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 held her gaze and nodded once, giving her a tiny smile.

"Okay."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't look away this time.

"No clan," she said. It sounded like a resigned afterthought. A hurt she was too tired to feel.

[betterthanaplan]

"Nope," Duke agreed. "Doesn't mean you're alone, though."

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia agreed. There was a hand around hers that said so. (A tattoo around her leg that whispered the same.) "But there's no Fandomkru, Duke."

Or if there was, she wasn't in it. Not really.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke swallowed and nodded. "Okay. You know I made that up for you, right? If you don't need it that's fine."

He was a little disappointed, but this wasn't about him.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia bristled a little. Said nothing - of course - but her fingers tensed in his grasp.

Same with the set of her jaw.

[betterthanaplan]

Shit. Was he supposed to have insisted?

"Tavi. Hey. Talk to me, please."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took a slow, deliberate breath through her nose. On the exhale, she forced her fingers to relax.

Then her jaw, too.

"'You know I made that up for you'," she said. "I'm not a kid, Duke."

[betterthanaplan]

“I know you’re not,” Duke said. “I just meant — we don’t need Fandomkru to be a team. A family.”

[okteiviakom]

"Then you should have said that," Octavia replied.

But, her voice was a lot softer now.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke dragged his free hand down his face. “Yeah. Sorry.”

[okteiviakom]

"Being in a kru means something to me." It meant everything to her. Or at least it had in the past. "I don't want one that feels fake."

When they'd been Floukru, that had always felt real.

(Until she'd ruined it.)

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah, I know that," Duke said, unable to keep a bite out of his tone. He was frustrated, and annoyed at himself for being frustrated when he knew he was the bad guy here.

He was always the bad guy.

[okteiviakom]

This whole morning was just a series of wrong moves one after another, wasn't it? Octavia pulled her hand back, and straightened up from her slight lean towards him. And then got up altogether.

She hadn't touched anything in front of her.

"I'm gonna go take a shower."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke pressed both his hands to his face this time.

"Yeah, alright. Good plan."

Then he jerked up and reached for her arm, because even if she wasn't leaving, she was walking away and that did something terrible in his chest.

"No. Hang on. I don't want to do this anymore. We need to hash this out."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let him grab her arm, and looked up at him, but she didn't entirely look like she was just going to bend to what he wanted.

"Then you better come with me," she said, and even though she sounded exactly like her 29-year-old self always did, there was something of the past weekend in the pointed way she raised her eyebrows, like a challenge, "because I'm taking a shower."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke blinked, then gave her a slow, surprised grin. "Yeah? Really?" He headed after her. "Yeah, that's a good plan!"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia remembered that grin from the weekend, too.

"Don't get your hopes up," she drawled as she led him towards the bathroom, already peeling the hoodie off as she went. "We're still hashing this out."

[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."