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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[my_own_advocate]

"All right, just a moment," Lucifer said.

And promptly vanished back into the galley, reappearing moments later with a fresh cup. "There you are."

[okteiviakom]

"I... could've got that myself," Octavia said.

... Well, she'd said 'I --' when he first took off. She said the whole thing when he got back, and she was reaching out for the cup.

"But thanks."

[my_own_advocate]

"Right, but why would you?" Lucifer asked, sitting back down. "I'm right here."

[okteiviakom]

"Because you're not my servant." Well, he'd asked. "And I have working legs."

Regardless, she took a big sip.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer blinked, sipping his own coffee. "I didn't realize I had to be your servant in a non-kinky capacity in order to get you coffee," he said.

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't mean it like that," Octavia replied, looking down at the cup and shrugging again. "Just that you don't have to drop everything to get me coffee from inside. It's fine."

[my_own_advocate]

"Yes, I know." Lucifer's eyes did something comical as he tried to parse that comment. "I offered," he pointed out.

[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.