The beach, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

It was Tuesday morning, and as much as Duke kind of wanted to skip it this week, he was out on the beach for his morning yoga with Rey, a -- flock? troop? plurality -- of porgs gamboling about around him. They seemed to have taken an extra shine to him since this weekend. He was really hoping they didn't feel sorry for him too.

Like he was sure Rey did. You know, after he'd cried on her. Twice.

Those were not very zen thoughts, though, so Duke was doing his best to shove them out of his mind and focus only on his warm up, working through the various kinks and catches leftover from his night sleeping rough. Which led to thinking about why he'd decided to sleep rough on Sunday, which led back to the whole 'thinking about the weekend' thing, which led back to the reason why he'd been so tempted to beg off morning yoga this week. . . .

He growled faintly to himself in frustration as he moved between downward and upward dog, prompting a squawk in return from the porgs. Who all piled onto his lower back while he held the stretch.

How was this his life?

[awkward beach yoga is open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had no idea how awkward things may or may not be today, so she brought her satchel with her to the beach. And of course the first thing she saw was the porg pile-on, which was a good start if you were her.

"I see you brought friends."

[betterthanaplan]

"They decided to invite themselves along, yeah," Duke said. He shifted even slower than usual, trying to give the porgs plenty of time to scatter before they fell off. They hung on to the last possible moment, shifting with him as he sat up until they were perched on his shoulders and knees. Duke brushed them off with a sigh.

At least they made for a nice distraction. Made it slightly less obvious that he was avoiding looking her in the eye.

[thatwaslucky]

"We're probably just weeks away from them trying it themselves," she said, sitting next-ish to him so he wouldn't have to look at her if he didn't want to.

[betterthanaplan]

"Which would be almost disgustingly cute." Duke shot her just enough of a look to let her know he noticed and appreciated that, then went back to looking mostly out to sea. "We could sell tickets."

[thatwaslucky]

"Nina's not audience enough?" she asked.

[betterthanaplan]

"Nina doesn't pay for admission," Duke pointed out. "Porg yoga. I could totally see that becoming a thing."

And he didn't even know about goat yoga!

[thatwaslucky]

"If you can handle the cuteness, that means you're really zen?" she asked.

[betterthanaplan]

". . . Sure." Yeah, the zen part didn't really seem to play into it as far as he could tell. "Okay, so it might be more about the spectacle by that point." He glanced over at her again. "But, you know, gotta keep working on that 'get rich and be fancy' plan."

He'd actually managed to hoard a pretty large amount of money, by this point.

[thatwaslucky]

"You do have fancy glasses, so I'd say you're at least halfway there," she smiled, looking back at him.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke chuckled. "I wasn't wrong, you know. Glassware on boats? Not always the best plan. I just can't resist classing it up sometimes." He leaned towards her, like he was sharing a secret. "The trick is to pack them away when you're in open water."

[thatwaslucky]

"Makes sense," she said. "If it's impractical, you can at least be smart about it."

[betterthanaplan]

"Smart's always been the goal," Duke said. "What smart actually means, that part's shifted over the years."

It leaned away from 'be openly suspicious of kindness', for one thing.

[thatwaslucky]

"And what does it mean now?" she wondered.

[heroic_jawline]

Would awkward beach yoga be even more awkward with a terrible but sincere but terrible casserole?

"Hi. The radio says you're here on Tuesdays."

Made it handy for some casual stalking.

[betterthanaplan]

"Radio says a lot of things," Duke noted. "But yeah, Rey and I are out here every week."

[heroic_jawline]

"I brought you an apology casserole," Steve said, holding out the dish, "for being a pain in the butt as a kid."

[betterthanaplan]

". . . What, really?" Duke frowned. "Didn't I call you 'dummy' like, seven times?"

[heroic_jawline]

"And grandpa, which looking back, is kind hilarious," Steve said with a grin, "and I wasn't exactly the most polite in replying."

[betterthanaplan]

“Yeah, buddy, I think we’re probably even already.” Duke was eyeing that casserole a little dubiously. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, that’s sweet and all, but — really not necessary.”

[heroic_jawline]

Which basically summarized Steve Rogers!

His cheeks went pink. "Maybe not," he agreed, "but when I woke up as myself and covered in cookie crumbs and embarrassment, this was the first thing I thought to do."

[betterthanaplan]

". . . Make me a casserole." Duke shook his head and shrugged. "Alright, you do you. You want a pizza in return? I have . . . a lot of leftover pizza."

[heroic_jawline]

"I will never say no to leftover pizza," Steve said with a big grin.

[betterthanaplan]

"Hey, if you want, you can have three leftover pizzas." Duke shook his head. "I was kind of a food hoarder as a kid."

[heroic_jawline]

"I feel like I'm really getting a deal for just one tuna noodle casserole," Steve said with a little smile. "I can understand the hoarding impulse. Still have a couple bags of beans stashed places for just in case."

[betterthanaplan]

"You'd be doing me a favor. My fridge is kind of tiny."

Being in a boat kitchen and all.

"I've always been more of a jerky guy myself. Hell, part of the reason I first landed here was because my stash was finally starting to run low."