Chapter Text
Noah was convinced that these challenges were designed to kill them eventually. The evidence was clearly there to support his theory, and if he was able to get his hands on a laptop, he could have a five page essay on the topic on Chris’ desk in less than a day.
Well, he would have, if he was still his assistant. Getting fired definitely wasn’t the best, even if the job was working under Mclean, but the pay was something else. Enough to send his uncle on a week long vacation, buy his older sister her own kiln so she could continue to make pottery, and, of course, spoil his few friends and golden labrador, Ark.
Weirdly enough, he was beginning to miss the job. Sure, dealing with executives on behalf of Chris wasn't always ideal, but it beat being stuck in a malfunctioning airplane with other teens that would do anything and everything, including ruining friendships and relationships, all for the sake of a million dollars.
Honestly, Noah wasn't even sure if he wanted to win anymore. This was a lot more work than he'd ever dreamed of doing back on Island, and surely Chris would offer him his job back immediately after he was eliminated. He'd heard the man boast to Blaineley once that, "he's the best assistant I've ever had! Even if he is a smart ass."
It was probably the nicest thing Chris has ever said about him. And the host probably wasn't even aware that Noah knew he said it.
Noah's thoughts on what Chris could possibly be torturing them with next came to a halt as a familiar figure caught the corner of his vision. Without looking up, he said, "you don't have to sneak around, you know. Duncan's not on the plane anymore, so you're not going to get stabbed."
Alejandro, who'd been moving to sit beside Noah after having to listen to Owen burp the alphabet (disgusting!) glanced down at the shorter teen, smile faltering for a split second. "Mi amigo, I can assure you that I'm not trying to sneak around. I merely wanted to join your company."
"Right…" Noah's voice trailed off, and he looked down at his book again, no longer focusing on the words. Instead, he was fighting the urge to call Alejandro out, because willingly wanting to hang out with him? Hah! As if. He knew his reputation, and so did the rest of the Total Drama cast.
Hell, the only people that willingly hung around with him was Team E-scope, Owen, Cody, Gwen, and surprisingly, Lindsay. The only reason the latter was able to hang around Noah was because she reminded him of one of his old classmates, who'd been super nice to him throughout high school. Well, that resemblance and the fact that she said some of the most random things imaginable and still somehow managed to be funny. He needed some comedic relief every now and then.
But, him and Alejandro technically had been hanging out more lately, mostly due to how incompetent the rest of their team was. They could have smart conversations together that didn't end in whining about food, or missing Lindsay, or whatever the hell Izzy would talk about.
Noah was quiet for a few moments, and when he looked back at Alejandro, the Spanish teen was closer than he'd been before. He stared blankly at him, raising an eyebrow in confusion, but then he realized that Alejandro was looking down at the book he was holding.
"Do you want to read it with me? I'm not reading it out loud for all of our team," Noah tilted the book slightly in Alejandro's lap, keeping it balanced on his knee so he could continue reading. God, he hoped he didn't want him to start over. He was already 200 pages into Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and he wasn't starting back now.
"If you don't mind, that sounds lovely," Alejandro answered, scooting the tiniest bit closer so he could peer down at the pages. He scrunched his eyebrows together, Noah noticed, as he scanned through the words, probably trying to understand the plot.
With a sigh, the shorter teen shut the book, mumbling to Alejandro, "should've probably given you the rundown first," before he explained what he'd read so far. He breaks down the plot, as well as the three brothers' personalities, before he notices that the Spaniard's lips shifted into a frown.
Wait– why was Noah focusing on his lips? God, maybe Gwen was right after all. He was a useless gay.
Whatever. There were more pressing matters to attend to. "You okay there, bud? I get Dostoevsky can be boring, but I didn't think he was that bad."
"Mis disculpas, amigo. I seemed to have gotten lost in my thoughts." Alejandro quickly flashed a smile that was all teeth and little emotion, and Noah had to bite his tongue from commenting on it.
"It's whatever. I'm not offended on the dude's behalf or anything," Noah shrugged, closing the book and looking up at Alejandro. "I have a different book. The Picture of Dorian Gray. I've read it twice before and it's not so bad."
