"I wanna top his honor roll! Did that sound creepy?" Owen asks the camera before he exits the confessional to rejoin the person he was just praising in the confessional.
Noah and Owen start laughing once again as Owen says how he'll shoot a pepper out any nostril Noah wants. Noah replies with a sarcastic remark as is expected before Alejandro leaves the area, glaring at his teammates as he passes by. Confused by his sudden annoyance, the two friends simply shrug at each other.
"I'm gonna take a quick nap. There should be some time before we land." Noah says to his friend, yawning to confirm his tiredness.
"Alrighty then. Good night, Noah!" Owen replies in his usual enthusiastic tone.
Leaning back, Noah rests his back against the wall behind him as he slowly drifts off into a peaceful slumber. Owen can't help but smile at his little buddy; his arms wrapped loosely around his small frame, his chest rising up and down with each gentle breath he takes, a content smile taking the place of his usual scowl… Remembering he isn't alone, Owen forces himself to stare at anything other than Noah. Unfortunately for Owen, he ended up staring directly at his other teammate.
"Uh, are you ok, Owen? Your face is really red. Are you sick or something?" Tyler asks, concerned for his teammate.
"Oh, haha, I'm fine! It's just, uh, you know what? I really need to use the bathroom! Yeah, that's it! I'll be back!" Owen awkwardly replies as he dashes into the hallway.
Tyler just stares at Owen as he rushes to the nearest restroom.
"Is Owen feeling ok?" A certain goth girl asks, feeling genuinely worried about the big guy.
"I dunno. I mean, I hope he is, but I dunno…" Tyler trails off, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Oh, he'll be fine. Stop worrying about it." A different girl absentmindedly replies.
"Shut up, Heather!" The jock and goth retort in unison, causing the two to lock eyes for a mere seconds.
Tyler turns away almost instantly, hoping no one notices the small hint of pink dusting his cheeks. Confused with this, Gwen shrugs as she turns back to her previous conversation with Courtney. As all of this is going on, Owen is hiding out in the cargo hold. Not wanting to face his friends in the state he's currently in, the big guy waits for the burning in his face to die down before he leaves the room.
"What is wrong with me? Noah's my little buddy. I can't like him like that! I mean sure, he's really smart, is actually really cute when he's happy, which isn't very often, and, oh, his hair is so good-looking, and, and, and…" Owen facepalms as his blush deepens.
Ever since meeting Justin back on Total Drama Island, Owen has slowly come to terms with the fact that he has an attraction toward both sexes. Even dating Izzy couldn't hide the fact that he liked guys, too. He loved Izzy, she meant a lot to the guy, but she couldn't turn him straight. Their breakup had gotten to him, no one could deny that, but his friends helped him get through it; Noah helped him get through it. Spending more and more time with Noah has gotten to Owen in ways he never would've thought possible. He's started to notice things about the know-it-all that he never did before, the big thing being that Noah truly is a good person when it counts. Despite all of Owen's annoying quirks, Noah treats him like an actual human being even through the sarcasm. Not a lot of people even bother putting up with the big guy.
"Ugh, Noah… Why can't I get you out of my head?!" Owen sighs as he bangs his head against a nearby stack of luggage crates.
"I guess I'd better get back to the others before they freak out or something…" Owen sighs as he shuffles his feet back toward his fellow competitors.
"Here Ripper, Ripper, Ripper… I've got a lovely bag for you…" Owen calls out nervously as he and Noah slowly board the empty bus.
Their challenge for today was to catch Jack the Ripper and bring him back to Chris. Tyler and Alejandro had mysteriously disappeared sometime during the challenge, which left Noah and Owen as the only people left on their team. As the two advance farther into the bus, Owen leading the way, an arm is suddenly wrapped around Noah's waist. Before the smaller boy can make a sound, a hand is pressed tightly against his mouth. As the Ripper suddenly floats into the air, Owen turns around to see his little buddy is no longer there. A slight panic fills Owen's mind as he turns his head back around. His panic intensifies as he lets out a fearful scream. Standing at the back of the bus, the Ripper's hands are tightly griping Noah's shoulders as he forces the screaming Noah into a glass room of sorts. The door to this space is shut as the Ripper turns to face Owen. Anger replacing his fear, Owen holds his bag open.
"Nobody locks my little buddy in the corner!" Owen exclaims as he sends a small pack of dogs up against the Ripper, or at least attempts to as the mutts tackle him to the ground.
As Owen attempts to force the dogs off of him, the Ripper slowly approaches his stalled opponent. Noah watches on, fearing for his friend's life as the Ripper gets closer and closer. When the Ripper is close enough, he stares down at the dogs and growls. Hearing the predatory growl, the dogs run off with their tails between their legs. Owen rises from the floor, laughing as he smiles.
"Man, those dogs are vicious! Thanks for the help, pal!" Owen begins to extend a hand to his savior only to have it stop halfway as he realizes exactly who saved him.
Before Owen has the chance to take his hand back, the Ripper grabs tightly onto his hand as he throws Owen toward the back wall of the bus with surprising strength. Owen grunts as his back collides roughly with the back wall of the bus.
