A/N: I'm uploading this chapter to see if anyone is interested in this story and where it would go. I mean, who really ships and writes Duncney in 2017? Me, apparently... well, anyway, I have like ten more chapters already written and the entire storyline mapped out in my head so please read and review so I know you want more etc etc etc.
I do not own Total Drama and its characters, all right reserved to the respective owners.
It was Friday, seven minutes past three, my last class ended just two minutes ago. I put the last of my books away and closed the door to my locker, only to find an annoying delinquent's face show up on the other side. I squeaked internally but didn't let it show; I was not going to let him win today, I was too stressed about not only upcoming tests but also preparing for the debate team's trip in two weeks and the race for student council president! My mind was a cluster off due dates and dictionary terms, luckily my color-coordinated calendar helped me all days of the week. In twenty-three minutes I was to be home and read the book we got for English class. The walk home didn't take that long but I still did not have time for a neanderthal like Duncan.
"What?" I simply asked in a vicious tone, spatting it out like he'd enraged me instead of simply leaning against a nearby locker and looking at me.
"Why so angry, princess?" Duncan asked and put both hands in the pockets of his jeans. I wanted to shout at him that I was not angry, that I simply did not have time for petty fights with anyone; and certainly not him.
"I'm not", I stated and turned on my heels, leaving him standing at the lockers with disbelief in all crevasses of his expression while I started walking home. Duncan's heavy but fast footsteps eventually caught up to the me and my peripheral vision was tarnished by a green mohawk.
"What's crawled up your ass today?" Duncan sounded disappointed and annoyed.
"I have better things to do, just let me walk home in peace." He took a long step forward and we were once again face to face, stopping me in my tracks as he looked me up and down several times. "Something's got your panties in a twist."
"I-I... I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, come on princess," Duncan threw his hands up in the air, "You don't like to admit it but I know you. And that pole is further up your ass than usual." A frown formed on his face as my shoulder bumped into his when I decided to start walking again, whether he was in the way or not.
"The only thing you know is how to be incredibly vexing." I shifted my shoulder bag from my right to my left side, on which Duncan annoyingly decided to walk.
"Vexing, that's a new one. Preparing for the big debate, huh?" This time I was the one to stop, though not like a huge boulder in the road like he had done. "Yeah, I listen," he smirked at me before nudging his head forwards in a 'you coming?' kind of way.
"For your information-" I started but was abruptly interrupted by Duncan's voice.
"I know, I know, you don't have to have competition to know big fancy words", he threw his hands up in the air for defense. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and rolled them as soon as I took in the incredibly stupid gesture. We fell into silence for a couple of minutes, already had ten minutes past since his face showed up behind the locker door. Ten minutes of being in his presence, ten minutes more than I wanted.
"Are you going to annoy me the entire way home?" I asked and broke the silence. At this point we were only a couple of blocks away from my house and I was not going to give him yet another way to annoy me; Duncan was already a pain in the neck at school, the least he could do was leave me alone in his and my spare-time. Showing him where I lived was completely counterproductive to that.
"Oh, sweetheart", he answered and tsked at me. I stopped dead in my tracks and raised both eyebrows. "We're not going home." Duncan smirked and snaked his arm around my shoulders, taking my bag from me and swung it over his left shoulder. "Come on", he said as he started walking again, dragging me along as his arm was still around my shoulders. He was a criminal without morals and just about everything I despised about the world, yet having him close made me feel strangely warm inside. Duncan's arm stayed around my shoulders for a couple of minutes while we walked in silence, before I realized just what was happening at the moment.
"Get off of me", I spoke up, breaking the silence once more, shaking his arm off of me. My tone was one of disdain and he simply snickered in response.
"Chill, Princess, no one sees us. I know you're hot for me." Duncan wiggled his eyebrows and threw a seductive smirk in my direction.
"I-I. I am not!" I gasped, almost shouting my response in his face. We stood still again and Duncan turned to face me, still with that stupid and attractive smirk plastered on. I tried my hardest to repress the rising heat in my cheeks, but the glimpse in his eyes told me I had failed.
"Oh come on, be honest for a sec. Admit it to yourself", Duncan whispered loudly and took a step closer. Our chests were mere centimeters from each other now and a big breath from either of us would make them touch. His smell hit my nose, it was a mixture of smoke, gasoline and body spray. It was a pleasant mixture that made it even harder to suppress my now flaming cheeks. "You find my rebellious behavior sexy." His breath swooped across my face, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
"I find your rebellious behavior incredibly stupid", I spat out in response. I did not nor could I ever find someone so pestering as Duncan attractive. Okay, so his smirk sometimes made me want to press my lips to his, but only so I wouldn't see it anymore. He was not hot!
"Keep telling yourself that, babe." Seductiveness had now replaced every trace of teasing in his voice and he took a step forward again, closing the gap between our chests. Suddenly I was very aware of our surroundings, my house was not far from here and I was not to be seen standing like this with someone of his kind in my own neighborhood. Quickly my foot made its way to Duncan's shin, hard. He grabbed his leg and jumped in agony, all while I smiled triumphantly.
"What was that for?" Duncan begged when he overcame the pain and straightened himself up to look at me again. I simply shrugged and grabbed my bag from where he had dropped it on the ground. He gave me a quick look of surprise before taking my wrist and dragging me away from the street and into the nearby woods.
We cut across someone's yard but Duncan didn't seem to even care as I screamed objections at him. When reaching the beginning of the woods I stopped trying to fight his iron grip and we continued to walk in silence for another five minutes, his hand still around my wrist. Eventually we made our way to a hidden campsite, a fire pit was in the center surrounded by two tents and one wooden bench. The ground was littered with old cigarettes and what looked like burned out joints, some beer cans laid spread out around the ground as well. Duncan finally let go of my wrist and sat down on the bench, taking a stick from the ground and lighting the tip of it on fire with his lighter.