Alejandro's smile lifts at that. "That sounds wonderful. I think I've heard of it, but I never actually read it."
Noah didn't answer back, focusing on fishing the book out of his bag. He leaned down and peeked inside said bag, hoping Sierra hadn't graduated to stealing his belongings like she did with Cody's. Then again, she kind of hated his guts because of the whole "ear kissing" incident.
Once he had the book in hand, he sat back up, scooting closer to Alejandro and opening the book up to the first page. Like before, he tilted it so the other teen could read, and they read in silence, only moving whenever Alejandro poked Noah so he'd turn the page.
It was…weirdly peaceful, and that wasn't common on this show. It seemed like ever since season 1, Noah had been feeling the stress that came with reality TV. Working as Chris' assistant directly after his reality TV debut probably didn't help any, but it was a paycheck and the job did undoubtedly have benefits. Benefits that helped his family out a ton.
God, if his sisters could see him now, willingly reading with someone else. They'd probably throw a fit. Priya especially, considering she'd been trying to set him up with guys ever since he came out as bisexual to her a year ago after she accused him of having a crush on Owen.
And so what if he did? Noah would never admit it out loud to anyone else. Besides, Owen and Izzy deserved each other, even if the girl was a nut job. And even if they were broken up now. They were both crazy and loud as hell, which didn't help with his chronic migraines.
Speaking of chronic migraines, Chris' voice rang out through the plane suddenly. "Attention contestants! We're experiencing some…slight turbulence, so hold on tight!"
Alejandro and Noah glanced over at each other, sharing a deadpanned stare before they heard Owen screaming.
"We're going to DIE!"
"Owen, dude, maybe you should relax–"
"How can I when we're going to almost die again?!"
With a sigh, Noah stood up and crossed the threshold of first class to sit down beside Owen, rubbing his back. "We'll be fine, big guy. Chris wouldn't kill us, because then he'd be out of a paycheck."
Surprisingly, those words made the blond teen feel a bit better, and he smiled at Noah before pulling him into a tight hug that had Noah praying he didn't crack a rib– again. "Thanks, little buddy! You always know how to make me feel better."
The shorter teen shrugged, glancing at a nearby wall. Someone had to keep Owen going, especially since him and Izzy had just broken up back in Jamaica. And, of course, Noah had to be that someone.
Whatever. It wouldn't be too bad.
Once he was sure that Owen wasn't still freaking out, Noah stood and was prepared to walk back over to where Alejandro was, considering he'd left his book on his seat. Before he could take a step, they seemed to hit some turbulence, and Noah was knocked off his feet, falling into something.
Looking down, he realized that it wasn't a something he'd fallen into, but rather a someone.
Alejandro looked up at him, clear concern in his green eyes, and he held Noah up by the waist, his hands almost spanning the length of it. "Are you okay, amigo? That was quite the fall."
"I–I'm fine," Noah stuttered, and fuck, that was new. Noah did not stutter. He might be a nerd, but he didn't get nervous around people, especially hot, straight guys with crushes on pretty mean girls. That was below him, or so he'd thought.
God, if Chris aired this, Noah was going to steal his credit card and go on a little shopping spree at their next location. Or jump out of the plane without a parachute. Both options sounded good at the moment.
Alejandro tilted his head as the teen above him spaced out, until the plane was moved again, and he quickly pulled Noah close, almost into his lap. Only so the shorter male didn't fall on top of him. That's what Noah told himself.
Across the aisle, Owen was back to screaming, now clinging onto a nervous looking Tyler. They were huddled up together, eyes darting around the plane erratically as the plane shook.
Fresh from mentally cussing himself out, Noah looked at their other two teammates, and tried to lighten the mood by saying, "the plane just crashed the other day. It's damn near impossible for it to crash again."
The universe decided to take that as a challenge, because Chef's voice yelled through the intercom, "the plane is going down, everybody hang on tight!"
From economy, Noah could hear Team Amazon's screams, and he felt two strong arms holding him close, pressing him against a warm body. Out of pure fear, he clung back, smaller hands holding onto strong biceps as he bit his lip so he didn't scream in Alejandro's ear. Everybody else was doing the screaming for him. Noah could accept his death silently, and watch as his life flashed before his eyes, like in the movies.
