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The day that the K9 challenge happened, the previous contestants or "losers" as Chris so delicately put it, gathered in the hotel to watch. They almost always did. On a Drama Day, they eliminated cast would come to sit around a huge telly in the resorts luxurious living room, make far too much popcorn, and sit to see the new episodes. They often aired for the Playa four or five hours after the challenges had occurred, and then the TV would flip straight to the elimination, which they got to watch live. So, like clockwork, at six pm on an event day, the cast gathered in the main room to watch.
It was quite a full house now, since there were only five people still on the island: Raj, Wayne, Priya, Caleb and Julia. The episode today consisted of them being hunted down by a number of terrifying dogs, and one that looked like any other purse dig you'd find online. The watch party, however, was always chaos to say the absolute least.
Ripper and Axel made out for a majority of every episode, just as they had been doing since they arrived. No one was even sure why they kept coming down to sit with the group, seeing that their eyes had never actually saw anything but each other in these evenings. Damien, Millie and Nichelle all sat on the main sofa, discussing who they thought would be next to join the hotel, and Scary Girl, now back to her regular self, perched on the back of the sofa, just behind Damien's head. Despite that, he seemed less concerned about that. Well, less concerned that he ever was. He was always a bit concerned for Lauren.
Chase and Zee sat on the carpet together in front of the main sofa, the former of the pair often trying to talk to Emma, who sat across on a smaller sofa, and more often getting blown off. Zee just laid back and sipped his sodas, giving Emma a lazy smile everyone Chase tried his luck. It seemed to be his own sort of apology on behalf of him. Emma often smiled back.
She sat across from everyone with Bowie, discussing what could happen. Bowie always came to these watch nights, almost entirely to see how Raj was doing on the island, and to see him compete. He couldn't deny that he was impressed and a little shocked that he had made it this far; he wasn't necessarily the sharpest on the island, but he'd done very well so far. So, he and Emma sat back to watch the new episode.
Naturally, when it seemed Raj had been mauled by a dog, Bowie had grabbed Emma's arm and took a deep breath. The blonde had winced from the nails digging into her skin but tried to pat his arm comfortingly none-the-less. "I'm sure he'll be fine. I don't think Chris would want to hurt anyone that badly."
She thought about what she'd just said for a moment and realized that not only would Chris do that, but he'd probably actively try to achieve it, but she decided not to say that. Despite that, Bowie seemed just as unsure, and so did several others. Damien was grabbing his jacket sleeves nervously as Scary stole the most of his popcorn, and Millie and Nichelle exchanged a glance. Even Zee seemed confused.
"He ended up being med-evacuated last season, so did Wayne. I don't want that to happen again."
Back on screen, Wayne had found the cabin, and now stood inside in a similar state of worry, though clearly far more animated. The torn jersey and trousers strewn everywhere didn't seem to help either nerves and Bowie took a long drink of water. That water was promptly choked on and spat out, splashing Emma, when Raj re-emerged from behind the cabin in nothing except his boxers. Emma yelped, her jumper now stained in water. She looked back to the screen and saw the cause of Bowies reaction. She snorted.
Bowie coughed for a moment on the water that he had inhaled, trying to form a coherent sentence like his life depended on it. "What is the hell? Where are his clothes?!"
Emma elbowed him with a smirk. "In shred, we've covered this. Was that a complaint?"
"Emma, honey, shhh, I'm focusing."
Emma almost burst into laughter at that and Bowie seemed to watch the TV more intently. He ignored the mixed laughter that followed his comment and heard Axel groan from across the room.
"Keep that too yourself Bowie," she called.
Bowie didn't look up. "Axel you are in Rippers lap right now, I don't wanna hear it."
Axel seemed to think about this for a moment before shrugging. "Touché. Carry on." before her lips returned to Rippers.
Emma was still snickering for a minute or so after, and Bowie hardly shifted for another minute after that, his dark features having already shifted several different shades of blush, only making her laugh more. Eventually, Raj was dragged back to the start and Chris quickly scolded him for doing that on a "family show." Bowie couldn't deny he was impressed - not just at the sight, but at the idea of making a decoy dummy even though it meant sacrificing one set of clothes. Emma practically cackled when he sighed once a fully clothes Raj came back on screen.
So, the challenge ended, and the camera cut to the campfire, where Chris and Chef had gathered the group. Marshmallows were handed out , and once done, it was revealed Raj was gone. What followed in the hotel is best described as a stunned silence. There had been no build up to that? There was no reason at all? Bowie's jaw fell open and Emma grimaced, putting a hand on his back. Most the cast seemed in the same state of shock and annoy - they had all quite liked Raj. He'd made no real enemies, in stark contrast to his boyfriend, and aside from his slightly scatter-brained nature, he was a good guy to play alongside. Most people had banked on his reaching finals. Now he would be joining them.
