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

[okteiviakom]

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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[betterthanaplan]

Duke's shoulder jerked, half-flinch, half-barely contained urge to shrug him off. He wanted them to hold him. To make him feel safe. He didn't know why he was resisting so hard.

(Because he needed his walls. His walls had been all he'd had for so long.)

He ended up frozen again, holding so carefully still, bottle halfway to his mouth.

"Can take care of myself."

He said it as much to himself as to them.

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, obviously you can, you are a whole grown adult human," Lucifer said, thoughts darting briefly to someone else flinching at his touch, and-- dropped his hand. "But you don't actually have to."

[okteiviakom]

"Didn't have to be about that to begin with," Octavia muttered. Mostly to herself.

The tiny hurt part of her was still trying to urge her to just go. The rest of her knew better, for once.

And ached for other reasons.

[betterthanaplan]

If she left now, it . . . would be bad. Yes.

Duke jerked again when Lucifer let go, and let out a shuddering breath.

"I don't actually know how to do this," he said apologetically.

[my_own_advocate]

"That much is obvious," Lucifer said, leaning against the counter in a naked attempt to get a look at Duke's face. Thought about what to say.

Ugh, why were these conversations always so difficult? What would the good doctor say?

"Look, you're clearly going through something right now," he said, "You can talk to us about it, or just join us in make-out tussling on the blankets, or-- I don't know, literally anything that isn't clearly going through something while aggressively telling us you're not, because that's the least helpful thing you could possibly do."

He reached for the bottle Duke had grabbed. "Neither of us are here primarily out of a fondness for boats," he said. "Frankly, there are less sway-y places for Octavia and I to snog."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia considered Lucifer's abandoned bottle of whiskey by the nest. She chose not to reach for it, though.

She was watching them now, quietly.

And moved slowly closer.

[betterthanaplan]

"How --" Duke started, and stopped again when the word came out choked. He turned, gesturing to the nest. "-- You two --" His eyes were burning again. "-- A-and I'm --"

[my_own_advocate]

"Are extremely attractive people with severe emotional damage, yes, I know," Lucifer said. He took a swig from the bottle. "All three of us."

[okteiviakom]

"Agreed," Octavia rasped, as she came to a stop right by them.

She didn't reach for either of them, though. Not yet, anyway.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke's breath hitched. Once. Twice. He looked at Octavia.

"I'm supposed to take care of you."

His voice was wet. Small.

[my_own_advocate]

"Fairly certain we're all taking turns at this point, actually," Lucifer said, glancing from Duke to Octavia, and then back to Duke. "You're the only one who refuses to catch up."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's eyes flicked to him. "I would've gone with a simple 'says who?'" she drawled. And looked back at Duke. "But I stand by that version, too."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shook his head. His hands were shaking.

"You were having fun. And I messed it up."

[my_own_advocate]

"She came in from the deck, sat down in my lap, and then you walked in," Lucifer said, eyeing him. "Besides, if anyone has the right to call 'sorry, having a terrible day, can we do something else', it's you right now."

[okteiviakom]

"It was a hug, jaka," Octavia added, very carefully reaching out for one of his trembling hands. (Bracing herself for another lash of rejection.) "Nothing more."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let her, though he didn't relax at all yet. He shook his head again. "It's not -- I don't know what I want."

[my_own_advocate]

Well, if Octavia was going for the hand without getting some kind of massive reaction, Lucifer would try to touch Duke's shoulder again.

"We can always just sit down and have a drink while you figure it out," he said.

... Look, he was still Lucifer.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't say anything. Again.

Just gave Duke's hand a faint squeeze.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke bit his lip to keep from saying something stupid again. He didn't pull away from either of them, but also didn't move to sit.

"Maybe." Duke looked at the nest again. "On the deck?"

[my_own_advocate]

"All right," Lucifer said, patting his shoulder gently. "I've got the bourbon, Octavia can grab the whiskey?"

[okteiviakom]

Selfishly, Octavia didn't really want to go back out on the deck.

But this wasn't about her. "Sure," she said, already pulling away again, back towards the bottle in question.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let his hand trail off towards her as she walked away.

"Why does it always feel like I'm screwing things up?" he asked Lucifer softly.

[my_own_advocate]

"Because you always assume you're screwing up when something goes wrong," Lucifer said, "and then overreact accordingly. Vicious circle leading to self-fulfilling prophecies, really."

He brushed a quick kiss against Duke's cheek, retreating before he could get weird about it.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia picked up the whiskey, and tried not to look at the mess of blankets next to it.

Held the bottle up like a sign that she had it, glancing back at them.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke tried to give her a smile, but knew it came out weak.

"I feel like I'm running downhill at full speed, and I can't stop. And I'm dragging you two down with me."