Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Noah could hear the sound of cars passing by on the street below.

His eyes were still closed, and his face was still pressed almost uncomfortably into the pillow… But he could feel a breeze on the back of his head, could still hear the quiet honking of cars in the street below, and could hear the sound of somebody shuffling around the hotel room.

…The hotel room.

He was still in the hotel room, still in his bed, still recovering from their win last night at the Gemmies, and his and Alejandro’s conversation.

With a quiet, almost undetectable groan, he raised his head, and fluttered his eyes open ever-so-slightly: While the overhead light was off, there was light filtering in through the windows so intensely that it seemed to not make a difference. It was the kind of light that reminded him of summer, of warm days and sunny mornings, so he could assume that there was a blue sky waiting for him outside the hotel room.

It also seemed to be far too bright to be early in the morning.

The room was clean, almost pristine looking, and while he was almost incredibly warm under the blankets, the breeze fluttering through the open window made him think that it was also relatively warm outside. (An idea that was only supported by the sun filtering through the room…) Everything was peaceful. The cars were far enough away that the noise didn’t hurt his ears, and as he slowly began to realise his discomfort – His belt digging into his hip, the throbbing of a headache in his head – his eyes locked onto a person exiting the bathroom.

It was Alejandro Burromuerto; Wearing casual clothes, toothbrush in hand.

The sun casting through the window lit him up almost like some kind of deity, like coloured glass in the light and like the ocean in the evening. His skin was practically glowing, and as Noah swept his eyes up and down his figure – for no other reason besides making sure he was genuinely, utterly real – He could feel his stomach filling with something almost as warm as the sun on the back of his neck.

“...Goodmorning.” He murmured, and for a few moments, Alejandro didn’t reply.

He looked laid-back, entirely relaxed… And Noah watched as the corner of his lips twitched upwards, and his shoulders seemed to drop ever-so-slightly under his gaze.

“Good morning, Noah.” He hummed in reply, and Noah couldn’t help the tired, almost delirious grin that began to grow on his face. With a smile, Alejandro raised a hand and pushed it lazily through his hair, tilting his head to the side. “Did you sleep well?”

“ Mhm .” He yawned, and, imagining that his voice was almost unidentifiable with sleep, he rubbed tiredly at his eyes. “...What time is it?”

Alejandro glanced to the side.

“Almost twelve. Chris said we don’t have to be up until three.” He murmured, voice gentle, soothing. At this, Noah let out a hum, and dropped his head back onto the bed.

“...Cool.” He hummed, and as he fluttered his eyes closed again, he was sure that he could hear a tiny, musical laugh echoing from Alejandro’s direction.

It was quiet, it was peaceful.

Noah could only just hear the sound of passing cars on the street.

—

The rest of the trip was a haze of packing, goodbyes, and last-minute celebration activities. 

He had gotten up at 1pm, dragging himself out of bed and tumbling into the shower in an attempt to get rid of his throbbing headache; It was, no doubt, a hangover from the sheer amount of champagne he had downed the night before. Alejandro hadn’t been in the hotel room at the time, but there was a note resting on the hallway side table stating that he was going to get lunch from the hotel bar.

He kind of hoped that he would bring him back something… He was fucking starving.

The shower water had been almost scalding, and between delirious blinks and unstoppable yawns he had scrubbed his skin raw. He hadn’t bothered to fold up his suit before stepping into the shower, and despite how much he knew he absolutely should have (considering the fabric, the price, and the fact that it might mean he would have to pay less for drycleaning.), he only chucked it onto his bed when he got out, disregarding it immediately in favour of changing into something more casual; Double layered shirts, a pair of jeans, black socks. He had also changed out his earrings; His ears hurt, and he hoped that his irresponsibility regarding his new piercings wouldn’t give him some type of infection.

And unfortunately, by the time he was ready to find the rest of their crew, Alejandro still wasn’t back…

…He wasn’t sure if that was for the best or not.

Their flight home – The one that Noah was dreading a little bit less than the night before , thanks to his and Alejandro’s conversation. – wasn’t scheduled until 9pm that night. He wasn’t sure why past-Noah had decided on that time for the flight, considering it meant they wouldn’t get back home until at least two in the morning, but alas; There wasn’t anything he could do about it now. Luckily for him, he had run into Brick the moment he walked out of the hotel room, and was immediately roped into an impromptu mini-golf trip with the kids.

“...You’ve never played mini-golf before?” Mike gaped, staring at Brick with so much surprise in his eyes that Noah couldn’t help but let out a snort.

He had been roped along to the mini-golf course because apparently the kids needed a chaperone, and while they couldn’t find Alejandro, both Chris and Chef had said they had meetings to run to… So by default, it was him. He didn’t mind very much; He still had access to Chris’s credit card, and while he would prefer to go sit by himself and stare at his phone in the hotel dining room, he liked the kids, and he didn’t hate minigolf.

“We didn’t live near any mini golf places… What, is it difficult?” He spoke, face crumbling ever-so-slightly into that nervous expression of his during the last couple of words. Jo, who was standing next to him, elbowed him in the ribs with a roll of her eyes.

“Nah, chin up, cadet.” She sniffed, and instantly, Brick straightened up… Noah still wasn’t sure what kind of relationship the two of them had; Friends? Lovers? It seemed like a strange mix of both that Noah didn’t quite want to ask about. Either way, Jo had figured out before all of them that treating Brick kind of like a soldier got him to perk up, at least a little bit. “$10 says I beat you in the first hole.”

“C’mon, Jo, he’s never even played.” Zoey interjected, crossing her arms and raising an amused eyebrow. She was right, in a way; He could sense the undertone of disapproval in her voice, but it was overridden by the amusement glittering in her eyes. “Go easy on him or something, please?”

“In your dreams, cranberry.” Joe snorted, only flicking her gaze towards Zoey for a tiny moment, before looking Brick up and down again. Under her gaze, Noah watched him straighten up, and grin. “What do you say? Wanna try me?”

“Absolutely, ma’am!” Brick grinned, and in a flash, the two of them were racing towards the entrance of the mini golf place.

He hadn’t even paid for them yet.

All Noah could do was let out an amused sigh, and glance at the other three kids. Cameron had his hands in his pockets, waiting patiently, and Mike and Zoey were looking exasperatedly after the two who had just run off. He could imagine exactly how the two of them were feeling right now; There was still the sense of underlying Total-Drama-driven hostility, but they had looked like they had such a good time over the last week, and, well… They probably didn’t want to separate too much again.

It was the same way he felt whenever he spent time with the rest of his own cast, just without the hostility, and with a whole lot more of the ‘not wanting to leave’ thing.

Ultimately, Noah had not won mini-golf.

Jo and Brick’s competitiveness had managed to rub off on the other newbies, with Zoey and Mike both going hard after the crown of lowest score; Cameron had stayed pretty chill, and while Noah had coasted along at a satisfying third place overall for the majority of the trip, (Much to Brick and Mike’s discouragement; Brick was unable to pick up the game easily, and Mike was unable to do very well at all, despite having played multiple times. Svetlana, however, was another matter entirely, managing to get the Mike System two hole-in-ones near the end, and landing him in third place overall upon the finish.)

As she promised, Jo had won, with Zoey coming in an incredibly nerve-wracking close second. The only reason she hadn’t won was because she got too ‘fired up’ over Joe’s teasing, and accidentally hit one of her shots into one of the nearby water obstacles. (She had gotten so mad that Noah had threatened to put her in time out, which would no doubt lose her the game.)

And Noah had had a good time, not checking his phone at all until he got into the car back to the hotel.

….Waiting for him were two texts from two different numbers.

One was from Gwen, confirming that yes, she would be picking him up from the airport, and no, she didn’t mind, and seriously, Noah, she’s so excited to get drive-through take out and stay up until the sun rises so she can hear the full recap of the trip that he desperately wants to give her.

The other was from Alejandro, and while, for approximately a second, he could feel his stomach dropping, the moment he opened the text it was replaced with a warm, fuzzy feeling he didn’t anticipate.

Alejandro - 2:15pm:

Are you chaperoning the kids?

Chris said they were looking for one of us before and as i have not been

Ah

Summoned?

I suppose they found you

He hadn’t been able to hold back a snort, (Which had garnered him a couple of strange looks from the kids, who could no doubt figure out what was going on… They were weirdly intelligent like that, he had learned, in a way he didn’t quite understand.) and he replied to the text instantly, something in his stomach warming further as he did so.

Me - 2:59pm:

Yeah

Smh they found me first

We were at minigolf

It took less than a minute for Alejandro to reply, and as he had buckled his seatbelt, he had watched the three dots, signalling his typing, appear at the bottom of his screen. He pretended not to notice the way Zoey leaned forward to glance at his phone.

Alejandro - 3:00pm:

Ah, minigolf; I never played

Who won?

Me - 3:00pm:

Jo, obviously

Yeah she’s competitive but she can also, like

Back it up

It's a shame really

There was a part of him that wanted to keep texting Alejandro, a part of him that was practically itching for the interaction after a week of non-stop feuding; But, to his displeasure, he had driven them there, and he didn’t really want to break any road rules in a city he didn’t live in… He didn’t want to break any road rules in a city he did live in, but in previous instances regarding his relationship with Alejandro, that hadn’t stopped him before.

So he had shot off one more text, before dropping his phone in the cup-holder and starting the car.

Me - 3:01pm

Have to drive now, ttyl

The text was… He wouldn’t say dry, but it was certainly less expressive than he had been with him in the past.

…They were still on uneven footing. He didn’t quite know where they stood, didn’t quite know if Alejandro or himself had forgiven each other, or anything close. But he knew that they were okay, in some strange, vaguely positive way, and he knew that a goodbye text at all would make that okay turn into something more than okay, at least a little bit.

So he had driven the newbies back to the hotel, hopped out of the car, and was instantly ushered by Chris and Chef up to his room to ensure that he was packed and ready for the flight… That was in six hours.

“We don’t even have to leave for ages.” He grumbled, folding the suit he had tossed carelessly onto his bed, and placing it on its coat hanger. “I was the one that scheduled the flight, and we don’t have to be at the airport until at least seven.”

Chris rolled his eyes, letting out a small snort as he kicked his legs against the ottoman at the end of his bed. Noah had noticed that Alejandro’s belongings had already been packed up, and were waiting by the door, despite Alejandro being nowhere to be seen.

He supposed that Chris had gotten to him already; However, he still wanted to know where he was.

“Isn’t it always good to be prepared?” He grinned, and Noah scoffed, rolling his eyes at him. “Isn’t that right, Chef?”

“Yessir.” Chef grinned, winking at Chris, who fanned his hand in front of his face with a grin. Noah couldn’t help but fake-gag, and he watched Chris and Chef exchange a cheery glance.

The two of them looked happier, more content than Noah had seen them in weeks; It was like Chris was Atlas, like he had finally gotten the world taken off his shoulders, or like he was Sysiphus, and he had finally pushed the boulder up the hill. He thought about how clouded the host’s eyes had been in the couple of weeks prior, but now, under the warm lighting of the hotel room and though the open-window breeze, he could see that his eyes were clear, almost glittery. The bags under his eyes that were previously hidden by concealer seemed to have lessened slightly, and his shoulders seemed to hold less… Tension, like he was looser, warmer.

It made some of the tension in his own shoulders lessen, and he let out a breath, dropping the suit into his suitcase. He watched Chris wince at the action; It was expensive, and if it was wrinkled beyond belief, the drycleaning might manage to match the suit’s original price.

“Whatever; I’m packed up now, are you happy?” He raised an eyebrow, getsuring lazily around the now entirely spotless room… Aside from his unmade bed, he supposed that he didn't have to take care of that.

Chris grinned, and clapped his hand together.

“Yup! Good enough for me.” He rolled his shoulders back, and raised his arms above his head in a stretch. “Now, how do we feel about lunch?”

Noah had felt very good about lunch, and he had let Chris and Chef drag him to the sushi place they had stopped in on the first day in the city. It was good, and he was starving, so he didn't have anything to complain about.

They had gotten back to the hotel at approximately five-thirty pm, and finally, after what felt like many more hours than it had actually been, Noah finally laid eyes on Alejandro Burromuerto.

He had been waiting in the lobby with the Newbies, leaning gracefully against one of the walls and running a soft, calloused hand through his hair. The light was cast across his features in a way that made him look like he was blessed by god, and Noah could see his sea-green eyes glittering even from what seemed like a mile away. He looked relaxed, and a smile was playing on those perfect, perfect lips, making dimples dot his cheeks as he glanced towards them at the sound of the doors swinging open.

Gods, Noah had thought.

“Now where have you been all day?” He mused, dropping his hands into his pockets and tilting his head with a smile as he sauntered over. He made sure to keep his tone even, playful, and he was pretty sure it paid off, because as he stopped in front of the other boy, Alejandro leaned forward, and flashed him a teasing smile. “Don’t tell me you were running away from the Newbies?”

Alejandro let out a laugh, a delighted, musical laugh that made Noah want to tumble into the sea again. The boy in front of him shook his head, and shrugged his shoulders.

“I was simply running some errands, my friend.” He grinned, and Christ, Noah could feel himself melting. The tone was almost the same it used to be, less scepticism than it held the night before, but holding the same, playful, adoring energy than it might have two weeks ago. The only difference was-

-The only difference was that Alejandro had said ‘my friend’, rather than ‘my dear.’

“Really? How… exciting.” He sniffed, and couldn’t help but quirk his lips up further at how easily Alejandro picked up the sarcasm in his voice. He could hear Chris clapping his hands together in an attempt to get everyone's attention, and out of the corner of his eyes, he watched the newbies all turn to look at the host. “Anything specific?”

