I don’t like surprises.

"Well, why don’t you look at that." Duncan clapped his hands together after a successful day’s work. He had a sickening grin on his face as the rush overwhelmed his veins. He stood quite far from the bar that was now being consumed by flames. The color of the fire was soothing his soul, and he found a certain kind of satisfaction from his newfound work that was greater than any other thing he had occupied himself with.

Duncan had called Elsa for a "bonfire" on the rooftop of an abandoned building. He sat on the ground, watching with a proud look on his face, when he finally heard the footsteps from behind coming up towards him. "You bought beer?" He asked, since he had constantly nagged her about it. "Viola! Bonfire!" Duncan motioned his head toward his life’s work, something that Hopper would give him considerable money for. "Let’s enjoy the show before the useless firemen show up." He chuckled, opening the can of beer and placing it on his lips.

☁

Gwen didn’t need much time to contemplate before agreeing at the opportunity to see the fireworks, that was the one aspect of the holiday that she did enjoy. Something about everyone shutting up just to witness flashing lights resonated with her. She thanked him as she reached for her food, “Yeah, my publicist makes me go to these kinds of things. They’re exactly how you think it is, just a bunch of uppity people networking.” The parties were all the same, with any luck she could find someone to endure the one hour she was mandated to stay for but usually it ended with her drinking alone in the corner of the room. “I don’t like it when it hits midnight and suddenly everyone is cheering and kissing all around me, it feels so suffocating. I ditched before I had to deal with all of that.” New Years was a nightmare for a claustrophobic introvert like Gwen, there’s nothing quite like people she didn’t know trying to hug her that would drive her as insane.

“Bacon too? Wow, I’m really being pampered over here.” The thought that he was doing the most for her did cross her mind, maybe it was a bit selfish to think that but then again Duncan wasn’t exactly known for being caring. Regardless, she chalked it up to him just being in an offering kind of mood. Her face cringed at the memories that she tried hard to forget, “At least I sounded better than you, I’m surprised you even show your face around with that footage of you out there.” She’d let out a couple laughs, not occurring to her that this was the most relaxed she’s been around him since the breakup. It was a bit freeing when she wasn’t thinking about their relationship, just treating him like she did as any other friend. “Let’s be real, that whole season was a huge mistake,” Forgetting that their relationship ended up forming that season. it took her a second to realize what she’d said. “I mean,” her voice lowered, “it was pretty obvious that they were running out of ideas..” She’d hoped her attempt in forging an excuse for what she’d admitted was enough but it was pretty clear she’d regretted a lot more than just signing up for the show.

.

"Ah, the publicist. Of course." He chuckled, having always hated the idea of someone controlling his life choices. He didn’t have one, or so he acts like he didn’t have one. At this point, people have given up on the thought that Duncan would listen to them. The only person closest to authority (and to which he doesn’t even qualify as an authority) was Chris himself. Duncan leaned on his kitchen counter in silence, enjoying the presence of Gwen around him. This was rare, he thought to himself while he binge on some mac and cheese. "The smoochies. Ugh." Duncan hated public displays of affection, but of course, things change when emotions are at play. He simply couldn’t forget their kiss together—the controversial confessional kiss that blew the internet apart. It was good for a reason: because he really, truly liked Gwen. Though he had to admit, there was much failure on his part to keep things in tact. "Well, you've come to the right place. We’re about to blow things up, and watch some fancy lights pollute the sky. What a great way to start the year, don’t you think?" He let out a laugh, this time turning his back once more to check his bacon.