The silence was only broken by Bowie hissing "what the fuck?" Which seemed to largely sum up the rooms emotions. They all watched as Raj was lead to the dock of shame, with nothing but a smile on his face, despite Wayne blubbering teary words behind him. He'd taken it miraculously well. He made his final remarks to the camera: some shout outs, a Snow Owls reference, and then "Bowie, put your dancing shoes on cuz we're going out!"
Bowie felt several pairs of eyes fall onto him, and he felt Emma dig her elbow into his ribs with a "hmm?" but he just smiled at the screen. So, Raj was lifted up under his stomach by the drone. And carried off with a final "HOOT HOOT" and once out of sight, Chris turned to the camera to sign off. No one was listening anymore though, most of the cast now more interested in Raj's last remark.
Emma grabbed Bowie by the shoulders and shook him excitedly. "Look who got asked out on national TV!" she squeaked. "I know Raj got booted, but you get a date out of it! Huh? Huh?"
Bowie laughed at her reaction, acting more excited than he was, and Damien piped up from the other sofa. "International TV. Total Drama is broadcasted around the world!"
Well that definitely helped the mood come back up.
Despite the lift, Bowie rested his chin in this hands and leant forwards with a slight sigh. "Too bad we have to wait until after the show for that."
"Dude," Ripper said, pulling away from his girlfriend. "We're on an island in a luxury resort. Have the date here! Find a speaker, use the beach, I dunno."
The cast blinked and sat in a silence as they all thought over the idea. Bowie hummed in surprise. "Huh..." he said. "That's not a bad idea. Thanks Ri-"
He paused upon noticing that Ripper had stopped listening to return to his previous activities. Bowie shuddered. "That's the last time I say thankyou to Ripper."
Emma shrugged and gave a thoughtful tap on her knees. "He's right though. They'll surely have speakers in this place, we can make a playlet! We need to find you an outfit- Ooh I'm so excited!!!" she was squealing by the end of her monologue before being cut off my Nichelle.
Nichelle hadn't said much since the elimination, and had been fairly quiet all episode too, but now she grinned at the others with a movie star smile. "I will help!" she announced. It wasn't an offer, it was definitive. Bowie raised an eyebrow.
"How?"
"I can direct it!"
"....it's not a film Nichelle."
The actress shrugged. "It's similar. Trust me, I can help."
Bowie sighed reluctantly. "Mhm. Go on then, what's the plan?"
Her smile widened at the opportunity presented to her. "I'm glad you asked. Well, as I said, I can plan it. We'll need people to help set up, to do makeup and other things... Sooo...."
She scanned the room carefully before her eyes landed on the group around the sofa.
"Millie, Damien, Zee," she said, pointing at each in turn. The group looked up. "Think y'all can find some stuff to decorate the beach?"
The three exchanged a momentary glance before nodding. Damien cracked a smile. "Sure thing. We can help."
Millie nodded in agreement and Zee lifted his soda up with a smile.
"Good, now, I will pick out your outfit and.... Emma," she turned to the blonde. "Think you can make a playlist?"
She grinned excitedly. "Can I?"
Nichelle matched her smile. "Awesome. You should stay with Bowie as well. Emotional support is important here."
Nichelle was already happy with her work. A plan was coming together, Emma had already started looking at song choices with Bowie on her shoulder. She turned to Ripper and Axel for a second and looked back away the next. "Um... I think I'll leave those two to themselves," she decided. Chase looked up at her next with his trademark arrogant smile, clearly awaiting an important job. She gave him a blank stare in return before shaking her head. "Uhmm..... no..." then moved on. Chase threw his arms out and yelled a fairly ignored "COME ON?" as Nichelle turned away.
"Mk?" she said as she turned back around. Bowie rolled his eyes. "No point. She hates everyone here, especially me. And she hasn't left her room since she arrived last week." Nichelle shrugged. "Okay. So, who's left?"
She went to do another scope of the room, but was faced with Scary Girl's smiling face before she could turn more than ninety degrees. Nichelle yelped and jumped back, but paused before she could scold her. She looked closer at her face. Perfect eyeliner, mirrored on each side. Flawless contour, even if it was mostly white. Grey eyeshadow that curled under her eyes. She thought for a moment. "You're makeup is... flawless." Another pause. "Scary... er, Lauren?"
"Lauren," she squeaked out a confirmation.
"Hm. Lauren, you're on makeup duty. Just, maybe, er, tone down the black a bit."
Lauren smiled widely and nodded her head. Bowie gulped.
Nichelle looked back at the TV screen. The episode was over, and now frozen on the final zoom out of the island, Chris just a dot on the map. She looked up at the clock and then back to the room. "We have about an hour and a half. We need to start prepping now, we can do this people!" She clapped her hands together. "Action stations NOW!"