He slowly spun around to fix his gaze onto the host, and heard Alejandro shuffle forward so that he was standing next to him; He could practically feel Alejandro’s body-heat radiating onto him, and as Chris began to speak, Alejandro leaned towards him ever-so-slightly in order to let out a whisper;

“You’ll simply have to wait to find out.” He murmured, and Noah shivered, glancing at him momentarily and raising an eyebrow. Alejandro was grinning, an entertained, yet… reserved glint in his eyes as he spoke; Then, like he had thought about what he was going to say a little bit further, he continued again, voice still hushed into a whisper. “Though, I‘m afraid they were much less entertaining than those errands I ran with you before.”

Noah froze.

The errands he had ran with him before… Their first ever- Their first ever date? It hadn’t been a date at the time, hell, he wasn’t even sure he considered it a date now, but Jesus Christ. Alejandro even mentioning it seemed like he was making some kind of giant leap to salvation, the salvation being the success of their delicate, unsure relationship.

It made Noah almost unable to breathe for a few seconds.

But then, he sucked in a breath, one so fast that he was almost dizzy. Alejandro was… He was thinking about it, thinking about the mutual desire, the want that they had both expressed the night before… And he had decided, almost, and conveyed that decision through the words, in a way that he hoped wouldn’t make Noah run away like a frightened deer.

So he grinned, ignoring the tingle that ran up his spine.

“Oh? Are you saying that I make things interesting, my dear Alejandro?” He mused, voice still whispered, almost inaudible over that of the host in front of him.

Alejandro’s grin seemed to widen ten-fold.

“I’m saying even more than that, My dear Noah.” He hummed, seemingly unable to contain the delight in his voice, as Chris promptly told him to shut up. In response, Noah had promptly burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Noah had thought about this interaction all the way to the airport.

The Newbies – And Alejandro – Decided that their final opportunity to spend all of Chris’s money would come down to shitty airport food; That was to say that Chris and Chef had offered to take them all to a nicer place for dinner before getting on their flight (Despite neither of them, nor Noah himself, were very hungry after their incredibly late lunch.), but they had all unanimously decided that they wanted to eat at the airport, an activity that would no-doubt take more money that necessary out of Chris’s pockets.

The host didn’t mind at all, though; Noah was pretty sure that Chris hadn’t stopped smiling since they had won the award last night, and he was pretty sure that it would continue to cloud his judgement for the rest of the weekend, or at least, until The Network threw another god-awful obstacle towards him.

So they had driven to the airport, hauled their bags to security, and sat down for a meal of ramen noodles that Zoey had won the rock-paper-scissors over… He was’t sure why they couldn’t eat at separate places, especially considering the dramatic way that Mike and Cameron were vying for the hamburger place across the airport food court. It was, admittedly, very good, even if he didn’t finish the bowl that was placed in front of him without his input.

Then, after several hours of waiting – Which he also hadn’t minded; sometimes he liked waiting – they had gotten on the plane.

…The plane.

Noah was ready this time. 

The moment he got to his seat, he had buckled himself in, put on his headphones, and placed his hands politely on the armrests next to him; The Jumbo Jet didn’t have armrests like this most of the time, it didn’t have seatbelts, it didn’t let him have his headphones, or air conditioning, or people besides the Total Drama contestants. The business-class cabin here was clean, it didn’t smell like anything, it didn’t have rats and didn’t have wires poking out of the walls or suspicious cracks in the windows… It was nothing like the Total Drama Jumbo Jet, and because it was nothing like the Total Drama Jumbo Jet, he didn’t have anything to worry about.

But the elevator rides in the hotel had been smooth, completely unlike the nerve-wracking ones in the office that reminded him of a planes take off. He hadn’t forgotten what they felt like, (He couldn’t forget them; He felt the planes rising and falling in his dreams. ) but the feeling of his stomach rising into his throat, his heart hammering in his chest, and his ears filling with static when the plane begun to rise, rise, rise into the sky was so fucking familiar that he was going to hurl-

-There was a medical, plane-issued barf-bag dropped into his hands in an instant, a couple of tissues on his lap, and as he leaned forward, he felt a hand on his back, rubbing circles into his skin and running across the nape of his neck.

… He didn’t need to look up to know that it was Alejandro.

He could recognise those hands in his sleep, recognise the hesitant, assuring movements that slid gracefully over his skin… Throwing up in a plane barf-bag was something he had done all the time on the Jumbo Jet, but he had never had hands on his back, and the bags had never been plastic, always paper, or cardboard.

Noah had grimaced, and wiped at his face with one of the tissues.

“Sorry.” He muttered, face burning with embarrassment and discomfort. Alejandro simply let out a reassuring hand, and didn’t take his hand away from Noah’s back… much to his relief.

“It’s quite alright; if you recall, this is not the first time I've watched you throw up.”

Noah wrinkled his nose at that, and couldn’t help but let out a weak, almost disgusted snort.

“Gross.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Alejandro grin.

He had gotten out of his seat the moment the seatbelt sign flickered off. He had gotten rid of the barf-bag, washed his face, brushed his teeth with a disposable toothbrush a flight attendant had given him, taken a lap around the cabin, and eventually squeezed past Alejandro once again.

The flight had been almost silent. The Newbies were exhausted, Chris and Chef were exhausted, he was exhausted… Jesus, he almost couldn’t believe that Gemmies week – The thing that he had been working towards for weeks – was over, and over successfully. He had spent so much time on it, planning and stressing and working so much overtime.

And while he couldn’t quite believe it was done, it felt almost like the world had been lifted off his shoulders, and he could finally, finally breathe again.

He had gazed out of the aeroplane window, watching the city lights below them grow further and further into the distance. He had watched them fly over hundreds and hundreds of miles of land, stretching beneath his feet like he was a Titan; He had watched the clock on his phone tick to 10pm, to 11pm, to 12pm, to 1am… He had gazed down through the window and watched the dark, almost pitch-black waters of Lake Michigan splay out like a blanket.

He had thought of Icarus, thought about the sun, and wondered, idly, how cold the water of Lake Michigan would be… It wouldn't be warm, like the surface of the Icarian sea, but it would probably be cold, almost freezing. It would swallow him up if he gave it even the smallest chance, and he could imagine that if it were lighter outside, he would be able to see the small ripples across the water's surface, would be able to see passing birds, tiny, lake waves.

If it were lighter, then he would be able to see the sun, too.

Alejandro had drifted off to sleep, and there was a brief period of time – approximately 1am, Lake Michigan below them, waiting – Where Noah hadn't been able to take his eyes off of him. He had let his gaze linger off the point of Alejandro’s nose, let himself stare, almost longingly, at the way his eyelashes reflected the dim overhead lights. His cheeks were coloured a warm, barely subtle pink, and his hair, soft and barely styled, running down his neck like Circe’s weaving, was framing his face almost like a picture.

He had let his eyes run down the scar against his neck, letting himself imagine running his fingers along it again. He felt almost as if he hadn’t looked at Alejandro in a week, and while he knew that wasn’t exactly true… In a way, it was.

He hadn’t looked at Alejandro like this in a week; He hadn’t let himself, for fear of the boiling anger in his chest being replaced with white hot adoration once again.

But eventually, they had landed, and he had nudged Alejandro awake as he took both of their bags out of the overhead baggage area. Alejandro had managed a groggy ‘ Thank you, my dear.’ before Noah had guided the two of them off the plane. He had curled his lips up into a grin when he saw Brick and Jo doing the same to a groggy Zoey, Mike and Cameron, and suspiciously, Chris and Chef were both looking… relatively awake. He supposed that they had other things they had to do; Paperwork, emails, ect.

They had gotten off the plane, collected their baggage, and had said goodbye to the Newbies.

The five of them were staying at Mike’s house for the night so that they didn’t have to make the venture to their individual houses alone; Zoey would have been staying their anyway, and while Chris had absolutely offered to get them each an uber, Mike’s big sister had insisted that she wanted to drive them, and because she had the early night shift that day, she would be able  to pick them up.

Noah thought that was sweet, and he knew that his own big sisters would absolutely do the same thing.

Zoey, Cameron, and Mike had all given him a hug goodbye, practically ambushing him before he could make any move to tell them to back off; He hadn’t minded, really. He had spent so much time with them that he was almost starting to get why Chris was so attached to him. He felt a little bit like Chiron, and that the Newbies were all of his little Greek Heroes.

…He would never say that out loud, though, not to anybody. Jo and Brick had each given him a handshake, smiled, and whispered a goodbye. Neither of them were particularly touchy, so he understood, and he watched as the five of them trudged out of the domestic terminal, leaving himself, Chris, Chef, and Alejandro.

Chris and Chef had driven here themselves, and needed to make their way over to the carpark in order to pick up that car. He had said goodbye to them as well, and despite Chris’s offer of a week off, Noah had assured him that he would see him on Tuesday at least, if not Monday. Chris had just laughed, and he and Chef had disappeared through one of the side characters.

And then it was just him and Alejandro.

“How are you getting home?” He murmured, voice tired as he began to trudge towards the exit. Alejandro was walking next to him, seemingly only half awake. It was a little bit funny; Alejandro had such a genuinely strict sleep schedule, and because of the Gemmies, he had been knocked out of it incredibly,

He already knew how Alejandro was getting home, truly; He simply wanted to talk to him before he had to leave.

“Heather.” Alejandro hummed back, stifling a yawn behind his hand as he glanced across at him. Noah could see the sleep clouding the other boy's eyes. “I assume Gwen is taking you home, yes? Please do tell her I say hello.”

Noah let out a hum, and the corner of his lips quirked up as they swung open the door to the exit. Instantly, they were struck with a blast of cold, cold air that practically snapped Noah out of any semblance of exhaustion he was experiencing. The same could not be said for Alejandro, who simply blinked, narrowing his eyes against the cold. With simply a glance to the left, Noah felt his eyes light up.

“You can tell her yourself, she’s right there… Actually, so’s your ride.”

A couple of metres away, to his left, Gwen and Heather were leaning up against Heather’s car, bundled up in coats and grinning at each other like they were the only people who had ever lived. At Noah’s words, Gwen glanced around, and Noah was sure that she honest-to-god beamed as she elbowed Heather, and started towards him.

Her hair was brushed, tousled ever-so-slightly by the breeze, with strands flitting around her face like a dark halo. Her eyes were shining, and, like usual, she was wearing dark eyeliner and false eyelashes, despite the late hour. Her eyes were glittering, almost lit up at the sight of him, and her skin – Soft and clear, was almost glowing under the light of the terminal entrance. He could see his car parked a few feet away from Heathers, and behind Gwen, he watched Heather straighten up, and quirk an eyebrow at Alejandro.

God, Noah had missed her.

“Noah!” Gwen grinned, and Noah couldn't help but grin back, taking a couple of steps forward and meeting Gwen halfway, letting her wrap her arms around his neck. She wasn’t wearing platforms, but she was still taller than him, and the moment she made contact with his skin, Noah felt a little bit more of the tension in his shoulders seep away. Immediately, he dropped his hold on his bag and wrapped his arms around her in return. “Man, I missed you, everything is so much more boring when you’re out of town; Congratulations… for, uh, everything?”

The last couple of words were whispered into his ear, and with a snort, he pulled back to look at her. Her teeth were almost white, and in her dark irises, he could see that typical look of knowing.

He couldn’t help but let out a snort as she pulled back in return, and he raised his eyebrows momentarily as he nodded.

“Oh, thank you, you have no idea.” He grinned, and Gwen let out a laugh, wiggling her own eyebrows as she glanced back towards Alejandro. Noah did the same, and watched as Heather and Alejandro exchanged a couple of hushed words that he couldn’t hear… After a few seconds, though, Heather glanced over at them, raised an eyebrow, and took a few steps over.

…Noah’s grin turned into a grimace.

This might have something to do with the… uh, unanswered text message from last night.

“Noah.” She hummed, crossing her arms, leaning to the side, and tilting her head… Gwen let out a snort, and out of the corner of his eyes, he watched her shake her head. She seemed incredibly cheerful, like there was very little that could happen right now that could get rid of her good mood.

“Be nice to him, Heather, he’s not a dog.” She sniffed, grinning still as she took a couple of steps away. Heather scoffed, and rolled her eyes at her; Gwen was going to say hello to Alejandro, he realised, and leave him with the sea-witch. He sighed. “...Seriously, I'm not joking.”

Heather sniffed.

“Whatever.” She hummed, and looked him up and down as Gwen hurriedly retreated. Behind Heather, he watched as Gwen walked over to a deliriously tired Alejadndro, kissed him on the cheek, and asked him a question… It seemed to snap a little bit of sense into him, because he smiled, and replied with a tilt of his head. The answer made Gwen clap her hands together with a snort, and… Noah was pretty sure that she winked at him, and Alejandro responded with a laugh. He turned back to Heather, who was looking at him with curious contempt. “...So.

He winced.

“...So.” He replied, and watched as Heather rolled her eyes again. She looked incredibly well put together for two-thirty in the morning, her hair brushed and tied up, with a faux-fur coat draped across her shoulders. “How are you-”

Heather cut him off immediately with a look, and as he jolted back slightly in confusion, she rolled her shoulders back and tilted her head to the side.

“You’re coming to dinner at our place this Thursday; We’ve invited Izzy, Cody, Eva and Owen as well.” She raised an eyebrow, posing the statement in a way that showed there was no room for debate… Noah relaxed a little bit. Alejandro had obviously told her about what had happened, and it seemed as if she had made an executive decision… Actually, maybe not; Alejandro had been out all day, and for all Noah knew, he could be the one behind dinner. “Gwen said you would come.”

Noah blinked a little bit, fumbling for his words momentarily before he coughed out a response.

“I- Uh, yeah, i’ll be there.” He started, a smile quirking at the corners of his lips as he spoke. “Does this, uh, is this like some sort of repayment for dinner a couple of weeks ago?”

Heather tilted her head to the side further, blinking in thought; Noah didn’t even need to see her expression, because he knew that it was at least partly true.

