Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It starts as a joke. Having just gotten surprisingly far in a baking competition—they had been on track to win, but rotten luck had struck at the worst of times—an idea comes to Noah that makes him laugh enough that he quips it to Owen in their final moments on the show.

“You know, we were really good at this. Maybe we should open a bakery.”

Owen is visibly delighted by the idea. “Oh, that would be so much fun!”

Of course, neither of them take it seriously, mostly since they’re spending all their time running around doing reality TV shows so they have no time to think about it. But it comes up again during a baking challenge on a different show.

“I bet if we did open a bakery it would be very successful,” Owen says, as he shakes sprinkles onto a batch of cupcakes.

“You think?” Noah asks. Admittedly, he’s not really paying attention—his focus is on the icing he’s meticulously piping out. There’s more flair to the action than usual but what can he say? He likes putting effort into things he actually enjoys doing.

“Yeah! I mean, I like baking, and you like baking, and we’re actually pretty good at it!” Owen grins widely. “There’s not a lot of things we can say that about!”

Noah pauses as he slides his tray of cupcakes across for Owen to add sprinkles to. “Huh. I guess you’re right.”

And it goes on like that. Any time the duo find themselves cooking, or eventually even just existing around baked goods, the topic of their nonexistent bakery comes up. They discuss what kind of goods they’d bake (Owen wants everything, which isn’t possible), the theme of the bakery (Noah’s privy to the video game idea), even if they’d have indoor seating or not (this one ended as a maybe). Their conversations probably sound weird and random on TV, since they rarely bring up the topic more than once on any given show, but they don’t really care. There’s probably compilations of them talking about the bakery floating around the internet, anyway.

“What would we even name the bakery?” Noah asks, as he tries to bring himself to bite into another donut. He’s eaten less than half of what Owen has and already feels like he’s reaching his limit, but that’s nothing new.

Owen, thankfully, pauses to swallow before he answers. “Um…Noah and Owen’s bakery?”

“No way. We need something more creative than that.” Noah cautiously brings the donut to his mouth and takes a small bite. He doesn’t immediately feel like throwing up, thank god, but the sugar is starting to taste a little too sweet.

“How about Nowen Bakery?”

“…Nowen?”

“You know, our ship name the fans came up with?”

“Dude, I’m not about to name our bakery after our ship name,” Noah says with a grimace. “Especially since we’re not even dating.”

“Why don’t you come up with something then?” Owen asks.

“You and I both know that I’m not the creative one out of the two of us,” Noah points out, to which Owen just shrugs as he stuffs another full donut in his mouth.

“…Reality Bakery?” he suggests, half a minute later. “Since we’re the Reality TV Pros?”

Noah thinks that one over as he chews on another half-bite. “Well, it’s better than the other suggestions.”

But then the constant cycle of reality TV shows starts losing its spark. Noah had only kept agreeing to do them because he likes spending time with Owen and, admittedly, it can be fun at times, especially since he’s so used to being on camera that it never bothers him anymore. But they can’t keep going forever, and when he notices that Owen has started hesitating before signing on to another show, he decides that it’s probably time they bring this chapter of their lives to an end.

Only problem is, he doesn’t know what to do now. He doesn’t feel like going back to school—he’s smart enough to know everything he wants to know already—and going into employment seems strangely off-putting. After spending the last several years of his life on camera, the idea of immediately returning to normalcy and working under someone else is jarring in a way he hadn’t expected it to be.

It’s Owen that offers a surprising solution.

“What if we actually opened a bakery?”

“…I thought we were joking about that?” Noah asks.

“We were,” Owen says, “But think about it! It’s something I know we’d both enjoy, and we’ve basically planned the whole thing out already. All that’s left is to actually do it!”

“You think we can run a bakery on our own?” Noah questions. He’s skeptical, but admittedly the idea isn’t that unattainable. Maybe it’s just strange to take a joke and translate it to reality.

“Of course we can!” Owen cheers. “We can do anything we put our mind to, little buddy!”

