Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

marcus
“Who speaks the best English?” the director asks them.

Nicke cuts his eyes at Marcus, who shrugs and rolls his. “He speaks better English,” Nicke finally says after a moment.

“His is fine,” Marcus says. “Don’t let him use it as an excuse to never talk, because he will.”

There’s a beat of silence where Nicke glares at Marcus, and Marcus just looks back at him, smiling, totally ignoring that most people would wilt under the force of that stare. “Fine, my English is fine, but he’s the one that knows all the big words, because he went to University,” Nicke finally says.

They played junior hockey together, and Marcus had gone to university while Nicke had gone to play in the SHL. Nicke still plays hockey; Marcus plays men’s league. Nicke, in spite of threatening to pretend that he doesn’t speak English, is the one that signed them up when it was announced they were looking for international teams.

“He’s always dragging me along for the ride,” Marcus says, but he’s smiling.

zhenya
When the race starts, they have to run down the beach to the pier, which is made all the harder by being in the sand. Once they get to the pier, they have to find the arcade, then the clue that will tell them where to go.

Sand is… not great to run in, which is probably why people use it for endurance training. Zhenya thinks that he could probably be closer to the front of the pack, but Sasha isn’t a fast runner. They’re not at the back of the pack - that belongs to the chubby American guy and his sister, but they’re not far ahead.

“Would’ve been nice for them to put this in Russian for us,” Zhenya says, once he’s got the clue ripped open.

“We both read English,” Sasha tells him. For all it felt like they were running slowly in the sand, he’s not even breathing hard. Endurance, Zhenya likes it.

“Not the point,” Zhenya tells him. Sasha grabs the clue, because Zhenya is not reading it to him, and he reads it out loud himself like they told him to.

He does it in Russian. “Travel by taxi to LAX,” Sasha says. “From there, fly to Tokyo, Japan.”

Zhenya bursts out laughing. It’s loud and multiple people turn to look at them, but Sasha’s grinning back at him. Sasha reaches out and pushes him.

“Go, go,” he says. “We have to find a taxi.”

nicke
The teams are split between two flights to Japan, and traffic is what makes the difference for who gets on what flight, because it doesn’t take them long to find their clues at the pier.

After the adrenaline of the race start, it’s just sitting around and waiting, and it’s weird. Sitting and waiting to board the flight, the time that it takes to fly from LA to Tokyo. The excitement bleeds out quickly. The other three teams on the second flight are the married Canadians and the twin Americans.

The international teams gravitate together and end up sitting on the floor near the gate. They take up too much space with their backpacks. The mixed Czech and Swede team curls up together, one pillowing his head on the other’s thigh as they wait.

“We should’ve gone to sit in the bar,” Nicke says. He’s leaned against the wall, head back, eyes closed. None of them know what to do without phones.

“So we could get hung over on the plane,” one of the Czechs says.

“The flight from here to Japan is so long, we could get drunk, hung over, and drunk and hung over again before we landed,” Marcus suggests. He’s got a book, which he’s got open, but he isn’t reading it.

“We should do that,” Nicke suggests.

“You first,” Marcus says, but neither of them moves to get up. They’re on the ground with their backpacks. Nobody’s going to move until their flight starts boarding.

“Willy,” the Czech from the mixed team says, running a hand through his teammate’s hair where his head is rested on his thigh. The Czech has a mess of curls, but his Swedish teammate has the hair of a model. “What are they saying?”

“Learn to speak Swedish,” one of the other Czechs says. One of them has scruffy blonde hair and the other seems very young. It’s the one who seems so much younger who has spoken.

“You speak Swedish?” Model Hair asks him.

“More or less,” he says.

He’s also running his hand through his partner’s hair, where his partner is leaned up against him. Nicke can’t remember either of their names. He does remember that they’re definitely a couple. (“Since we were teenagers,” the scruffy one had said with a smile, the other’s fingers linked through his.)

“See,” Model Hair says, smiling up at his partner. “You should learn Swedish.”

“You should learn Czech,” Curly Hair retorts.

“I think the plane is boarding,” Marcus says, and it’s definitely an excuse to get up and leave them sitting there.

sasha
Driving through Tokyo is perhaps not Sasha’s finest hour.

He thinks that maybe driving in Russia for the last twenty years of his life should have prepared him for driving anywhere, but city driving in Japan is really a different animal.

“Are you scared to change lanes?” Zhenya asks from the back seat.

“What if they don’t let me in?” Sasha asks. “We don’t have the time to get in a car accident right now.”

“We don’t have the time to sit in traffic either, grandpa,” Zhenya says.

Sasha eases over. At least no one honks at him.

By the time they get to their destination in Shibuya - with only one wrong turn, thank you very much - Sasha is sweating. It’s not even hot in the car, or that hot outside, but he’s overheated himself concentrating. He’s a mess.

“Come on,” Zhenya says to him. “We gotta go.”

marcus
They arrive at the Shibuya scramble crossing at the same time as the Russian team. It’s very clear what the crossing is, and the clue told them they have to look for a message. The Russians are having a very serious conversation about - something. Marcus doesn’t know, he doesn’t speak Russian.

“So we just. Walk?” Marcus asks, frowning at the clue. “That seems… easy.”

“Well it’s not a roadblock,” Nicke says. “That’s what the hard challenges are.”

The lights change and they charge out into the street with what feels like thousands of other people. They’ve got to navigate the street and all of the people, as well as look for the message. Nicke grabs onto Marcus’s backpack.

“You walk, I’ll look,” he says.

The screens are all flashing and it’s a little nauseating, but Marcus keeps looking up as they cross. He has no idea what he’s looking for, and all of the screens are flashing a lot of different messages.

When they stop, they’re standing next to the Russian team.

“Don’t know what we’re looking for,” the one with the missing tooth says. “Did you see anything?”

“Everything,” Marcus says. “But I don’t know what we’re looking for.”

“Let’s cross again, I guess?” Nicke suggests.

“We find it and get out of here,” the other Russian says. “We’ll tell you if we see.”

It’s so early in the race there’s no point in not agreeing to it. They can spot other teams from where they’re standing. The two sets of siblings, one of the married couples. The light changes once more, and they’re walking again.

“Wait,” Marcus says.

“I can’t stop walking,” Nicke says.

“I think I saw it,” Marcus says.

“See if they saw it,” Nicke says.

“Find Hachiko,” the smaller Russian guy says as soon as they hit the sidewalk on the other side.

“That’s what I saw,” Marcus says. “I don’t know what it means.”

“Ask someone,” Nicke says.

“We don’t know if people on the street are tourists like we are,” Marcus points out. It’s pretty logical, but they’re also in a race. Meanwhile, both of the Russians have turned to stop people on the street to ask if they know about Hachiko.

“Hachiko?” A girl responds, looking at them, confused.

“We have to ‘Find Hachiko,’” Marcus says, turning toward her.

“Oh,” she says. “It’s a statue at Shibuya Station.”

“Where’s that?” the Russian missing the tooth asks. The girl blinks at him, like she might be a little terrified. That’s probably fair.

“Go around that way,” she tells them. “It’s really hard to miss.”

“Thank you!” Marcus shouts and shoves Nicke to get him moving.

zhenya
They find the statue quickly, but finding the statue and getting the clue is only half the battle, because it’s a Detour. They can go “Maiden” or they can go “Messenger,” and it’s clear that while both of the tasks require a level of athleticism, the Maiden task is more physically demanding.

“We can do it,” Sasha says. Zhenya makes a face at him. “Come on, you wanna try and ride a bike through Tokyo?”

“No,” Zhenya says. He knows Sasha is right. He doesn’t want to try and navigate Tokyo by bike, and it’s not like they think the race would have a task that the teams absolutely couldn’t do. Zhenya works out; they can do it.

“Which one are you doing?” Sasha asks the Swedes.

“Messenger,” the blonde one calls over his shoulder as the two of them take off running. This time it’s Sasha who makes a face.

“I understand he’s very cute but we’re in a hurry here,” Zhenya says under his breath. Sasha shoves him. “We gotta go carry this lady. Move.”

As it turns out, carrying a woman on a traditional palanquin a third of a mile - and miles are fake, Zhenya is sure - is a long fucking way. By the end of it, they’re bitching at each other in Russian, which Zhenya thinks they’re either going to have to edit the audio of out, or just not caption it - something, he doesn’t know.

They finish the task and get their next clue, which sends them to a hotel for an overnight stay. The idea of an overnight stay seems extremely appealing right that second, with his body fucking exhausted and jet lag starting to close in.

It feels good to be the first team to arrive at the hotel, meaning they get to pick the earliest start time. They’ll be in the first group to leave in the morning, and coming into their first overnight after completing their first task, it feels good.

“I can’t wait to take a shower,” Sasha says to him as they check into the hotel. It’s still early enough that they have time to get dinner and relax before they go to bed, to help them adjust to the time change.

Zhenya’s on his way out of the shower area when he runs into one of the Swedes in the hall.

“You made it,” he says.

“Thank God,” the Swede says.

“What’s a foldable bike like?” Zhenya asks, grinning at him. He rolls his eyes.

“Well,” the Swede says. “They’re not my favorite. Also I really need a shower.”

“Do you guys want to grab dinner with us?” Zhenya says as he heads back toward the locker to stow his stuff.

“Sure,” the Swede says. “Let me shower and then I’ll ask Nicke. I’m starving.”

Zhenya flashes him a thumbs up and heads down the hallway, muttering the name ‘Nicke’ under his breath, trying it on his tongue to tell Sasha.

nicke
They pick a restaurant close to the hotel because they have to walk there, and also because it’s the closest restaurant to the hotel. The Russians are Alex and Evgeny - Sasha and Zhenya, only Zhenya laughs at them when they try and say it. They’ve just ordered drinks when the Czechs and Finns walk in, and they wave them over.

“Come sit with us,” Sasha says, his voice loud and bright, waving to them. They end up having to get up and move to a different table, and Nicke is pretty sure that the restaurant is a little bit irritated with them, but they’re polite and don’t say anything.

The Czechs are named Vitek and Jakub, and they have a small debate about whether to order beer with dinner before Sasha points out that they’ve all earned it for surviving their first day and not coming in last. They order a round, only to discover that one of the Finns isn’t old enough to drink in Japan.

“Seriously?” he asks, while his friend laughs at him. “I thought it was just America that was like that?”

“It’s twenty in Tokyo,” Vitek says. He’s rubbing his fingers across the back of Jakub’s neck, and Jakub’s eyes are slipping shut.

“Are you excited to sleep in these weird capsule things?” Marcus asks. Nicke leans back in his seat and sips his beer. He’s glad that he’s not super tall, or super broad shouldered.

“Sasha not gonna fit,” Zhenya says, smirking over the top of his drink.

“That’s what she said,” Sasha says brightly, too loudly for a restaurant. It earns raucous laughter from the table, and some stares from other patrons of establishment. One of the American teams walks in, and Zhenya waves them away.

“European Union only,” he tells them, much to a bewildered look on their faces.

“We are so gonna U-turn you later,” the guy threatens them, but Nicke can’t tell if he’s serious or not. Since it’s the chubby guy with the pretty blonde sister, he thinks it’s probably not serious, and he’s not sure they’ll even be in the race by the time it gets to a U-Turn.