“Maybe, what’s it to you?” She sniffed, wrinkling her nose before her expression softened ever so slightly, and a ghost of a smile swept across her face. “Alejandro and I had a good time last time; Maybe we’re just doing it out of our own volition.”

Noah snorted… And Heather smiled.

“Whatever, she-devil.” He grinned, rolling his eyes as Heather took a step back; That was seemingly all that she wanted to say, because she glanced over her shoulder to watch Gwen and Alejandro speak; Gwen was nodding along to something Alejandro was saying, but as they watched Heather and himself look over, Alejandro quickly stopped speaking, and hurriedly leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.

…Huh.

But he watched as Gwen nodded at him, spun around, pointed a finger at himself, and began to walk towards his car as she pulled the keys from her pocket. Noah couldn’t help but roll his eyes, and when Heather turned to look at him again, he tilted his head to the side and smiled.

“Have a good night, Heather.” He smiled, and Heather curled her lips again, taking a step towards him and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder momentarily, before brushing past him. 

“You too, dweeb.” She hummed, and Noah rolled his eyes. Quickly, he glanced over his shoulder and watched as Heather brushed against Gwen’s shoulders, whispering something quickly in her ear before Gwen laughed, and she peeled away to her own car. Noah furrowed his eyebrows slightly, and as he turned back around slowly, he bit the inside of his cheek.

They looked… More content with each other than they had last week, and Gwen seemed like her good mood couldn’t possibly be just because he had finally returned. Maybe something had happened between them since he had left, perhaps something to do with their relationship…

Whatever it was, as he turned back around, he let his gaze land back on Alejandro’s face.

Alejandro still looked exhausted; His eyelashes were fluttering languidly open and closed in the cool night air, and his eyes were glassy, like dolls. His hair was tousled messily, and his hands were clutching at the handle of his suitcase. He was pretty when he was exhausted, Noah thought, and he couldn’t resist the urge to walk over to him, tilt his head to the side, and let out a hum as Alejandro’s gaze fixed onto him.

“...All good?” He murmured, voice barely audible, and Alejandro slowly nodded, stifling a yawn as he did so. “Good, you look exhausted.”

Alejandro let out a snort, and languidly rolled his shoulders back.

“I believe that’s because I am exhausted, my dear.” He mused, and Noah couldn’t help but let out a laugh. His eyes, while almost fixed onto him, were wandering, and Noah wanted to reach out and cup his face, focusing his gaze onto him and him entirely… But, he was sure that the wandering eyes were because of the other boy’s exhaustion, so slowly, he settled with tucking a strand of hair behind his own ear, and smiling. “I’m going to sleep for 24 hours straight, I swear.”

“God, right? It feels like all of my bones have been turned to jelly or something.” He laughed, and as Alejandro laughed back, the silence of the terminal entrance began to swallow them up. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gwen tucking herself into the driver's seat of the car, and leaning out of the open window to look at Heather, who was doing the same… He almost didn’t know what else to say, but, looking across at Alejandro, with his messy hair and perfect skin and glassy eyes, he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out- “I like it when you call me ‘my dear’.”

…What?

He was tired- No, he was fucking exhausted, and the more he looked at Alejandro’s perfect, beautiful face, the more he could feel his impulse control lessening, the more he could feel his grip on his words falling, falling, falling into the gutter. He hadn’t meant to say that outloud, but before he could say anything else, before he could clasp a hand over his mouth and dissolve into a puddle on the ground, Alejandro opened his mouth, closed it again, and beamed.

“You do? Truly?” He hummed, and Noah could feel the colour rushing back to his face in full, alarming force.

“...Yeah, it makes me feel like you care about me, you know?” He started, and as Alejandro tilted his head to the side, he furrowed his eyebrows and continued. “Like, uh, I already know that you do, but it just makes it feel… real? I don’t know, man, I'm tired, I don’t know how to… form coherent thoughts anymore.”

He winced; That felt painful to say, but he couldn't help but roll his eyes and grin when Alejandro raised a bashful hand to run it through his hair. The other boy was grinning, a real, genuine smile gracing his features as he looked at him… Jesus Christ, Noah had missed that smile so much it almost hurt to see it. He could feel warmth bubbling up in his chest, filling his bones and his veins with ichor as the breeze whipped around them.

He wanted to kiss him; He wanted to kiss him more than anything in the world.

“I know what you mean.” Alejandro murmured back to him, and Noah could feel himself dissolving where he stood. “I… I wish I had some more eloquent words to offer you, my dear, but I'm afraid that my ability to form coherent thought is, also, null at the moment.”

The laugh that escaped from Noah’s lips sounded so unlike himself that Noah wasn’t sure who it had come from for a moment. He could see Gwen watching him from the window of his car, and despite the way that it made his stomach start to sink, he knew that it was time for them to go home… He was sure that Heather was waiting impatiently for Alejandro, and He was also sure that Alejandro might pass out if he didn’t get to bed soon.

So he let out a sigh, and glanced towards their cars. Alejandro followed his gaze, and after a moment of silence, he looked back at him.

“...We should get going.” He muttered, and Alejandro frowned; He was almost sure that Alejandro didn’t want to leave him either…

…But then Alejandro was leaning over, and pressing a slow, soft kiss to Noah’s cheek.

Jesus Christ.

Noah had seen Alejandro kiss people on the cheek before; Gwen, Heather, others that he could probably recall if he wasn't already dead-tired, but this kiss was different. This one was slow, it was sweet, it was his. As Alejandro drew back, he could feel his hair brushing against his cheek, and he could smell the scent of cologne, a cologne he had smelled before; When Alejandro was in his bed last night.

“Goodnight, my dear.” Alejandro murmured, a smile quirking at his lips as Noah raised a hand to press gently at his cheek, the place where Alejandro’s lips had been only seconds prior. “Please, text me; I dread being away from you.”

The words were spoken so softly that Noah almost couldn’t believe they were said at all. But as Alejandro took a step back, he just barely resisted the urge to surge forward and kiss him, and instead, he pressed his hand further into his cheek, and let out a breath.

“I thought you said your ability to speak ‘eloquently’ was gone.” He hummed, and like musical notes on the wind, Alejandro let out a chuckle, and started walking slowly towards Heather’s car. In a clumsy scramble, Noah moved to pick up his own suitcase, but realised that Gwen must have already taken it for him… He didn’t dare take his eyes off of Alejandro, and slowly, having to will his legs forward, he started to walk towards the car.

“I suppose I was wrong.” Alejandro grinned, and Noah rolled his eyes, projecting as much fondness into the action as he possibly could, as he watched Alejandro reach the passenger seat of the car.

Heather was looking resolutely down at her phone, like she was trying to ignore whatever was going on outside the car. Internally, Noah snorted. Externally, he tilted his head to the side as Alejandro took hold of the door handle.

“...Goodbye, Noah.” He murmured.

Noah sucked in a breath.

“Night, Alejandro.”

When Noah slipped into the passenger seat of his own car, Gwen was staring at him, eyes twinkling in the dim light and mouth almost agape in delight.

“Oh my god.” She started, and with a dramatic groan, he dropped his head forward until it was touching his knees.

“Oh my god.” He echoed, and Gwen started to cackle.

Noah could only vaguely remember this leadup, because right now, his mind was fuzzy, his eyes were tired, and the smell of the airport was slowly fading from his clothes.

He and Gwen had driven through the streets, singing loudly and badly along to whatever music was playing though Gwen’s phone; He was pretty sure it was The Smiths, but between the endorphins flying through his brain and the exhaustion slowly disappearing from his blood, he couldn’t quite remember. They had pulled through the drive through of a take-out Mexican food place, getting their typical order of enough-for-leftovers-tomorrow-morning, and eventually, finally, pulled into Noah’s apartment building, and collapsed through the door of his house.

All this had finally led up to where he was now; draped across his old, thrift-shop couch, unfinished food sitting cold on the coffee table in front of him, and Gwen grinning at him from the other side of the sofa.

He let out a sigh; More content, warm, than anything else.

“I can’t believe he confessed his love to you in the middle of a fight.” Gwen snorted, and Noah let out a groan, tilting his head back so that it was lolling slightly off the side of the couch. He was more than happy to be back in his own apartment; The walls of the hotel room were a blank canvas, so bare that he was beginning to think he was going stir crazy by the time they left. The walls of his own apartment, though, were filled completely with colour. “That’s so cliche I literally can’t believe it; I guess he’s cliche, but still, christ.” 

He had already given Gwen a complete rundown of his week, detailing all the horrifying little details he knew would send her practically reeling; She had spent at least five minutes laughing over the descriptions of his daily insults towards Alejandro, had listened incredibly intently during his retelling of the fight before the Gemmies, and told her own story of how she was watching his interview with Heather, and the two of them had laughed so hard Heather fell off the couch.

She had also been relieved to hear – For what was probably the third time, that he didn’t know of any plans regarding a new Total Drama! Season. He had already told her over text and a phone call while he was away, but he supposed that considering the stakes for her, the fear was warranted.

“Yeah, well, I confessed my … love for him like five hours later.” He sighed, and Gwen let out another snort. The word love still made his stomach flip a little bit, and while in any other situation he would like to say that the reason he told Alejandro he loved him too was romantic delirium, exhaustion, or semi-hidden drunkenness, he knew that that would be a lie, and christ, Noah’s done more than enough lying lately. “It was- It made me stop yelling at him, so, um, I don’t… I don’t know what to tell you Gwen, that’s just what happened.”

The last couple of words were stressed, though he couldn’t hide the smile in his voice as he spoke. Gwen, still grinning, reached towards the coffee table and picked up a cold chip, popping it into her mouth.

“Hey, I’m not judging.” She hummed through her mouthful with a tone that indicated she absolutely was judging. But then she swallowed, and leaned forward. “I’m just saying… Seems fitting, you know? The two of you were so dramatic I couldn’t imagine you having anything other than a dramatic confession, you know?”

It was Noah’s turn to snort.

He understood where Gwen was coming from; He had been more than a little dramatic about his feelings towards Alejandro over the last few weeks, but it hadn’t been for humorous purposes. It hadn’t been because he thought that it would be funny, and it hadn’t been by choice; He had been dramatic about them because there wasn’t any other way he knew how to act about it. It was so all-consuming that he couldn’t think of anything else, so all-consuming that he felt like he was flying every time somebody even mentioned Alejandro’s name.

But he also knew that Gwen herself understood, too, and that after putting up with him and his Alejandro bullshit meant that she was more than happy to listen to him talk about it just a little bit more.

“Yeah… I can’t believe it told him about the Icarus thing.” He murmured, dropping his gaze onto the carpet and letting out a sigh. “I can’t believe I mentioned it, after that conversation we had at dinner two weeks ago.”

“The one that made you throw up?” Gwen hummed quietly, and Noah nodded. “You barely mentioned it to him, it wasn’t like you… You didn’t bear your whole soul to him or anything.”

Noah began to chew on the inside of his lip.

“...It feels kind of like I did.” He muttered, and let out another sigh as the two of them lapsed into silence. 

The admission that he felt like Icarus falling out of the sky wasn’t an admission of his entire soul to Alejandro Buromuerrto; As far as anyone else was concerned, it could have been a passing comment, a simple explanation or simply a descriptive aid to his confession of love… But to him, but to Alejandro… It was a link, he knew that it was , to everything he had felt towards him over the last few weeks, every word he had said to him, and that conversation they had on the balcony of his apartment. Alejandro thinking that Icarus couldn’t be a metaphor for love, his questions upon questions about why he thought that, the fact that he hurled when he realised what Alejandro was talking about.

The admission that he felt like Icarus was an admission that he had been in love with Alejandro for longer than he had realised. That love had been friendship, adoration, devotion, so many things that only seemed to manifest together when he finally, finally realised what they could all be.

“...Do you think he already knew?” He spoke, and Gwen glanced at him again.

Do you think he already knew that I was borderline in love with him? Absolutely head over heels? So whipped that I would have jumped off a bridge if he asked me to?

He watched as Gwen wrinkled her nose and tilted her head to the side. After a few moments, she let out a hum, and tucked her knees up to her chest.

“...I don’t think so.” She sniffed, and at the words, Noah raised an eyebrow. Seeing this, Gwen let out a laugh, a small, tiny laugh, and nodded in affirmation. “Actually, I don’t think he had a single idea. Sure, he might’ve gotten a little bit of a hint from Heather or me or someone, but I don’t think he… I don’t think he really believed it, you know?”

“You don’t?” Noah hummed, and Gwen nodded.

“Alejandro’s smart, really smart, but he’s… I don’t know, when it comes to you, he’s so whipped he turns into a total idiot.” She grinned, and Noah couldn’t help a smile from curling up onto his face. He was pretty sure that Gwen was telling the truth, and judging by the humorous glint in her eyes, he was absolutely sure. 

They had gotten back to the apartment around three in the morning, and while he wasn’t entirely sure what time it was at the moment, he could see the sky outside of his windows lightening, and the tell-tale pinks of a warm sunrise beginning to fill the sky. Christ, they had spent so long talking about the Gemmies that the sun was rising and he hadn’t had time to go to sleep yet, despite his exhaustion. Gwen had been so enraptured by the stories that-

-Hold on.

His confession of love to Alejandro had not been the only romantic escapade between the two of them over the week, and despite how easily he had told her about his own, the other, so far, had been pointedly left unsaid.

“...Holy shit, how was your date?” Noah blurted out, launching himself up ever-so-slightly so that he wasn’t half-draped over the couch. At his words, he watched Gwen furrow her eyebrows in confusion momentarily, before her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth in shock. Despite how excited she had seemed about it at the beginning of the week, she hadn’t brought it up once, and had instead sat and listened to him talk for four hours… He supposed that that might have been because she wanted to hear about the Gemmies rather than any sort of avoidance, but- “Jesus Christ, tell me what happened.”

