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“Why is it so fucking cold?!”
That shout was the first thing James woke up to. He sat up, and, before actually answering the shout, pulled out his phone. He’s gotten quite adept at checking his feed at the speed of light, and unsurprisingly, clips from the last episode are now all over TikTok. Damn, he looks good, even when fake blood’s on him! His fans are going crazy for Yul’s reaction to seeing his ‘corpse’ too. All is right in the world.
With his curiosity sated, he put his phone away, and looked up at his bunkmate. “It is the middle of February, you know.”
Yul glared down at him, leaning over the side of the bed. “I know that! Do you think I’m an idiot? You have to notice how different this is.”
James shrugged, amused. “You’re right about that. Though it might just be because you’re writing a crop-top.”
Yul huffed. “Sure, short-sleeves and skintight-jeans. It’s just a me thing.”
James was just about to question how long Yul had been staring at his jeans, when they heard Kristal’s voice directly outside of their cabin over a megaphone.
“Can the two of you stop your fanservice and get out here already? I am not postponing the challenge for you!”
Yul groaned, getting out of the bed. “God, she is such a bitch.” He murmured, stalking out of the room. James paused, wishing he could’ve roped Yul in for a bedhead selfie (the theories that would fly about it would be crazy), before he followed the other out.
They were greeted by a winter wonderland- several inches of snow covering the ground, up to James’ ankles (Not very pleasant, his jeans were indeed skintight) and snow covering the trees. Some flurries were still falling from the air, and it didn’t take long for James and Yul to join the other contestants in shivering.
“Since Mother Nature gave us a little gift last night, why not use it for a winter-themed challenge?” Kristal announced, though, unsurprisingly, she was the only one out of them with an outfit actually fit for a surprise winter storm.
“Why don’t you offer us some winter clothes first?” Rosa spoke up, rubbing her arms. “We can’t do the challenge if we all get sick, right?”
Kristal glanced over to Oliver, who was also in winter clothing, and he nodded to her, making Kristal sigh. “Fine. I’ll have the production crew bring some over for all of you.”
It certainly felt a lot less cold when James had an extra layer under his shirt, along with mittens and a toboggan, but it was annoying that using his phone was much more difficult with the mittens on. Still, he glanced over to Yul, who still looked crabby, but notably less so now that he was dressed similarly, save for earmuffs instead of a toboggan.
“Let’s take a winter selfie!” James announced, slinging his arm around Yul’s shoulder and somehow managing to pull up the camera app on his phone as the dancer’s face reddened. “What?”
“Come on, you look good like this!” James said, the compliment pacifying the other enough for the camera to only catch him rolling his eyes instead of full-on scowling.
Once the final seven had all changed into winter outfits, a Kristal who was clearly trying to hold in her impatience explained the challenge. They had to make their own sleds out of materials given to them, and the one that was deemed the best would win an advantage in the next part of the challenge, simply enough.
James got to work making his own, though he was soon distracted by the sound of Yul’s laughter, looking up. “What’s so funny?”
Yul pointed over to Ally, who was constructing a snowboard instead of a sled. “Did all of those games she plays somehow give her brain damage?” He asked in a mocking tone.
“Well, more of an advantage for us, right?” James responded, giving Yul a confident smirk. (Really, was Ally begging to be up for vote?)
“Being with this lot is an advantage as is.” Yul responded, grinning back as they continued to work.
(Though despite their best efforts, it was Rosa instead who won the first part of the challenge, with a gothic-styled shed named after her daughter. Yul made it very clear that he thought Oliver had absolutely horrific taste.)
For the second part of the challenge, the groups had to pair up and have one person pull the sled up the hill, while the other rested on it, just to give some annoying extra weight. As expected, Rosa’s advantage was to just have to pull the sled up on her own, no partner, which clearly enthused her.
James and Yul- obviously enough- had paired up, and ended up deciding on James pulling the sled while Yul sat on it. All the way though, Yul was glaring at Rosa. “She’s got an obvious ticket to another easy win. Can they be a little less obviously biased?” He grumbled under his breath in annoyance.
James raised an eyebrow, looking back at him. “Why don’t you do something about it, then? Your hands are more free than mine are.”
That seemed to give Yul an idea, and his expression changed into a wide grin. “Oh, you got it.’ He reached down, starting to form a large snowball, packing it tight in his hands. Once they caught up to Rosa, he launched it, and it hit the unexpectant contestant in the back of her head, making her trip and fall as the duo passed by her with Yul’s triumphant mockery of ‘Eat shit, bitch!’
Once they reached the top of the hill, they were the first to arrive, being met with a very surprised Kristal.
“Oh! Uhm…James and Yul win the second part of the challenge! To be honest, I expected Rosa to win this, so I didn’t really think about an advantage for if a duo won…” Kristal sighed, glancing over to Oliver. “Oliver, what do you think?”
“Me?” Despite the fact that Kristal had been overly-relying on him this entire challenge, Oliver still managed to look shocked that he was asked for his opinion, and paused. “Well, removing the blindfolds kind of gets rid of the point of partners, so…maybe giving them a head start?”
“Blindfolds?” James raised an eyebrow.
