Chapter Text
Playa Des Losers worked in a fairly uniform manner. Or, it did for a reality shows' "Losers Lounge." When contestants were eliminated, the Drone of Despair would carry them about an hour off the coast of Wawanakwa to a smaller island, where they'd be greeted by a luxury resort to remain in for the next weeks of competition. Caleb was first to arrive, and as he'd be alone forever around a week before any new competitors arrived, he was greeted by two interns who had been sent to keep him company.
Chris didn't know whether it was an issue to leave a kid on an island on their own for a week, but he didn't fancy seeing any lawsuits that followed finding out. So, he'd ordered a few interns to go stay with him until the second contestant was sent over. That means, when Axel arrived four days later, pissed off to hell and with a mind to kill, the inters caught the drone back to Wawanakwa and left Caleb on the docks to try calm her down.
Nichelle followed four days layer, an angry, sobbing mess. She ended up being carried into the resort over Axels shoulder after she'd laid on the docks for twenty minutes, whilst Caleb had stood over her, trying to convince her to get up. Lauren followed shortly after, skipping inside upon arrival. Then Damien, whose drone had dropped him too early and sent him spinning into the sea. Then MK, and so on. It became a sort of ritual.
Every fourth day, an episode would air to the Playa, and late that night or early the next morning, someone new would be dropped off. That is, until the cassowary episode aired. Everyone saw the fall, the delirious state the boys were in, and the travel to the hospital. No one arrived that night and the elimination rolled over. Four days later Ripper arrived, but still no Hockey Bros. The cast moved on as normally as was possible to do so on a remote island such as that. Then, a week after their elimination, a notice came. Raj and Wayne would be dropped off to recover properly the next night.
That next night came along, and Damien was surprised to find himself alone on the docks. Sure, the hockey bros had mostly kept to themselves and eachother, and Bowie oddly enough (Damien had seen the episode before the elimination - he had some strong opinions about Bowie, but seeing him with Raj sort of made him appear in a new light. A very, very, very dim light, but it was there.) But Damien was sure no one held any contempt for them. Hell, it was had to.
Maybe it was the time. It was a little later than most arrivals and it was an odd day too. They were all probably tired.
"They're alive?"
Damien went to scream as he span around but a pale hand clamped over his mouth. He let out a weak wheeze instead.
"Shh, you're lovely screaming will wait. Nighttime is a nice time for people to be vulnerable."
"Sc..ry...Grl?" hue mumbled. Scary took her hand off his mouth and he took a long breath. "Scary?" he repeated. "What are you doing up?"
Scary Girl smiled. She stood beside him in her usual attire, looking paler and possibly scarier in the dull lighting the docks offered. Damien would have been lying to say he wasn't terrified. This was the Scary Girl. The same one who had come after him on a jackhammer. Now, stood by him smiling almost too wide and resisting from any violence.
She sighed. "I was watching over the others, silly." She said it as if it were entirely obvious. "I may not enjoy sleep, but I enjoy watching others enjoy it!"
Okay.... so far, so normal. Or, normal for her. Damien nodded as if it made any sense. "Cool.."
"So, they're alive?"
"Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah," he said quickly. "Definitely alive." He motioned to the sea ahead of them. "They've had treatment and now they're coming to stay here and... recover, I guess."
Why send them to an island resort to recover? Hell if he knew. Probably something to do with Chris' contracts. He glanced back to the goth. She blew a strand of hair from her face with a huff. "That's... less fun."
Damien went to counter it, but paused before he could. He could hear the faint chug of a boat engine.
He turned and Scary's head snapped to the noise along with him. Coming around the island and too the docks was a rickety old boat, which Damien wasn't sure was strong enough to support two concussed Canadians and a Chef. He could see the boys, strapped up to stretcher boards in the back of the boat. They looked worse for wear. Chef saw the pair and offered them a tired smile. When the boat came to a slow at the end of the dock, Damien came forward to help with Scary Girl close behind him.
"No drone?" he asked.
Chef grunted. "Too risky. It's not as bad as it looks- the back boards were just for support. They should be brighter in a week or so." Chef looked between the two of them. He sighed. "Are you two the ones who got nominated to keep watch?"
