The chopper had dropped you off on the mountain peak. Fixing your board and putting on your gloves you quietly listen to the rest of the group contemplating on how to best approach this challenge.
Grommet warned you multiple times that the weather's gonna turn bad quickly so the decision needs to be made quickly.
While Utah and Bodhi are all in for this mountain, Roach, Chowder and you are unsure of the possibility of getting down safely.
"What about that one over there? Definitely first descent.", Roach points towards another peak close by and everyone looks towards where he's pointing.
Utah just shook his head and states that the other line is indeed also radical enough, but not beautiful.
"This one is not beautiful - it's death!", you shake your head and think about going back with Grommet who isn't riding down but rather taking the helicopter to the meeting point.
"Maybe. But it's also perfect!", with that sentence Utah pulls down his goggles and jumps over the small edge - opening the descent of "Life of Ice"
Taking a last look at everyone you also put on your goggles and with a nod you begin the descent into a similar line as Utah.
Followed by the rest of the men you concentrate on rocks and other hurdles in your line and come to an abrupt halt on a cliff edge next to the blonde man who's already smiling from ear to ear.
Gasping for air you all look around for a way further down but no one seems to be able to spot one.
"That's it, we're done. We're cliffed out." Chowder pants out and Roach reaches for the walkie talkie on the side of his backpack, "Grommet, send the chopper. It's over.".
As you want to take off your gloves Utah mumbles something beneath his breath and scoots forward and into a small crevice between the cliffs.
"This guy is seriously broke!", Roach looks over the edge and then back at the rest of the group.
"Kinda great, isn't it?", Bodhi exclaims and an exited smile spreads across his face.
"We're never going to finish what we started if we die on this mountain.", you look at the leader of your group in disapproval.
"We have to do this.", he replies and takes off after Utah.
Chowder sighs and puts his goggles back on.
"I don't think this is a good idea.", is the last thing he says before also disappearing into the crevice.
Roach takes another deep breath and with a short nod towards you, you follow after the others.
Concentrating on following the lines you suddenly see one line leading away from the rest of the other riders and slow down immediately.
With a single glance you can make out another cliff that leads towards nowhere and the tracks disappearing into a cloud of powder.
One of your group had fallen - no other explanation would make sense.
As soon as you reach the rest of the group you rip off your goggles and gloves to take your board off.
"We gotta find him", Utah yells and frantically tries to run past Bodhi. "He's dead. You can't help him", the black haired man blocks his path and pushes him backwards.
"Are you crazy. That was my line.", the blonde catches his balance and angrily stares at the rest of us.
"Your line? The moment he committed to it, it became his line. Not yours.", you explain after looking around and making out that it was Chowder who was missing, his red jacket nowhere to be seen.
Climbing mountains is one thing.
Snowboarding down a mountain is another.
But loosing a friend on the way down and not going back to look for him was hard.
It had always been like that. If one soul was lost, you didn't go looking for them.
It was meant to be like that.
You were friends with Bodhi for years, tagging along to various challenges to complete the Osaki 8, and knew how the rest of the day would go.
Going back to the Chalet that Al Fariq owns and offered your as a base to plan the challenges, stacking up wood where you would burn the body if it was found - then partying until dawn and continuing life as if nothing happened.
Utah slowly calms down and Roach calls the helicopter to pick you up. "I won't need the chopper. I want to be alone for a bit.", you hand Roach your backpack to take with him in the helicopter so you don't have to carry it down the rest of the mountain.
"You ok?", Bodhi stands next to you while packing his gloves and jacket into his backpack.
"No I'm not ok Bodhi. You know how I feel about all of this and now we lost another. I support the 8 and the things we do but not the brainless stupidity and pressure we put on someone just because we think that we can conquer the earth!", you lash out at him and sit down to tighten the bindings on your board.
"He wanted to do it. We didn't pressure him.", the black haired man states and puts his jacket back on while throwing his backpack towards the rest of the group who got ready to get on the chopper that's approaching to land on the snowfield close by.
