***Spoiler Warning***

This fic contains spoilers from TDI 2023 Reboot season 2! If you have not seen anything from this season yet and do not wish to be spoiled, this is your LAST call to turn back!


Okay, now that the spoiler warning is out of the way, I would like to say that yes I am aware I have still not finished "Tied" yet and I apologize. I hit a REALLY severe burnout on it and I still haven't found the motivation to finish it. So I really do apologize. :( That and I am still trying to finish my Nemma fanfic slowly but surely since I have been working on it for almost 4 years and I REALLY want to finish it sooner rather than later for all of my readers who have been so patient for updates on it over the years. But, to stave off more burnout, I just HAD to write a little one-off fic here for MK and Julia. Again, I know I am no longer in the target demographic for this show anymore, but I am just LOVING this reboot. It is the return to the quality that I was hoping for in this show and its characters that I loved since the show premiered when I was 12! Plus, as someone who is demisexual heteromantic with a variety of LGBTQ+ friends, it is SO refreshing to see a variety of different relationships starting up in this show now! Bowie and Raj are so refreshing and now… there seems to be a possibility of another same-sex couple on the show? Okay, I know it is "Total Drama" and anything can happen, but I literally cannot believe the almost 'flirty subtext' they are establishing between MK and Julia so far! Like this could seriously be the chance of having the first official lesbian couple of "Total Drama"! Again, I know Bowie and Raj alone already broke the LGBTQ+ barrier in the show officially, but MK and Julia possibly becoming a thing is something that just really hits a special place in my heart. One is a bit personal since one of my friends who I watched TD with in middle school and high school is a lesbian and I was the first person she came out to while we were still in high school, so having a genuine ship like MKulia in the original series would have meant a lot to her to see that representation during our younger teens. Then… I just love any good villain couple! Aleheather was my favorite ship from the original show and these two new devious schemers are giving me similar vibes (as well as TDI Duncan and Heather vibes for some reason) and have the potential to be an almost healthier version of Aleheather! You know, considering Julia and MK can at least communicate and work together without constantly feeling the need to screw eachother over, despite me also loving that about Aleheather but I digress. Lol. XD Well, unless the writers decide to pull the ultimate 'Uno Reverse Card' and have this alliance totally fall apart with the possibility of Julia and MK eventually turning on each other to win, especially with Julia TOTALLY throwing MK under the bus last season to eliminate her and then having it going almost entirely unspoken this season? Yeah, anything can happen, but for now… I am going to write something for MKulia before they are possibly ruined and strike while the iron is hot! Haha. This chapter begins later at night following the episode 6 elimination ceremony. Hope you all enjoy what I came up with here!

It was approaching 3 am and everyone was fast asleep after the previous events of their latest challenge, well… almost everyone.

MK, who had been trying to force herself to sleep, was not able to.

Despite getting her comeuppance from having Chris find out about her 'covert cheating', Chris had to fold eventually that day for now and allow MK to have her 'contractually entitled medical care' at the medical tent.

And... it wasn't much, really was not much in MK's opinion.

But, considering the "Total Drama" medical team's idea of 'suitable medical care' for MK after she had her ass handed to her by a bear was to have some medicine cabinet-grade bandaids for the cuts on her face, an ice pack for her swelling and bruises, and a couple of ibuprofen… yeah, MK knew she should not be shocked by any of that.

Especially now that she was tossing and turning in her dustmite-ridden mattress on her old-as-time itself-looking bunk bed, it was clear that the ibuprofen especially hardly made a crap and a half of difference in her pain to at least be able to help her sleep.

Though considering the rest of her body was still sore as all get out from her 'bear beatdown', she doubted there was anywhere else she could be other than her bed where she would feel even remotely any degree of 'comfortable' anyway.

MK kept on straining her eyes shut to try and force herself to sleep, as well as silently cursing out Chris (despite also internally acknowledging she had it coming by thinking that intern uniform and mustache were enough to conceal her identity).

Plus, MK knew it was on her too.

