Chapter 8: Greece

Ivan, Raptor, Mason, and Dimitri were waiting in the baggage claim area of the airport in Greece. All had their bags already, but they were just waiting on Dimitri's mom, Oksana, Viktoria, Sonia and her boy Oleksi, and Karolina and Ivan with their two kids Zoya and Paul.

"I am so excited to see Zoya and Paul!

"Yes! We are going to make our mark on Greece."

"It's nice having cousins close to our age, then we can all mess around without leaving anyone out. Although, I don't know if Oleski will be able to do all of the same things as us, he's still, like, 15."

"Yeah. But, it'll be nice now that we are adults and Zoya and Paul are adults. We can go drinking with them. Like casually." Ivan mused.

They all heard the squeal of her voice before they could see her coming. Oksana, in absolute glee, began running towards her only son. "Dimka, my love. It is so good to see you!" She grabbed Dimitri tightly and kissed him hard on the cheek while speaking in their native tongue. It has been too long!"

"Yes, mama. Its been two years, we shouldn't go so long without seeing each other."

"Well, we must be careful, these days." Dimitri nodded before moving away to greet the rest of his family.

"My sweet boys!" Oksana yells just as loudly as she squeezed the twins.

"Hello, Babushka." They groaned, being practically squeezed to death by her hug.

"Hello, brother." Viktoria was the first to hug Dimitri. It always amazed him how grown up she always looked. They were all gaining in age, having families, making lives for themselves. Where had the time gone by?

"Uncle!" Zoya squeezed Dimitri and smiled. She was five years older than Mason and Ivan, making her 23, while Paul was 21. Paul also wrapped his arms around his uncle before greeting his cousins.

Oleski was playing on his switch and vaguely nodded his head towards his family, about as much recognition as they'd most likely get from him during this vacation.

"I'm so glad you all were able to make it on such short notice."

"We were wanting to do something. We felt so bad we couldn't make it to their graduation."

"No worries! I rented a villa, it has 10 beds." Dimitri told everyone. "I already have the code for us to get in. We are going to take some taxis, I'll give everyone the address."

They seperated for the trip to the villa, but when they arrived they all sat together in the large living space as Dimitri went around opening the doors and following all of the check-in procedures he was asked to do over the app. It was a beautiful villa, with a wonderful view. Everyone in the group was in awe. They decided that their first day/night would not be too crazy. They would go to a nearby restaurant to eat food, and then lounge around the villa to get over any jet lag or just to relax before the real fun started the next day.

It went smoothly, and they were all extremely excited for the next coming days. They all rode together in two vans that Dimitri and Ivan went to pick up the night before. They all arrived in Athens, and the younger kids were forced to take family pictures and make memories as they saw the sights. But soon, they grew restless and Oksana dismissed them so they could explore and wander on their own. Oleski opted to stay with the adults. He had no interest in exploring, and knew that his cousins would only want to drink and mess around, and he'd rather play his video games. The other cousins didn't protest as they left, immediately interested in finding a local pub.

They eventually found a nice restaurant for them to all have a late lunch before adventuring through the town. "Alright. Time to spill all of the tea. We haven't seen you guys in forever. What's Canada been like?" Zoya asked.

"Ivan got a boyfriend!" Mason immediately yelled out, making Ivan blush madly and Zoya and Paul giggled.

"Is it that neighbor guy you have so obviously been in love with forever. If not, I'll be disappointed and I'll owe Zoya money."

Ivan laughed. "Yes, his name is Henry. I don't know if he's my boyfriend, but before I left we were spending a lot of time together. We said we weren't going to make anything super serious or tying each other down. After this, I'm going to keep traveling with Raptor."

"Speaking of Raptor, he is so cute!" Zoya reached her hand out to the calm dog that laid on the floor next to their table they had outside. He lifted his head to accept the pets and Zoya squealed. "Plus, Raptor is such a badass name."

"I didn't name him. He's a retired military dog, so he's well trained. He's extremely cuddly, too. He has a lot of love to give, and I'm glad that I'm able to take him with me everywhere. We are still getting used to each other, but he's such a good boy!" Ivan pulled a small bowl out of his backpack and poured some of his water into it so Raptor could drink while they were sitting.

"Was there anywhere specific you wanted to go today?" Mason asked the group.

"No, I figured today we could walk around, get some shopping done and maybe drink the night away. I know Uncle Dimka has one of those bus tours planned for us tomorrow."

"Yeah, our dad really went all out for this trip."

"It makes sense. He is Babushka's only son. It makes sense he wants to give her a great trip."

"Yeah. How has everything been at home?"

"It's been okay… Everything has been really tense because of the war with Ukraine. Mama and Papa are getting worried, even if they don't want us to know. I'm finishing school this year. Currently single, sadly. Not for lack of trying!"

"Yeah. I don't doubt that our parents will try to get us to leave Russia once we are done with school. I'm thinking of even doing next year in the States."

"Oh wow. We've been to California a handful of times for vacation. We went to Montana one year to just see our moms home town, but we didn't stay long. I think it was too hard for Dad."

"So, you said you're going to travel? Does that mean that they Zmey convinced you to take over the company instead of school?" Paul pried.

"Yeah, I promised that I would come back to work once I've gotten some traveling down. For now it's only supposed to be a year or two. I honestly have no plans and have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm thinking after this I'll go to Turkey to see where he lives and everything."