☆
.1 hour and 20 minutes.
Action stations were assembled, as Nichelle had instructed. Granted, it was a fact that on the island no one, except Raj, Wayne and sometimes Emma, had been too fond of Bowie. But, be that as it may, outside he seemed - not necessarily a new person entirely - but certainly different. Calmer and more sociable with others. Once the cameras were off, the villain-y persona seemed to calm down, and he was an okay guy. So, at Nichelle's decision. Bowie and Emma went upstairs so that he could shower and she could start compiling more songs. In the meantime, Nichelle ran between hers and Bowies room, trying to create the perfect outfit for a beach date.
Millie and Zee went around the rest of the hotel to look for anything remotely party themed to decorate outside, whilst Damien considered the beach's layout, finding a good spot, leaving a marker, and then going to search for any fairy-lights, or anything else that lit up. He even ended up stealing a floodlight from the pool area, and tweaking with the cables to dull it down.
Lauren scurried up to her own room and rifled through the bag of makeup she had brought with her, carefully choosing which cosmetics to use and what sort of look to go for with Bowie. Nichelle had asked her to tone down the black a little, so she tried to even out the black and coloured things she picked up. That was until she looked through the hallway and saw the outfit Nichelle had picked out. She then put down almost everything black she held.
.1 hour and 5 minutes.
Bowie re-emerged from his ensuit bathroom a small while after he'd entered, now dressed in a robe and slippers. He looked at the outfit Nichelle had assembled, and now matter how much he wanted to wipe to smug look from her face, he couldn't deny that it looked good. It was a pink, short-sleeved crop top that he was almost certain he didn't own, with blue flared jeans. His regular pearls and bracelets were lead out beside it, along with a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, not dissimilar to the pair that shattered on the first episode of season one.
He picked up the glasses and admired them. The same colour and shape, but the plastic wasn't the cheap kind he found at a mall anymore. "Where did these come from?" he asked the actress. "Mine broke when Ripper..." he trailed off and grimaced. The whole room took a moment to shudder at the memory. Nichelle shook away the thought and gave a smug grin. "That's out little secret, isn't it?"
Once Nichelle had vacated to check on the rest of the cast, and Emma had turned to the wall with her phone so Bowie could get ready, she spoke. "Raj sent them over for you. He gave them to Damien before he left," she explained. The shuffling behind her stilled and she smiled. "He said he forgot to give you them on the island, and he wanted to cheer you up. Damien, er, forgot. He was a bit banged up."
She didn't hear a response for a few minutes after that, and heard the rustling resume to try to cover a sniff, which quickly turned into a laugh. "That's adorable. He's adorable," he chuckled. His voice was full of warmth and it made Emma smile.
"Yunno, I'm glad you found Raj. I don't think I've said it before, or, not to you. But he's really nice, and, well, you seem happier."
There was another silence interrupted by Bowie sniffing again. Emma panicked for a second. "Bowie? Are-"
"No, fuck off," he said quickly, taking a steadying breath before dusting himself off. "But thankyou. I know on the island its all a bit difficult, but behind the cameras he's.... we're great. I am happy, so... yeah."
"Bowie, you can cry-"
"Emma, honey, fuck off."
.1 hour.
Damien had taken every single low or hanging light he could find from the hotel. The smaller lamps from the living room had been snagged, leaving Axel and Ripper in a slightly darker room - not that they noticed. The fairy lights from the hallway that Millie had put up had been lovingly ripped down. He'd even ventured into the storage cupboard to pull out some Christmas lights, and nearly been crushed by all the other things in the process. The noise had attracted MK out of their room to see what the hell was happening. She came down with Damien to investigate a moment later, with no real idea of what had happened, the neurotic chaotically explaining it on the way down. Outside, they had found an area of the beach being patted down and surrounded by a scary number of lights and speakers to, in Damien's words, "complete the atmosphere."
Bowie had originally been right, that MK didn't like anyone there, much less him, and quickly decided to retreat back to the dark safety of her hotel room. She had no interest in helping set up some fancy, last-second date. That was until she found Lauren in the hall outside her room with an armful of cosmetics and a kitchen knife. She'd debated her chances for a moment before deciding that she'd rather help set up a fancy, last-second date then face off Scary Girl.
Eventually, Ripper and Axel also noticed the completely empty and significantly darker downstairs and looked around in confusion for several minutes, before venturing outside. They had found the makeshift dance floor, Millie calling to Nichelle who hung out of Bowie's bedroom window in a very director looking pair of sunglasses and studded jacket, Damien trying to hang Christmas lights from a palm tree. Ripper had initially been astonished to see the group actually took his suggestion, but had been pulled out of his shock when Zee ran up to him, asking for help to hang some more lights, and Axel has handed a roll of tape from Damien, who quickly ran back into the hotel.
