Title: I Wanna Be Bad
Author:
kianaaaaa Rating: PG
Pairing: Duncan/Courtney
Warnings: N/A
Disclaimer: Total Drama Island/Action is owned by Cartoon Network, not me.
Summary: In which Courtney gets a piercing.
Author's Note: I realized that Leshawna and Courtney are on different teams after I had written this... whoops.
She wanted to be more like him. She liked herself the way she was, but there were certain things she couldn’t do on her own.
Courtney and Duncan entered the cabin and let the screen door swing shut with a creak. Duncan threw a bag onto one of the beds and Courtney sat down, legs crossed, on the floor next to it.
“So, you’re sure you want to do this?” he asked her, an eyebrow raised.
She rolled her eyes. “Just hurry up before I lose my nerve.”
He shrugged and got down on the floor beside her. He started taking things out of the bag, and Courtney quickly glanced away once she caught sight of the shiny needle.
“Hold this to your nose,” he told her, “since you insisted.”
She took the freezing ice cube from his hand and held it to the side of her nose. She knew it wasn’t necessary, and he told her she wouldn’t feel anything anyway, but she didn’t want to take any chances. After a moment she could already feel her skin becoming numb.
She looked at the supplies on the bed. There weren’t many. She knew the process was simple, but was it… so simple?
When the ice cube was half melted, Courtney took it away from her face. Now her fingers were numb. Duncan was taking out his lighter from his pocket. He picked up the needle from the bed.
“What’s that for?” Courtney asked, pointing to the lighter.
“Sterilizing it,” he explained. He opened the lighter and let it flare to life. He held it up so she could see what he was doing. He took the needle and set it inside the flame for a few seconds.
“And that’ll work?” she asked suspiciously.
Duncan shrugged. “Worked for me.”
“Well, use the alcohol, too,” she told him.
He did as he was told. He unscrewed the cap to the cheap bottle and filled it with the contents inside. He dipped the little needle tip into the cap filled with alcohol and shook it to get rid of the excess liquid.
“See?” he said, “I’m being careful.”
She rolled her eyes. His words did little to comfort her. “Yeah, whatever,” she muttered. “If we were being careful we wouldn’t be doing this by ourselves!”
He raised his eyebrows. “Okay, aren’t you the one who wants to do this?”
Courtney didn’t answer. Even when Duncan was doing something she had asked for, her natural instinct was still to act like it was his fault.
Duncan cocked his head. “Um, why do you want to do it anyway?” he asked.
Courtney wasn’t sure what to say. Her boyfriend had just asked her why exactly she wanted to shove a sharp object into her nose, replace it with a crappy metallic stud, and do it all from the comfort of their own cabin.
“Um… well…” she muttered. “Why did you want to do it?” she retorted.
He looked at her, confused. “Are you seriously comparing yourself to me?”
She stared, then looked away, embarrassed. “Yeah, I am. Do you have a problem with that?” She looked back at him.
He was grinning. “Nope, not at all,” he chuckled. “…So are you ready?”
The feeling in Courtney’s nose was beginning to come back, and the ice cube was now completely melted on the floor, and she was nervous, but she said “Yes.”
Duncan was kind of excited. He had never pierced anyone else before, but had done it to himself plenty of times to know what had to be done. His friends also had asked him to help them, but he wasn’t about to do it on them. Why would he want to have his hands all over a dude’s face?
Duncan handed Courtney the jewelry they planned to have her be wearing in a few minutes. Courtney swallowed back a whimper when she felt the tip of the needle on her nose.
“Don’t move your head,” Duncan told her. She almost nodded.
“Okay, ouch…” she whispered under her breath.
The needle was forcing it’s way through the skin, then the cartilage. She tried not to let tears leak out of her eyes. She felt Duncan pause, and she almost screamed “hurry up!” The feeling of something so sharp and thin halfway through her nostril was so unpleasant, she gripped her ankles tightly. He started again, wriggling the damn thing farther through the tough cartilage. Courtney squeezed her eyes shut. How long would this take?
“It’s done,” she heard Duncan say.
Her eyes fluttered open. “No way. Already?” she asked. She gently felt her nose. The needle was now sticking out of the right side of her nose, and it had entirely pierced the nostril.
Duncan carefully reached, wiggled the needle around a little, and pulled it back out. He took the stud in Courtney’s hands and replaced it inside the new hole. He leaned back to examine his handiwork.
“It looks awesome,” he said.
Courtney jumped to her feet and snatched a little mirror that was on Leshawna’s bed. The nostril that had been punctured was red and irritated, and there was a small ring of blood around the hole, but, she had to admit, it did look …kind of good.
“I can’t believe I did it!” Courtney exclaimed. Her eyes were glued to the mirror, checking out the stud from all angles. “It looks so different.”
Duncan came up behind her. “Not really,” he said. “It suits you.”
Half of his face was also reflecting in the mirror, and Courtney could see his own nose stud. She shook her head a little. “Are you sure you aren’t just saying that?” she asked.
“It really does, Princess,” he insisted, using the term somewhat affectionately for once.
“But how would you know? You’re the kind of guy who’s into piercings and tattoos and all that! How do I know you aren’t biased?” she demanded.
He sighed. “Alright, let me put it this way: I know what looks hot on you, Courtney. And this looks hot,” he answered, looking straight at her.
Courtney blushed, then hit him lightly. This guy had no shame.
“And, for the record, I’m not into tattoos,” he added. “Tattoos on girls are not cool. At all.”
“Oh, really?” she said. “Because, you know, I was thinking…”
“No! I am not helping you get a tattoo!”
She laughed. “I’m kidding,” she said. “Moron.”
Duncan rolled his eyes. A moment passed, and Courtney wasn’t paying attention to the mirror anymore. “There’s a little blood…” Duncan noted. He took some of the red liquid off with his thumb, and was amused when Courtney’s cheeks turned pink.
“So, you never answered my question,” he said. “Why did you want to get a nose ring in the first place? I didn’t think it was your style, exactly.”
Courtney put a hand on her hip. “No reason.”
“Yeah there is.”
“Seriously, there’s no reason…”
“Bullshit.”
Courtney sighed. She plopped down on the bed and put the mirror back on the nightstand. “You’re going to think it’s stupid.”
“Yeah, I probably will.”
She glared at him. “Just so you know, it might have something to do with you.”
His face brightened. “Really?” He sat down next to her.
She laughed nervously. “A little bit… it’s just when I’m around you, sometimes I feel like doing something bad, you know?”
He raised his eyebrow a bit. If she considered getting a nose piercing “bad”, then she had obviously not stepped into his world.
But, he admitted, he knew what she meant.
“Like…” she continued, “everything assumes things about me, for example… that I would find getting a piercing totally disgusting, or that I would look down upon it. And all my friends are afraid to even suggest doing something like staying out a few minutes late, or not being totally early for class.”
“Yeah, I get you,” Duncan answered. “You’re not a complete pussy, you just think following rules and getting good grades and stuff is important.”
She nodded. “But, I end up doing everything perfectly all the time, because no one ever suggests otherwise. Now it’s like second nature to me. You’re the only one who would ever have the balls to tell me to do something out of my comfort zone.”
Duncan grinned proudly. “That I would.”
Courtney leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “Thanks for giving me the piercing. I’m sure shoving a needle through my nose was fun.”
He put an arm around her. “You have no idea,” he joked.
Leshawna walked in, stopped, and sighed. “Okay, ew, make out on your own beds. And, girl, what happened to your nose?!”