Besides winning a reality TV show together, Noah thinks to himself, since the snarky part of his mind will always exist. But he doesn’t say it aloud, because with Owen’s hundred watt smile and full belief in their abilities, the idea of actually opening their own bakery is very quickly growing on him.

“Alright, sure,” he concedes. “Let’s try running a bakery.”

The task of opening a bakery feels monumental (which is, in turn, intimidating), so they start small by establishing a menu.

“We can’t start with everything at once,” Noah explains when Owen keeps adding more and more items to the list. “We don’t even know if we can bake all of these. Let’s start with some easy things, and maybe we can add more later, yeah?”

It takes a bit, but they eventually end up with a list of items that both looks manageable and satisfies Owen, and get to work trying to make them all. By the time Izzy and Eva come over to taste test, their kitchen is filled to the brim with cakes, cookies, muffins and simple pastries (and in Noah’s humble opinion, it smells delicious).

“Woah…” is the first thing out of Izzy’s mouth when she gets a look at everything they’ve baked. Eva’s wide eyes show a similar sentiment. “You guys have been going at it!”

“Uh, let’s not word it like that,” Eva interjects.

“Where do we start?!” Izzy ignores her, bouncing on the balls of her feet as her eyes dart around every option.

“Start wherever,” Noah replies. “But remember—you’re here to taste test. Don’t just scoff everything down, we need your honest opinions about everything. So make sure you have enough room.”

“I’ve got plenty of room, little buddy!” Owen announces, to which Noah rolls his eyes with a fond smile.

And while he loves his friends, Izzy and Owen aren’t exactly the best taste testers. Owen will eat anything and have a great time doing it, and Izzy has a habit of hyping up everything her friends do regardless of how well they do it. So even though he spends the whole process getting showered in praise by the two of them (which is great for his ego, and also strange coming from Owen since he helped with half the stuff), it’s not exactly the feedback he’s looking for.

It’s only when Eva looks at him after she’s silently tried everything and says, with complete sincerity, “Everything tastes great, Noah,” that it all hits him at once.

“Oh my god,” he says, his half eaten cookie laying forgotten on the table, “We’re actually doing this.”

“You are,” Eva agrees, giving him an amused look.

“We are!” Owen cheers, and Izzy whoops beside him.

They find a small building to hire about ten minutes from their apartment, and then the next couple months pass in a blur of setting up and getting prepared. Most of the design choices fall to Owen since he has a better eye for it, while Noah works on finding good equipment and figuring out the legal and financial side of things. He’s never been more glad that Owen had actually managed to win one of the shows they’d appeared on and not spent the money immediately.

They commission a graphic designer to make a sign for their storefront, resulting in ‘REALITY BAKERY’ being plastered over the door in a bold white font, with ‘reality’ outlined in red and ‘bakery’ outlined in blue. It’s a little unconventional, but so are they, so it’s not a problem.

(They weren’t originally going to stick with Reality Bakery, but neither Owen, Noah nor the rest of Team Escope could come up with anything better that wasn’t a joke. Noah had eventually decided to just go with Reality Bakery, with the excuse that they could always rebrand later.)

Health and safety checks come and go, which they pass with flying colours (mostly thanks to Noah). Then, after a little more preparation, a lot of frantic baking and a possibly unhealthy amount of fretting, it’s finally time for Reality Bakery’s grand opening.

“I’m so proud of you guys!” Izzy cheers as the four of them stand outside the bakery. The sun is slowly rising in the distance, and the time reads just before seven in the morning. Earlier than he’s used to, but unfortunately better for business if they want people to visit on their way to work.

“Thanks, Izzy!” Owen cries, sweeping her into a big hug.

“Yeah, that’s nice and all,” Noah drawls, before Owen gets the idea to drag him into the hug too, “But we haven’t even unlocked the door yet.”

“Oh yeah!” Izzy says, pulling back with a large grin. Eva rolls her eyes at the display. “Open the door, oh master baker Noah!”

“Please don’t call me that,” he deadpans, but he digs the keys out of his pocket anyway and slowly approaches the door.

