast. Last night before retiring, he packed away all his souvenirs and took his passport out of the money belt and placed it under his pillow for safe keeping. He had read somewhere that thieves break into American tourists’ rooms just to steal their passports, so David wasn’t taking any chances. In the morning he was so frazzled, he grabbed his money belt without checking if his passport was within. As he said good bye to Oliver at the Train station, he became annoyed when Oliver asked him if he had all his papers and snapped. “For Pete’s sake, Oliver, I’m not a baby. You don’t have to keep reminding me. Of course I have it. Do you want to look to make sure?”

Not wanting to make a scene and since he too was running late, Oliver didn’t take David up on his offer to look. Later, he would wish he has taken the time to look.

David was still mumbling under his breath as he watched Oliver turn the corner to catch the Metro down to the newspaper. Pushkin had offered a car to Oliver, but he preferred the train. It was a great way to get a feel of the city and its’ people.

The young man was so absorbed in his own mood he didn’t see the old woman standing on the platform with her cart of groceries waiting for her train. He managed to run right into her, setting her off balance and tipping her cart at the same time. As he began to apologize to the old woman screaming at him in a deep Russian dialect, he began to place her groceries back into the cart. The old lady thought he was trying to steal her groceries and began plummeting him with her hand bag while looking around as if she were searching for someone. A huge crowd began to gather but quickly dispersed as two Russian police officers approached.

They grabbed David by the arm and pulled him to his feet. In broken English one of the men asked to see David’s papers. It was at that moment that David’s life took a turn for the worse. He reached into his pouch to get his passport to only find a handful of Russian bills, and his camera. He began to sweat profusely when he realized his passport was still under his pillow back at the hotel.

“My passport is back at the hotel,” he told the cop who was holding out his hand. “If you would take me to the Golden Ring, I will be happy to show it to you.”

Suddenly David found himself face down on the hard wooden platform and his hands being pulled behind his back.

Again in broken English the cop stated, “You are under arrest!”

“Wait! No, you can’t do that. I’m an American citizen and I do have a passport. If you would just…”

The cop cut him off. “You may be what you say but you are not in America now and you are walking around Moscow with no paper, which is against our laws.” The cop turned to his partner and instructed him to get the car. David did his best to plead his case but the more he tried the more upset he got, which amused the giant cop to no end. When the police car arrived, David was thrown roughly into the back seat and swept away to a dark and dreary looking building in the west end of the city. He was so frightened he was very close to tears but did his best to control himself. The last thing he wanted to do was to break down like a baby in front of these scary looking men.

Once inside the building, David was taken into a damp little interrogation room. His clothes were removed and he was forced to endure a very rough and painful strip search. He knew he would never forget the sound of the rubber glove being snapped on or the look of pure hatred in the guard’s eyes as the giant cop approached him.

After the search was concluded he was given an old, smelly jump suit and taken into a dim lighted room whose only furniture was an old wooden table and three chairs.

He was left alone for what seemed like hours but was closer to thirty minutes. Suddenly the door opened and another man entered wearing a worn out grey suit and carrying a file.

David stood and doing his best to control the tremor in his voice stated, “My name is David Bradford and I live in New York City. I’m staying at the Golden Hotel along with a colleague of mine named Oliver Newman. Mr. Newman is here to interview your President on the up-coming elections. We are sponsored by Mr. Martin Pushkin from the Moscow Times. If you call him, I’m sure he will verify all this.”

“Mr. Bradford is it?” the man spoke in a cold non-caring way. “All that you say may be true, but none of that matters. You were walking the street without your papers so you will be taken to prison to serve out your sentence.”

“Take to prison!” David shouted. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t even been allowed a phone call to my embassy or even been give an opportunity to speak to a lawyer. You can’t just sweep me off the prison, that’s against my constitutional rights.”

The man let out a deep cruel laugh as he pushed David back down into the chair. “My dear young man, you are in the Soviet Union where you have no constitutional rights!”

Those words broke the last of David’s resistance. He began to cry but didn’t care. He put his head down into his arms that rested on the table and sobbed so hard his whole body shook. “I want my partner, Oliver. Please, I want Oliver.”

“Your partner?” the cop asked

‘Oh no, another mistake,’ David thought. But at this stage in the game, although he no longer cared, he didn’t repeat the request. Instead he just cried louder.

“I will have to see about this new revelation, son. I’ll be right back.”

Left alone once more with his thoughts and fears, David got up and began to pace. His sobs had turned to quiet tears but his whole body still trembled. To make an already bad situation worse, he couldn’t hold his bladder any longer and another bout of tears flowed down as he felt a warm liquid dripping down his leg to make a pool in the middle of the floor. “Oh, Ollie,” he prayed. “Please, please come and get me.”

He didn’t bother looking up when he heard the door open once more, until he heard a very familiar, comforting voice say, “Did I hear someone praying to be rescued?” David looked up to find Oliver standing in the doorway and he flew into his Top’s arms and clung on for all he was worth. “Oh, Oliver, you’re here, you’re really here; but how?”

