Chapter 1
"So!" the host announces.
"Noah McKay, which shall it be?"
Noah looks at his choices.
Three glittery placards hang from the wall the host stands in front of.
Reflecting.
Bonding.
Giving.
Noah is currently selecting the mission he'd like to undertake as part of a variety challenge for Lunex.
It's the whole gimmick for this new show they're on.
It reminds him a bit of
Open Ears,
except that this show sends its celebrity guests away with their own little missions to complete.
Which the hosts check back in on during the celebrities' next appearance, of course.
Earlier in that same recording, another idol group had video called in to happily chat about the hilarious but beneficial results of a mission in which they all had to give each other compliments every day for a month.
It's totally over the top, but Noah is into it.
It's all in the name of self-growth and fostering truth within the team, after all.
And, he reminds himself, it's good to challenge yourself every now and then.
And a challenge is even better when it's a challenge for multiple people.
Right?
It could improve some friendships, could bring the members even closer together.
It would be fun!
Right?
Noah wants to do just that, to bring himself and the members closer together.
He doesn't want to 'reflect' by himself, whatever that means, and also he doesn't really understand what the 'giving' option means either, so by process of elimination, he picks:
"Bonding."
The crowd
oohs.
"Good choice!" says the host.
"A challenge between you and one other member!
But, before you get to know the challenge, we're going to pick the group member who you will complete it with."
"I don't get to pick?" Noah whines playfully.
He already knew that he didn't get to, but he did kind of wish he could.
Though, he guesses that might defeat the purpose of the 'challenge' altogether.
"Ah, Noah, you know you can't pick!" The host smiles.
"Now, we actually already had your mission partner picked out!"
"Oh," Noah says, surprised.
"Okay!"
"Just in case you chose 'bonding', your mission partner was selected for you ahead of time!"
"Oh, great!"
"By your members!"
Oh.
Maybe...not so good.
Noah fights to keep a smile on his face.
He already knows who it's going to be.
"Lucian!" The host bellows.
The crowd whoops and cheers.
Noah turns to see Lucian, seated with the other members across the stage, raising a lazy hand in acknowledgment, his signature smirk already in place.
Noah's already beginning to regret this.
"Here we go!" the host says, returning to the wall covered in glittery placards.
"Let's see what your mission will be!"
He pulls the
Bonding
placard off of the wall.
The glittery red sign underneath it reads, "100 Days With You."
"Ah yes!" the host says, pleased.
"The 100 Days With You challenge!"
Noah's
really
beginning to regret this.
"Fantastic!" The host turns back to Noah.
"This means that you, Noah McKay, must tell Lucian every day for one hundred days that you love him."
Noah watches as Lucian's mouth drops open, which is pretty hilarious.
It would probably be more hilarious if Noah's jaw hadn't joined his on the floor.
"Oh," is all Noah thinks to say.
Oh.
Okay.
Look.
Noah knows why the other members picked Lucian.
The two of them are as opposite as bandmates can be.
Lucian
must
have been cornered into this role, probably overruled by a group vote.
Because any sort of bonding exercise between them is bound to be slightly awkward, perhaps a bit embarassing for the two of them, but certanly entertaining for everyone else.
But this...Noah doesn't think he can do this.
And yet.
Noah is not a quitter.
Noah asked for a challenge, and he's getting one.
And he'll be damned if Lucian's cranky ass is the reason he has to go back onto this show in a hundred days and tell them that he failed.
"Let's do it!" Noah says with determination.
The host laughs.
"Yes!
And there's no need to be anxious!
It'll be good!
A great bonding experience!
Right, Lunex?"
Noah looks to the group...who are barely attempting to hide how hilarious they find this.
Hugo and Finn are stifling laughs, Darian's eyes are dancing with mirth, and Bryce is giving a wide smile that Noah finds disconcerting.
At least Aidan has the decency to look stunned.
"Yeah," Bryce,
the bastard,
agrees with the host.
"Fantastic!" the host declares again, unperturbed by their collective shitshow.
"Every day?" Noah asks again, just to be sure.
"Every day!" the host confirms.
"Just saying 'I love you' once.
That's all.
But you have to say it every single day, or the challenge is lost!
I'm sure you can do it, though, right, Noah?" He grins, and Noah feels the fire of a real goddamn challenge sparking within him.
"Of course I can!" He affirms.
Now overcome with excitement, he turns towards Lucian.
"I love you, Lucian!" he shouts across the soundstage.
Lucian is surprised, but after a second he laughs.
This delights the host.
"There we go, day one!
You've already begun!"
"Day one," Noah repeats, holding up his index finger.
Well, he might as well get started now.
"I can't wait to see the results!" the host chirps.
They go to commercial.
Noah begins the second day of the 100 Days With You Challenge (what a terrible name, he thinks to himself) as something of a joke.
And when he treats it like that, the challenge isn't difficult at all.
For that first week or so, Noah tells Lucian he loves him as soon as he sees him in the morning.
"I love you, Lucian!" he practically screams at Lucian's half-awake form as the older stumbles into the kitchen on day three.
Bless him, Lucian's grumpiness only makes Noah want to shout it louder.
And it's made even funnier by the fact that Noah is usually up way before Lucian is.
Noah really, really enjoys being totally awake and alert and fully dressed as he yells lovingly at the rumpled, scowling, eyes-still-shut Lucian.
Something so beautiful could only last so long, though.
On the ninth day, when a frowning Lucian stumbles into the kitchen, Noah opens his mouth to deliver his daily endearment-- except that he's immediately cut off by another voice.
"We can't go to the studio today," Bryce tells Lucian, totally oblivious to the fact that he is being a ruining ruiner who ruins, completely destroying Noah's established ritual.
"The building's shut down for the day, some sort of waterline repairs or something."
Lucian's scowl deepens, which Noah thinks is pretty impressive for someone who is always already scowling.
"I wanted to finish mixing that song," he tells Bryce.
That's disappointing, Noah sympathizes to himself.
Oh well.
Life is hard.
He opens his mouth again and--
"I know," Bryce tells Lucian calmly.
"But we can't use the space, so we'll need to work on it from here or from somewhere else."
Lucian is not a big fan of these options, and Noah watches with growing frustration as he and Bryce continue back and forth.
Bryce tries to appease Lucian, who is, as usual, unyielding.
Finn and Hugo, eating at the table, wisely stay out of it.
Unfortunately, Noah was already planning to be in dance practice all day, and he doesn't know when he'll next see Lucian, so now is their only guaranteed chance to talk.
So Noah keeps opening his mouth at what he hopes will be breaks in the conversation, except that Lucian and Bryce
just keep going.