Damien stammered nervously. "Come again?"
The man raised an eyebrow. "'Y'all got the message right? Said we'd need two or so people to sit with them for a while?"
"Er, no?"
Chef groaned. "Someone's getting fired over that. Well then," he said, beginning to lift Raj's board out of the boat. He carefully passed one end of it to Damien, who grabbed it. "You two are here now, so I'll leave them in your hands."
Scary Girl caught the other end of the board and looked over the boy carefully. He was out cold, probably on pain medication, bruised up everywhere that was visible, and probably most places that wasn't.
"Why were you two awake anyway?" Chef asked. He grabbed Wayne's bored by each side and wedged it between his arm and hip as if the hockey player weighed nothing more than the board itself. Damien shuffled backwards with Raj, Scary following him so the pair edged off the docks. "I knew the hockey bros would be arriving, I just wanted to check in." He then nodded to Scary Girl. "She... doesn't sleep?"
Chef hummed as if it explained things (it didn't on Scary's side) and stepped off the boat onto the wooden panels of the dock. The group made towards the hotel.
The walk to the boys rooms was fairly silent; it was almost one in the morning, and they couldn't be sure people were all asleep, so they tried to keep noise to a minimum. When they went to go through the kitchen, they found Nichelle sat at the kitchen island, leant against Axel. The actress was half-awake and nursing a cup of hot chocolate that Axel had made her.
Damien had noticed their... unlikely friendship at the Playa. They arrived one after the other, and they were also talkative with Caleb, so he he assumed there was some sort of effect from being the first three. Both women looked up as the group carried Raj and Wayne through the adjoining living room. Nichelle looked up from her mug and her tired eyes widened. "Oh shit, they're here?" she said quietly. Axel followed her stare upon the exclamation and then shared the expression. Damien froze where he was and stopped the other two in their tracks.
Chef nodded to the pair at the worktop.
"Morning girls. Why are y'all awake?"
Nichelle groaned. "Insomnia."
Axel shrugged. "Nichelle."
Damien noted that down mentally, and decided to follow it up later.
"Are they okay?" Nichelle asked. Her voice was gravelly - probably from the lack of sleep. Damien looked to Chef who simply smiled. "Yeah. They'll be fine, just need a few weeks of recovery."
The pair nodded. Axel looked back at her hands, focusing on whatever she had been doing before the group entered. Damien looked over. She was whittling? With a knife? At one am? She didn't seemed bothered. "We'll come say hi tomorrow... or today, I suppose," she said matter-of-factly. Chef smiled. "Alright. Keep an eye of for them please."
And the group continued on upstairs.
☆
The hotel was a tall building. Four floors, including the ground floor; three rooms on the bottom floor, four on the next two, and a final two on the top floor, as well as living spaces on the bottom floor. Luckily, Raj and Wayne's rooms were only one floor up, right across from Damien's room. Scary Girl's room was also on the first floor, hidden at the end of the hallway. The boys were placed into their respective rooms and Chef took Damien and Scary into the corridor outside.
"Damien, camp with Raj tonight please. Scary, you stay with Wayne. If either of 'em wake up they'll be a bit dazed. Ask them some memory questions and..."
Damien took in as much information as he could. It was one in the morning, he could have happily curled up and slept on the carpet for all he cared. What he managed to maintain was: they had concussions, their memories may be fuzzy, ask them a few questions and give them some pain killers. Probably in that order too. Raj had a back injury and a foot in pretty bad shape, and Wayne's arms were, in Chefs words, 'kaput.'
Chef explained all of that in probably too much detail for them to understand, and left them with a few medication bottles for each boy and a scrap of paper with his number scrawled on. "Call if anything happens. And keep an eye out for them. It was a nasty fall those boys took."
He gave the pair a tired smile and a nod, before trudging away down the corridor and into the stairway. They watched him disappear around the corner and then stood in the empty silence he left.
Damien looked over at Scary Girl. She smiled straight back. "You're watching over Wayne. Come on, I'll set up the medications in his room," he decided, already strolling to the room. A placard hung off the door with Wayne's picture beneath it. It read "WAYNE MACINTYRE" in big block letters. Damien looked over to Raj's room. "RAJESH KADIVAR." He pushed through Wayne's door and surveyed the room he found inside.