“That’s right!” Kristal said cheerfully. “The last part of this challenge is to sled down this hill. The partner in front and guiding the sleigh will be blindfolded, while the one behind them has to give them directions to ensure they don’t crash. First to cross the finish line wins immunity!”
“You are not blindfolding me. I’m giving directions.” Yul said firmly to James, who only seemed amused by the insistence. “Well, if you’re so insistent at seeing me at your mercy, of course.”
Yul’s face flushed from more than just the cold. “It’s not that! I just don’t trust you not to get distracted.”
“Of course, of course.” James replied lightly, glancing over to Kristal. “So, about that head start?”
“Right.” The hostess nodded. “Once the others get here, we’ll give you a fifteen-second head start.”
Eventually, the other groups all arrived. Rosa first (who glared at the two), then Karol & Riya, then Hunter & Ally. Once the teams were lined up and people were properly blindfolded, Yul spoke up. “If my leg gets broken in a crash or something, you’re going to have to deal with the backlash from my fans.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let you get hurt.” James reassured him, and Kristal finally gave the go-ahead for their headstart. For a few moments, it was more difficult than James expected- it wasn’t as though he got the opportunity to do things like this often, after all- but he was a quick learner, so he got the hang of it soon enough. Yul observed the others as he gave directions- Somehow Ally had fallen off the sled without Hunter even realizing, which was hard not to get distracted laughing at. Karol and Riya were making good time, though Karol’s impatience was clearly getting riled up. Rosa was paired with Oliver, who seemed anxious, but once again she was the one closest to catching up to them.
Though Yul didn’t even have to think about any more snowball sabotages before they crossed the finish line.
“James and Yul win immunity and are safe at tonight’s elimination!” Kristal announced over her megaphone. No one was happy about this except the duo in question, least of all Karol.
“You think Hunter and Ally will vote with us?” James asked, raising an eyebrow as he and Yul walked back to the cabins.
“They never officially dissolved our alliance. Besides, they know without immunity, the target is on their backs tonight. Whether they like it or not, if they want to get past this elimination ceremony, they have to work with us and get Karol out.” Yul smirked, seeming proud of himself, and James didn’t disagree. He was certainly going to look forward to seeing the expression on Karol’s face when she got eliminated for the second time.
“Well, since it’s going to be a few hours until the elimination, why don’t we enjoy the weather while it’s here for a minute?” James suggested.
Yul arched an eyebrow. “What, feeling an urge to let out your inner six-year-old?”
James shrugged. “Can you blame me? It doesn’t snow that often in Brazil. I’d like to have a moment to savor it.”
Yul paused for a second, then sighed. “Fine. As long as we don’t spend all afternoon out here. What’re you even wanting to do?”
“Make a snowman, of course! Isn’t that the winter standard?” James’ expression brightened into a smile as he moved to kneel down, beginning to roll a snowball.
Yul watched for a few moments, before huffing and joining him. He usually didn’t enjoy things like these, but indulging James seemed like a better usage of his time than potentially dealing with the other campers. He was more enjoyable to be around than the lot of them combined..
“How often does it snow in South Korea?” James questioned after a moment as they finished up the body of the snowman, patting down the snow to make sure it was tightly packed together.
“Pretty often where I live, but it melts quickly. It’s more annoying than anything.” Yul replied, watching James start to get to work on making the head.
“Good thing it’s sticking around here. My sister would die to be in my shoes right now.” James chuckled. “She loves winter stuff. We’ve gone up to São Joaquim on vacation just for her before.”
James’ words made Yul think about his own brother, though Yul stayed silent on that. He didn’t exactly like to talk about him.
“Can you go find some sticks for the arms?” James spoke up to ask as he carefully placed the head on top of the body, and Yul stood up. “Fine. I don’t know how you’re intending to give that thing a face, though.”
He walked over towards the trees, looking around. Kicking aside some snow with his boots, he eventually found decent enough twigs that were long enough to work. Gathering them up, he walked back, only to see James had successfully ‘drawn’ a face in the snow with his finger- an angry, flustered expression.
“What the hell is that supposed to be?” Yul asked, arching his eyebrow as he stuck the twigs into the sides, James glancing at him with a smug grin. “It’s you, of course.”
“What?! I don’t look like that!” Yul retorted, his face burning up as his expression matched the snowman’s.
“You do when you look at me.” James winked, pulling out his phone to take a picture of the completed snowman, and then a selfie with it and Yul in the background. Once he posted both, he pocketed the device again, turning to look at Yul with a smile. “Thanks, though, Yul. Doing this is nice.”
Yul crossed his arms. “Yeah, whatever. Can we finally go talk to the MCR reject and his irrelevant girlfriend?”
“Of course.” James said, still smiling at Yul in a way that made the dancer’s insides feel funny, which he definitely did NOT like. “You’ll have to bring me to Korea after one of us wins this show. Then we can test if we can make a snowman before it melts.”
“Fine, if you’re that desperate to spend more time around me, I guess I can give your pathetic ass the time of day.” Yul smirked back as the two started to walk towards the cabins.
“You call my ass pathetic, yet I’m pretty sure you were staring at it in the second portion of the challenge.”
“I was not!”