DISCLAIMER: I don't own Total Drama or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Fresh TV.

Well, here's my belated birthday gift to my good friend Rachel, (or TheToxicInterest). Her birthday was on the 12th of this month, so I was four days late with this, heh...

But I slaved a good few days over working on this thing, and some of it still kind bugs me for some reason... I swear, some of this even sounds like it came out of some very bad soap opera! XD But I'm just trying to be perfectly honest here... This one also gave me a lot more trouble than I thought it would too, probably because I'm used to relying on humor for most of my Duncott fics instead of all this angst... But that's just the cost of it all, I guess.

There also might be some slight OOCness here, but bear with me please, because I tried my best...

This also takes place when both Scott and Duncan are adults and yeah, that's all I think you need to know.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it and please be sure to R & R!


Time To Bail

(Scott's POV)

This is the last straw. The one that broke the camel's back… I'm at my wit's end with this guy, and I don't know what to do… I'm frustrated beyond believe, yet… I still have some sort of attachment to him; I must be crazy to think my boyfriend is off the hook from all this shit, because he's not. He's pissed me off greatly, and it's high time I tell him how it is, as much as it pains me on the inside…

There's a part of me that just makes me want to slap myself silly for falling for him in the first place, while the other half of me is just urging for me to fall deeper into this shithole we call our "relationship." Either side sounds unpleasant, but my conscience seems to be getting the better of me… I keep telling myself that I don't love him anymore, how his hold on me has worn off and gone to a better place… Yet, here I am. Walking down this long aisle of locked away criminals, twiddling my thumbs at the thought of seeing him again: yup, the feeling ain't dead yet. Just hiding away and playing tricks on me, continuing to haunt my soul and pretty much everywhere else. He's going to be the death of me, I swear…

I felt my heart drop sharply in my chest once I finally arrived at his cell: he was decked out in your average, everyday criminal attire, an orange jumpsuit. As much as I would hate to admit it out loud, it looked very good on him… I felt my face flush up a bit from those thoughts, before I coughed slightly to regain myself again. He was currently facing the wall away from me, using his pocket knife to etch little skulls into the walls… If it was one thing he was good at besides vandalism or theft, it was carving: it was one of our favorite pastimes to do together while we were still dating… Dating, and… Happy.

I let out another small cough to let him know he wasn't alone, along with just trying to hide how nervous I was to see him. I watched him lift his head up from his work, slowly turning around to face me in the eyes: it was hard for me to pinpoint exactly how he was feeling, because of how indistinguishable his expression was. It was more of a mix between anger and relief more than anything, and I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders as he smirked at me.

"Scotty, never thought I'd actually see you come around." He rested a hand onto my shoulder, while I just rubbed my arm nervously.

"Umm, yeah. It's really great to be back, Duncan…" I laughed weakly. "Just being with you again is enough to get me going…"

I immediately let out a long and frustrated sigh after ending my statement, which not surprising got Duncan's attention on me again.

"Hey, man. What's wrong? Is there something you're not telling me?" his facial features twisted into something a little more serious, while I just squirmed under his gaze like a complete and total coward.

Realizing that he was now demanding answers from me, I quickly shook my head rapidly to get a grip over myself. "Ahh, no. It's just… It's, nothing, Duncan…"

The delinquent then just rolled his eyes at me all irritated for a bit, before laughing with a slight smirk. "Scott, you know I'm not that gullible… I know you're hiding something from me, and I want to know what that something is… I mean, I've been honest with you before, right? When has this guy ever steered you wrong?"

I felt his hand brush against my cheek as my eyes widened in bewilderment, shocked at what I just heard him say: his words echoed through my mind repeatedly, while there was a flush of heat flowing through my bloodstream… Pretty soon, all those painful and scarring memories came flooding back to me like wildfire, making me glare right back at his cocky, stupid little grin… As I balled up one of my fists tightly, I just slapped his remaining hand away.

"You were never honest with me, asshole! That's the whole reason you ended up in this hellhole in the first place! So you get no pity from me, whatsoever!"

I couldn't help but gasp a little bit over what I just said, well more like yelled: but he had it coming for a long time, plus it just felt good to get it all off my chest.

Pretty soon, I found myself peering right through his heated glare. "What the hell, Scott?! I thought you actually cared about me!"

"Well, yeah, I did care…" I muttered angrily under my breath. "…Until you went awol and did all that shit behind my back! Seriously Duncan, how am I supposed to trust you?! After everything you did to hurt me?!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" he fumed.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about, Duncan!" I snapped at him furiously. "Your fucking drug addiction, that's what! We both know that's the whole reason our relationship fell apart!"