He placed the cooked bacon on a plate before placing them back on the counter. "That’s better than anything the chef could make." He boasted, taking a bite. It didn’t take much to cook one, but he rarely ever cooks, so he’d hype him up just to encourage himself. "Come, try it." Duncan took one piece, and extended his hand to place the bacon near her mouth. "It’s dope. Trust me." He had that enthusiastic look on his face, quite proud of his own effort. "Your voice better than mine? Ha, good joke." He teased, raising an eyebrow as he snickered at her. They were bad at it, that’s for sure. The whole singing part was a mess, and it didn’t help that it was also the season Courtney found out about them. When Gwen admitted that the season was a mistake, Duncan stopped chewing, suddenly surprised by her confession. He didn’t regret what happened, of him knowing Gwen in the process and liking her for who she was. Hell, he chose her, despite his shortcomings. "I’m grateful for that season. I don’t think I’ll change my mind about it anytime soon, even if they force me to sing again."

One of the faces who Daisy had been a little sad not to see at the New Year party was Duncan. He was always entertaining, and she liked that he was a little famous, too. She liked when people could recognize who she was spending her time with. If there was something Daisy had been hoping for at the end of the night, it was a kiss from Duncan, but she wouldn’t show her disappointment the next time she saw him. Showing weakness, an actual enjoyment of a man’s company, would boost his ego far too much.

“Look who finally decided to show up,” she said teasingly when he finally came over to greet her. Daisy had been hoping he’d come to see her for a bit since he’d been there, but she wasn’t one to seek out a guy’s attention. “Whatever you’re having is fine with me,” Daisy told him, slipping an arm around his waist. “How were your holidays, handsome?”

.

"Whiskey neat?" He chuckled, unsure whether she’d like something as strong and as bitter, but he figured she’d go with gin and tonic instead, something a little more suitable for her personality. She immediately wrapped herself around him, to which he pulled her to sit on his lap instead, allowing him to meet her face at eye level. "Not much, a lot of burning going around. It’s the only holiday that it’s semi-acceptable to do so." He admitted, and New Year's was actually his favorite. He did intentionally leave out the part where he spent the night with his ex, which was a thrilling time for him since he had been trying to patch things up with Gwen. Duncan asked the bartender for a drink while his hands sat comfortably on her waist. "Miss me?" He smirked, going in to place gentle kisses on her neck. Daisy was fun, and they liked to fool around. She liked the game, and for those who knew Duncan, he truly liked to play.

Once the drinks arrived, Duncan took his glass and drank the whiskey, allowing the bitter taste of alcohol to linger on his tongue. It was his signal that the wolves inside him would now come out to play. "You look like you've been wandering without my presence, why? Is it time for me to sprinkle on my little flower?" He had a lazy, sultry look on his face, as if he was desperate for her attention. Duncan bit his lip and anticipated her response, eyeing whether it was time for his next move.

☁

Gwen had to give him some credit, she would not have been as generous if the roles were reserved. However, the thought did occur to her that he might’ve been doing all of this to get her back. She was grateful that he was so quick to do her the favor but she was decidedly not looking into completely forgiving him just yet. For tonight, she could play up a safe and cordial attitude but it was likely that after tonight she would go back to trying to avoid Duncan as much as possible. As she waited for him to pack up his things, an idea came to mind, “If you want to be a real nuisance to your neighbors you should hold out on lighting them until tomorrow night, when they least expect it but close enough to the holiday that they might let it slide.” She wasn’t expecting the offer for food, her main plan was to was get cleaned up, into some sweats, and sleep until her landlord called her back but if he was offering food, she wasn’t going to decline. “Honestly, I’m starving. I went to that fundraiser and all they had were those shitty little appetizers. Mac and Cheese sounds pretty good right now.”

She watched as he placed the items on the table, “Good to know you have all the necessities. Dunno if I’ll have a brownie but I’ll gladly steal them off of you.” She grabbed a can of beer and watched as he looked for whatever else they could eat. Her eyebrow raised at the suggestion of them cooking, laughing along with him as she was far from someone who could cook a decent meal. It was mostly takeout and leftovers for her every night and honestly, it wasn’t that far off that her fridge would look just about as empty as his most of the time. It was rare that a memory from the show could cause her to crack a smile, “Yes, it was very humiliating for you, how could I forget?” She teased, it’s been a while since she’d been able to joke like that with him before. “Not as bad as your singing, though, now that was really something terrible.”