After all, MK knew that it was idiotic to assume Chris was NEVER going to catch on to her and Julia cheating their way through the challenges. Particularly since MK knew more than anyone that Chris watched the confessionals occasionally and saw her and Julia brag about their 'cheating scheme' and practically announce it on several occasions with her 'in-character' via the intern uniform. Then take that plus her getting cocky and stealing Chris's hair dryer to stick it to him for a laugh even more… yup, she knew things would bite her in the ass eventually.

Growing up on a pretty strict budget in a lower-income part of Toronto as a child of a single and constantly working mother, MK spent most of her time as a child hanging around her older cousin, who showed MK 'the way of the pickpocket' to be able to 'make up the difference' on getting things they could not afford 'the fair-way'.

Plus, her cousin also taught her a very important lesson in the theoretical 'rule-breaker playbook for underhanded degenerates':


You're only in the wrong on something if you're dumb enough to get caught.


Well, at least until her cousin got thrown into jail for forgery last year and only reinforced that point to MK even more that maintaining your anonymity and 'carefully covering your tracks' in your actions is everything… and that she can't afford to be careless anymore, particularly in the competition.

And not just about the competition when it comes to getting 'too comfortable' with… things.

But, she knew that was a thought for later. Now, however, she needed to sleep to be able to outsmart her competition tomorrow more effectively.

MK kept on trying to force herself to sleep, or she was trying until the lights were all of a sudden turned on in the cabin and her blanket was ripped off as she heard Julia immediately say, but still keeping her tone quieter than normal, "Hey, get up! We need to strategize, now. "

While MK and Julia were still staying by themselves in the girl's side of their team's cabin even after the merge (mostly because they hated everyone else there), it's not like the walls were thick enough to conceal any conversations.

Although MK would usually have a better sarcastic remark, she was too tired, too bruised up, and too irritated already to comply with this 'impromptu 3 am alliance meeting' Julia was for whatever reason trying to facilitate right now. This prompted MK to just reach down and blindly pull her blanket back up and then over her head to ignore Julia and continue to try to sleep.

Right then, MK's eyes went wide when she felt what she was 1000% sure was Julia grabbing her by the left ankle with both hands and yanking her out of bed by the leg until she landed on the floor of the cabin hard.

MK immediately went on a knee-jerk reaction as she held the back of her head in pain and sat up as she started, but also still trying to be mindful of her volume, "OW! Julia, what the?!..."

However, MK immediately went silent when she looked up to see Julia giving her a VERY determined look with her hands on her hips, still in her pajamas with her eye mask pulled up past her forehead.

And despite Julia not even saying anything yet, MK knew Julia way too well by now that she didn't literally just pull her out of bed by her ankle to get her attention just for 'shits and giggles'.

MK could see that Julia wanted them to strategize… and she wanted to strategize now.

Upon first meeting Julia, MK would be flat-out lying if she said that she respected Julia from the get-go.

To MK, especially when Julia was still hiding behind her 'insufferable influencer facade', she was not someone MK thought much about.

After all, what was there to say about her?

She seemed just like every other attention-seeking, preening hot girl online influencer given sponsorships and brand deals just because she records and posts a bunch of dumb videos about 'self-care' and 'fashion crap' for views and attention.

But, once that facade finally peeled away and even after Julia turned the tables on her to get her booted last season, MK couldn't deny it… she actually... kinda… respected Julia in a way that she was not expecting.

Because after everything MK saw Julia do even after she got her booted from the show, Julia was not just some insufferably brainless, entitled, and lazy hot girl influencer like she originally thought she was.

In all actuality, Julia was determined, ruthless, sneaky, and… smart. Well, not as smart as herself still obviously in MK's mind, but Julia was smart and MK knew she'd be an idiot to deny that.

And in some very weird-ass way, that sort of feeling was reciprocal between them.

Sure, when it came down to it, they also both knew they would and will turn on eachother to win at the first opportunity if the million was right in front of the two of them.

But, for now, they were turning out to be a force to be reckoned with and so far have been very… amicable, if not even liking being in each other's company.