Gwen let out a laugh, tilting her head back and letting her knees fall into a crossed position. He, now sitting up at the other end of the couch, crossed one leg over the other, and leaned forward.

“Well…” She started, and when she tilted her head forward again, Noah watched her expression… Her expression wasn’t exactly anything. He could see excitement, happiness, regret, sadness, and guilt all swimming around her eyes, so mixed together that he couldn't figure out where one began and one ended. She was tapping her fingers on her thighs, and her gaze wasn’t quite focused on him, instead flicking around the room, like she was sad about something. “It was… good.”

Noah narrowed his eyes slightly. Gwen, his best friend, who could wax poetry about a piece of grass growing from a crack in the pavement, was saying that her date with Courtney, a girl that she had been head-over-heels with for months, was… Good?

Something was going on.

“It was… good?” He spoke, voice slow and cautious as he watched Gwen rub at the back of her neck with her left hand. She nodded, and he couldn’t help but frown at the action. “...I listened to you talk about Courtney like she was the brightest star in the sky less than two weeks ago, Gwen, what do you mean it was good?”

For a moment, Gwen didn’t say anything, but then she let out a sigh, and her expression morphed into one of resigned disappointment, vague melancholy, and a smile he couldn’t quite figure out the origins of.

“It was good, Noah, that’s it.” She furrowed her eyebrows ever-so-slightly, and Noah leaned forward even furthur. “It was so incredibly fine that it was just good, and It wasn’t because of Courtney or anything, but It was… It was just good, and I don’t know why. I can’t find any other description for it than that.”

Noah couldn't help but frown even further, a million thoughts racing through his head. It wasn’t a bad date, but it wasn’t a great one. It was good, but it wasn’t good enough to deserve a mention, or any sort of dramatic retelling, or anything that characterised Gwen’s typical feelings towards Courtney. It was just good, and in Noah’s head, that could mean one of two things; Either Gwen wasn’t genuinely romantically interested in Courtney, which he found terribly hard to believe, considering how dramatically she had spoken about her in the previous weeks, or… Or Gwen’s mind was elsewhere during the date; Her thoughts were somewhere else, fixated on someone else instead.

“...Okay, give me a rundown.” He hummed, nodding slightly and tapping his fingers on the side of the couch. From the look that Gwen gave him in response, he was pretty sure that she already knew what he was thinking. “I’ll help, c’mon, I’ve already bothered you with my romantic escapades of the week.”

At this, Gwen let out a snort, and tilted her head back so that she was looking at the ceiling. For a moment, she was silent, but then a breath escaped her lips, and she tilted her head forward so that she was looking at him again.

“...She picked me up from my apartment.” She started, eyes wandering in thought as she spoke. As she continued, Noah started to see a smile growing onto her face, like the recount of the date was making it more interesting in her mind. “It was really sweet, you know? I got in the car and there was music playing, it smelt a little bit like her perfume… And she was really nice, practically beaming at me from the driver's seat. We went to get dinner and she-”

Gwen cut herself off momentarily, biting the inside of her cheek and wrinkling her nose ever-so-slightly in thought. He was beginning to see a glint of something in her eyes as she spoke.

“-She paid for me. We went for a walk afterwards, because it was such a clear night I didn’t want to just go back to my apartment, you know? And- Christ , her eyes are the same colour of the sky after dark. I remember looking at her, at how her hair was falling over her shoulders like it was Circe’s thread, how her collarbones were poking out from under her skirt, and…”

“...And what?”

Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. The poetic waxing was back, the words, the tone she had used to talk about Courtney before… It was almost like the recount of the date was making her realise how much fun she had had, like during the experience, her mind had been so focused on something else that she didn’t quite comprehend at the time. Now however, with wrinkled eyebrows and confusion flashing through her features, she looked like she was realising her previous musings about how fine the date had been were wrong.

Noah could feel his heart sinking a little bit, and part of his mind flashed back to the way Gwen and Heather were smiling at each other when she picked him up from the airport.

“...And I remember thinking that I had expected more.” She murmured, voice lower, quieter than before. “Not from her end, but from mine, you know? I expected sparks, some sort of incredible emotional turmoil, not…”

She paused, like she was trying to think of the word to use.

“...Contentment?”

“Contentment, domesticity… I don’t know. I think I was wrong, though, because I'm thinking about it now, and I feel jittery, like I'm anticipating something or that I'm so stupidly head-over-heels again.”

Noah let out a hum, and watched Gwen let out a sigh, dropping back over the couch and melodramatically lolling her head back. He couldn’t help but twitch his lips upwards into a smile at the action, and he tilted his head.

“And that’s how you were expecting to feel on the date.” He affirmed, and Gwen stuck out a hand, slowly pointing at him with a hum.

“Exactly.” She spoke, and raised her head up again. She was still thinking, he could tell from the way her eyes continued to flit around the apartment. After a few seconds, though, she glanced back at him, and the disappointed look in her eyes seemed to fluctuate, disappearing momentarily and then returning full force. “...I think I was comparing it to my dates with Heather.”

Ah. She was comparing them.

That was what he had been thinking; Perhaps she was still so smitten with Heather that a date with Courtney would feel lacklustre, that maybe, breakfast with Heather and the repeating nature of Heather giving her the gloves from off her fingers (Like she had done when they first met all those months ago.) would change her mind about how excited she was about dinner… And he supposed that he was right; At least, in the short term.

It was like the cloud of Heather in Gwen’s mind was dissipating ever-so-slightly, like only after the event was she allowing herself to think about the date in a context without her previous relationships.

“...Really?” He spoke, and Gwen looked at him for a moment, before she scoffed, and a smile cracked onto her face. She knew that that was what he had been thinking, and she kicked her foot out in his direction with a snort. “ Don’t look at me like that, I was just waiting for you to say it. Does this mean- Does Courtney not compare to Heather in your head? You seemed so over her last Saturday.”

Gwen sighed again.

“Comparing Courtney Heather would be like comparing The Odyssey to Metamorphoses, Noah. And I am over her, but we went out for breakfast after we dropped you off and It made me remember all of the other mornings we used to spend together, all the feelings I used to have for her.” She breathed, and Noah nodded. “And I think because of that, I was thinking about her the entire time I was out with Courtney… We’re going out again on Wednesday night, you know.”

Noah thought for a moment… A second date?

“You didn’t like the date and you’re still going out with her again?” He blinked, and Gwen snorted again, shuffling slightly in her seat and shaking her head.

“I did like the date, Noah, just not… Not as much as I was expecting to.” She hummed, and Noah let out a hum of affirmation. “I was the one that brought up the idea of it, because you’re right, I have been head-over-heels for her recently, and I feel like… we both need to know if that does or doesn’t actually transfer into a relationship.”

Noah nodded. He understood where she was coming from; He had had a conversation with Cody once where he told him about how his romantic feelings for somebody disappeared the moment they were reciprocated, and while he didn’t believe this was where Gwen was coming from, he could almost understand how her previous relationship could cause issues with a new one.

But he also wondered; What would Gwen do if the second date made her feel the same way? It would destroy her, in one way or another, because Christ, if he had spent months pining after somebody only for his feelings towards them to disappear the moment a genuine connection was established, then he would be livid. (He supposed, however, deep down, that the feelings haven't disappeared. They were simply hiding behind a cloud of heather in Gwen’s brain, one that was blowing away with the wind.)

“That would… suck, Christ.” He muttered, and Gwen let out a weak bark of laughter. “Seriously, I’m rooting for you, but do you know what you’re going to do if the date doesn’t, uh, go as well as you want it to?”

Gwen let out a hum at this, and from outside of the window, Noah was starting to see the sun peaking above a faraway building. The stars were slowly disappearing in the sky, and the few clouds littering the heavens were glowing pinks and oranges and blues.

He felt serene, exhausted.

“I’ll tell her that I don’t think it’ll work out.” She sighed, and Noah tilted his head to the side. “It’s unfair towards her If I just keep going along with it, you know? Leading people on is shitty, trust me.”

At this, Gwen obviously couldn’t help but laugh, and as he watched her, he could see the almost sad expression on her face morphing into amusement. At the sound of her laughter, however, he couldn’t help but laugh too, and as the pinks and oranges began to cast their rays across his living room, he felt his eyelid’s growing heavier than before.

“Ugh, that feels morbid.” He snorted, and Gwen practically giggled as she curled her legs up to her chest.

“More like hilarious.” She laughed, and Noah grinned. Then, her eyes lit up, and she leaned across to the coffee table and picked up a dry cornchip, holding it up towards him, almost like a cheer. Instantly, he understood, and with another snort, he leaned down to pick up a cornchip of his own. “Now we don’t have any wine, but still, here’s to our romantic escapes this week, as you put it.”

Noah laughed, honest-to-god giggled as he held the chip out, gently knocking it against Gwen’s own and popping it into his mouth at the grin on her face.

—

Unfortunately for his sense of pride, Chris was right; he did not make it into work on Monday.

This was, most likely , a win for his health, both physical and mental. He and Gwen hadn’t ended up sleeping that night, and he had instead passed out at approximately five-pm on Sunday, still fully clothed and in desperate need for a shower. Because of this, he hadn’t woken up until at least ten-am on Monday, and had, upsettingly, decided to let go of his pride and text Chris that he would be out that day.

Chris had only replied with an-

LMAOO

-Two hours later, and Noah had absolutely considered blocking his number. But true to his word, the next day, bright and early, he had shown up to work.

…Surprisingly, the office was practically silent.

The usual hustle and bustle of the downstairs foyer was gone, instead replaced with the calm morning emptiness of a day after some kind of large party. As Noah parked his car, he had realised that the parking lot was also suspiciously empty, and as he had entered the building, practical silence meeting him as rays of morning sun projected across his back, he had let out a long, long breath.

Because of their success at the Gemmies, practically everyone had been given the week off from work. This had technically included him, but because of their win there was paperwork to do, and internally, he almost couldn’t bear the idea of sitting around his apartment alone for an entire week, waiting in impatient anticipation for dinner at Heather’s that weekend.

So here he was, in the almost silent office foyer, swinging open the doors to the stairwell and beginning to trudge up the three flights of stairs necessary in order to get to his office.

“Stupid fuckin’ stairs.” He muttered as he walked, letting out a groan as he did so. The stairs were empty, so his words echoed around the steps and bounced off the walls. With each new flight, he could see that the stairs got slightly cleaner as the amount of previous foot-traffic grew less… He had known this, but he found that not having to shove through the rest of the office simply made the fact more obvious. “Should've taken the stupid fuckin’ elevator. I’m too tired for this…”

As he pushed open the door to the office, he was once again met with the blissful sound of quiet, and the relieving absence of any gross smells. (People in the office had a habit of leaving out dirty dishes over the weekend. He had gotten in HR trouble for yelling about it, once; Though, he still stood by the yelling, it was gross.) most of the lights were off, so the natural sunlight from the windows was the only thing illuminating the office space; It was nice, almost peaceful.

And with a glance around, he could see Chris McLean sitting at his desk, scrolling though his laptop. At the sound of the stairwell opening, he looked up, and Noah was sure that his expression brightened ever-so-slightly.

“Noah, kid!” He grinned, and Noah rolled his eyes with a scoff as he began to walk over. Dramatically, the host swivelled around in his chair, and draped his left leg over his knee. “How are you? We missed you down here at the old dog track.”

Noah snorted.

“The dog track? That’s a new one.” He hummed, and Chris grinned. “I’m good… yeah, i’m good, Gwen picked me up from the airport and we got takeout.”

Chris’s grin brightened ever so slightly; He seemed less like he had the world resting on his shoulders, less like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. That was good, Noah thought; The host had been in good spirits towards him in recent weeks, undoubtedly so, but before the Gemmies, he hadn’t been sure how he was doing otherwise… He could see it in his eyes now, though, that winning the Gemmies had taken a tremendous amount of stress off his shoulders.

Noah could resinate. He hadn’t been involved in the making of the show, but his job had been on the line, so the relief that he would get to keep it was still flowing through his veins like adrenaline.

“Ah, and I’m assuming you regaled her with the gorey little details of you and Aleajndro’s lovers spat?” Chris snorted, wiggling his eyebrows as Noah dropped his bag onto his desk and rolled his eyes. He made a fake gagging motion, which the host simply laughed at.

“Trust me, senile, she had been getting updates all week.” He mused, and Chris raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah? Did you tell her about your physical altercation before the awards show?”

Noah froze.

…Oh my god.

Chris was looking at him, a single eyebrow raised with a tilted head and smug grin that made Noah want to sink into the ground and die.

How the hell did Chris know about that? He hadn’t told him, but he had just brought it up, and there was that horrifying, smug, knowing look on his face that Noah saw in his sleep. Besides himself and Alejandro, who he knew wouldn’t tell Chris what happened in a million years, then there had only been five other people-

“Which one of those motherfuckers snitched? Oh my god- ” He snapped, whipping his head around to stare at the host incredulously as Chris’s grin broke into a fit of laughter. He looked more amused than disappointed, but still, Noah could feel guilt pooling up in his stomach as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I know you told us to behave, but he insulted me and I couldn’t help it, man- I had been on edge the whole day and he just-”

He trailed off, watching, with a horrified, guilty expression on his face, as Chris slowly stopped laughing, and shook his head at him exasperatedly.

“It’s- don’t worry about it, It’s cool, kid.” He grinned, wiping at his eyes and snorting as Noah sunk into his chair. Noah couldn’t help thinking, despite Chris’s nonchalant demeanour, that it wasn’t cool, that it was actually super uncool , and if he were in ancient Greece, he would be thrown off of a cliff and into the Aegean. “If I had seen it, or if one of you was genuinely hurt, or if a reporter had picked up on it, or… Or if it had any lasting consequences besides your Blaineley thing and the suspiciously peaceful next day, then it wouldn’t be.”