“Get on with it!” Eva calls, and there’s a playful tone to her voice that Noah wouldn’t have caught if it wasn’t for the past several years he’d been friends with her.

“I’m going, I’m going!”

He reaches the door and glances back at his friends one last time. Eva’s watching him warmly, Izzy is almost vibrating in excitement and Owen looks like he’s about to burst with happiness. Noah smiles back at them—genuinely, instead of smirking—before he unlocks the door and pushes it open, relishing in the sound of the bell jingling above his head. He’s not often this confident, but this is months’ worth of work finally coming to fruition. He’s allowed to be proud.

Flicking on the light, Noah moves to the ‘closed’ sign hanging on the inside of the door and flips it to ‘open’ with a flourish. Then he pulls the door wide open to face his friends again, his hands on his hips and a proud smile on his face.

“Well, guys,” he says, and wow he’s enjoying this moment a lot more than he was expecting to, “Looks like Reality Bakery is officially open!”

“WOOHOO!” Owen cheers, much too loud for seven in the morning, but when he’s got his hands in the air with the biggest smile on his face, Noah finds he doesn’t really care at the moment.

“I’m so proud of you guys!” Izzy exclaims again, and this time she’s the one who throws her arms around Owen. She drags Eva with her and she goes more willingly than usual, then Owen gestures frantically for Noah to join and he rolls his eyes but lets himself get dragged into the group hug with a smile.

Chapter Text

The first couple of familiar faces show up the very next day.

Noah hears the bell jingle from the kitchen and doesn’t think anything of it until a high-pitched squeal fills the air.

“Oh, this place is so cute!”

Sierra?

“Hi Sierra! Hi Cody!” Owen greets brightly from his place at the counter, as Noah makes his way to the front of the shop to see the two of them for himself. He hasn’t seen these guys face-to-face in years, even if he does text Cody pretty regularly.

“Hey Owen! Sup, Noah,” Cody says, and Noah blinks. It really is the two of them standing on the other side of the counter. He feels like he shouldn’t be so surprised about this.

“Nice to see you two,” he says. “How did you know about…?”

“Well, you’re the ones who’ve been posting about the whole process online!” Sierra declares, and Noah finds he’s not at all surprised that she’s the reason they know about the bakery. Some habits die hard, I guess. “When you announced the grand opening yesterday, I realised we live nearby, so of course we had to come visit! We would’ve come yesterday, but I had work.”

Owen gasps. “You guys live nearby?!”

“Yeah, we’re about a ten minute drive from here,” Cody replies. “Crazy, right?”

“We’ve been living in the same city this whole time and didn’t even know?” Noah says, momentarily stunned. “Wow. Small world.”

“Do you two live together?” Owen asks. Evidently, he hasn’t kept in contact with the two, since Noah’s known about this arrangement from the moment it happened thanks to Cody (he’s not quite sure how where the two were moving to never came up—he’s certain he would’ve visited Cody at least once had he known they were nearby).

“Yep! Made rent easier,” Sierra chirps.

“Well…” Cody trails off with a wince. “That was when we first moved in together. I still need to get another job…”

“But I’m not about to kick Cody out!” Sierra announces. “He’s my best friend!”

“Yeah, I get that,” Noah says. He doesn’t question it, because Cody has made it clear before that Sierra has mellowed out a bit and he does genuinely appreciate her company. “Living with your best friend can be pretty sweet.”

“Aww, Noah!” Owen coos, which he responds to by rolling his eyes. He takes a quick mental check of everything that’s happening in the kitchen before deciding that nothing needs his immediate attention and he can stay out front for a bit.

“You know, for all you guys talked about owning a bakery together, I can still hardly believe you’ve actually done it,” Cody comments.

“You saw us talking about it?” Noah asks, and Cody shrugs.

“Sierra showed me the compilations.”

“Aw, everything looks so good!” Sierra coos, peering into the display case that houses an array of all their baked goods.

“Do you wanna buy something?” Owen offers. “My personal favourites are the cakes! And that’s not just because I like cake.”

