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The chilly air of the cave as well as the raging snowstorm outside sets a gloomy atmosphere around them. The brothers sat around in a circle, drained due to the hours of search they had conducted a couple of hours ago.
Another sneeze made its way out as Blaze shivered while clutching the hem of Ais’ jacket around him, the other boy leaning back against a wall beside him.
How Ais isn't dead because of hypothermia is unknown to Blaze, even though the younger has been jacketless almost the whole time they were here, only sporting the turtleneck, sleeveless, blue shirt that both he- though, his is red- and Ais wear.
“Why are we here…” Blaze mumbled, tugging his knees close to his chest.
Somewhere to his right, somebody sighed in exasperation.
“The Commander sent us on a mission to retrieve Frostbot, a bot that can create frost from nearby water particles,” Halilintar answered.
“This planet is called Planet Gelidus, an uninhabited planet with blizzards as a daily recurrence, this is the place where Frostbot is currently hiding," He sent Blaze a look, "You would know if you read the mission data.”
“We can't go back unless we've found the power-sphera,” Gempa continued before Blaze could refute, “So please just hang on until we get back.”
‘That sucks,’ Blaze thinks.
Taking a glance at Gempa, the earth user is struggling- trying- to light up what seems to be a horribly arranged campfire. It doesn't help that Gempa is trying to light up a small lighter using his rocky fists.
Blaze scowled and lifted a finger to wipe a drop of snot that ran down his nose. “Can't we just give Ais to the commander? He's basically the same thing, right?-”
He yelped when a cold hand suddenly touched the back of his neck. Whipping his head to the perpetrator, he glared at a blank-staring Ais who quickly retracted his hands, not without Blaze seeing the small shit-eating grin the other had for a split second. Before Blaze could slap the grin off the other's face, someone else spoke up.
“We can't just give away Ais,” Thorn chipperly cuts in with a smile, “I need him to water my plants.”
‘Whatever,’ Blaze huffed and continued to snuggle up to himself. Ais’ jacket is extremely warm, fluffy, and is the only reason why Blaze hasn't frozen over yet. Eventually, his mind came to a blank, melting under the influence of the little warmth he had.
Not long after he started dozing off, the sound of something cracking caught his attention. Blaze perked up to see a defeated-looking Gempa with a broken lighter in his palm, pieces of plastic, metal, and the colorless flammable liquid dripping down on his older brother’s rock hands.
A sound of laughter echoes throughout the cave, it all comes from a wheezing Taufan as he points and laughs at Gempa.
“AHAHAHA!” The wind user clutches his stomach as he writhes on the floor. He was quickly quieted after Halilintar hit the back of his head. Taufan pouted at Halilintar, who gave him a sharp look in return.
Ignoring the two, the earth user rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. Gempa sent a hopeful gaze towards Blaze.
“Blaze, can you use your powers to light up the campfire?” He asked while wiping off the remnants of their only lighter on his hands.
“I would’ve-” a sneeze, “-burned this place down already if I wasn't sick.”
Gempa sighed, then leaned back on the wall, “Haah…” he sighed.
Blaze thinks that arson wouldn't be possible either way. This planet doesn't even have anything to start a fire with, that's why the admiral supplied them with firewood in the first place. However, giving them a single lighter was a horrible insight on their part.
The silence stretches out between them as Blaze wipes another drop of running snot on Ais’ jacket, the other boy muttering a disgusted ‘ew’ and a ‘You better clean my jacket when we get back.’ He simply ignores Ais by turning his head in the other direction.
From the corner of his eyes, he sees Thorn repeatedly poking at Solar's cheek. Solar opened his eyes with a groan and lifted his head off Thorn’s shoulder.
The light user rubbed his eyelid, “What do you want?” he grumbled.
“How do you even sleep with that thing on,” Thorn points at Solar’s visor.
Solar didn’t answer him, his gaze was directed at the horribly arranged campfire and the remnants of the lighter Gempa didn’t manage to clean.
“Did you really break our only lighter?” He managed to ask with a frown, a little bit of the fatigue lingering in his voice, Gempa rubbed his cheek with a muttered ‘sorry.’ Solar sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Can't Blaze just use his powers?” He glanced towards where Blaze was at, “Never mind, I don’t think he can do much seeing as how much he’s shivering.”
Perhaps this is where they end, the 7 of them huddling together in an icy cave, slowly turning into popsicles. Blaze could already see the headline “The Boboiboy Septuplets found DEAD on one of their missions outer space due to hypothermia!” making waves back on earth, all because they were stupid enough to not bring an extra lighter.
Tok Aba, their poor grandpa, would be all alone taking care of his shop- no wait, he still has Ochobot, It'll be fine.
"Aha!" A loud shout startled them all. Taufan grinned and looked towards Blaze with a look that spelled nothing but trouble.
The wind user stood up to walk to Blaze, he then crouched down to Blaze's level. Their eyes met, and Taufan grinned.
"Blaze, who's your favorite brother?"
"...Huh?"
Taufan's grin didn't fade, no, it got wider the longer Blaze kept silent. Before he could blink, everyone was staring at them expectantly. If he wasn't so cold, a drop of sweat would've broken out at the stares, even if it came from his brothers.
"C'mon, Blaze~," Taufan urged in a sing-song tone, "Answer me!"
"I equally hate all of you," he bites back defensively.
It's Halilintar's turn to scoff with a smirk, "Oh really? Why is your face red then?"
Suddenly, Blaze was aware of the warmth that flushed throughout his face. His grip on Ais' jacket- when did he clutch it so tightly?- subconsciously loosened.
"I-"
"It's definitely me."
He yelped as an Icy arm pulled him into a side hug. He didn't need to turn his head to figure out who said that.
Ais tilted his head, "He's wearing my jacket, no?"
His face flushed and a vein threatened to pop on his forehead, "No-"
"Surely it's me?" Someone obnoxiously cut him off, "Anyone would be grateful to have a brother like me," Solar made a V sign with his hand, then gestured around in the air as if it would convince them.
Blaze glared at him, "I said no-"
His denial proved to be futile as the previously silent cave echoes with his brothers arguing. "Blaze spends most of the time with me and Taufan!" His face became redder- "Hah? I'm the oldest, I should have the most favor here," -and redder, "Nonsense! You're as dry as Yaya's cookies!" -even redder.
Sweatdropping at the scene, Gempa tried to calm them all down, "Guys, let's just calm down for a second- huh, BLAZE?!"
The arguing came to a stop when they heard Gempa scream. Looking at where Gempa is, they all let out distressed shrieks of their own.
There, red as his shirt, sat a very red Blaze with his hair on fire, still bundled up in Ais' jacket, with the ice user sweating waterfalls while clutching his half-melted hand beside him. Blaze covered his face with his hands, and let out a frustrated and embarrassed groan.
Taufan let out a 'whoop!' as he fistbumped the air. While the others gaped, the wind user pulled out a stick with 3 pieces of marshmallows already stuck on it.
"Look, guys!" He gleefully eyed his now-roasted marshmallows, "We have heat!-"
Taufan froze when he felt a hand placed on his shoulders. He slowly turned around, dread pooling in his stomach when he was met with a set of yellow eyes.
"Abang Taufan," Gempa smiled sweetly as he calmly discarded the stick of roasted marshmallows.
Taufan gulped.
"Gempa- WAIT-"
--- --- ---
Later back in their shared rooms in TAPOPS, we can see Gempa scolding Taufan while the latter kneels on the floor.
Ais and Duri tended a feverish Blaze while Solar and Halilintar watched everything go down.