.50 minutes.
"WHY the FUCK does she have a knife?!"
Bowie sat on the edge of his bed, with Lauren sat ahead of him in a desk chair, spinning excitedly. She was holding an assortment of makeup items and brushes, as well as a medium-sized kitchen knife. She span to a stop directly in front of Bowie, who leant back a little. She smiled. "Its not for you silly," she said as if it were entirely obvious. "Unless you move too much."
Bowie gave Emma a desperate look but she had moved herself further away by the second, and now stood a fair distance from the pair and the knife. She gave him a worried smile and a thumbs up. Nichelle herself looked slightly wary but tried to move on quickly. "Let her work, Bowie, I'm sure Lauren knows what she's doing."
Lauren nodded excitedly, picking up ht eyeshadow palette and placing the knife in her lap so it sunk into her dress. She took a brush and opened the palette, selecting a light pink colour. "Close you're eyes and hold still," she said. It wasn't an option anymore, though it probably never was, so Bowie swallowed and shut his eyes.
.35 minutes.
As it turned out, Lauren never actually used the knife. Well, not in its implied purpose. She would often hold it up to check the symmetry of anything she did and then redo anything that didn't match. She also used it as a sort of testing set, where she'd tap brushed onto the metal to check she didn't have too much or too little makeup on her brush. And if course, she used it for the fear factor, seeing how worried people got from just the idea of her holding a knife over them. When Bowie had asked why, she'd giggled.
"I knew you'd sit stiller if you thought there was something at stake."
Whilst Bowie had hated every second of having her lean over him with a weapon, he couldn't deny that it was a smart plan.
Lauren then held up the knife and Bowie almost screamed. "Look!" she insisted. "At your makeup!"
He paused for a moment before leaning forward again to see his eyes in the metals reflection. He couldn't deny that she'd done an amazing job. Winged eyeliner on each side, perfectly mirrored over his face. A dusted pink eyeshadow which curled under his eyes and faded into a blue. It matched his outfit perfectly.
"Wow... that's actually really impressive Lauren."
She pulled the knife back and grinned. "Good! And I didn't have to use the knife!"
Nichelle ignored that last comment and came over to look. She gasped. "Lauren, this is perfect!" She grabbed Bowie off the bed, dragging him over to the long mirror in the corner of his room. "Look at you! You look gorgeous!"
Emma came up behind him and grabbed onto his arms. She squealed so loud he bet that Raj could've heard her from over the sea. "She's right!!! Raj won't know what hit him!"
Bowie didn't hesitate now, looking himself up and down. The makeup and outfit complimented each other perfectly, and the heart glasses, now rested on his head, finished off the entire look. "You know, I think you're right. I look great. Thankyou Lauren-"
He turned back to the Scary girl, only to find her already gone, skipping down the hallways with knife in hand and humming a small tune that no one recognised. Bowie let out a deep sigh of relief.
.30 minutes.
Damien burst into the bedroom, out if breath from running around outside. He head a navy-blue suit jacket in hand and the kitchen knife, still dusted in blue eyeshadow, in the other. He held the latter up. "Why... did Lauren have a knife?" He panted as he tried to catch his breath. Bowie looked over to him. He raised an eyebrow. "Better question: how did you get it off her?"
"Carefully. Very, very carefully," he sighed, straightening up a bit. "Why did she even have it?"
Nichelle also looked back now and replied, "She was doing Bowie's makeup."
"With a KNIFE?"
"It was to 'help keep me still' apparently," he sighed, turning fully away from the mirror.
Damien looked like his season one, worried self for a moment, but shook off his nerves and held up the jacket. "You reckon this'll for Raj?" he asked, motioning to it. Nichelle came over to Damien and began to inspect the jacket as Bowie tapped his chin in thought, trying to judge the size. After a moment he nodded.
"Hm. Yeah, I think that'll work. Good idea, Damien."
Nichelle also stood back after a moment, brushing down the jacket sleeves. "It'll go well with your outfit too, Bowie. Great job," she paused and looked to Damien again. "Why did you bring a suit jacket to the island?"
Damien huffed. "My parents insisted. Always be prepared."
"Huh. Well, good thing you did," she hummed, before grinning. "This is gonna be great!"
She looked up to the clock above Bowie's doorway and nodded. "Okay. 30 minutes, people, let's get things going. Bowie, stay up here with Emma for now," she instructed. "Damien, with me. Take me outside, how's the beach looking?"
"Pretty good, I think. We've got loads of lights to..."
Their voices faded as they left, and their footsteps faded out the further downstairs they got. Bowie immediately moved to his window, still half open from where Nichelle had hung out of it a half hour before. He stuck his head and and looked down.