It was a small box room with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, corner chair and a bed, which housed Wayne and his slings. His bags had been bumped at the foot of his bed and his support board leant against the wardrobe. Scary filed in behind him and made a beeline for the sleeping boy. She stood over his body with a wide grin. "He's... not dead?"
Damien nodded, almost dropping the pill bottles he held. "Uh, no. Not dead at all. Him and Raj are just resting."
He looked back over to her after a minute passed without a response. She still stood over Wayne, face now barely above his, watching him intently. Was this how she watched everyone? Damien winced. "Er, I'd give him some air... please?"
Scary didn't respond to him, but lifted herself slightly further up so she no longer crowded the him as much. Damien hummed to himself. Maybe she was learning?
Damien finally arranged everything neatly on the drawer; three bottles of pills, first aid kit, instructions, and a small paper sheet of Wayne's injuries and Chefs number. He had similar things for Raj in his pockets. "Okay," he said, straightening up. Scary Girl didn't move. "Stay with Wayne tonight please. Come ro me if he wakes up and.... are you just gonna, uh... watch him?"
She nodded happily. "It's not often I'm allowed to watch people! Usually they get mad."
Damien gulped. He managed a shrug. "Uh, yeah! Okay, sounds good, and, yunno, if you want to, you can sleep as well-"
Her head snapped to his direction and his mouth shut in an instant. She watched him with a careful, terrifying grin. He took that as his hint to back down. "Nevermind! I'll be next door if you need anything." He walked to the door and opened it only a crack, then trying to shimmy through the gap and minimize any light that entered the room. "Goodnight Scary!"
There was a silence, and then a whisper as he shut the door.
"Goodnight Damien."
☆
Damien slept on the floor of Raj's room that night. He dragged a blanket and pillow in from his room and crashed on the floor in front of the dresser. The room was identical to Wayne's, except mirrored, so the boys slept on adjoining sides of the wall. He found that fitting and oddly poetic. It was nearly four am when he stirred. There was shuffling ahead of him. Footsteps on the carpet. Was Raj awake already? He blinked slowly, eyes adjusting back to the darkness of the room, and he was met with a wide, toothy smile above him. His mouth opened to scream again, but Scary Girl slapped her hand over his mouth. She shook her head.
"Mph?" he yelped. Scary removed her hand from his mouth and didn't shift. She was leant over his sleeping body with her regular practiced grin.
"Is Wayne awake? Or were you just... watching me?" he said slowly. She shook her head, and stood straight up, eyes flicking to Raj, still peaceful and unconscious beside them.
"Wait," she said firmly.
He shot her a confused stare and went to ask "for what?" when there came a shuffle from beside him. From a bed.
How the fuck did she do that?
Damien decided to very carefully ask questions later, and flew up from hid camp beside Raj's bed. He crouched beside where Scarey stood. Now, they both watched. Raj stirred in his sleep and his eyelids twitched, then fluttering open completely. He squinted at the ceiling, looking in an absolute daze.
"Raj?" Damien whispered. He kept his tone as soft as he could. The brunettes head turned at the voice and he blinked, looking between the two at his bedside.
"Hm?" he yawned. "Damien? Scary Girl?"
Damien felt a swell of relief hit him. He nodded. "Yeah man, it's me. You're at the Playa now. Y'all were brought over from hospital. I think they gave you some meds to help you sleep through the journey."
Raj nodded slowly, his slightly sedated mind trying to absorb the information he was being handed. Damien continued on. "Chef says I gotta ask you some, uh, memory questions. Just incase. Gotta make sure your heads all good. You alright with that?"
"Mhm."
"Good."
Damien kneeled up more. "Do you remember where you were?"
Raj forced his brain to wake up. "Camp... wawa... wawn... wa..."
"Wawanakwa?"
"Yeah, that," he laughed.
"Okay, that's great. Uh, let's try simple, do you remember your name?"
"Rajesh Aditya Kadiva."
"Awesome. Who were you with on the island?"
"Bowie and Wayne... wait, Wayne?"
