Deck of the Cape Rouge, Sunday Afternoon

[my_own_advocate]

This certainly had been an emotionally eventful week, hadn't it? For the first time since Duke... exploded... Lucifer found himself in a decent mood, sleeping in to just about noon before cooking himself up a ridiculous breakfast.

Then there was coffee, and a still-somewhat-asleep Devil wandering onto the deck with a large mug that read 'Nail Satan' and a blanket slung over his shoulder. He sat down, facing the boardwalk, and stretched his legs out.

Sigh. A content one, for once. Not entirely without underlying strain, still, but close enough.

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Comments

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't know what I was agreeing to," Octavia pointed out, like she couldn't help herself. In fact, she seemed to catch herself right after, and put her hand on his shoulder. Gave it a little rub. "It's fine. I didn't mean to make it into a big deal."

Much like with Duke the day before, he seemed a lot... lighter, than he had for a while.

And she didn't want to be fucking that up for him.

"It's good coffee. Mochof."

[my_own_advocate]

"You're welcome."

Lucifer would be lying if he said he wasn't a touch thrown by the entire exchange, but he was firmly dedicated to pushing that feeling aside. "Please, sit. I was just considering options for our dinner tonight."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia pulled her hand back, and took a seat next to him.

"Options?"

More prompt than a question.

(Pushing a few things aside, herself.)

[my_own_advocate]

"I find myself in the mood to do something fruity yet savory tonight," Lucifer said. "The question is, do I lean Middle Eastern? Indian? Or contemporary Western? I'd ask you if you had any preference, but..."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't," Octavia confirmed, managing to produce a wry note, over the edge of her cup. "I heard fruity, it's fine."

[my_own_advocate]

"I'm glad I haven't miscalculated there," Lucifer teased. He sipped his coffee. "How was your walk?"

[okteiviakom]

"Uneventful," Octavia replied, on another tiny shrug. ('Uneventful', as things tended to be when you didn't let yourself go places.) "Wasn't that much more lively in town than it was yesterday, even though the people from the school are back."

[my_own_advocate]

"I imagine they came home and decided to stretch that lovely vacation feeling a day longer," Lucifer mused, contemplating the boardwalk. "Almost makes me feel as if I am depriving us all by not teaching any longer."

He'd hated it, but that had been years ago.

[okteiviakom]

And here came Octavia's confused frown. Getting the most genuine reactions out of her lately really had a lot to do with surprise, didn't it?

"You taught?"

[my_own_advocate]

"My first semester here," Lucifer agreed. "Wasn't... entirely my style at the time. But who knows, perhaps I've found an appetite for molding young minds?"

Unlikely.

[okteiviakom]

"I... doubt it," Octavia hazarded. "Even if I think the 'young minds' have been getting older."

[my_own_advocate]

"I suppose we don't need free vacations," Lucifer mused. "Still. One does get a touch jealous, this time of year."

[okteiviakom]

"Why?" Octavia asked. "You have the money to go wherever and whenever you want."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, yes. But it's not a fully-funded school trip somewhere we wouldn't think to go by ourselves."

Lucifer considered it.

"...And we haven't gone anywhere by ourselves in some time."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, we haven't wanted to," Octavia said, resisting the urge to shrug again, "so..."

So, they hadn't.

[my_own_advocate]

"It would be nice," Lucifer said. Sip. "...If we got back to wanting to."

[okteiviakom]

"Duke would like it."

Sip.

[my_own_advocate]

"And you wouldn't," Lucifer took from that.

[okteiviakom]

"I'll go wherever you want to go," Octavia returned, lightly. Ish. This was Octavia, after all.

(An Octavia who was trying.)

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, that's an answer to a different question," Lucifer pointed out.

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't say I wouldn't like it," Octavia pointed out in return, easily enough. "I think I'm just probably more picky than he is."

[my_own_advocate]

And oh, look. He was eyeing her again.

"Darling," Lucifer said, and sipped his coffee, "I'm a bit better at this game than you are, you know."

[okteiviakom]

There was the tiniest shift in Octavia's expression. A flattening, in parts. "I'm not playing."

No, she was fighting for her life, and clearly failing, now.

[my_own_advocate]

"No, you're dodging, equivocating, and twisting around the point," Lucifer noted, lowering his coffee. "I can go back to not pointing it out and giving you space if you prefer, but honestly. I practically invented all three of those verbs."

[okteiviakom]

Weird how fast something tired could creep into her features, wasn't it? "What was the point, Lucifer?"

She took a sip. It didn't look natural.