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Bashar had just woken up and opened his eyes. He was shivering, so wrapped some of the big, cosy, dark red duvet around himself, then smiled when he saw Vladimir sleeping next to him. Bashar knew that Vladimir would be used to the cold, and didn’t usually wake up until mid-morning, but Bashar had at least expected this log cabin, hidden deep in a Russian forest, to be warm. After a few minutes, Bashar got out of bed and got ready for the day, wearing two T-shirts under a dark grey sweater, and a dark-coloured pair of jeans.
He sat on the bed, and picked up the book he'd brought with him from the bedside table. He read a chapter and a half before Vladimir woke up.
'Good morning, moya lyubov,' Vladimir said sleepily.
'Good morning, habibi,' Bashar said, kissing Vladimir's lips. 'This is early for you.'
'Perhaps,' Vova said, smiling, 'but we do have a lot of things to do today.' Vova got out of bed, completely naked, and started looking for clothes. Soon, Vladimir was dressed in a khaki military-style sweater and black sweatpants.
'OK, Bashar, let's go and get some breakfast.'
The wooden kitchen in the little cabin was small yet cosy, and had huge windows so that the forest outside could be seen, covered by a thick blanket of snow. Bashar looked out of one of the huge windows, enjoying the beautiful scenery, until Vladimir pulled at one of his sweater sleeves and asked 'What would you like for breakfast, Bashar?'
'I was just thinking of having a coffee, Vova...'
'Bashar, you need a good breakfast in these cold and snowy conditions!' Vova said, pouring water into the kettle before putting it back on its stand and turning it on. 'Just look around and see what you'd like,' he added as he put two spoonfuls of coffee in two plain white mugs.
First, Bashar looked at the three boxes of Kosmostars in the corner, but this honey-flavoured cereal, with an astronaut bear on the box, didn't appeal to him. 'I should sent a box over to Damascus,' Vladimir said, a bit of a laugh coming into his voice. He left the kettle to boil and walked over to Bashar to lightly spank him. Bashar blushed a very light pink and continued looking in the cupboards, the drawers and finally, the refrigerator.
Vladimir went to sort out the coffees when the kettle had boiled. He poured in the milk and added one full teaspoon of sugar to each mug. Bashar walked over to Vladimir and, for a minute or two, they just sipped their coffee in silence. Vladimir placed his mug on the counter and said 'Bashar, I have an idea!'
'What is it, habibi?'
Vladimir didn't reply. Instead he started looking in the cupboards, taking out a bag of flour, a small salt shaker, a bottle of sunflower oil and a tub of baking soda. Then he walked over to the small refrigerator and took out a small tub of cream, some butter and a box of eggs. We have everything we need, Vladimir thought.
'Bashar, moya lyubov, let's have blini for breakfast!'
Bashar smiled widely - it had been years since he'd eaten Russian pancakes, and he loved the idea of making them with his tough, no-nonsense, rather macho Russian habibi. Vova gave Bashar a little smile too - he was looking forward to making breakfast with his nerdy, awkward yet sassy Syrian lyubovnik.
***
A medium-sized, white, plastic bowl sat on the worktop. Vladimir had quickly mixed the flour, salt and baking soda together, and Bashar had found a large, glass mixing bowl - but had banged his head on the top of the cupboard.
'KHARA!'
'Are you OK?' Vova asked.
'Yes,' Bashar replied, placing the mixing bowl on the worktop, before giggling and rubbing the back of his head. Vladimir had found an electric mixer and stuck the little whisks in, then he opened the eggbox. He took one egg, cracked it on the side of the bowl and put the yolk in the bowl, before handing an egg to Bashar. Bashar made a crack in this egg, right in the middle, and added that yolk too.
Vladimir grabbed a plain black apron and put it on. Bashar helped him to tie it up, and Vova added three tablespoons of sugar, before turning on the mixer. Bashar held on to the handle too, and they both giggled, hoping that the mixture wasn't going to splash on them.