We both just kind of looked at each other, the cold metal bars separating us as we remained silent: Duncan's somber teal eyes were staring right into mine, almost like he expected me to take it all back, when I really didn't want to. If only things had gone a little differently, then maybe it wouldn't have had to come to this… How this whole mess could've just been easily avoidable.

I just sighed and shook my head; I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"Duncan, I tried everything I could to help you, because I cared about you. But all you did was just shove and push me aside, so I had no other choice but to put you into rehab…"

Duncan cut me off before I could finish. "If you tried harder, then maybe you could've gotten through to me… I know I was high and everything at the time, but if you really cared about me, you wouldn't have sent me there…"

Once he was finished, I shot him an irritated glare before continuing. "I didn't really want to do it, but I knew it was the only other way to get through to you… And once I found out that you relapsed there, you just came home, stole all my money and used all of my life savings to buy more drugs!"

"Your point?" he scoffed. I could tell he was getting annoyed with me again, and I was getting pretty fed up with his stinking attitude, in general. And he wonders why some girls don't like him?

"You made me feel like shit, Duncan! By treating me like absolute crap, and then by going behind my back and stabbing it! When I was only trying to help, because… Well, I… I loved you."

I felt myself choking on that last part, since this stuff has always been pretty heavy on me… But while I might not come off as one of the most sentimental guys around, I still meant every single damn word of it: I really went out of my way to make sacrifices for Duncan, for us… Like getting myself off of my drinking problem. But no matter what I did, he always seemed to cave right back into his same old habits… He was ungrateful, and just using me at any chance he got. It was all part of some relentless cycle that just never seemed to rest, one that made me keep on doubting our relationship… And it ended up winning over me in the end.

There just wasn't enough hope for us anymore, and I was finally beginning to see it; as long as I pursued this, Duncan wasn't ever going to change, and I'd just keep hurting myself from being blinded by stupidity. If I hadn't been so naive… I could've saved myself the trouble from this a long time ago.

And now I was just letting my conscience beat me up again.

Once I zoned out of my thoughts, I felt Duncan's rough hands squeezing onto mine, determination fueling in his eyes: it's been years since he's given me that exact same look, and I've secretly missed it… I was actually growing a little curious about where he was trying to go with this. "Scott, I know I was acting pretty stupid to you back then, believe me… And you know that as much as I do. But the truth of the matter is, I really need you here. Things don't even have to be like this… We could always just start over fresh and give things another try."

There was a part of me on the inside that just wasn't buying it, while the other half of me was just squeeing on the inside like some dumb, teenaged girl… Even if it that last part sounded pretty cheesy, and a little wrong.

I took charge of the situation again by taking my free hand and letting it run through my spiky red hair, sighing sullenly. "No, Duncan… I, I can't turn back… Not now. Not when we both know we're hurting like this. I know it sounds tough right now, but this is something that I've just gotta do for the both of us, even if it means not being able to see you again. Things are just a lot better off this way, and you need to understand that… I'm really sorry, Duncan. But things just haven't been working out so well…"

As I slowly retracted my hand, his grip on me grew tighter and tighter. "Scott, quit lying to yourself! I know what you just spouted out in front of me was a bunch of bullcrap, so why even try and deny it?! You know you still want me, and so do I! I'm not going to give up on you, God dammit! And neither should you! Just listen to yourself!"

I felt myself go silent over what Duncan said, while he shared that moment of silence with me: was this really what I wanted? Or, was I only trying to do what was best for me? It was pretty obvious that Duncan was only trying to gain back my sympathy, so he could somehow worm his way back together with me… That's what I should be thinking anyway, but nope. My body just loves randomly pissing me off by rebelling against me, because my feelings have no shame for this kind of crap. It's like I'm on drugs or something, when I'm really not… I swear, I have no freaking morals.

The delinquent perked up a bit once he realized I was facing him again, while I reluctantly sighed and scratched the back of my neck. "How would you feel if I said that I… Wanted to come and visit you again?"

"Like a jail date?" he slyly chuckled.

"No! It's, it's nothing like that!" I exclaimed nervously, but it was pretty clear that Duncan could see right through me, just like he always has been. It made me want to punch him square in the face, but I knew it was the truth deep down: I was still in love with this guy, and I couldn't deny it for even a second…

Sure, I could question my sanity and beat myself up for being so dang gullible, but at the end of the day, I knew it felt right… And as messed up as it is, I couldn't really have it either other way.