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"Hello everyone! Today we will complete the Trust Games Special! As you can see we are outside and since this will be the last game, it's also the most challenging one! The pairs will take turns. One will be again blindfolded and the other will lead him towards a tree. Then the blindfolded member will touch the tree and be led away. When arriving to the starting position, we will take off his blindfold and he is supposed to go and find the tree he touched. This game is called Hug a Tree! So let's have fun everyone!"

The first couple to play were 2MIN. First Taemin lead Minho. He chose a tree that was a bit far away but the route was easy to remember and it had a very distinctive shape so Minho should remember it. Indeed. After they got back and Minho started on his journey alone, he was pretty quick. He had a bit trouble locating the area but once he spotted the odd shaped one, he knew it was the one he touched. 

"Thank you for choosing wisely." Minho smiled and ruffled Taemin's hair.

"Yeah, it couldn't be too easy but I think it wasn't that hard."

"I will try to pick a good one for you too."

"Don't stress yourself. I was lucky I saw that one. Most of the others are all the same."

"You will do great, Minie Minie Taeminie."

"Yah~" Taemin chuckled and pushed Minho. 

Minho was extremely careful with the blindfolded Taemin. They were in the woods afterall and the ground was full of rocks and sticks. He couldn't help feeling worried. Other may but he had a great pride in his body and athletic skills. He considered himself to be quite strong and while Taemin was not weak at all, he still appeared so... Not feminine. Not too young, there wasn't much difference between them anyway... just... Fragile. But that had probably nothing to do with Taemin's appearance or body structure and everything to do with the feelings he had for the maknae. Once you feel so strongly about someone, he will become the most precious thing in the world to you and that was Taemin to Minho. The flaming charisma was afraid that if he made a mistake, the other would break.

He picked a tree that was relatively close and the route to it was the easiest of all possibilities. After the blindfold was off, Taemin was also a bit disoriented and had to carefully judge the distance they walked before but once he got on the right track, he found the tree. 

They laughed, jumped and high fived.

"I knew you could do it!"

"We were pretty quick too!"

"Yeah, I think we are gonna win again." Minho smirked and Taemin smiled.

"Of course. We are the best."

The second couple were Eunhae. Donghae was the first to be blindfolded. Eunhyuk already gave up on the game, he was sure they would loose again. However, he didn't want to hurt Donghae so he picked a tree that was not too far away, even though the journey had quite a few turns on it.

"You are trying to confuse me, Hyukjae but I will surprise you."

"Yeah, sure, Hae." Hyukkie didn't believe him. Well... He should have. 

When Donghae started to look for the tree, he was incredibly fast and precise. Despite the difficulty of the route, he found it. 

"I'll be damned. You really did it."

Donghae grinned and hugged Eunhyuk.

"I am better than you think."

Hyukkie smiled and nudged him in the side.

"Maybe you could show it more often."

Donghae also didn't want to give Hyukkie an easy ride but at the same time, he didn't want to torture him so he picked a tree that was a bit further away but with only a couple of turns. Hyukkie had more troubles with the orientation than Hae but he was faster so he completed the mission quickly too. They even got a better results than 2MIN since they received bonus points for the level of difficulty.

"Hahahahahahaha. We are the winners here."

"You know, when you smile like that and radiate the sheer happiness I feel incredibly lucky to be next to you."

Donghae looked at Hyuk, the smile temporarily leaving his face.

"If you weren't by my side I wouldn't be able to smile like that. It's thanks to you."

Hyukkie smiled and pulled him closer, kissing him gently on the top of his head.

"I don't care about the games or the show, I am just happy we can spend the time together."

Hae nodded and wrapped his arms around Hyukkie's back.

"Me too, me too."

The last couple were Woogyu. So far the game went okay. There were no accidents and everyone found the tree so the producers were a bit worried this episode would be too boring.

"Yah, you two. You need to make the route as hard as possible."

"What? Why?"

"The others finished too quickly. We assumed it would be harder for you but we were wrong. So you need to pick a tree that's hard to find and even if you remember the way, please be lost a bit on purpose, okay?"

Sunggyu exchanged the worried looks with Woohyun but they didn't really have a choice. They blindfolded Sunggyu first. 

"Just trust me, hyung."

Woohyun led the way carefully. He took many turns but he was observing Sunggyu and knew the other was keeping track of them. The tree was well hidden but he could see the wood was very hard on the surface so Gyu would be able to find it and indeed he did.

Sunggyu followed the PD's instructions and appeared confused in the beginning. He made a few wrong turns but he still managed to find his tree. Woohyun was proud.

"Good job!" He smiled and Sunggyu smiled back. The leader was so happy he even wanted to hug the other but he stopped midway, suddenly afraid of his own emotions. Woohyun saw the intention of his hyung and so he decided to take the lead and hugged him instead. They were pretending to be married, of course they should hug. Sunggyu smiled and hugged him tighter. How could Woohyun always know what he wished to do? It was incredible. 

Next, it was Woohyun turn. They put the blindfold and started the journey. Sunggyu also made many turns and they were quite far away when suddenly the cameraman shouted.

"Yah, wait! I ran out of the tape, I need to run back to change it. Stay here, okay?"

"Okay." Sunggyu nodded and they remained where they were.

Woohyun was quiet. He didn't feel that well and the blindfold was strangely bothering him. It was pitch dark and he was reminded of the water. He felt suffocated and cold. When Sunggyu let go of his hand since they were waiting in one place, he almost cried and hold onto him but he didn't. He couldn't appear scared or weak. However, even after a while, the cameraman was not coming back. 

