Heyaa guys!

I got an increase in reviews for last chapter, I'm so so glad you seem to like where this is going. This one is honestly one of the favourite ones I've written. Get ready for some fluffy interaction with some friendly banter and chemistry. Although, I hope it'll be as fun for you to read as it was for me to write.

Ally had been on the island for about 15 days, she reckoned. She was lucky the cameramen were nice enough to tell her how many days had passed, or she would have gone crazy. This meant that, whatever she was doing on this island, in this game, she was doing it right. And, if everything checked out, on both islands combined, there were 7 candidates left.

The people at home seemed to love her, as she had never been in the danger zone. Though, the blue team had won most of the tests, so she had rarely felt the stress of having to leave the island all of a sudden.

There was a downside to this ongoing victory, though. The more time she spent with Austin, the more she felt like the pact she had made with Rachel was fading. Even though the contact with Austin was solely living on the fact that they needed each other's help to stay in the game, nothing more and nothing less, she couldn't help but feel like she was replacing Rachel.

She had not encountered the moment where she had to choose between the two, luckily, but if she would ever find herself in that situation, she would have to choose between friendship and security. When asking herself the question whether this game was that important to her, she couldn't give herself an honest answer.

After two weeks, the group had fallen into a pattern where everyone knew their tasks. Every morning, Ally would rise early, - those pesky bugs didn't really grant her a chance on a healthy dose of sleep, but she'd gotten used to it by now -, she would grab her personal rod and sit on her personal rock to spend some quality time while giving herself the opportunity to wake up at her own pace. Rachel wasn't the typical morning person, so she always treasured her 'alone time'. Today was different, though.

"What are you doing?" Ally asks Austin as she notices he's ran up to her while holding one of the few other rods. Keeping his face expressionless, he stays silent as he walks next to her. Ally gives up the fight with a sigh, looking around to check whether the rest sees them being together again, as that wasn't something they had planned to flaunt.

Once they arrive at the rock, Austin reaches out to grab Ally's rod, who lets go automatically, and lays both of the rods on the sand. Following him as he climbs onto the big boulder, Ally comments sassily. "I don't mean to tell you how to do my job, but won't we need the rods in order to catch any fish?"

"That's not what we're going to do," he replies, looking over his shoulder to the rest of the small group before deciding they were enough out of sight. Next, he looks down at Ally with a hint of disappointment, but yet also some pity found in his eyes. "You're still pretty crap at challenges."

"What happened to your attitude change?" Ally rolls her eyes, still disgusted by his behaviour that still tended to show from time to time.

"Look, one day I won't be there to help you during tests." The way he manages to let her know he does care about her through his snappy comment amazes Ally, as she raises an eyebrow. Austin runs a quick hand through his hair, glancing over to the camp once more before nodding at the ocean in front of them. "If there's one thing I can help you improve, it's swimming."

Ally scoffs. "I know how to swim, you prick!"

"Do you want my help or not?" He holds up his hands in defence, raising his eyebrows. "If you come last and get a black vote, I'm not the one to blame."

Ally knows damn well he makes a decent point. Swimming was obviously one of the most frequently tested skills and, honestly, she sucked at it. She could stay afloat, but that's about everything she managed to do in water. There was no way she could even try keeping up with the rest, even Rachel was surprisingly fast in tests.

She couldn't deny she felt slightly embarrassed whenever she knew the upcoming test had something to do with water, knowing the prospect of the incredibly obvious backlog it would cause her. There were very few people more suited to help her improve this particular skill than actual competitive swimmer Austin Moon. Besides, it was often proven that the candidate with a black vote was pretty much always the one sent home the same night, since they are an easy target.

"Fine," she gives in, shrugging carelessly, but still quite glad she had an actual chance of improving her chances a lot. Taking a quick look at the, for her, frightening blue ocean, she moves her feet doubtfully. "I just hate being underwater."

"Now I see why, out of every real life show, you picked the one that is filmed on a place surrounded by the literal ocean." Austin keeps a straight face as he points out the flaws in her plan, making Ally lose her cool and crack a smile before turning gloomy again. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

"Of course not," Ally quickly answers. "I don't care about the height, I care more about landing on flat water."

Austin looks at the stairs of rocks that were all connected, leading to a higher cliff. "We won't go that high just yet. But the first step to swimming is the dive. As soon as you manage to get that part right, you'll have a head start," he explains shortly while moving himself and her, by pushing against her back gently.

"But that means I have to go under," Ally reminds him unsurely.

Austin nods slowly, like he's talking to a toddler. "Diving usually results in being under the water surface, well observed." Ally shoves his shoulder, making him show a smile. "Stop worrying, there's nothing that can happen."

"Realistically, there's always something that can happen," she reminds him quickly.

"Don't be so pessimistic!"

"It's called expecting the worst and it's very helpful, for your information," Ally postpones the challenge as she keeps staring at the deep, blue, salty unknown.

"Just show me how you dive so I know what I have to work with." Austin finally steps back and leaves her no chance of backing out. After Ally had removed her top and shorts that covered her bikini - swimming clothes had permanently replaced underwear, figuring they would find themselves in the sea every day - , had closed her eyes and tried her best to impersonate the dives she had seen others perform, she rises to the surface to see the horrified expression on Austin's face. "This is going to be more work than I expected."

Eventually, after an hour of diving, Austin is starting to see signs of improvement. He had had to start at the very beginning, removing her fear of getting the water in her nose, ears and eyes, before he could work at the technique she required. He had removed his shirt to show her his dive to set an example, which only left her gaping at the gracious way he managed to split the water in half effortlessly. But, finally, they could both see her hard work had paid off. It was definitely a difference with the clumsy way she used to jump into the water.