After a little while, Vova asked 'Bashar, zvezda moya, could you pour the milk and cream in, please?'
Bashar smiled and poured the milk in, straight from the bottle. 'Tell me when to stop, Vova.'
'I will, I will... OK, that's enough, now add the cream... yes... that's enough! Now put that flour mixture in the white bowl in, but only a bit at a time.'
A few minutes later, after Bashar and Vladimir had been lightly splashed by the mixture and tried to wash it off with tea towels, the batter was the right consistency. Vladimir turned on two of the hob rings and placed two frying pans on the rings. Then he placed a knob of butter into one of the pans, and it wasn't long until the butter started melting and bubbling. Vova carefully poured the hot, melted butter into the batter and asked Bashar to stir it for him. While Bashar was stirring the batter with an almost unnecessary amount of precision, Vova poured a little bit of sunflower oil into both pans.
Moments later, Bashar said 'Vova, habibi, I think the batter's ready!'
Vladimir smiled, taking a small, plastic cup and scooping up some batter, pouring it into the pan, swirling it around to cover the whole pan.
'Bashar, I'm going to flip this pancake over!' Vova announced a few seconds later, standing back.
'Be careful, Vova!' Bashar said, standing back too. Vova flipped this pancake over successfully, before letting Bashar have a turn at making pancakes.
Vova was a little disappointed that Bashar opted for a spatula to flip his pancakes, and couldn't help but laugh when Bashar's second pancake fell apart.
'It's still the best method for flipping pancakes, Vova,' Bashar insisted. 'Anyway, it's your turn now.'
Vova scooped up a lot of batter with the plastic cup, and formed a big pancake with it. 'Bashar, watch this, you will see that this method of flipping pancakes is the best.'
'один, два, три...'
Vladimir flipped the pancake... and it landed in a heap on the floor.
'Oh...' Vova said in a small voice, as Bashar laughed so hard that he was holding onto the worktop and clutching his stomach.
'It's not that funny, Bashar...'
'I don't know why I'm laughing so much!' Bashar gasped before laughing again, his cheeks turning red and with tears in his eyes. When Bashar had finally gotten over his laughing fit, and Vladimir had cleaned up the pancake heap off the floor, Bashar kissed Vova on the head and said 'Maybe you should try again...'
Eventually, Bashar and Vova were sat at the breakfast table, with four pancakes between them, with blueberry jam as a filling.
'These blinis taste so good, Vova,' Bashar sighed, getting started on his second blueberry jam blini.
'Yes, Bashar,' Vova said. 'I was thinking of making a savoury blini with a horseradish sauce, but...'
Bashar looked disgusted. Vova noticed this and chuckled. 'You probably wouldn't be able to watch me eating that without feeling ill...'
'Vova, I don't know if I can finish these now...'
'But Bashar, we made them together,' Vladimir said, grabbing one of Bashar's hands, 'and we can't let that lovely blueberry jam go to waste, can we?'
Bashar smiled and gently squeezed Vova's hand. He sighed, sipped his now rather cold coffee and nibbled at his blini again.
He looked out of one of the huge windows and said 'Habibi, it's snowing!'
'So it is, moya lyubov! And it seems to be snowing very heavily too... eat up those blinis, then put your coat on, because we're going outside in that snow.'
After they had eaten their blinis and washed all the bowls, plates, pans and other utensils, Vladimir and Bashar went upstairs, wrapping up in black winter coats and scarves. Vova wore a bright red scarf and Bashar wore a grey shemagh, only covering up his neck and chin. Vova put on a brown furry hat and stared at Bashar.
'Habibi? What is it?'
Vladimir chuckled again. 'There's... there's a little bit of blueberry jam on your lip...'
Bashar blushed a light pink and giggled. Vova walked up to him and said 'Here, I'll sort it', before kissing Bashar's lips. Bashar kissed Vladimir back. They both tasted like sugar and blueberry jam, and they stayed there, kissing and embracing in the cabin bedroom for quite some time, as the snow continued to fall outside.