Chapter Text
✧₊⁎★⁺˳✧༚
The wind rustled through the trees as the sound of creaking travelled on the wind. Duncan sat on the wooden deck of the loser’s cabin, repeatedly stabbing his knife into the deck and wrenching it free. He had a tendency to fidget with his knife and damage things when he was anxious. But what should he care? Not his damn cabin, his team would win soon anyway. His mind was honestly not even focused on his annoying team. He was thinking about Mike- or should he call him Mal?
Mal. He hated him with every ounce of his being. The thought of that bastard made his blood boil. He hated him, but the thought of Juvie made him sick. Mal made his life a living hell, and now that Duncan had connected the dots he was living with pretty consistent paranoia. Mal.. he was always making his life so fucking miserable. Duncan couldn’t believe Mal had everyone fooled, Mike couldn’t exist. Mike was probably just some fake new identity so he could hide his true nature from everyone. Duncan slammed the knife blade into the brittle wood of the deck. He sighed and thought about it again. He didn’t truly know whether that was true. It’s not like it was just Mike, there was that dancer one with the annoying voice and that old guy impression. Duncan knew there were a few others but he honestly didn’t care about them. His main dilemma was Mike vs Mal. It’s not like Mal had done anything yet, maybe he was overreacting. Mike seems to claim to be a host or something, but Duncan’s fairly confident that Mal is the main one in control. Somewhere deep in his heart he hoped that Mal really was gone for good. Everyone seemed to trust Mike, but he couldn’t anymore.
He struggled a bit to pull the knife out. Just as Duncan wriggled his knife free, he looked up to see Mike sneaking out of the hero’s cabin. He’s unsure whether it’s Mike or Mal, so he pockets the knife, keeping it close as he stands up. Duncan steps out of the shadows to greet Mike in the moonlight, wrapping his arm around Mike’s shoulder. He knew full well that it would scare the crap out of Mike, intimation was what he was going for.
Mike nearly jumped out of his skin in suprise- but he quickly felt a hand cover his mouth to prevent him from shouting.
“Dude relax.. it’s me.”
Mike recognized that voice. He was not at all comforted by the idea of Duncan sneaking up behind him. From what he’d seen Duncan wasn’t the greatest person and definitely more aggressive than friendly. What the fuck was wrong with him? Mike was so frustrated that he was concerned for a moment Chester might front, but fear and adrenaline somehow kept him grounded.
Duncan takes his hand off of Mike’s mouth before forcefully guiding Mike to go with him.
“Let’s go for a walk, it’s a nice night.”
Mike is heavily off put by this proposition, but he doesn’t have much else to do. He’s scared that if he falls asleep again he might sleepwalk and break other peoples things, so why not.
“Okay.. Okay I guess but maybe be a little less- aggressive- next time.”
Mike reaches a hand to push Duncan’s arm off of him.
Duncan takes the hint and lifts his arms in the air, doing that classic freeze pose that one does after getting caught by the cops. Except Duncan wouldn’t freeze for the cops, he’d probably run from them.
“Fine- I get it.”
There is some awkward tension as the walk started. Duncan is on edge due to Mal and Mike is on edge because who the hell starts a conversation like that? He felt like he was getting jumped.. the thought of that made his head spin.
Duncan took notice of Mike’s zoned out appearance and waved his hand in front of his face to snap him out of it
“Like I said- relax. We’re just going for a walk.”
Mike regains his composure and continued his weirdly timed stroll with Duncan. Maybe small talk would fix it?
“So.. uh.. haha… what are you doing out here.. it’s night.”
Duncan doesn’t even look at Mike, instead holding his gaze forward, like he has a destination in mind.
“I could say the same about you. What’s the deal? Why are you leaving the winners cabin. I wouldn’t be leaving that kind of luxury alone.”
Mike felt like that was a bit of an accusation. ‘Was he suspicious of me? Does he know I broke those things?’ He shakes that thought out of his head.
