A/N: Note that I wrote this while feeling a little light headed. I'm sick, & I apologize. :\
Flight Before Paris
One tiny, almost inaudible footstep was all it took to awaken Noah from his sleep. He wasn't a light sleeper, but something was different. Habitually, Noah moved his hand to his face to rub the sleep from his eyes. Or tried to, at least. Something was restraining him, but he couldn't tell what. Soon after his usual morning blur came to an end, he found Heather wrapped around himself. Noah's cheeks were bright red by the time he closed his eyes, thinking this was all a dream. He opened his eyes again, but nothing had changed. Heather had managed to snuggle her way into his chest and wrap a leg around Noah during the night. Afraid of what she would do to him if she found them in that position, Noah attempted to move. He didn't want her to kill him for harassment, though he wasn't guilty for it. After trying to make small movements away from her, he found himself immeasurably further. All he could do was wait for Heather to wake up and remove herself from him. As must as he wanted to, he mentally warned himself to resist his want to return the warmth she was giving him by encircling her with his own arms. He examined her one last time before closing his eyes. He admired the small things he hadn't noticed before. This was probably the closest he would get to her in his life. Noah loved the way Heather looked when she was asleep. Her hair, ruffled, but wonderful at the same time. Her petite nose, undeniably cute. The fact that her lips were slightly chapped made no impression on Noah, as they were curled into a smile that turned his heart into goo. To him, every single inch of her defined perfection. With her image imprinted into his head, Noah closed his eyes.
Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. Before he knew it, Noah had fallen asleep again. Not long after, Heather woke up naturally, a little later than she would usually get up. Instead of seeing what she expected to be a pillow, the first thing she saw was Noah's sweater vested chest. She turned beat red and sat up in a jolt, awakening Noah in the process. She watched him brush his eyes with his hands and sit up slowly.
"Oh, God, I didn't mean to wake you." Heather said, feeling extremely awkward.
She hoped with her life that Noah didn't know that she was cuddling with him last night. This was made totally obvious to Noah, so he decided to play along.
"Meh, it's better than waking up to my dog barking at my door…" Noah said. "What's with you?" He was acting as if he had no clue.
"What?"
"Your face, it's all red." He was flattered, but she had no idea.
"It's just… Really hot in here." Heather stood and realized it was pretty chilly, rather than hot. She rolled her eyes at herself.
"No, it's not." Noah stated the obvious and stayed put. It wouldn't hurt to mess with her a little.
"Get up, everyone else is probably already finished breakfast." She changed the subject.
Noah raised an arm towards her, physically telling her to help him up. Heather stayed silent and stared down at him, puzzled.
Noah smirked, and brought the previous night to mind. "You pulled me down, so you're pulling me back up."
"You're a brat." Heather said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.
"I learned from the best." He balanced himself and she released her grip on his hand. "Blame yourself."
Noah walked off with a smile on his face and Heather followed with her arms folded across her chest, annoyed, amused, and impressed all at the same time.
…
Flight After Paris
Tyler shot imaginary lasers through DJ's face with his time to time glares. Fully aware of Tyler's hostility towards him, DJ tried to steer clear of him, but there were only so many places to go before running into, and possibly hurting, another innocent, uncaged animal.
"You'd better keep your distance, you-you girlfriend eliminator!" Tyler shook his fist at DJ, who wasn't too far away.
"It wasn't my fault!" DJ whined in a flurry of frustration. He continued his way towards the opposite side of the plane.
Tyler extended their argument, forcing DJ to repeat the same sentence over and over again. This continued to the point where Noah wouldn't care if they both exploded.
"Guys." Noah spoke. Ignored, as usual.
"Tyler," Though Noah wanted to punch it, he tapped his teammate's shoulder instead. "Dude, it wasn't his fault."
Tyler sat down and folded his arms, still unconvinced, but tired.
"Thanks, Noah." DJ raised his hand in appreciation.
Tyler opened his mouth to fire up another bicker-fest, but was stopped by Noah, who covered his mouth using his hand.
"I think you should go and let this hot head calm down."
DJ nodded and left.
