Dr. Linda Martin's House, Thursday Morning

[my_own_advocate]

Was Dr. Linda's floor really where Lucifer wanted to wake up this morning? Absolutely not.

But Duke had been in no state to go to the penthouse last night, and Octavia had been in some kind of shock, and it had just seemed easier to stay here. Linda only had one couch, and that seemed better-suited for the drunk, so Lucifer had found himself on a mattress on the floor for the first time in... quite some time.

It was not ideal.

Which was likely why he woke up as early as he did, the floor poking against his shoulder as the air mattress had apparently sprung a leak during the night.

"Ugggh."

[[ for octavia and duke ]]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia ignored both of them. Opened the door and continued on outside with that same grimly determined air to the way she moved, until --

She stopped, with a tiny gasp and a shudder.

Right, here was where they'd been. But it wasn't just that: now there was another memory mixed in, twisting her stomach into knots.

(Lucifer really shouldn't have talked about a shot to the head.)

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nearly ran her over. He reached for both her shoulders to steady himself and her.

“Hey,” he said softly. “What is it?”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sort of... loitered behind them, unsure.

He was still trying to figure out how him getting shot equated to everyone being angry at him.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia said nothing, still staring at Linda's front yard.

She was trying to put her stoic facade back together, but it wasn't going well.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke went from holding her shoulders to wrapping his arms around them.

“Okay,” he said softly. “Do what you need to.”

[okteiviakom]

Octavia leaned back into him. A little. Maybe she just happened to sway that way? It was hard to tell with the lack of speaking. And the lack of doing anything else.

This didn't feel right.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke rested his head against hers and closed his eyes.

Having a hangover made it a little easier to be patient with that silence.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sighed.

Right, they were having a moment, and he was-- in a weird spot in all of it.

So he retreated to go find some of Linda's wine.

[okteiviakom]

It was one of those moments where Octavia was silent for a long time - and then was quiet even when she spoke again.

"I don't know if I can be here."

It sounded faintly lost.

[betterthanaplan]

"Do you want to go home?" Duke asked, just as quiet.

[okteiviakom]

"I don't know."

Helpful, Octavia.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke let out a soft sigh. That was a frustrating answer, probably for both of them. He reached one hand up to card through her hair.

"It hit you even harder than it hit me, huh."

[okteiviakom]

"No," Octavia muttered.

She'd heard him, earlier. Aa if through a haze, but she'd heard him.

He'd been upset.

[betterthanaplan]

He still was. But he tended to wear his upset outwards, whether in visible anger or in hard-edged snark. Hers, along with all her other emotions, tended to turn in and reinforce her walls.

"As hard, then," he said, not having the ability to express that out loud. "You've had a lot of nasty experience with guns."

[okteiviakom]

"It's not that."

That was the walls talking. Quiet, mild.

(She thought about gun shots, and felt sick again.)

[betterthanaplan]

"You sure?" Duke asked. "Because if it's not, I have no idea what's going on with you."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia fell silent again.

But also maybe pressed back against him a little more.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke decided to take that as a confirmation of his theory. He closed his eyes again and kept slowly stroking her hair.

[okteiviakom]

"I'm not sure he's gonna get why you're upset," Octavia muttered after a moment.

She was still staring at the yard. But she'd stopped seeing it a while ago, her gaze turned inward.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke made a small, rough noise in the back of his throat. "Trouble with loving an angel."

Or anyone else, he thought, but didn't say.

[okteiviakom]

"I guess," Octavia said. She wasn't that sure it was very angel-specific, either. "All of this is... different for him."

Duh.

"He thinks that nothing happened to him means that nothing happened at all."

[betterthanaplan]

Another little grunt. "Worked that out, yeah."

What with the repeated insistence that Lucifer was "fine" and all.

Then: "He's not vulnerable around Chloe anymore."

That felt like a really big thing.

[okteiviakom]

"Noticed."

And it made no sense with -- other parts of the evening at the house. But Octavia didn't really know how to say that.

[betterthanaplan]

"That's, uh. That's big, right?"

[okteiviakom]

There was a hesitation to Octavia's voice.

"It's... new."