Chapter Text
February was always cold. Three black minivans drove down a tortuous, rural road, whose sides were both covered with bright white snow. Soon, the passengers could only see trees, tall and bare, forming an impenetrable curtain.
“Won’t you tell us any clues at all ?” Sungkwann complained to the director sitting next to the driver. The vocal team was riding with him, and one of their managers was driving them. The youngest vocalist had been trying to coerce them into spilling the tea about the GOSE episode they were about to film.
“I already told you… It’s a surprise. You’ll know when we arrive on the site.” Sungkwan pouted but stopped insisting. Instead, he turned his attention toward Jeonghan. The poor hyung was shaken by all the road’s curves and turns that was calling out his motion sickness. “I shouldn’t have finished Wonu’s ramen.” Jeonghan whined.
“Wow… you’re turning green, hyung… should we pull over ?” Jihoon suggested, equally worried about his hyung as he was about finishing their trip with the pungent smell of vomit in the cabin.
“I’m okay… Are we almost there ?”
“In about 15 minutes according to the GPS.” the manager answered after a quick glance into the rearview mirror watching Jeonghan wince.
“Will the road always be like that ?”
“I think so…”
“Do you want to listen to music, hyung ?” Dokyeom asked, hoping to distract the older vocalist from his discomfort. Jeonghan smiled, moved by his friend’s attention. Seokmin was definitely the sweetest human being. Jeonghan also saw Jisoo ruffling through a small pocket inside the car's door, checking for plastic bags in case the worst would happen.
Fortunately they reached their destination before Jeonghan could repaint the inside of the car with his last meal. Jisoo, stayed back with Jonghan a bit, who was still feeling nauseous, soothingly rubbing his back - even if with how thick his winter coat was, he doubted his friend would feel the contact.
The other member of the group followed their manager to a neat angular building that was harmoniously fading into the forest environment. A half-dozen of small observation cabins were built at height out of wood, for the purpose of observing birds and animals, and detecting poachers or arsonists. Joshua was however not surprised to see their leader coming their way instead with short strides and worried eyes. The LA boy almost snorted ; of course it would take less than ten seconds for Seungcheol to realize his precious Jeonghan wasn’t with the rest of the vocal team.
“Hannie ? Are you alright ?” He asked, taking the sick man’s hand in his.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s okay, no need to make a fuss.” Jeonghan assured. His face had already regained some colors. “We can delay filming or you can rest a bit if you want ?” Seungcheol still fretted and Jisoo rolled his eyes, knowing very well that Jeonghan was enjoying the leader’s attention even though he was doing his best putting on a detached expression on his face.
“We shouldn't make the rest of the team wait for us… Moreover, Sungkwan is soon going to throw a fit if the secret of GOSE's concept is kept any longer.” Jeonghan chuckled, subtly adjusting his hand in Seungcheol's.
Jisoo tried not to express his exasperation at his friends’ obliviousness. The way they instinctively reach out for each other, be it visually or physically, subconsciously lean in each other's space, mindlessly bask in each other's attention… but of course neither of them would admit anything special was going on. Jisoo could almost still hear Seungcheol complaining about Jeonghan's crush on Hyungwon. He should have debuted with Monster X if he likes them so much. Gosh, Seungcheol could be so petty when jealous… Not that Jeonghan was any better, alway displaying what could easily pass as weird ownership claims with various touch and gesture. Joshua knew he must be the most patient man alive for having had to put up with his same-aged friend’s shit for so long.
*****
It turned out the concept of this day was a treasure hunt. They had to proceed in trio. One had to stay in a cabin with a map and guide the two others through the forest to get to the clue boxes leading to the prize. To form the teams, they played one of these silly games with rhythm and speed that Jisoo always struggled to understand. He ended up teaming up with Vernon and Seungkwan. They all wanted to stay warm in the cabin and guide the two others in the wild, so they ended up playing rock-paper-scissors. Vernon won and Seungkwan whined.
Seungcheol was paired with Mingyu and Chan ; Jeonghan with Minghao and Wonwoo. Jun, Jihoon, Seokmin and Hoshi formed the last team.
“Ready to lose, Joshuji ?” Jeonghan taunted him, getting dressed to go outside with Minghao while Wonwoo stayed to be their guide.
“I’m gonna crush you, Yoon Jronghan !” Joshua retaliated immediately, hitting him with his scarf before wrapping it around his neck. He would have to count on Vernon's direction to reach their team’s clue, and given how absent minded the rapper was, the risks of Seungkwan and him getting lost were clearly skyrocketing. What could he say ? He liked to live dangerously.