…
Heather stepped out of the confessional and right when she spotted him, she charged right towards him. DJ yelped as Heather grabbed at his arm, smiling in the process. As much as she enjoyed Alejandro's company, she wanted him off the plane. In her mind, she saw him in between her and her prize. She knew he thought the same way, so with DJ in an alliance with her, she would have the advantage.
"Heather! W—"
"Where are you going?" Heather asked sweetly.
"Uh," DJ stared at the arm she held, "I'm just walking around… Away from Tyler."
"Say no more, how about you come to first class?" She tugged at his arm, leading him towards where the rest of her team was.
"Sure…" DJ knew where this was going.
…
"I miss my Linds…" Tyler gazed out the window dramatically.
Noah rolled his eyes. The way he was acting made him want to puke. She's just a girl, not oxygen.
"If Heather got eliminated, you'd know how I feel."
"Excuse me?" Noah raised a brow. His heart clenched, but he kept his cool.
"I'm not stupid, man, I know you like her." At last, Tyler had forgotten about his own issue, but replaced it with Noah's.
"Whatever, every guy's liked her. Don't tell me you don't think she's good looking." He tried to defend himself by moving the spotlight towards Tyler.
"Yeah, but you like her." Tyler nudged at him with his elbow. Noah sat there, speechless.
"You look at her like I do with Lindsay. If you want, I could help you."
Noah narrowed his eyes.
"I won't tell anyone." Tyler raised his right hand. "Promise."
…
"Heather's only buttering you up so you'll be in an alliance with her, you know that?" Sierra warned. "She's sneaky, cruel, and manipulative… Which is just one of the reasons why I'm such a big fan of the show!" She pranced off, arms spread and continued her search for Cody.
Heather placed a glass filled with hot cocoa before DJ.
"I know it's not exactly how your mother made it, but I tried." Heather shrugged and took a seat beside him.
"Thanks." DJ brought it near his face and inspected it carefully, but trying not to make it obvious.
Heather watched him and tried her best not to scream and tell him that she wasn't trying to kill him. "No problem." She breathed out.
DJ took a cautious sip, and after the first one, came another. By the look on his face, Heather knew he was amazed. She congratulated herself in her head.
"So?" She urged.
"It's better than mommas!" DJ downed the remains in the cup and smacked his lips.
"That's sweet of you to say."
"Which intern did you blackmail to make that, Heather? I need to know what they put in here." DJ paused after realizing what he just said. "Whoops, sorry, that came out wrong."
Heather sighed, "Relax, I'm used to it. And for your information, I made that myself and I added a teaspoon of maple flavoring."
"Oh." Was all he said in reply.
"You can't imagine how many ingredients Chef-oh wait, yes you can, you worked with him." She hinted at his secret alliance with Chef back in the second season. She smirked while he drowned in guilt.
"You shouldn't feel guilty, DJ, you were just doing Chef a favor." She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Speaking of that…" Heather crossed her arms.
DJ got up off his seat and left for the economy class area.
"Uh, DJ?" Heather got up.
"Thanks for the hot chocolate, but I don't want an alliance." DJ left the room.
"So you'll think about it?" She yelled. The door closed shut.
"Great, okay." She mumbled to herself.
…
"Who told you that?" Noah scoffed. "This isn't a movie, Tyler, things don't work out like that."
"Come on," Tyler pushed, "right now, Heather thinks she's above all of us, all you have to do is pretend that you don't care. Act like you're above her."
"What good would that do?" Noah said.
"She considers you as a friend, right?"
"I think so."
"Okay, so just 'delete' her from your life." Tyler quoted from Noah's vocabulary.
Noah stayed silent and let him continue.
"She'll see how much you actually mean to her and pay way more attention to you." Tyler finished.
"… I'm sorry, but that's unbelievably stupid." Noah crossed his arms. "That's just going to make her hate me."
"Okay," Tyler placed a hand on his chin, "since Heather's mind is on the money, spend more time with…" He cringed, "DJ."
"Right, because she'll want him in an alliance with her and she'll be spending her time with him." Noah smirked.
"If that doesn't work out, go with Plan A." Tyler held his thumbs up and bobbed his head.
"Fine."