Chapter Text
Three hours in and Dima realized the train ride was more than he expected. Watching the countryside speed past him was only novel when he’d first got on, and sure he’d brought a book to read but the appeal to do so wasn’t quite present. With nothing else to do he closed his eyes for a brief moment, only for that moment to go on longer and longer leading to him dozing off. Waking up before sunrise had its toll.
…
Some time later the train had made its stop and the action had jerked Dima awake. A glance out the window to the city landscape and station name told him this was it. Grabbing his suitcase and almost bolting off the train, he was only stopped by the line of people crowding at the doors to get onto the platform.
As chaotic as it was there, it wasn’t hard to find the exit with how many people were crowding out of it. A few steps outside the station really hit him with the city atmosphere, massive concrete steps leading to the sidewalk and towering monoliths everywhere.
Lower down on the stone slabs sat a young girl with dark hair and teal backpack, sitting with a ginger boy and talking about something. Eventually she stood up and turned around to look at all the people leaving the building, eyes darting around looking for someone.
Rather than mistakenly talk to a stranger, Dima pulled out his phone to text Sanya “I’m here”
The girl he saw earlier pulled out her phone, and confirmed her identity when she started typing out a wordy response. Or at least, he was certain enough this was Sanya to walk up to her.
“Hi” he said, pretty dryly, though his intention was to come off friendly.
“Dima, right?” She asked back excitedly.
He nodded, eyes drifting down to glance at the ginger.
“This is Tsar, a friend from school. He wanted to come with for the con”
Tsar waved slightly, Dima did so back to be polite. He was aware he’d be spending the weekend with Sanya’s friend group, which were all strangers to him really, but he wasn’t particularly against it. If Sanya was chill, he’d expect the others to be as well.
The three started walking off as a group while Sanya explained the plan. Basically, some lady that a friend of a friend knew would be out of town and would let them sleep over at her apartment. It seemed crazy, a stranger trusting her house with a bunch of teenagers, but the place was a really short walk to the convention center, so he wasn’t going to complain.
Then she asked, “So did you bring a cosplay?”
Dima nodded, briefly saying “It’s Mika,” then asking “What about you?”
She laughed while shrugging and told him to “Guess!”
“Hatsune Miku”
“Ding ding ding! You won a protein bar” she then said while stopping to open her bag to pull one out.
Meanwhile Tsar stopped, stared a bit, before asking “Who’s Mika?”
“Mikazuki from Gundam”
Tsar didn’t watch anime outside of what Sanya showed him, and she wasn’t particularly into mech shows, so he had literally no idea who Dima was talking about. The awkward face he made about that was enough to make Dima realize the conversation was already going poorly. He didn’t have much interest in explaining the appeal of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans to a stranger, so he left that thread there. Instead asking “Do you have one?”
Rather than answer directly, Tsar looked off to the side while saying “It’s not really my thing”
Wow. A normie. Dima hoped the others wouldn’t be as annoying. Was annoying the right word? No. More like, the impression Tsar gave was that he was here just because Sanya was. Which was annoying. Why go to a thing you probably won’t like just because a friend likes it?
Eventually they walked up to the front step of an apartment complex, Sanya putting in a code that connected her to three voices fighting for who got to speak. Well, more like two fighting and one pleading for them to stop. Neither Sanya nor Tsar seemed surprised by this, as Dima stared at the speaker a bit dumbfounded. Perhaps Tsar was more sane than the others he’d be staying with?
At the apartment, the door opened to three girls practically piling onto each other in order to greet them. Sanya turned to him, introducing the three.
“The twins are Nastya and Katya,” he assumed Nastya was the one who waved and Katya was the one who smiled… they weren’t identical but Dima found himself likely to confuse their names, “and that one’s Anya”
The brunette named Anya stuck out her tongue at that introduction. “What do you mean ‘that one’? I’m not an animal!”
“Could have fooled me” Tsar said while squeezing past the three to get in the door.
“WHAAAAT???” She turned to scream in his direction before stomping after him.
Nastya(?) laughed at that while Katya(?) ushered Dima and Sanya inside. The floor was pretty much coated in different sleeping bags, though there was an air mattress set up next to the heater. It looked like it could fit two people, but he didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask about that. Instead, he dragged the suitcase over to a corner and started unpacking, only to realize he packed way too light… He’d left empty space for bringing things home, only taking essentials and sparing himself a blanket. Not the best for sleeping on the floor.
A giggle erupted behind him, “I guess country boys are too good for sleeping bags” he heard Nastya say. Dima wasn’t about to let himself get baited into making a fool of himself because of some girl so he just laid out the blanket and sat on it. Not entirely sure if he proved her right or wrong in the process.
Though he hadn’t realized she was staring, Katya silently walked off to find Anya— who had given up badmouthing Tsar and was reheating some leftovers.
“Hey, so…”
Anya looked over, asking “What? You don’t need to be shy ya know”
“Do you mind if we share the bed and I lend my sleeping bag to the new kid? He didn’t bring one”
Anya instantly blushed at that, proceeding to let out a “Wha- wha- wha- wha- wha——t?,” while processing the information, before stating “Why should you give up your stuff for him? It’s not like we know him!”
“Yeah but it’s not like he’s taking my stuff, it’s temporary. I’d rather everyone here get along after all.”
Anya nodded, knowing there wasn’t really a way to change Katya’s mind anyway. Though there was something kind of… not embarrassing, perhaps exciting? About the idea of sharing the bed with her best friend. Friends did that at sleepovers anyway, and it wasn’t weird, and she wasn’t weird for being excited. This was normal people behavior after all.
“I dunno, maybe you could sleep on this and use your clothes as covers” Nastya continued to talk at Dima as he looked completely unphased while listening to something on his phone.
It was Anya who jumped into their ‘conversation’, stating “Katya’s sleeping with me now, since she feels bad for you” while pointing directly at him.
It took Dima a little too long to realize someone else was talking and had to take out his headphones to ask what she just said. Just as Anya repeated herself, Nastya’s face contorted with an emotion no one could decipher before quietly turning around to look for her sister.