AN: A bittersweet little Duncney oneshot, a few years after World Tour and their massive breakup. Both are 21 or so.

Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama or Budweiser. Damn you, Canadians! (Kidding, kidding...kinda.)

Written in Red

He called me once, on New Year's Eve, out of the blue. I didn't think he had even kept my number – his had been deleted from my Blackberry years before.

The ring tone for unlisted numbers was a simple crescendo of beeps, though, considering the circumstances, Beethoven's Fifth would have been more appropriate.

"Hello, Courtney here," was my customary answer.

"Hey," was his dull reply.

I hate to admit that I recognized his voice immediately. I'd like to tell you that I wracked my brains or demanded to know who was calling me before I even suspected that it might have been him. But I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I freaked out.

My heart gave a little spasm, and I sat up ramrod straight in my armchair, hardback novel clunking to the floor. Breathing was quick and strained, and it was a few seconds before I could even force a single word out of my throat.

"Duncan?"

My hand grew slick against the side of my phone, and I switched to the other ear impatiently.

On the other end, I could hear the clink of glasses and a loud peal of laughter in the background; he was at a party, wasn't he? Typical Duncan. If I thought he had matured in the few years since Total Drama, I was wrong.

"Yeah...hey..." he said again, sounding half-asleep.

He calls me after four years, on New Year's Eve, and all he has to say is 'hey'?As if just waiting for an excuse to show up, the vivacious fury that I had associated with Duncan's being since our breakup rose to breaking in my chest. That asshole.

"Duncan," I growled patiently through gritted teeth "Do you know who you just called?"

"Yeah, yeah!" he said, perking up suddenly like a puppy called in from outside. "Princess!"

Princess.

I hadn't heard that in years. When I had first met Duncan, it was derogatory, annoying; a thorn in my side that only proved what an immature imbecile he was. Then, suddenly, it became a term of endearment, when he would whisper it into my ear or call me over with a warm smile. I remember wondering, then, if Princess had always been special to him; always endearment. He never called me Princess again after that day in London.

I heard he and Gwen had broken up. I didn't know why – truthfully, I didn't want to, even though it gave me some strange satisfaction – but it was only a few months after World Tour ended.

He must have dated other people. I had. So why call me now?

"Don't call me that. I'm hanging up." Liar, I chided myself. Your thumb isn't even on the button.

"Nooo, don't hang up. I wanna...na talk to ya, Princess..." he whined, words slurring in his mouth.

Oh my god. I was disgusted. Is intoxicating himself the only way he can bring himself to face me? "You're drunk!" I accused. This time, my thumb was poised and ready over 'end call'.

Duncan made a loose flapping sound with his lips, like a horse. "I'd better be, or I'm 'onna be real pissed..." he trailed off, and for a second I thought he fell asleep. "Oh! But yeah, I wanted to talk to the Princess! She there?"

I hated drunks. Not that I hung out with many, mind you, but they never make the right kind of sense. Forgetting, then remembering; yelling, than apologizing; constantly contradicting themselves and unable to walk or talk without stumbling. Disgusting.

So right now, the Princess didn't want to talk to the Delinquent.

But Courtney was still wondering what Duncan had to tell her.

"No, but I can take a message for you," I replied smoothly, impressed by the stroke of luck.

I really should have hung up.

"Okay, okay..." Here, Duncan's voice faded, like he had leaned away from the phone to talk to someone else. "Hey! I nee' another Bud over here!"

He wasn't at a party; Duncan was at a bar. On New Year's Eve, Duncan got drunk alone at a bar and called me. Me.

Frankly, I wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. Revolted? Flattered? Angry? All three?

Duncan's voice zoomed back in, close. "You gotta tell her...tell the Princess that I'm sorry. No, wait... Yeah, that's it."

It was definitely the Budweiser talking; I could hear him swigging down the new bottle.

"I...totally ruined the best thing that ever happened to me!" he slurred. A muffled shout came from the background, and I got the impression that Duncan had swung his arm in a flourish and hit someone.

"Whoa, sorry man...Hey, so get this – I friggin' loved her, y'know?"

Despite myself, I felt my heart give a few extra thumps, and felt immediately ashamed. This was how I got roped into Duncan's game in the first place. He's all sweet words and nicknames in the beginning, but the second he's asked to commit? Bam! He makes out with your friend on live television.

I was angry, but he was drunk. So I tried to be patient. "Duncan, I don't – the Princess doesn't want to hear it anymore, okay? You don't even know what you're saying-"

"I know exactly what I'm saying!" he shouted, coupled with a dull thunk of his fist on a bar table. And the words were so clear, so sober, that I almost believed him.

