The deck of the Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Sunday evening

[betterthanaplan]

Whelp, another Parents Weekend had gone by, and for once, Duke hadn't had any guests arrive, surprise- or no. And for all that talking to Octavia about the disappointment of that had been meant to help him push past that feeling -- that was how this was supposed to work, right? -- he still found himself staring moodily out at the water by Sunday evening, watching the light of the sunset scatter across the swells and waves.

It was beautiful. Even after all his talk today with Linda about emotions and how little control people actually had over them, he was kind of annoyed at himself that he wasn't more in the mood to appreciate that fact, right now.

[expecting one!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"Thanks." Duke closed his eyes, some of the tension running out of him. This was so much easier than the conversation with Octavia had been. Lucifer was less likely to deliberately hold things in, maybe that had to do with it. "I'm a little surprised we didn't get one of Dwight's versions of them."

And now he was picturing Vince Teagues in Fandom. He shuddered dramatically at the thought.

[my_own_advocate]

And unlike Octavia, Lucifer had never been given cause to think of Audrey as threatening to anything besides Duke's mental and physical wellbeing.

"Would that have been worse or better?" he asked.

[betterthanaplan]

“Fuck if I know,” Duke said. “Worse, probably. They wouldn’t actually know me, you know?”

[my_own_advocate]

"You did wander away from Haven's clutches for long stretches at a time since... whenever Dwight is from," Lucifer said. "Rather like me and LA, really."

[betterthanaplan]

“Right. Now imagine if, like . . . some other Dan showed up. From back when you first started working with Chloe. Only, uh. Without the redemption-and-tragic-death aspect.”

If anyone had survived the meteors Duke figured it’d be Dwight.

“And then that Dan’s version of, like. Ella showed up.”

[my_own_advocate]

"It'd be a bit weird," Lucifer allowed. "Though Miss Lopez didn't join us for another year or so after I met the Detective."

[betterthanaplan]

“You’re splitting hairs, babe,” Duke told him.

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm just saying she might not be the best example here," Lucifer said, taking a sip of his wine. "But point understood."

[betterthanaplan]

“Thank you,” Duke said. “Right. I’m trying to do this whole ‘sharing my feelings’ thing, but I think right now . . . I’d rather have a distraction from them.”

[my_own_advocate]

"We can do that," Lucifer said, flashing him a small smile. "And we're also about a week away from dragging you back to the Bahamas to swim to your heart's delight, let's not forget about that."

[betterthanaplan]

“Oh trust me. I couldn’t if I tried.” Duke leaned his head on Lucifer’s shoulder. “I may have almost jumped in, cast and all, on Friday.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer laughed softly. "Mm. Can't keep our pirate away from the waves too long, or he'll lose all his senses."

He tightened his arm around Duke a bit more.

He felt oddly, but fiercely, protective.

[betterthanaplan]

“Yep.” A sigh. “Also, telling Tavi I was missing Audrey was, uh. Rough.”

[my_own_advocate]

"What'd she say?"

[betterthanaplan]

“It was less about what she said. More about how she froze up.”

[my_own_advocate]

"Ah," Lucifer said. He frowned. "Do you have any idea why?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sighed. “Yeah. I fucked up, and she hates Audrey more than you do.”

[my_own_advocate]

"You're going to have to give me a bit more detail than that," Lucifer said, taking another sip of his wine, "Considering I'm very unfond of Audrey."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke grimaced. “Yeah. Well. Remember that night we came to find you in LA, when your mojo went nuts?”

[my_own_advocate]

A few conversations he'd had in the past tried to surface. "Ah."

[betterthanaplan]

“Yeah,” Duke said, looking away. “Wasn’t long after that we went to Haven for Audrey’s birthday, and uh. We’ve got kind of a, uh, flirty energy. Which Octavia didn’t like. And then when We tried to talk about not being monogamous I kinda leaned into the whole ‘missing being with guys’ thing to, I don’t know. Soften the blow I guess? I mean. I know you remember how I fucked that whole thing up.”

[my_own_advocate]

"Vividly," Lucifer agreed. He sipped his wine. "So you made her believe there was a risk you'd start sleeping with Audrey."

What a fun little extra detail to that whole mess.

[betterthanaplan]

“I tried to avoid making her believe that,” Duke said. “And . . . failed, yeah.”

[my_own_advocate]

"By flirting with Audrey in front of her," Lucifer said. "Not necessarily the best plan you've ever had."

In a hypothetical situation that no one would clearly ever be stupid enough to inflict on him, Lucifer certainly would have freaked out himself if Duke had done anything to imply to anyone they weren't together, especially in the early days.

[betterthanaplan]

“Not on purpose! Audrey started it and I just kind of . . . matched her energy. It’s just how our friendship works.”