After all, Julia admitted to 'liking her style', even if that cryptically ambiguous comment was enough to make MK overthink it to this day as to what exactly Julia meant when she aimed that compliment at her and if was in an 'including but not limited to' kind of way?

MK decided to shake that thought out and push it back into the deepest recess of her mind palace along with other things she's been determined to ignore.

Although right now, it was clear she couldn't completely ignore Julia since that previously mentioned 'determination' was radiating from her grayish-purple eyes until eventually, Julia directed, "Look, we need to get thinking now to stay ahead of the rest of these buttknuckles."

MK, still rubbing the spot on the back of her head that whacked the floor, continued to give Julia a slightly annoyed and confused look about where this 'insistence' came from before commenting, "And this needs to happen at 3 am, why? Unless you didn't notice, I was trying to sleep. Couldn't this wait another couple hours?"

Julia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes a little before scoffing and saying, "Um, yeah, because you seemed like you were really 'trying to sleep' over there. Or was the grossly annoying squeaking from you flopping around like a dying fish on your bunk and keeping me awake just something I was 'imagining' or whatever?"

It was silent between them as Julia crossed her arms and quirked up an eyebrow in almost a 'tell me if I'm wrong' kind of way. Eventually, MK just shrugged and conceded, "Eh, touché. But hey, and just saying, you try to sleep with grapefruit-sized bruises on your face after being attacked by a gloved-up grizzly bear."

"But, you're still 'here', aren't you? Or did you forget who was practically campaigning for Bowie's elimination immediately after getting my nose reset in the medical tent just to keep you in the game?" Julia immediately replied matter-of-fact with a smirk.

But, MK was quick to fire back with a similarly matter-of-fact, "And by 'keep me in the game', you also mean to keep you in the game. Or was it all just because you wanted Bowie gone too?"

Eventually, the two of them just mutually conceded with a smirk, knowing they could go on like this for a while with comebacks, MK especially knew she definitely could in this department.

Although MK went wide-eyed a little as Julia sat cross-legged across from her on the floor and started, "But, for real here… we need to come up with a plan. Because right now, we are outnumbered on an island full of 'rule-followers'. Well, except maybe Ripper but…"

Julia paused before her and MK just made eye contact before mutually saying in agreement, "It's Ripper."

They both let out a slight laugh at their mutual opinion of the sad fact that Ripper was pretty much the only person other than them with little to no moral code… as well as the fact that they think he is total non-threat to their strategy.

However, Julia started up again as she elaborated, "I mean it, MK. Now that Bowie is gone… there is a giant target tagged onto both of us now. So, while they're still sleeping and before they try to pick us off… we need to find a way to pick them off first."

Even though MK still wasn't cracked up about the fact that this 'strategy meeting' was taking place before the butt crack of dawn and she wanted to just peel off her own face from how much pain she was in and go back to bed, MK understood why Julia wanted to do this right now… and that she definitely had a point.

Honestly, to MK, Julia was 100% right.

In terms of the theoretical 'heroes and villains' left in the competition, Julia and her were the only true 'villains' left. Well again, not that Ripper was necessarily in the 'good category', he was definitely not something either of them saw as a threat.

Especially with Axel keeping him 'distracted'... yeah, not really a threat.

But, this was part of the reason why her and Julia kind of naturally gravitated into an alliance together at the start. Because at the end of the day, both of them were there to win… and they knew it would be much easier to get to the million dollars by mowing down all their 'threats' using any and every means necessary.

After all, neither Julia or MK mind getting their hands dirty and screwing over whoever they have to in order to get the things they want.

As MK and Julia like to joke about together, 'it's the upside of having zero moral compass'.

After all, and at the end of the day, both of them are scheming scammers.

Sure Julia's not an expert 'pickpocket' or 'hacker' or 'lockpicker' (another skill MK learned from her cousin before he went to jail) that she'll use if she sees 'something cool' in the back seat of a car that isn't nailed down, but as an online influencer… what is Julia but the exact same thing in terms of scamming and scheming her way into getting what she wants?