“Yeah, they don’t just look good, you know,” Noah quips.

“We’ll be the judge of that! I wanna know if your baking is as good as your brain,” Cody says, which causes Noah to pause. He considers it for a second, then realises it’s true—for everything he did on Total Drama, he never cooked or baked anything for the other competitors. Not even off-screen.

That gets him thinking.

“…How about a deal?” he starts, immediately catching the attention of everyone else in the room. Even Owen is looking at him in surprise. “You can try anything you want for free. Anything. But you have to eat it in the bakery.”

“Why?” Owen questions. Noah shrugs.

“I wanna see their reactions. Think of it like a deal for old castmates.”

“Are you allowed to do that?” Cody asks, already scanning over all the sweet treats to choose one.

Noah scoffs at that. “I’m in charge of our finances. I can do whatever the hell I want.”

Their visitors shrug at that while Owen giggles at him. A minute later, Sierra is holding a blueberry muffin and Cody (after a lot of back-and-forth due to wanting to try everything) has settled on a chocolate brownie.

“Bottom’s up,” Cody says, raising his brownie as if he’s giving a toast before they both bite into their treats.

“You know that’s a drinking term, right?” Noah deadpans. He doesn’t get a reply, since Cody has utterly frozen with his brownie in front of his mouth. “Uh…Cody?”

“This is delicious!” Sierra exclaims, quickly taking another bite. After she swallows, she continues, “You guys are gonna be so successful, I can already tell!”

“Thanks, Sierra!” Owen cheers.

“Cody?” Noah tries again, because the boy is still frozen. Except…is he shaking slightly?

“Noah,” Cody says lowly, which kind of freaks him out. Just a bit. “Why. The fuck. Have you been hiding this from us?!”

“Uh, wh—?”

“This is amazing!” he yells, flinging his arms out in a wild gesture as stars dance in his eyes. A couple rogue crumbs go flying and Noah would wince at the unnecessary mess, but he’s too busy being stunned by Cody’s over-the-top reaction. “It’s divine! It’s literal heaven coated in chocolate and baked to perfection and it is a crime that I’ve never eaten this before! Why did the two of you never bake on Total Drama?!”

“…Woah,” is the only thing Noah can say in reply.

“Aw, thank you, Cody!” Owen says, completely unconcerned. Bless his heart, the guy’s too cheerful for his own good sometimes. Without him, Noah would be leading a much more cynical, unhappy life—man, is he glad he met the guy. “I would’ve loved to bake for you on Total Drama! There just wasn’t any time, heh.”

“Is he always like this when it comes to sweets?” Noah asks Sierra. She gives him a shrug and a nod, happily munching on her muffin and looking completely unphased by Cody’s behaviour. Damn, he knew the guy had a sweet tooth, just not this extreme.

Cody, somehow, has already devoured his brownie and is now staring in wonder at the display case. “I’m gonna buy one of everything.”

“That’s…expensive,” Noah cuts in. “The deal’s only one treat per cast member or else business will tank. And didn’t you say you don’t have a job right now?”

The way Cody’s face falls is almost comical. He looks heartbroken.

“Oh, Cody,” Sierra says, patting his back comfortingly. “It’s not the end of the world. Who says you can’t come back another day?”

“Yeah!” Owen agrees. “Don’t you live nearby? You could visit us every day if you wanted to! Heck, you could buy something new every day, too! Right, Noah?”

Noah rolls his eyes. “It would still be kinda expensive in the long run, but hopefully you’ll find yourself a job so you don’t have to worry about it.” When Cody wilts again at the reminder of his job status, he sighs. “Dude, we just opened. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon, you’ll have time to try everything. Besides, we’re friends. I wouldn’t mind the company, and I know Owen certainly wouldn’t either.” Owen nods happily in agreement.

Cody looks up at him hopefully. “We’re friends?”

“How many people do you think I text on a regular basis?” Noah scoffs. “Of course we’re friends, idiot.”