.

Duncan leaned on the table, looking at her while he considered her suggestion. The act of being the ultimate threat to society was a good one. However, the ones he had just set up were extra powerful, strong enough to be called an explosion if he so desired. Still, he nodded. Perhaps he could split it, one for tomorrow and the other as a surprise for a random day. For now, maybe he’d settle with sparklers and all the crap, just to feel the vibe of his favorite holiday coming in. "Do you want to light some of them up with me later? Just in the front yard, like normal people." He asked, maybe she’d agree, Duncan could only try. It was still surreal to have her around, and yet he was grateful to have finally experienced this New Year's with someone else. "Great, I’m proud of this one." Once he heard the oven timer go off, he took the bowl and placed some on a plate. Duncan simply threw in as much cheese as he could find to make it, exactly how he liked it. "I’m assuming the party was a dud given that you’re here even before midnight?" He smirked, extending his hand to offer her the plate before crossing his arms to chuckle. "I have a gut feeling it was filled with pretentious niceties, that’s a waste of time." Duncan had pressing matters to attend to, like blowing up his neighbors' lawn.

"Oh no, wait, I got bacon. Mac and cheese, and bacon. That should do it right?" Duncan took the bacon from the fridge and started defrosting it. He immediately took a pan and placed it on the fire. He turned around to pop in a brownie first, nodding in satisfaction while he waited for the pan to heat up. Duncan hummed silently as he cooked some bacon for her, drinking his can of beer with his other arm. If others would ask, this was a proper way to celebrate the new year. "I hate that, I never got the tune of it." He shook his head, trying to erase the memory of it. "You weren’t particularly good either, you also had your own tune going on." He chuckled, remembering that singing game they both hated, and they knew exactly why. 

☁

Forgetting to bring her keys with her before she left for the fundraiser was exactly what Gwen should’ve expected, one last cruel prank the universe could pull on her this year. She wasn’t up for going back to the party at Lava Springs, way more people attended than she’d expected and her energy was running too low to deal with that. It didn’t take much time to figure out what she needed to do in this instance, it was simply a matter of having to put her pride beside her to ask for a favor from someone she was hoping to leave as a memory.

It could be that she knew Duncan well enough to know he wouldn’t have any big plans or maybe just plain luck that he hadn’t gone off with whatever unlucky girl like she’d sort of expected but he was there, doing whatever he was doing in his neighbor’s lawn. At the sight of him, she got irritated but she knew she had to calm herself down, after all, she was asking something from him in this case. As she called out for him and he was actually welcoming her, she inspected the scene closer. A small chuckle escaped her, it was so like him to cause some ruckus on someone else’s property as a welcome into the new year. Whatever smile was starting to form on her face, she quickly suppressed, “I kinda locked myself out of my apartment by accident, mind if I crash at yours for the night?” There was a chance he could said no and she would’ve fully understood given how she’s disregarded him every time they’d been around each other. But she was also desperate and didn’t have much of a choice, everyone else was probably at some party or out with someone else and she didn’t feel like ruining their night.

.

"Sure! I’m not busy." Duncan immediately stood up, kicked his setup before finally realizing his neighbors might get suspicious from the pile of mess outside. "On a second note… give me a sec." He raised a finger, as if to wait, then took a bag and haphazardly stuffed the materials in. "I’ll come back to that later. Do you need something, anything? I wasn’t expecting a visitor, so I hope you wouldn’t mind the mac and cheese I made for dinner. I got four cheese on it, so it’s good.. better than anything general crazy ever made." He had her follow him to the next-door house, which was a lot smaller and decorated in all black, with a skull painted in front of the doors and the sticker ‘get out’ attached to it. Duncan opened the door, and the place was particularly homey despite being a raging eyesore outside. "Make yourself at home." He immediately went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and tried to find something that screamed festive for his guest. It was bad timing to eat just mac and cheese. All he got were magic brownies and some beers. He still took them out and showed them to her. "I come unprepared." He smiled sheepishly, placing the beer and brownies on the table.