Nicke sends drinks over to them just in case.

sasha
They rip open their next clue in the morning, which tells them to drive to an amusement park. It’s nearly 80 miles (“Miles are fake,” Zhenya says as they pile their shit into the trunk of the car.) away from where they’re starting. They were the first to arrive at the hotel, so they’re in the first group to leave.

Zhenya navigates from the back seat while Sasha drives them to the amusement park. When they get there, they find out that they’re going to have to ride rides.

“You do it,” Zhenya says.

Sasha loves roller coasters, so it’s an easy choice. The Swedes aren’t far behind them and they’re bickering about who has to do the challenge.

“Okay,” he hears Nicke say. “Well, one of us can do it and definitely throw up or one of us could do it and maybe throw up.”

“You’re not gonna throw up,” Marcus says.

“I will definitely throw up,” Nicke says. “Remember - “ Sasha misses the rest of it because Nicke switches to Swedish.

“You fucking owe me,” Marcus says, and shrugs out of his backpack and taking off running toward the first ride. Sasha falls into step with him.

“I’m ride with you if you don’t throw up on me,” Sasha says.

“No promises,” Marcus says as they turn the corner into the queue for the first ride.

marcus
Marcus doesn’t throw up on the ride, but he misses one of the words and has to ride again. It’s the first one and he can’t just go back and start over. He has to finish, then go back and start over. Sasha’s already gone, so he can’t tell Marcus what the word was.

Sasha left him when he had to sit down and put his head between his knees after the first ride so he wouldn’t throw up.

People are passing him, he knows, and it’s fucking frustrating. It’s after the second time on the second ride that he throws up, and Roope the Finn pats him on the back as he jogs by. Marcus can’t even enjoy the fact that Roope’s hair is epicly fucked up from the rides and everyone is going to see it on TV.

They’re not in last place but they’re close as he finally gets all three words and manages to join Nicke back at the cars.

“Well, you didn’t die,” Nicke says to him.

“Jury’s out,” Marcus says. “We have to get a boat and paddle it to some island.”

“Are you serious right now?” Nicke says.

“You’re fucking paddling,” Marcus says.

“There aren’t that many teams behind us,” Nicke points out.

“You’re rubbing my feet in the hotel tonight,” Marcus says bitterly.

They come in ninth, which is … not great. Everyone in front of them either passed them while Marcus was struggling through the stupid fucking rides and trying not to die or was already ahead of them because they started in the same group. The Canadian siblings - Sidney and Taylor - came in first, and they were in the first group, and so were Tyler and Hilary. Sasha and Zhenya had come in third after Sasha had left Marcus behind after the first ride.

Marcus is still lying in the grass just past the mat when the tenth team comes in - PK and Carey - and once they’ve filmed their ending, they walk over and flop into the grass next to Marcus and Nicke.

“Are you going to make it?” PK asks. He’s a big personality, so he’s a great fit for the show. Right this instant, Marcus wants him to not speak.

“We’re not sure,” Nicke says. “On the bright side, I probably would have died trying to do this.”

“I don’t care,” Marcus says. “Help me up, I want a shower.”

“Where’s the last team?” Nicke asks. “Are they super far behind?”

“They weren’t even at the park when we left,” Carey says. “So either they’re ahead of us and got lost paddling here, or they got lost on the way to the park.”

“Didn’t they get lost yesterday, too?” Nicke asks.

“I think so,” Carey says. “But they weren’t the last ones at the hotel last night. They were checking in as we were leaving for dinner, and there were other teams behind them in line.”

“Who knows,” Nicke says.

“Please help me up,” Marcus says. Nicke gets to his feet and grabs Marcus’s hands, tugging him up to his feet.

zhenya
William and David get eliminated and David kisses William on the mat in front of God and everyone even though they’re signed onto the show as just friends.

“Well, that’s not a surprise,” Nicke says while they’re sitting at dinner in the hotel restaurant. They’ve tugged several tables together and all of them are sitting there, not just the European Union.

“Why do you say that?” Sasha asks. He’s got his feet up on the chair next to Nicke so no one can sit in it.

“Because they were cuddlier than half the people here who were registered as couples,” Nicke says. “They were sitting with us at LAX, and you would have thought that they were dating, not Vitek and Jakub.”

“True,” Vitek says. “I wondered about it.”

“What do we do when they come in here?” Zhenya says. “Buy them a drink?”

“Buy them a drink and send them back to … where do they go? To wherever the race is going to end to wait for us? Or home?” PK asks.

“No idea,” Sasha says.

“Someone ask them,” Zhenya suggests.

“No one is going to ask them,” Nicke says.

“I’ll ask them,” PK says, and starts to get up, like he’s going to - what, go to their hotel room and ask?

“You won’t,” Carey says, tugging him back into his seat. PK pouts at him for a split second before Carey leans over and kisses the pout off his mouth.

“Well, we’ll all find out eventually,” Zhenya says.

“Speak for yourself,” Tyler pipes up. “I’m here to win.”

nicke
They leave for China the next morning, too early for much more than tiny shitty cardboard cups of hotel coffee and leaning heavily against teammates and other racers as they wait for the word go. They have to drive the 80 miles back to the Tokyo-Narita airport, then get a flight out to Shanghai.

Nicke is sitting on a couch in the lobby while everyone is milling around. Some are leaving earlier, and he overhears Zhenya stridently telling anyone who will listen that “miles are fake.” Nicke likes the way it sounds when Hilary laughs in his face and tells him that she’s pretty sure that kilometers are fake, and miles are fine.

Tyler tells her in that case, she’s driving and he’s sleeping in the back seat.

“The fuck you are!” she says loudly, and slugs him in the thigh.

It’s nice, and Marcus comes back with much larger cups of coffee for them. “For the road,” he says.

Flying to Shanghai is a lot shorter flight than when they came from America to Japan, but Nicke dozes anyway, his head leaned over against Marcus’s shoulder. They’re on the same flight as PK, Carey, Phil, and Amanda, because they were all the late arrivals to the Pit Stop the day before.

They land in Shanghai with instructions to immediately go to Yu Yuan Gardens to find a clue. It’s not that hard, and even though they were on a flight that left later, there are other teams at the Garden still looking. Things start looking up when Nicke finds the clue almost immediately, then bumps past PK deliberately and whispers to him where to go. Nicke knows he shouldn’t be helping other teams, but fuck it. PK and Carey were nearly eliminated the night before, and they’re dragging behind just like Nicke and Marcus are.

If he’d seen Amanda and Phil on the way out, he might have told them, too.

The Roadblock has them washing windows 40 stories off the ground for a clue. Zhenya’s already up in the air when Nicke and Marcus arrive at the location. Vitek, Tyler, Taylor, and Miro are all also sitting and waiting.

“You have to do this,” Marcus says to him.

“Yeah,” Nicke says. He knows Marcus is scared of heights, and he also feels a little bad about the amusement park the day before. “I got it,” he says, and takes off running.

zhenya
As soon as Zhenya has the clue in his hands, he’s making a beeline for Sasha. Sasha’s already got their backpacks in hand as Zhenya’s ripping open the clue. It’s written in English, but after a furtive glance at all of the other teams sitting around, Zhenya reads it to Sasha in Russian.

“Let’s go,” Sasha says, and they take off. The next clue isn’t that hard to find, but then they have to make a decision. After carrying the palanquin in Japan, Sasha argues that maybe they don’t want to do another task that relies on strength. The ice task seems easy enough, even if they have to find the fish market where they’re taking the ice blocks.

So they head off to transport some ice.

And they get lost. Loading the ice onto the bikes is easy, because they’re able to work together. Pedaling the bikes is easy. But finding the fish market is not easy, and after biking around, Zhenya’s legs are aching and he’s getting snippy at Sasha, who maybe doesn’t deserve it, but Sasha’s the one who didn’t want to carry the bricks.

Would it have been easier to carry the bricks? Well, it would have been strength, sure, but they would’ve known exactly where to go instead of banking on the luck they’ve had with getting around so far.

They find the fish market in the end, but Zhenya knows it’s taken them way too long, and all he can do is worry at Sasha that they’re in last place.

When they get to the mat, they find out that they’re not, but seventh place doesn’t feel good when they started out in third. They walk away from the mat toward the hotel, frustrated and pissed off at each other.

They’re sweaty and need showers and everyone’s planning on meeting again in the hotel’s restaurant for a group dinner after the elimination. Sasha isn’t speaking to Zhenya when Zhenya goes to shower first, and by the time Sasha’s done with his shower, Zhenya’s had enough.

“Look,” he says. “I’m sorry. I got frustrated.”

“I know,” Sasha says.

“I shouldn’t have been shitty,” Zhenya says.

“I didn’t have to be shitty back,” Sasha says. He sighs, and sits down on the bed across from Zhenya, still wearing his towel. “We’re not going to win like this.”

“I know,” Zhenya says, and sighs. “Get dressed and let’s go and get food.”

nicke
“You’re not eliminated!” Miro yells as Sasha and Zhenya walk into the restaurant and head for their table to join the rest of the teams gathered there. The seat next to Nicke is left available, and Sasha sinks down next to him.

“You were the first to leave the tower,” Nicke says, patting Sasha on the back as he slumps down against the table. “What happened?”

“We couldn’t find the fish market,” Zhenya says. “It was so fucking stupid.”

“Who came in first?” Sasha asks.

“Me,” PK says from down the table. Someone has made him a crown out of napkins, like others haven’t already come in first prior to them.

“Us,” Carey corrects, slugging PK in the thigh. PK swears and dodges away from him. “Jocelyn and Monique got eliminated.”

Almost everyone is finished eating, or almost finished eating. Jakub and Vitek come in not long after Sasha and Zhenya, looking tired and defeated. Ninth place. Next to last, like PK and Carey had been the leg before. Nicke knows it feels like shit.

“I almost wish we’d gotten eliminated,” Jakub says, leaning against Vitek.

“What? Why?” Roope asks, sitting across from them.

“I hurt so bad,” Jakub says. “Those fucking bricks, dude.”

“Better than getting lost trying to find the fish market,” Sasha mutters.

“You wanted to do the ice,” Zhenya says.

“We already fought about this,” Sasha says.

“I think everyone had a fight today,” Marcus says, and Nicke appreciates that he’s the type who tries to diffuse a situation. “Except for me and Nicke, because we had one yesterday. So we’re all on an even footing and tomorrow we’re going to… go somewhere else and have a clean slate where we haven’t all yelled at our friends or loved ones.”

“Fair,” Zhenya says, and flashes him a smile.

“Speak for yourselves,” PK says. “We came in first.”

marcus
The next clue takes them to Bangladesh.

It’s back to the airport in Shanghai, and this time the teams are all on the same flight, in spite of having all arrived at different times. Sasha and Nicke jam into a row together and Marcus rolls his eyes and goes to sit with Zhenya.

“I think Sasha like him,” Zhenya says. Marcus hums, because he’s not addressing anything about this. He’s got an eye-mask on his head, ready to take a nap on the flight. But Zhenya seems ready to pry. “What do you think? You know, if he like Sasha back.”

“I think we’re not in primary school,” Marcus says, and Zhenya grins at him, reaching out and tugging Marcus’s eye mask down over his face.

