Welcome to the prologue of my Total Drama AU!

This is mainly going to be a bit of backstory prior to the events of the race regarding the twins and how they were brought on to begin with, as a big part of this AU is that Mickey and Jay are Don's biological kids.

Episode One of the race itself starts next chapter, and as you would expect from the nature of the prologue, is gonna take place from the twins' perspective throughout. As someone who is tired of reading cut-and-paste TDRR fanfics that reuse the same lines/events from the show with only a couple minor changes here and there for major characters, I plan on having a few different/extra events and new interactions throughout to make things a little more interesting.

This is the first actual fanfiction I've written, so as always, any feedback is appreciated! Either way, I hope you enjoy the story; the Adversity Twins deserve way more love than they get from the fandom and I will die on this hill ^^

And for anyone who is interested, you can find the main platform for this AU on my tumblr linked on my profile (adversity-twins-simp-blog)—it's got some extra goodies like art, Q&As, and concepts for the future of the AU, so feel free to check it out!


It has been five long, record-breaking seasons since Don Keoghan lost the battle over hosting rights for Total Drama to the now world-famous celebrity host, Chris McLean. But things have changed, and with the resounding failure of Total Drama: Pahkitew Island along with McLean's less-than-savory record and the shady dealings behind his early bail freshly circulated throughout the media—Don was more than ecstatic when the producers came knocking on his door with the contract for their new spin-off series for the show.

After years of mediocracy, forced to live in the shadow of a man he saw as his rival, Don finally had the upper hand. Depending on how successful this spin-off was, it was possible that the producers would put Chris on the shelf—permanently. All he had to do was make sure everything was perfect, and with how well interviews for the two-man teams had been going, the seamless scheduling of challenges brainstormed for the show, as well as the negotiating for the travel windows and accommodations working out far past the producers' expectations, Don was slated for a truly flawless start to his stardom. A performance to rival even that of Chris McLean's claim to fame.

If it weren't for one, small hiccup.

"Are you KIDDING me?! Now, of all times, you're telling me that I'M responsible for her kids!? Yeah- the kids I EXPLICITLY gave up any relation to YEARS ago with some hefty child support to avoid this exact situation- wait- what are you talking about- they can't just- gAH!"

Don slammed his phone down onto his desk as the other party abruptly ended their conversation. Slicking back his meticulously styled chestnut hair, he chewed at the inside of his cheek as he struggled to process the implications of the most unexpected turn of events.

Standing across the room, his agent, a blonde-haired woman by the name of Diane Layne, cleared her throat and flicked the stack of papers between her hands as her blue eyes looked the distressed host over with an unpierceable neutrality.

"Legal is firm about this, and all the receipts line up with the original dates." She stated calmly, gaze moving between the organized documents as she double-checked her work, "I'm certain we are all aware of the incident that took place a few years ago, and the producers would hate to have a repeat of said scandal hit the press just before the airing of their 'new and improved' take on McLean's old show. From what it looks like, you don't have many options here, Don."

Now pacing back and forth in front of his newly decorated office, Don had to restrain himself from biting his nails to relieve some of the crippling anxiety that welled within his chest, dark brown eyes darting about the room as he ran the words repeatedly through his head, "This is the opportunity of a lifetime! The producers are giving me one shot to get this right and I can't blow it! Why now?! Everyone finally forgets about that whole 'affair' and now, right before the launch of my show, she finds a way to ruin it for me again!"

Gesturing frantically with his arms in frustration, he paused his step a few moments after the last thing he said—letting a deep breath flow from his lungs as he shook his head and calmed his frazzled nerves to the best of his ability, whether to save face in front of his secretary or out of genuine pity was truly unknown.

"..No, I'm sorry. That's not right." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, "It's terrible that Julianna has passed away, but what am I supposed to do about it now? Those kids are pretty much adults, their mother just died, and I doubt they want anything to do with me after all these years—hell, I don't even know their names!"

Diane hummed noncommittally to Don's brief ranting, moving a hand briefly to push up her thin glasses before responding after she was certain he was finished, "Well, from the information we've been given, they're both physically disabled and in need of special care, more than what a government program could possibly provide—much like their mother it seems. Given your situation, as well as the hesitancy of the producers with hiring their 'second choice' after a different scandal involving McLean, I believe it would be in your best interest to accept the guardianship of these children to avoid another outburst in the media before the airing."

"And what-? Leave them here? I'll be traveling the world with these contestants for the show—I can't just adopt some kids I've never even met and leave them with a babysitter while I film the race-!" Don protested.

"Well, you've been debating over the eighteenth team for a couple weeks now, and it appears that the two children are identical twins. They're old enough to participate, they have an angle that can be milked for a decent enough fodder team, and you wouldn't have to worry about leaving them for the show. We just won't mention their parentage. No one has to know. And you can keep your job." Diane suggested, studying Don's appalled expression with a slight smirk before turning back towards the door, "I'll go ahead and make the arrangements. The producers are eager to get the legal vultures off their backs, so as long as you play along, there should be no more problems regarding past lovers or children going forward."

