The galley of the Cape Rouge, Thursday evening

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had had some time since his last therapist appointment to start slowly processing what his therapist had said. Specifically what the man had said about what he believed was the foundation of Duke's issues. A diagnosis if you will.

Which Duke had finally made time to look up and read about after getting home from the diner. And mull over over a cup of tea.

Sure, it wasn't the first time someone had suggested that he had PTSD. He'd kind of just assumed he had that, by now. But C-PTSD. The complex version. The one most associated with survivors of hostage situations or child abuse.

He sipped his tea and stared into space. And wished it didn't make as much sense to him as it did. Wished he didn't check off quite as many of the usual symptoms as he did.

"Fuck."

[for the partners if they wanna]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

"Ah." Duke hadn't thought of that. Christmas was kind of sneaking up on him this year. "Well. Maybe I'll sail back then? I just -- I really want some time alone out on the water. Ideally without you two freaking out the whole time."

[my_own_advocate]

"Right," Lucifer said, "And I'll happily support this, except..."

He held out a hand. "'Handful' and 'five' are two very different concepts, I do hope you realize that."

[betterthanaplan]

"Five fingers? Handful?" Duke said with a soft huff. "Between you and Tavi, you're going to give me a complex."

[my_own_advocate]

"Five days is a long time at sea," Lucifer pointed out. "Are you sure this isn't one of those things where you have an epiphany with a good idea and then you're so pleased about the epiphany that you sprint straight past the good idea and off a cliff?"

Because Lucifer had some experience with that!

[betterthanaplan]

“Not when you put it that way,” Duke said. “I just. I think I need time to decompress. Your date nights and my giant fog of doom aside, I haven’t spent much time alone in . . . I don’t know how long. Sailing to the Bahamas seemed better than just going ‘heading to sea, see you later.’ At least this way there’s a goal.”

[my_own_advocate]

"I would honestly feel more comfortable with 'heading to see for a day or two, see you then'," Lucifer admitted. "Because you do... remember about the ocean, right? There's quite a bit of it. And it's December."

[betterthanaplan]

"I used to live there, hon," Duke pointed out. "I'm well aware."

The danger aspect -- and the fact that Duke knew he knew how to mitigate it -- was a big draw, honestly.

[my_own_advocate]

"And you should do whatever you want to do, obviously," Lucifer said, holding up a hand, "But hopefully you understand if I don't think five days of wondering whether the latest hurricane has murdered you is what I would call the most restful beginning to a vacation."

[betterthanaplan]

"I do understand. Which is why I have a radio. And GPS. You guys can track me the whole time."

He'd thought about that part, Luce! Admittedly he could have thought about it harder, but still.

[my_own_advocate]

"Are you going to radio us at 3 in the morning when Octavia wakes up from a nightmare and decides to check the weather report?" Lucifer inquired. "For five nights?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Four nights," Duke said. "And I'd hope you would radio me if that happened. I can't know when she's having a nightmare if I'm not there."

He was working on not being able to predict her every reaction beforehand, Luce, let's be careful about implying he should anticipate the timing of her nightmares.

[my_own_advocate]

... it wasn't about predicting the nightmares, it was about the fact he wouldn't stop being in danger at 3 in the morning and they wouldn't stop needing reassurance at 3 in the morning as a result. Honestly, Duke.

Lucifer turned his head and stared at him. "Who radios you isn't the point," he said. "The point is you cannot reassure us every minute of every day out at sea that you're not dead, so it would probably be best if you temper your ambitions by a few further days. Unless you desire to give us both a coronary."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sighed.

"I guess I could . . . portal down to Georgia or something. Cut out the Mid-Atlantic."

[my_own_advocate]

"That would be better," Lucifer said honestly. "Best would be if you didn't sacrifice part of our vacation for it, but I appreciate that this is something you feel you have to do right now, so..."

[betterthanaplan]

"It gives me a goal," Duke said again, voice softer. "A reason for it to be this many days, and not -- running away."

He'd done a lot of running away in his youth. And this wasn't not an attempt to soothe the part of him that still wanted to run all the time.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed.

"Just be careful," he said quietly. "And keep it short. And when you find us, we're going to sleep on top of you for a solid two weeks. No moving. No coming back to Fandom before that, either."

[betterthanaplan]

"I'm not going to argue with that," Duke said. "You know how much I like when you guys pile in on me in bed."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a huff. "Imagine," he said, "I had actually come out here to talk to you about something else bed-related, but..."

[betterthanaplan]

“We got distracted,” Duke said. “What’s up?”

[my_own_advocate]

"Octavia and I have been talking about... letting you into her room in the house," Lucifer said. Beat. "That's a euphemism, I'm talking about all three of us having kinky sex together in her room."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke's brows shot up.

"Wait, really?"

He'd . . . still been pretty sure he would not be brought in on that with Octavia, yeah.

[my_own_advocate]

"We'd both like to find ways to include you," Lucifer said smoothly, "And Octavia and I agreed it'd be easiest if it were there. And... I was in control."

Read: he was the least likely to trip anyone's landmines in the bedroom.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded a little more slowly. "Okay. I mean . . . that sounds fun."

But Octavia wasn't apparently comfortable talking to Duke about it.

He could unpack that later. He gave Lucifer a grin.

"You know I like letting you be in charge in the bedroom."

[my_own_advocate]

Octavia had thought that maybe Lucifer talking to Duke about it first would diminish the amount of potential emotional flailing around it, as far as Lucifer could see. Honestly, Duke.

"And so does she, at times," Lucifer said, with a faint smile. "It is just a kind of vulnerability she holds rather sacred, so..."

He pulled Duke in a touch closer. Trying to figure out how to phrase this properly.

[betterthanaplan]

You know what really helped with the flailing? Telling him things. So he felt less like assuming was his only choice.

"So my history of . . . flinching . . . isn't great for her for that."

(You fucked it up like always and now neither of them will ever trust you again. Or they were worried about him and his known track record of irrational emotional reactions! Because you're a fuck up, yes.)

Okay, sometimes talking back to the intrusive thoughts worked better than others.