Below, he saw a section of the beach, now fully flattened out, and lined with fairy lights which ran along each length. It became a sort of dance floor. What looked to be every battery operated light in the hotel had been dragged outside and either hung up on the trees or posts, or scattered around the sides to create a warm ambience. Every other ex-contestant (except Chase, who was still in the living room, sulking about his lack of involvement) was outside, pitching it to make it something special. Even MK. That left Bowie speechless. Millie looked up and saw him staring at the area with a shocked expression. She offered him a nervous smile and waved. Bowie returned the expression and waved slightly.
He pulled his head back inside - he was absolutely speechless, which was not a regular occurrence for him. Emma grabbed his shoulders and shook them excitedly. "Don't you love it? Isn't this cool, it's gonna be awesome!!!"
Bowie found he couldn't source a response and shakily moved a hand to fan his face. "I'm either gonna cry or pass out, but I think we should prepare for both," he hissed. He looked up and groaned. "If I cry, Lauren will probably end my life. I can't ruin this makeup now."
Emma adopted a panicked wince and let go of him, now moving to take his hand. "Oh no, is it bad? We can fix it-"
"Nonono, Emma, calm down, they're happy tears. I didn't really expect a whole group effort, I think everyone outside has hated me for something at least once..."
The blonde visibly relaxed and now moved to grab some tissues for him. She handed them to him and Bowie moved to try and Dave his makeup, keeping his head pointed at the ceiling. "I doubt everyone wants to help. God knows MK doesn't. But this is different. There's no cameras or money at stake."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks Ems."
"Of course," she nodded. "So, definitely happy tears?"
"Definitely."
"And the passing out?"
Bowie sighed. "I think it might just be the adrenaline talking, but I don't wanna wait to find out."
Emma laughed quietly, taking his arm. "Okay, let's sit down just in case."
.15 minutes.
Bowie now stood outside, besides Emma and Nichelle, getting an up-close look at the last-minute dance floor that had been created almost entirely out of thin air. It was quite obviously made in the chaos of the moment - footprints scattered throughout the area within the border and haphazardly tapped over with shovels, fairy light strung at odd angles from every tall structure nearby, one speaker already broken from Ripper sitting on top of it. It was chaos if it ever had a name. He loved it. He knew Raj would love it. Or, he hoped Raj would love it.
A plan had been made. Nichelle and Damien would meet Raj on the docks and give him the suit jacket, before walking him over to the dance floor. Bowie would wait, looking pretty by the set up and meet him there. It felt like a TV show. Though Bowie supposed it sort of was. He couldn't deny that things had definitely escalated from the original idea of a simple dance date after show, but he wasn't one to complain. It was a very welcome escalation.
Emma stood on his left, holding his hand in hers, at fear that he might actually pass out without an anchor. She smiled at him nervously. "All look good to you?"
Bowie still looked shell-shocked at the group effort that had been put in. "It's absolutely insanity. I love it. Raj'll love it.... I hope."
"That's all that matters then," she said.
"Yunno " he continued. "Once me and Raj have had some time, the rest of your can come and use this," he offered. Nichelle looked up, already excited at the suggestion.
"Hell yeah, you bet I'm there! As soon as y'all are done I'm right here."
Emma nodded. "It'll be awesome! I love to dance."
"You could ask Zee for a dance, as well," Bowie shrugged, squeezing his friends hand. She buffered slightly, then prodding him in the ribs, cheeks turning red.
"Shut up."
"Am I wrong?"
"Shut uuuup."
.5 minutes.
The floor was cleared. Everyone else was indoors now. Speakers were connected. Damien, Nichelle and the suit were set in place on the dock, waiting for a sign of a drone. Emma stood with Bowie, who was anxiously tapping his foot, and watching the sky intently.
"What if he doesn't like it? Or it's too much?"
She rolled her eyes. "Can you imagine Raj not being excited at something you did for him?"
"...fair point."
A tap came on his shoulder and Bowie span around. Lauren stood behind him, a little too close for comfort, wearing her signature scary smile. Bowie flew back. "Lauren! God, you scared me, what are-"
She shushed him before pushing a cluster of flowers into his chest. They were blue and white lillies wrapped in a brown paper. He gently took them and admired the selection she had made.
"You should give him flowers," she said. "I've observed that people usually like flowers!"
"Observed....?"
She stared at him, smile not once faltering. Bowie shook his head with a nervous smile. "Never mind! Uh, thankyou. I'm sure he'll..." he looked at the flowers and paused, his voice trailing off. He noticed the specific colours. Blue and white. He looked up at the goth again. "These are his colours?"
"I know," she said happily. Without another word, she nodded and turned away, skipping back into the hotel.
Bowie turned back to Emma who shared his shocked expression. He then looked back to the flowers before sighing heavily and shoving his head to the sky once again. Emma laughed but there was a worried to edge to it. "Do you need another tissue or to sit down?"
