The Perk, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Leaving his boat yesterday had gone well, and Duke was pretty sure he was supposed to teach a class tomorrow, so he took it a step further today and headed into town. He made his way to the Perk, where he could fortify himself with some caffeine and a muffin and try to set up his new phone, since both his old primary phone and the one he'd used in Haven were now toast.

He was trying to resist the urge to try calling Nathan when he noticed he had a few messages.

"He threw it into the sea?"

[open!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"I mean, I hear you," Dante said, "Think I slept my way through at least half my junior class and a chunk of the seniors while I was here. But Kat was always into the nerdy crap."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. "Well, let's see then. We've got our warrior woman, with Octavia. One of those -- whatsit, the magical musicians? In Lucifer. And I. . . ." Go missing, get injured, go crazy when bled on. ". . . Feed people. And maybe occasionally play the role of 'thief'."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante made an amused noise. "Knew it had to be that guy," he mused, "She talks about him all the time." Beat. "Anyway, 'chef' should totally be a role. Food's important shit."

[betterthanaplan]

"Agreed. And it's way too easy for warrior types to forget to eat."

Lucifer he was pretty sure mostly ate for fun.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nerds too," Dante said sagely. "I mean, if they're studying up on their exams."

He popped a strawberry in his mouth. "Sounds like you got a nice set-up."

[betterthanaplan]

"It's not bad," Duke agreed. "Still a little new, so there's, uh. Some negotiating happening. But when it works. . . ."

There wasn't anything that beat it when it was working, as far as Duke was concerned.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snorted, amused. "You got three people in there, there's always gonna be negotiating happening, dude," he said. "People gonna people."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke tilted his head, then bobbed it in a nod. "Fair point. How long have you three been, um. A trio?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Fuck, man, years," Dante said, poking thoughtfully at his drink. "Anders was my roommate when I came in as a sophomore, I started sleeping with Kathy not long after that..." He squinted. "Getting close to four years?"

[betterthanaplan]

Oh Dante. You were a baby. (And yet so much more emotionally mature than Duke or his partners were.)

"Nice. And you three all live together? I feel like Lucifer would implode if we tried that on any kind of permanent basis."

[rebelseekspizza]

Look, Dante had been through a lot, including fighting his way back to friendship and finally romance with Kathy after she'd run off on him and gotten himself killed.

"Hey, remember, me and Anders used to be roomies anyway," he said merrily. "And after the way I spent like most of my childhood before I wound up here, fuck, I'll sleep anywhere. And Kathy's a sap." He waved towards the door. "We used to have a place here, until we moved back to my universe."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke gave Dante a quick measuring look for that throwaway childhood mention. Maybe there was something to that, rough childhoods making people more willing to grab hold of all the affection they could get, monogamy be damned.

"Suppose Luce might manage to talk us into following him home someday," he mused. "Only way we'd end up settling in Octavia's or my world is if something went really really wrong."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Anders' world literally hates him for what he is, and Kat... well, Kat doesn't have much to go back to," Dante said.

And sipped loudly on the straw in his milkshake, just because he could.

"Would you wanna?" he said. "Move in with 'em?"

[betterthanaplan]

Duke thought for a long moment before he answered. "I'd be happy if they moved in with me," he said. "I have a boat. Worked long and hard for it. I'd miss the hell out of it if I had to give it up."

But he would, if it meant that Lucifer and Octavia were safe and happy.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Nice answer," Dante said. He brought his milkshake up for another thoughtful sip. "Kind of one of those is-it-a-want-or-need things, right?"

... Sorry, Duke. You were talking to one of like five people on this island with a hint of innate emotional intelligence.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke's jaw twitched a little.

"Way I grew up," he said carefully, echoing some of Dante's earlier comments in tone if not in precise words. "Learned not to need much at all. But it's very nice to have my own place." His tone lightened again. "Plus, you know. It's portable."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Bullshit," Dante said lightly. "Look, all I'm saying is, the way these things always work out is that no matter how many people are in it, everyone's got things they want, and everyone's got things they need, right?"

He shrugged.

"Wants are nice to have but you're not willing to torch what you've got to have 'em, needs are dealbreakers, you gonna date someone, you gotta be sure about what's what."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke stared at him for a long moment.

". . . Man, that's almost sickeningly healthy."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged. "I've been in a relationship for like four years with two other people and at some point my girlfriend and I almost banged this guy we used to bang beforehand," he said. "Eventually you gotta realize how communication works, man."

[betterthanaplan]

". . . Almost," Duke said. "How'd, uh, Anders react to that one?"

Duke.

[rebelseekspizza]

"'Please don't tell me if you do'?" Dante offered. "Not exactly the rousing endorsement I was looking for, so..."

It'd been a want. Not a need.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. It was easy to see what Anders was getting at, there. "So. Negotiation made. Rule established. I get it."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snorted. "Nah, what he was really saying was that it would fucking suck for him if we did but he was willing to pretend it didn't if we needed it," he said. "Ez is hot, but he ain't worth doing that to anybody."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded. Unwilling to say that he didn't really see where that didn't make it a rule.

"So . . . what did you need, then?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"To have my people, I guess," Dante said. "Wasn't the first time I asked him a question like that, 'cause part of me still wants to sleep with anybody interesting. But I always come back around to, like, I need this shit to be real."

Those words made sense, right? Fuck if he knew.