“Yeah, well, you a terrible wingman,” Zhenya says. “You wanna keep him for yourself?”

Marcus actually snorts at that, tugging his eye mask off and pushing his hair back. “No,” Marcus says. “Definitely not.”

“Okay,” Zhenya says, leaning closer. “You say that like you know.”

Marcus just stares at him. Sure, he could tell the story about the time he thought he was in love with his best friend and they’d dated for a little while and it had been weird and maybe they’d known too much about each other for it to be truly comfortable, and they hadn’t spoken to each other for a few months in the aftermath. And Marcus was the one who had gone crawling back to Nicke because he’d missed him like he’d had a hole in his chest.

They’re just friends now. That’s it.

“You do know,” Zhenya whispers.

“It was a long time ago,” Marcus says, not looking at Zhenya. He can feel himself blushing.

“Do you still have feelings for him?” Zhenya whispers.

“No,” Marcus says. He definitely doesn’t have romantic feelings for Nicke, not anymore. “But it’s none of my business if he’s interested in Sasha or if Sasha’s interested in him.”

“But wouldn’t it be fun?” Zhenya asks. “You know, you went on this show and you met the love of your life - “

“And I thought I was a hopeless romantic,” Marcus says, and laughs at him. “You live in Russia, I don’t think that’s gonna work out.”

“Eh, maybe Sasha moves,” Zhenya says. “Who knows.”

“Not me,” Marcus says. “And I’m staying out of it.”

“No fun,” Zhenya says, tugging his eye mask down over his face and leaning back in his seat.

sasha
“We’re absolutely doing the strength challenge this time,” Sasha says once they get the clue for the leg’s detour. He’s already played mechanic, patching a hole in a bus so they could move on.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zehnya says. “But no offense, these both sound like strength challenges.”

“I wanna be a blacksmith, so let’s go,” Sasha says.

It’s hard work, and it’s certainly unpleasantly hot. But they get it done, is what’s important, and they’re not going to come in at the back of the pack this time, because there are still teams at the blacksmith when they leave. They have to get on a boat and then go on foot to the pit stop.

They’re in fourth, which is better than the middle. Tyler and Hilary are just finishing up checking into the hotel when they arrive.

“I think all of the first three teams to get here did the cotton detour,” Tyler says, stopping to wait on them. Sasha feels sweaty and disgusting and wants nothing more than a shower and a meal.

“Who got here before us?” Zhenya asks while Sasha is getting their keys.

“The Czechs won the leg,” Hilary tells him. Tyler picks up both of their backpacks off the floor. “Apparently they outran the Swedes to the mat.”

“I bet Nicke was pissed,” Sasha says. Neither Tyler nor Hilary seems to think anything of the statement, but he catches Zhenya giving him side eye.

“Second place isn’t so bad,” Zhenya finally says after a few seconds.

“I’d rather come in first,” Tyler calls as he and Hilary walk toward the elevators. Sasha looks at Zhenya, then shrugs. They finish checking in, then head upstairs, and Sasha finally gets to shower.

Nicke is the only Swede in the restaurant when they get there, and Sasha slumps in the seat next to him.

“Were you pissed you got outran by the baby Czechs?” Sasha asks him. Zhenya snorts.

“At least both of them are old enough to drink,” Nicke says. “It would’ve been more embarrassing to get beaten by the Finns. I’m not pissed. Marcus did crash full-body into Jakub and both of them ended up in the dirt though, so you wish you’d been there.”

Both Sasha and Zhenya laugh.

“Where’s your prettier half, anyway?” Zhenya asks. This time it’s Nicke’s turn to laugh.

“He’s not prettier than me,” Nicke says, then tosses his hair, flicking blonde curls like he’s got a lot more of it than he does. Sasha thinks maybe he’s in love. “He fell asleep when I was in the shower, so I left him in the room.”

“Fair,” Sasha says.

“Apparently alcohol is illegal in Bangladesh?” Zhenya says, interrupting them. Sasha was working into a good groove of flirting, too.

“Oh, yeah,” Nicke says. “I found that out before you guys got here.”

Sasha sighs.

nicke
The next morning, all Marcus does is whine at Nicke how hungry he is.

“It’s not my fault you went to sleep and didn’t go to dinner,” Nicke says while they’re packing up and getting ready to head out on the next leg of the race. At least the production makes sure that they get fed, and they get enough water. Nicke assumes that’s because no one wants to be liable for anyone passing out or getting sick. He wonders what the insurance is like on a production like this, where they’re all doing physical challenges and could potentially injure themselves.

They all get their clues at the same time, and Nicke feels like he doesn’t even have to read where they’re going by the way he hears Sasha react. He sees the destination - St Petersburg, Russia - on the clue and looks up. Sasha meets his eyes, grinning.

“We gonna win this leg,” Sasha tells Nicke, stepping in close to keep his voice low. “Stick with us, you come in second.”

“Not if we run faster,” Nicke tells him.

sasha
No one was eliminated on the leg before, so Julie and Caroline have an extra task. It doesn’t matter, because Zhenya and Sasha are leaving everyone in their dust. Oh, the show wants them to get into goalie gear and block shots from professionals? That’s fine, because Zhenya’s played goalie before - just for fun. They play recreationally all the time.

Sasha half expects the Swedes to want to go for the vodka-drinking challenge, but he’s floored when Nicke says “fuck no, we’re playing hockey.” He’s delighted even more when he finds out that Nicke actually plays professionally. Marcus isn’t pro, but still plays.

It’s easy to get ahead when everyone knows what they’re doing. At the very least, all of them can skate and it’s not a struggle to get into the gear and get onto the ice and into position, even if Zhenya’s the only one of them who has ever played goalie.

Sasha’s pretty sure the pros are going easy on them, but he doesn’t care. Blocking the shots is easy when he’s got all the damn gear on, and it helps that he’s not scared of the shots at all. It seems like a lot of the other teams may have gone for the vodka drinking, though. Whatever, slapshots are scary.

The Swedes finish first but Sasha and Zhenya aren’t far behind them as the next clue sends them off to a restaurant.

Even though Sasha did the bus repair the leg before, he’s the one who sits down to eat the caviar. One of them has to eat a whole kilo of caviar, which… is probably more caviar than Sasha would want to eat in a short period of time.

There are a tense thirty seconds where the Swedes stare at each other to decide which of them will do the challenge before Marcus sighs and stomps off to the table. (Later, Zhenya tells Sasha that apparently Nicke is a picky eater, and Marcus is a try anything once kind of guy.)

Sasha finishes first, because this is cake compared to some of the other things they’ve done, and once they have their clue, they’re heading to Catherine’s Palace in a literal horsedrawn carriage. Zhenya high-fives Nicke, Caroline, and Vitek on his way out of the restaurant.

They come in first and it feels fucking good. They’ve barely even stepped off the mat when Marcus and Nicke come running up, dropping their backpacks to the ground.

“I never want to eat caviar again,” Marcus says, and they laugh.

nicke
It’s sad when they find out that the Finns have been eliminated. Now that they’re in Russia (letting the Russians order dinner and drinks for them, which is maybe not a good idea), they’re all guessing that they’ll go to each of the countries represented by the teams, but they haven’t been to Finland yet, and now Roope and Miro are going home.

“It’s not fair,” Marcus says, after a little too much vodka. Sasha is leaning against Nicke like he’s drunk, and Nicke doesn’t know him all that well, but he’s pretty sure there’s no way Sasha is drunk. “Who knows what they could have done if Julie and Caroline weren’t still here.”

“No more vodka for you,” Zhenya says, laughing and reaching out to take Marcus’s glass. “That doesn’t make sense. They did an extra task. They deserve to still be here.”

“But the Finns!” Marcus says.

“Maybe you should start drinking… a significant amount of water?” Sidney suggests helpfully. “I mean, or not, I don’t care if you have a hangover, maybe you won’t come in second the next leg.”

Marcus pauses and squints at him. “You came in sixth, you hush,” he says, and Taylor laughs at Sidney, whose face goes red but also laughs anyway.

“Are you planning on coming in first ever or just getting second every leg?” Sasha asks, putting an arm around Nicke. He’s warm, and Nicke is tired and has to fight the urge to melt against him and close his eyes.

“Fuck you,” Nicke says sleepily, then yawns. “I think I need to go to bed?”

“Get your beauty sleep,” Sasha says.

Zhenya groans and thumps his head on the table and Marcus chokes on his water. Sasha looks at Nicke and grins.

zhenya
Their next destination is the Czech Republic, and Jakub gleefully informs them that he and Vitek are going to “fuck all their asses” gleefully and then doesn’t understand why everyone is laughing. Neither Czech is good enough at English to know quite why it’s so funny, and none of the rest of them can keep from giggling long enough to explain why.

Fortunately, they’re on the first train out of St. Petersburg, and Julie and Caroline finally find the fortitude to keep straight faces to explain to Jakub what he said. He blushes, but doesn’t back down, just grins at them.

“Oh, I only do that to V, then,” he says.

“Kuba, no,” Vitek says, reaching out to put his hands over Jakub’s mouth. Zhenya is crying he’s laughing so hard. Marcus has slumped over to bury his face against Nicke, who is wheezing.

Later on the plane to Prague, Sasha is sitting with Nicke again and Zhenya settles in next to Marcus, who makes a face at him.

“What?” he asks.

“So Nicke definitely into Sasha,” Zhenya says. He’s pretty sure, but he wants Marcus to confirm it. Marcus doesn’t even look at him. He’s literally picked up the magazine from the back of the seat so that he doesn’t have to look at Zhenya. “Hey,” Zhenya says, tapping the back of the magazine.

“I’m not going to gossip about my best friend,” Marcus tells him.

“It’s not gossiping,” Zhenya says. “Sometimes when one cute boy like another cute boy, you try and make sure they get together.”

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t call Nicke a cute boy,” Marcus says.

“You don’t think so? You used to date him,” Zhenya says. Marcus’s head snaps up and finally he looks at Zhenya.

“Don’t say that out loud,” Marcus says. “Most people don’t know about it.”

“What?” Zhenya says. “Of course no one here knows about it.”

“No, I mean - “ Marcus sighs. “It’s complicated.”

“We’re on this flight for a while,” Zhenya says. “So explain.”

“I just think that,” Marcus says, and then stops. “I just think that it was complicated to begin with and it’s … it’s more complicated since Sasha is Russian.”

“I told you, maybe Sasha would move,” Zhenya says. Marcus lets out a harsh breath, his nostrils flaring.

“Are you gonna drop this if I tell you I don’t want to talk about it,” Marcus asks.

“Probably not,” Zhenya says.

“I’m not talking about it,” Marcus says.

Zhenya sits back in his seat, and he’s quiet for a while. “Are you still in love with him?” Zhenya asks after a while.

“I swear to God,” Marcus says, turning his head to look at Zhenya. “Why does it matter so much?”

“I’m just curious,” Zhenya says.

“I told you before, I’m not in love with him,” Marcus says. “This is not us pretending just to be friends and really being in love and it’s going to be some big deal where we come out on this show. Nicke’s not out at all. He’s not going to come out like this.”

