Chapter Text
Sunshine cascaded off the white and blue buildings of Crete, Greece. It was warmly loud with children cheering and running around. People were walking their dogs alongside gelato parlors, with a variety of colorful cats overrunning the population and warm climate. He dragged his heavy suitcases beside him as he flipped on his sunglasses, wondering where his busy tour group was as he anticipated a fast-paced environment.
He fled Thailand for the moment to escape the suffocating silence of being up at 2 a.m. Every night, the immovable indentation on the left side of his mattress taunted him, a daily reminder of the car crash that stole his husband.
Sam's plans for years had been simple, really: fly from Thailand to whatever seemed fun enough, join a group of complete strangers, and stop crying over his half-empty house. That's why he joined Disventure Camp: Fans vs. Favorites despite only watching one season. That's why he felt the constant rush of surfing. That's why he booked his schedule with constant in-person risk analytics meetings to get his mind off his past love, who was six feet below.
That tour that day was wonderful and definitely took the boy for a stroll outside of his mind. His tour guide and two friends came along and showed him around the Neapolis Archaeological Park to view the Greek Theatre carved from the rock and dedicated to the Greek god Dionysus. One of his friends, Ren, jumped up to the top of the theatre to show Sam and his best friend, Dunia, the view of the warm stretch of volcanoes in front of them. It was gorgeous and warm and definitely took the three contestants back to their time at Soluna Island on the Pacific coast.
Then, Dunia directed them to a boat that toured the most revered parts of the city, showing how the Greeks once celebrated spirituality with art and candles. Boarding the boat, she lit up candles around the three with a smug grin, praying they would be granted protection and find true joy. Sam was an atheist and never took the proper time to delve into manifesting like Dunia did, though for once he smiled faintly at the thought that joy might be wished upon him after his years of loneliness and suffering since the incident that totaled his car.
The group re-met by a private villa where houses were designed for the tourists. The three contestants shared a cottage together, and Sam had been the luckiest with the top-floor room that had an immaculate view of the beach right next to the place. When the sun set, the three friends sat amongst each other on the couch, munching on fruits and berries, when suddenly Dunia noisily turned around and took a peek outside to see what looked like a bonfire welcoming new tourists into the group.
"And here, I thought we were the only ones from a reality show—especially Disventure Camp—that would be at a place like this," she started, chuckling when she saw a familiar face out there.
"No," Dunia sighed. "It's that British killjoy, Spencer. He's like a black cat. One look into his eyes and it's bad luck for you, isn't that right, Sam?"
The risk analyst turned off his phone, staring at his wide-eyed, mouth-agape reflection against the dark screen. His stomach dropped into his ass. Spencer, seriously?
"Your favorite buddy!" Ren teased with heavy sarcasm, assuming Sam was just remembering how Spencer had brutally engineered his elimination on Fans vs. Favorites. Ren didn't know the second reason Sam's heart was hammering against his ribs, though.
Sam hadn't let anyone touch him since his husband died, but he had let Spencer in like he could've let anyone in. And then Spencer didn't just ghost him like he did Diego and Logan... it was mutual. After their hookup, the two boys pretended they never knew each other, like it was a mutual strategic arrangement.
He didn't listen when his two friends were talking, though something Ren brought up sparked Thitivorinan's attention.
"Didn't Spencer, like, block everyone because he couldn't handle the rumors about him and Logan's fallout? Must be hard competing with the winner in his original season."