Oliver managed to pull a chair out from under the table which wasn’t an easy task with David clinging to him as tightly as he was. Once the chair was out, he sat down and pulled David down with him and after he had him calmed down enough to listen, he explained. “Well, young man, I’ve been going through a few hours of hell myself. When I got back to the hotel and found out you weren’t there, I went out looking for you. When I couldn’t find you in any of the shops, I decided I better call Martin. He informed me that a friend of his in the Moscow Police had called the paper and told him of a young American boy he had in his custody. He asked if I knew anything about him. Marty told me he’d been trying to get a hold of me but because I was out roaming the streets looking for you, he couldn’t. He made arrangements to pick me up and take me straight here. For the last thirty minutes, I’ve been behind this glass listening. I just regret I didn’t get here fast enough to prevent the strip search. I’m sorry you had to go through that, baby.”

“Not as sorry as I am, believe me,” David replied through a hiccup. “So, I wasn’t in any danger of going to prison?”

“Oh yes you were, my boy, or you could have been if the right cop had been doing the investigating. Just thank your lucky stars your case fell unto Ivan’s desk. Ivan and Marty have been partners for a while now and he happened to recognize you from the file pictures Marty had. I let Ivan interrogate you so you would hopefully get it through your thick head the importance of….”

David finished the sentence for him, “of never forgetting my passport.”

“Where is it, by the way?”

“It’s under my pillow in my room where I put it last night. Oliver, I’m so sorry. I got up in such a rush this morning and I was sure I had it and when you questioned my about it again I got so mad. Ollie, can you ever forgive me?”

As a tiny smile tugged at the older man’s lips, he answered. “I’ll think about it on the way back to the hotel. Now come on. Let’s get you cleaned up and back into your own clothes.”

While David followed Ivan into the showers, Oliver turned to Martin to once again thank him for all his help.

“Don’t mention it, my friend. We Tops have to stick together, do we not?”

“You mean you and Ivan are in the same kind of relationship as David and I? How did you know?” Oliver asked.

“You and I have a good friend in common, a Mr. Elliot Potter. He and I go way back and when he heard my paper was going to sponsor your visit, he called me up and asked me to keep a special eye on you both. He told me about you two and how we shared a lot of things in common.”

“I should have known; no matter where I go my guardian angel is always close behind.”

“May I ask you a personal question, Oliver?”

“Of course, anything you wish, Martin.”

“Is the boy going to be disciplined tonight, even after all he’s been through today?”

“Oh, you bet his little sore ass he’s going to be. He brought this day on himself and he knows just doing lines won’t cut it this time. He may try to talk me out of it by playing the sympathy cards but deep down I think he knows he’s going to take a trip over my lap.”

David heard Martin and Oliver sharing a laugh as he rounded the corner and made his way to Oliver’s side.

Ivan gave the young man a sympathetic tap on the back and before they parted, he whispered with a smile in his eyes. “Maybe you should go visit the farmers’ market before you go back to the hotel. There’s a lady there who makes the best cushions which are just great to help protect sore bottoms from our hard wooden furniture.”

Oliver let out another chuckle then led David down to a waiting taxi. When they were in Oliver’s room, he helped the young man undress and put him into a pair of his pyjamas. He ordered room service because it had been a while since the two had eaten.

Not too much was said during the meal and when it was over, Oliver got up and sat on the edge of the bed and gestured for David to come to him.

As predicted, David did his best to try and talk himself out of it but soon gave to the reality of the situation and without too much more protest, he pulled his pyjama bottoms down and took his place over his Top’s lap.

It was a short but intense round of discipline. When the last slap hit its’ mark, Oliver asked David if he knew why he was still being punished even after all he’d been through. David told him he did and understood how much worse it could have been. He could be in a Russian prison right now instead of being cuddled and told how much he was loved.

After a half hour of just holding his Brat and letting him cry out the pain and shame, Oliver pulled him up to a sitting position in the middle of the bed. “Okay, kiddo, now that that’s behind us, I want you to go look in the top drawer of the bureau dresser.”

David scrambled up and did as he was told. He reached in and found an envelope with the Presidential Seal in the corner. He opened up the flap and pulled out two VIP passes to the Moscow Zoo as well as tickets to the famous Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard; all compliments of Vladimir Poutin for tomorrow.

David let out a squeal of delight and jumped back onto the bed and into Oliver’s arms. “Oh, Oliver, is this for real?”

“Yeah, baby, it is. But before we go, we’ll have to be packed and ready because we have to leave for the airport straight from the circus. I’ve made arrangements with Martin and Ivan to pick up our bags here and meet us at the airport. Ivan has also graciously supplied a police escort from the circus to the airport to avoid any traffic jams that may come up.”

“Speaking of Ivan and Martin; that was a real surprise, wasn’t it?”

“You can say that again and by the way, I invited them to come pay us a visit sometime. Would you like that?”

“Yeah, that would be great. I’d like to get to know Ivan better now that I know he’s not going to torture me or something.”

“Okay, kiddo, why don’t we go start packing your things then you can help me with mine.”

“On one condition, Ollie.”

“And what may that be, baby?”

“Here!” David smiled as he handed over his passport. “You take total control of this. I don’t want to go through another day like this again.”

Oliver took the papers from his Brat and placed them along side his in his jacket pocket. After they were all packed, they mutually decided to give the Moscow beds one more structure inspection.

Before drifting off into each others arms, ‘I love you’ was exchanged. All in all, it was a great few days together but both men couldn’t wait to be back home, in their own bed and back to their own lives.

The End.