Zhenya tries to process that. He wasn’t thinking that they were secretly a couple. Friends, he believes, but he definitely doesn’t think that they’re misrepresenting their relationship the way David and William were. He thinks he gets it, because Sasha isn’t out, either. That’s Russia. Zhenya thinks he understands that for Nicke it’s hockey. Zhenya plays; he knows hockey culture.

“Sorry,” Zhenya finally says after a long while of quiet.

“Just do me a favor and stop asking,” Marcus says. “If it happens, it happens. But I’m not getting involved in it.”

Zhenya sighs. He leans over and rests his head against Marcus’s shoulder. Marcus doesn’t shove him away, which he probably deserves, so he thinks maybe he’s forgiven.

nicke
When they land in Prague, the Czechs are ecstatic, and take off almost immediately. It’s almost unfair, because Jakub is from Prague, and it seems like they know exactly where they’re going as they leave. It’s a little harder for Marcus and Nicke to figure out, but they finally manage to get to the museum they’ve been directed to.

Nicke takes the challenge and ends up sprinting around trying to find the clue. The ringing of the phones as he tries to find the ones with a voice on the other end is driving him mad, but he has to keep going, and he has to go fast. The form is irritating, but he knows he has the letters. He just has to figure the rest of it out.

At least, he thinks he does, until he finds out he doesn’t, and then he has to start over again. At least he doesn’t have to go through the phones again, even though they’re ringing and ringing. He can see other teams leaving and he has to try and take a deep breath and think.

It feels like it takes forever and he’s lost track of how many teams have left ahead of them by the time he has the clue in his hand and is running back to Marcus.

“Read it, I’ll carry our shit,” Marcus says, and they’re out the door and headed for their next location.

The mini challenge is cryotherapy. Nicke has tried it before, and he’s not sure if it works or not, but doing it occasionally feels great. Marcus, on the other hand, is standing next to him, his teeth chattering.

“Are you counting in your head right now?” Nicke asks him.

“Please don’t speak to me,” Marcus says. He’s definitely counting down the seconds in his head.

They’re not the only ones at the cryotherapy center. Sasha and Zhenya are also there, and Nicke wants to pretend he doesn’t see the once-over Sasha gives him as they’re stripping down to their underwear. He just hopes that the cameras didn’t see it.

He forces himself not to look when Sasha gets out of the chamber and goes to put his clothes back on. He doesn’t want the cameras to see that. Anything he thinks or feels about Sasha - all the flirting - that’s for after hours, when the cameras aren’t on them anymore.

Once they’re out of the chambers, they get their clue sending them to their next destination. Between the two of them, they decide that it would be easier to do the task asking them to carry beer rather than build a golem. It’s not exactly hard, but it takes them longer than Nicke expected.

They end up coming in fifth, which isn’t bad, but it’s not great when there’s only eight teams left racing and that makes them in the back half of the pack. Sasha and Zhenya arrive just ahead of them, just far enough ahead that they’ve been sent on ahead to the hotel before Nicke and Marcus arrive.

When they get to the room, Marcus sprawls out on the bed with his head hanging off the end. “Will you stop sitting with Sasha on the planes? Zhenya’s making me crazy,” he says.

“I thought you liked him?” Nicke says, digging in his bag so that he can go to shower before heading down to get food.

“I do but he keeps asking me if I think you like Sasha, and if I have feelings for you,” Marcus says. “And I can’t. I can’t talk about that, Nicke.”

Nicke sighs.

“What did you tell him?” Nicke asks.

“The truth,” Marcus says. “That we dated. That you’re my best friend but it’s not like that. And that you’re not out.”

“Did you tell him that’s what we broke up over?” Nicke asks.

“No,” Marcus says. “I didn’t tell him any specifics.”

“Well, Sasha’s nice, but he lives in another country,” Nicke says. “So even if I were interested, after this it’s all done.”

“Funny you mention that, since Zhenya’s said twice to me now that Sasha would move,” Marcus says.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Nicke says, because he doesn’t want to continue the conversation.

He likes Sasha, sure. But they’ve known each other for a week and they’ve been in a non-stop, high pressure situation the whole time. It’s not normal and who knows what it really is, whether they actually like each other, or if it’s just circumstance. When this is all over, he expects that Sasha will go back to Russia, and he’ll go back to Sweden, and that will be the end of it.

Maybe they follow each other on social media, maybe they don’t. Nicke’s not really the type to use Twitter, and he keeps his Instagram private.

There’s a part of him that wants to hope, but he’s too practical for that. It’s flirting, and then it’s over.

He can’t be a fool about this.

sasha
They’re not all on the same flight out of Prague the next day, split into two groups of four teams each. Sasha and Zhenya are on the first flight, heading for Helsinki.

“We should all have a drink when we get to the hotel tonight,” Zhenya suggests.

“Don’t jinx it,” Sasha says.

“It’s fine, Carey and PK have the Detour,” Zhenya says.

“Okay, well, Caroline and Julie had a Detour and they came in third the leg after that,” Sasha points out. “And Roope and Miro went home.”

“We’re not going home,” Zhenya says.

They arrive in Helsinki and have to find a specific cafe to find their first clue, but the clue just sends them to a train station to take a train to Tampere.

The Road Block in Tampere is a choice between cross country skiing or an obstacle course.

“Miles are fake,” Zhenya says, for what Sasha thinks is probably the hundredth time since they’ve been on the race. He’s right, but Sasha thinks maybe he doesn’t need to say it every time. “We’re doing the obstacle course.”

They arrive at nearly the same time as Tyler and Hilary, and there are a few moments where Sasha almost wishes he could watch them go through it instead of going through it himself, because watching the two of them work is incredible. Hilary is athletic. It’s not like Tyler isn’t, but Hilary is really something.

She carries Tyler piggyback through part of the course. It’s impressive.

They’re the first ones to leave the obstacle course, but Sasha and Zhenya aren’t far behind. Sidney and Taylor are starting the obstacle course as Sasha and Zhenya are leaving, and Sasha doesn’t see anyone else. He can’t imagine that so many of the other teams went to do the cross country skiing, but he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t have time to think about it, because they have to get back to the train station to get from Tampere to Turku. Zhenya volunteers to be the one to bike down, even if it means that he’ll have to be the one breaking the rock open for the clue. Sasha worries that it’s going to take forever, or be too heavy, or Zhenya won’t be able to break it, but it ends up not being as bad as Sasha expected.

Before he knows it, they’re done and they have their clue sending them back to Helsinki to their pit stop.

It’s a real race this time, and they’re on the same train as Hilary and Tyler, so it’s a matter of getting a taxi that gets them to the location first, then being fast enough to run to the mat and beat the other team. They get lucky that their taxi gets them there just seconds faster, giving them the edge they need to beat Hilary and Tyler to the mat.

Sasha throws his arms around Zhenya and yells in his face with victory. They’ve come in first before, in Russia, but it was less stress, less adrenaline than having to be in a foot race with a team that could definitely kick their asses if the circumstances were slightly different, if their taxis had arrived at the same time and it had all been down to running.

Tyler is breathless and grinning when he and Hilary step onto the mat with Sasha and Zhenya.

“We’re gonna beat them next time,” he says.

marcus
“To Miro and Roope,” Nicke says, holding up his glass.

“Who didn’t make it here,” Marcus says, holding up his.

“And to Phil and Amanda, we’re sorry we eliminated you,” PK says, clinking his glass against Marcus’s so hard that beer sloshes out all over Marcus’s fingers.

“Come on,” Marcus says.

“We survived our Detour and we didn’t get eliminated,” Carey says. “I guess I’m gonna give him this one.”

“Just lick it off,” PK says.

“I’m not gonna lick my fingers in front of all these people,” Marcus says. “I’m not a heathen.”

“Yeah, he keeps that just for private,” Zhenya pipes up.

“Are we going to drink or not?” Nicke asks, and Marcus really owes him for that one, because he can feel his face burning.

“So to the Finns and some American siblings,” PK says.

Everyone clinks their glasses together and drinks. Zhenya passes Marcus a napkin to wipe his hand off, now that they’re all done talking about everyone that’s gone. Sasha and Zhenya came in first, and they’re pretty happy about that, even though Tyler and Hilary were on their heels. Marcus would like to come in first just once before they get eliminated.

It’s a little frustrating. It’s nice to still be there, it’s nice to not ever have been really close to being eliminated, except for once, and even then there were two teams behind them. It just doesn’t feel good to have three second place finishes, then a third place, and to never come in first.

He’s somewhere between still awake and being asleep when Nicke comes back to the room. He’d left the restaurant a long time ago, because it had just been him and Nicke, the Russians, and the Czechs. He’d felt like he was third wheeling couples, more than anything, even with Zhenya there.

Marcus jerks fully awake, heart racing, when Nicke flops onto the bed next to him. He hates the startled feeling of coming out of that place where he’s not really sleeping.

“So,” Nicke says, kicking off his sneakers and rolling onto his stomach. Marcus didn’t even turn the lights off before he dozed off. “Zhenya’s flirting with you now.”

“I don’t care,” Marcus says. “I’m not flirting with him.”

“You could just enjoy things that happen,” Nicke says.

“Look, I don’t want you to think I’m carrying a torch for you or something, but I am definitely not going to get all giggly over a guy that I’m gonna know for like, a month and then never see again,” Marcus says. He’s being practical. It’s fine if Nicke wants to do it, truly. Zhenya’s made it clear that if Nicke is interested, Sasha’s interested.

But it’s only a month, and that doesn’t feel like enough for Marcus to know that’s what he wants.

“Are you?” Nicke asks, his voice quiet.

“Am I what?” Marcus asks.

“In love with me,” Nicke says.

“No,” Marcus says. “I love you, but it’s not. It’s not that. It hasn’t been that for a long time.”

“Just checking,” Nicke says.

“I wish people would stop asking me,” Marcus says. He rolls over and puts his back to Nicke, because he’s genuinely tired of the conversation. He does love Nicke. He was once in love with Nicke, and now he’s not. And he likes to think that he’s grown a lot since then.

Nicke clicks off the light and both of them lay there in the dark, listening to each other breathing. Marcus is almost asleep again when Nicke speaks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t - that I wasn’t,” Nicke starts, then stops with a sigh. “I was young. And stupid. I mean, I’m probably still stupid.”

“You were older than I was,” Marcus says.

“You’ve always been more mature than me,” Nicke says. Marcus snort laughs, but there’s a watery note in Nicke’s voice.

“Are you fucking crying right now?” Marcus asks.

“I don’t fucking cry,” Nicke says.

“You are, you absolutely are,” Marcus says, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbow. “I don’t hold it against you.”

“I was shitty,” Nicke says.

“So was I,” Marcus says. “We’ve definitely had this conversation.”

“I know,” Nicke says. “I know.”

They’re both quiet again for a while. “If you want to … try this whole thing with Sasha, I’m not gonna judge you,” Marcus says quietly, after a while.

“Thanks for your permission,” Nicke says, and Marcus almost feels like he can hear Nicke rolling his eyes.

“You know that’s not what I’m saying,” Marcus says.

“I know,” Nicke says.

This time the silence descends and neither of them breaks it.

zhenya
They have an early call the next morning, and their clues reveal their next destination is Stockholm.

“It’s fucking on,” Nicke says, pointing at Sasha as Sasha and Zhenya head outside, first place in the previous leg giving them the privilege of leaving first. Marcus is holding a cup of coffee and grinning at them.