After all, that was the epitome of what Julia was when she first arrived on the show, especially with her fake 'self-improvement spiritualistic influencer' persona.

Sure, they eliminated Bowie and Nichelle and both of them were very distinct threats this season, but… that was 'small potatoes' to them now.

Because as much as Julia detested Bowie and MK wasn't really a huge fan of him constantly being 'wishy-washy' with their plans to cheat just because he 'didn't want to upset Raj'... what did either of them care?

Bowie outlived his usefulness to them and he was a very strong player… and they got rid of him the first opportunity they got the first chance they got mere hours ago.

Even with Nichelle, and despite Julia taking all the credit for tricking her with that fake movie contract, that was actually a 'joint effort' of the alliance. While Julia was not totally lying that she did most of the writing, MK was the 'forgery genius' behind actually making it look legit enough for an experienced actress like Nichelle to buy it enough to voluntarily leave the show.

At that moment, the devious duo looked like they were really thinking about the current situation in silence.

Eventually, MK motioned out in front of herself as she started, "Well, let's point out the obvious here. Who can we immediately put in the 'reject pile' as total non-threats?"

Almost instantly, "Well, let's see… Ripper's for sure not, I still swear Zee has no idea what's going on half the time anyway so not him either, and honestly Wayne and Raj... Or, wait, actually can we at least just send Wayne home?"

MK gave her a confused look before replying, "Why? At least you had Tweddle-Dumb to help you carry your canoe earlier. Besides, Wayne barely knows what's happening half the time either, so what kind of a threat is he? Or would you have rather inherited my 'crap parade' of carrying that canoe being weighed down by the entire island's animal population?"

Julia rolled her eyes before saying, "Honestly, I feel like I would have traded with you actually. If I wanted to be incessantly annoyed by dumb boys, then I'd rather go back to my old high school before I became an influencer. Because trust me, Wayne's 'idiot echo chamber' the entire way down to the lake as he kept yelling up into the canoe made me wish we made it to the second round with the sharks together. Speaking of… what do you think of Damien?"

MK shrugged, "Well, he's definitely not stupid… or useless. He eliminated both you and Bowie earlier, so… he's obviously capable enough. Honestly, I think he's a 'random factor'. Sure he's got some skills, but the dude is terrified of almost everything so, how about we keep him 'mid-pile' for now on the 'boot list'?"

Even though Julia was still a bit 'salty' about being eliminated in the stupidest way possible during her round with Damien in the jousting challenge, even she gave MK a nod in agreement before replying, "Sure, so… taking all those buttknuckles out, that leaves us with Axel, Caleb, and Priya. And look, I know Priya and Caleb seem like obvious threats and there is also something going on there. But… I think we should go for Axel next. I know all she seems like she is doing lately is being all over Ripper for some weird-ass reason, but… she's still not totally useless and getting rid of her can also make it easier to get rid of Ripper."

MK thought through the logic and nodded in agreement before replying, "Honestly, true. Besides, Ripper'll probably implode in on himself like the saddest, grossest fart cloud ever once she's gone since he was already useless on our team even before that."

They both scoffed out a laugh at MK's comment before MK continued, "Well, for real, I have no idea how we can get at Axel though. Sure Ripper 'distracts her', but… I just feel like we need to do more to mess with her head. Maybe I can start with swiping her 'doomsday bag' and hide her stuff? That would make her go berserk enough get everyone else off our tracks."

Immediately after, MK smirked at her own 'suggestion' until Julia leaned forward slightly with a smirk of her own and pointed on emphasis before adding, "Or once you steal her bag, I can try to find a way to pin it on someone? Either she'll rip the head off whoever she finds with her bag or do something else crazy and get herself eliminated because of it. Either way, there's material for us to work with there and lets us off the hook for elimination."

MK's eyes went wide for a second before settling out as she smirked back at Julia and commented, "I like the devious way you think."

Julia just kept smirking and shrugged slightly before saying, "Thanks. Why? Was there some doubt? I thought you knew me way better than that by now?"

