#assistant noah

Chris had to explain to those who were threatening to quit that he didn't want to fire Noah, but the execs and producers strong armed him. He also secretly let's them know that the firing was staged due to Noah having to compete in the new season of Total Drama. No one is particularly happy, but they stay and play along since they know now that Noah will be back once he manages to get himself eliminated. Of course, he can't do it right away as that would make the execs and producers suspicious, but they were willing to let Chris rehire him if he got far in the game, unlike last time.

Noah hates everything about the plan, but hey, if this will make the execs and producers get off his and Chris's back in the future, so be it. Now Noah actually has to try and stick it out, unlike on Island, when he took one look at the camp and decided he would get thrown off as soon as he could manage.

He is not that same old Noah anymore. Sure, he's still snarky and witty and hella smart, but he's not as lazy as he once was, and he's learned to be more compassionate and to hold his tongue due to him leading teams left and right and also having to talk to various people on behalf of Chris. He's even learned to smooze rather well.

He thought he would probably stick to his normal group of friends, but once the game starts, he starts accidentally making a lot of connections and friendships without knowing. Like when he let Tyler rant about Lindsey not remembering him and how bummed he was because it somewhat reminded him of his sister Nadia when a guy she really liked ghosted. She had been so distraught and angry, so Noah sat and listened. He had no advice to give but at least he could lend an ear.

Then there was the time Bridgette was having a hard time missing Jeff, and though the party dude annoyed Noah, he knew the guy was genuinely nice. Plus, it reminded him of his other sister Neelima and an intern named Stacy, who both were in long-distance relationships. So Noah offered to help Bridgette write some letters for Jeff even if he wouldn't get them unless they happened to stop near a post office. His sister and Stacy had done the same when they missed their partners and swore it helped.

Somehow, it turned into a trend that Noah vaguely acknowledged, but for the most part, he just kind of thought everyone was just being nicer to him because he was Owen's friend. Little did he know, no, it was because he was just being himself. They all started to like him even if he tended to be blunt.

He even got Heather to like him! And she had believed he was just playing the game. But one night, when he had gone to use the restroom, he caught Heather messing with her hair in there looking like she was going to cry. It took a bit till she admitted that while she was used to the short hair now, she still missed how long it used to be. Noah was reminded of his sister Nila when she had to cut her hair due to some jerk putting gum in it. She had been so depressed she wore a beanie for a month straight. Look, Noah wasn't great at doing his own hair, but he was damn good at helping his sisters with their's since they forced him to learn how to braid and whatnot. So he and Heather messed around with different styles until she felt confident once more.

Alejandro also believed Noah was just playing the game and doing a better job of it than him. So he did his damn best to befriend Noah for strategy, of course, but somewhere along the way, he actually considered Noah a friend. Then London happened, and Noah took it as the perfect opportunity to throw himself out by talking shit about Alejandro. He chose to do so because he was suspicious of him like he originally was, but also, he totally doesn't think Alejandro considers them friends. Hell, he doesn't know that practically everyone on the plane considers them his friends! He just knew how temperamental Alejandro was and used it to his advantage.

In this au, he definitely wins the comeback challenge with Blainley. Of course, he partners up with Alejandro, who thinks they are now rivals. Yes he does make it to the final two with Alejandro.

When it's the Aftermath episode where everyone picks teams, Noah jas the most people, and when one has to compete for him, all of them are like "as Noah's best friend, i should compete" And everyone is like "??? I'm his best friend"

When Noah sees his team during the finale, he gets so flustered that Alejandro finally believes that Noah is an oblivious genius idiot. It's also when he decides to shoot his shot, but now he's not trying to be subtle. He's basically professing his love, which just makes Noah more flustered yet also strangely determined to win as he thinks maybe Alejandro will stop flirting once Noah wins.

Noah wins.

Alejandro does not stop.

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