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Noah and Trent were admittedly an odd couple. He’s a cynical snark that doesn’t particularly get excited about anything outside his personal interests. Whereas Trent was an open person. A socialite that still believed in true romance, sang schmaltzy love songs, and was willing to try new things.
They would never have become a couple under normal circumstances, though this was mostly because they would have never hung out under normal circumstances. This was not normal circumstances. This was Total Drama.
After they completed their first challenge, Trent was probably the guy he hung around the most aside from Owen. Noah’s not a social person. He prefers the company of books over people. If he had his way, he’d hermit in his cabin for the next few days between challenges.
Of course he can’t do that. Not only would he constantly be interrupted by the other boys coming in and out, but he should really try to scope out the competition. As for why Trent? Most of the others were insufferable.
Obviously he hung out with Owen quite often, but the guy is so popular that Noah has to get away from him sometimes. He doesn’t want to hang around Cody or Justin, both of whom like Owen.
So he hung out with Trent at these times. Trent was pretty nice to be around for a social butterfly. He didn’t ask him a million questions. He didn’t invade his personal space. He didn’t get loud. He just kind of let you exist in the same space as him.
Of course, just because he didn’t ask him a million questions didn’t mean he asked none at all. The first of which was about a day after their first challenge. “So, how are you doing?”
Noah sighed. He wants to bitch so bad. And Trent doesn’t seem like he’d mind so… “I think I’m going insane. I swear I love Owen, but his man crush on Justin is so annoying. I’m so sick of him staring at him dreamily and then trying to hide that he was doing so. But honestly that’s the only thing that annoys me about him in particular.”
“Then there’s Justin. Just because you happen to be attractive doesn’t mean you’re god’s gift to the world.” Noah huffed.
Trent looked confused. “Justin doesn’t even talk most of the time. How can you tell what he’s thinking?”
“He doesn’t have to say anything. You can feel it. Vanity oozes from that guy.” Noah replied. “And then there’s Cody. Honestly he’s not that bad of a guy, but I can’t stand to be around him. Because he’s always talking about Gwen. Seriously, if I have to hear him talk about her ‘deep eyes’ ot her ‘strong spunky personality’ or ‘the way her nose wrinkles is so cute’, one more time. I may genuinely go insane in that case.
Trent frowned. “You know. I like Gwen.”
Noah widened his eyes and put as much over the top incredulity into his voice as he could. “Really? I couldn’t tell. It’s not like you can see it from space.”
Trent chuckled. “Yeah, maybe it is obvious. But if you don’t like Cody for talking about Gwen…”
Noah rolled his eyes. “You’re different. You don’t do it constantly. Only on occasion. Plus you’re not constantly going on and on about how you think she likes you. I swear Cody is delusional.”
The next challenge was where things went downhill for him. To begin with, running 20 k is not his strong suit. Then of course there was the awakeathon. Maybe if he’d had someone to hang with he’d have made it further.Given that Owen was sleeping and Trent was…He glanced for at him and Gwen, busy, that was not the case.
But whatever. So he fell asleep early, it’s not like his sleep cuddling habit is going to act up and he’ll end up cuddling Cody on international tv right?
So, that was awkward, and to top it off the awakeathon lasted so long that they didn’t even get the break between challenges. But it was more than enough to have all of his teammates tease him. Even Trent, though he stopped quickly enough.
So Noah decided the game was so not worth it and deliberately got voted out. Which as it turned out was great, because it meant that he was taken to the five star resort they’d used to advertise the show! Admittedly he did spend most of the next few days reading by the poolside. As near to Eva as he could. It’s not that he likes Eva, but she’s Ezekiel repellent and Noah isn’t interested in being bugged by him.
The night of the next elimination they all gathered on the beach. To their surprise, it was Trent who arrived. Noah blinked. “Dude, I was expecting you to make it further. You’re very likable.”
“Yeah, well Heather has her ways I guess. I think she got rid of me because it would hurt Gwen the most.” Trent sighed.
After that Noah socialized a bit more. Mostly with Trent, and mostly during times he was eating or doing something else that meant he wasn’t reading. Still it was more than he’d been doing. Of course that was before Katie showed up.
Apparently the girl has to attach herself to someone and since Trent is attractive he was the one she went after. So Noah didn’t get to hang out with Trent unless he wanted to hang with Katie, He didn’t. And with the girl’s high pitched squeals, Noah found himself going to the beach to read.
Eventually Trent joined him. “Man, I had to get away from Katie. She’s a nice girl, but she’s smothering me.”
“You need to set boundries.” Noah huffed.
“Yeah I do. I’m just not very good at it.” Trent admitted.
Silence between them. Then Trent spoke again. “So, uh, you think we can just chat?”
So they did. And as time went on more and more people were taken to the island. And so Noah ended up reading on the shore more and more often. Trent often came to talk with him so he didn’t have to deal with Katie. And despite how he normally was, Noah really didn’t mind.
Eventually Sadie showed up and Katie backed off a bit. At first, Noah was worried that would mean Trent would stop coming to talk to him. Which was odd, because he’s not normally that attached to people. Trent did keep coming to talk to him though, much to his relief.
One thing they often ended up talking about was romance. Trent seemed fascinated by Noah’s apathy for the whole thing. As someone who’d been looking for the one for ages, it was hard for him to understand Noah.
“It’s not that I hate romance. Or even that I’m against it. I guess I just don’t see what the big deal is.” He admitted.
“It’s hard to explain. I just have this desire for it. Romance that is.” Trent replied.
Eventually there were more people at the resort than not. Only five people were still in the game at this point and apparently Chris wanted to film an episode. So of course he had to be with the others. Which while annoying was fine. Until he was asked what he learned.
“What did I gain from this experience? Nothing, It was completely and totally uneventful.” He replied.
“You kissed a guy.” Izzy commented.
Oh come on! Izzy why here? Why now? Why on international TV?! “I did not!”
“Yes you did.” Really? Well if she was going to be that way he’d be childish back.
“Didn’t.” He snapped.
:”Did!” Izzy teased
“Did. Not.” He said firmly.
“Did did did did did did did did did did did did did did did did did.” Izzy sang. Seriously what was at stake for her?!
Then Trent cut in. Thank god. “I can break this tie.” And then to Noah’s shock Trent kissed him. And it felt good. Great even. Had he seriously developed feelings for Trent without knowing? And didn’t the guitarist like Gwen? All these questions flew through his mind before Trent pulled away. He smirked. “He totally did.”
“I- but wait, you and Gwen?!” He stammered.
Trent chuckled. “What can I say, I guess I have a thing for snarky social outcasts.”
And that was when Noah began to understand the desire for romance.