"The Princess was the best thing that ever happened to me," he repeated. "When I was with her, y'know, I wanted to be a better person...I was a better person! I was happy! You tell her that Duncan's a stupid jerk who didn't deserve her in the first place, a'ight?"

You got that right.

"And, and tell her that I'm sorry and I wish I had her back and...um..."

I waited for a few seconds, unmoved, before deciding that he had nothing else to say. "Is that all?" I said dryly. I really should have hung up. I don't need this right now.

"Y-yeah. That's all I wanted Princess to know..."

"I'm hanging-"

"Wait! Hey...Ssshh..." Static blew into the mic, and I distanced my ear from it warily, only to lean back in when Duncan's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Hey, don't tell the Princess this, but...you promise? You promise not to tell her?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes even though there was no one around to see. Anything to get this idiot off the line. "Yes, Duncan. I promise."

"'Kay, so...don't tell the Princess, but...I was scared."

This got my attention. Even if he was drunk, Duncan admitting he was scared was something I never thought I would hear, ever.

He continued, "Cuz she's like this...this Princess! She's gotta have it her way, and she's the boss, and she's gotta have rules and I gotta do this and that and she's gotta have it her way..."

Okay, ridicule was not what I was expecting.

"...and I loved that! If it was for her, I woulda done anythin'! She's...she'd...gotta be mine, y'know? Cuz she's just got this way, and I loved that!"

I really, really should've hung up. I was starting to get uncomfortable. This was Duncan, I reminded myself. The ass that cheated on you and broke up with you on live TV! Wrong, wrong, wrong; lies!

"But it got so...intimi...intimida...scary. Cuz I'd never felt like that before an' it scared me. Cuz what if Princess was the one, y'know? An' I swear she is, she gotta be. But I never been in love before, not really, and it wasn't my style and I freaked out! Gwen was like...like a safe bet. She was this friend that I could be attracted to but there wasn't no pressure. Cuz with Princess, everything was pressure, it was all weird and new and I didn't know what I was supposed to do next! Cuz normally I'm like a pro with the ladies, but this was...was totally different. I had to get back on, like, familiar territory, so...yeah...I'z just a big, huge, scaredy butthead..."

Even though he sounded so sincere, so passionate – despite his childish use of words, it had to be the ramblings of a drunken idiot, otherwise... Otherwise it would all be true, and that would be too much to handle.

I was scared; too, didn't he know that? I hated not knowing where to step, fearing that there was a minefield ahead of me. But here was the difference: I stayed. I was willing to take that first, terrifying step for him. For him! But if what he said was true, he hadn't been. He chose what was safe and simple over me. The coward.

My voice shook when I answered. "If you loved her so much, why didn't you stay? Why didn't you stay, you coward? Why didn't you take the chance for her? Wasn't she worth it?" I let my anger rush out, ashamed when tears stung my eyes. Coward, coward, coward...

"More than worth it..." In the background of the bar, voices started chorusing in the New Year's countdown. "An' I really, really wish I could do it all over."

"Ten!...Nine!...Eight!..."

"Oh, yeah?" My voice was thick.

"Seven!...Six!...Five!..."

"Yeah. Think she'd be willing to give me a second chance?"

"Four!...Three!...Two!..."

It was the drunken ramblings of an idiot...but can you blame me if it was exactly what I needed to hear from him? Can you blame me that, after all it took for him to break down my defenses and get inside, it would be just as hard for him to get back out? Can you blame me if I let myself believe his words, even for just one night? I didn't build those walls to keep people out. I built them to see who loved me enough to find a way through.

Duncan attacked my foundation until it finally cracked, and he wormed his way inside before I even realized it. Then he left, and I was alone again with this giant, ragged hole in my defenses. Broken. He'd found his way in again, though, and what did he ask? For a second chance. I never gave second chances. If you screw up once, you screw up twice. I didn't want to be hurt again. I didn't want to be broken down completely, and that's what he'd do. My lips were forming the word; 'No'. All I had to do was say it.

"One! Happy New Year!"

"...You're going to have to see her in person to find out." I guess I was an idiot, too.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I wanna see you."

That made me wonder if he knew he was talking to me the whole time; if he was really drunk or just acting the part to make it easier on his ego. The only thing I did know; Duncan was telling the truth. The Duncan I once knew would never say all that for a lie. He was the straight man; the one you could count on to be blunt and sincere. I guess I'd forgotten that.

"Hey, Courtney?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy New Year."

AN: The ending is blah. It sounded better in my head that it looked on the screen, but it's all I could think of. Anyway,I figured Duncan would be one of those 'truthful drunks', considering all the sober time he spends trying to hide from it. ;)

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