The beach, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

So. Duke and Rey hadn't exactly left things on the best of terms last week. Which was why, for all that he could really use some good stretching after last week, he was mostly brooding meditating this morning while he waited for Rey to arrive.

Or, you know, waited to see if Rey was even coming.

With the added clarity that came from his brain not being flooded with sex hormones, he was starting to see why Rey had been so pissed. And while he was still annoyed on his own part -- he didn't enjoy being blamed for not noticing her attraction when she hadn't exactly made any effort to let him know -- he was more irritated with himself for potentially fucking up another friendship.

He didn't exactly have a lot of those to spare.

[beach yoga is open! If mopier than usual ;D]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey wasn't coming. It wasn't on purpose; she'd known it was a possibility she wouldn't be back in time but if she thought she actually wouldn't she'd have warned him because she wasn't terrible. But really, maybe they could use the break this week.

She did send a text, though, when she realized for sure she wasn't getting out today.

Not going to make it this week. At home, thought I might be back in time but that's not happening.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke read the text, then pressed the phone to his forehead and sighed. Reminded himself that while on Evi this would have been a passive aggressive attempt to punish him, Rey was more honest and straightforward than that, and so she probably really was just stuck at home.

In a warzone. Where spaceships regularly got blown up.

Alright, he texted back. tell Chewie I said hi. See you later

She's probably take 'be safe' as patronizing from him right now, so he didn't add that to his text. Just . . . sent it out into the multiverse instead. And went back to moping brooding meditating.

[thatwaslucky]

The fun thing about texts was that Rey had no idea how to read tone in them. So after a long while of debating whether to send anything else she just added, Sorry about this. Back in time for trading probably.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke was pretty surprised to get a second text. That was probably a good sign, right?

cool. Let me know when you’re back?

Hopefully that would come across as concerned but not overbearing.

[thatwaslucky]

Yeah

Then, Depending on when I get back I might find you.

She wanted to fix this. Feeling sad about it was worse than being angry.

[betterthanaplan]

He really hoped that wasn't a 'we need to talk' kind of thing.

that'd be cool

He bit his lip as the urge to lighten the mood bubbled up. Even in text.

have fun saving the galaxy!

[thatwaslucky]

Rey tilted her head at that one for a good long while. Maybe next time something like this happened she'd just call.

But for now, she had things to do, so she let that go with a Thanks

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer had slept away yesterday and, well, he had said he'd show up.

"You do know the beach is a 'brooding-not-allowed' space, right?" he called on ahead as he stepped onto the sand.

[betterthanaplan]

"Since when?" Duke asked. "A deserted beach is basically built for brooding."

Not that that was what he'd been doing.

"Thought mornings were too early for you."

[my_own_advocate]

"Beaches are for fun. Beach balls. Blondes in bikinis," sighed Lucifer, sweeping in further wearing an expensive suit that didn't quite yell 'beach fun', either. "And I slept for much of the day, it's almost as good as chasing uppers with a triple espresso."

[betterthanaplan]

"It's gotta be nice to be immortal," Duke said, shaking his head. "Well, I'm neither blonde nor in a bikini, but I think I can at least make this a little more 'LA' for you." He stretched his arms up over this head, then shrugged off his jacket, revealing his usual undershirt-and-sweatpants yoga outfit. "Can't say you're dressed for yoga, though."

[my_own_advocate]

"Oh, my therapist swears by hot yoga, but it's not really my style," Lucifer said, grinning idly. "But I did promise to make a beach call."

[betterthanaplan]

"Everyone can benefit from yoga," Duke said, dropping his arms with a shrug. "But it's up to you."

Now that he was up and moving, he could feel more of the kinks that needed working out in his various muscle groups. He dropped into a forward fold, then started a warm up flow that was a little more advanced -- and bendy -- than he usually did when Rey was there.

"How'd the rest of your weekend go?" he asked. "Have any more mainland adventures?"

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer sat down in the sand, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket to produce a bottle. It wasn't entirely clear what was in it.

He took a swig.

"I did intend to have a grand finale on Sunday, but it turned into a bit more of a pleasant epilogue," he said. "Met some ladies who certainly knew how to handle their starches."

... it was a long story.

"Is there any particular reason you're brooding, or is it just to give the stretching a certain je ne sais quoi?" he added. Wasn't stopping him from watching, mind.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't sigh, but only because moving between yoga poses required specific, controlled breathing patterns.

"You might notice I'm out here alone," he said. "Or was before you showed up. That's . . . not usually the case."

[my_own_advocate]

"Did you scare someone off with yoga?" Lucifer said, tilting his head. "I have to admit, that's one application I've never heard of before."

[betterthanaplan]

Again, the lack of huff was just due to the constraints of yoga. He did manage to flick Lucifer a smirk for that one, though. "Not so much. I did, however, apparently manage to offend someone by . . . we'll call it misinterpreting some signals."

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer did huff. Clearly someone needed to be huffing around here.

"Someone with a crush?" he guessed.

[betterthanaplan]

"Apparently. Which gets really awkward when you assume they don't and try to use a standard 'don't worry, I'm not into you' line." He shifted poses, taking a moment to breathe into the stance, then shook his head. "Admittedly, I usually only use those on, like, aggressively straight dudes."

And half the time when he did he was picking a fight.

He really hadn't handled things with Rey all that well.

[my_own_advocate]

"Aggressively 'straight' dudes are in denial half the time," Lucifer opined, taking another swig. "What, did you accidentally lead her on or something?"

[betterthanaplan]

"No. Or -- maybe?" Duke did sigh this time, holding his pose (Warrior III, balanced on one leg, not an easy one to hold) for an extra breath to do it. "I almost want to say the island did, but that's kind of a cop-out."

[my_own_advocate]

"I mean, it did get everyone roaring with hormones at least twice as much as they usually would, I think you could credibly blame it for at least part of your predicament," said Lucifer. Without the pollen in his system, Duke... was still delightful to watch, actually.

[betterthanaplan]

"See, that's what I'm talking about," Duke said, his voice getting a little tighter as he moved into a handstand. He took a moment to breathe there, then continued. "Last week had all the extra --" He shifted his weight to one hand to be able to gesture properly with the other. "-- Stuff flying around. And the other time she mentioned was when the mistletoe was harassing everybody. So yeah, I wanted to make sure she knew I wasn't expecting anything."

[my_own_advocate]

"And she took it as an insult...?" Lucifer prompted.

Duke was upside down and so was his shirt. It was distracting.

[betterthanaplan]

There was a reason why most of Duke's go to show-off moves tended to be inverted, yes.

He lowered himself carefully to the ground, then pressed up into a back-bend. Which wasn't likely to be any less distracting.

"I guess. Pointing out that she's technically my student and that that upped the creep potential if I did want to start something didn't help. Then I was 'making my lack of attraction her fault'."