"Just a tissue I think. Though I suppose we'll find out.".
She snorted, reproducing the previous tissue from earlier and passing it too him. "Has Raj influenced you this much?"
"Apparently."
There was a pause where neither much spoke as Bowie adjusted his makeup and tried to save what he could. Lord knows Lauren would use the knife in its assumed purpose if he smudged anything.
Emma took his free hand after a moment, and for possibly the fifth time that evening, squealed excitedly. "I see him!"
"Huh?" Bowie's head snapped fown to follow her gaze across the sea. Sure enough, a silhouette of teenager and a large drone were becoming more and more visible over the horizon. Emma squealed louder.
"He's almost here!"
☆
Raj could see the hotel now. He mostly recognised it. Sure, he'd been there before, but he couldn't recall much up until the last two or so weeks. He'd been out cold when he and Wayne had arrived and then couldn't much move for a week after that. But now, he saw the dock approaching and found himself getting lower and lower, and the felt tight grip of the claw letting go from under his stomach. Lower, lower, and oh God, he was going to miss the dock. By now, he'd noticed Damien and Nichelle stood on the dock, holding something. They both yelped as he shot down past them, and towards the water. He screamed in surprise and barely missed the dock, before hitting the water with a sharp smack. It. Was. Freezing.
After a second of stun from the temperature, he kicked himself up, back above the water, and flailed around, searching for any sign of the wood panels of the dock. He couldn't see much past the water in his eyes but heard Nichelle say "oh lord" and then felt two hands grab him on the wrist and start pulling him up. He felt another hand on his other arm, and with another pull, he was dragged put the sea and onto the dock. Raj laid on his back on the wood for a moment, taking large, gasping breaths, scrubbing the water out of his eyes, trying to wring some of it from his hair.
☆
Emma still stood with Bowie, a short while away from the docks. They had seen Raj approach and Emma had been practically jumping in place. That was until the claw let go and both noticed that we wasn't heading for the dock, but for the sea instead. He hit the water, yelling all the way down, and it took everything within Bowie to not run over there and see if he was okay.
"Oh god," Emma muttered. "That's probably not good."
"D'you think he's okay?" Bowie asked. They looked back over. Damien was leant off the dock, pulling him up and out of the water, with Nichelle crouching to help.
Emma grimaced. "Well.... Raj is strong, I'm sure he's alright."
"....I hope so."
☆
Raj blinked properly now and when he opened his eyes, he saw two blurry figures stood over him. Well, sort of. Damien crouched on his right with a worried wince. "You alright man?" he asked.
Raj could only nod, still waiting for the cold shock of the water to wear off. "I... yeah... didn't expect the landing."
"Neither did we," said Nichelle, reaching out a hand to help him up. Raj took it and with a bit of support from Damien, he was pulled to his feet, creating a large puddle where he stood.
Nichelle held out a jacket to him. It was a bit formal for anyone, and very formal for Raj, but it looked dryer than his jersey was at the moment. "Here " she said. "Put this on."
Raj gave her a confused stare, but began to remove his dripping wet jersey, which Damien took. Nichelle held the jacket open for him to step into, and he did. Raj watched her with a baffled expression as she began to adjust the front of the jacket. "Guys, what's going on? Where's Bowie?"
He watched the two of them exchange a small smile, and Nichelle took the brunettes still slightly-wet hand. "Come on then," she said, pulling him along and down the dock, onto the beach. "I'll answer your second question, we'll let you're boy answer the first."
Raj didn't need to guess who 'his boy' was.
.
The pair, now only Nichelle and Raj as Damien had gone to put his jersey on one of the radiators inside, had walked around the hotel to the back, where a small section of the beach was decked-out completely. Fairy and Christmas lights gave it a warm glow and a large square section of sand was pressed down amongst it. That's not was Raj noticed first. What he saw first was his boy, dressed up to the nines, leaning nervously on a large speaker with Emma beside him, talking excitedly. She looked up to see Raj approaching and smiled widely. She said something to Bowie with a grin and squeezed his hand before moving to walk away and past Raj. She gave him the same smile. "Good to see you Raj," she said with a wave. He nodded. "Hey Ems."
He turned his attention back to his boyfriend, who offered him a shy wave. He looked Raj over and smiled with a mix of concern and relief, as the hockey player began to jog over to him. "Bowie!" he called and Bowie moved to meet him. Raj threw himself at his boyfriend, almost toppling them both over into the sand. The pair laughed and Raj picked him up off the floor as if it were nothing, spinning him around in a circle.
"Are you okay?" Bowie asked once he'd been set down. He ran a hand through Raj's soaked hair. "You're... you're soaking wet?"
Raj chuckled lightly. "Yeah. The drone let fo of me before the dock, so uh, I landed in the sea."
"Lord," Bowie laughed.