“But isn’t it unfair ? Jun and Jihooni will have two people to guide them !” Jeonghan remarked, eyes sparkling with mischief.
“I don’t really know if it’s an advantage or a handicap.” Jihoon sassed back, while DK and Hoshi feigned feeling offended.
Each team had a different itinerary and their own clues to find. Then, they had to go back to their cabin where their guides were waiting for them to complete an enigma and find the final prize. To be sure none of them would be tempted to use google map, the staff confiscated their phones, and gave them cameras and walkie-talkie instead. Jeonghan and Minghao were about to run down their own path when Seungcheol stopped them.
“Here you go.” He said to Jeonghan, handing him a pair of gloves.
Minghao raised an eyebrow as his teammate accepted the offering and resisted the urge to roll his eyes when Jeonghan used his cute baby voice to thank the leader. “What about me ? I forgot mine, too.” The Chinese dancer teased the leader who flushed a little.
“I can ask around !” Suengcheol hastened to say, and Minghao knew he was sincere since he was always so dedicated to every member of the group (just maybe a bit extra more with Jeonghan). “Wait for me a minute and…”
“Don’t bother, I was joking, hyung !”
“Good luck for the game, Coups-ya” Jeonghan claimed. “We’ll definitely get first but maybe we will share the prize if you’re second.”
Seungcheol scoffed, flicking Jeonghan’s forehead. “We don’t need luck when we have talent, you fool !”
“Yah ! I take that back ! We’re not sharing anything anymore !” Jeonghan sulked while Seungcheol jogged backward with a provocative smirk to join his team. “See what I got for being nice ?” Jeonghan complained to Minghao.
“Yes, hyung, you should only be evil from now on, but only to Cheol hyung.” the younger advised with a serious face.
They were cut by Wonwoo’s voice coming from the walkie-talkie. “One, two, one, two. Test, test. Do you hear me ?”
“Loud and clear Wonu !” Minghao cheered.
“This is so cool ! Like a spy movie ! over !” Wonwoo excitedly exclaimed.
“Should we find cool code names then ?” Jeonghan suggested as they got ahead to start the game.
“With you ? No chance ! It will always end up unserious and ridiculous.” Minghao objected.
“You have to say “over” when you finish talking so I know when I must reply ! Over !” Wonwoo added.
“My ! He really gets into character.” Jeonghan chuckled. “So cute.”
They were pretty efficient at first. Jeonghan was competitive but Minghao was more lay back and his playful side was showing more. That’s how they started a mini snowball fight after they found their second clue, only leaving two more to find.
“Should we leave the path and cut through the forest ?” Jeonghan suggested.
"That will only get us lost.” Minghao laughed.
“If you can walk straight, not necessarily.” Wonwoo said. “But I can’t have as many landmarks to give you if you leave the main path.”
“The night will fall soon, anyway ! Come on, Eisa, let's add a bit of challenge ! We must hurry and come back before it gets dark. They didn’t give us a flashlight on purpose, I bet !” Jeonghan sulked, taking Minghao by his arm. They stumbled upon their third clue by pure luck (Jeonghan’s talent according to himself), and chose to try the same tactic to find the last one.
“Soon, you should see very big rocks, like a mini-mountain. You’ll have to climb it up and the clue should be a bit after. Over.” Wonwoo informed them.
“Climb ? Can’t we bypass them ?” Jeonghan whined. “God, it’s so cold. You’re so lucky Wonu to wait nice and warm comfortably while we are doing the dirty work !”
“You can, but it will be longer.” Wonwoo answered.
“Privilege of being the guy in the chair. We are the amazing spiderman, hyung, freezing our ass out there...” Minghao muttered.
They continued to bicker, which was really hard to do with a walkie-talkie since they were constantly cutting each other off and were about to start climbing the first rock, when a dull sound made both of the artists freeze.
“Did you hear that ?” Jeonghan said.
After a bit of silence, he pushed the radio's button to inform Wonwoo they were starting to pass the rocks when a loud crack resonated this time. And it came from under their feet. They barely had any time to react before the ground under them suddenly collapsed, swallowing both of them. Jeonghan heard Minghao scream his name, he tried to grab his dongsaeng as both of them tumbled down helplessly. It happened so fast, they barely had time to understand what was going on before their free fall stopped abruptly as they crashed to the ground, almost three meters down.