"Ugh", I dropped my bag and dramatically extended my arms to the sides, "What are we doing here? What am I doing here?" Instead of answering me Duncan simply patted the seat next to him, asking without words for me to sit down.
"Princess, you need to learn how to relax", he says without any trace of teasing, but instead an unfamiliar layer of concern.
"I can have fun", I crossed my arms and look away from him, tilting my head upwards.
"That's not what I said", his voice still sounded concerned, though not as tense as before. Like he knew the stress and pressure I was under, like he cared about my wellbeing. "You can be plenty of fun without that stick up your ass", he continued and patted the bench again, "come here." Reluctantly I sat down beside him this time, I laid my bag on the ground and looked at the burning stick, making sure I was not to face his gaze burning hole in my side. He threw the stick in the fire pit and we both watched as the fire spread from branch to branch and eventually develop to big flames that warmed us both. Duncan leaned back and stretched out both of his arms along the back of the bench, slightly touching my shoulder as his arm draped behind me. In response I crossed my arms once again and leaned my elbow on the armrest.
"Step one", he snickered beside me and laid his arm around me, not just on the bench but actually on me. I quickly shook his arm off and looked him straight in the eye, giving him a dirty look to which he just smirked. "Relax, Princess", he stated again, like him telling me was going to make me feel at ease. I decided to turn my attention to the fire again, it was reaching upward and made me feel content even if only for a moment; the flames danced around each other and it was nearly hypnotic. In an instant my vision went foggy and the strong, sour smell of nicotine burned my nose.
"Ugh, seriously?" I exclaimed annoyed and scooted away from Duncan again. He blew a ring of smoke towards the fire and the flames danced around it, like a twisted ballet.
"You should try it, it's relaxing. And that's the whole point we're even here", he leaned in closer to me and wiggled his damn eyebrows again. If there was one thing that stood out among all of his incredibly bothersome flaws, it was those eyebrow wiggles that made everything into a sexual reference.
"It's a bad habit, I don't have those", I stated simply. A suppressed snort turned fake cough escaped Duncan's throat and I glared daggers at him.
"Oh please, you have more bad habits than anyone I know!" Duncan said in a loud voice and gestured dramatically to me with both his hands. "Well, except for like, Geoff", he continued under his breath and took another drag of his cigarette. Geoff was Duncan's accomplice, they partied and often ended up in big trouble. Bridgette had told me all about their antics, if they didn't beat her to the punch, she even had to pick her boyfriend up from the drunk tank a few times. I knew she had bailed him out once with money he hid in his room just in case he was thrown in actual jail, and lucky enough his parents never found out. Well lucky for Geoff and Bridgette, I had tried to reason with her to tell his parents anyway, it would have been the right thing to do in that scenario.
"Please, enlighten me", I scoffed at him and crossed my legs as well. Everything about my body language screamed uncomfortableness and want to simply get the heck out of the woods.
"Well", he began, "you always take too much on, all those extra curriculars of yours are wearing you out. You have absolutely no way to chill and it's starting to show." I immediately questioned him in my head. Exactly how is it showing? And what is it? Like a reflex I reached for my eyes and patted the puffy areas under both of them. Maybe he was right after all. No, it couldn't be. Duncan knew nothing about me. Nothing! "You don't get enough sleep, you freak out over every single little thing and make enemies when trying to make friends because you're so pushy. Not everyone in life is going to like you, babe." He took one last drag from his cigarette before throwing it into the fire, letting it be indulged by the flames. Once again he leaned backwards and put his arm up behind me, trying to make a point by gently squeezing my shoulder; this time I did not shrug him off. Maybe Duncan had a point after all, his biggest bad habit was being too relaxed, mine was that I couldn't. I tested the thought out in my mind before shaking my head vigorously.
"No, no you're wrong. I relax when I read or sleep, that is my alone time", I re-crossed my legs so they leaned towards Duncan instead of away. I didn't like to admit it, and I never would out loud, but being on a deserted bench with him was not as bad as I had first imagined. Not that I had imagined it. I never thought about Duncan except for when he was right next to me, and barely even then. No, I never thought about Duncan.
"Sleeping doesn't count", he sighed but somehow still managed to smirk, "unless you dream something soothing." And there he goes again with his god forsaken eyebrows, wiggling them like it was his job. Without thinking I lightly slapped him in the chest. "Ow", he whimpered and pouted. Though we both knew the slap was anything but painful, and even with this information I smiled triumphantly. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head as I smiled at him. I genuinely smiled, because of Duncan. I guess he too was confused by this as his next words pointed out the current state of my lips. "See, you know how to smile from something else than a book."
"Told you I can have fun", I teased and looked away from him, my smile fading to a neutral position. The darkness had now swallowed our environment and the, almost dying, fire was our only source of light. "Oh, god, what time is it?" I asked in a hurry, knowing I needed to be home and study. Not that anyone at home really cared, but structure is what kept me going.
"Uh", Duncan scratched his head and drew a beaten pocketwatch from his cargo pants, "fifteen minutes over four."
"I need to get home", I sprung up into standing position and started searching in the darkness for my bag.
"Princess, take it easy", Duncan said and stood up as well. He extinguished the fire quickly and pulled something from the ground. He reached his arm out to me and through the meek light in the forest I saw he held my bag in his hand.
"Thanks", I snatched the bag from him and looked down at my feet, feeling embarrassed by the sudden panic I had shown.
"Don't mention it, sweetheart. Now let's get you home", Duncan answered and started walking through the woods again.
A/N: I wanna thank ari-arts dot tumblr dot com for the great cover picture, go check her and her art out!