Raj shot up from his bed and went to look around when he felt a sharp pang of pain shoot through his shoulder and travel down his back. He howled in discomfort, biting down on his hand to muffle anymore noise he was about to make. Damien shot to his feet. "Woah woah woah!" he said panicked, moving to grab him by the shoulders. "Try not to move too much! You're back is still recovering!" He looked to Scary Girl who was smiling widely. Probably at the pain. He winced. "Scary, help me out here!"
Scary seemed to snap back to life and came to grab a few spare pillows from the foot of the bed. She went around and laid them in a sort of square, making a dip in the center for Raj to lay in. Damien watched her. "Huh... good idea."
Once she had moved, he helped Raj back down and onto the bed. He collapsed down as soon as he felt mattress on his back and exhaled sharply. "Sorry. Thanks."
"It's okay man, just try to stay down for a while longer. Don't need anymore damages, huh?":
Raj nodded weakly. "Yeah... but where's Wayne?"
"Oh yeah," Damien said. "He's next door. Just on the other side of that wall." He motioned to the plain wall on the left of Raj's bed. "Scary Girl is keeping an eye on him tonight, and the I'm bunking here to look out for you."
Raj mustered a smile. "Thanks."
Damien nodded and turned back to Scary Girl. Wait, where was she?
The door had opened behind then, and was now leaking the warm, artificial lighting inside. He heard skipping steps on the hall carpet. Back to Wayne. Damien hummed and pulled a chair over from beside the drawers, and set it beside the bed. He grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen off the top as he did.
"Okay," he said, tipping a pill into his palm. "You want water with this?"
"Nah, I'll be fine," Raj said, taking the drug from him and throwing it into his mouth. Damien watched in horror and amazement. "I've never seen anyone got water-less with a pill."
Raj shrugged. "I've eaten worse."
"Okay, think you'll be okay for one or two more questions?"
Raj hummed. "Can we do one?"
"Sure man. Uh, okay. Do you remember what actually happened?"
The hockey boy grimaced. "There was this huge bird... thing. And it chased me and Wayne off the side of a cliff. We fell all the way down and into some bushes at the bottom. On the way down I told him I was g-" he froze. His eyes filled with a nervous stare. He didn't meet Damien's eye. "Does... have you guys seen the episode?"
Damien smiled. "Yeah man. Don't worry, no one here cares. We're all quite happy for you two. Well.... there's MK, but she's not happy for anything."
The anxiety in his eyes faded and he grinned. "Nice."
Damien continued on. "Alright, we'll make that the last question then. Need to let you rest up for tomorrow."
"Can you wake me up when Wayne wakes up?"
Damien looked hesitant. "I guess? But if you both can't move, how will you talk to him?"
Raj looked to the wall beside him. He tapped his fingers on the plaster. "We can talk through the wall!"
"Oh," he said slowly. Then he smiled. "Sure thing."
He held out his fist which Raj gently tapped with his own. His knuckled were bruised and a large bit of gauze was taped to his other.
☆
After five or so more minutes of Damien talking to Raj about what Chef had told him, Raj had blanked out again and sunk into the nest of pillows that Scary had constructed. Damien sighed and looked back to the drawer, which now looked more like a medicine cabinet. He nudged a few items around so they once again sat in uniformity. Then, he stood out of his chair and slipped quickly out the room. He stood in the hallway in between the bros rooms and hesitated. He looked at Wayne's door.
The door flew open without warning, and Damien flew backwards. Scary Girls head peeked out. She saw Damien and smiled. Of course she smiled. Damien didn't know if she did anything else. She didn't say a word, just watched him expectantly. Damien stammered. "Ah! Hey Scary... I was just, uh, gonna check everything is okay! Uh... is it?"
Scary Girl nodded sharply.
"Uh, good, good, and yunno, thanks for helping with Raj, and-"
"You should stop looking at me."
Damien stopped talking and looked away quickly. Scary Girl continued. "And go watch Raj. I'll watch Wayne closely and get you when he wakes."
Huh.
Not the reasoning he had expected. Damien felt like he should acknowledge it but hesitated, and instead gave a curtain nod. "Yeah! Yeah, okay. Goodnight again Scary!"
He turned away and almost ran back to Raj's door. He heard the same whisper behind him. "Goodnight."
☆