“Well, that makes me feel way better,” Cody declares, before turning to look at the display case again. “…I still wanna buy something, though.”

“Just don’t go crazy!” Sierra teases him. Having finished her muffin, she’s taken to typing something frantically on her phone—probably a blog post about the bakery, if Noah had to guess. “We don’t want a repeat of the taffy incident, you know?”

“Hey, I told you I learned my lesson! We agreed not to bring that up any more!”

Owen giggles at them while Noah blinks. “You know what? I don’t wanna know.”

Chapter Text

“Oh, Noah, I’m so excited!”

“So you’ve said,” Noah replies as he messes with the display case. “Seventeen times in the past hour.”

“I can’t help it!” Owen exclaims. He’s manning the counter, and thankfully there’s currently no customers in the shop because the big guy is not focused enough to serve them. “It’s Emma and Kitty! They’re coming to visit! We get to see them again! I’m so excited!”

Noah sighs. Having kept in touch with Emma and Kitty after the race, the sisters have heard all about the bakery, from its impulsive beginning to the grand opening. They’ve been too busy to come and visit for a while, but as Noah and Owen found out a couple days ago, they’ve finally gotten a break in both their schedules which allows them to make their way over and say hi.

Problem is, Noah doesn’t actually know when they’re going to show up. Emma had given a date, but Kitty had insisted on keeping the time a secret so they could have an ‘element of surprise’.

Noah kind of wishes he’d fought Kitty a little harder on that, because it’s currently midday and Owen has been bouncing off the walls in excitement since he got out of bed.

“When do you think they’re getting here?” Owen asks. That makes, what, eleven times this morning?

“I don’t know,” Noah answers, again for the eleventh time this morning. “But it’s almost our lunch break so they better get here soon or we won’t see them for at least another hour.”

“SURPRISE!”

Well. Speak of the devil and she will appear.

“THEY’RE HERE!”

“Owen! Noah!” Kitty cheers as she bounds up to the counter. Emma walks in behind her with a plastic bag held in her hand, considerably calmer. “It’s so good to see you guys again!”

“You too!” Owen cheers back, practically bouncing on the spot. “I’ve been looking forward to this all morning!”

“He really has,” Noah cuts in. “This hasn’t been the most productive day, to say the least.”

“So you haven’t been looking forward to us coming, then?” Emma jokes as she also reaches the counter.

“Of course I have,” he replies genuinely.

“I love what you guys have done with the place!” Kitty coos as she looks around. Shelves line the walls covered in different trinkets, including souvenirs from different shows they’ve been on, as well as some Kosmic Kaos and Dragon Assassin collectibles. They’re not conventional bakery decorations, but literally nothing about their bakery is conventional and they still get customers, so they don’t really care. “It’s very you!”

“Credit goes to Owen for that,” Noah says, the big guy beaming behind him. His eyes catch on what Emma’s holding. “What’s in the bag?”

“Oh, we got a little gift for the bakery,” Emma explains, placing the bag on the counter. “Think of it like a week-late opening present.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Noah protests, although he doesn’t hide how curiously he’s looking at the bag.

“Haven’t you heard?” Emma smirks. “It’s what people in love do.”

Noah snickers at the joke, giving Emma the same look back. “Oh, I’m sorry, does that mean I’m a bad lover?”

“Ugh, we get it!” Kitty groans, sulking against the counter dramatically. “You faked it, you tricked us all, you played the system, we get it, oh my god.”

“How long are you two gonna keep doing that?” Owen asks, an amused look on his face at everyone’s antics.

“As long as your reactions keep being funny,” Noah replies smugly. “So, maybe forever.”

“Come on, Kit,” Emma nudges her. “It’s a little bit funny.”

“It also happened a year ago so I don’t get why you won’t just give it up,” Kitty whines.

“What did you get us, Emma?” Owen asks, bringing them back on track.

“Oh, right!” She pulls out an item from the bag and proudly places it on the counter, presenting it to the boys. Noah gawks at it.

“Is that—?”

“A Don Box piggy bank? Yes. Yes it is.”