One more time, Ally climbed onto the rock eagerly and braced herself to practice more. As time passed, she had actually began to find joy into diving as she saw herself improve, making Austin having to hide a smile from her. Running up to the edge, she jumps off, flying through the air to cover a big distance before swimming a while under water. As she comes up again and looks at Austin expectantly, he gives her a grin.

"See? That was pretty decent." he nods, crossing his arms. Ally cheers before swimming back to the shore.

"Coming from you, that must mean something." she climbs onto the rock again, squeezing the ocean water out of her hair. Thinking she's done with practice, she gets ready to collect her clothes and head back when he makes her turn around.

"Now, let's move onto the final test."

"Wait, I thought we were done," Ally stutters, blinking unsurely.

"No, princess. The fun is only starting, now comes the best part." Austin wiggles his eyebrows as he climbs on top of the rest of the rocks, slowly making his way up to the highest cliff. Ally has no choice but to follow him.

"Where are you taking me?" She asks him pointlessly as he dodges her question.

"In order to have even the slightest chance in this game, you have to be fearless." Finally arriving at the top, Austin takes a moment to appreciate the view before gesturing to the ocean right beneath them. "Time to face your fear."

Staying silent for a while, Ally just looks at him with wide eyes. "If you think I'm jumping off this cliff, you've lost your mind."

"Come one, it's not that high!"

"That's because you're about the same height as the cliff itself!" She yells back, pointing out their difference in height, making Austin chuckle.

"You're small, you'll be at the bottom before you know it," Austin keeps talking.

"Not helping."

"If you can do this, you'll be able to do anything." He cleverly responding to her known fanaticism to win the game.

"What if I get hurt?" Ally shakily asks him, her knees wobbling in fear.

Austin pushes to urge to comfort the girl away and uses his sarcastic way of responding as a defence. "There's a better chance I'll lose my patience and push you off the edge."

"Don't you dare," she holds up her finger as a warning without diverting her eyes from the water. "I will punch you in the neck you if you even think about touching me."

Austin's face stays blank as he undergoes the tiny girl's attempt to sound threatening. "Terrifying," he states before walking up to her, leaving an appropriate amount of space between them, looking at how jittery she is. "If I jump, will you follow?"

"I-I guess," she mumbles before she can think about the proposition. Austin doesn't think twice about her promise and quickly backs up.

"No takebacks," he yells while running off the high cliff, curling himself in a ball as he does a few flips before diving into the water. As he looks up again, he sees Ally covering her mouth with her hands. After whipping his hair out of his face, he stretches out his arms out next to his side. "What are you waiting for?"

"I can't do it!" She yells at him while shaking her head stubbornly. That's when Austin gets a mischievous look on his face. Before breathing in deeply, he lets himself disappear underwater. While splashing his arms on the surface, he pretends to be struggling to keep himself afloat.

"Help, I'm drowning!" He calls out, making sure to not speak loud enough for the others to hear back at the camp.

"Shut up, prick." Ally rolls her eyes once again, this time because of his ridiculousness. Looking back at the camp, she makes up her mind. Austin was right, in order to be fully prepared on whatever was coming in this game, this was something she needed to overcome. Taking a deep breath, she looks down again. "Alright, I'm going to jump."

"Just don't land on top of me," Austin answers as he swims to the side to give her space. Not giving him another glance, Ally jumps off while closing her eyes and just lets herself fall like a rag doll. It's over before she can even think about it and before she knows, she's looking straight at Austin once she swims to the surface. "Your jump wasn't half as great as mine, though," he tells her.

"How about you try to catch up with me," Ally raises one eyebrow before quickly starting to swim back to the beach, seriously overhyping her swimming abilities this afternoon. After only a second, Austin surpasses her by moving his experienced arms through the water. Once Ally arrives, he's looking at his imaginary watch impatiently. "Whatever, I'm better at fishing anyway," she uses as counter-argument.

"Austin, are you awake?" Ally whispers after she made sure no one else is still awake. She doesn't think about the cameras that still roll at night, though. It was about three in the morning and she hadn't been able to catch some sleep.

On this particular evening, the everlasting sunshine had disappeared and clouds with an uninterrupted downpour appeared. The rain had made everything damp and cold, including the candidates and their clothes. It was safe to say that everyone's mood was worse than ever. As Ally had found her only still dry hoodie, the wind had picked up and blew right through the hut that lacked protective walls.

She hears him sigh as he's lying beside her, his back facing. "Yeah, why are you?"

"I'm cold," she tells him quietly.

"Everyone is."

"My hoodie is not very windproof."

"What do you want me to do about it?" He doesn't move an inch, ignoring her shaky voice.

"Do you have an extra one?" She tries carefully.

"I'm wearing my only one," Austin concludes, after which Ally stays silent. Deciding there was nothing she could change about her situation and already dreading the next morning in which she would feel the result of the lack of sleep and stiff bones, Ally closes her eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. What she didn't expect, nor notice, was that Austin had turned around to face her. After looking at her curled up body, he sighs one more time before pulling her closer and moving his own body towards her, wrapping one arm around her shoulder while pushing her against his chest.

"What are you doing?" Ally asks him, short on breath by this sudden move.

"I'm only doing this so you're fit tomorrow," he mutters, respectfully trying not to nuzzle up as he feels her hair under his chin.

Ally eventually smiles as she gets comfortable, the body heat making the tiredness return. "Thanks, prick."

She finds herself drifting asleep, the fabric of Austin's hoodie softly grazing the tip of her nose. After watching her for a second and making sure she's not shaking anymore, he does the same. "Welcome, Ally."

:)

Don't hesitate to tell me what you thought down in the reviews