Finally, after what felt like hours (but was more likely just seconds, maybe minutes at most), the plane was finally crash landing into water. Loud splashes were heard from outside the plane's walls, followed by Chris' loud curses and sighs of relief from the contestants.
Noah could feel his hands shaking, fingers twitching from their place against the Spaniard's arms, and he felt a wave of nausea hit him like a freight train. He swallowed it down, not wanting to puke around his team. It was bad enough that it had happened back in Jamaica, after Owen and Izzy were both held in the medical tent. He'd worked himself up, thinking that they were heavily injured, or worse, and had thrown up in front of Tyler and Alejandro after the challenge.
Back then, he blamed it on the challenge itself, but that was a half-lie. The stress is what got to him, and while he tried not to let stress take over his life, Noah felt like he had the excuse to be stressed over the jumbo jet crashing yet again.
Sensing his shaking fingers, Alejandro grabbed Noah's hands in his, intertwining their fingers and squeezing gently. "You're okay, mi amigo. We're all fine. See?"
He gestured over to where Owen and Tyler were still clinging onto each other, and they both looked fine, even if Owen had tears running down chubby cheeks. They were fine. Their team was fine, and judging by the hushed conversation coming from economy, team Amazon was also fine.
They were all alive. So why was Noah still feeling nauseous?
He stared down at their joined hands, trying to keep himself from spiraling, because that was the last thing he needed to do right now. He took a few deep breaths, willing his heart to stop bursting out of his chest, chewing the inside of his mouth to keep from saying anything embarrassingly stupid. In his mind, he knew this was all probably going to be aired, and being in Alejandro's lap was already embarrassing enough on its own. He couldn't act stupid too.
"Yeah. Yeah, we're all fine," Noah mumbled back, feeling a thumb rubbing against the top of his hand. "Not dead. Still stuck on this stupid show."
Alejandro snorted at the last part, a half grin making itself known on his face. "Even if we did all die, I'm sure Chris would find a way to keep us competing."
Now it was Noah's turn to snort, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he let out a choked laugh. He didn't even notice Alejandro staring up at him, his grin switching into something far more softer than he'd ever been used to.
His laughing was interrupted by Chris announcing that they were all to meet in the cafeteria so they could go over what was going to happen now.
Noah waited until Owen and Tyler left, watching as they walked out the door and gave him and Alejandro wavering looks, before he turned to the Spanish teen underneath him. "If I paid you ten bucks, would you throttle Chris for me? You're stronger than I am."
"Make it twenty and let me finish that book with you, and we have a deal."
"Deal."
The two shared another laugh and then Noah stood up, waiting for Alejandro to also stand so they could walk to the cafeteria together. Once they were both up and on their legs, they walked out of first class, Alejandro being polite enough to let him go first.
They were the last ones to the cafeteria, and the other teens stared at them, mixed emotions across their faces. Owen, Tyler, and Gwen looked happy to see them, while Cody was too focused on Sierra, who'd wrapped herself around his small frame, and Heather and Courtney shot the two boys a side glance before looking at each other, probably silently communicating. That's what Noah's sisters did back home.
Noah caught Gwen's eyes, and he tilted his head towards Heather and Courtney, mouthing, 'what's their deal?'
The goth girl shrugged in answer, and then she tilted her head towards him and Alejandro. 'What's up with you two?'
Noah shook his head, shooting Gwen a mock glare. 'Not a thing, so shut it.'
"What are you doing?" Alejandro glanced down at Noah, and then looked over at Gwen, who quickly turned her head to look at Heather and Courtney. He raised an eyebrow, mouth in a tight line as he waited for his teammate to answer.
"Nothing, just telepathically talking to Gwen. You know, typical teen shit," Noah shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. What was taking Chris so long? Maybe he'd gotten injured in the crash. Serves the bastard right.
Alejandro hummed but didn't say anything, letting himself get lost in his thoughts as he listened to the conversations around him. Tyler and Owen were talking about how crazy the crash was, Sierra was waxing poetry to Cody about being so incredibly thankful that he wasn't hurt, and Courtney and Heather–
Kept staring at him. Whenever they caught Alejandro noticing their looks, Heather glared daggers at him, while Courtney grinned and elbowed the taller girl beside her. The raven haired teen met her gaze and then rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath that Alejandro couldn't quite catch.