“You’re gonna come in second again,” Sasha yells back.

Nicke narrows his eyes, and Zhenya shoves him out the door before the Swedes murder him.

Even though Sasha and Zhenya leave first, they’re only staggered leaving the hotel by ten minute intervals, so they’re finishing up purchasing their tickets when Nicke and Marcus arrive. With seven teams left, there are three possible flights, and it’s the luck of the draw what they end up on.

They’re on the same flight, waiting an hour and a half before they board. That means there’s time to grab a quick breakfast and more coffee before the flight. Once they have breakfast, Sasha sits down in one of the chairs next to Nicke.

“Are you from Stockholm?” he asks.

Nicke shakes his head. “No,” he says. “Further north. Marcus works in Stockholm but he’s from so far south and west he might as well be from Denmark.”

“No,” Marcus says. “Nicke used to play for Djurgårdens, in Stockholm, so it’s not like he’s unfamiliar.”

“Where do you play now?” Sasha asks, and Zhenya just barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. He doesn’t think Sasha knows anything about the Swedish Hockey League, much less if Nicke names the team. If Marcus hadn’t clarified that Djurgårdens was in Stockholm, Zhenya wouldn’t have known.

“Brynäs,” Nicke says.

“That’s his hometown team,” Marcus puts in. “And he’s very pleased to have signed with them.”

Sasha grins at Nicke and Zhenya stops himself from sighing. He can see that Sasha is sloppily in lust or love or whatever with Nicke. Whatever feelings a man can have after a few weeks on a game show with someone and only getting a few hours to get to know them at night or on flights when he’s not frantically trying to complete a task. Sasha’s got those feelings.

“You’re still not coming in first,” Zhenya says, just to shake the conversation loose, because he doesn’t like the lovesick look on Sasha’s face.

“Fuck you,” Marcus says cheerfully from Nicke’s other side.

They land in Stockholm and immediately have to take a train to another part of the city. Zhenya knows that if he and Sasha stick close to Nicke and Marcus they’re going to do better on this leg than they would if they don’t. From the train, they take a train to Djurgården.

(“Where Nicke used to play hockey?” Sasha asks while they’re waiting for the ferry. “It’s not a hockey challenge, though.”

“There are a lot of things in Djurgården besides a hockey team,” Marcus explains. “It’s a whole island. Like - “

“A neighborhood, within Stockholm,” Nicke finishes. “Grona Lund is an amusement park.”)

“Nicke’s riding the rides this time,” Marcus says.

“No, it only says we have to ride one ride, you can - “ Nicke starts.

“No,” Marcus says. “Fritt Fall, Nicke please.”

“I get motion sick,” Nicke says.

“All it does is take you up and drop you!” Marcus says. “How are you going to get motion sick?”

“You did the other ones,” Nicke says.

“I will quit right now, Nicklas,” Marcus says. “I will. I had to ride those rides three times, you really want me to do this?”

“Am I missing something here?” Sasha asks.

“Marcus is scared of heights,” Nicke says. “But he’s being a baby.”

“Nicke,” Marcus says. “I don’t want to punch you in the mouth in front of them but I will.”

“You’ve done so many challenges that I don’t know why you’re having a hang up about this now,” Nicke says.

“I can’t do this and keep my eyes open to find the arrow we’re supposed to be looking for, Nicke,” Marcus says. “Will you just do it? Whatever the next one is, I’ll do. Even if it’s heights.”

“You will not,” Nicke says.

“You’re right, I won’t, but as long as it’s not the one thing I’m scared of, I’ll do it,” Marcus says.

“Fine,” Nicke says.

Zhenya raises his eyebrows at Sasha. Sasha shrugs slightly at him. When they get to the park, Sasha takes off with Nicke to ride the ride and Zhenya stays with Marcus on the ground waiting.

“Are you okay?” Zhenya asks him.

“Yes,” Marcus says. He’s staring down at his and Nicke’s backpacks at their feet.

“So you and Nicke just fighting like that now?” Zhenya asks him.

“No,” Marcus says. Zhenya exhales hard through his nostrils.

“Are you just going to give me one word answers because you’re upset?” Zhenya asks.

“Probably,” Marcus says. He looks up at the ride climbing toward the top of the tower, shielding his eyes from the sun. Hilary is sitting on the ground near them, obviously pretending she’s not listening. She and Tyler weren’t near them on the ferry, so they missed the argument between Nicke and Marcus.

The ride drops.

“Do you need a hug?” Zhenya asks, his voice quiet. Marcus looks up at him then. Hilary’s watching him, too.

“Maybe,” Marcus says, and sighs.

Zhenya leans over and wraps his arms around Marcus, hugging him tightly. It’s meant to be quick, before Nicke and Sasha come back, but Hilary is up, dusting her shorts off and wrapping her arms around Marcus from the other side. It makes him laugh, which is good. It’s probably a bid to get on the good side of the Swedes so they get some help.

“Thanks,” Marcus finally says to them, and Zhenya can’t help but laugh, because it’s one word like everything else he’s said while they’ve been sitting there.

Tyler comes running toward them at full speed, ahead of Nicke and Sasha only because he’s younger and built for it - Zhenya blinks and forcibly turns his brain to static because Tyler’s some kind of personal trainer or something and spends a lot of time working out.

He’s got, like, a twelve pack, and he’s a way faster runner than Nicke and Sasha.

“Gotta go,” he says, grabbing his backpack from the ground.

“Later, dudes,” Hilary says, grabbing her own and racing off with him.

“Come on, we can catch them, I know where we’re going,” Nicke says, a little breathless as they pull up short next to Zhenya and Marcus. At the very least, Tyler and Hilary will be slowed down by their backpacks. It definitely seems like Nicke knows where they’re going, though.

It’s the Gnome challenge, and they’re playing ring toss. Hilary and Tyler seem bad at it, but Nicke nails it with his first ring.

“See you at the pit stop,” he tells him as he and Marcus take off running.

It takes them a few throws, but finally Zhenya gets one of his rings on a gnome, and they receive their gnome and the clue, and they leave Tyler and Hilary still trying to get the ring on their gnome. The clue sends them to a monastery where they choose between deciphering something from Viking runes, or building a bunker and blowing something up with dynamite.

There’s no question that they’re doing the dynamite.

When they arrive, they’re the first ones, so Zhenya assumes that the Swedes either finished already, which seems impossible, or they chose the other task.

“Maybe they already speak Viking,” Zhenya suggests as they’re working to fill sandbags to build their bunker. They’ve been working for maybe ten minutes when Hilary and Tyler show up, followed shortly by Vitek and Jakub.

“Maybe they decided not to fill these stupid sand bags,” Sasha says.

Filling the sandbags isn’t that bad, not really, except that their supervisor is really a stickler for how they’re filled and how they’re stacked. Zhenya guesses that’s fair, because the show would have to pay an incredible amount of money if any of them got blown up. Also, Zhenya likes not being blown up.

The Czechs beat them to the finish on the challenge, but when they get the clue, they find out there’s still one more task before the pit stop, so they still have a chance to overtake any teams ahead of them. They know at least Jakub and Vitek are ahead of them, but they don’t know who went for the other task, and they have to assume that at least Marcus and Nicke must have.

They arrive at the farm to find out that they’re going to be digging through hay bales to find a flag, and that there are three teams already there. Zhenya dumps his stuff on the ground and runs toward the hay bales, since Sasha did the challenge with the free fall ride that morning. He’s just getting to the bales when Marcus flies past him, flag in hand and hay in his hair.

It’s about time the Swedes came in first, but Zhenya still wishes he and Sasha were going to win the leg instead.

Zhenya starts digging, and he can hear Vitek swearing furiously as he overturns hay bales. on the other end, Hilary is working through methodically, but hasn’t found anything yet.

There’s a flag in one of the first bales Zhenya looks at. He could scream. Instead, he grabs it and runs. He’s almost to Sasha when he hears Vitek yelling behind him, and realizes that near where Sasha is waiting, Jakub is starting to pick up their stuff as well. He and Sasha have to run.

They come in second, but it’s close, and the Czechs join them on the mat in third place, breathless. Jakub reaches up and picks pieces of hay out of Vitek’s hair.

Zhenya grins and reaches up and dusts hay out of his own.

nicke
“I’m glad you decided we could have a big fight for the cameras today,” Nicke says, sitting down on the edge of the bed, once they’ve checked into the hotel and are finally alone.

Marcus looks up from digging through his bag, but doesn’t say anything. He gets the first shower because he’s covered in hay. And he’d taken the challenge because Nicke is allergic, which makes Nicke feel a little shitty for putting up such a fight about getting on the ride earlier in the leg. He knows that Marcus hates heights. But Nicke hates rides.

It’s not a phobia, though, he just doesn’t like the way it makes him feel. And Marcus didn’t even question that he had to do the hay bales task. They’d worked their way through the runes mostly silent, and they’d chosen it because it had seemed easier than filling sandbags - and it had been.

“I’m sorry about this morning,” Nicke says when Marcus comes out of the shower, his hair slicked back from his face.

“I’m just tired,” Marcus says, rather than apologizing as well or accepting Nicke’s. Nicke guesses that’s fair.

“I am too,” Nicke says. “We’re not gonna win if we’re fighting, though.”

“I know,” Marcus says. “I’m gonna go down and grab dinner, then I’m going to bed. I don’t feel like hanging out.”

“That’s fair,” Nicke says, and heads for the shower.

In the morning, Marcus is still quiet, but he doesn’t seem like he’s still in a bad mood. In fact, he definitely seems happier when they find out that they’re going to the airport, but they aren’t leaving Sweden.

“Oh no, giving us the opportunity to come in first again?” he says, looking up at Nicke after he finishes reading the clue.

They go.

They go north of the Arctic Circle, to a hotel made entirely from ice. When they arrive, they have to retrieve a block of ice from a storage room. Their next location is etched on it, and Nicke and Marcus are given a leg up when they realize that the location is written in Swedish.

On their way out, they speed past a suffering Taylor and Sidney, who are sitting on chairs made of ice, enduring their Speed Bump task for coming in last in the previous leg. Marcus waves cheerfully at them as they sprint out the door.

Nicke hates to admit it, because it’s embarrassing, but he’s scared of dogs. Small dogs are okay, puppies are okay, but sled dogs are neither of those things. Marcus doesn’t even question it, because he knows, and he goes with no small amount of glee to meet some dogs. It’s a lot of dogs.

Marcus has been gone for a while when Zhenya and Sasha show up. All Sasha does is yell, “dogs!” in Zhenya’s face, and drop his bag and take off running. Zhenya laughs and takes a seat next to Nicke.

“He loves dogs,” Zhenya says.

“I couldn’t tell,” Nicke says, smiling.

“He okay?” Zhenya asks.

“I guess,” Nicke says. “He said he was just having a bad day yesterday.”

“Okay,” Zhenya says.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Nicke says, voice quiet. It’s not something he wants to discuss on camera. Zhenya nods, and their conversation gets interrupted anyway, because the Czechs and Tyler and Hilary arrive, with Caroline and Julie right behind.

