The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Monday

[betterthanaplan]

Right. So. This morning was a thing that had happened. On the one hand, Octavia seemed ready to talk, finally. On the other, it felt like Duke had just played "swap the important person in your life who's pissed at you".

"I'll make some coffee," Duke said, leading Octavia into the galley. "And . . . breakfast? Maybe?"

[for the girl]

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[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Sha, gona. Still . . . more than I expected."

He kind of expected to get blown off on the whole 'hash things out' thing completely.

[okteiviakom]

"I'm tired of fighting, too," Octavia pointed out, a little more quietly. She was tired of walking away from him.

She paused at the door to take off the leggings as well. The tattoo was getting into the peeling stage, so they hadn't been the best choice in the first place.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke pulled off the shirt he'd grabbed at Lucifer's. "Yeah? 'Cause . . . it kind of felt like you were trying to pick one a minute ago. I know what I said was dumb, but you knew what I meant, right? The kru is only important to me because it's important to you."

[okteiviakom]

"And you know how you say things matters to me."

Bye, underwear. And the sports top she'd had on under the hoodie.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, and when I fuck up, you know I'm not doing it to be mean." Duke had his hand on his fly, but paused before he pulled his pants off. "This is a weird way to have this argument."

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah, well." Octavia tossed him a quick glance over her bare shoulder. "We were never normal, were we?"

And with that, she actually stepped into the bathroom, heading for the shower.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a sigh and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling for a moment, while she couldn't see.

Then he slipped out of his pants and followed.

"I'm tried of trying to be perfect for you."

[okteiviakom]

"You've done an awful job with it lately anyway," Octavia rasped, because she could be unhelpfully prickly sometimes too. Couldn't help that dig, even though she regretted practically the second it was out of her mouth.

She shook her head. "I don't want perfect." Hadn't stopped her from acting like she did, though, had it? She reached out, turned on the water.

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, that's kind of hard to tell when any time I mess up even a little you shut down," Duke said. "I know I fucked up, Tavi. I've admitted it multiple times. But it'd be nice to get a little credit for when I do get it right."

[okteiviakom]

"The credit is that I came back."

Well...

"Or that I was coming back, when the island decided to do it for me. As usual."

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh great. So I'm supposed to just know that, when the last time I saw you in person, at the right age, and the right species, you were running like hell."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's hand clenched into a fist.

She stepped under the spray.

"Think you'll find the last time you saw me like that I was tending bar, and you thought I didn't see you."

[betterthanaplan]

"You saw that." Duke sighed. "I've had enough fights and meltdowns in public on this island. Wasn't looking to do it again."

[okteiviakom]

"Solid choice," Octavia rasped, subdued. She closed her eyes, took a moment to let the water wet her hair, plastering it to her skin so that the black strands criss-crossed over the black lines on her shoulders.

"Didn't warn you I'd be there, anyway."

[betterthanaplan]

"You didn't," Duke said. He stood outside the shower, leaning against the wall and watching her shadow through the curtain. He'd join her in a bit. When he felt more . . . settled. "And, uh. It's no excuse, but -- I've kind of had to deal with a lot lately. Haven didn't exactly let up after you left."

[okteiviakom]

"Mm."

There was not enough water to soothe her right now, and yet she was trying.

"I heard about Evi."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, Luce got to meet her in Hell. Sent a demon up to sit on me until the guys who killed her were taken down. Nathan had already knocked me out and thrown me in a cell, and that was --" Another laugh, this one a bit more pained. "That was still just the beginning of it all."

[okteiviakom]

"I'm sorry."

Not about Evi, about the rest. But she didn't specify.

[betterthanaplan]

"He got the tattoo," Duke said softly. "Nathan did. Said if I was supposed to die at the hands of someone with a Guard tattoo, he 'had to be on the approved list'."

He sucked in a breath and pushed away from a wall. "Not that that's an excuse. I just -- I need somewhere I don't have to be perfect."

[okteiviakom]

"I'm gonna kill that guy," Octavia muttered, mostly to herself, but she couldn't help it.

She was just... so tired of Haven. Didn't seem fair to him that somehow she wasn't the only needlessly destructive and twisted up thing in his life.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke's whole life was needlessly destructive and twisted up, let's be real.

"Don't," he said softly. "I already lost one shitty ex. The fact that she was terrible didn't make it hurt less."

[okteiviakom]

"If he makes a move against you..."

Well. She couldn't make any promises.

[betterthanaplan]

"He won't," Duke said, shaking his head and leaning against the wall again. "He's way too law-abiding for that. This was just -- psychological warfare. He wanted to freak me out. Fuck me up. And, uh. It worked."

[okteiviakom]

"That's the only part I can respect," Octavia rasped. Purely from a strategic standpoint, of course, which explained her dry tone.

She shook her head, and reached for the shampoo. (Okay, the 3-in-1 because she was a brute.) "I'm sorry," she said again. "You're carrying too much, and I'm... Just adding to it."

[betterthanaplan]

"I get it. I know why you're . . . I just wish everything wasn't so all-or-nothing."

He wished that for himself, too. There was comfort in the shades of grey.