The next time Heather looked at him, he winked at her, blowing her a kiss. She replied by showing off her middle finger, which made Noah snort.
Before Alejandro could say anything to her, Chris was storming his way into the cafeteria, looking a little worse for wear. He was clearly stressed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked over the teens gathered.
"Great, you're all alive," he started, plastering on a fake smile. "Unfortunately, the jumbo jet is damaged again. They're supposed to send a crew out to look at it, but they won’t be here until Thursday, which is three days away. Bummer."
"Where even are we?" Tyler asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
Chris grinned at him, as if he was happy that the jock had asked. "Great question! You lovely contestants have crash landed into England's greatest city, London!"
The teens didn't react, besides some blinking and hums of acknowledgement. Chris let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I'm not too happy about this either. I gotta hope the interns can come up with a challenge soon so we can stay on schedule."
"Good luck with that," Noah retorted, rolling his eyes. As Chris' assistant, he knew just how competent the interns were, and the answer was they weren't. Chris would have better luck letting Owen design a challenge.
"Thanks, smart ass," Chris shot back, grinning whenever Noah flipped him off. "That's my boy."
Noah went to reply, probably with another smart ass remark, but Alejandro flicked his arm to get him to shut up. Surprisingly, the shorter teen did, rubbing his arm from where he was flicked and shooting Alejandro a glare. The Spaniard simply smiled back.
Huh. Chris stored that scene away in the back of his mind, intending to use it later. For what? He wasn't too sure yet.
"Anyways, Chef is looking at hotels for us to stay at, since the jet is currently in a canal. Couldn't have you guys drowning, now could we?" the host's grin faltered, and he could feel a migraine coming on. "We'll let you guys know whenever we figure something out, so for now just hang here, mkay?"
He waited for the contestants to agree, and then he was headed towards the front of the plane, his grin quickly morphing into a scowl.
The teens were quiet for a few moments after Chris, before Heather muttered, "think the network is breathing down his neck?"
"Definitely. He's probably popping a blood vessel right now." Noah sat down at the table, resting his head against the firm surface. Going around the world was ruining his sleep schedule big time, and he hoped they got those hotel rooms soon. He wanted to sleep this disaster of a day off, and if he got to do that in a hotel bed, that would be even better.
He heard someone sit down beside him, but Noah made no move to lift his head, deciding that he was comfortable like this. Behind him, he could hear Heather, Courtney, and Gwen chatting, as well as Owen's stomach grumbling, and Tyler talking to Cody about wishing he had his phone so he could take some pictures to show Lindsay.
Noah let the conversations lull him into a half asleep state, eyes falling shut. Maybe he could sneak in a quick nap before they had to leave the jet.
After who knows how long, Noah was waken up by a hand shaking his shoulder, and judging by the gentleness, it wasn't Owen. Brown eyes blinked open and quickly met green orbs, and Alejandro was looking down at him with a fond smile.
"I know you're tired, but Chef has arranged a hotel for us. You and I are sharing a room, and Owen, Cody, and Tyler are sharing one," he explained to the sleepy teen, not bothering to move his hand from Noah's shoulder. "I'm not too sure what arrangements the girls have made, but they're also splitting themselves into two rooms."
In his half asleep daze, Noah didn't quite give a fuck who he shared a room with. He just wanted to crawl into a bed and sleep for the next week straight. Hell, even a day's worth of sleep would help.
Sitting up, he cracked his back, wincing at the sound his bones made. He had to stop letting Owen squeeze him like a stress toy. His back would thank him for it.
"Sounds great," Noah retorted, not missing Alejandro's wide eyes staring at his back. He shrugged, not wanting to get into the chronic pain he felt on a daily basis. "Are we leaving now, or is Chris making us race to the hotel?"
Alejandro's eyes finally snapped away from the other teen's hunched form, and he removed his hand from Noah's shoulder. "He's arranging transportation for us. He said, and I quote, 'can't trust you guys in a city in the middle of the night'."
