Work Text:
Noah couldn't help but wonder why he'd thought this was a good idea. He'd seen reality shows before. He should have known how torturous it was going to be. The challenges weren't even the worst part. No, the worst part was his team. A frat boy, a surfer girl, a jock who was somehow worse at sports than him, two girls with codependency issues, a scaredy cat, homeschool, a control freak, and one girl who was kind of tolerable.
The worst of these was the punk named Duncan. Noah knew the moment he met Duncan he didn't like him. His looks and piercings just screamed wannabe edgy teenager. There was friction between them the moment he entered the cabin. Already Tyler and Ezekiel had claimed a bed, as had DJ and Geoff. Which left him with Duncan. Joy.
Duncan smirked at him menacingly. "Hey nerd, I'm taking the top bunk."
Noah rolled his eyes. "Whatever, it'll be easier to leave that way."
The punk got closer to him. "Just so we're clear about how things work around here. You let me take what I want or you'll pay."
Noah smirked at the threat. "Oh I'm so scared. Please don't hurt me."
Duncan gripped his shirt. "You think I'm funny?" He asked lifting Noah off the floor with one arm.
"No, what's hilarious is that you try so hard." He said.
Before Duncan could do something stupid, Geoff got between them. "Woah dudes. Let's just chill. It's our first day here."
Duncan sat him down and let his arm rest across both of Noah's shoulders. "Oh we'll be chill." There was a threatening tone to his voice, and a malicious smirk on his face.
Noah removed Duncan's arm from its place. "Yeah, you leave me be I'll leave you be."
As he exited the cabin he heard Duncan whisper. "Oh, I have no intention of leaving you be. "
From there things didn't improve. During the first challenge, a jump off a thousand foot cliff into shark infested waters, Duncan pushed him off. Later that same challenge he made fun of his inability to push his crate. Honestly by the time they lost, which they did, he was more than ready to vote Duncan off.
Ezekiel had left after some insensitive comments, but the knowledge that he had voted for Duncan was vindicating on its own.
During the second challenge he passed out. Only to come to with DJ providing CPR. "Morning sleeping beauty." Duncan remarked sarcastically.
Just because he knew it would annoy Duncan he replied. "You think I'm beautiful?"
Duncan backpedaled. "No, of course not!" Noah frowned. That sounded kinda defensive? What was that about? Not that it mattered. Shortly afterwards they had a feast, and then it was time for the true challenge.
The awakeathon. the most boring challenge Noah could think of. How was this supposed to be entertaining for anyone to watch? He didn't know, what he did know was that he was one of the first to fall asleep. When he woke, he was snuggling with Tyler. Something that made both of them run off screaming. Luckily once he got the chance to explain it was like when Tyler hugged his buds on the hockey team and didn't mean anything romantic, he got over it.
After that Eva got voted off. Great, the one person on his team he could kind of tolerate and she was voted out second. Of course. The next challenge was a game of dodgeball. The good news was that Courtney didn't want him to participate anyway. So he was saved the effort of coming up with an excuse. Of course two losses in and their team was desperate. Noah wasn't really paying attention, at least not until Courtney grabbed his book out of his hands. "Yes?" He replied tersely.
"Since you're completely useless at the actual game, I need you to wake up someone who can help us." Courtney told him. Noah rolled his eyes. Seriously? Were they all too afraid to wake Duncan up? He flicked the delinquent on the forehead and his hand snapped up to grip his wrist.
"You'd better have a good reason for waking me up." He glared. Noah would have replied with something snippy, but Courtney interjected before he could.
" Look. We are down two-nothing. I can appreciate that you need a little nap time. But we need your help."
"Oh, and why should I help you, darling?" Duncan snapped.
"Because I can personally guarantee you that if we lose this game, you’ll be the one going home. Darling." Courtney retorted.
After that Duncan led the team to victory by ganging up on their opponents one at a time. Noah had to admit, while rudimentary the strategy was good. Not that Duncan would ever hear that. That night the punk confronted him. "You're lucky we won today or I'd make sure you went home. Somehow you've been more useless in these challenges than princess. So if you want to stay I suggest you up your game."
This confused him. As far as he could tell Duncan hated him. So why was he warning him to up his game? Shouldn’t he just let his laziness get him voted off? He didn’t let Duncan know that though, instead he smirked. “Didn’t know you cared.”
“I don’t!” Duncan snapped, once again sounding defensive. “I just want to win more often.”
Noah couldn’t help but feel there was more to it than that, but he let it go. Later that night he saw the Gophers returning without Harold.