“I found a bunch of them in this random shop one day and thought it was hilarious,” Kitty explains. “So I sent a pic to Emma and she said I could buy one, and that I should also get one to give to you guys!”

“I was thinking you could use it as a tip box,” Emma adds. She gives a cursory glance around the room. “I mean, it matches the decor.”

“You’re not wrong there…” Noah muses, eyeing their rather unusual decorations. In all honesty, the miniature Don Box probably isn’t the most niche thing that’s currently in the room, which says a lot about the items that line the shelves.

“Oh, please can we use it as a tip box, Noah?” Owen pleads, sliding up to his best friend with his hands clasped in front of him. “It’s so adorable and perfect and awesome and—”

“You don’t need to beg, lunchbox, of course we can,” Noah says, swatting Owen away, much to Emma and Kitty’s amusement. He turns to the sisters. “Seriously, thanks. This is an amazing late opening gift.”

“You’re welcome!” Kitty chirps.

“Oh! Do you guys wanna try anything?” Owen offers, walking back to his place behind the till. “Noah came up with this deal for people who we used to be on reality TV with!”

“A deal?” Emma repeats, raising an eyebrow.

“You can get one thing for free as long as you eat it in the bakery,” Noah explains. “I just wanted to see people’s reactions.”

“Free treats? I’m in!” Kitty declares, already pondering over her options. Emma looks intrigued at the concept.

“Has anyone else gotten this deal yet?”

“Yeah, a couple friends from Total Drama stopped by a week ago,” Noah replies. “Apparently, Cody and Sierra have been living close by this whole time. They’re the reason I came up with the deal, actually.”

“Cody?” Kitty repeats, looking up from where her finger is pressed against the glass of the display. “Is he the guy you kissed that one time?”

“It was on the ear and we were both asleep!” Noah snaps, instinctively defensive after years of people teasing him about it. He stops short. “How do you even know about that?”

“I showed her some episodes of Total Drama,” Owen admits sheepishly.

“That was an interesting reaction,” Emma points out, looking at Noah curiously. “Also, I’ll have a slice of banana bread.”

“I’ll have a chocolate chip cookie!”

“He gets touchy about it because the Total Drama cast liked to make fun of him for it,” Owen explains as Noah opens the display cabinet with a huff. “They teased Cody with it too, but I don’t think he minded as much.”

“I’m not touchy, I’m just sick of it. And Cody doesn’t care because technically he didn’t actually do anything,” Noah says as he uses a pair of tongs to fish out the requested treats. “Really learned a lesson there about kissing boys on camera.”

“What about off camera?” Kitty teases as Noah hands over her cookie and Emma’s banana bread.

Owen immediately giggles at that and Noah nudges him sharply to get him to shut up. “That’s for me to know and you to not find out.”

“Well, that’s an even more interesting reaction,” Emma says. “But it’s not our place, so we won’t pry.” She gives Kitty a pointed look at that, before taking a bite of the banana bread. “Oh, wow. You two know what you’re doing.”

“It’s so good!” Kitty declares with half the cookie still in her mouth. After another pointed glare from Emma, she swallows her mouthful before continuing. “I wish I was good at baking! I’d make cookies like this all the time.”

“We could teach you!” Owen suggests. “You guys are here for a couple days, right? We could teach you the recipe!”

“After working hours,” Noah adds. “We’re still running a shop here, buddy.”

“That sounds fun,” Emma says as she finishes off her banana bread. “It’ll be nice to hang out with you guys again.”

“And maybe we’ll figure out who you went around kissing on Total Drama,” Kitty teases with a bright grin.

“Kitty!”

“Yeah, no,” Noah scoffs good-naturedly. “You’re not getting that information out of me that easily.”

Chapter Text

“Owen.”

“Yeah?”

“Why the hell does Kitty know?”

Owen chuckles nervously. “Know what, buddy?”

“You know what,” Noah replies, unimpressed. His arms are crossed over his chest and in one hand he holds his phone, which he gestures at Owen for emphasis. “She just texted me. I sure as hell didn’t tell her, so why does she know?”