“Oh- I needed some fresh air..”
Duncan actually did look at him this time, with a blank stare that read ‘really?’
Mike gulped before continuing.
“And what i meant to add was.. I’m.. I’m trying to avoid sleeping. It’s easier in the loser cabin but there? I could fall asleep at the table”
Duncan laughs at Mike’s crappy explanation and Mike honestly isn’t sure if he’s heard Duncan laugh over something so.. not evil? Weird.
Duncan couldn’t help himself. It was a little funny that a glare worked that well.
“Okay I get that but why are you avoiding sleep? Chris give you some secret challenge or something?”
Mike hadn’t told anyone about his sleepwalking mishaps. And if he was going to tell anyone Duncan was wayyyyy far down on that list. No way in hell. ‘It’s not like i don’t trust him- it’s just- I mean it’s Duncan’
“No, just.. I’m having.. nightmares. Bad dreams, stuff I’d rather not think about ever again.”
It was a lie, because that wasn’t why we was staying awake, but it wasn’t entirely false.
Duncan was suprised at Mike’s genuine nature. He expected a lot more cold shoulder. Honestly he still thinks that Mike is just an alter, and Mal is the host.
“Oh. Well that’s lame. Pick something better next time”
Mike almost looked offended, kind of shocked. Duncan smiled at his expression. Maybe he wouldn’t have to.. no. He’s Mal. No matter how you look at it he’s still Mal..
Mike chirped in
“Do you have a better reason to be out here? I mean you literally jumped me”
“Ha! Hahah! You think I jumped you! That was just a welcoming surprise”
Duncan grabbed mikes shoulder and squeezed it a little to imply that he was not comfortable with Mike doing the questioning
“Hahaha.. ha.. you’re hurting me Duncan.”
Mike wanted him to let go. He could feel himself wanting to pass out. He wasn’t sure if it was stress from this or exhaustion from staying awake.
Duncan let go and pulled a water bottle out of his pocket. He offered it to Mike since he was looking a little pale
“I’ve got water if you need it, can’t have you dying on some stupid walk. I’ll get voted off”
Mike felt like that was a lot of mixed messages at once. He was definitely alert and awake now but he did not want to drink Duncan’s water. That just sounds like a set up for owing Duncan
“It’s okay I just.. I had a drink at the cabin”
Duncan shrugs and takes the final swig of the water before crushing the plastic bottle and tossing it into the forest. Mike was a bit bothered but decided that trash was the lesser of his current concerns
“So.. where are we going anyway?”
Duncan sighed in an over the top exaggerated manner “Does it matter?”
He kicked a rock along as he walked “seriously just enjoy that the interns aren’t breathing down our neck with cameras right now. I mean seriously-”
Duncan picked up the rock and threw it at a tree, where the sound of cracking glass could be heard.
He broke a camera, great.
“I guess you’re right, sometimes I forget we’re on TV here”
Mike flinched as a shiver rolled down his spine. It was colder than usual. He wanted to get back to the cabin as soon as possible, he just wanted to get away from Duncan.
Duncan walked, but now slowed his pace to match Mike’s
“Hey Mike- would you do anything for your friends? And I mean anything to keep them safe? Just curious about you hero good guy types”
The tonal shift was really off putting. To the point where Mike would actually prefer for Duncan to be back to insulting him
“Uh.. Im not sure what you mean”
“I MEAN would you do anything to keep them safe? I wouldn’t risk my ass for any of the sorry losers in my cabin- but you seem like the kinda dude to put others before himself.”
That was such an oddly phrased compliment
“Oh. I- yeah- I would do anything to keep them safe. Especially Cameron and Zoey.. but I’d do anything to keep her safe.”
Duncan felt like his head was going to explode ‘please stop acting like a good person so I can just get rid of you’
“I guess you’re a better person than me then, the two girls I like- ha- i only like em cuz they kinda hate my guts. But now they both just actually hate me so not much there.”