The next challenge was a talent show. Great, as if he had any talent. Courtney took control of the situation immediately telling everyone that they would all be showing their talents. She looked at him as she said that. Noah rolled his eyes. It quickly became apparent that they were in trouble. Katie and Sadie danced and ran right into each other. Tyler attempted to show them yo-yo tricks but got tangled up in his own yo-yo. Bridgette claimed to be able to stand on her hands for twenty minutes, which Courtney didn’t even humor. Duncan claimed he could carve a skull into a tree, which again Courtney didn’t humor. Then DJ did a brief rhythmic gymnastics routine, which Noah was actually impressed by.
“Okay Noah what can you do?” Courtney said pointedly.
“Monologues, poetry recitation, impressions.” He shrugged.
Courtney sighed. “Let’s see the impressions then.”
Noah smirked as he stepped in front of the group. He knew exactly who to impersonate. He stuck his nose into the air and said. “Hey everyone! I was a C.I.T! So you’d better listen to me!” Katie, Sadie, and Geoff all snickered. “I know I’ve barely done anything besides boss you around but you should still listen because I was a C.I.T! I have a stick up by butt so high I can barely sit, by the way did I mention I was a C.I.T!”
At this point, Katie, Sadie, Tyler, and Geoff were all laughing. The one who was laughing hardest was Duncan. Noah felt excited at this. Duncan was laughing with him for once!
Courtney snapped out of her stupor and glared at him. “That’s the worst impression I’ve ever seen! Not to mention totally mean spirited!”
“Oh come on Princess,” Duncan said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “You have to admit it was pretty spot on!”
“It was not! He is not doing that in the show!” Courtney insisted.
“We only got two people left to try out Princess. You’d better hope they’re good enough, we don't have to.” Duncan said.
Luckily enough for Courtney her violin solo and Geoff’s skateboard tricks were enough. Unfortunately, Bridgette tried to prove she could stand on her hands for twenty minutes and ended up smashing Courtney’s violin with a stage light. So Bridgette had to replace it. Sometime later before the show he had ended up running into Duncan in the woods, carving a skull into a tree.
“Here I thought you were lying about that.” He mentioned.
“Hey, if there’s something I know, its knives.” Duncan smirked.
“I just wasn’t expecting your hands to be that dextrous.” Noah admitted. “It’s almost impressive.”
“Whatever,” Duncan huffed, but Noah could tell he appreciated the compliment.
Noah spent most of the remaining time until the talent show reading. The show itself went as badly as he'd expected. In fact, it somehow went worse than he'd expected. Despite performing perfectly during auditions DJ choked on stage, Bridgette threw up on multiple people during her handstand act, and then Heather had read Gwen's diary to the audience, oh and everyone watching the broadcast; After that mess, Courtney dragged him backstage to reveal that Geoff's skateboard had broken. In other words, winning this was on him. Great, He stepped out on stage and tried to think of what impression Chef would find most appealing. He smirked and began to complain.
"Make up! What does it take for a host to get a proper make up team?! These cheekbones aren't going to accentuate themselves! What do you mean you have other things to do?! I'm the host, and what is with this hair gel? I can't use this cheap stuff! Intern, where is my coffee?!" He pretended to take a cup of coffee and sip. "Excuse me?! I asked for a cappuccino with no more than three ounces of milk, four vanilla shots, and low fat cream! I'm not drinking this crap!" He pretended to throw the coffee away. "Now clean that up!" He turned to the side and began to walk off stage. " Where is that make-up team?! My face is an international treasure, it requires constant Maintenance!" He walked just off stage. The audience started laughing and he returned to the stage smirking. Chris walked onstage with him and glared as he revealed Chef had given him full points, meaning the Bass had won.
The next challenge was to camp in the woods for a night and return to the campfire pit at sunrise. Courtney took control of the situation as usual. When they arrived at their campsite she began to assign tasks. She turned to him haughtily. "What exactly can you contribute?"
Noah rolled his eyes. "I know what berries and roots are edible."
"Fine , go gather food, take DJ with you." Courtney said.
Noah would have preferred to gather food by himself, but at least DJ was a great help as far as carrying the berries and roots he found was concerned. They ran into a bunny and DJ immediately took to it. Noah tried to explain that he shouldn't take a wild animal as a pet, even one as innocuous as a bunny, but he didn't listen. When they returned to camp, Courtney was begrudgingly impressed. Duncan threatened to make Bunny into stew. They passed the food he'd found around, with Courtney giving specific rations. The rest of the evening was uneventful until they were gathered around the campfire and Duncan said this reminded him of a story.
"Awesome, tell it man!" Geoff said.
