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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[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.

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah."

This was a bad time for their therapist to be MIA.

[betterthanaplan]

It really was.

Duke finally moved to join her in the shower, stepping in and offering her his hand.

“I like the new ink,” he said. “You get that in Baltimore?”

[okteiviakom]

Was he looking to hold her hand? Because he was getting handed the 3-in-1, now.

"Yeah," Octavia said, with a slow look down at the leg in question. "Four days after -- everything." A short pause, at the end of which she failed to keep herself from adding, "Three days after my birthday."

[betterthanaplan]

And Duke was just going to facepalm with that 3-in-1. “Aw fuck.”

[okteiviakom]

"Doesn't really matter," Octavia said, mildly. "Last one I paid any real attention to was the last one here."

No celebrations in the bunker.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke shook his head. “Still. I’m sorry I missed it. That I made it so much worse than it should have been.”

He was never going to run out of things to apologize for, was he.

[okteiviakom]

"You can wash my hair now and rub coconut oil on my leg later, and we'll call it even," Octavia told him, soft and quiet and exhausted. Unwilling to beat him up about it any further. "I wasn't here for your last birthday, either."

[betterthanaplan]

"Birthdays have been kind of a wash this year," Duke murmured, squeezing 3-in-1 into his hand. He reached out to start massaging it into her scalp. "Was Lucifer around for it, at least?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head, but only barely. She wanted his fingers in her hair.

"He was still in Hell," she said, quietly.

[betterthanaplan]

She'd get it, probably for far longer than was strictly necessary for washing purposes. (He might pull out his fancy conditioner, too, because come on. 3-in-1, Tavi? You wounded him!) "But you found him later. After her got back."

[okteiviakom]

"Maze invited me out to Los Angeles," Octavia muttered. "We ran into Michael. And then Lucifer showed up."

She paused. Sighed.

"Michael's a fucking dick."

[betterthanaplan]

"So I've heard," Duke said. "I guess he really threw Luce for a loop."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was quiet for a moment. Just remembering Los Angeles.

And then the last couple of days.

Then, she murmured, "I think it may have made this weekend worse for him."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke paused, his fingers still in her hair.

"You think you know why he freaked out?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't know. But she had... a feeling. "Michael was trying to get under his skin about having been Samael."

The inside of her bottom lip ended up between her teeth again.

"About being Samael."

[betterthanaplan]

"I liked Samael," Duke said. "Sure, he was kind of snobby, but so is Luce."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's voice went quieter still.

"I liked him too."

[betterthanaplan]

"You know, he was a big help while you were a raccoon, too."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia looked up at him.

"Lucifer?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "This weekend was not the first time I ended up crashing at his place."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave that a quiet "oh".

She didn't really know what to do with the knowledge. It was... good? Also somehow not all that surprising.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke gave her a small, sheepish smile as he worked the 3-in-1 into the ends of her hair. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say we were dating. Very chastely.”

[okteiviakom]

Okay, now Octavia's eyebrows went way up. Maybe it was a surprise when he put it like that.

But she seemed baffled, more than anything.

"What?"