The deck of the Cape Rouge, Monday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

Duke woke up . . . feeling perfectly fine, actually. Or as perfectly fine as he ever did. Perhaps his body had built up an immunity to the pollen after all these years. Perhaps he'd eaten some particularly quirky yogurt as a depression snack the day before. Perhaps -- and this was the unlikeliest of all if you asked him -- whatever was in charge of the island's whims and quirks was just giving him a damned break this time.

Whatever it was, he was not feeling any extra-strong urges today. He was, however, bemusedly watching a pair of porgs chase each other around the deck while he drank his first coffee of the day, and wondering if it was a sign that spring had finally sprung.

". . . Aww, c'mon, guys," he said, as one porg finally caught the other. "Get a room. I know you have access to several belowdecks."

He didn't even have a salad for them to be in front of! Come on, now.

[open! I'm trying a whole "30 minutes working, 5 minutes walking" thing after listening to NPR yesterday and it's maybe actually doing a good thing for my brain!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"Hell yeah." Duke pulled his phone out and poked around a little. "Looks like the place is closed Monday and Tuesday . . . Wednesday? While Tavi's doing her shift at the Nest?"

[my_own_advocate]

"Sounds perfect," Lucifer said, grinning. "I'll be free and entirely yours for the evening."

[betterthanaplan]

"Entirely mine," Duke teased. "I like the sound of that."

[my_own_advocate]

"I thought you might," Lucifer said, rising back up out of his seat. He joined Duke instead.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke slid his arm around Lucifer’s waist.

“Fair warning, it’s apparently pollen time again. I’m not feeling anything, but Tavi says she is.” He nodded towards the porgs. “And if the local wildlife is any indication. . . .”

[my_own_advocate]

"I think you're the one we're generally most concerned with this time of year," Lucifer noted, as he leaned slightly into Duke's arm. "You'll let me know if anything starts... tingling?"

[betterthanaplan]

“Pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to keep that secret if I tried,” Duke said.

He tended to get viciously irritable at minimum when triggered like that.

[my_own_advocate]

"Just making sure," Lucifer sighed. "Now I take it Octavia is being stubborn about it?"

[betterthanaplan]

“It’s almost like you know her,” Duke teased. “She’s trying for stoic.”

[my_own_advocate]

"Suppose I should make sure I'll be there when she inevitably implodes," Lucifer said. "At least she had her fill last night."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke chuckled. "And a glorious time was had by all, I'm sure. But yeah. I offered to help her out when she needs it, too." He shrugged. "It's not so bad when I'm not the one with the . . . itch."

[my_own_advocate]

"You know you don't have to if it does make you uncomfortable in some fashion," Lucifer offered, sliding an arm around Duke's shoulders.

[betterthanaplan]

"I do," Duke confirmed. And gave Lucifer a peck on the cheek. "But I appreciate you checking to make sure."

[my_own_advocate]

"All right, then," Lucifer said.

He turned his head. Mainly to give Duke a proper kiss in response.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke wasn't about to argue with that. He kept it simple on his part though, a little more shy about it than he usually would be.

The porgs were watching, after all.

(And, you know, maybe there was still a little discomfort hiding in the back of his mind.)

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer hadn't intended to make it into a thing, either.

Just... a show of affection.

"Shall we go and get some pastries, then?" he said, pulling back. "She might need them later."

[betterthanaplan]

“You don’t want to make them yourself?” Duke teased. He was already finishing off his coffee to get ready to go.

[my_own_advocate]

"Baking is a mood," Lucifer said with dignity, "That I don't currently have."