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[betterthanaplan]

"Buddha says 'All good things come to those who wait.' With that in mind, leave me a message."

*beep*

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[okteiviakom]

"You don't need to."

Octavia had her own sore spots about how this had gone, but that wasn't really one of them.

She tried for a wry tone. "On the plus side, Lucifer finally gets what I meant about not wanting to use that word. Only took him two thousand years."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had mentioned once that he was used to partners who didn't want to use "official" words to describe their relationship. He wasn't letting himself think about how in the past, that was usually because they were ashamed of dating him.

(He was pretty sure Lucifer was at least a little ashamed of what Duke was proposing here, yeah.)

"Well, you know, he's used to much longer time spans than us mere mortals. It takes him awhile to adjust."

[okteiviakom]

"I think he's just never had to actually think about it before," Octavia said, a little milder. "Not like this."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was starting to develop a pavlovian response to her tone going mild.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way."

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't mean it like that, either."

Maybe they shouldn't have been having this conversation over the phone, but here they were.

"Do you get why we're so... weird about it?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Not really," Duke admitted. Because he didn't want the reason he could think of to be true. "But -- I mean, does it matter if I get it? I'm happy to use whatever terms you guys want."

[okteiviakom]

"It matters to me," Octavia replied softly.

[betterthanaplan]

"Okay," Duke said slowly. "I'm not supposed to just guess, am I?"

[okteiviakom]

"No, snogon," Octavia murmured. (Was the word choice on purpose, there? She wouldn't say.) "And I won't speak for Lucifer, because... That's his business."

Even if she had guesses, and all of them centered around a certain detective.

"But I know I got uncomfortable because 'dating' sounds so -- definite. Like it's defined from the outside, because that comes with expectations and baggage."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was pretty sure for Lucifer it had everything to do with a certain detective. And wanting a back door.

He was pretty used to people wanting those with him, too.

"There are people who like the fact that it's clearly defined," he pointed out. "And I know you like knowing what to expect from things. You think maybe it's more that it's defined by the 20th century, and not your own culture?"

[okteiviakom]

"Defined from the outside," Octavia pointed out. "That's included in that. But no, this isn't my culture. Which makes it worse somehow, because that means it's a word that means more to the people on the outside than it does to me."

[betterthanaplan]

It meant something to Duke too, though. But all he said was "Alright, then. Thanks for telling me."

[okteiviakom]

There was a short silence.

Then: "That's all?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke wasn't sure what else she wanted him to say.

"I get it," he said. "I'm not going to wholeheartedly agree, but I respect it. We won't use that word."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia sounded a little taken aback.

"I just thought you might want to --" Talk to her. "-- tell me what your thoughts are."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke honestly had been sure if she'd care. He hadn't consciously thought about it, but -- well, she always just kind of barreled ahead with her own opinions, and let him follow along.

"I think it's just a word," he said slowly. "One that means spending time together romantically. I mean, it doesn't even have to mean being sexual or exclusive, just -- getting together with the full intention of being romantic about it."

[okteiviakom]

And Octavia was trying to be better about not letting him let her do that.

(It was like the one relationship skill she was consciously trying to learn. Bringing her toolkit up to a total of... maybe two and a half skills.)

"And does it matter to you?" she asked, voice just a little quieter.

[betterthanaplan]

"No," Duke said, with a small smile that tinged his tone. "You know the words we use have never mattered to me as much as what we're actually doing."

She wanted to put her own labels on things. Words like snogon, which meant as much as "boyfriend" ever had, just in her own language.

"It's not like you're pretending it isn't happening, right?"

[okteiviakom]

"Of course not," Octavia said, with a small hint of relief. "I've never told anyone you and me are dating, but that doesn't mean I haven't made sure they know we're together."

[betterthanaplan]

"There you go, then," Duke said. "And -- I mean, as long as Lucifer doesn't go around telling people he hates us or something, he can call it what he likes, too."

Yes, Duke had absolutely had partners in the past who'd claimed to hate him when talking to other people. Not just Nathan, either. It was practically a theme of his love life, before Evi.

(It probably explained some things about his relationship with Evi, really. She gloried in calling him her husband, after all.)

[okteiviakom]

All these years, and Octavia still wanted to punch every last one of his exes.

"And Lucifer doesn't lie," she said, "so he's not going to do that."

He was definitely going to be telling people they were unnecessarily complicated, though.

[betterthanaplan]

Well, they were human. Being complicated was basically a genetic predisposition.

"That's true. He does like to spend a lot of his time making fun of me, though."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, that's different."

[betterthanaplan]

"Dr. Linda says it's from a place of love."

[okteiviakom]

"I think she might be right." They all had their love languages, after all. "Anyway... There's something you and me didn't talk about, which we maybe should."