okteiviakom | The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Thursday Evening

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The Deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Thursday Evening

Yesterday hadn't been great. Much like Lucifer, Octavia had come back to the Rouge for the night, but mostly because not doing so unannounced was something she was trying not to do, while doing so announced had felt like it would invite too many questions and make it all into far bigger of a deal than it had to be.

So she'd dragged her drunk self home. And in the morning, had made her hungover self stay with them all through breakfast. And then when the time had come for Duke to head into work, she'd taken off. Disappeared into the preserve, because if there was a place that could fix at least some of what she'd been feeling this week, it was there.

No comments on whether it had worked at all. But she was back, now. Sitting on one of the crates on the deck of the ship, holding a bottle of beer that she'd picked up from the Samsara, along with the sweater she'd stolen from Duke back when she'd moved back onto her own boat.

She hadn't gone below decks, yet. Hadn't announced her arrival, if anyone else was even in.

It was quiet, in the port. And she just wanted to listen to this silence for at least a few moments longer.

[ooc: Opennn.]

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"Yes, absolutely," Lucifer said, patting... well, the charitable description was 'the blanket', but really, it was his knee.

Octavia snorted (yes, that was soft, too), her gaze flicking to his hand as she came to a stop at the edge of the pile of blankets.

"There?"

"I believe it would be the best place for you to sit," Lucifer agreed.

Octavia managed a half-assed eye roll.

And slowly knelt down. Crawled over to take her assigned seat, as it were.

"See?" Lucifer said.

His arms were already closing around her, as he sat up.

"Ridiculous," Octavia drawled, dryly. As if she hadn't just gotten sideways onto his lap out of her own free will.

Or wasn't winding one arm around his neck as soon as he'd sat up.

It was a bit harder to putz around pointlessly without having to interact meaningfully with people in Fandom than it had been in Haven, but Duke still managed to do it on his way home from the diner. He'd wandered the long way home along the beaches, winding up into the streets on occasion to peer into shops before looping back down to the water again. He wobbled moodily along rocks and low walls, arms stretched out to either side for balance, and even stopped in at Mooby's of all places for a shake before actually making his way down to the port proper.

He wasn't avoiding anybody or anything, he didn't know what you were talking about. It was just that Lucifer and Octavia kept looking at him, all worried or dark or broken, and he didn't know what to do with it. He didn't have the energy to try to fix them anymore.

Still, it all started to feel ridiculous even to him, and he climbed onto his boat, pulled his usual mask of good natured cheer onto his face, and headed into the galley.

"Ah. I see you two have been having fun without me."

Lucifer looked up, over Octavia's shoulder, and grinned at him. "Well, more by the lack of Duke than anything else," he teased, "You're quite welcome to the nest."

Octavia twisted for a glance back over her shoulder. No grin there, just a soft and tired look.

"I only just got back."

The time she'd spent sitting outside didn't count.

"Oh yeah?" Duke asked, managing to make it sound idly curious. "Back from where?"

He knew where Lucifer had spent at least part of his day, but not Octavia.

Lucifer sighed, reaching past Octavia with his arm to gesture at Duke.

He was clearly too far away.

"The preserve," Octavia said, simply.

"Ah." Duke nodded. "Should have guessed." He looked at Lucifer's hand. "You trying to get me to sit in your lap, too?"

"Yes," Lucifer said, without a hint of hesitation.

"He can take it," Octavia put in, a little too quiet and mild to really hit the teasing tone she might've preferred.

She wanted to encourage some closeness, anyway. These past couple of days had been a little... lonely.

"I know he can," Duke said, with a hint of a leer.

But he didn't come any closer.

Lucifer dropped his arm with a sigh. "Now someone's just playing hard to get," he sighed, dropping his chin on Octavia's shoulder.

Octavia wasn't pouting. But wasn't entirely not pouting?

Look, something was up with her bottom lip as she kept looking up at Duke. "Come on, jaka."

Duke rocked slightly on his feet, his hands fisting and reopening at his sides. Even he couldn't say exactly why he was hesitating.

(Except that sitting in Lucifer's lap would make him feel small, protected. Except that the nest was where they'd wrapped themselves around him when he didn't have any defenses left. Except that he'd worked so hard in the last few days to put his walls back up that he was terrified of them coming down again.)

"Should probably clean all that up at some point," he said, looking away.

If he went to them now, those walls were going to come down hard and he wasn't sure he could put them back up again after.

The last of the playfulness seeped out of Lucifer's expression, replaced largely by confusion. "Maybe later," he said, "There's hardly any rush, is there?"

Octavia had been so ready to keep on cajoling - and then Duke went and said that, and all the softness drained from her face as she stared at him.

"Should probably move back to the Samsara already, anyway," she said, her voice flat and dry as she moved to try and get up from Lucifer's lap.

This ridiculous nest was - had been - her safe spot, but if Duke was talking about it like it was just a mess to clean up...

. . . Well shit.

Their reactions hurt, in a way Duke didn’t know how to verbalize. He stayed glued to his spot, head still turned away, hands still fisting and opening at his sides. He opened his mouth once then let it shut. His eyes burned.

He was ruining this. Again. Why hadn’t he just played along?

"Octavia," Lucifer said, preoccupied first by tugging her back into his lap.

Gently. She could get out of his grip if she really wanted to.

"Duke?" was the next thing out of his mouth. Names it was, then.

Octavia didn't actually want to, was the thing. So she let him tug her in, let him keep her there. It was the first step out of the first-impulse reaction.

Her eyes were on Duke's hands, now.

"I --" Duke said. He still wasn't looking at them. He shoved the heel of his hand roughly at his eye, trying to smear away any evidence of tears.

This was stupid. Why the fuck was he crying? They were just messing around on his boat.

(He wondered how often they'd done that while he was missing. Nathan had messed around with Sarah while he was dealing with Roy -- that was the only time he could have fathered the Colorado Kid. How many times had his loved ones found comfort in each other while he was being knocked out and tied up and generally knocked around by the world?)

"I need a drink."

He finally shoved into motion, stepping around the nest towards his liquor cabinet. Had Lucifer refilled it, yet?

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