"Yah, do you think something happened?" Sunggyu asked. Woohyun nervously swallowed. His legs felt wobbly and his throat was dry. 

"Maybe he just got lost." He wanted to sound casual and teasing but his voice came out as strained.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sunggyu noticed it right away. 

"Sure, I am." Woohyun lied. Sunggyu took a closer look at him and reached for his hand. The moment he touched him, Woohyun jumped a bit. Sunggyu would laugh and call him a scaredy-cat if he didn't feel how cold and sweaty his hand was.

"Are you sure you are fine? Come here, I will take the blindfold off, we are not shooting anyway right now."

Woohyun froze in place. He wanted the blindfold off but at the same he didn't want Sunggyu to see his eyes. However, he didn't have time to react or stop the other because Sunggyu already took the blindfold off. It was already dark outside so Woohyun had no trouble adjusting his eyes but he still blinked a few times, hoping the leader wouldn't notice he almost cried. 

"Seriously. You don't look too good, Woohyun-ah."

Woohyun was pale, he was sweating like crazy and he had a sort of manic look in his eyes.

"I'm fine."

"You are not. The hell with this. We are going back."

"What?"

"We are waiting for about 30 minutes now but he didn't come back and nobody called us. It's already dark and you are exhausted and cold. We can't finish the shoot today. You need to rest."

"Hyung~ No. It's fine, really."

"Shut up. I am not gonna watch you collapse, got it? We are going back, right now."

Woohyun couldn't argue with him so he just silently followed. However, the route turned out to be more complicated than they originally assumed and even Sunggyu didn't remember how many turns they took exactly. 

"Hyung?"

"Hm?"

"I think, we are lost."

Sunggyu sighed.

"I think you are right. Damn this show. It drives me crazy."

Woohyun smiled and sat down on the stump, breathing a bit harder than was normal. Sunggyu picked up his phone, he decided to call their manager.

"No service? You gotta be kidding me. Where in the world there is still an area with no reception? Seriously?"

Woohyun chuckled. He got his phone but he also didn't have the signal.

"I guess we are out of luck today." 

Sunggyu crouched down to him and pierced him with his gaze.

"You are sick."

Woohyun laughed awkwardly and looked away.

"I'm not." But he was obviously shivering. Sunggyu put a hand on his forehead.

"Damn it. You are burning up."

"Don't worry. I feel fine, really."

"Woohyun-ah, please stop it. I am not blind nor stupid. You are obviously not fine. Why don't you ever say anything? Do you think I will think any less of you if you tell me you are suffering? I am supposed to take care of you!"

"Well, I don't need you to force yourself and take care of me. I can take care of myself."

"What the...? I am not forcing myself. I want to be there for you when you are having a hard time. Wouldn't you do it for me?"

"That's different."

"I don't see how."

"You are the leader. You feel the responsability for all of us so you feel you need to be here when we need you. But I don't want to stress you or worry you. You don't need to push yourself when it comes to me."

"That's the stupidest thing you ever said and considering the nonsens that always leaves your mouth, that means something." 

"Hyung!"

"I am serious. I don't care about the leader position. Sure, I feel the responsability but before I am your leader, I am also your friend and I care about you. Do you care about me only because we are in the group together?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why don't you let me help you? You know... I noticed, you shy away mostly from me. If it's others who are concerned, you let them spoil you and assist you, but never me. You never reach out to me. Why?"

"You don't understand. It's.... complicated."

"Make it simple then."

"You won't get it, okay? I just don't want to appear weak before you.

"What? Why? Don't tell me... Do you still see me as your rival so you don't want to appear vulnerable? Do you think I would hurt you more if I know you are already hurting?"

"NO! It's not like that."

"Then why?"

"Hyung, please stop."

"No. This is serious. I need to know what problems you have with me."

"I have no problems with you."

"You could have fooled me."

"Hyung~" Woohyun sobbed. Well, that did put a stop to everything Sunggyu was thinking and doing. Woohyun was crying?

"I..." Sunggyu was lost. What was he supposed to do now?

"I'm sorry. Please, don't cry."

It was tearing his heart apart.

"I won't ask you anymore, just please stop crying."

Woohyun looked at Sunggyu and saw that tears started to swell in his eyes, too. He suddenly felt warm and it wasn't because of the fever he was running. He sighed and looked down.

"I don't want to burden you because I know, you are carying enough on your shoulders as it is and if something goes wrong, you also tend to blame yourself. This show is incredibly hard on you so I don't want to pressure you with my problems too. Speaking generally... I just... I want to be strong, brave and capable to you. I want to be someone you can always count on, someone you can laugh with and argue with, someone who can listen to you and advise you... I just want to be everything to you that you are to the rest of the members and also... I... I also want to be cool and charming. I don't want you to see me when I can't look my best because.... because... since a long time ago... I... I like you, hyung."

Woohyun couldn't believe he said it. He didn't know what made him confess but he just couldn't help it.

"You... you like me?"

Sunggyu asked, totally shocked. Woohyun stayed quiet, unable to meet his eyes. Would Sunggyu hate him now? Sunggyu felt surreal. His heart was beating so fast, he was afraid it would break his ribcage.

"I like you, too." He blurted out. Woohyun immediately looked at him, totally surprised.

And that was the beginning of two of them. The only problem left was... that they were still lost in the woods and Woohyun's condition was only getting worse.

***

to be continued