“I didn’t tell her anything!” Owen immediately exclaims. “She wanted to watch more Total Drama so I watched with her and she just kinda…guessed.”

Noah scoffs. “Sure. Because it’s that easy to guess.”

“I mean…have you watched that season recently?”

“You know I haven’t watched a single episode of Total Drama in years.”

“I’m just saying it’s kind of obvious who you got close to.”

“Whatever,” Noah sighs, eyeing the conversation that’s still open on his phone before turning it off and pocketing the device. “You still didn’t deny it.”

“I’m not good at lying, little buddy, you know that,” Owen shrugs sheepishly. “And I wasn’t expecting her to tell you that she knew.”

“It’s Kitty.”

“Ah…yeah.”

“Ugh,” Noah groans, “The only people who knew were me, you and him, and I was perfectly fine with that arrangement.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Owen comments, fiddling with some of the buttons on the register. “It happened, what, three? Four years ago? Something like that. And you haven’t talked to him since, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why does it matter?”

“It doesn’t, I just…” Noah trails off, a distant look in his eyes. He shakes himself out of it almost immediately. “I don’t wanna think about it.”

“Alright, if you’re sure…”

The conversation is blessedly interrupted by the ringing of the bell, immediately followed by the loud, booming voice of an even louder presence.

“What is up, bros!”

“Surfer dudes?!” Owen exclaims, spinning around to see Brody and Geoff standing at the door. “Oh my god, it is! It’s the surfer dudes!”

“Don’t forget about me!” someone else calls, and Bridgette steps around Geoff to give the two of them a bright smile.

Noah finds himself smiling back, in spite of himself. How could he not, when three of the sunniest people he’s ever competed against are standing in front of him?

“Hi Bridgette! Hi Geoff! Hi Brody!” Owen yells, waving excitedly at them.

“Sup, guys,” Noah greets them with considerably less energy.

“Oh, Noah,” Bridgette says, walking up to the counter. The boys trail behind her, almost like puppies. “Flat as ever, I see.”

“Hey!” he protests, but he knows she’s only teasing. It’s Bridgette, she’s nice like that.

“You’d think being with Emma would change that,” Brody comments. “Sure seemed like you were getting softer during the race.”

Both Noah and Owen pause, staring at Brody before glancing at each other in surprise.

“Wait,” Owen starts, “Do you not know?”

“Did the sisters not tell you?” Noah adds.

“Uhh…tell us what?” Geoff asks genuinely. Brody looks just as clueless and even Bridgette is watching curiously.

Noah looks at them in shock for a second before cautiously launching into an explanation. “Emma and I never actually liked each other like that. We were just pretending to fall in love in order to get further in the game. Since, you know, people love to watch that kind of stuff.”

There’s a beat of silence, then: “That was FAKE?!”

Before they know it, Brody is wailing into Geoff’s shoulder about all love being fake and the world being a lie. Geoff is patting him comfortingly on the shoulder, and Noah isn’t sure if Brody is actually crying or not. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was.

“Our love is as real as ever, bro!” Geoff says to Brody quietly. “So is mine and Bridge’s! All of our love is real! One relationship being fake isn’t the end of the world.”

Noah blinks at them. Did he word that weirdly? Or is all this talk about romance getting to me?

Bridgette, on the other hand, is looking at Noah knowingly. “I thought something felt weird about that dynamic.”

“You watched the race?” Owen questions.

“Of course I did!” She points her thumb at the surfer dudes, where Brody is still wailing. “These two won a million dollars, there’s no way I wasn’t going to watch! And I gotta say, Noah, you and Emma are good actors.”

“It helps that we actually became good friends in the process,” Noah says. His eyes catch on the mini Don Box sitting next to the register and he grabs it, holding it up for the others to see. “The sisters actually came over recently, they brought us this.”

Brody gasps. “Is that a Don Box?!” He dashes over to the counter and stares at the figure in awe, completely forgetting his previous anguish. “Dude, that’s adorable!”

