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"I'm back." Ilia announced after opening the door to his unofficially shared hotel room with Misha. While Misha was not actually competing at the World Championship this year and rightfully so. It was a hard season for Misha and after winning the Olympics there was no need for him to tire himself out with another competition, he now deserved to rest.
After all he wasn't the only one who had withdrawn this year, Alyssa Liu, Jason Brown, Cha Jun-hwan hell even Madison Chock and Evan Bates did. At this rate half the competitors were withdrawing.
And while the original plan was that Misha was going to stay in kazakhstan and do more interviews and sponsorships while also resting, or at least trying to, he last minute decided to, as Ilia likes to call it, say fuck it, board a plan and show up in Prague. Finding a hotel room wasn't as hard as one would imagine, it was honestly extremely easy, easier than Misha thought it would be, however the hard part or impossible for any other person was to get tickets for the actual events there. Was it anyone else they would have failed but Misha wasn't the current Olympic Champion for nothing.
After a short conversation with the ISU about the situation, they were more than welcome to find him a seat for the women's and men's event; it would show good sportsmanship they said. While true, Misha right now couldn't care less about sportsmanship; he just wanted to see his friends, teammates and boyfriend compete and thankfully he could.
Misha had managed to arrive a day earlier than most skaters had and had booked a hotel nearby the arena and even though hotel rooms were provided for every skater who was competing at Worlds, unofficially Ilia had chosen to ditch his actual room and stay with Misha in secret; his dad and Amber only aware of this arrangement of theirs.
Ilia was now back from his actual hotel room where he had to show up and act as if he was going to stay there for the duration of the Worlds and immediately launched into the bed in the middle of the room with a groan.
"Finally." Ilia sighed, still fully clothed, not bothering to take his jacket, shoes and beanie making Misha laugh.
"At least get your shoes off." Misha complained while giving him a playful light kick with his foot at Ilia's shoulder.
"I have been on the road for hours." Ilia complained, face still buried in the sheets.
"Exactly why you should go change, your clothes are dirty and you are dirtying my bed." Misha complained, still amusement filling his voice.
"Are you calling me dirty?" Ilia, gasped, finally raising his head and pretending to be offended.
"Right now, yes, you stink." Misha let out with a smile making Ilia's mouth drop before he lounged at Misha and started tickling him. "No, no, no. Stop that! Ilia! Nooooooo." Misha let out between giggles while trying to get away from Ilia's strong grasp.
"Not until you take that back." Ilia laughed, only doubling down his efforts at tickling Misha who now was tearing up from all the laughing.
"Let go, you stinky." Misha only let out, making Ilia gasp and that was when Misha finally found the perfect opportunity to tear himself from Ilia's embrace and stand up from the bed while still chuckling.
"I am wounded." Ilia let out with a pout.
"Well, go be wounded in the shower okay?" Misha shot back once again leaving Ilia speechless. While Misha might seem completely awkward and shy on the outside once you get to know him you will understand he is the complete opposite and at times it still surprises Ilia.
"Fine. But I will remember this moment. The moment where you didn't allow your poor boyfriend who is exhausted from all the traveling to sit down and relax and not only didn't allow that but also insulted him." Ilia finished his dramatic speech before standing up and actually going in the direction of the bathroom before he was stopped by Misha who wrapped his arms around him from behind.
"Oh, yes, poor Ilia." He whispered, loosening his grip and allowing Ilia to turn around and fully face him, before he gave him a quick peck on the mouth. "Now, go shower."
"Fine…" Ilia groaned and finally stepped into the bathroom.
"Now I am showered and fresh, happy?" Ilia asked, closing the bathroom door, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, his hair while now short still looking slightly messy.
"Ver-" Misha was saying before he did a double take at Ilia's hair and was just left staring at him. He remembered Ilia telling him he was getting a haircut yesterday yet he was expecting Ilia was going to slightly trim his hair as it was sometimes getting into his eyes, not that. Definitely not that.
"You okay?" Ilia asked, raising an eyebrow, confusion written all over his face after Misha suddenly stopped talking and now seemed to just be observing him. "Do I have something on my face?" He frowned.
"Your hair…" Misha whispered, barely audible but thanks to the complete silence of the room Ilia managed to get what he said.
"Oh, yeah. I cut it, you like it?" He asked, running a hand through it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to cut it this short again… He liked his previous length yet it was getting annoying at times and after these disastrous Olympics he decided to shot his shot and cut it. However, after he did it, he couldn't help but feel like it was a mistake, he liked how fluffy his hair looked and he suddenly decided it wasn't that annoying after all but it was way too late then. His mom's reaction hadn't help much either while she tried to hide it to not upset it he could tell she didn't like it. Hell, his sister even laughed saying he looked ridiculous…
"Yeah, no, it's good... It's different… I like it." Misha tried, wincing internally as he obviously didn't sound as excited as one would if he actually liked it. Don't get him wrong, he loved Ilia and found his gorgeous no matter what his hair length was. However, he couldn’t but internally mourn Ilia's long hair. He clearly remembers multiple times running his fingers through it in a attempt to try, and fail, to tame it or just casually playing around with Ilia's hair while they laid in bed. And his look with the bandanna… Misha thought he could never emotionally recover when he had first saw it. But now seeing Ilia actually be unsure of it he tried his best to reassure Ilia that he loved his new haircut even though he unfortunately didn't.
"You hate it, don't ya?" Ilia chuckled awkwardly again running his hand through it this time with less confidence but rather embarrassment.
"No, no, I promise, I love it."
"You don't have to pretend to like it."
"Ilia."
"It's fine. My mom and sister didn't like it either." He again chuckled, trying to play it off as fine but Misha could tell that it actually bothered Ilia.
"Ilia."
"It's fine really. I don't really like it either to be honest but it's already done now…" He looked down his previous smile gone and it broke Misha's heart seeing him like this.
"Hey, it's not that bad." Misha tried again, standing in front of Ilia and gently taking Ilia's hands on his own who just shot him a look that clearly said cut the crap. "Listen, do I like it more than the long hair, fuck no. Yet, that's not the important part, forget me, or your mom or your sister. Do you like it?" Misha asked softly, lightly squeezing his hands.
"I mean… It's not horrible but I think I do miss my old hair." He whispered almost sounding ashamed and Misha immediately wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into an embrace and whispering to his ear.
"It will grow out again." He rubbed his back and gave him a quick peck on the temple.
"I guess." Ilia murmured, also wrapping his arms around Misha in return. "The fans will hate it." He added. Ilia clearly knew how much his fans loved his long hair and now he blew it, just like his free skate. One disappointment to another he was these days.
"They will find you hot either way." Misha reassured him, running his fingers to now Ilia's short hair, trying to bring him some comfort. "I certainly do." He added with a smirk making Ilia chuckle.
"You are ridiculous." Ilia complained, pressing his face to Misha's shoulder and letting him keep playing with his hair.
"Ridiculously in love with you." Misha let out with a kiss to his hair making Ilia chuckle again while he could feel his cheeks heating up.
Maybe him cutting his hair short wasn't the end of the world after all.