fandomtownies | The Devil's Nest, Wednesday Evening

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The Devil's Nest, Wednesday Evening

There was no DJ tonight. But the playlist wasn't the usual Lucifer-approved piano bar-y one, either. Octavia had gone prodding at the sound system a couple of times already, but it kept reverting to the same thing.

So, guess you were listening to Violent Femmes tonight, club goers. Octavia wasn't sure how she felt about it.

(She would be even less sure once the playlist would actually hit Add It Up. But it wasn't there yet.)

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"Right," Octavia replied. It was pretty obvious she didn't really get the appeal, which was largely because what she was picturing was... kind of off the mark. "Well. Good luck, I guess?"

Remember when she'd known how to talk to him?

(And why did this seem to be prodding at the same spot as it had to wake up on Saturday morning and find the Rouge still gone?)

"You should come check it out when it's done," Duke said. "Because I'm obviously not describing it right. It'll be great, you'll see."

"Okay," Octavia said, faintly. Vaguely.

She was -- she was going to get herself a beer, now.

Duke leaned his chin on his hand and watched her get it. When she came back, he gave her a long, steady look.

"Okay, for real this time: what's up? You're doing that silent glare thing again."

"I'm not doing a thing," Octavia objected. It wasn't as much a glare as it was a general sense of unease.

Look, she was trying to pinpoint it, but it would take a moment. Hence the way she shut up right after saying that.

Duke started to get riled, but stopped himself before he let it out. She was thinking. That was all he could ask of her.

Octavia still noticed, though.

Chin down, she shook her head just a tiny bit. "Don't get mad at me," she muttered. "I'm trying."

"I know," Duke said. "And I am trying not to be mad."

Look at them go! Such a good team.

"This is just -- weird," Octavia blurted out after a short silence, looking up at him. Looking a little helpless. "This whole thing."

Did she mean the 'whole thing' she herself had specifically asked for? Probably, yeah.

Duke nodded. "Any, uh. Particular part?"

Was he familiar with the definition of the word 'whole'?

Octavia drew in a deep breath. "We're -- off balance."

"Yeah." Duke gave her a sad smile. "That's been true for kind of a while though."

Octavia's expression fell a little. Just by a fraction.

"Yeah."

"Do you think what we're doing is making it better or worse?" Duke asked.

He wasn't quite sure, himself. They hadn't argued in a while, but . . . that was maybe just because they hadn't seen each other.

Octavia looked past his shoulder at the rest of the club.

And decided: "I can't do this here." Not right at the bar. There weren't a lot of people in the club tonight, but this still felt like being out in the open. And so she stepped out from behind it, reaching her free hand out to him.

"Come on."

Duke followed her gaze and nodded. “Good plan.”

He took her hand.

Octavia squeezed his hand tightly without even realizing it. There was a dark corner of the club's more lounge-y area that was completely deserted, and that was where she was leading him to now.

(In the background, the inexplicably shuffled playlist shuffled its way into Promise.)

Right. Yeah, that music was . . . slightly foreboding.

Duke looked for a good spot to sit, mentally bracing himself for disaster even as he tried to tell himself that if she was going to totally break up with him, she'd have done it by now.

There was a table in a corner, and Octavia tugged him over to it.

She was still holding her bottle of beer in her other hand.

Duke was kind of wishing he'd managed to order a drink before this, himself.

He let her steer him as she would, this isn't over sounding over and over in his head like a mantra.

Octavia took him to the table, and ushered him into taking a seat before sitting down next to him.

She hadn't let go of his hand, and even now, once they'd settled down, she pulled it over to rest against her leg. And then she just... looked at their joined hands for a moment.

"Why does it feel like we're not together anymore?"

Duke let out a breath. They were just talking. This was fine. He squeezed her hand.

"I don't know. Maybe . . . we got out of the habit of hanging out?"

Octavia made a noise that was a little too helpless to really qualify as a snort. "We haven't really been hanging out at all."

Were you maybe answering your own question there, Tavi?

Little bit.

“That’s part of why I’m making the sauna,” Duke admitted. “So there’s another reason for you to come over.”

"Oh," Octavia said. It was a small, surprised sound.

She hazarded a look up at his face.

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