Marcus is the first one back to the group, and he’s grinning ear to ear, the clue clutched in his hand. He hands it to Nicke to read while he grabs his bag. Nicke thinks it’s good that this was a task that Nicke wouldn’t have wanted to do; something like this seems like it was a lot of fun for Marcus.

“I wish that had been a two person task because it was so much fun,” Marcus tells him when they’re on the way to the train station to get to the next city for their next task. “I know you hate dogs but it was so good, Nicke, you - “

“I don’t hate dogs,” Nicke says.

“Okay, but - “ Marcus starts again.

“Do you know what a dog that size could do to you if it wanted to?” Nicke asks.

“They’re good dogs, Nicke,” Marcus says, and Nicke stares at him for a second, then shoves him while Marcus starts laughing.

“Fuck you,” Nicke says, but he’s smiling too. He’s glad that whatever was going on, it seems to be resolved. He wants Marcus to be happy. He wants to have a good time doing this. He wants to win, too, but he also wants to have a good time.

In the last challenge, they can choose between building a traditional dwelling and furnishing the inside, or racing a sled down a mountain.

“Obviously,” Marcus says, and they head off to the sleds.

They’re the first ones to the Pit Stop, which is no surprise. The elation of coming in first the day before is magnified by this being their second time coming in first. All those times coming in second, they finally get two firsts in a row.

Once everyone has checked in at the Pit Stop - and PK and Carey have been eliminated - they’re put on a train back to Kiruna instead of checking into a hotel for the night. From Kiruna, they’ll go back to Stockholm in the morning, basically giving them a day off. The race is more than half over, and they’re all exhausted.

Nicke throws himself into a seat and puts his feet up on the opposite side. Marcus sits next to Nicke’s feet, but pulls the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head, then tugs the strings until it hides his face.

“You look like an idiot,” Nicke tells him, and Marcus gives him the finger and puts his feet up next to Nicke.

“No room for me?” Sasha asks, walking by.

“You could ask Marcus to move his feet,” Nicke says, looking up at Sasha with a smile.

“Can’t, I’m asleep,” Marcus says.

Nicke snorts and gets up to follow Sasha to sit somewhere else, leaving Marcus settled in against the window.

sasha
Marcus is asleep with his head on Zhenya’s shoulder when the train stops in Kiruna. Sasha can see them from where he and Nicke are sitting in the adjacent seats. Sasha knew that Zhenya went over and sat there, but he doesn’t know when Marcus leaned over to sleep against Zhenya.

“Be careful he doesn’t hit you when you wake him up,” Nicke says as he reaches into the compartment above the seats to grab his bag.

“That’s you, not me,” Marcus says. He’s still slumped over against Zhenya and hasn’t made any effort to move, but at least he’s awake.

“So you are or are not going to hit me?” Zhenya asks. “Because I could be into it, but I want to talk about safe words first.”

“Shut up,” Marcus groans, sitting up and shoving away from Zhenya, pushing his hood back off of his head.

They all file off the train and into the station, loading into vans to transport them to the hotel. This time, someone with production has gone ahead and checked them all in, and is handing out key cards as they file into the vans. Sasha and Nicke jam into the backseat of one of the vans, and Vitek jumps in to take the last seat on the back bench. Marcus, Zhenya, and Jakub take the center, and production folks are in the front seats.

“So everyone should have a key card, and you guys will have a chance to sleep in a bit before you head out for Stockholm in the morning,” the production assistant who’s driving explains. “Breakfast will be provided ahead of time. Call time for loading up the vans is 11am.”

The drive isn’t that far, and once they’ve arrived at the hotel, they’re free to head to their rooms for the night. It’s a whole block, all together on one floor. Nicke’s opening the door to his hotel room when Sasha reaches out and taps Marcus on the arm. Marcus turns to look at him, blinking, confused, his hood pulled back up. He looks like he never really woke back up after being asleep on the train.

“Trade me rooms,” Sasha says. Marcus just stares at him for a moment, then turns to look over his shoulder at Nicke briefly. Sasha can’t see whatever face Marcus makes then, but he can see Nicke shrug.

“Sure, fine,” Marcus says after a long pause where all four of them stand there awkwardly, then he hands his key over to Sasha.

“Thanks,” Sasha says, passing his own key to Marcus.

They all stand there, silent and awkward for a few more seconds, before Marcus finally turns away to unlock the other door. Zhenya pauses at the door as he follows Marcus, glancing back over his shoulder at Sasha. Zhenya’s been flirting, so if he wants to make a move, this is the setup for it, and he can thank Sasha later.

Sasha follows Nicke into his room.

They dump all of their stuff onto the floor and Nicke collapses onto the bed, and Sasha flops down next to him, reaching out and running a hand over Nicke’s hair. Both of them still have their jackets and shoes on.

“I’m so tired,” Nicke says, and instead of saying anything else, Sasha kisses him.

And that’s it. he kisses Nicke once, soft, for the first time, shut away in a hotel room away from cameras, and it’s soft and sweet and Sasha doesn’t think about oh, he could definitely get in trouble for this back home. He was serious when he told Zhenya he’d be willing to leave Russia. For the right person.

He lets his eyes close, enjoys the feeling of Nicke warm next to him. Does he want to make out with Nicke? Sure. Would he hook up with Nicke? Absolutely. Could this all be a colossal mistake? Definitely.

He says, “We should take our shoes off.”

“Ja,” Nicke says sleepily, and neither of them makes a move to do so.

They still have their shoes on in the morning when the wakeup call comes to let them know they need to get ready and get downstairs in time for breakfast before the flight to Stockholm. Breakfast is a leisurely affair and Nicke and Sasha are the last ones downstairs, and Zhenya flicks a straw paper at Sasha when they join them.

They’ve already finished breakfast and Marcus is nursing a cup of coffee, leaned back in his seat. They’re both staring at Sasha and Nicke like they, too, didn’t share a room the night before.

“So,” Zhenya says. Sasha knows the tone in his voice. “Sleep well?”

Sasha rolls his eyes, and Nicke gives them both one long stare before digging into his breakfast. “Slept so hard I didn’t take my shoes off,” Sasha says.

That makes Zhenya pause. “Really?”

“Well,” Nicke says. “I laid down, Sasha laid down, then the next thing that happened was the phone was ringing with the wakeup call.”

“Seriously?” Zhenya says, and he stares at Sasha.

“Seriously,” Sasha says.

“So we switch rooms for nothing?” Zhenya asks.

“Not for nothing,” Marcus says. “I got a good night’s sleep.” Zhenya snorts.

“Yeah, but Sasha gonna make his move, and then he don’t make his move, so what’s the point here?” Zhenya asks.

“His move was sleeping,” Nicke says. “It was a very good move.”

“Sounds like a good move,” Marcus says.

“Did you sleep well?” Sasha asks.

“Marcus never woke up from the train,” Nicke says.

“True,” Marcus says. “More or less, anyway.”

“Does anyone know where we’re going after Stockholm yet?” Jakub asks, sitting down at the table and passing a bottle of juice over to Zhenya. Sasha realizes he must have been sitting with them before, but had gotten up. Sasha’s glad that Zhenya got everything embarrassing out before Jakub came back.

“No,” Nicke says. “We overnight in Stockholm tonight and then fly off to wherever super early. That’s all we know.”

“I love an early flight,” Sasha says.

“No you don’t,” Zhenya says.

“You’re right I don’t,” Sasha says.

Marcus gets up to get more coffee and Vitek returns to the table, and everything is relaxed, which is such a drastic change from how things have been since the beginning of the race that Sasha doesn’t feel like he even knows how to eat breakfast at a normal pace anymore.

They load into vans and head to the airport in Kiruna, and fly to Stockholm. With the cameras off again, Nicke falls asleep with his head leaned against Sasha’s shoulder. He even lets Sasha play with his hair. Sasha pretends that he doesn’t notice Zhenya watching them and whispering to Marcus.

marcus
They have the evening free in Stockholm and everyone’s planning on going out rather than just sitting in the hotel restaurant like they’ve done in so many places before. Zhenya learns from Marcus that several other teams have asked him or Nicke where they should go out.

And when he says out, Marcus says, they definitely mean on dates, since it was Caroline and Julie and the Czechs who hit him up. Zhenya knows from Sasha, who knows from Nicke that Tyler, Hilary, Sidney, and Taylor are all going out together as a group. Nicke admits that he’s going out with Sasha on what’s basically a date because - contrary to what Zhenya is trying to imply - Nicke and Sasha didn’t hook up in the hotel in Kiruna, and they really did just sleep.

That leaves Marcus alone with Zhenya, which is. Fine. Absolutely nothing is weird or awkward since they shared a room and a bed and -

“Do you wanna grab dinner?” Zhenya asks, breaking into Marcus’s thoughts. He’s been sitting on a couch in a lobby not reading the book he’s been carrying around since the beginning of the race. He bought it when he was bored waiting for their flight at LAX, but then they’d met Zhenya and Sasha and the Czechs and the Finns and Marcus had never ended up reading any of it. He hasn’t been reading it now, because he’s been sitting there thinking.

“Did you have anything in mind?” Marcus asks.

“You’re the one that lives here,” Zhenya says.

“I live in Stockholm,” Marcus says. “I don’t live anywhere near here.”

“So let’s go where you do live,” Zhenya suggests.

“If the point of this is to eat, then there’s no reason to go to my apartment,” Marcus tells him. “There’s no food there.”

“Look,” Zhenya says. “This is the last time I’m gonna be in Stockholm. Take me somewhere good.”

Marcus grins at him. “Give me five minutes,” he says.

It takes less time than that to stash his book in his hotel room and get back downstairs to hail a cab. One thing he likes about being back in Sweden is that it’s easy for him to get where he’s going - any time they’ve had cabs in other places, it’s been harder to explain where they’ve been trying to go. He can have a conversation with the driver and not reveal to Zhenya where they’re headed. It’s a surprise.

They don’t go to Marcus’s apartment, because he wasn’t kidding about not being able to get food there. The only actual food he has in his apartment is in the freezer, and even if they did have time to thaw it out, chicken and pasta would be a really boring and unimpressive meal and that’s about the sum of what Marcus has in his apartment when he’s been gone for weeks.

He takes Zhenya to dinner at one of his favorite places, instead. And they talk. Marcus talks about the university he works at, the students in his classes, the dumbest shit that’s ever happened to him. Zhenya works in sales, and swears he could sell ice in Siberia. Marcus sort of believes him, because in just the course of the race he’s seen Zhenya talk other teams in circles until they do what he wants. He managed to get Sidney and Taylor U-turned on one leg just by confusing people, turning the broken English to eleven (his English is really pretty good) and letting everyone think that he doesn’t know what’s going on.

He’s smart, is the thing, and Marcus likes sitting there talking to him, and it’s a distraction from thinking about how they’re going to get up at the crack of dawn and get on a plane for somewhere else and continue the race that either of them could be eliminated from at any moment. Instead of directly talking about the race, they talk about what they’re going to do with their first place winnings, since their teams have both come in first on two legs now.

It’s starting to get late when they head back to the hotel, knowing they have to get up early in the morning. They haven’t switched rooms for the night, because they have to be downstairs, in their proper teams, ready to head to their next destination at four am.