Without even thinking, MK smirked and scoffed out a laugh before looking back at Julia and saying, "I like to think that. But, why? I thought you liked the validation?"

Julia almost coyly looked off to the side before looking back at MK with an equally coy yet sly smirk and replying, "I do… but, I've figured out that I don't exactly need it to get what I want."

Almost immediately after, MK felt her heart pounding in her chest and was trying to quite literally force a blush back when Julia leaned more toward her.

But, continuing to try to ignore 'it', despite how almost literally impossible Julia was making it for MK to ignore it right now, MK was quick to try to seamlessly get things back on track, "Speaking of, getting something we want here. It looks like Priya and Caleb are already trying to get that immunity idol, which let's be honest… we need that WAY more than they do."

MK almost had to fight back a sigh of relief when Julia looked like she took in what MK just brought up and replied, "Agreed. But, that goes back to Priya and Caleb though. I want them gone sooner rather than later too. Because let's be real here, they are the strongest players here other than us."

MK decided to keep rolling with getting the situation back into something more 'comfortable' for her and less 'distracting' and 'tempting' as she added, "Oh, for sure, especially since it seems like the two of them are definitely in an alliance at minimum. So, once we get aggro-apocalypse booted, what do you say we find a way to get in some heads?"

MK kept smirking and Julia immediately mirrored her expression before continuing on MK's train of throught, "Definitely. Especially now that we're in the merge, Priya and Caleb are threats, but… I'm pretty sure there's also something else going on there with them too. Something that we can exploit and use to our advantage when we 'break that up'."

MK's smirk almost grew even more in satisfaction as she commented deviously, "Oh, I like the sound of that."

Julia and MK kept holding her deviously satisfied expressions as Julia started up again, "Perfect. Besides, there's only room for one alliance on this Island, and we need to make sure that alliance is just us."

MK was about to say something to agree until every muscle in her body locked up as she felt something warm and soft cover the back of her right hand that was resting palm down on the floor, causing her glance down and was straining and internally grasping for any bit of composure and self-control she could grasp when she noticed Julia resting her hand on top of her's.

MK pursed her lips together tight as she simultaneously bit her tongue, especially when she also noticed Julia leaning closer to her until their faces were mere centimeters apart. At this point, and even though her face still hurt like hell, MK was never so happy to have her face covered in bruises to help cover up the blush she felt break through her self-control floodgates and directly on her face.

Even if that didn't stop MK from cursing herself out since this kind of situation was exactly what she was looking to avoid, especially since she just made the critical mistake of making eye contact with Julia. MK at this point felt like her heart was going to bust through her rib cage at any second.

But, determined to try and keep her cool in more ways than one, MK just smirked back and said, "Got that right. But, I think I'm gonna grab a shower before everyone else wakes up since these bruises are really starting to sting worse than when my aunt's cat decides it wants to scratch you for no stupid reason. But, maybe we can circle back to all that later while we're looking for the immunity idol. I've noticed Caleb and Priya usually go for a morning run before breakfast every day. So, what do you say we beat them to it this morning to really try to stick it to 'em?"

Although Julia seemed slightly thrown off for a split second by the abrupt end to the current 'situation', she eventually (and much to MK's complete relief) looked like she was fully on board with MK's idea as she agreed, "Not a bad idea."

Deciding to take her 'get out of jail free card' while she had it, MK just got up and smirked as she responded confidently, "Hey, I like to think most of my ideas end up being pretty good, right?" With that, MK grabbed her towel and toiletry bag before walking out of the cabin and walking to the communal bathrooms. Once she was inside, set herself up, and closed the curtain on her shower stall, MK reached out instinctively for the hot water like usual.

Well, until her hand stopped short of the knob marked with an 'H' as her thoughts she kept continually shoving into the back of her mind palace were continuing to try to claw and scrape their way to the forefront of her mind.

Because, even if she was continuing to deny it for the sake of her logic and sanity, MK couldn't deny it completely.

She has a thing for Julia… really has a thing for Julia.

Sure, she obviously thinks she's 'physically attractive', but to MK… it wasn't just that.