"Oh, and don't forget, the agent will be stopping by your residence with the twins at 3PM sharp. Try not to be late." Before Don could respond, his secretary was out the door, leaving the disheveled host to stew over the unorthodox mess he now found himself at the center of.


The past few days have been rough. And that was putting it lightly.

After bouncing around between foster care and the emergency room, the twins finally ended up in the backseat of a car on their way to being shipped off to the only person able to afford to care for them.

Jay, the eldest of the scrawny twin brothers, hugged his younger brother, Mickey, close to his side with an arm as he glanced out the window to watch the gloomy drizzle of rain against the glass as opposed to dealing with his motion sickness.

Before now, their biological father was nothing more than a passing mention off their mother's lips. Honestly, Jay never bothered to remember his name. All he knew was that the guy was just another deadbeat celebrity who wanted nothing to do with him, his brother, or their ailing mother.

And now their mother gone.

Hiding his grief from Mickey was probably the hardest thing Jay ever had to do, but no one else was around to support his brother but him, and he had to be strong. As he looked back over to his brother, helmet-wearing head tucked against his shoulder as he attempted to rest his eyes despite the noticeable quiver in his lip, a small smile graced Jay's grim face. Mickey was always terrible at masking his feelings. Outside of his anxiety, he was the most outgoing and expressive of the twins—as prone to injury as he could be. But that went for either of them at this point.

If anything, when he was already used to living one day at a time, it was only natural to shove the grief deep down when there was so much to resent about the present. Especially the mysterious father they'd finally be meeting. The man who conceived them as an accident. The man who left their mother to wither away without so much as a postcard to remember him by. A man who Jay was not very fond of, nor ever planned to be.

But before he had time to ponder further on how much he dreaded meeting their father, the car had come to a stop in a gated driveway. A mere glance out the window could already tell that the estate—while not quite as extravagant as the standard millionaire—was still the home of someone with serious money to their name. Anxiety gnawed at the edges of Jay's mind as they passed along the private road, like they were trespassing in some place they were never meant to be when in reality they were going to be the new residents under their father's roof.

It was eerie, in a way Jay couldn't find the words to describe.

Before long the car finally rolled to a stop at the top of the looping driveway. Their agent, a fairly short and unsociable woman with dark skin and chestnut brown hair, glanced back at them through the rear-view mirror with narrow brown eyes.

"We're here. Mr. Keoghan says he's already in the foyer waiting, are you guys ready to head in?" The young woman asked, her inflection lacking the edge of harshness or seriousness echoed by many of the other agents they've spoken to the past few days.

Gently nudging his brother awake with his elbow, Jay glared at the sight of the arching wooden doors from the window before looking back down to Mickey to get his drowsy nod of approval before shrugging his shoulders in a non-committal manner, "..Ready as we'll ever be."

"Coolio, let's go then!" The agent—he believed her last name might've been Aston—replied as she got out of the driver's seat and walked around to open the door for the twins.

Jay grimaced and squinted as his rather sensitive eyes took a moment to get used to the change in lighting as he stepped out of the vehicle. Both he and Mickey had poor eyesight, something having to do with their abnormally vivid blue eyes, but while Jay could see well enough with a hefty pair of contacts, Mickey was legally blind. He could still see things decently when they were close to him, but anything past a few feet devolved into a blur of colors and shapes that became indistinguishable the further away they got.

After helping Mickey out of the vehicle, the trio headed up the steps to the intimidating entryway. Upon their agent ringing the doorbell, the sounds of banging and a bit of scuttling across a wooden floor could be heard before they were greeted by a brunette man of average height yanking open the door to meet them—awkwardly brushing himself off to regain his composure before offering a forced smile and looking them over with brown eyes that were barely masking deep pools of paranoia.

Clearing his throat, the man spoke, and Jay felt Mickey's timid hands clutch tighter against his puffy cerulean sleeve, "Greetings! I mean- hello there! Ah- you're with the agency, right? We talked over the phone, uhm, so you must be..?"

Ms. Aston blinked with an empty expression at Mr. Keoghan before responding, "Haley Aston, and yeah I'm here to drop off your kids—pleasure to meet you sir."

Don hesitated, clearly waiting for her to introduce the twins beside her to no avail before exhaling in defeat and gesturing for them to come in with another smile, "Right! Yes! Come in, I'm sure you've got some things I need to sign and..whatnot-"

The twins looked at each other quizzically, not really sure what to make of this so far, but seeing as there wasn't another option, they slowly shuffled into the impressive foyer after Ms. Aston.

"Hang tight kiddos, me and your dad just gotta have a little 'adult talk' before you're free to go." The young woman grinned, patting the twins on the head before pulling Don over to the table in the connecting kitchen and plopping a stack of papers in front of him.

Pushing his curly hair out of his face, Jay grimaced a little, gaze instinctively flickering back to Mickey beside him as the small boy whimpered against his arm.

"..Are you okay, Mick?" Jay asked quietly, studying him for any of the usual signs of distress.