Mike, for the first time in that entire walk, actually calmed down a little. Duncan actually opened up to him about his relationship problems, maybe he was over reacting. Maybe this was just a walk.
“Hey! They’ve both liked you at some point right? Maybe they just need a chance to cool off? A million dollars can make some people tense. Like Heather and Alejandro’s weird new relationship thing they’ve got going on.”
Mike tried to hide the disgust on his face. Those two were scary, and weird. And they would definitely both throw Mike into a volcano for a million dollars.
Duncan tried to muffle his laugh.
“Can’t believe you have the guts to say that when they’re both still on this season. You’re lucky the cameras aren’t active right now”
Mike paused in his tracks. Why would ALL of the cameras ever be down? It’s total DRAMA island. A secret walk with two people from opposite teams is like a gold mine to this show. Before he could even open his mouth to question Duncan he was tapped on the shoulder.
“Hey Mike- we made it slowpoke. Come on”
Duncan was holding the foliage back to reveal a small beach. Not the main one where they did challenges, but one that was secluded. It looked fairly untouched by the camera crew minus the rope that looked like it had washed ashore. Could’ve been seaweed too, was too dark to tell.
“Wow, this is nice.. did.. did you want to show me this beach? I feel like I’m not the person you would’ve picked for this”
Duncan did a fake puking gesture
“Gross dude, I don’t wanna kiss you I just wanna sit by the water and talk with someone other than a crab for once.”
Mike got redfaced at that. Why would he say that? No where did he imply that he wanted to kiss Duncan, he loved Zoey. Man he’d love to be back with Zoey right now instead of here. He felt bad, he’d left abruptly on a bad note. He’d lied to her again about something dumb. He always felt like his alters were a burden to her..
“Hey Porcupine are you awake in there?”
Duncan was sitting on the sand by the beach. He was fiddling with his knife doing tricks. Mike was taking forever to sit down and he was getting tense. Duncan was worried that Mike- or worse- Mal had caught on. But thankfully it seems like the idiot was just in la la land. Better not have been about the kissing comment.
“Yeah! Yeah sorry”
Mike scurried over and took a seat by Duncan. As the clouds moved the moon shifted behind a cloud. It was really dark.
“I hate the dark”
He was lying, he loved the dark. Duncan knew that this whole.. plan.. thing… would work a lot better in the dark. But he just.. he couldn’t find it in him to make a move.
Mike tilted his head, staring out at the waves he could really only hear.
“Really? I definitely wouldn’t have picked that for you.. not saying it’s bad! Just.. seems odd”
Duncan had been fiddling with the knife so much that he wasn’t sure whether the clicking was him opening or closing it. Mike felt on edge
“Duncan can you-“
The cloud passed and the moon illuminated the beach. Mike took a sigh of relief before shaking his head
“Nevermind, sorry it was just- not seeing what you were doing with the knife freaked me out a bit..”
Duncan put the knife back in his pocket
“You really need to lighten up. Seriously you freak out at the dumbest things”
Duncan was about to let Mike speak but jumped in
“If you mention the Celine dion Music Store standees I will hurt you”
Mike laughed a little bit at that. He’d honestly forgotten about that but now he couldn’t help but think about how ironic a line like that was from Duncan.
“I know you hate being called a hero or a good guy for some reason, but you’re not as bad as I thought you were.”
Duncan tensed at that, fist tightly clenching the sand and tearing into his skin. This was the opposite of what he wanted to happen. He was hoping if he set up a scenario like this Mal would stop faking and reveal his true nature. Then he could easily justify defending himself.. destroying that haunting image of Mal.
Mike could see Duncan’s lack of response. He waited but nothing.
“Duncan..?”
He scooted over to Duncan and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you oka-”
At the small touch Duncan felt on his shoulder he opened his knife and held it near Mike’s neck
“DONT touch me Ma- Mike-”
Mike. Right. The horror in the weirdo’s eyes definitely proved that it was still Mike. He lowered his knife and put it back into his pocket.
