Haven, Maine, Tuesday (Fandom time)

It'd been three days, and Octavia hadn't come back. Duke wasn't surprised. He'd told her to get lost, and unlike some people, she didn't need to be told more than once. He wasn't sure if he'd meant for her to entirely leave. He didn't know if he hoped she would come back.

He didn't even know where she'd gone. Back to Fandom, right? If Lucifer were still around maybe she'd have tried heading to his LA, but it wasn't like she had anywhere else she could go.

Or — maybe she had the whole world. She wasn't afraid of crowds anymore. Maybe she was travelling. Looking for the places that matched her own world. Looking for all the things that hadn't survived the apocalypse.

He checked his phone for the umpteenth time, debating whether or not to try to contact her. He didn't know what he'd say. He was still freaked out by what he'd learned. By who she'd really been, down in the bunker. He didn't know how he'd get past that, and until he figured that out, it wasn't fair for him to call her, was it?

And. Anyway. It was easier here, without her. He could talk to Audrey without second-guessing everything he said, wondering if he was flirting too much. He could deal with Evi — who unlike Octavia hadn't stayed gone, who was stubborn enough to still think she could win him over — without worrying that Octavia was shutting herself down further with every word he and his ex exchanged.

He could deal with the guy showing up to creep on his young employee without wondering if a trouble was about to come bite the woman he loved in the ass.

( It'd just come to bite him in the ass instead )

[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from Haven 2x08, "Friend or Faux"]