"Roach said it was stupid to do this! Utah saw the line, Chowder didn't and now he's the one who's dead, Bodhi.", you get up and wipe the snow off of your pants and get ready to leave the men behind.
"I'll see you at the Chalet.", you yell towards Roach and Utah who were getting on the helicopter.
You don't get too far when Bodhi suddenly passes by you and takes the lead.
Deciding to just go with it, too tired to argue, you follow his line and soon reach the base of the mountain where you unbuckle your board and take off your goggles.
"Are you mad at me?", Bodhi picks up his snowboard and you begin the short walk towards the Chalet that could already be seen in the distance.
"I'm sad Bodhi. I knew Chowder for quite some time. We knew he wasn't the best on the snowboard. We should have not taken him along.", you look at the black haired man and shake your head at your own stupidity.
The evening before Bodhi had brought up the idea of finally doing "live of ice" and you were also talking to Chowder about just having faith in himself and coming along to complete another challenge.
"I'm sad too y/n. He was one of my closest friends and now he's gone. But we have to continue with our lives and tonight we're going to honor Chowder the way he deserves it.", Bodhi gives you a slight smile and as you reach the Chalet, Samsara swings the door open and immediately and pulls you into a tight hug.
"They found him. We already prepared everything.", she whispers and squeezes your hand while pulling you through a crowd of people upwards a staircase where your rooms are.
You catch a glimpse into Roach's room - he is seated on his bed staring out of the window towards the mountain.
Grommet's pacing up and down the hallway while on the phone, giving you a weak smile as you pass him.
The only one nowhere to be seen was Utah - you could imagine how he must be feeling since it was his idea to continue down the mountain.
After a long shower you get out of the bathroom to find a tray with food placed on the desk in front of the window.
Samsara must have organized something to eat for you and placed out some clothes to put on, on your bed.
She was always looking out for everyone and especially when something happened, she took care of even more stuff so you didn't have to waste more energy on all that stuff.
Pulling the sweater over your damp hair you decided against the food and headed towards the courtyard where someone had already staked up wood.
Chowder's red jacket hanging on one of the wooden planks.
After a short speech of Bodhi the whole group had gathered closer around the wood and set the whole thing on fire, each one quietly said their farewell to the lost friend.
Samsara and Utah disappeared quickly after and the rest of you headed towards Al Fariq's party - he had asked all of you to join to celebrate life and the new challenge you had conquered.
After a few hours of obligated drinking and dancing with Roach, Samsara and Utah you decide to head back upstairs and go to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day filled with new challenges to plan so you need to at least try and close your eyes for some part of the night. As you walk past Bodhi's room you decide to see if he's in there since he had vanished from the dance floor at some point of the night.
You find him laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Don't bother asking, I'm awake.", he sighs and lifts the blanket he's laying beneath to silently invite you into his bed.
"What are you thinking about?", you snuggle beneath the soft fabric and rest your head on Bodhi's shoulder who pulls the blanket over you both. "We talked Chowder into doing this. None of it is your fault, it's mine. I brought up the mountain. It was my idea and you were just confident in my judgement so you helped me talk them into something they weren't sure about. His death is my fault.", the man beside you covers his face with his hands while you prop yourself up on one arm to look at him.
"We always have a choice and what happened today isn't what any of us wanted. It's going to hurt a while but we have to continue with our lives. It's what Chowder would've told us and he's right.", you take Bodhi's hand into yours and look into his grey eyes.
"You're the one thing keeping me sane right now. I'd be lost without you.", he gives you a slight smile and pulls you even closer so you lay your head onto his chest, just listening to his steady heartbeat slowly drifting off to sleep.
"When Johnny had slipped away from the party, unable to partake in the frivolity of it all while still reeling from Chowder’s death, the last thing he had expected was for anyone to come looking for him. Least of all Bodhi."
This has been sitting in my WIP folder for...well...a long, long while now but I finally actually found the motivation to finish it!
Also, there’s not nearly enough Bodhi/Johnny stuff out there so I’m probably gonna write quite a few more fics for this pairing/fandom.