Noah nodded, and watched as Chris’s expression fell a little bit; it meant that he was being sympathetic, compassionate, serious, and as Chris spoke, and reached out to ruffle his hair with a grin, he felt the guilt in his stomach dissipating, if only a little bit.

“But none of those things happened. The Blainley thing was even funny, so it’s fine… it’s good even.” Chris hummed, and Noah let out a sigh, slumping back and running a hand through his hair in order to straighten it up… But then he frowned, and wrinkled his nose in confusion.

“...What do you mean it’s good?”

Chris raised another eyebrow, and that smug glint appeared in his eye again.

Ugh.

“Two of you made up, didn’t you?” He sniffed, and Noah felt himself sinking further into the chair. Chris, seeing this, started to grin again, and he wiggled his eyebrows, letting out a snort as Noah let out a groan. “Don’t even start with that, kid, you’re so obvious that I could've seen it in my sleep; Didn’t need a newbie to tell me about that one.”

Noah let out another groan, one that seemed to make Chris’s lips twitch upward even further.

“Do not ask me about it; It was weird , it was messy, I don’t- I’m still pretending it didn’t happen, Jesus Christ.” He groaned, dropping his face into his hands and rubbing at his temples with his thumbs. Despite his conversation with Gwen, he had been pretending that the conversation, the confession of love, hadn’t happened. He and Alejandro had been texting like normal, albeit the my dears becoming significantly more common than the affectionate eel’s. In fact, he had woken up to a text from Alejandro telling him to have a good day, and that he was looking forward to seeing him for dinner.

The thought of the text made his face heat up a little, and he heard Chris let out a snort as he raised his head again.

“Trust me, I was not going to.” He grinned, fake-grimacing as Noah rolled his eyes again. “That being said, I know you asked, but I am not gonna tell you which Newbie snitched on the two of you.”

Noah snapped his gaze up properly now, and leaned forward with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

“What? Seriously, Chris c’mon-” He started, and Chris simply started to laugh. “-It had to have been Cam, right? Because Jo wouldn’t and Brick wouldn’t dare- ”

“Not happening kid!” Chris laughed, and with a smile of his own, Noah dropped back into his seat again. Slowly, he watched as Chris’s laughter slowly faded out, and he let out a contented hum as he stretched his arms above his head… Noah wasn't sure where Chef was; probably making coffee, maybe getting breakfast, doing one of the jobs he would typically be doing, but he knew that he would probably be coming back soon. Chris clapped his hands together with another grin. “Getting down to business, I got a call from the Execs yesterday, and yeah, we get to keep our jobs.”

Noah couldn’t help but let out a delighted laugh at that, and Chris nodded triumphantly.

“Christ, good, If they fired us after all that then I would probably throw myself out of a window.” He groaned, and Chris let out a snort. “Was the only reason they called to tell us we wouldn't be next on the employee chopping block?”

Chris grinned… Noah raised an eyebrow.

“Not exactly, Noah; We’re all, also, getting a raise.”

Noah raised his other eyebrow, and dramatically, slumped further back into his chair.

“Holy shit, I thought you were going to tell me something awful, Jesus Christ- A raise? How much?” He spoke, letting out a long breath as Chris clapped his hands together again.

“Oh, trust me, you’ll see it in your next paycheck.” Chris grinned, and Noah dropped his hands over his eyes and let out a tired, resigned laugh. Distantly, he heard the sound of the elevator pinging, and the doors opening into the building. From the way Chris clapped his hands together again, he was pretty sure that the person coming through the elevator was Chef, so he didn’t bother to look up.

Just as he thought, after a few seconds, a hand was ruffling his hair affectionately, and a box was dropping onto the desk next to him. Only at the sound of it did he pull his hands away from his face, and he glanced to the side to see a box of pastries sitting on the wood surface.

“Mornin’ kid.” Chef hummed, sitting gracefully down into his own desk chair, and raising an eyebrow.

“...Good morning. What, are you doing my job for me now?” He snorted, eyeing the pastries suspiciously. Chris let out a small, delightful laugh, and Noah grinned, glancing between the two of them. “Jesus, what a day to be alive.”

Chris’s eyes were lit up with contentment, vague excitement and adrenaline coursing through his expression at a million miles an hour; He had no doubt that he was still riding the high of the Gemmies win, still victorious over his recent duel with the fates.

The excitement, the joy, felt almost infectious, and Noah tilted his head to the side as Chris let out a small laugh.

“What a day to be alive. ” Chris mused, and Noah couldn’t help but let out a snort.

Outside the windows, he could see light projecting onto the surrounding buildings. He could faintly hear the sound of passing cars, the distant sights of birds and citizens heading to work. In the office it was quiet, ambient, and as Noah leaned back in his chair, he couldn’t help but grin.

What a day to be alive indeed.

—

Tuesday Evening.

Alejandro - 6:53pm.

Heather is more than excited

She is doing that thing again where she cleans every area of the house?

She wants to know if you have any dietary requirements

I told her no

BUT

I fear I am not trustworthy enough in her eyes.

Me - 6:54pm.

LMAO

I don’t hav e any

But she probably knows abt gwens food preferences

And its like

Common sense not to give izzy red 40 or she’ll die

So p sure it’s fine!!

Did u know that Bridgette and Geoff have broken up again??

Alejandro - 6:54pm.

I heard!! 

Personally, I think that this is the end for them, but that is what everybody was saying last time, yes?

I do not want to point fingers, but Heather said that Leshawna was telling her about how it was Bridgettes fault this time

Is that true??

Me - 6:55pm.

Really??

Idek

I heard it from Owen like ten minutes ago but i find that hardddd to believe

What did she do according to them omg??

Alejandro - 6:55pm.

Unaware!

Let me ask my dear Noah <3

Me - 6:56pm.

I look forward to your report <3

Alejandro - 7:01pm.

Youtubelink.

NOAH.

Me - 7:01pm.

OH MY GOD

(Noah spends an hour watching a youtube video of a street interview with Geoff and Bridgette – He’s pretty sure that both of them are attempting to flirt with the reporter, and his suspicions are confirmed when they start glaring at each other about it with ten minutes left to go on the video.

He laughs so hard that he falls off the couch.)

—

Tuesday Evening.

He and Alejandro had spoken since getting back from the Gemmies, but they hadn’t seen each other, they hadn't spoken- spoken, not in a way that seemed to further their relationship beyond the platonic… They hadn’t spoken about the last night of the Gemmies, about how they confessed their mutual love for each other under the cover of darkness, alcohol, and an awards show win.

They had barely brought the Gemmies up at all.

But because they hadn’t brought the Gemmies up, they hadn’t spoken about how awfully they had treated each other… Alejandro had said that they had acted the same way, that they deserved each other, but Noah wasn’t entirely convinced. He had been so unable to communicate with himself and others that he had shattered their relationship completely. He had been a jerk, an asshole, a massive douchebag in every single way possible, and yet Alejandro was still in love with him, and he had told him so while he was acting like the worst person in the world.

Sitting on his couch, Noah glanced down at Alejandro’s contact; There wasn’t a picture of him, and it was only his name… But at the sight of it, he could still feel something swimming around in his gut.

Does that mean that we don’t deserve each other, or that we do now more than ever?

—

Wednesday, approximately 12:20pm.

“...Are you fucking kidding me? Are you kidding me? It is not that hard to clean your stupid plates or take your tupperware home!”

“Noah.”

“I’m sorry! But these assholes need to get it through their heads!”

—

Thursday morning.

Noah wakes up to a text, glaringly bright and horrifyingly real.

Gwendy – 4:32am.

Date went SO well

In love w her

Was wrong b4

ily

He isn’t sure what he feels in his chest after that – disappointment? Relief? He doesn’t know, but overwhelmingly, he feels tired and exhausted and happy for her.

So he rolls over and goes back to sleep.

—

Noah feels… Okay, he isn’t sure what he feels.

He’s only ever seen the outside of Heather and Alejandro’s house – White wood panelling, a red roof, expertly gardened plants and a nicely mowed lawn laying out the front. There was a small driveway, and a small brick path leading up to the front porch. Where two umbrellas and a small ceramic bird were hanging from hooks drilled into the wall… Noah was pretty sure the bird was some kind of parrot, matching with the bird no-doubt lying in wait inside Alejandro’s house.

He had only ever seen these things from his car window, but now, standing outside the immaculately painted white front door of Heather and Alejandro’s house, hand ready to knock, he could feel sparks running up and down his spine.

(Not bad sparks, though; Before he had left 15 minutes earlier, he had thought they were some kind of omen that meant he would throw up in Alejandro’s bathroom later. After sitting with them for the car ride, though, he was beginning to realise they might be sparks of excitement, of anticipation.)

He had been thinking about Alejandro’s bird lately.

It was a hyacinth macaw, an incredibly large blue bird on the vulnerable-endangered list. His name was Apollo, and a conversation with Alejandro the day before revealed that he had two enclosures on the premises of their house; An entire room that neither he nor Heather used, and a cage that seemed to take up the entirety of the back garden. He also, notably, had been rescued as a baby, had free-reign to most of the house as he was very well behaved, and got along with Heather’s cat exceptionally well.

Noah had remembered and asked about all of this because he had become somewhat paranoid about coming up with conversation topics; Since wednesday, every time he thought about dinner at Heathers his hands had started to tingle, and he had grown more and more mildly afraid of completely forgetting every word he had ever learned.

In his head, this was so fucking stupid.

He supposed that he had acted this way when he had hosted dinner at his own apartment; He had been so paranoid that Alejandro and Heather weren’t going to have a good time that he had half-convinced himself to jump out of his apartment window, and had thrown up in his own bathroom at the slightest hint Alejandro had conflicting opinions with the delusion he had made up in his head… But that dinner had gone well, and this was practically an exact replica, simply at another person’s place…

…And, well, after his mutually reciprocated confession of love to Alejandro Burromuerto. (His mutually reciprocated love to Alejandro Burromuerto, which he feared he may have completely jeopardised by calling him a slippery eel one too many times.)

He could feel his fingers start to tingle.

Gwen was already inside; She had texted him twenty minutes ago saying that she had gotten there early per invitation, and that he shouldn’t linger in his car for an extra fifteen minutes after he arrived paranoidly waiting for her ‘ I’m here’ text. It was a wise decision on her part, because that was exactly what he would have done.

He was also pretty sure that Izzy, Owen, Cody, and Eva had all been given a slightly later arrival time than he had.

That being said; They had been given a slightly later arrival time, but that didn’t mean they would actually be arriving later, because Noah had been standing outside the door without knocking for seven fucking minutes already.

He needed to just knock on the stupid door.

“It’s just dinner.” He murmured to himself, letting out a breath as he rolled his shoulders back. He was dressed the same as he always was; long sleeves, overshirt, cargo shorts. “The only difference from last time is that tonight, I know Alejandro likes me, so I don’t have to throw up in his bathroom… Jesus Christ.”

Of course, if he was going to throw up in the bathroom, that was not going to be the reason; If he threw up, it would be because Alejandro had come to realise that Noah had been right, and that he had been enough of an asshole at the Gemmies to properly drive him away.

He grimaced, and raised his hand again.

He was nervous, so nervous that he could feel himself sweating… But thinking back, he could remember that every other time he was nervous around the prospect of seeing Alejandro, the nerves had practically disappeared the moment he locked eyes with him. (Whether that fear had been replaced with something joyous or with something hostile was different in each situation.) Why would tonight, under the clear sky, in the crisp air, over dinner and wine and salt water, be any different?

So he steadied his breathing, and let out a long, deep exhale.

And knocked on the door.

For a few moments, he was met with silence. But then, he heard the sound of excited footsteps against hardwood floors, the sound of laughter, and the sound of a lock being opened. Almost instantly, he watched the door in front of him swing open, and to his vague delight, he was met with the glowing form of Alejandro.

He was backlit by the warm light from inside the house, and distantly, behind his figure, he heard the sound of Gwen laughing, and clapping her hands together. Alejandro looked like he really was glowing; His hair was tousled neatly, and wisps of it were running down his neck like spools of Athena’s thread. His eyes, green and swimming, were shining, and the moment he looked eyes with him, he swore that something melted away from Alejandro’s face, and the smile on his face grew into a beam.

He didn’t seem to be holding any sort of ill will; In fact, he seemed like he was practically exuding good will.

Noah could feel his own face cracking into a smile, could feel his expression cracking open like a geode.

“Noah, hello! ” Alejandro grinned, and Noah could feel his nerves slowly melting away. There was something about the way that he was looking at him, about his flawless skin and about how one of his hands was resting languidly on the door frame, that made Noah want to melt into his arms, want to throw his hands against his cheeks and kiss him. “We were beginning to think that you wouldn’t make it, my dear.”

Noah rolled his eyes fondly, watching as Alejandro stepped to the side, dramatically gesturing for him to come inside.

“Sorry, I was giving myself a pep talk on the other side of the door.” He mused, masking the truth of his words behind an amused tone of voice as Alejandro let out a laugh. “But seriously, I wouldn't have missed it… free dinner, and the opportunity to see your house, that is.”

“Ah, and here I thought you were excited to spend time with me.” Alejandro mock-sighed as Noah stepped into the house with a grin. In his right hand, he was holding a bottle of wine he had picked up on the way, so as he slid past him, he pushed the bottle gently into Alejandro’s waiting hands. As he did so, their fingers brushed, and he had to resist the urge to drop the bottle on the ground. “Ah, wine?”

Noah nodded, letting out a hum as he scanned his gaze across the walls around him. The front door opened into a hallway, painted a warm cream colour with wooden accents; The floor was hardwood, shiny and incredibly clean underneath his feet, and to the right, he could see an arch, pointed and mahogany, opening up the hallway to the living room. He could hear Gwen’s voice coming from that side of the house.

“ Oh, shit, is that Noah? Dude!” He heard Gwen laugh, and he couldn’t hold back a grin as he glanced back to face Alejandro. Alejandro’s eyes were alight with joy, and at the sight of it, Noah couldn’t help but grin even harder.