Zhenya doesn’t kiss him goodnight, but it almost happens, standing in the hall, staring awkwardly at each other. It’s not even like they get interrupted. It’s just a moment that’s building up, and then never happens as Zhenya turns away and walks to his own room.

Marcus is asleep when Nicke comes in, and neither of them talk about it in the morning.

zhenya
There are six teams left when they leave for Morocco in the morning. No more non-elimination legs. No more U-Turns. Just six teams, and three more destinations until the final leg. Taking off for Morocco, Zhenya feels refreshed and ready to finish it out. Like after a day off they could still win.

He still feels good even as he and Sasha are running through the market in Marrakech, looking for the right antique shop. People are looking at them like they’re insane, which Zhenya feels like, at this point, may actually be accurate.

“Gladiators?” Sasha asks, breathless, once they have the clue. Zhenya is picking from among the pendants on display. Apparently one of them will get them an extra prize, but it’s the luck of the draw, and there’s only four of them for six teams besides. Zhenya just grabs one and loops it over his head.

“Can I do it?” Zhenya asks as they’re making their way out of the antiques shop to hail a cab.

“I’ll fight you for it,” Sasha says, and then slams full-bodied into Tyler on the way out the door. Tyler’s not small, but Sasha’s still bigger, and Tyler almost goes flying. He would, if Sasha didn’t grab for him.

“Holy shit,” Tyler says, breathless.

“Sorry,” Sasha says. “Good luck.”

“You too,” Tyler says, darting around Sasha and into the store.

Zhenya and Sasha play rock paper scissors for who gets to drive the chariot when they get to the Roadblock challenge, and Zhenya wins. It’s only fair, he thinks, because Sasha got to do the challenge with the sled dogs. It exhilarating and perfect, even if Zhenya has to do it twice because he misses one of the flags the first time through. It’s fine, because they’re the first ones on the course, and by the time they’ve finished and are leaving, the only North Americans who have shown up are Tyler and Hilary.

They head on to their next challenge, and choose between either making pottery or crushing olives.

“I cannot imagine me making pottery,” Sasha says to Zhenya as they’re deciding what to do.

“Yeah, me either,” Zhenya says, and he definitely means he can’t imagine Sasha doing it, although he doesn’t think that he has the patience to do it in this situation either.

“I like that it tells us the kilograms, though,” Sasha says.

“Oh, because pounds are a fake unit of measurement?” Zhenya says.

“Don’t start,” Sasha says. Zhenya grins at him and they go to crush some olives.

nicke
All Nicke can smell anymore is olives and they almost got eliminated. Actually, he thought that they were eliminated, and no one disabused them of the notion for the first few seconds they were standing on the mat and he thought that Marcus was going to cry on television when they found out they were in fifth.

It’s a long way to fall after coming in first on the last two legs. They need to go upstairs, shower, change clothes. It’s Morocco and it seemed like it would be more fun than that, but it was not. Nicke feels filthy when he walks into the restaurant and slumps into one of the seats at the table. Sasha goes to pat him on the back, but then pulls his hand back, disgusted.

“Did you come straight here?” Sasha asks, frowning.

“Yes,” Nicke says.

“Um. Why?” Zhenya asks.

“Did you guys get - “ Jakub starts, but Vitek definitely kicks him under the table and his mouth snaps shut.

“No, we didn’t get eliminated,” Nicke says after a moment. “Close, but Julie and Caroline aren’t here yet. Or they weren’t when we left to come to the hotel.”

“Hey, you’re still here,” Zhenya says, trying to lighten the mood. “That’s something.”

“Yeah,” Nicke says. Marcus doesn’t say anything, just sits there. Nicke knows he feels like it’s his fault that they were almost eliminated, since he was the one driving when they missed the marker and got lost, but Nicke knows that that’s as much his fault, too.

Zhenya leans over to Marcus and whispers something to him. Obviously, since he’s whispering it it’s not meant for any of the rest of them to hear, but at least it makes Marcus smile and shake his head, then roll his eyes. Nicke looks up to see Sasha watching him.

“I should go shower,” Nicke says. “Order me dinner.”

“Do they have chicken nuggets in Morocco?” Marcus mutters. Nicke kicks him in the shin, then gets up from the table. Zhenya is cackling, and Sasha is looking up at Nicke, grinning.

“Don’t be a dick,” Nicke tells him. Nicke sees Marcus giving him the finger out of the corner of his eye as he turns to leave.

Sasha catches up with him at the elevator. “What happened?” he asks, and Nicke sighs, because he definitely doesn’t want to talk about it. He also doesn’t appreciate that Sasha just got up and left, clearly following Nicke out of dinner when Nicke’s said that he’s going to shower. It’s not subtle.

It’s not that Nicke doesn’t think that Jakub and Vitek know what’s going on. He doesn’t think they’re idiots. And he knows that Zhenya and Marcus think they’ve done way more than they actually have since they shared the hotel room in Kiruna.

Nicke wishes he didn’t care what they think. He wishes he didn’t care that Vitek and Jakub might know, and he wishes that Marcus and Zhenya didn’t think they did more than they did. It’s stupid and childish and he’s frustrated with himself for feeling that way.

It’s almost enough to push away the irritation of nearly getting eliminated. Almost.

He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, pushing the button for the elevator to go up. “We got lost,” Nicke says. “Neither of us saw the marker for the Pit Stop turn.”

“But you didn’t come in last,” Sasha says, trying to be helpful. It’s not that helpful.

“That was sheer luck,” Nicke says. “I have no idea how they didn’t beat us here. I know we left the olives before Vitek and Jakub.” They’re alone on the elevator, thankfully.

“But what matters is that you’re still here,” Sasha insists. “So forget the rest of that.”

“I can’t,” Nicke says. “And I’m an idiot because more than I want to win, I want to stay here.”

“To win,” Sasha says.

“No,” Nicke says. “I want to be here with you, and Zhenya, and Vitek and Jakub and Tyler and Hilary because this is fun. And I’m pissed at myself because I’m upset about potentially leaving. You. Leaving you.”

“Oh,” Sasha says, into the quiet of the hallway outside Nicke’s room.

“Sasha, I’m an idiot,” Nicke says.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Sasha says.

“I know we were just in Sweden,” Nicke says, “but would you come visit?”

“You like me,” Sasha says, grinning at him.

“Fuck off,” Nicke says, and jams his key card into the slot. Of course it doesn’t work on the first try, because that’s how the day is going.

“Nicke,” Sasha says. “I’ll come to Sweden. When this is over. Even if your team beats mine.”

“I really need to shower,” Nicke says. “So please go back downstairs so no one thinks that you got in the shower with me.”

Sasha laughs, and leans in and kisses him, soft.

“Go,” Nicke says, pushes him, and closes his hotel room door in Alex’s face.

In the morning they’re off to Jamaica. It’s the longest flight they’ve had since the first one to Japan. The flight gets to Jamaica so late that they have one task - their Roadblock - before overnighting in Jamaica.

It’s limbo.

“No way is my back doing this,” Nicke whispers to Marcus. The teams are all standing around in clusters, debating who should do the challenge.

“You got a bad back now?” Marcus asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Not any more than the rest of my body,” Nicke says. “But this isn’t something I want to take a chance with. Also I don’t think I can bend over backward that far.”

“And you think I can?” Marcus asks.

“Look,” Nicke whispers. “We both know Tyler and Hilary are winning this one. Just… try and get the earliest time you can.”

“I hate you so much,” Marcus says, but Nicke just smiles at him as he walks off to limbo.

sasha
Sasha and Zhenya are the last ones to leave the next morning. It’s not by a lot of time - only fifteen minutes after Nicke and Marcus - and not at the latest possible departure time. Sasha feels like Zhenya acquitted himself well, contorting his body. It was just that he couldn’t compete with Hilary and Taylor, and apparently Jakub is living some kind of double life as an acrobat.

(“Ass too fat,” Zhenya had whispered to Sasha when Marcus fell over backward into the sand, giggling wildly. Sasha had slugged him, and he’d yelped.)

They’re heading off to their Detour, after Sidney and Taylor get into a shouting match over which one they’re going to do - because one of them is going golfing, and the other one involves horses on the beach. Sasha and Zhenya are going golfing, for sure. Neither of them golf, really, but it sounds like the easier of the two challenges. In fact, most of them choose golfing, in the end.

And in the end, when they get to the Pit Stop, it’s Vitek and Jakub who are eliminated. Tyler and Hilary win, and Sasha and Zhenya almost get eliminated.

Now Sasha understands how Nicke felt in Morocco. And he kept telling Nicke it was fine because it was just almost elimination. But it still feels shitty, sitting on the sideline with his arm slung around Zhenya’s shoulders, watching as they interview Vitek and Jakub, still standing on the mat. Vitek is talking, struggling to remember his best English, and Jakub is wiping away tears.

Sasha’s going to miss them, and he gets why Nicke was upset. He doesn’t want to go home, and seeing Jakub and Vitek leaving drives home that someone’s leaving every leg until someone wins. And there are only two more legs before it’s over. They leave Jamaica in the morning, and there are four teams left. Three of the teams are going to be in the final, and one of them is going home.

And then all of them are going home.

Sasha loves Russia. He loves his job, he loves Moscow. But he doesn’t want to leave the race, go home to Moscow, and be away from all these people that he’s met, that he’s grown close to, that he’s getting to know.

He understands why Nicke said he was an idiot. He didn’t mean to get attached to strangers who live in totally different countries. He’s wondering how he can plan a trip to Sweden, knowing that he has no leave time left after taking off on this stupid game.

Sasha puts his arm across the back of Nicke’s chair at dinner because he decides it doesn’t matter anymore. Nicke doesn’t push him away or shrug the arm off, so Sasha thinks that Nicke must have decided that he doesn’t care either. None of this is filmed for TV, anyway.

Taylor and Sidney have never joined them for dinner, but everyone’s subdued. They all know that there are only two legs left. That it’s almost over. That one of the four teams sitting there is going to win.

“Let’s just stay in Jamaica,” Sasha finally says. He’s sleepy, his head leaned toward Nicke where his arm is still resting. “If we refuse to finish the race what happens?”

“If we were going to refuse to keep racing, we should have stayed in Sweden,” Marcus says.

“Not everyone wants to be in Sweden,” Sidney says.

“I had a lovely time in Sweden,” Zhenya says.

Sasha thinks Marcus is blushing, which is interesting, since they swapped rooms in Sweden. Oh, Zhenya and Marcus claimed all they did was sleep, like Sasha and Nicke had. That blush makes Sasha think maybe they didn’t exactly tell the truth.

“We should get some sleep,” Taylor says. It’s getting late, and there are more than a few beer bottles scattered. Sasha doesn’t think any of them will actually be hung over, but he doesn’t know everyone sitting there that well.

Taylor and Sidney are the first to leave, and Hilary and Tyler aren’t far behind. The rest of them sit there, quiet, Sasha’s arm still looped around Nicke’s back. Since they’ve been sitting there, Sasha’s moved it off the back of the chair to rest against Nicke’s back, and Nicke’s leaned into him, warm and heavy.

“We need to go,” Marcus says. Sasha doesn’t know when the bar closes. He knows what time they have to be downstairs to start filming, and it’s sooner than he’d like.

Sasha sighs and stands up, keeping his arm around Nicke even as they stand up and move toward the door, Zhenya and Marcus trailing after them like ducklings.

