Bad Words

Summary: But before he left, he turned around and gave her a smirk. "Tell me if you need to be repaid again, sweetheart! That was fun!"

Duncan made a run for it. Not turning around to look, but laughing the entire run, he could hear the voice ringing in his ears. "You (bad word) kids need to stop blowing (oohh, that's a really bad one!) up on my lawn, or I'm gonna call the (definite no-no word, right there) cops!"

"(Potty word) the cops! We don't god (aww man, that's bad) give a flying (bad, bad, bad!)!" Duncan yelled at the top of his lungs, panting alongside his buddies as they ran around the corner, sparks still playing behind their eyes as they remembered the bottle rockets that had just launched several moments ago.

Now, you might not know what to say when an eight year old uses language like that. Most people would probably wonder what was wrong with him, if he was beat as a child or blame it on something rash like that.

Well, if you asked Duncan, he'd tell you the truth. He was a total butthole- and that's the good word for it. He found all bad words to be the same. They were all bad, all mean, and lots of people used them. His mother always told him, "I never even want you thinking those words, young man!"

So he didn't think them. He just said them, and they made no acknowledgment in his brain except that they were a bad word. Not which bad word, not how it was said, not what letter it started with, but if they were a bad word.

Which, a lot of the time, they were.

And as if old man Anderson hadn't heard all of it a million times before, much less uttered those words from his own mouth. Duncan wasn't going to take (that other word for poop) from someone who only dished and never took any. (Oh, man, that's bad!) that.

He made his way around someone's house as his friends ran the opposite way. He supposed maybe the old man would go for the majority and leave him be, although he was obviously the leader of the idiots. Duncan jumped over a white picket fence and tried to hold his breath as he heard fast footsteps filled with curses that the man held under his breath. Duncan bit his lip. He should have known the man would come for him and only him.

He could feel the man stop and look around, considering looking over the fence. Duncan tried to stop everything in that moment.

But luck wasn't on his side today.

Katie was eight as well, and she knew Duncan well. They had gone to the same school since pre-k and she did live on his street. He was the kid who pushed nerds down on the playground and who loved to talk to pretty girls. She tried to avoid him.

So imagine her surprise when she stepped outside, dream icicle in hand, to see Duncan himself holding his breath and crouching low by the picket fence surrounding her backyard.

Well, she wasn't an idiot, although she would admit she did get confused a lot. All she knew was the Duncan most definitely did not belong there, in her own backyard. "Hey!" She yelled from across the lawn, and she was very intrigued when she saw a head peer over from the other side of her fence.

Katie tried hard to keep her tongue from sticking out at old man Anderson. He was just… so… ugh. The old man looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Where is that (bad word) boy?" Obviously, he must have been referring to the third grader crouching behind her fence.

Her eyes flickered to Duncan quickly, but the look on the boy's face was enough to tell her everything. Because Duncan was wearing one of those faces he never wore. The sheer fear in his eyes held one request: help me. As though he had never gotten caught before!

She took a lick of her ice cream. "How should I know? He sure isn't here."

Duncan felt his eyes go wide with surprise. Her eyes stayed still and focused and true. And that was amazing. She was a really, really good liar! Maybe she took acting lessons, he supposed.

Old man Anderson looked at her sketchily, but huffed and walked off. As his footsteps faded, she saw Duncan let out a shaky breath, and then shoot her a look. "Thanks." He muttered, walking over to her slowly.

If he admitted to himself, Katie was very pretty. He had seen her at school many times and tended to pull her hair every now and then just to get a rude comment. She never really said anything more than "Meany", or "Please stop". She didn't tend to get angry about many things. He knew she had been going through a hard time since her best friend, Sadie, had moved away a month earlier. That was the one time he ever truly saw her upset.

"Thanks," He repeated, stepping near her. She smelled of cherries. He smiled slickly. "You're kind of cute." Duncan's mom claimed he wasn't supposed to like girls yet, but Duncan begged to differ. Girls were pretty things you could hold beside you. He had even imagined what it would be like to have a girlfriend. It couldn't be that bad. Girls seemed a lot better when you got older, or so his brothers told him.

Katie took another lick of her ice cream, her wide eyes turning to the ground as he face turned a deep shade of red. "You're welcome." She couldn't help herself. Duncan's comment was enough to make her heart speed up. Guys never told her she was cute. It made her want to squeal, but she held it back.

The truth was, maybe, just maybe, she had a little bit of a crush on Duncan. She didn't even want to admit it to herself. With his sloppy black hair and bright blue eyes, though, it was hard not to find him endearing.

They stood there in awkward silence, and then Duncan sighed. "OK, well, I guess I'll have to make it up to you."

Katie bit her lip. "No, it's OK. I'm fine." She shook her head. "I don't need anything."

Duncan frowned. He knew that in his group of friends, if you did something for somebody, they expected something in return. Having Katie tell him that it was perfectly fine made him feel bad. He was grateful for her help with the old man, and as the sprinklers went off on her lawn and she tried to go back inside, he made a grabbed for her arm. "Come on. What do you want me to do?"

As an eight year old, Katie had never held a boys hand. So when Duncan entwined their fingers together, she felt her breath hitch and her face heat up. There was no denying what she wanted. "Kiss me." She said simply, and as realization sank in, she knew he was going to run for the hills. They were third graders, boys didn't like girls yet, and she couldn't just-

But Duncan shrugged at her. "OK," He said, a bit nervously.

But that didn't stop him from leaning in and pressing his mouth against hers.

Neither of them really knew what to do. For both, it was their first kiss, but for the time being, holding each other close and just moving their lips ever so slightly was enough. Duncan felt his face warm up as he could feel Katie's eyelashes fluttering against his cheek, and she felt her heart speed up when he placed a hand on her hip, grabbing the fabric there.

Of course, neither of them thought much of breathing through their nose, so the kiss soon ended. They both backed away, a small pant on both of their lips. Katie touched her lips tenderly.

Duncan just smirked. It was his first true cocky smirk. Even with his face bright red and his throat burning, he couldn't help but feel… good.

Katie choked out a 'Thank you'. She blinked hard and tried to let what happened sink in. But it didn't. All she could think of was how he had actually done it.

… And how much she wanted to do it again.

They both jumped as they heard a loud voice. "Hey you!" Duncan sighed, seeing old man Anderson looking at him angrily from the other side of the fence. "I (bad, bad word!) KNEW you were over here!"

Duncan gave Katie a quick look, and then high tailed it. He reached the other side of her lawn, climbing over her fence, but before he left, he turned around and gave her a smirk. "Tell me if you need to be repaid again, sweetheart! That was fun!" He jumped over to white fence, and the old man's shouts followed him. He was gone.

Katie couldn't help but stand there for a few minutes, trying to regain her composure. She looked to her hand for her ice cream popsicle, and smiled when she realized where it must be.

Even as Duncan ran away from the old man, he couldn't help but smirked, shoving the ice cream in his mouth. It tasted a little like Katie.

"You little (naughty word) punk!"

Duncan sighed, wondering if making it up to her was really worth all this trouble. As he took a bite of the ice cream, he didn't have to think about the answer.

(Bad word) yeah it was.

A/N: I haven't done a Duncan/Katie one-shot in a while… so here (bad word) you go! XD

Thanks for reading!