Because not only is her crush on Julia physical, but it's also a mental crush too.

Especially after MK saw how conniving, strategic, and ruthless Julia was, she really gained a very weird respect for her. Then add on her spending more time around her in their alliance this season… yeah, even MK could not deny that she actually has a full-on crush on Julia to the point that it was kind of embarrassing to admit even to herself.

MK was never really the 'crushes' or 'dating' type since she was perfectly fine spending her time alone in a nicer part of Toronto trying and succeeding to blindly steal wallets off upper-middle-class business people on the street or sitting in coffee shops on the weekends with her laptop (which she bought using money she got from selling things she stole) and hacking into other people's computers with crap security using the sketchy communal Wi-Fi in hopes of getting something good.

MK was perfectly content to just spend her life chasing after her 'real love' in the form of money and never thought anything would distract her from it… until now.

Again, she can admit to her crush on Julia since she has had way too many personal thoughts and fantasies about her in her head at this point for her to deny that.

But the moment, MK really realized it was going to be harder than she thought to internalize her crush when she realized that things with Julia were more reciprocal than she originally thought in their 'alliance'.

Considering Julia on a few different occasions now, even before 'the hand incident' that just happened back in the cabin, has shown that she's into her too. Or at least to MK it definitely seemed obvious that Julia was into her too, especially since Julia is a lot better at flirting only makes it that much harder and almost painful for MK to continue to keep stomping down her real feelings for her current 'partner in crime'.

Even now, MK looked like she was slowly but surely getting lost in a thought spiral as anything and everything that had to do with Julia slowly kept consuming her mind.

Well, until MK just scrunched her eyes and shook her head before immediately reaching out for the cold water knob without hesitation and turning it on.

Initially, she winced at the ice-cold water for a second, but then eventually settled out to a relieved smirk as she said to herself, almost like she was also breathing a sigh of relief at keeping her feelings at bay, "Oh yeah, that's much better."

Sure the cold water was not in any way relaxing, but it was exactly what MK needed right now to focus.

Because in the end, MK came to win... and she was not going to let her feelings for Julia get the best of her to distract her, no matter what.

Again, I know this was just a little one-off thing for MK and Julia, but I do hope you all enjoyed it! What I really wanted to capture here was kind of taking the 'something old, something new' strategy with writing these two. Because while the 'flirty subtext' is very entertaining in the new season, I also kind of miss MK and Julia irking eachother a bit from the original season. So, I decided to revive that with MK trying to ignore Julia's demands for an unreasonably early alliance meeting only for Julia to quite literally drag MK out of her bed to get her way, as well as MK's attention. Another thing I wanted to highlight was how Julia is the more 'forward' of the two and more upfront about her 'thing' for MK. I mean, I think we all haven't forgotten the 'if MK's brain drove a cool car, she'd date it' comment Julia made… and how in the Italian version Julia apparently even just went straight into 'marriage' during that confessional scene. But conversely, and I know some fans of MKulia agree about this, but I don't think MK would be as forward as Julia. Sure, I believe MK's feelings are fully mutual with the current angle the show is taking, but I don't see MK being the 'flirting type' and she would prefer stomping down her real feelings until they are nearly dead to her and buried. Especially competing with someone she likes, I just don't see MK being the type to willingly to throw away a chance at a million dollars just because of a crush. Again, I know there is a chance all of this could be ruined in the show, but I just wanted to write a fun fic highlighting these two devious schemers. Haha. Plus, I also hope you enjoyed my headcanon on MK. She strikes me as someone who grew up in a household with either completely absent or busy parents who just kind of left her to her own devices. And then adding MK maybe also growing up in a bit of a rougher area, she'd turn to more underhanded means and skills in order to survive and get what she wants. This would also make her crush on someone like Julia, who lives a completely different lifestyle than her, all the more interesting! But, that's just my thoughts anyway. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I hope you all enjoyed the fic. And as always, constructive feedback is always very much appreciated if you can spare it.

Happy Holidays all!

Dexter1995