Noah snorted, standing up from his seat and glancing around the cafeteria. The others were at various tables; Cody, Tyler, and Owen were sat together, talking about a video game that they all played, Sierra was chatting with Heather (more like rambling, really) about Chris' old shows and appearances, and Gwen and Courtney were huddled together, giggling among themselves about…whatever.
They were all just existing. Existing away from the cameras, away from the public eye. Acting like normal teenagers, even if they were anything but.
"Does he think we're going to terrorize the city or something? It's too late to be doing all of that." Noah crossed his arms, glancing up at Alejandro, who kept looking over at Heather. The girl either didn't noticed, or just ignored his stares.
Did something happen between them while he was asleep? Noah wasn't a light sleeper by any means, but surely he would've been woken up by an argument. And judging by the Spaniard's glaring, him and Heather definitely had bad blood about something.
Realizing he was caught staring at the raven haired girl, Alejandro quickly looked away, instead focusing his attention on Noah. "He's probably saving all the terrorizing for the challenge…whatever that might be."
Knowing Chris, the challenge could be anything, like climbing up the clock tower to reach Big Ben, or stealing the Queen's corgis. Or anything else that was life-threatening or a borderline crime. Hell, Beth and Lindsay were still banned from France for their Mona Lisa fiasco. Who's to say the rest of the cast wouldn't get banned from each country they visited?
With a sigh, Noah sat back down, chin in hand as he struggled to keep his eyes open. They'd be leaving for the hotel soon, and he could sleep then he kept telling himself. Sleep on something other than a hard, wooden bench, and not have to worry about Owen crushing him. He loved the guy and all, but his bones could only take so much.
Finally, after what felt like hours, they were instructed to get their bags, carefully leave the plane, and get on a bus that was going to take them to the hotel. Noah slipped his bag over his shoulder, peeking inside to make sure he had all his books and various belongings. Once he was sure that everything was inside, he followed the rest of the contestants to the jet's exit doors, noticing that they were getting into small rafts in order to reach the nearest dock.
He watched as Alejandro got on the raft first, helping Courtney, Gwen, and Heather step onto it (though Heather slapped his hand away). When it was Noah's turn to get on, he almost tripped, and the only reason he didn't land in the water was because of the Spaniard's tight grip on his arm.
"I got you," Alejandro mumbled, followed by what was most likely a nickname in Spanish that Noah couldn't quite make out. He was guided onto the raft, and Gwen scooted over so he could sit beside her, his bag in his lap.
Noah looked up as he felt the raft shift, and he noticed that Alejandro was taking the seat to his right. When the taller teen caught his eye, he just smiled, and Noah quickly turned away in embarrassment.
Noticing the small exchange from the corner of her eye, Gwen reached elbowed Noah's side, a sly grin on her teal painted lips. "Dork."
"Bitch."
"God, you two act like children," Heather huffed, arms crossed over her chest. Noah and Gwen simultaneously flipped her off, leaving her to huff again and look away.
After that, the teens were quiet, tired and filled with the mental exhaustion of not only being on a reality TV show that let them travel the world, but also being stuck in a death machine of a plane. They reached a dock after a short raft ride, and one by one, they climbed onto the dock and waited for the other raft that held the other competitors.
Once Chris did a headcount (in reality, he asked Noah to do it for him), they boarded a bus that was driven by a friendly looking guy. Noah immediately made his way towards the back of the bus, hoping that he could manage to snag a seat just for himself, but when he sat down, a shadow loomed over him.
Luckily for him, Alejandro took the seat directly across from him, sitting his bag down on the floor and then stretching his long legs out across the aisle. The toes of his boots rested on Noah's seat, and while he would've griped about personal space, Noah was too tired to argue. Instead, he let his head fall against the bus window, fighting off the urge to go to sleep.
They made it to the hotel in ten minutes, and they followed Chris into the quiet hotel lobby, watching as he explained the situation to the hotel desk clerk, who simply looked like she didn't get paid enough to deal with shit like this. After confirming their very last minute reservations, she handed Chris the key cards.
When the host made his way back to the group of teens, Noah simply held his hand out, silently demanding the keycard to his and Alejandro's room.
"Wow, thanks for asking so nicely, snark." Nevertheless, Chris handed Noah the keycard, and pointed towards an elevator. "Get some sleep, kid. You look so tired it's making me tired."