“If we come downstairs at the same time, no one needs to know we switched rooms,” Nicke suggests. Sasha’s sure he hears Marcus’s breath catch.

“If that’s what you want,” Marcus says. His voice is soft, coming from behind Sasha. Sasha’s looking at Nicke, but he sees Nicke’s eyes flick to Marcus and then back to Sasha.

“Okay,” Sasha says.

Sasha slips his room key out of his pocket and turns, holding it out to Marcus, who passes his own to Sasha. Zhenya lets himself and Marcus into Sasha and Zhenya’s room and then Nicke and Sasha are alone in the hall.

“I’m an idiot, too,” Sasha finally says after the silence has stretched between them for a long few minutes.

Nicke lets out an ugly bark of a laugh, then grabs Sasha and kisses him.

marcus
It all goes wrong in Montreal.

It’s gone wrong before, but Montreal is one disaster after another. First, they get lost trying to find their first clue in downtown Montreal. They’re the last ones to show up to the Detour - and it looks like all four teams picked curling.

During the curling, Marcus slips and lands hard on one knee. After that there’s definitely not going to be any running, and the best he can manage is a half jog. And it fucking hurts. The production’s medical team offers to take him to get it looked at.

He knows that he should, but he also doesn’t want to stop. He tells himself it can’t be more than a bad bruise, asks them politely for painkillers and he keeps going. He’s not going to stop. He’s not going to give up.

They pass Sidney and Taylor on the way into the Roadblock, which turns out to be performing a stunt on a trapeze. Marcus almost laughs with relief - it’s not something he’d be able to do - no way in hell he’d ever be able to get up on the trapeze without freaking out. He and Nicke don’t even discuss it. Nicke just goes.

The Pit Stop is at Olympic Park - the only catch is they have to run through the stadium to find their plane tickets to their next destination. And Marcus can’t run. And even still, it’s so close that they’re just seconds behind Zhenya and Sasha.

Zhenya even goes back after both he and Sasha have stepped on the mat to help Marcus limp up.

And just like that, one truly awful race day, Nicke and Marcus are done.

Neither of them cry on camera. They both have to go with the production crew, even though they know they’ll overnight in the hotel. The production crew gives them the rundown - they’ll go on to the next destination with the rest of the teams, since it’s the final leg, and all of the eliminated teams will be at the finish line.

Marcus and Nicke are given a hotel room and told they can order room service, but they’re no longer allowed to interact with the continuing racers. And by the way, the offer’s still on the table if Marcus wants to go somewhere to get his knee looked at.

In the end, they go to the hotel room, shower and order in. The production medics have looked at Marcus’s knee, and declared there’s probably nothing torn or broken, but he should definitely ice it and stay off of it. He ends up on crutches, knee wrapped, and later, propped up in bed with an ice pack.

“I’m sorry,” he says to Nicke, just like he did in Morocco. Morocco, when they almost got eliminated, was also his fault.

“Why?” Nicke asks.

“Because I fucked this up,” Marcus says. Nicke looks up from where he’s stretched out on the bed, flicking through the channels on the TV. They’re mostly in French, it feels like, which is fair because they’re in Montreal, but sucks because neither of them speak French.

“You didn’t fall on purpose,” Nicke says. “We almost didn’t get eliminated.”

“If I’d been able to run, we wouldn’t have,” Marcus says.

“Then Sasha and Zhenya would’ve been eliminated, and that would feel shitty too,” Nicke says.

Marcus decides that’s fair. It would feel shitty, in a different way. Because they’d be continuing on - for one more leg, racing for the grand prize - and Sasha and Zhenya, who have been their closest friends and best allies through the entire race - would be eliminated. There was no outcome of this situation that wasn’t going to feel like shit.

“Can you just let me wallow in self pity?” Marcus asks.

“No,” Nicke says. “Because that’s not going to do you any good.”

“Okay,” Marcus says. “But my knee hurts and I don’t want to go home and I miss Sasha and Zhenya already and I want you to know.”

“Shut up, you’re an idiot,” Nicke says. “Do you want to watch the Mighty Ducks in French?”

“Oui,” Marcus says, making Nicke snort.

zhenya
Vegas is their final destination.

Zhenya and Sasha are the last European team remaining in the race. Hilary’s the only American left. Everyone else is Canadian.

Dinner the night before was weird, sitting around the table with just the North American teams, Marcus and Nicke eliminated and gone. Zhenya just feels tired, and ready for everything to be done. Like the fight has been sucked out of him.

They land in Vegas with instructions to go to the Graceland Wedding Chapel, and Zhenya still wants to win. As they’re landing in Vegas, he looks at Sasha, and Sasha nods his head. They’re gonna fucking win it, for all of the friends they made who got eliminated before them. And also because it’s a lot of money if they win.

They get a clue from an Elvis impersonator, which sends them back to one of the casinos, and to one of the Cirque du Soleil shows. The challenge there involves one of them launching the other into the air. Zhenya has a split second to wonder if this will be easier for the mixed-gender teams, if it will be easier for Tyler or Sidney to get Hilary or Taylor high enough to snag the bouquet that dangles in the air above them.

Zhenya has that thought and then lets out a really embarrassing shriek as Sasha launches him through the air. It takes them four tries, and Sidney and Taylor leave ahead of them, but it’s fine. That’s only one team ahead of them. One team ahead, one team behind. Second place. More tasks.

The clue sends them back up the strip to The Mirage. It’s the last Roadblock, and one of them has to rappel down the exterior of the hotel. Zhenya feels like it’s a throwback to the rappelling they did in China. Zhenya did that one, so this time he’s waiting anxiously as Sasha does the task.

He’s kind of glad, because there’s no way he would want to walk facing the ground down the side of a building. He files it away to tell Marcus about at the end of the race, when they see each other later. Marcus would hate this task, and he’d throw a fit if Nicke even considered making him do it.

Sasha comes running back to him with the clue.

“Cash in your chips in the city that never sleeps,” Sasha reads. “What?”

“Are we actually gambling?” Zhenya asks. “The city that never sleeps is New York.”

“New York New York,” Sasha says. “Go, go.” He pushes Zhenya.

They catch a cab back down the strip to New York New York - almost all the way back where they started at Mandalay Bay - breathless when they arrive and find one of the marked tables. Sidney and Taylor are already there, furiously counting chips.

They have to count out the chips scattered on the table. It’s so much counting that Zhenya almost lets out a breathless sob. He’s a salesman, not an accountant. This is ridiculous.

It feels like it takes hours. He hears Sidney calling for a check, and vaguely hears their dealer tell Sidney it’s not correct. They don’t know the amount the chips add up to, but Sasha and Zhenya split the different colors between them and try and break it down that way. Hilary and Tyler show up and there’s a tense period where all three teams are there, all three teams are silent, with nothing but the clinking of chips and the sound of the casino filling the air around them.

“Check,” Zhenya hears Tyler say.

He’s furious. He’s so close to being done, and Hilary and Tyler showed up after them. He counts the last of his chips as Hilary and Tyler are getting their clue and leaving. He and Sasha add their counts together, and they’re gone before Sidney and Taylor.

They’re sent to the MGM Grand, which turns out to be across the street, to find Mr. Las Vegas. That doesn’t mean anything to either of them, but at least it gives them a room number. Mr. Las Vegas turns out to be Wayne Newton.

He just sends them back across the street, past the New York New York and into the plaza at TMobile Arena.

All of the other teams are there, gathered around the final Pit Stop mat. They pass William and David first, the farthest out and the first team to have been eliminated. The Czechs and Nicke and Marcus are closest to the mat, eliminated in the last two legs. The Czechs look tanned, and Zhenya faintly wonders if they were sent directly to Vegas after being eliminated in Jamaica.

Tyler and Hilary are already there, breathless and grinning. The winners of the race. A few minutes later, Sidney and Taylor jog up behind them, coming in third.

Everyone is hugging and Zhenya is exhausted. Jakub is hugging him and chattering in his ear and he wants to close his eyes and let his legs give out. All the adrenaline’s gone.

They don’t get the Vegas vacation they might have hoped for, but the race is over in the early afternoon, so it gives them time to shower and get dinner and spend some time hanging out with the folks they’ve met during the race. Zhenya isn’t even that mad that they lost to Hilary and Tyler. Better Hilary and Tyler, who are fun, and who he’s enjoyed hanging out with, than Sidney and Taylor.

The block of hotel rooms in Vegas is even bigger than the ones they’ve had in other hotels, even the original ones in Los Angeles, when they were sequestered and not allowed to meet any of the other teams. Now they’re allowed to roam around and do whatever they want, and Zhenya’s delighted to find that they all have rooms to themselves. He gets to shower, and sleep without having to listen to Sasha snore.

He hasn’t even gotten in the shower yet when there’s a knock on his door. He opens it to reveal Marcus, on crutches, with Nicke in tow. Nicke has two huge frozen drinks from the casino downstairs.

“I get both of you?” Zhenya asks, a little bewildered.

“No, I just can’t carry drinks,” Marcus says. “So Nicke offered to help me.”

“I haven’t even showered,” Zhenya says, which is probably the most stupid thing to come out of his mouth all day. Also, he’s still standing in the doorway, holding the door open.

“Will you please take these?” Nicke asks, standing behind Marcus. “I really have things to get to.”

“By things, do you mean Sasha?” Zhenya asks.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Nicke says, but he’s blushing.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Zhenya says.

“Take your stupid fucking drink,” Nicke says, pushing both drinks into Zhenya’s hands.

Zhenya holds the door open so that Marcus can get inside. He flops down on the end of the bed.

“How bad is your knee fucked up?” Zhenya asks.

“I’m supposed to stay off it,” Marcus says. “So the crutches. They told me to see a doctor when I get back to Sweden, because it was all swollen and they wouldn’t be able to tell anything, really, anyway until it stopped being swollen.”

“Sexy,” Zhenya says.

“Fuck off,” Marcus says.

Zhenya strips out of his shirt and shorts and heads for the bathroom.

“There’s confetti stuck to your back!” Marcus calls after him.

International Edition of The Amazing Race Creates Romance

Move over, Bachelorette.

The goal of the Amazing Race isn’t to bring singles together, but the most recent season, which saw teams from all over the globe come together to race against each other for a grand prize of $1 million dollars, but two contestants found more than just the cash prize.

On Friday afternoon, Alex Ovechkin, 33, a physical therapist from Moscow, Russia, who competed in the race with a friend, posted a photo on Instagram of himself posed with fellow contestant Nicklas Bäckström, 31, a professional hockey player from Gävle, Sweden

”The best boy to move to Sweden for,” read the caption on the photo of Ovechkin’s lips pressed to Bäckström’s cheek.

Bäckström and Ovechkin aren’t the only romance to come from the international edition of the Race, or even the only romance to cross borders. They’re just the first to be ignited by the race.

William and David, both 23, were the first team eliminated from the Race, and had entered as friends, but announced their engagement shortly after the first episode of the season aired. They have reportedly invited the cast of the Race to the wedding in 2020.

Comment from Nicole M.
So everyone’s just going to ignore that you can see Evgeny and Marcus snuggled up together on the couch in the background of the photo of Nicke and Alex? Okay. Cool.