Chapter Text
Duncan’s done a lot of crazy shit, he gets himself into trouble almost 24/7. Yet Lady Luck seems to favor him, somehow allowing him to get away mostly unscathed.
Yes he’s been to prison, but somehow the records department lost his file giving him an early ticket out.
Yes he’s broken some bones, needed a dozen stitches, taken some bullets, but he always manages to bounce back without a problem.
Yes he’s lost some friends from his delinquent lifestyle, but like his family, he could care less. He doesn’t need them anyway, they were just holding him back.
Point is, messy situations aren’t something he shies away from. He welcomes it, thriving in the chaos.
This time though? This time he might have bit off more than he can chew.
“When you find that green haired punk, I call first dibs.”
The chilling threat is one he would normally brush off, but this is serious. No one crosses a cartel leader and lives. He usually steers away from their territory, how was he supposed to know they took over his favorite Mexican restaurant?
He’ll be buried in the desert soon if he doesn’t find some cover. Ducking into the little theater next door, he finds himself backstage surrounded by a bunch of props. He should be able to hide in one of these things until those thugs pass through.
“Hey! Who are you? No one’s supposed to be here!”
He slowly turns around and it’s the last person he expects to see. He thought it was his brain playing tricks on him when he heard her voice, but here she is. His ex-girlfriend, the love of his life, Courtney standing in the flesh.
She can’t quite believe he’s here either. The last she saw of him was behind bars in an orange jumpsuit, and that was years ago.
“Duncan?”
“The one and only.”
“What are you…”
The sound of the front entrance being slammed open disrupts their reunion.
Courtney takes one look at his panicked expression and decides to take pity on him.
She moves quickly as she grabs the closest costume she can reach that fits him, telling him to put it on. She walks over to the counter to find something, leaving him no choice but to obey her orders.
He’s just finished putting on the long poofy gown, when she returns with a blonde wig and some makeup. She goes to work, hiding his green locks under the fake hair then starts on his makeup.
It’s a good thing he lost a bet and had to shave off his facial hair, or else Courtney would have a harder time covering that up.
She’s about half way done with his makeup, when the goons that were chasing him push back the curtains to backstage.
She doesn’t stop to acknowledge them, focused on making sure his eyeliner is even.
“Hey, did a green…”
“If you make me fuck up her eyeliner I will personally kill you myself. I’ve been trying like hell to make them even!”
Duncan forgot how intimidating Courtney can be, effortlessly stepping into the role of a commander. The scary looking guy actually shuts up and waits for her to be done applying a flawless cat eye.
“Perfect. Now we need to find the right shade of lipstick… I’m thinking coral.”
“I know you’re busy, but we’re looking for someone too. The boss is…”
“Can’t you see with your own eyes that we’re the only two people in the theater? The show’s tonight and I have so many things to get through before curtain call! So why don’t you look around yourself, instead of trying to get someone else to do your job for you!”
“R-right… so-sorry to bother you, Courtney. We’ll be on our way…”
She merely hums as she begins to coat the first layer of lipstick on Duncan’s lips. She motions him to rub his lips together to help even the color, he does as he’s told keeping his eyes on the goons’ retreating figures.
He allows her to continue applying his makeup, only dropping his act of the obedient stage actress when he’s sure they’re alone again.
“That was a close one… were the lashes necessary? How do you see with these things on?”
“I could’ve just used mascara, your lashes are already long. I was always jealous of that, it’s not fair that you have such long lashes when you don’t need them.”
“Your lashes aren’t short.”
“But they’re not full enough, I have to rely on false lashes.”
“But you don’t look like you have the same ones I have on… wait, I don’t actually care about this. Do you know those guys, Princess? He knows your name.”
“Not really, I helped out his uncle on a case a while back. They work for my abuelo.”
“… you’re part of the drug mill!”
“Do I look like a drug smuggler to you? Are you high? Why would you think that?”
“But those guys…”
“They’re not drug runners, they’re arms dealers.”
“What! You’re kidding! How come I didn’t know about this when we were dating!”
“Would that have changed anything? Besides, I just found out recently. My grandfather and I are estranged, well I guess we were estranged.”
“Wow. I never would’ve guessed you would be involved with something this dangerous.”
“I’m not directly involved.”
“But you know about the operations, and you haven’t turned them in.”
“Guess I got used to being around criminals because of you.”
She straightens up, stepping back to create some distance between them.
“I’d wait another ten minutes before leaving, there’s usually a couple of stragglers. You can keep the dress if you want, I don’t have use for it anymore. I was going to toss it.”
“You’re just gonna let me go?”
“You make it sound like I’m keeping you prisoner. You’re a free man, Duncan. Do whatever you want.”
“And you? What have you been up to besides turning a blind eye to your granddad’s empire?”
“Right now? Dress rehearsal. You better get going unless you want a behind the scenes look at our rendition of West Side Story.”
She walks past him without another glance, he wants to keep talking to her. Catch up and reminisce about when things were good between them.
The truth is he’s missed her. She has every reason to dismiss him, heck she probably should’ve handed him over to meet his end. But she didn’t. That has to mean something right?
“Hey, Courtney.”
“What?”
“Any chance I can get a role in your production?”
Courtney’s done a lot of crazy shit, but she rarely gets into trouble. Her reality show days pale in comparison to the shenanigans she regularly gets herself into.
It’s as if she thrives in chaos, drama tangling up in all her affairs. She’s tried to run away from it, pretend to be a normal person, but she always ends up right where she started.
No matter how hard she tries, she can’t escape a life of excitement. Which is probably the reason why she finds herself agreeing to let Duncan back into her life.
What’s the worst that can happen?