"Owen!" Noah exclaims, watching in horror as their assailant begins to approach Owen.
Noah starts to fumble with the door handle, luckily the door has a handle on the inside as well as the outside, hoping with all his might that it will open. Just as the Ripper reaches the seat before the glass room, Noah is able to force the door open. With the way the door opens, Noah is thrown into the Ripper's path as both the door and Noah protect Owen from another blow by the Ripper. Frustrated by this development, the Ripper grabs Noah by the collar of his vest and throws him into the nearest bus seat. Leaving Noah no reaction time, the Ripper pounces and wraps his hands tightly around Noah's neck.
"Noah!" Owen cries out as he witnesses the Ripper choking his best friend/crush right before his very eyes.
Hacking, Noah uses what little strength he has left at this point to try prying his assailant's hands off of his neck, but to no avail. Seeing that there isn't much hope for Noah, Owen forces himself up off the ground and sneaks up behind the Ripper. Focusing on nothing but removing this madman's hands from his neck, Noah doesn't notice Owen's hand grab the Ripper's cape. Noah exhales deeply as the Ripper's hands are removed from his body, and the Ripper is thrown to the floor. Owen rushes at the Ripper and begins rapidly kicking him all over his body.
"How dare you hurt my Noah! What's wrong with you?! You jerk! Murderer!" Owen exclaims, letting out some of his anger with every kick.
Terrified by his friend's sudden anger, Noah decides to step in before things get out of hand.
"Owen! That's enough! I'm fine! Stop it! Please! Owen!" Noah begs, grasping tightly onto his friend's arm.
Reluctantly, Owen stops his assault. Panting, the larger of the two stares down at his smaller friend before wrapping his arms around him in a not bone-crushing but still tight embrace. Surprised by the act, and that he can actually breathe, Noah can think of nothing else to do but return the unexpected embrace.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't bear the thought of losing my little buddy." Owen explains in the most serious tone Noah's ever heard from his usually jovial friend.
"I'm right here, big guy. Everything's alright now." Noah attempts, and succeeds, to comfort his friend.
Once Owen is calmed down, Noah removes himself from his buddy's hug.
"How about you go get that bag and bag up Mister Ripper over there?" Noah suggests in a gentle tone.
Wordlessly, Owen retrieves the bag and not at all gently places the Ripper inside the bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, Owen waits for Noah before exiting the bus. Noah leaves the bus hoping Owen will feel better once they return to the others.
"Since both Duncan and Ezekiel were found, this will be a no elimination challenge! Team I am Really Super Ultra Mega Hot, for finding Ezekiel you guys will be travelling in first class! Enjoy the rest of the flight!" Chris announces as he leaves the teams to their own devices.
As the boys head to first class with their newly acquired teammate, Noah initiates conversation with his chubby buddy.
"So that was Ezekiel the entire time? Who knew homeschool could throw that well." Noah snidely remarks as Owen laughs.
"I know right? Geez, he doesn't have any meat on those bones!" Owen continues to laugh as Noah smiles.
"Who knew you were good at anything that wasn't eating? Zeke was knocked out in seconds!" Noah says through his laughter.
Owen blushes at the compliment as he replies, "What can I say? I've actually got a lot of meat on my bones!"
"You can say that again, big guy." Noah replies as his laughter finally dies down.
The two walk on in silence for a minute or so as Noah is suddenly reminded of something.
"How dare you hurt my Noah!"
'My Noah..?' Noah thinks to himself as Owen hums an unfamiliar tune.
As Owen is just about to enter the door to first class, a hand on his wrist halts his movements. Owen looks down to see Noah staring up at him, a strange look on his face.
"Is something wrong, buddy?" Owen asks, wondering if he annoyed his friend with his humming.
"Do you remember what you said on that bus?" Noah asks in his usual tone of voice.
"Well, I said a lot of things on that bus." Owen replies, wondering what could have been so important that Noah remembered it.
"When you were beating up Zeke. The first thing you said." Noah tries again, with a bit more detail.
"I said a lot of mean things to him. You're gonna need to be more specific." Owen scratches his head, expecting Noah to be annoyed with him.
"You called me your Noah, and I wanna know why." Noah says blankly.
Owen pales considerably as his body freezes in place.
'Did I really do that? Oh no, oh no, oh no!'
"Owen! Snap out of it!" Noah calls out as he lightly slaps him across the face.
"Ouch! Thanks for that." Owen says, refusing to look at Noah.
"Why did you call me that?" Noah asks again.
Knowing that Noah won't ever let this go until he gets an answer, Owen blurts out the first thing he can think of.
"Because I love you— as a friend! Yeah! You're my bestest pal, Noah, and I didn't exactly like watching him try to kill you, so I freaked out on him! That's all! Now if you'll just excuse me I need to find a bathroom!" Owen exclaims awkwardly as he runs into first class.
Noah stares off after his best friend, a rare smile on his face.
"Oh, Owen." Noah says to himself as he enters first class.