He took the left-over mac and cheese and placed it in the oven. Duncan had to admit that he really was trying with Gwen. He wasn’t usually like this with anyone else; in fact, he couldn’t care less. Gwen knew him from the games—there wasn’t much he could hide behind his strong façade. "We can try to cook." He looked at her, then burst into laughter as he found the idea preposterous. "I’ll think of something, don’t worry." He shrugged his shoulders, looking at his empty shelves. For the most part, he had eggs and bacon, but it was looking like a breakfast meal at this point. “I got eggs thought I don’t think it’s as good as the ones I took before. Remember? The egg I stole from the giant bird last time?” Duncan vividly remembered the time the two shared an alliance, only for him to get swept away by the bird.

"Did you just…." Duncan stared at the empty flask he placed on his table. He gave the flask to her for a taste, to lessen the instances where she annoys him for being such an asshole. Dusk always liked to remind Duncan that he was an asshole, and she had a shit ton of videos on her phone of him doing things he’d probably be in jail for again. Duncan always seemed to be in her line of sight, especially just before he was about to do a stupid thing. His ex-girlfriend, who was pissed at him, kept seeing him incriminate himself. That was simply just his luck.

"You were only supposed to take a sip. This is pure vodka." Duncan couldn’t believe that she finished the entirety of it. Dusk happened to sit next to her, and she asked him for a drink, to which he simply gave his flask to shut her up. He couldn’t even complain since she had so much shit on him that she practically had some chokehold over him. "You're getting me a shot. I deserve it." He negotiated, pissed that he had nothing else to drink by now. 

Duncan always knew that Daisy was a fun time. She was cheeky, and hot, and clever, and also very hot. The girl had a pretty kind of dirty face that he simply digs. She was upfront with him about her wants, and Duncan could appreciate the honesty. He was never the kind of man to settle down with, and finding a girl who was equally well under the agreement was always something he could be grateful for. There were no games, no feelings, and no complications between them. Just raw sex, flirtations, and mostly companionship.

Since he didn’t attend the NYE party and never bothered to check his phone, Duncan had no contact with anyone else for the first week of the year until he went to the club, where everyone gutted him for being MIA. The last one he saw was Daisy, eyeing him on the side. "C’mon now sweetheart, sappy new year." He teased, pulling her in for a hug. "Drinks on me, what do you want?" He winked, lifting his hand for the bartender to notice.

Duncan never bothered to attend a ridiculous party. Instead, he bought some weed, a pack of beer, and a shit ton of firecrackers, which he'll set up on his neighbor's lawn. The New Year was his only excuse for setting things ablaze, and if there was one thing that Duncan loved to do, it was to destroy and blow stuff up. His whole year was made of endless mistakes. He lost Gwen, went back to that shitty show for the money, and was always living on edge because the cops always had their eyes on him. Truth be told, he wasn’t living a good life. However, that won’t stop him from living life itself. He knew it would be difficult from the start, so he might as well make the most of it. Duncan’s phone was ringing with random girls' names asking for his whereabouts, and yet he didn't bother to answer. He always had the tendency to toy around, but he never really truly cared about anyone unless it was Gwen. He admitted that he fucked up, but he was too much in a slump to put himself back on her radar. Somehow, Duncan just couldn’t get it right with her again, and that problem was only with himself.

Duncan was lining up his firecrackers outside, delicately adjusting their positions, and strategizing the best way to make the explosion more grandiose, when he heard his name being called out. He turned to see who his visitor was, excited to brag about his latest project, until he saw that it was Gwen herself. He couldn’t believe his eyes, scratching them with his own fingers. "Gwen?" He asked again, making sure that his thoughts weren’t fooling him around. "I-, what brings you here?" He asked, though he’d hate it if she got all defensive on him. "I mean… you’re welcome but… it’s not exactly safe around here right now." Duncan tilted his head to the side, showing her the pile of firecrackers he had collected.