"Are you sure? The story I'm thinking of is pretty hardcore." Duncan said
"Ooh we're so scared." Noah found himself saying at the same time as Courtney. The Type A glared at him briefly.
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you. One night, a lot like this one..." Duncan began. The story was just as stupid as Noah expected it to be. A supposed killer chasing after a girl and a guy in the woods. He ended it by jump scaring everyone with a hook. Noah didn't even flinch. Duncan laughed.
“Duncan, that was so not funny!” Courtney complained, getting in his face.
“Yes it was, I just wish it was all on camera. Oh wait, it is!” Duncan chuckled.
“Please, you call that a scary story? It was one of the most generic things I’ve ever heard.” Noah scoffed.
“Oh you think you can do better?” the punk challenged.
“I know.” He replied.
“Then let’s hear it.” Duncan said.
Noah began his story in an ominous tone. “Once there was a man who wanted revenge. He befriended his target, convincing him they were on very good terms, but the whole time he was plotting. One night he was ready to put his plan into action. They went corousing, but little did his enemy know he wasn’t actually drinking any alcohol, discarding the liquor in a nearby potted plant. Once his target passed out he dragged him into the woods nearby. He bound his limbs with rope and gagged him. Once this was complete he dug a deep hole and shoved the man inside. He began to bury him alive, shovelful by shovelful. He was only about halfway done when the man regained consciousness.”
Noah smirked as he watched Bridgette, DJ, Harold, Tyler, and Courtney’s eyes all widened. “He noticed his surroundings and screamed, but with the gag no one could hear. He stared up at the man he’d believed his friend with wide pleading eyes. The man merely smirked as he continued to fill in the hole. Soon his victim began to struggle, desperately trying to break free of his binds, trying to find some way to escape his situation, but it was to no avail. The only thing his victim could do was watch as he continued to pile dirt upon him. Once the hole was filled his so called friend left him to suffocate. He remains in the forest he was buried in, entombed for all time.”
The reaction to Noah’s story was different from Duncan’s. Duncan’s had provoked a bunch of people to scream in fright, his story had left everyone in silent shock. Everyone except…
“You call that a scary story?” Duncan scoffed.
Courtney was the first one to break from her shock. “Noah, that was seriously messed up!”
“That’s kind of the point.” He smirked.
It wasn’t long after that they went to sleep. He woke what he assumed to be no more than a few hours later to everyone screaming. He groaned. “Seriously?” He rubbed his eyes. That’s when he noticed their tent was gone. “What happened to the tent?”
Rather than answer Courtney got in Bridgette’s face. “Great, that’s just great Bridgette! Now we have nowhere to sleep!”
“Yo drama queen relax. It’s cool.” Duncan scoffed.
“Cool? It’s cool? Things couldn’t possibly get worse!” Courtney yelled.
“And that’s karma’s cue.” Noah deadpanned as it began to rain. Courtney screamed.
They had no choice but to huddle under a giant leaf held up by DJ. When Noah woke up after that he noticed his head on something warm, He shot up, realizing that he’d been sleeping on Duncan’s shoulder. He quickly moved, noting everyone else was asleep. Good. He was pretty sure Duncan would have killed him. He felt a little weird upon noticing Courtney had snuggled up to Duncan as well. He had a feeling the punk wouldn’t mind when he found out.
“Guys wake up it’s morning.” Noah told everyone. There was very little response. He sighed, then smirked. “Hey Courtney, didn’t know you were that hot for Duncan.”
The Type A shot up immediately. “Ew! He was cuddling me!”
Duncan smirked as he replied. “I was calmly lying on my back and trying to catch a few z’s. You were snuggling up to me.”
“You are such an ogre,” Courtney told Duncan, “And you’re no better!” She snapped at Noah.
“I’ve been called worse.” Duncan said.
“Not that this lover’s quarrel isn’t fascinating,” Noah began.
“It’s not a lover’s quarrel!” Courtney protested.
“But we need to get going.” He told her.
Luckily Courtney agreed and they ran back to camp. Unfortunately Katie and Sadie arrived late and they ended up losing the challenge. Thus, Katie was eliminated.
The Gophers came by to share some green jelly. DJ freaked out over a gummy worm, and the next thing Noah knew everyone was sharing their fears with each other. Noah couldn’t believe it. Seriously? Had everyone forgotten they were on camera? Eventually they asked him, and Noah made up something about spiders. He figured it was a common enough fear no one would question it. Then Duncan revealed his fear.
“Celine Deon music store standees.”
“Exsqueeze me?” Cody said.
“Ooh I love Celine Deon! What’s a standee?” Lindsay asked.
Trent explained what a standee was to Lindsay.
