Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama Island nor any of its successors. Seriously wish I did, though.
Summary: In light of recent events happening on the show, Trent attempts to break his obsession with the number nine.
Pairings: Implied Trent/Gwen, Duncan/Gwen, and Trent/Courtney; mainly Trent-centric
Nine Crimes
by Xarahs
There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking the number nine, he thinks. His front teeth snag at his lower lip, chewing with an apprehensive sort of fervor. He swears he's not insane. Really, there's nothing wrong at all.
It's something rather normal to be passionate about, compared to everyone else's odd compulsive notions. It's a normal number. In fact, he even mentally lists the reasons he likes the number so much:
It's a perfect square. Sure, it's not the first perfect square on the entire spectrum of positive integers (darn you, numbers one and four), but it's still perfect.
It's an odd number, but its name contains an even amount of letters. Little quirks like this make him smile.
It's one of the freaking curly single digits. One and four and seven can get bent, really, looking so proper and boring with their meticulous straight lines and crisp edges. He prefers curly, rounded characters. They're fun.
Despite his numerous reassurances, he still feels judged whenever someone asks him about his obsession. Sometimes, people make wisecracks about it, too. Often, he feels the urge to punch them in the face, but that's not who he is. He's a nice guy (or so he's been told). He gets along well with everyone (or so he would like to think). So he simply resists the urge and doesn't punch anyone—even though he would really like to do so.
He's capable of making mistakes, though. Believe him, he's noticed.
His first mistake starts with the moment he auditions for Total Drama Island.
It'll be fun, his friends tell him.
You'll make great, life-long friends, they say.
It's a once in a lifetime experience, they finish—a last, firm argument to convince him to join. (And we'll get to see you humiliate yourself on live television, they add later on, wide smiles decorating their stupid faces.)
So, figuring he has nothing to lose, Trent submits a video of him singing in his recording studio; nearly a month later, he finds out that he's been accepted.
If he had never auditioned for the reality show in the first place, he wouldn't have been sucked into the dramatic tide of events that threatened to drown him at any given moment.
The second time he catches himself making a mistake is when he initiates the first of many smiles directed toward the gorgeous blue-haired girl. He sees that she's sulking, so he does what he usually does to cheer up a girl—he smiles.
Of course, she looks away, a scowl scrunching her features. He finds her expression oddly cute and stands next to her any way, not at all noticing the moment she steals a softened, almost shy glance at him.
It's because of this first interaction that he finds himself thinking of her often throughout the eight weeks of reality show brutality.
His blunder the third time has to do with her again. He stays awake with her, but unlike other cliché teen romances, they're not talking on the phone or whispering innocent secrets through string cups. In fact, he goes to greater lengths to keep her awake.
For four days, he stays vigilantly by her side. Sleep claws at him, pulling his eyelids shut, but he refuses to succumb to the pressure; he has to stay awake for her.
She's dying inside, too; he can tell.
Once or twice, he sings her a classic rock ballad for the heck of it, and once or twice, she hums along to his energetic renditions. He swears that she thinks he's a total goofball. And yet she stays with him.
And once or twice, long after they've surpassed the halfway point in the challenge, he sneaks a glimpse at her sleep-deprived state, and my goodness—even with bags and dark circles under her eyes, she still manages to look amazing. She catches him staring and stifles a yawn, allowing herself to give him a small upward quirk of her lips.
This is when he knows for sure that he's a goner.
Number four. Supposedly, in certain parts of Asia, the number four represents bad luck. He believes it, especially since the fourth major crime he commits is kissing Heather.
Truthfully, Heather's the one that plants a kiss on him, but he's disappointed to notice that he really doesn't do anything to try and stop her from advancing toward him. Sure, for a moment, as their lips meet, he imagines that he's kissing Gwen again, not Heather, and that's probably why he takes a moment longer than necessary to pull away.
Nevertheless, it's Heather's sneaky manipulation that causes him to be voted off the island. What's worse, the trust Gwen had for him falls apart completely, crumbling away and unfurling like the rising ashes of burnt paper.
But sometimes, if he thinks hard enough, he can still remember the feeling and taste of Gwen's lips after he had helped her with her challenge..