Duncan saw the gossip blog and laughed to himself at the catastrophe of the people involved. He even found himself more amused that Wendy, the good-ol-sweet Wendy, had found herself more in a pickle than he could ever have been. Truth be told, he was pleasantly surprised, and he found himself chuckling at the thought of it. "She’s learning." He thought to himself, proud that she was finally living her life. Nonetheless, he took off and went to his motorcycle. Duncan visited a store and went on to buy a six-pack of beer and some cigarettes. He decided he’d personally greet the birthday girl herself, and leave up to her the beers on his hands. He thought she needed it after all the shenanigans on the said gossip blog.

Knocking on her house door, Duncan blew out a smoke until it suddenly opened and the person in front of him coughed. "Ey, sorry about that. Is Wendy here?" He was a towering man, and he could tell that whoever opened the door was struck and surprised that such a man came for her. Duncan was betting that it was her brother, but at least he was still kind enough to call her for him. When Wendy came to the door, he had a bright smile and his arms wide open, ready to welcome her. "Happy Birthday, hot stuff!" He chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing her forehead. "So where’s the celebration? The was a nice birthday gift, don’t you think?" He said, casually pulling her out of the door. 

☁

As if seeing him wasn’t enough, the sound of him saying her name was like a punch to the gut. Gwen could’ve gone forever without ever seeing him again, she knew it was unlikely for that to happen but even then, she was nowhere prepared for the small chance of encountering him. Her rush to get into her car was blocked by his tall figure, being around him again felt too familiar for her liking. She listened in as he complained about her complete silence since the show, there were more reasons for a change of number than just ignoring him. Hell, her whole anonymity had a lot more to do than a personalized avoidance but it sure did help.

“You sure you wanted to see me, or are you mistaking me for Courtney? Not that she’d want to speak with you either.” She couldn’t help but tease him over the reason that led to her breaking up with him. During their last tv appearance, his obsessing over his ex led to their demise and Gwen has held a small grudge for it ever since. Not to mention, her making up with Courtney fanned the flames of their dislike for Duncan. “To me, it sounds like you made a new friend, maybe you should go to him with your problems instead of me. Better yet, if you go right now we can pretend this meeting never even happened.” Gwen could tell she was being extra hard but this was mainly pent up rage she never got out and actually having a conversation would require her to bring up old memories she’d rather forget. “Well now you’ve seen me, so what do you want?”

.

Duncan couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of Courtney’s name. Of course she would bring that up. He was an asshole anyway. It took him another season and a few attempts with different strangers to realize that the thing going on between him and Gwen wasn’t something he could so easily recreate. Duncan took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and stood near the window beside her, lighting the end of the stick with his skull-embossed lighter. "I’m glad the two of you made up. She shouldn’t have been mad at you, It’s not like I intentionally planned on liking you. You're not exactly very likeable." Duncan blew the smoke away from her, the wind from the window brushing the smoke away. "I’ve always wanted to talk to you since you left me… but I never really knew the right words to say. I was young, you know? I didn’t know any better." He looked back at her, the first time to actually see her face up close after their confrontation. "You look good. That’s good." 

He settled in silence for a few more minutes. Somehow, Gwen had that effect on him. She made him think; she made him consider the consequences of his actions. "I never properly apologized before, and in all honesty, I don't know how. I don't do this. I don't know what you want me to do." He shrugged his shoulders, clinging to his cigarette like a life raft. "I can't move on from this. Not yet, at least."

"Fuck what they think." Duncan was surprised to be approached by the stranger. He must have been drinking, which gave him the courage to shamelessly come up to him and unload the thoughts running in his mind. Duncan had time to spare, so he sat there and simply listened. "Expectations are their assumption of your strength. It’s more of a compliment, and a burden as well. They know you’re capable, but it also means lesser hands are willing to pull you out of the mud." He explained, taking his beer bottle to alleviate his thirst. "I hate to tell you this but, you got to bounce back. The world weed out the weak. It's the curse of taking your first breath." @w-lovat