Okay so this oneshot is inspired by a tumblr post by fruitcakefiona, that theorizes the TD timeline and says All Stars wasn't aired until two years after it was filmed which had me thinking…
Although I hate All Stars being canon, this theory would mean that Courtney didn't see any of Duncan's confessionals or how he kept bringing her up until years later and I wondered what it must have been like for her see that…
Anyway, this is 100% me trying to fix canon and duncney fan service lol
She had avoided watching it for as long as she could. Granted, it had taken two years after the season was filmed to air; so that made it easy to pretend like it never happened and move on with her life. All Stars and Total Drama as a whole was an experience that Courtney didn't like to dwell on.
Many things had come out of her time on that reality show. Good and bad, but there was so much bad that it overshadowed the good. She had her worst fears thrown in her face, but she learned to face them head on. She made many enemies but also great friends. Most prominently, she had her heart torn into pieces, but she fell in love for the first time.
All Stars aired despite the two year delay. Her hopes that the footage would mysteriously get destroyed before ever making it to television, dashed away. The now college student avoided anything to do with the show. She'd turn the channel if it was on and refused to respond to anyone who tried to converse about it to her. It was in the past and she intended to keep it that way, until Bridgette had contacted her.
One of the only true friends Courtney made from her reality show days had reached out to her and said she should watch the latest season. At first Courtney refused but Bridgette kept insisting that there were some scenes that she thought she would want to see. Courtney doubted it. The only reason she decided to watch was because she wanted to prove Bridgette wrong.
It was as cringeworthy as she thought it would be, more so even because she had forgotten some of the events that had taken place. It was extremely hard to stomach but she painstakingly got through the episodes, and as she did she noticed a recurring theme.
"…She better not sulk the whole time or I may as well be dating Courtney…"
"I'm used to having girls yell at me, even punch me, but blank me? That's just wrong…Uh, I mean, whatever."
"I'm blanking her cause she's blanking me… but let me know if you catch her looking my way."
"Now that you and Courtney are on the same team, what does she say about me?"
"Of course Courtney talks about me! What else does she have to talk about? Scott? She's just using him to make me jealous. Well good luck with that…"
"You know what's most uncool about him? How he's still obsessed with Courtney!"
The last one was from Gwen. At the time, Courtney didn't think her punk ex even cared about her anymore. Every day she had to see the boy, that at one point in her life meant everything to her, be with someone else. Blanking him was the only way she knew how to deal with it.
The way he brought her up, even if it was to bash her, his veiled jealousy over her brief relationship with Scott, his eagerness to know if she had been talking to Gwen about him, and their breakup because of it, it all added up to something she didn't realize until now.
He'd still cared. Courtney wondered if even after everything, maybe he had still loved her…maybe they were both too hurt and blind to see it.
That thought kept replaying in her head over and over again. If they'd really moved on they would have been indifferent to each other but they so clearly weren't.
Courtney watched until she was voted off and then couldn't bare to put herself through any more torture. Hours later her eyes were still trained on a black television screen in her dorm room. A textbook was open in front of her but it was long forgotten.
Her idea of what she believed to be the truth was she over thinking this? Was she trying to find a way to hold onto something that she'd let go of a long time ago? Either way, she found herself going through her phone to see if she still had Duncan's number.
It wasn't under D for 'Duncan', but it was under D for 'Don't you fucking dare '. Trying not to text your ex, especially when your drunk, meant reminding yourself not to be an idiot. Her thumb hovered over the contact. Courtney entertained the idea of texting him but kept stopping herself. What would she say? They hadn't been on speaking terms for years but her thoughts kept cycling like water going around a sink only to inevitably fall down its drain.
Courtney drafted a text message quickly as to not lose her nerve but nothing she wrote sounded right. On her fourth attempt she groaned and was about throw her phone at a wall when it vibrated in her hands, startling her.
Her clenched jaw and furrowed brow softened and she sighed in relief. Two words had popped up on her screen, two words that held a world of possibilities.
'Hey Princess…'