“You have a gorgeous house, give me a tour?” He quirked an eyebrow, and with a flourish, Alejandro slid past him, and gestured towards the archway leading into the living room. Looking closer, Noah could see engravings running down the side of it, intricate little carvings no doubt hand-done. He could feel contentment bubbling up in his stomach.

Alejandro tilted his head to the side… Along with Gwen and Heather's voices, he could hear the faint sound of music bouncing off the walls, flowing gracefully through his ears.

“ Ah , all in good time, my dear.” Alejandro hummed, tongue running over his teeth. Noah rolled his eyes, and began to toe off his shoes as Alejandro spoke. The warm lights of the hallway were making Alejandro’s skin glow; He wondered what he would look like under these lights in the morning, when the sun was shining through the windows and when he was slow with sleep. “But I’m afraid that right now, I could do… er, I could do with a glass , and I do believe that Gwen has been waiting for you rather impatiently.”

Noah let out a snort at the glass comment, and Alejandro, in return let out a laugh.

…He had only been there for a few moments, but he could barely remember why he had been nervous in the first place.

“Oh yeah? Because you can’t handle me without one?” He snarked, tilting his head to the side and taking a slow step towards the archway. At this, he was almost sure he watched something elated flash through Alejandro’s eyes, and the other boy let out an amused, hilarious snort.

“Oh, I can handle you, Noah, trust me. ” He hummed, and promptly spun around, swishing himself through the archway.

Christ.

Noah could feel himself grinning so hard that his cheeks almost hurt, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he could feel his cheeks warming like he was being cooked from the inside. As he watched Alejandro go, he rolled his eyes and slid forward himself; He didn’t want to be left out, especially if Gwen was waiting for him in the other room, and he didn’t particularly want to be separated from Alejandro either. 

The first thing he noticed as he passed through the wooden archway was that there was a difference between the furnishings and the shell of the house; The furniture seemed almost brand-new, incredibly modern and the exact type of thing you would find in a homemakers magazine. The room he was standing in was long, with what he assumed was the living room section right in front of him, a dining room table in the middle, and the kitchen at the end; All of the furnishings, the couch, the dining room table, the carpet in front of the television, all seemed new, expensive, purposeful… But the walls were another story.

The walls were painted the same cream as the hallway, but the wooden finishes were much more defined, like this room was older than the previous. The floor was still hardwood but all of the light fixtures seemed almost cottage-like, cosy and projecting warm lights across the room. The kitchen, he could see, had modern looking countertops, yet also had light green cabinets that seemed to come right out of a farmhouse.

And yet it didn’t seem to contrast at all. The modern furniture seemed to blend in completely with the older shell of the house, creating an atmosphere that was welcoming, cosy, and clean all at once.

The second thing he noticed was that Gwen and Heather were sitting at Heather’s kitchen island, glasses of something in their hands. Both of them were looking in his direction, and as Gwen saw him, he watched her eyes light up as she got to her feet dramatically.

“ Noah .” She grinned, and Noah let out a snort. She seemed a little bit out of it already, despite the early hour, and out of the corner of his eye, he watched Heather’s gaze follow her, fond and mock-exasperated. “I missed you, you know?”

Noah did know; He knew very well, and he nodded as he walked over.

“I do know.” He snorted, and he reached out a fist to her. She bumped it with her own, and dropped back into her seat. “Hey, Heather.”

It was Heather’s turn to let out a snort, and she nodded at him.

“Hey, dweeb. We’re having lasagna… Vegetarian” Her words were punctuated by a warm look at Gwen, who simply grinned at her. As he smiled, he felt a hand brush against the small of his back, and as he glanced over his shoulder, he watched Alejandro walk up to his side, lean against the kitchen island, and smile. “Someone said something about pasta.”

He couldn’t help but grin even harder.

He spent the next several hours chatting with his friends as he drifted around the living room. Cody arrived approximately ten minutes after he arrived, and then Izzy, Eva, and Owen had arrived ten minutes after that, apologising that they had been stuck in traffic; Cody, much like himself, had brought drinks, although instead of wine, they had been strange concoctions he said were a product of the Drama Brother’s new adventure; making alcohol. On all accounts, they were supposed to be beer, as they had been made with yeast, but the taste was so incredibly strong and so incredibly confusing that he pretty much refused to believe Cody was telling the truth.

He had lingered around the kitchen with Owen, Eva and Izzy after Heather had graciously allowed him to make a couple of side dishes with the ingredients they already had in the house. (He was pretty sure that Heather was counting on Owen's love of cooking in new places, and he was pretty sure that Owen would’ve gotten on his knees and begged for a chance to use the expensive oven that Heather and Alejandro had apparently installed very recently.) It was there he had heard about Izzy’s newest exploits with the local council, and her semi-successful nomination for party leader. He had also been briefed upon the totally platonic hangout that Eva and Izzy had taken to the climbing gym near Izzy’s apartment, and the totally platonic way Eva had saved Izzy from a harness malfunction on one of the very tall climbs.

“I’m just lucky she was there to catch me! Or else I would have gone SPLAT on the ground! My knight in shining armour, really.” Izzy had said, grinning, and Noah was almost positive he saw a little bit of colour grow onto Eva’s cheeks.

He had draped himself over the side of the couch with Gwen, and laughed about something he couldn’t even remember for at least an hour. He had eaten dinner, commenting multiple times about how genuinely good the lasagna was, and how he didn’t know Heather could cook. Heather had given a bow as she was serving, which had promptly made everyone start laughing like maniacs, drunk on wine and fun and friends.

He had let himself make eye contact with Alejandro multiple times, letting his gaze linger on him as he spoke to the rest of his friends.

He had heard from Cody that Harold and Leshawna were going on another reality show together, and that Lindsay and Tyler were happily celebrating their anniversary up the coast, funded almost entirely by Total Drama hush money. The thought had made him happier than he had expected, and at the news, he had shared his own reaction to the latest Gidgette breakup story.

Christ, that had gotten a reaction out of everybody.

“I mean, I think that Bridge started hitting on the reporter because she noticed Geoff was doing it. Level the playing field, you know?” Gwen mused, lolling her head over the side of the couch and taking a sip from her glass. Heather, resolutely, shook her head from where she was sitting on the other side of the couch.

One of her hands was lingering on Gwen’s thigh, just over her knee, tracing circles over her skin.

“Absolutely not; I can see it in their eyes, they were both doing it because they thought she was hot.” At the laugh that elicited from Cody and Alejandro, who were talking to each other at the dining table, Heather raised a challenging eyebrow and scoffed. “What? They’re both bi.”

“That doesn’t mean they were both actively hitting on a woman in front of each other.” Alejandro grinned, and Noah let out a snort. “Personally, I believe that they were simply doing it to get under each other's skin.”

Cody let out a gasp, and turned to look at him.

“Dude! That’s what I was going to say! I’m pretty sure they were having issues last week, so…” He held out his hand for a high-five, which Alejandro returned promptly and warmly. Noah couldn’t help but grin. He was sure they’d find out the real reason for Geoff and Bridgette’s breakup soon, and he had no doubt that they would be back together even before that.

He had drunk half of one of Cody’s mystery drinks as well as a glass of wine, pet Heather’s cat, who slunk down the stairs to say a brief hello before returning, and watched, mysteriously, as Alejandro darted in and out of the living/dining/kitchen room… Supposably to go and check on his bird.

He remembered reading about how Hyacinth Macaws are an incredibly social species of parrot, one who, if they didn’t have a large amount of space, dislikes being alone immensely.

But eventually, after a couple of drinks, the music turned up and flowing around the room, and a few moments after the realisation that he really needed to use the bathroom, he watched Alejandro slide up to where he was leaning against the dining room table. He was still glowing, eyes still shining under the now-dimmed overhead lights, and his skin looked soft, clear, and so touchable that Noah had to resist the urge to tilt his head to the side, lean forward, and run a hand down the side of his face.

That would be incredibly impolite, not to mention rather embarrassing.

So instead, he tilted his head to the side and smiled.

“ Hi .” He grinned, leaning back a little bit further so he could get a better look at the boy in front of him. He looked like he had drunk about as much as he had, a direct contrast to both Cody and Izzy, who were giggling to each other on the couch. But besides that, he was smiling too, a gentle smile that made Noah feel like he was being warmed from the inside out. “How are you doing, Alejandro?”

Alejandro’s smile grew a little wider.

“I’m doing fantastically, Noah.” He mused. Every time Alejandro spoke to him he felt a little bit like he was melting, like he was falling, falling, falling into the Icarian sea like Icarus himself. This was no different, and as he grinned in response, Alejandro leaned forward a little further, lowering his voice so that he was the only person that could hear him. “I was just wondering if you would like that house tour, my dear?”

Noah felt something pop up his spine like a bolt of lightning, and christ.

From the way that Alejandro was talking, it sounded like there was something else he was suggesting to go along with the house tour; It didn’t sound intense, though, it sounded warm, caring, curious more than anything.

Truly, there was nothing Noah wanted more than to get that stupid house tour.

…Actually, scratch that, there was one thing he wanted just a little bit more.

“...If you’ll let me use the bathroom first, then I would love the house tour.” He murmured, just loud enough for Alejandro to hear him. Alejandro’s smile grew even wider, if possible, and he let out a snort of surprise as Noah quirked his eyebrow. “I’m, uh, I’m serious, I really need to piss.”

“Who would I be if I didn’t give you a house tour just because you needed to use the bathroom? ” Alejandro laughed, running a hand through his hair as Noah grinned at him. His laugh was like musical notes, like the sound of lyres on the wind and the sound of sea waves against the shore. It made Noah want to sink, want to drown… But unlike usual, it didn’t make him feel ill. “Of course; The first door under the stairs down the hallway, my dear.”

Noah ran a bashful ( bashful, ugh, who was he becoming?) hand through his hair, and let out a hum of affirmation as he spun around.

“ Thanks, I appreciate it.” He mused, and behind him, he heard Alejandro snort again.

“Appreciate it? It's directions to a bathroom…” He muttered, feigned and humorous exasperation in his tone as Noah glanced over his shoulder; Alejandro was still grinning, and one of his hands was placed, amused, on his hip. The other was leaning against the table, supporting himself as he watched him leave. Noah couldn’t help but smile more.

As he spun under the arch and around the corner, he realised that the music was a lot less loud in the hallway in comparison to in the living room. Despite the lack of a real door between the two areas of the house, it was like the sound was muffled, softened, even.

He was so distracted by this fact that he almost walked directly into Gwen.

“ Ugh, sorry, Gwen, I was-” He spoke, but instantly cut himself off.

…Holy shit.

Gwen was standing in the middle of the hallway, arms crossed and a glass of wine in her hand, staring up at the wall. In front of her was a set of drawers, and for a moment, Noah thought that she was looking at those, rather than what was hanging directly above the mahogany furnishings… Gwen didn’t even look at him when he bumped into her, she was so focused on what she was looking at, and as he glanced up, Noah realised why.

On the wall above the set of drawers, rested a painting of a ballerina in an antique-looking golden frame.

…It was the painting.

“...Holy shit. It’s gorgeous .” He murmured, voice barely audible even to himself as he spoke. It was gorgeous, elegant brushstrokes illustrating a woman, Heather, dancing in the middle of a stage. She was wearing pointe shoes, and despite the fact that she was so obviously the centre of the image, she was small, not taking up the majority of the painting and yet still painted with so much intricate detail.

“...I told you, it’s one of my best.” She murmured back, not looking at him, and instead keeping her eyes on the painting. After a moment, she raised the glass of wine in her hand to her lips, and took a long, contemplative sip. “It’s oils; I’m… classically trained.”

“I know, you’ve told me…You’re really good.”

The ballerina was painted as if she really was lit up by the stage lights, as if she really was dancing across the stage like a real life dancer… Even from where he was standing, he could practically see, practically feel the amount of passion put into the simple little brushstrokes of paint. It didn’t look like a single one was out of place, didn’t look like there was a single stroke, a single colour, placed incorrectly.

And he knew that all of those observations were right, because he could see it swimming around Gwen’s eyes like the ocean.

She hadn’t taken her eyes off the painting, but he could see so many things rushing across her expression he couldn’t tell where one emotion started and where one ended. She was chewing on her bottom lip, and her eyebrows were furrowed… She was thinking about Heather, thinking about the hours and hours and hours of emotion she probably poured into that painting. She was probably thinking about the nights they spent together, the recipe for all of that motivation and the factors that led to their six months of not speaking to each other.

She might be thinking about Courtney, too.

Noah doesn’t know what he could possibly be feeling if he were in her situation.

“...Do you want to steal it back?” He murmured, tearing his eyes away from the painting and glancing at her. “We could run out the door, go set it on fire or something.”

For a moment, Gwen didn’t reply, didn’t even look at him; But then, slowly, he watched a smile grow onto her face, and she shook her head, turning to face him.

“No. I think it deserves its place here.” She hummed back, and flicked her eyes to the painting again. There was melancholy, sadness, acceptance swimming around her eyes, and Noah tilted his head to the side and smiled. Even in spite of what the painting represented, she was willing to let it hang in Heather’s house for the rest of their lives; He could see that fact in her face, he could feel it swimming through the air. “I know what it represents, but I couldn’t destroy something like that. It’s a memento, you know?”

Noah let out a hum of affirmation, and nodded. Gwen quirked an eyebrow, and glanced down the hallway. Noah smiled.

“...I’m going to the bathroom. Alejandro said he would give me a house tour.”

Gwen smiled a little bit wider at him, and raised the glass to her lips again. He thought back to dinner a few weeks ago, that moment that Heather let Gwen drink the wine from her glass.

“It’s a nice house, right?” She grinned, and Noah let out a groan, nodding enthusiastically. “God, with all that hush money and the million I'm not surprised, though.”