“So the big bad delinquent is scared of a piece of cardboard?” Noah smirked.
“Shut it nerd!” Duncan snapped.
Courtney refused to tell them her fear. Whatever. Surprise, surprise, the next day Chris revealed they were going to be facing their biggest fears for this challenge. He’d probably have to have a spider crawl on him or something.
As it turned out he didn’t even need to do that. Chef dressed in a spider costume and approached them. Lashawna ran off, but he just raised an eyebrow at Chef. Not much longer after he received his point. The rest of their team on the other hand? Well only DJ, Sadie, and Duncan managed to get points. In the end the points were seven/four Gophers. It all came down to Courtney. Chris said if he could complete her challenge they’d win. Naturally the Gophers complained but Chris hardly cared. Courtney failed her challenge. He managed to talk to Tyler, Sadie and Bridgette about voting out Courtney. In the end, the Type A went home.
The next challenge they gathered on the beach. They had to canoe to Boney Island, portage them across it, set a rescue fire and canoe back. Duncan ended up taking a canoe with him. As they rowed across, Duncan leaned in close and whispered in his ear. “I know you're the reason Courtney got eliminated. You'd better watch yourself.”
Noah scowled. “Why? Because you had the hots for her?”
“You almost sound jealous.”: The punk whispered.
“I am not. Last challenge Courtney did nothing but badger people about their fears, and then she didn’t do her own? She deserved to be eliminated.” he whispered back.
“Okay, you’re definitely jealous.” Duncan smirked.
“Do you want me to be?” Noah questioned.
“What? No.” Duncan said a bit too quickly.
Noah rolled his eyes. The rest of the trip went without incident until Geoff randomly fell over complaining about his leg being hurt. Everyone overreacted, seriously it was just a splinter. One so small you could barely see it. Was he the only logical one here?
Luckily despite arriving at the beach second, they got their fire going quickly thanks to Duncan’s lighter. However, thanks to Izzy’s craziness the Gopher’s fire ended up huge.
Things were tense as they raced their canoe’s across the water, then Beth, Lindsay, and Heather’s canoe started to sink. They ended up unable to make it across in time. Later that night Noah saw RCMP Helicopters flying overhead. It wasn’t of any surprise to him that he found out later they were after Izzy.
The next challenge was interesting to say the least. A game of paintball where each team had hunters and deer. To his great amusement, Duncan ended up as a deer, while he ended up being a hunter. Of course he was far less amused when he realized that meant he had to actually try. His fellow hunters were Bridgette, and Geoff. Bridgette was reluctant at first, but once he pointed out Heather was a deer, she quickly changed her tune.
In the end they barely had to do anything. Not only did Heather, Lindsay and Beth give away their position, but they were shooting at each other. So they obviously lost. The next time he saw the Gophers Cody was gone. It was probably for the best considering how badly he was injured.
The next challenge was cooking of all things. Geoff became head Chef after he suggested they make an Italian meal. Geoff said everyone should pair up for the courses. DJ and Bridgette quickly teamed up for the spaghetti. Tyler offered to make the antipasto with Sadie. Geoff turned to the two of them. “I guess that leaves you two on dessert.”
He mixed custard while Duncan kneaded the dough. Noah found himself looking at the punk's hands. "I still can't believe how delicate your touch is."
"Well I can't believe those noodle arms can mix custard for this long." Duncan retorted.
Once the shells were baked they both got pastry filling bags. Duncan started filling a cannoli with reckless abandon. He tried to start on his own, but the pastry bag was clogged. Annoyed, he lifted it up and started to squeeze it as hard as he could. A ton of custard shot out, right at Duncan. "Watch it." the punk said.
"Because I totally did it on purpose." He retorted.
Duncan shot custard at him. "Oops." He chuckled.
It turned into an all out custard fight. They had barely any left for the cannoli. He didn't really care. Messing around with Duncan made him feel nice. Luckily the Gophers main course was eaten and their cake left a lot to be desired so they lost. He found out Beth was eliminated thanks to 'cursing' their team.
Their next challenge was a series of trust exercises. With Chris choosing the pairs. It wasn’t too surprising when he ended up paired with Duncan for the first one. Rock climbing, luckily, Duncan knew better than to make him do it. Instead Noah held the belay. Things were fine until hot pepper sauce was squirted in his eyes. That led him to let go for the rope. Heather had let go of hers too. In the end though they lost because Duncan got distracted after Heather revealed Gwen’s underwear to the world.