“Wicked!” Geoff agrees. “I want one! Where’s it from?”

“Ask Kitty!” Owen replies. “She found it in a shop somewhere. You guys still keep in touch, right?”

“Sure do! She’s the one who told us about your bakery,” Brody explains, not once taking his eyes off the Don Box.

“I still can’t believe she didn’t tell you about the fake relationship,” Noah muses, as he passes Brody the tip box to fiddle with. “You seem like the kind of people she’d spread that to, especially since we met Geoff before the race.”

“Wait, hold on,” Geoff says, before pointing accusingly at Owen. “Did you and Kitty know the whole time?”

“Nah, we only found out after we got eliminated,” Owen answers with a laugh. “I’m horrible at keeping secrets, Geoff! Remember the electric chair?”

“Oh, that was funny,” Noah comments.

“That godforsaken electric chair,” Bridgette tuts. “I hated it, but at least it set you straight in the end.”

“And you know I won’t let it happen again, babe,” Geoff reassures her. He reaches for her hand and squeezes it gently.

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Brody interrupts, setting down the Don Box he’d been shaking to hear the coins rattle inside. His gaze lands on Geoff and Bridgette’s joined hands, and for a fleeting moment Noah thinks he looks wistful. The look passes quickly. “Sounds gnarly though! Now, can we get some treats? Looking at those cupcakes is making my mouth water.”

“First one’s on the house,” Noah says, forcing himself back into business mode. Is something going on here? Or am I just seeing things? “That goes for all three of you, because of the shows we were on. Just a little deal we’ve got going on.”

“Awesome!” Brody exclaims, then both he and Geoff start cheering for cupcakes, which Owen happily starts getting for them. Noah turns to Bridgette, who’s watching the two of them with a fond look in her eye.

“What about you, Bridge?” he asks, and she jumps slightly in surprise. He raises an eyebrow while she stammers for a second.

“What about me?” she eventually gets out, flustered.

“Do you want anything?”

“Oh! Um…do you have anything vegan?”

“Sure we do,” Noah answers, his mind quickly working to remember what their vegan options actually are. “Do you like muffins?”

“Sure!”

He reaches into the display cabinet and grabs a vegan muffin, passing it over the counter. Geoff has already devoured half his cupcake while Brody is staring at his in awe.

“Brody, take a bite!” Bridgette says, trying her muffin. She gives Noah and Owen a smile and a thumbs up, letting them know it was good. Noah is silently relieved—he was never sure if the vegan options were as good as the regular stuff.

“Okay, okay! Here we go!” Brody says, before taking a bite. Immediately, his face lights up, and he turns to Owen and Noah with a bright grin. “Dudes! Oh my god, this is…” He flounders for a second, before settling on another excited “Dudes!”

Brody almost bounces on his feet as he takes another bite, totally lost in his own world. Bridgette and Geoff watch him fondly before turning to each other, silently communicating with lovestruck eyes.

That has to be something. Right?

They take their leave five minutes later, after several more strange glances are sprinkled throughout the conversation, and Geoff calls out for them to “not be strangers” as he walks backwards out the door. He trips over the threshold as he does, falling into Brody’s back as Bridgette lunges forward to try and catch him, and the three of them end up clinging to each other in an unsteady heap as the door closes behind them. Through the glass, Noah hears their muffled laughter, joyous and loud and a little bit flustered.

Owen sidles up to him as they both watch the spectacle outside. “You saw that too, right?”

“Geoff falling, or the way they were all looking at each other like they wanted Brody to be part of the relationship too?”

“The second one.”

“Oh, thank god, I wasn’t just seeing things.”

“Why would you be seeing things?” Owen asks, tilting his head in confusion.

“I thought all this talk about relationships was getting to me,” Noah replies, heading back to the kitchen. “Good for them, but god, romance is stupid. Let’s not talk about it for a while.”

Owen watches him go curiously, before taking out his phone and texting Kitty to not bother Noah anymore with what she figured out. He probably wouldn’t appreciate it.