“Me neither, all the doorways look fuckin’ hand carved, it’s gorgeous. ” He sniffed, and Gwen let out another snort. Her eyes were glittering, and as she looked away from the painting, he could see some of the sadness flushing out of her expression. “Seriously, it’s the kind of cottage you see in a fairytale.”

Gwen let out a laugh at this, and with a grin, started to slowly walk past him. As she did so, she put a brief hand on his shoulder and spun around so that she was still facing him as she moved. He spun around too so that he was looking at her, and he tilted his head to the side with a smile. She looked content, warm, happy, and she paused just before she reached the archway.

“One day we can live in a house like this, with your sadism inc salary, I'm sure of it.” She snorted, and Noah couldn’t help but let out a laugh of his own. But she raised a hand towards him and bowed, just ever-so-slightly. “Now go piss girl, your boyfriend is waiting for you.”

“Okay, he isn’t my boyfriend, skeeze.” He scoffed, the grin not leaving his face as he watched her laugh, and spin around dramatically. “I’m sure the wine bottle is waiting for you, too!”

“Yeah yeah, whatever, Noah!” She called over her shoulder, and he watched as she spun around the corner, tossing a hand over her shoulder and laughing. Her hair swished behind her as she did so, and he scoffed light-heartedly as he spun around and headed towards the bathroom.

He loved her.

The hallway was similar to the living room, with warm, bright lighting and the same hardwood floors. The stairs were almost curved, leading up to what he was assuming was a small second floor, based on the outside of the house. The bannisters were dark wood, smooth to the touch, and as he walked past the staircase, he locked eyes onto the first door under the stairs.

Bingo.

The bathroom was more modern than the rest of the house, and as he was washing his hands, he looked at himself in the large, impeccably clean mirror in front of the sink.

He looked happy, looked like there was a weight that had been lifted off his shoulders in the last week. There were dark circles under his eyes like usual, but they were masked with concealer, and he was almost sure that they seemed less… less heavy than before, less influenced by current events and more-so simply a staple of his appearance. His hair was soft-looking, tousled in just the right way so that it didn’t look too neat and didn’t look too messy at the same time.

He could see his own eyes glittering, like constellations glowing in the night.

He looked like him, looked exactly the way he felt.

When he spun back into the living room, keeping one hand on the doorframe as he glanced around, he saw that Alejandro was waiting for him, standing politely by the couch and semi-listening to Heather and Cody chat. Upon seeing him, though, he let a grin slip onto his face, and he quickly started towards him.

So Noah spun back around the arch, standing in the hallway, and cocking his head as Alejandro slid into the hall with him.

“I’m so excited to dig through all your personal belongings.” He drawled, straightening himself up as Alejandro snorted. There wasn’t much of a height difference between them, so Noah could look into his eyes without having to look up very much; But he watched Alejandro lean down slightly nonetheless. “Do I get to meet the bird?”

At the sound of the word bird, Alejandro seemed to light up even more if possible, and he snapped up, dramatically gesturing for him to follow him through the hall, and up the stairs he had passed before.

“Of course you get to meet Apollo, I thought you would never ask.” He mused and Noah grinned, quickly following him up the staircase. Up the stairs, he was quickly shown the entrance to Heather’s room and the laundry/upstairs bathroom; Alejsndro said that his own room was back down the stairs, and he had decided to go with the second story first because it was relatively less interesting than the contents of the first. He had laughed, agreed, and was promptly pushed out onto the small balcony at the end of the small upstairs hallway.

It overlooked the back garden, which was so covered with plants and flora that it looked almost like a forest; Not in an unruly, messy way, but in a cultivated way, like it was designed like that. It also, Noah noticed, had thin stretches of wire fencing running across half of the yard. He presumed that this was part of the bird's enclosure, so that it was able to fly around the garden without risk.

When he asked Alejandro, he nodded, almost like a proud parent.

“ Yes, he’s been trained to free-fly, but the wire is there for precaution; He could chew through it if he wanted to.”

He had been led back down the stairs, and shown Alejandro’s own bedroom.

It had the same walls as the rest of the house as well as the same floor, but as he stepped through the doorway, he was suddenly struck with a feeling of familiarity, a feeling of understanding.

All of the lights were off, no doubt to conserve power and avoid the horrifying electricity bills that would come with having every light on at the same time; But he could see lamps littering the available surfaces, one that looked like stained glass standing by Alejandro’s bed. The bed itself was wooden, a mahogany headboard resting against one of the walls. The wall that it was resting on was covered with draperies, indicating that behind them rested windows that seemed to take up the entire surface.

There was a carpet beneath his feet, dark red with little tassels resting at the end. It looked expensive, in fact, the whole room looked expensive, like the furniture had come out of a Jane Austen-type house.

It looked so very Alejandro, and as he turned to glance at him, Alejandro’s eyes were already fixed onto his expression, grinning.

“...Why did we ever spend time in my bedroom?” He started, taking a step forward and grinning at the other boy as he snorted. The carpet was soft beneath his feet, and as he glanced around he could see pictures hanging on the walls, posters and cutouts from magazines; It looked so real, so authentic that he couldn’t help but smile a little bit more. “Your house is nice, your room is nice… the next time I suffer from a stress induced illness I'm coming over here.”

“And sit in my bathtub for seven hours?” Alejandro hummed, raising an eyebrow. For a few seconds, Noah felt his stomach drop at the tone in Alejandro’s voice, but then, seemingly sensing his problem, Alejandro smiled a little bit wider. “I’ll welcome it with open arms of course, then we can sleep in my bed. ”

At this, Noah couldn’t help but start to laugh, a real, full belly laugh as he spun around and tilted his head accusingly at Alejandro. The other boy was raising an eyebrow, his hands on his hips, and Noah shook his head with a hum.

“ Sleeze, you only want me when I'm ill.” He snorted, and it was Alejandro’s turn to laugh at the obviously joking tone in his voice. He was starting to gain a better understanding of where they stood now, but he could still feel the importance of keeping his tone relatively obvious.  

But ugh, the stupid grin on Alejandro’s face at his words made his heart speed up, and it was all he could do to keep eye contact as Alejandro clasped his hands together.

“ Sleeze ? What a rather polite term.” He snorted, and Noah shrugged as he grinned.

“What can I say, I don’t want to hurt your feelings too badly.” He mused.

“Is that really it, my dear? Or is it that you don’t want to dissuade me entirely?”

Noah scoffed, the smile not leaving his face as Alejandro spun around, and began to step out of the room. He gestured for him to follow, and as Noah reluctantly tore his gaze from Alejandro’s bedroom, the other boy began to walk backwards down the hallway.

“You wish. ” He snorted, and as Alejandro nodded dramatically, he rolled his eyes fondly. He could hear the music echoing through the house, could hear the sound of his friends' laughter bouncing off the walls and settling warmly into his chest. He could feel the warmth running through his veins, feel it filling up his lungs like he was drowning in it. As he followed the other boy, he realised that they were moving past the final door in the hallway, and instead stopping in front of the one that presumably led to the back garden. “...Not that room?”

Alejandro let out a hum as he turned around to take hold of the door handle; He glanced over his shoulder and smiled.

“You’ll be able to see it from the yard.” Was all he said, and Noah cocked his head in curiosity as he watched Alejandro push the door open, and-

Jesus Christ.

Since he had looked out over the back garden from the small balcony above, somebody had switched on a couple of lights, because the previously dark green yard was alight; Strings of fairy lights hung from the wire he could see before, projecting warm yellow lights and dim colours over the grass. Little statues of gnomes, fairies, and other stone ornaments littered the spaces between plants and bushes, and Noah could hear a set of wind chimes singing in the breeze, quiet and soothing.

The back porch was higher than the ground, made of wooden planks that felt hard beneath his socks. The steps downwards led immediately onto the grass, where a small pathway of smooth stepping stones led to a small, round deck situated in the middle of the greenery. On it, rested a small round table with a glass top, and two wooden chairs, cusions resting against the backs. On the table rested two glasses, a bottle of champagne, and a vase filled with pink lilies.

For a moment, Noah didn’t quite know what to think.

And then he realised; There was no doubt in his mind that the lights, the flowers, the champagne, were for him.

“...Your garden is beautiful.” Noah murmured, unable to rip his eyes from the sight before him. He felt like he could hear Alejandro let out a breath, and out of the corner of his eyes, he watched him step forward, and down the stairs of the veranda. “There are so many different types of plants, did- did they come with the house?”

He watched Alejandro nod, and as he did so, Noah reluctantly (Not really reluctantly.) settled his gaze onto Alejandro’s face. He was smiling, a nervous lilt about his expression as he glanced around the yard, and eventually let out a hum.

“Yes, it was one of the reasons I agreed to move; so that Apollo would have more space to fly around in a nicer environment.” He hummed, and Noah felt his eyes widen at the words. Apollo the bird. Obviously watching his expression, Alejandro’s lips twitched upwards, and he let out a snort. “Would you like to meet him, my dear?”

“Of course I want to meet him.” He blurted, grinning as Alejandro let out a laugh. “I’ve been waiting to meet him for like, four hours. ”

Alejandro laughed again, and gestured for Noah to come forward towards the small circular deck. He did so eagerly, and he watched as Alejandro took a couple of steps towards what he realised was the open window of the room they had moved past. Alejandro held out an arm, and let out a little whistle.

For a moment, nothing happened.

But then, a brilliant blue bird hopped up onto the windowsill, let out a shrill trill of what Noah could only assume was happiness, and half leaped, half flew towards Alejandro’s wrist. As he did so, Noah watched its wings spread out, and he was almost sure that its wingspan was longer than his own arms.

“Holy shit. ’ He spoke, unable to hold back the surprise in his voice. At the sound of his words, the bird snapped his head around to look at him, and Alejandro let out a laugh.

“Noah, this is Apollo, Apollo, this is Noah… Yeah? Friendly” The bird let out a small squawk, and with a small good boy! Alejandro gently scratched him on the top of the head. “Wanna pet him?”

Noah hesitated a little bit, before he took a slow step towards them.

Alejandro looked so happy looking at the bird, like he was his own child or something. It made Noah’s heart soften a little bit, but he felt… Okay, he wasn’t scared of the bird, but it was huge, and he was almost sure that he could bite his finger off if he looked at him the wrong way… Nevertheless, he had been looking forward to meeting Apollo for days, and despite his slight fear, he really did want to pet the bird.

“Christ, what do you feed him? ” He whispered, edging up to Alejandro’s side, keeping himself closer to him rather than the bird. Affectionately, the bird leaned forward, and Noah reached out to hesitantly scratch at its head; Alejandro practically beamed. “Seriously, he’s huge. ”

“Fruits, nuts, vegetables sometimes.” Alejandro hummed happily, and Noah could see sparks in his eyes. “He loves cranberries; brazil nuts, too.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. His feathers were soft, and up close, Noah could see the yellow rings around his eyes and beaks. As he scratched at his head, Apollo let out another trill, and he couldn’t help but twitch his lips upwards.

“If a person eats too many of those then it can kill them.” He murmured softly, and Alejandro let out a light laugh as Apollo shook out his feathers, he- Without warning, Apollo let out a loud squawk, launched himself off of Alejandro’s hand, and began to swoop up towards one of the trees littering the yard. Noah couldn’t help but let out a yelp of surprise, and he quickly pulled his hand away from where the bird used to be.

Alejandro seemed almost completely calm, and as Noah whipped his head around to watch Apollo land on the branch of a tree not far away, he heard Alejandro let out a hum.

It was a warm hum, a loving one, and Noah wasn’t entirely sure whether it was directed towards the bird or himself.

“...He loves the yard; He remained with my parents while I was living in the apartment with Heather, and I fear they didn’t give him as much exercise as he needed.” He hummed, tilting his head to the side and frowning a little bit. It didn’t look like a sad frown, more like a contemplative one. As he tore his gaze away from Apollo, Alejandro began to walk forward towards the circular deck and the table upon it… Like a magnet, Noah could feel himself being pulled with him. “Of course, I may be wrong, and perhaps he just likes this garden more than back home.”

Noah let out a hum of acknowledgement, and began to walk towards the table too, sitting himself down into one of the chairs and gazing around the garden again. It was cool, and he could see stars twinkling above them like little camera lights, just far enough away so as no to cast too much light upon them.

Alejandro’s eyes were twinkling in the dark, skin smooth, soft-looking, as he gazed up at Apollo in the tree… His hair was tousselled, framing his face like a halo, and a smile was tugging at the corner of his lips.

Noah really, really wanted to kiss those lips, and seeing him so happy, so loving towards this stupid bird was only making him want to kiss him more. Something about the night air, the faint music wafting from inside the house, the miniscule amount of alcohol swirling around his stomach, and the sheer amount of contentment he was feeling that made him want to do lots of things: He wanted to kiss him, he wanted to dissolve into the ground and he wanted to metaphorically spill his guts to him, affirm that yes, yes he does love him and they can talk about their relationship because a relationship with him is all he wants… But is it at all what he deserves?

He had been awful to him over Gemmies week, and while if Alejandro asked him on a date he would agree in an instant, he couldn’t imagine that he possibly deserved it. Alejandro had said that he had acted just as awful to him, but it had been his fault that they were like this initially, him and his complete inability to communicate and understand his own emotions beyond surface level; There were so many fancy adjectives, so much adoration and embarrassment that he had sabotages something so dear to him like it was nothing.

…So if he were given the opportunity, what would stop him from doing it again?

Noah fixed his eyes on the red of Alejandro’s lips and the skin on Alejandro’s cheeks. He opened his mouth to speak-

“I have a question.” Alejandro spoke before he could, voice barely a murmur against the quiet droning of cicadas and the echoing of music from inside.