"Yeah." Raj paused and looked up and around again. "Also, what's all this? I mean, I have a suit, there a whole thing back here and you..." he paused, looking his boyfriend up and down. "Well, you look great!"
Bowie smiled and took his hands. "Well, we all saw your elimination, and you told me to get my dancing shoes on for a date," she motioned behind them to what now became apparent to Raj as a dance floor. "So, the others helped me bring the date to you."
Raj's eyes widened as his boyfriend kept talking. "We have lights, music, a dance floor and as requested, I have my dancing shoes on, and..." he grabbed the bouquet of the speaker behind him, and pressed them into his boyfriends hands. "I got you these."
Raj didn't respond for a moment, instead staring slack-jawed at the scene, the flowers, the lights, and everything, eyes looking every way they could.
Bowie began to panic. He backtracked. Had this been too much? Was it too overwhelming? This was a bad idea. He was cut from his thoughts by Raj laughing in disbelief and rubbing his eyes to prevent the tears from falling. "This is AWESOME!I love it so much! I-" he grabbed Bowie into a rib shattering hug. "It's amazing, Bowie, thankyou. I love it. I love you."
Bowie squeaked but moved to hug him back none-the-less. "Don't make me cry," he laughed. "Lauren did my makeup and I think she'd wear my skin if I ruined it."
Raj pulled back and admired her work. "It does look pretty."
"Aren't you a gentleman.... I love you too, by the way."
The brunette just kept grinning. He hadn't stopped smiling since arriving. Except the whole, sea thing. "I know," her murmured, pulling his boyfriend down for a kiss. He was still dripping wet, and his chest pressed against Bowies was almost definitely ruining what he now knew was Nichelle's shirt, but he didn't really care.
.
They danced. They danced for what felt like an age, but was only probably an hour.
Emma had made a pretty solid playlist, mostly consisting mostly of pop music with intermittent slow songs. Once the playlist had finished and gone to repeat, the boys looked up to find a cluster of people emerging from the main entrance of the hotel, and wandering down the path to the beach. Bowie noticed first, and gave the group a wave, prompting Raj to turn around, before grinning and running over to greet them and thank everyone.
Emma came over to Bowie and looked him over; his hair was frizzy from the constant moving, his make up was messier than it had been - eyeliner streaked slightly onto his cheeks, eyeshadow faded, lipstick smudged around his mouth, and probably on Raj's too - his clothes were ruffled from dancing for so long. She cracked a smile which he matched.
"So?" she said, eyeing his slightly more dishevelled state (well, dishevelled for Bowie.) "I take it went well?"
"Even better," he replied, looking across to his boyfriend. Emma followed his gaze to see Raj talking happily to Zee and Damien. He had lipstick on his lips. Emma was right.
Raj looked back and gaze him a hyper smile. "Can they come dance too?" he called over the beach to the pair. Bowie chuckled. "Of course. Come on guys." He then turned and nudged Emma with his arm. "Go ask Hezekius for a dance, Em."
Emma reddened and went to retort but paused. "Wait, his name is Hezekius?"
"Don't ask me, ask him whilst you dance," he insisted, pushing her in the hippie's direction as Raj jogged back over with the other contestants, ready for another dance.
And they did dance. Everyone danced. Anyone who had helped set up was now outside, moving in some fashion or another to any song that came on. Millie, Damien and Nichelle danced circles around each other in one of the top corners. Well, that was until Nichelle finally felt the exhaustion from method-acting director all evening, then dancing, hit her like a brick wall, and the other two had to help her back upstairs before coming back down ten minutes later to finish the playlist.
Ripper and Axel kissed inbetween every other step but nobody paid to much attention to that anymore. It was just something normal that happened on the island, and people had learnt to ignore it.
As it turned out, Zee was the one to come ask Emma to dance, much to her surprise. They 'danced' happily for the rest of the playlist and after it repeated too. Emma's dance moves may have been classed as safety hazards, but Zee had thought they were "mad cool and expressive."
Lauren came out for a bit, mostly spinning around a lot and keeping near to Damien. It was an odd dynamic to everyone else in the hotel, but like Ripper and Axel, they had come to either accept it or ignore it, and this one felt a lot easier to accept. Mk emerged from the depths of her room to come down and see the scene for a bit, and sat on a speaker tapping her foot to the beat. She was only there for a few minutes at most, but her presence still shocked a lot of people. And, as guessed, Chase had tried to join at one point, and attempted to dance with Emma. He'd been blown off instantaneously and stomped away to sulk, leaving a trail of foot marks in the sand.