Mike was frozen still from that. He.. he could’ve just.. he felt sick inside. Guess Duncan wasn’t all the good that Mike had tried to envision. He was struggling to breathe a little as he recovered from that scare.
Duncan realized he’d fucked up. Sure it was a reflex but he was genuinely fucking terrified of Mal. How’s that his fault? Everyone always laughs at him for being intimidated by Mike.. but it’s not Mike that Duncan is scared of.
“Mike, breathe- I’m sorry okay you just scared the shit out of me”
“Yeah!! YOU’VE scared me!! Like!! 10 times tonight!! I never came at you with a KNIFE!?”
Mike was seriously struggling to find any reason to stay, so he scrambled to his feet.
Duncan grabbed Mike by the wrist
“No- I mean- I’m sorry just, sit down and catch your breath you’re gonna embarrass yourself trying to navigate the forest in the dark without me.”
He couldn’t have Mike running back now. ‘Duncan attacked me with a knife?’ Yeah right, he’d be off the show for sure, and probably back in Juvie with tighter security. Neither of those things he wanted right now so he had to fix this.
Mike wanted Duncan to let go. How can you trust a guy who just pointed a knife at you? No way in hell.
“Fuck off Duncan!”
“Wow- I have never heard you curse before. Sounded genuine sounded really hateful actually.”
“Seriously?! That’s your concern??”
“Right, sorry, here just-”
Duncan held out his knife, handle facing mike. He was giving it as an offering.
“I’m not gonna stab you just take the damn knife if it’ll quit your yelling. You suck at talking”
Mike took the knife, and slowly stopped shaking. But something in his gut felt twisted. Something about himself having this knife now made him worried. What if he sleepwalked with a knife? He could hurt someone. ‘Maybe Duncan’ He shook his head ‘No- not Duncan. He scared the shit out of me but I’m okay.’
“Shut up Duncan”
The insult was meant to have meaning, but it came out frightened somehow.
Duncan rolled his eyes as he let go of Mike and laid back on the sand. He was trying his best to seem relaxed, but honestly, all of his attention was on Mike. Sure- the knife calmed Mike down. But now Duncan had no upperhand. That was stupid of him..
Mike rolled the knife in his hands. He could see how Duncan might get some sort of stress relief from having this- but it just make Mike wildly uncomfortable. It made him feel dangerous, like a risk to others, though he supposed thats what Duncan was going for.
“Thank you for the knife”
“That is definitely the creepiest thing you’ve said all night. But sure I guess. I would say no problem but I’d actually like it back”
Duncan continued staring up at the sky. He looked at the stars, saw another cloud approaching the moon.
“It’s about to get dark again. So don’t freak out weirdo.”
Mike appreciated the warning somewhat. He sat down next to Duncan, but kept a solid foot and a half of distance. He wasn’t risking accidentally bumping into him. He might get a fist to the face.
“So uh- Duncan. You still haven’t really said why you needed me to go on this walk with you.”
Duncan groaned.
“I already told you- just wanted someone to talk to by the beach but BZZTTT!! Wrong choice on my part, you failed that big time.”
He made an X with his arms before laying them back down at his side. It was peaceful. In some disturbing broken way, sitting here with Mike wasn’t too bad.
Mike just went “mhm” before continuing to sit in silence. He really should’ve paid attention to where they went, would’ve made this a lot easier. He could’ve been back in the cabin. Back in those silk sheets with feathered pillows. That luxury was great n’ all, but it wasn’t nearly as appealing as it was now. He missed Zoey and the rest of that hero group.
Duncan waited for more from Mike, but nothing. He couldn’t keep waiting like this. It had probably been getting close to an hour at this point. He wanted to do this earlier, when he’d spent nights planning it, when he’d pictured the freedom- but- it wasn’t so appealing anymore.
“You can drop the Mike act- I’m done.”
✧₊⁎★⁺˳✧༚