Noah felt himself still; Alejandro was looking at him, eyelashes fluttering in the light. He looked ethereal, he looked like Icarus. What was his question? Was it something to do with their relationship? Was he going to tell him to get out of his house because he realised that he’s a massive asshole? Was it something completely irrelevant that Noah didn’t have to worry about? He didn’t know, but as Alejandro gazed at him, Noah nodded, and let out a hum.

“...Ask away, Alejandro.” He mused, voice just as quiet, just as low as the other boys as he leaned forward a little bit. Alejandro seemed to hesitate slightly, shuffling in his seat and turning to face him properly before he tilted his head to the side, and furrowed his eyebrows.

Oh.

Noah knew what he was going to ask.

“Did you really mean what you said after the Gemmies?” He murmured, and Noah could see something in his eyes. “That you- That you’re also- I don’t mean to accuse you of lying to me, but I’m simply…” 

He trailed off, and Noah opened his mouth to reply, before he closed it, and opened it again.

Did you really mean it when you said you were in love with me? That’s what Alejandro was trying to ask; He was trying to figure out if Noah really was interested, if he was really reading the signals right despite their arguing the week before. He wanted to know if Noah was telling the truth, If he wasn’t screwing with him again… 

…Noah could say no.

He could say that he was lying to him, that he was leading him on to make him feel better and that Alejandro would be better off with someone else, someone who’s less likely to be incapacitated every few weeks with a stress-induced illness and explode at him when he was feeling bad and lie to him when he didn’t want to be emotionally available.

He could say no.

But he finds that when he thinks about it, there’s nothing Noah would rather do less than lie to Alejandro. While Noah has many negative personality traits, self-deprecation in that typical fashion isn’t one of them, and he’s done more than enough lying recently; He doesn't need to do any more.

“...Yeah, I did mean it.” He nodded, glancing away before looking back at him again. He could see relief skitting across Alejandro’s expression, could see something swimming, concocting under his gaze. His lips twitched upwards. “I still mean it, I really, really do.”

He watched Alejandro let out a breath of relief, a small tiny breath of relief that he wouldn’t be able to detect if he didn’t know him so well… He had no doubt in his mind that Alejandro hadn’t been lying when he had said the same thing to him; Now that he knew for sure, he could see love in every single one of Alejandro’s actions, love in every single word, love in every single breath.

So he didn’t need to ask Alejandro the same question, not at all.

But the fact that Alejandro needed to ask him to make sure only made him think about his earlier issue; did he deserve Alejandro at all? If his signals were so bad that Alejandro needed more verbal confirmation, then what did that say about them?

“If that’s the case, then I have another question for you.” Alejandro mused, tilting his head to the side and letting a smile drift onto his face. Noah could feel a grin drifting onto his own, but he tried to force it down, remaining impassive, acting like he didn’t know exactly what Alejandro was going to ask next. “...I know you think that you do not deserve me, and I know that you worry, but none of that-”

“- Are you sure it’s a good idea ?” He blurted, unable to keep himself quiet. For a moment, Alejandro looked confused, before his expression melted into such fond desperation, amused exasperation, that Noah felt a little bit ill at the sight of it. “Alejandro, I was such an asshole-”

“I was an asshole too.” The other boy spoke, leaning forward in his seat and biting the inside of his cheek as Noah shook his head.

“Not in the same way I was; I was mean and I was hurtful and I started it-”

“-Just because you started it does not mean that you’re the only person in the wrong, I said the same things.”

“I told you that you belonged in the ninth layer of Dante’s inferno.” He stressed, leaning forward and furrowing his eyebrows further.

“I threatened to push you into the eel tank.” Alejandro countered, and Noah scoffed, unable to keep the smile off his face at the fond, feigned-exasperated tone in his voice. “I threatened to drown you. ”

Noah let out a snort, but quickly forced the remorseful expression back onto his face as he saw Alejandro’s smile grow a little bit wider.

“ But- ”

“ Noah.” Alejandro interrupted, reaching across the table and taking Noah’s hands into his own. Noah stopped instantly, staring down at Alejandro’s manicured nails and smooth palms… his hands were tanner than his own, soft and warm, less delicate than his. “You do not have to take the blame for the things that I said; The things that were your fault are your own and the things that were mine were my own… I want to forget about it, my dear.”

Noah paused.

He could feel Alejandro’s pulse under his fingers, feel his heart beating in his chest even from far away… Alejandro wanted, above all else, to try, and Noah could feel his objections melting.

So he swallowed, and let out a breath.

“...How do you know I won’t try to self-sabotage everything again?” He murmured, voice, low, quiet. Inside the house, he could hear Gwen laugh, and the sound of Izzy letting out a yell. “I did it once, second times the charm, right?”

Alejandro let out a chuckle, and shifted his hands so that he could trace a thumb over the back of Noah’s palm… He knew what Alejandro was going to say, he knew it in his bones.

“Because I don’t believe you want to this time.” He murmured back to him, and Noah’s resolve, his objections, his holier-than-thou ideals about somehow saving Alejandro from himself, began to blow away with the wind.

Alejandro was right, he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to at all. Glancing over his features, he could see Alejandro’s eyes glinting in the light, could see the smooth smooth skin of his cheeks reflecting the fairy-lights above, and he could see his teeth chewing at the inside of his cheek… He was pretty sure that Alejandro was reading him like a book as he gave him a once-over, and as he let out a sigh, this idea was only reinforced, because he could see Alejandro’s smile widening ten-fold.

God, he was so whipped it made his stomach hurt.

“...Finish your question.” Noah spoke, the corners of his lips twitching upwards as Alejandro beamed at him. “I’m sorry that I interrupted you; the floor is yours, Alejandro.”

Slowly, still grinning at him, Alejandro rose to his feet, their interlocked hands dragging him with him. Noah’s legs almost felt like jelly, and he could feel his heart beating like mad with anticipation. As Alejandro looked at him, he could feel his smile widening, and after a moment, Alejandro cleared his throat.

“You have been my favourite part of the last month and a half.” He started, and Noah tilted his head to the side with a grin. “Every time you text me I feel as if I’m flying through the air like a bird, and every time I see you it feels as if I’m drowning in the sands of Egypt… metaphorically, I feel as if it would be rather hard to drown there unless you were to completely submerge yourself, which-”

He was rambling, and, without taking the grin off his face, Noah snorted.

“ Alejandro. ” He muttered, smiling, as Alejandro stopped, sheepish grin sliding onto his features.

“Right, yes, sorry. What I am trying to say- ” He continued, seemingly holding back a laugh of his own as Noah’s cheeks started to hurt. “-Is that I am so, so in love with you that I can barely breathe sometimes, and that I have been since Total Drama. I didn’t say anything previously not because I feared it would ruin us, but because I feared it would ruin me if you said anything but that you reciprocated. My biggest fear is going back to before we reunited, when Gwen refused to tell me anything about you because she felt like Brutus himself.”

Noah couldn’t help but laugh at that; The tone in Alejandro’s voice was humorous, warm, so incredibly full of love that he knew it wasn’t an insult towards either Gwen or himself.

“I think about you all the time, Noah, so often that Heather is sick of hearing your name and so often that Apollo can repeat it-”

“-Gwen is sick of hearing about you, too, and- your bird knows my name? ” He interrupted, cheeks aching with the way he was smiling, and Alejandro let out a laugh, nodding vigorously as he clasped his hands the slightest bit harder.

“ Yes, yes he does, and he-” Alejandro paused for a moment, sucking in another breath and letting it out slowly, methodically. “...There are so many things that I could say to you, so before I take up too much of your time-”

“You could never take up too much of my time-”

“-Would you, my dear Noah, do me the honour of going out on a date with me? A real, genuine date, where I pay for your dinner and call you my partner for the evening?”

Noah could feel his cheeks warming, he could feel his neck flushing and he could feel his heart beating so fast that it might explode into a thousand tiny pieces like a bomb. Alejandro’s face was red, tinged pink on the tips of his ears and smiling almost like a maniac, so genuinely and so insanely unlike his reality-television smile that Noah’s heart ached. It ached, and his stomach hurt, and as he stared across at Alejandro, hands still clasped in his own, he couldn't help but laugh.

“ Partner? For the evening?” He mused, and Alejandro nodded. Noah shook his head, and grinned even harder. “Alejandro, I want you to call me your partner for more than an evening; I want you to call me your boyfriend , your lover , I want you to call me anything you want for more than an evening.”

And Alejandro fucking beamed at him.

He beamed at him so hard that Noah was sure for a few seconds that Alejandro really was the sun, that he really was the bright star in the sky that lit up his day, the star in the sky that lit up the entire world with that stupid, stupid smile of his. He smiled so widely, with such agonising joy, that Noah couldn’t help what he did next…

…What he did next, and what Alejandro seemed to do at the exact same time.

He leaned forward and kissed him.

Alejandro’s lips tasted like wine, like pasta and Cody’s strange concoction of alcohol and of love. It was messy, uncoordinated, so much so that through their smiling they absolutely clinked teeth a couple of times, but Christ.

Noah's not unfamiliar with kissing.

But there was something so much better about this one than the other’s; Maybe it was the may Alejandro was smiling into his lips, maybe it was the way Alejandro was cupping his cheek with one hand and the way he was holding his waist with the other, maybe it was the way his hands were tangling into Alejandro’s hair, feeling the way it feathered out between his fingers. He didn’t know what it was, didn’t know what was causing the fireworks in his stomach and didn’t know what was making him feel so embarrassingly joyful and lightheaded; But if he were given the opportunity to trade it for a million dollars, then he would decline in a heartbeat.

After a few moments, he pulled away from Alejandro, sucking in a breath and breathing out into the night air; fluttering his eyes open, he could see Alejandro doing the same, catching his breath, smiling at him, and he reluctantly pulled away a little bit further.

“I’ll go on a date with you, I’ll go on a thousand dates with you.” He murmured, and Alejandro grinned, the hand on his cheek sliding downwards, brushing against one of the scars poking from his shirt before pulling away. A jolt was sent up Noah’s spine, and it was all Noah could do to beam at him, rather than lean forward and kiss him again. “...If you want to, of course.”

Alejandro was grinning, and he gently pulled his hand away from Noah’s waist before swiping at his lips with his thumb.

“ Of course I want to.” He grinned, and Noah could feel his insides warming. “There’s nothing I’d rather do .”

Noah could feel a breeze on his cheeks, cooling them down and hopefully lowering them down to a normal colour. He could see the stars above them, smell the flowers blooming in the garden and hear the sound of music wafting through the walls of the house, echoing through the open window of Apollo’s room. As he looked at Alejandro, he could feel more emotions swimming through his stomach than he could count; Love, adoration, heartache, joy, warmth.

And out of the corner of his eye, he could see the table; lilies sitting in their vase and champagne, uncorked, resting by the two glasses. Alejandro obviously saw him notice them, because he let out a laugh, and ran a hand through his hair with a smile.

“...I was going to ask you to stay the night, then you wouldn’t have to drive home.” He mused, and Noah tilted his head to the side with a grin. “It’s a beautiful bottle; I think you’d like it.”

Noah let out a hum, and ran a hand through his own hair.

“Is the sleeping over offer still available? Your bed looked crazy comfortable.” He hummed, raising an eyebrow as Alejandro started to laugh, any and all remaining tension in his shoulders disappearing as he did so. “Do you want to share it with the others? Or do you want me alone for a little bit longer?”

At this, Alejandro started to laugh harder, and he grinned as the boy in front of him shook his head, and reached down to pick up the bottle from the table. He held it up triumphantly, and Noah snorted, angling himself towards the house. He was pretty sure he knew what Alejandro was going to say.

“Let us share, my dear; I intend to get you alone much more, just later in the evening.” He winked, and it was Noah’s turn to laugh, feigned-scandal painting its way across his face as he started down the rock pathway, nudging Alejandro with a snort.

“Okay, that makes you a skeeze.” He laughed, and Alejandro laughed back, following him down the pathway towards the back door.

He could hear the sound of laughter echoing from indoors, the sound of chattering and the sound of music as he got closer and closer to the house; He could imagine what the sight would be, imagine the way his friends were probably draped over furniture in the living room, imagine the way that Alejandro would look at him from across the room until the others left, leaving the two of them alone.

As he walked, he felt something brush against his hand, and he glanced down just in time to see and feel Alejandro’s fingers beginning to intertwine with his own.

“...My dear.” Alejandro hummed, and Noah beamed.

“Alejandro.” He hummed back, and Alejandro squeezed his hand like he was about to fall from the sky.

—

Five hours later.

He can feel the beating of Alejandro’s heart beneath his ear; He can feel the rise and fall of his chest, the even sounds of his breathing. He can feel fingers in his hair, idle and warm in the darkness of Alejandro’s room. 

He’s practically wrapped in Alejandro’s arms, curled up with his ear against his chest and eyes fluttered closed; He’s wearing one of Alejandro’s shirts to sleep in, and while they’re about the same height, it’s looser on him than his own clothes due to the differences in their phisiques. But it’s soft against his skin, soft against the scars on his back that Alejandro had been tracing only an hour prior, tickling him like feathers.

He can hear laughter echoing upstairs from where Gwen and Heather are camped out in Heather’s own bedroom; Everybody left a few hours ago, but Gwen had revealed that Heather asked her to stay over a few days ago, and because she hadn’t quite understood the implications, she had agreed.

Noah isn't sure what the implications meant either.

But he pays it no mind.

Alejandro is asleep next to him, skin warm and soft and smooth against his hands; They’re in his bed, bundled beneath the duvet and squished between pillows. The bed is large, but he doesn’t want to be even an inch away from the boy next to him, so they’re tangled together like rope, legs intertwined and hair mingling together.

He feels so warm that it’s almost all-consuming.

And Noah finds, curiously – wrapped in Alejandro’s arms, chest rising and falling against his cheek, laughter echoing town towards them and slowly drifting off into sleep himself – That he likes it, that he feels like the sea swallowing him up would no longer lead to his death, but instead to a warmth he never knew he could have.