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Miles had known that the Russian winters were cold, very cold even, but no matter how many shirts he wore under his brown coat, or how many socks he forced over his feet and into his black, tight shoes, he seemed to loose every ounce of warmth that his body held. And Alex appeared to be in no better situation.
When they had stepped off the plane in Moscow and felt the sudden, freezing air, Miles had dragged Alex to the nearest shop selling decent hats. Alex had protested, saying it wasn’t that cold and that his hair was cover enough. But Miles persisted and with the help of several demonstrative hand movements and a few ill-pronounced Russian words they managed to walk out of the shop with two plain, black, woolen hats. Miles had contemplated buying Alex one of those with a big tuft on top of it, just to annoy him. But he knew that Alex would just refuse to wear it and in order for him not to freeze to death Miles would have to lend him his own hat and he’d be forced to wear the tufted one himself.
They’d met up with Romain the next day and discussed the video. He had a few interesting ideas, the only downside being the fact that they’d have to spend a whole day outside. In the cold.
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Miles wrapped his scarf tighter and pulled his hat further down over his ears as he and Alex stepped out of the car that had taken them some miles north of the capital. The landscape was quite remarkable. Everything was completely covered in white, almost glowing snow; the sky was free of clouds and further ahead was your typical pine forest. The branches of the trees glittering in the sunlight. This beautiful scenery didn’t make up for the fierce wind that was stinging his cheeks and watering his eyes though. His toes were ice-cold already despite several layers of socks and his gloved hands were firmly tucked into the pockets of his coat.
He glanced over at his band mate and smiled sadly at the sight. Alex was a shivering mess. Miles knew for a fact that Alex wasn’t wearing as much clothing as he was himself and felt sorry for him. At least he’s wearing the hat, he thought.
They both had an idea of what they were supposed to do. Something involving big tanks, running in the snow and lip-synching to the song multiple times. He wasn't objecting to the running, anything for a little warmth, but these tanks both worried and excited him.
What made Romain think that this was practical, Miles had no idea, and he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to cry when he was told to take off his warm and comfy hat. And he winced when he saw Alex’s clearly pained face.
Within an hour they’d been ushered up on one of the tanks and the cold was somehow even worse up there; maybe it was their hat-less heads or the wind picking up. They were huddled up and Miles wanted nothing more than to take shelter inside and envelop Alex in a warm, bone-crushing hug. Alex was shivering worse than ever and his lips were turning a light shade of blue.
By the end of the day Miles’ whole body ached and his throat was painfully dry from all the lip-synching he’d done. He and Alex had ran, walked, rode, stood, leaned and sat with the help of those bloody tanks and when Miles had seen their hats poking out of Romain’s backpack he’d nearly lost it.
When they finally took a break, Miles couldn’t restrain himself any longer. He quickly walked over to Romain’s backpack which was leaning against one of the cars and swiftly snatched the two hats out of it. He moved away unnoticed and casually slipped one of them onto his head. The feeling of warm wool was heavenly.
After slipping on his own hat he tugged his band mate towards him and a little more forcefully thrust the other one over Alex’s red, icy ears, making sure to let his hands linger. Miles rubbed his gloved hands up and down Alex' shivering arms and Alex smiled at him gratefully.
Miles stepped away as he felt the urge to embrace Alex start to build up again. To be honest though, it never really disappeared.
Upon seeing Alex’s now clearly blue lips Romain thought it was a good idea to finally let them both return to the hotel. He was apparently pleased with the outdoor footage but told them to be up at seven the next morning. They were filming the rest of the video in an old theatre and an underground station. Thank god!
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Miles thought he’d never be warm again. The shower had been useless and the radiator in his room was barely working, not to mention the badly isolated walls. His usually warm and soft pyjamas barely made a difference either. He tossed, turned and shivered underneath the duvet and he almost preferred the French bedbugs to this. Almost.
His shivering increased as the night grew colder and he wondered how Alex was doing. They’d been given rooms wall to wall but Miles didn’t want to wake him up in case he’d managed to fall asleep.
But as time went on and the city outside grew quieter he could hear shuffling and creaking through the thin wall. Alex is no luckier then. It wasn’t long before he heard the click of a door shutting and the soft sound of sock-clad feet coming closer. Miles didn’t have to wait long for the knock that he knew was coming.
“Miles?” Alex’s voice was quiet and muffled through the door.
Miles didn’t answer and instead crawled out of the bed, his body still stiff and aching.
He opened the door and Alex’s trembling form was revealed.
“Can’t sleep,” Alex muttered, but with a small smile playing on his lips. “Too cold.”
Miles knew what Alex wanted. He had been wishing for it himself. The warmth of another body against your own was better than any cosy pyjamas or thick duvet.
Their shivering bodies were soon still and within minutes both of them had fallen asleep. A tangle of limbs and two content smiles.