Bowie and Raj danced again until the playlist went back in a loop and they decided it was time to go upstairs, mostly so Raj could change out of his damp clothes, now smelling faintly of sea salt, and so Bowie could wipe off his now completely smudged makeup. Raj never actually made it to his own room, choosing to "stay the night" as it was put by Bowie. Once both boys had tidied themselves up, Raj had dragged his boyfriend onto the bed, kissing him fervently. Its not like Bowie was going to complain, so he smiled and matched the energy, feeling his back hit the mattress. Raj pulled away after a few minutes. "Thanks for today," he said quietly. "Best elimination I've had, eh?"
"I'd hope so, I remember the last one," Bowie teased.
"Totally beats falling off a mountain."
"Good."
They shared a laugh and each others space for a moment before Bowie smirked. "Well, days not over yet, is it?" he hummed, his arms snaking around Raj's waist. Raj laughed again, and his face warmed. He prodded Bowies face. "Get your mind out the gutter."
He was cut off by another mind-numbing kiss.
☆
Emma and Zee were the last people dancing that night, choosing to turn in after the third repeat, time nearing 1am. They chose to tidy up the next day, and Emma walked them back to his room. "Thankyou for this Zee, I had a great time."
Zee smiled lazily and nodded. "Back atcha Ems. We should do it again some time."
The blonde nodded quickly. Probably too quickly. Dammit, she probably looked silly now. "I'd love that," she said in the calmest tone she could muster, and leant up to kiss their cheek. Once she'd pulled away she froze for a moment. Oh shit.
"Uh, see you tomorrow Zee! Goodnight!" she squeaked, before turning and jogging down the hallway to her own room. She went around the corner and out of sight, and Zee watched her go with a hand on his cheek, their lazy smile not so lazy anymore. "Yooooo...."
.
Emma went past her own room and ran for the end of the house, straight to Bowies. If she did not tell someone what she had done in the next minute she was sure she'd fly out a window. She was sure. She came to his door and knocked on it. No response. She knocked again. Nothing. If he was asleep, so help her, she would shake him awake. She pushed the door in and it clicked open. She was prepared to scream, but she managed to quiet that urge upon the sight she found.
Bowie was in fact, fast asleep, but also I the room was a half-lidded Raj, who's head snapped up at the sound of the door opening. His eyes widened in the light of the hallways, now shone on his face, and he stared at Emma. Emma stared back. She stared from him, to Bowie asleep next to him, to his shirt slung over the desk chair. She looked back at him and he reddened, now understanding how it all looked.
"We didn't... er... oh god," he said quietly, covering his face with one hand. Emma snickered. "It's okay Raj, I know. Sorry for barging in."
The brunette let out a sight of relief. "No, it's okay, you alright?"
"Yeah, I just came to talk to Bowie, but I can wait 'til tomorrow."
She could not wait until tomorrow. Raj could tell. She was buzzing in place.
"You sure you're okay Em? You're... shaking? Like you ate sugar or something-"
"I kissed Zee!" She could hardly contain herself. "Oh my god, I kissed Zee."
Raj broke into a grin. "That's awesome Emma! You'd be great with him.... er, them?"
"I think it's either, but yeah, eee!!!" She tried to keep her voice low. She couldn't even tell if it was working. "Yeah, yeah, sorry for coming in again Raj. I'll tell Bowie tomorrow. Sorry for waking you up."
Raj laughed slightly. "Don't sweat it. And fill us both in tomorrow."
"Hell yeah! Night Raj!"
"Night Em."
Emma practically skipped away and to her own room. She was so teasing Bowie about this in the morning.
☆
So, naturally, the morning came, and a very flustered Raj had to explain the whole 'Emma coming in at 1 am' situation to Bowie, who had cackled with laughter at the story. When they came downstairs for breakfast, Bowie took up the seat beside her, Raj sitting on his other side.
"So," he said, not looking uo from his cereal. "You and Zee?"
Emma huffed and rolled her eyes. A minute passed until her scowl was replaced with a knowing smirk. "So. You and Raj?"
Bowie raised an eyebrow at her. Raj had also heard and promplty choked on his own cereal.
Bowie got "the deets" eventually, and Raj had been invited to her the excitement as well. Emma had obviously also asked about the situation she'd found the night before, to which she had received an eye roll and a red face. So, things all seemed well enough for that morning and the rest of the day. MK remained buried away in her room. Chase went onto the beach to film his videos. Ripper and Axel did what they always did, in the living room none-the-less, and were ignored by basically everyone else.
Damien and Millie played cards in the kitchen with a very exhausted Director Nichelle, who had come down that morning, with a tired yet accomplished smile, and resolved to take it easy for the day as just Nichelle instead of The Director. Emma invited Zee for a beach walk that evening, and from it came a new relationship on the island and another kiss. Bowie watched the whole thing from his bedroom window, before turning back to call Raj over to come see. The flowers Bowie had given him sat in a vase on the desk, and Raj's (now dry) jersey had been brought to Bowies room rather than his own. In fact, Raj's room stayed quite empty all week.
☆