Noah grumbled a goodnight under his breath, before grabbing Alejandro's wrist and dragging him towards the elevator. The taller teen let himself be led, though he did raise an eyebrow at Noah's grumbling. He pushed the elevator's button, watching the light above the doors show the elevator going down, down, down…
Once the doors opened, the two stepped inside, and then had to wait on Courtney, Gwen, Heather, and Sierra. The small space was soon crowded, and Noah was shoulder-to-shoulder with Alejandro, the two boys backed into a corner.
"What floor are you two on?" Courtney asked, pressing the button for the third floor for herself and Gwen, and the fourth for Heather and Sierra.
"Seventh." Noah's voice came out raspier than intended, and he stifled a yawn with his hand. He watched as Courtney clicked the seventh button, and the elevator doors closed, sending them up.
The first two to get off were Courtney and Gwen, obviously. They bid the other four teens goodnight, and then grabbed each other's hand and walked down the hallway to find their room. Next, Heather and Sierra reached their floor, the super fan waving at the two boys while Heather ignored their existence, slinging her bag over her shoulder (and almost hitting Noah in the process) and leading Sierra to their room.
Finally, Noah and Alejandro reached the seventh floor, and they both quickly stepped out of the elevator and into the quiet hotel hallway.
Glancing down at the keycard, Noah told Alejandro, "we're in room 13, so lets go right."
"Lead the way, amigo." Alejandro smiled charmingly at him, and Noah rolled his eyes before walking down the hallway, counting the room numbers until they stood in front of room 13. He stuck the keycard into the lock, opening the door to reveal a typical looking hotel room. A small entrance way, a bathroom near the door, and in the main part of the room were two full sized beds lining one wall, and a desk and a TV stand on the other. The TV stand held a small TV, as well as a small coffee maker.
Noah quickly claimed the bed closest to the door, tossing his bag down on top of it before he laid down on his back. He let out a sigh, happy to be in an actual bed for the first time in weeks. First class was nice on the plane and all, but nothing could beat the comfort of a real bed.
At his teammates contentment, Alejandro chuckled, slipping his boots off and sitting his own bag on the floor. "Comfortable?" he teased, starting to unbutton his shirt so he could change into pajamas.
A small hum was his answer, and he couldn't help but smile fondly. He quickly changed into a tank top and shorts, folding his day clothes and laying them on the desk. Alejandro then looked over at Noah, tilting his head in confusion.
There was no fucking way he was asleep already. Noah still had his boots on!
With a sigh, Alejandro walked over to the bed, poking Noah's shoulder for the second time that night. "Noah, you have to get ready for bed. You can't sleep in those clothes."
"Bite me," came the half asleep reply, and Alejandro rolled his eyes fondly before manhandling the smaller teen into sitting up. Once he was sure that Noah would stay sitting up, he knelt down before him, untying the laces of one boot and sliding it off, sitting it on the floor. Alejandro did the same with the other one, and once both boots were off, he looked up at the sleepy boy.
"You should get changed. Those shorts cannot possibly be comfortable to sleep in," he said, voice softer than it had ever been while on the show. Alejandro couldn't help but smile whenever he saw Noah pout, probably at the thought of getting up.
Begrudgingly, Noah agreed, reaching over to grab his pajamas from his bag. He slipped out of bed, fighting a yawn as he padded into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Once the door was shut, Alejandro buried his face in his hands, feeling his cheeks burn. "Mierda, what are you doing to me?" he murmured, looking back at the bathroom door before quickly shaking his head.
Whenever Noah returned from changing clothes, he shoved his cargo shorts and three shirts into his bag, tossing said bag onto the floor. He then crawled into bed, immediately burying himself underneath the fluffy hotel comforter.
"G'night," he mumbled in Alejandro's general direction, allowing sleep to quickly take him.
Noah didn't get to hear Alejandro's, "sweet dreams, mi amigo," or witness his struggle with turning off the bedside lamp. Nor did he notice the Spaniard's blush as he tried to think about anything other than how adorable Noah looked in an oversized sweatshirt and plaid pajama pants.
Fuck. Alejandro was doomed.