"Be careful. Your grandpa might be old, but I still hear stories of him. You want to be a mob boss, or what?"

"What? No! I just want to continue the work my mom started, that's all. I don't think I'd ve v ery cut out for the mob."

"That's what you say now," Zoya started. "But I don't think many people end up in there because they really want to. Just be careful, cousin."

"Of course!"

They all ate their food and began walking around to find where shops and street vendors were. Ivan was eyeing a leather bracelet that he thought Henry would enjoy; he didn't even notice that the others continued on without him. When he finally looked up after buying the bracelet, he had no sights on his brother or cousins. He decided it wasn't too much of a big deal and just walked through the market some more. If anything, he would meet them back where they parked the vans, or he'd get a taxi to the villa.

Ivan enjoyed being somewhat alone. He and Raptor walked side by side as they explored the beautiful streets of Athens. He finally came across a pub and decided to walk in. He informed them that he'd sit outside, since he had Raptor, and he sat looking out at the city as the sun began to set and felt content. If this was what traveling was going to be like, he was excited for it. New places to see and experience.

"Hello, beautiful." Ivan looked up from his awe striking view to see a man, probably in his early 30's or late 20's. He had wavy brown hair and bright green eyes. He wore a dark green silk button up and white pants that fit him tightly. Ivan drank up the sight of the beautiful man and couldn't help but take another swig of his bear before replying.

"Oh, hi." Not his smoothest attempt, but probably not his worst, either.

"May I sit?" Ivan nodded, motioning to the chair in front of him. "You're dog. He is very pretty. Is he always with you?"

"Yes, pretty much. He was a graduation gift and I got all of his papers and vaccines so he could travel with me."

"What a nice traveling companion. Is he the only company you keep?" The bright green eyes of the man bore deeply into Ivan, making him blush. He had never flirted like this before.

"What's your name?"

"Anik, and yours?"

"Ivan."

"Hmm, that is a handsome name, it fits you well."

"Does Anik mean anything?"

"It's short for Aniketos. Someone who is never conquered." Ivan gulped. This was a man he was talking to. Someone who was showing obvious interest in him. Plus, it helped that he was easy on the eyes. He had never been hit on so obviously, or really at all if he thought about it. But, that was part of exploring, right? Meeting beautiful men and leaving a string of broken hearts. Although, as he eyed Anik, he could only see himself being broken underneath his powerful arms and the thought made Ivan shudder. He didn't know if it was the beer he had barely drank of the air that was beginning to chill as the sun was setting, but he was excited and covered in goosebumps. "Are you an American?"

"No. I'm visiting from Canada."

"Oh, are you by yourself? I can't imagine a pretty boy like you would be left alone."

"I'm here with my family. We were separated at the market, so I decided to stop for a drink."

Anik reach out and grazed his hand against Ivans. "Well, I guess I should be happy, since it led you to this place, and I could see you."

Ivan did his best not to hyperventilate as his heartbeat quickened with the touch.

"I-"

"Ivan!" Ivan jumped and looked out to see Mason and his cousin walking up to them.

"I assume this is the family you mentioned? No?" He didn't move his hand away and Ivan smiled and nodded.

"Hey, we've been looking for you everywhere! Where have you been?"

"Well, I lost you guys when we were shopping. I walked around and then decided to come here."

Mason noticed the man sitting across from him and gave his twin a raised eyebrow. "I see… and who's this?"

"My name is Anik. I just ran into your brother here and we were just having a wonderful conversation."

Zoya almost squealed as she realized that there was some flirting in the air, and she loved seeing men together. It almost pained her that they had to tell Ivan they were leaving.

"I know we were going to drink tonight, but Dad found us and said we needed to head out for the night. Aunt Sonya got too drunk and is sick."

"Okay." Ivan stood, Raptor following suit. He took a large swig of his beer before looking at Anik. "It was nice meeting you. Sorry I have to leave like this."

Anik grabbed Ivans hand and pulled it up to his mouth, kissing the top of it. "No, my pleasure. I'm sure we will find each other again. This isn't as big a city as you may think. Goodbye Ivan. Dream well."

Mason's mouth dropped open at how audacious this man was being with his brother. He didn't say anything though as Ivan blushed and nodded and moved to follow them.

"Damn, we leave you for a second, cousin, and you've already got a man kissing your hand? Can you give me tips or something?" Paul asked once they were far enough away.

"I don't even know how that happened. He came up to me and asked to sit down and then he was saying all these super cheesy flirty lines. That has never happened to me before, promise."

"I'm jealous. I want international love. Like in the movies." Zoya sighed.

"Well, we still have a while. Maybe we will all find someone to break out hearts!" Mason exclaimed and they all laughed together.

Mason couldn't help but feel a little jealous. He was always with his brother, they went through things together. Being separated and seeing him find someone so quickly meant that Mason might not be as needed as he wanted to be. Sure, Mason had flings here and there, never anything serious, though. He tried not to think too hard about it, because he wanted to be happy for his brother, rather than dwell on the negative feelings that were bubbling up. Tomorrow they were all being forced to spend the day together, so he hoped it would be a great time for him and Ivan to really bond again.

They reached the vans where the adults were waiting. Oleski was actually asleep in the back seat and his mother who was apparently wasted was snoring with her head on top of his. It was actually a cute sight and Mason made sure to take a quick picture so he could tease them about it later.

When they all went to their beds, everyone was excited for the next day. Who knows what Greece would bring!