"Y-Yeah..sorry.." Mickey whispered, flashing Jay a weak gap-toothed grin, "..J-Just a little scared, I guess…I-I miss mom.."

Wincing, Jay tried his best to put on a smile of his own as he rested his free hand against one of Mickey's, "I know. I do too. But look- it's gonna be okay, alright? We still have each other, just like in the third grade, or at the zoo, or after that school play that went really really wrong- I'll always be there for you."

Mickey's nervous expression softened at his words, a more genuine smile turning up the corners of his lips as he loosened his grip on his brother's arm to give him a proper hug, "T-Thank you Jay..you're right! W-We'll always have each other's backs!"

Patting Mickey reassuringly on the back of his aqua jacket, Jay hummed in agreement, jolting suddenly when a noise from the kitchen startled him and drew away his attention.

"That should do it! Medical history is that huge binder there, all the medication they had at home is in the bag there, and the rest of the important stuff is on the table right over there!" Ms. Aston's voice rang out as she slung her bag over her shoulder and started walking towards the door, looking back to wave a half-hearted goodbye to the twins, "He's all yours kiddos, good luck!"

Before Jay could even respond, the woman was out the door, leaving the twins alone with their father—who now awkwardly cleared his throat to alleviate the tense silence as he walked over to greet them.

"Right- uhm- so as I'm sure you're aware, my name is Don Keoghan, host of Truth or Man-Eating Beaver, Wheel of Misfortune, and guest judge on The Great Canadian Bakeoff—but you can call me dad-" Don's confident voice faltered as he noticed the blank stares and lack of a response from the twins, "-or..not."

Glancing back at one of the documents in his hand, he smiled again, "So, you must be Jay—" he started as he pointed to Mickey, "And you must be Mickey, right?" his finger moved to Jay, "It's nice to finally meet yo-"

"I'm Jay. He's Mickey." Jay interrupted bluntly, pointing to the proper twin for each name—Mickey offering a tiny wave—as Don stared in silence for a moment before stuttering a bit to cover his bluster.

"O-Oh! Right- right- my bad! It's just uh- with twins y'know- pretty much look the same! You could almost swear they're identical sometimes! Haha!" He laughed in embarrassment, wincing as Mickey piped up to correct him again:

"..Y-Yeah. We're identical twins."

"Greaat. Great. Glad to hear it-" Don continued, exhaling heavily before addressing the elephant in the room, "Okay, just to get it out of the way, I know this is going to be strange for all of us- I mean- the last thing I was expecting before the most important moment of my life was to become the guardian of two nearly-grown children- but here we are."

"I've got a spare room set up for you, since I was told you liked to be close together, but if I were you I wouldn't get too comfortable—because in a few days we'll be on our way to Toronto to air the first episode of The Ridonculous Race!" Don exclaimed, much to the surprise of the twins.

"..I'm sorry, what?" Jay replied, dumbfounded, before Don continued:

"Well, to sum it up, I'm the host of the newest reboot of the Total Drama franchise. A race around the world with eighteen teams competing in crazy challenges for one million dollars! Ahem- sorry- what I mean to say is that because I'll be gone for a couple months filming the race, and by legal obligation I can't just leave you two with a sitter here, the producers and I have decided to bring you both onto the show as two of the thirty-six contestants-!"

"I'm sorry. WHAT? No. No, no, no- we are not doing that-!" Jay objected as soon as the utter shock of the announcement wore off, "Are you kidding me?! Do we look like reality show material to you!? You didn't even know our NAMES a few minutes ago and you want us to go on your stupid show and put ourselves in danger just so you aren't inconvenienced?!"

"Err- well- when you put it that way.." Don grimaced, putting his hands up in surrender before muttering the second part of his sentence, "..but since you're both technically adults, if you won the million you could do whatever you wanted with it-"

Before Jay could open his mouth in a far more bristling retort to the host, a softer voice spoke up in his stead, "W-We'll do it!"

Jay stared at his brother in shock, "M-Mickey!? What are you doing-!"

"L-Look on the bright side Jay, it c-could be fun! I've always wanted to travel, and maybe we could even make a few new f-friends!" Mickey murmured back sheepishly, taking in his brother's unconvinced look before shrugging, "..C-C'mon Jay..you gotta at least give Don a shot.."

Hesitating, Jay looked between them for a minute with crossed arms before growling in defeat and shaking his head with a heated look cast towards is father, "..Ugh..fine. I hope you have time to read over our medical alert charts before your 'big debut,' I'd hate to ruin a take by getting sent to the ER over my life-threatening allergies-"

Don looked somewhat relieved with Mickey's cooperation, attempting to meet the younger twin's gaze only for the boy to look away, "Fantastic! Don't you worry, I've already sent out my secretary to pick up the medication you need for the duration of the show—so, uhm, how about you boys get settled in and I'll..order a pizza? Is that what kids like?"

Glancing between each other with looks of disdain and mild excitement respectively, Mickey finally piped up with a smile that came a little more naturally than before, "S-Soy please!"