In case anyone has forgotten, this takes place during TDA Episode 23: 2008: A Space Owen. Enjoy~

Scruffy was Duncan's best friend. A vicious "killer" tarantula who intimidated every other contestant, but Duncan didn't care. Scruffy made today's challenges worth doing, like he was the juvenile boy's lucky charm. If only he had arrived earlier in the season.

But for the first time since he arrived, Scruffy wasn't being cradled in Duncan's hands.

"Hey! Wh-where'd Scruffy go?" After a panicked look around, Duncan looked up to see Scruffy crawling on Harold's face inside the Vomit Comet. And 5.6 seconds later, Harold stepped out.

Without caring about how dizzy and nauseous Harold was, Duncan rushed forward and grabbed Harold by his shirt, shaking him with each word he so demandingly spoke. "Where's. My. Scruffy?"

Once Harold was let go, he just shrugged and turned around. In a mess of green goo, the smooshed tarantula was seen spread across the back of the nerd's shirt, a frown plastered on the dead arachnid's face.

"Noooooo! Scrufffyyyyy!" Duncan wailed in agony, dropping to his knees, saving his anger toward Harold for later.

"There, there," Courtney comforted him without any sincere sympathy, patting his shoulders anyway. "Scruffy is in a better place now."

**Confessional**

"Yeah, anywhere but here. Now maybe Duncan will focus on someone with slightly less hairy legs: ME!" But Courtney wasn't going to admit she was jealous of a stupid spider. That would be ridiculous.

**End confessional*

Even though that total jerk Harold was eliminated after what he did, that wasn't enough to make Duncan feel better. While the rest of the contestants were heading back to their trailers for bed, Duncan went behind his trailer and ascended into what little "woods" there were on the film lot, the small box containing a dead, squished Scruffy carried in one hand and a shovel in the other. He knelt down in the first decent burial spot he could find, digging a well-sized hole in the dirt. He lowered the box in which Scruffy had arrived in into the hole, covering it with the dirt again and patting it down, sitting up once finished and staring sadly at the new grave.

Courtney was just about readying herself for bed when Owen's irritable voice interrupted her. "Duncan? Duuuncaaan? Courtney, have you seen Duncan? He's not in the trailer."

"What?" Courtney straightened up, immediately crossing her arms. "Ugh, what could he possibly be doing this time?" Eyes narrowed, Courtney walked out of her trailer and peered around. Where would that delinquent boyfriend be? Probably stealing something from the kitchen again, she thought to herself.

She would've searched further, but was paused in her place when she heard what sounded like sniffling coming from a distance. She followed her keen ears toward the patch of trees a distance away from the trailers, seeing Duncan on his knees and in front of ..a tree? "Duncan?"

Duncan almost jumped, sitting up straight once more. "Huh?"

Courtney moved next to him and looked down only to see Duncan hurriedly wiping at his wet eyes and cheeks.

"Duncan, are you... crying?" A sudden smirk curled Courtney's dark orange lips, crossing her arms again as she knelt down to Duncan's level.

"What? No I'm not," Duncan quickly defended in the most serious tone he could muster, scowling as he took his hands away from his eyes.

"Yes you are," Courtney replied, her smirk pulling wider – she couldn't help but to find it cute and maybe even ..touching, that someone like Duncan was crying.

"No, I'm not! There's just a lot of bugs near my eyes."

"You're a bad liar, Duncan," Courtney said with a grin, now, as she put her hand on Duncan's. She wasn't going to let him get away with this, oh no.

But Duncan continued denying it, using all his effort to keep his lies up. Why was it so hard to lie around this girl? "Tough guys do not cry."

"Tough guys, huh?" Courtney said in amusement, resting her head on Duncan's shoulder and looking down at the spider's grave. Teasing Duncan like this was one of Courtney's greatest pleasures ever since she exposed him being nice to DJ in season one (finding him a new bunny), and now she was unveiling an even softer side of him.

And Duncan knew how badly that went the first time. Just looking up at Courtney's freckled mocha-skinned face and the mischievous glint in her dark eyes, he knew the truth wouldn't be safe from her forever. She was a terribly clever girl who knew all of his weak spots – but something about that made him love her all the more – so he finally gave in. "Oh, fine. You would cry too if your favorite pet was killed by a dork."

Courtney giggled triumphantly, lacing her fingers with Duncan's own and giving his hand a squeeze."Now was that so hard?"

Duncan rolled his eyes, defeated, and pulled out his pocketknife, scraping the sharp tip against the tree in front of him and above the grave and carefully engraving the words onto its bark: 'R.I.P Scruffy'.

Even though she didn't feel the same affection toward the creature who had been taking Duncan's attention away from her, she watched in content. "At least you still have me, tough guy."