Oh, yeah; he's long gone by now, completely swept up in thoughts and images of her.
"He's got it bad for Gwen," Trent overhears Sadie tell Katie one day as he sits by the pool, absent-mindedly strumming guitar chords to an improvised song.
He swears he's going to write a song for her one day. The only problem is that he doesn't know where to start, and so begins the start of a long, difficult bout of writer's block for him.
"Say you'll go out with me. Come on, say it!"
They're both laughing now, cheeks flushed with youth and flirtation and a happiness neither of them have felt in a long time. He feels great, like he's on top of the world. Her small fists are beating against his back, and he feigns a few winces, acquiescing to her feistiness. Gwen's laughing that raspy, giddy laugh that's somewhere between a snort and a giggle, and it's absolutely contagious. Holy crap, this woman is amazing.
That's it; he's risked it by making a bold move. Geoff and Bridgette could never beat them. Screw it, not even Duncan and Courtney could come anywhere near them.
All he has to do is wait for her answer. Trent doesn't even realize that he's holding his breath until she giggles again and says, "Okay, okay! I'll go out with you!"
Though that moment makes him feel the best he's ever felt in his life, it's not until much, much later when Trent pauses to reflect does he realize that it had been a mistake to ask her out.
If he had not, he wouldn't have had his heart broken for the first time.
The next few mistakes happen during what seems like the worst part of his life.
Number six is accompanying Gwen throughout the Alien Resurr-eggtion challenge. If he had managed to come in anywhere but first or second place, there could have been a chance of him being placed on her team.
Number seven is initiating the start of the obsessive nine disorder: waving at her nine times, making sure his sand castle had nine turrets, or even scoring a nine point ninety-nine in jealousy each time he spotted her with Duncan.
Number eight is when he starts to feel the ominous prickling sense along the back of his neck, gnawing at him nervously. It's when he begins throwing challenges for her that he feels a pit in his stomach weighing him down each time he lets her team win. Of course, after discovering his motives, Gwen confronts him about the whole ordeal, ultimately leading up to…
Mistake number nine: letting her go.
It's not even the break-up itself that scares him. He watches as she stands there looking so sorry for being the bad guy to break it to him, but he can't bring himself to say anything. He doesn't object, doesn't demand time to change, doesn't force her to stay with him. Instead, he simply lets her go.
There are neither peaceful resolutions nor comfortable silences. Everything about that moment is awkward and unfamiliar, and Trent wants desperately to run away. But he stays.
After all, he's the nice guy.
Gwen leaves a moment later, leaving behind an air of heavy tension, and he sighs aloud, tilting his chin up toward the sky in hopes of keeping the hot tears at bay.
Number ten has been taking its time to permanently settle in his life, but Trent knows that it's bound to happen in the near future. It's time to break his obsession with the number nine, and he's anxious to do so.
Almost sadly, Trent leaves his goodbyes with the number nine. See you, buddy, he thinks, staring down at the ground. It's been a great run.
"Trent?"
At once, his head snaps up, and his features soften with relief at the sight of her.
"Courtney. Hey."
There she is, clad in her crisp uniform and straight-ironed hair, and she's beaming at him, visibly glad at his previous offer to join him for lunch.
"Well, let's go," she says, and as he stands, her arm finds a resting place in the crook of his elbow. He smiles at her touch, and with an affectionate kiss against her temple, he leads the way to their designated spot.
Number ten is moving on.
And judging by the inexplicably warm way he feels, it's hardly a mistake.
A/N: I fell out of touch with my Total Drama side a few years back. I was a hardcore Duncan/Courtney shipper then, and even though I still love them after re-watching the entire first season, I can't help but feel something toward Trent/Gwen that wasn't there before.
I'm still kind of sad that neither couple ended up together, but there's still Season Five to hope for in terms of coming to some sort of final closure for the characters and pairings…
Anyway, this is my first Total Drama fic on this account (I used to write under another penname that's still up on this site!), so I'm hoping that after years of being away, I did Trent's character some justice and wrote him well.
I've missed you guys, Total Drama fandom.
It feels great to be back.
Always,
Xarahs