They won the next challenge thanks to Geoff and Bridgette. The next three challenges were all under one label. Blind challenges. First was blind William Tell, with Tyler shooting at Sadie and Lashawna at Owen. It didn’t end well for Tyler. Next blind trapeze which they won thanks to him. This ended with the blind bobsled race. Which they ended up losing thanks to an explosion sending the Gophers to the finish line. Sadie was sent packing as no one was close to her.
Next was a military challenge, the first part was holding up canoes which went amazingly well for their team. As it turned out Tyler had freakishly strong fingers that made everyone else have a much easier time. This was fortunate for him as he was unsure how long he'd have been able to hold up the canoe otherwise. As it was, the Gophers lost due to Lindsay giving up. After that they went to the mess hall where Chef gave them garbage to eat. Noah refused to eat it.
:You're not eating?" Duncan asked.
""I'm concerned about disease." Noah replied. You can live for days without food. Unless you're Owen, then you can't go five hours." He smirked.
Nearby Owen laughed. "it's true!
He and Duncan spent the rest of their meal, making fun of the other campers. Laughing with Duncan felt amazing. Being the reason for his laughter was even better.
The next challenge was dancing, which Duncan interrupted since Chef had promised they'd be done for the day. He had Duncan drop and give him twenty. Noah would say he ignored it, but that'd be a lie. Duncan's muscles flexed with each push up. There was something so mesmerizing about it. His heartbeat picked up. He didn't understand why. Chef got after him for not dancing.
The next challenge was easy. Write an essay about why they loved Chef. It would be difficult, if he wasn't an expert at taking the smallest amount of content and stretching it out as long as possible. By the time he finished he had a paper full of pretty words and abstract questions that ultimately contained nothing of substance.
He had to stop himself from laughing when Chef read Duncan's. It was just one sentence with hundreds of verys in between. Unfortunately, he did horrendously on the obstacle course. He spent forever trying to get over the wall, and when he finally had it he found himself dropping to the ground in shock. Because Duncan had just pecked Chef on the lips. Noah felt weird as he lay there on the ground. He was well aware that Duncan would have only kissed Chef to mess with the guy and yet he couldn't help but feel a little, jealous? Of what?
Duncan got sent to solitary confinement and after Chef finally decided they'd done enough he gave them bowls of a white substance with a paste like consistently. Noah couldn't help but be concerned for him. So he took a bowl of paste to the boathouse.
"Duncan?" He asked.
"Noah? What are you doing here?" the punk said.
"Just figured I'd make sure you weren't starving." Noah smirked.
"I'll pass, the bait looks better." Duncan smirked.
"You're right, it probably has more nutrition too." He joked. His stomach decided to growl at that moment. "Looks like my stomach agrees." He remarked dryly. "I'd kill for a sandwich."
"Well what do you say we raid crafts and services?" the punk suggested.
“I’m in.” Noah smirked.
Together the two of them snuck into crafts and services. Past Chef and Chris to the fridge, where they took everything. His heart was beating fast and his mind flooded with adrenaline. He glanced at Duncan and the punk smirked back. He felt his face heat at that. They managed to escape with the food. Everyone enjoyed snacks in the Bass cabin. He was never a big party person, so once he’d had his fill, he went to stand on the porch. To his surprise Duncan joined him.
“Party too much for you?” Duncan smirked.
“Socializing in general is too much.” He smirked back.
“I hear ya, people can be really loud and annoying.” The punk said.
“Yeah well you would know.” Noah teased.
“I do my best.” Duncan said.
There was silence for a moment then Noah suddenly found Duncan cupping his cheek and tilting his chin up to meet his eyes. “Listen, I’ve got something to confess.” He took a deep breath. “The reason I treated you so badly when we first met, is because I wasn’t comfortable with the reaction you brought out in me.” Duncan sighed. “See, I’ve never been attracted to a guy before.”
Noah felt light and fluttery at these words. Duncan was attracted to him?
“It felt weird, so I decided the best way to deal with it would be to push you away, and later when I started to be attracted to Courtney, I figured it was easier to just flirt with her. I had every intention of getting her to like me and ignoring my feelings for you.” The punk continued. “But then, she got voted out. I was upset because it meant I couldn’t win her over sure, but I was more upset, because it meant I had nothing to distract me from you. At this point, I can’t deny it any longer. I really like you Noah.”
Noah’s mind was in shock. Duncan liked him? Like really liked him? He thought back to all the feelings he’d had around Duncan lately and with a shock, realized he liked Duncan too. There was silence between them again, and then Noah leaned forward to kiss Duncan. The punk’s lips were rough and chapped, his soul patch scratched on his chin. Strong hands pulled him closer and Duncan kissed back with enough passion to leave him breathless.
When they pulled apart he smiled. He didn’t know what the game had in store for them, but he knew they’d make it through together.