Luke's, Thursday

[betterthanaplan]

Starting his diner days off with Rosa's yoga class was doing wonders for Duke's mood, to the extent that he was almost annoyed. By the ex-cop being helpful, for one, and by how long he'd gone without digging in and really picking his yoga practice back up.

Really, yoga was his thing. That should have been a no-brainer! He blamed Haven.

Today's specials
Crawfish etouffee

Luke's was open.

[work is trying to murder me, so I'll be as slow as this post is uninspired. Distractions are more then welcome, though!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

His snogon showed up around lunchtime. Trying to make these visits more of a thing again.

"Ha yun, jaka."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke gave her a bright smile.

"Ha yun, gona." He wiped his hands on a dish towel and came over to give her a hug and kiss in greeting. "How's your day going?"

[okteiviakom]

"Quietly," Octavia replied, surprising absolutely no one. "Though I guess I did an at-home version of your class."

[betterthanaplan]

"Got your yoga on, huh?" Duke asked. "You know, we should totally start doing that together again. Make it a Thing so we actually, like, do it."

Because he had not been great at just making himself do it for himself of late.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's expression brightened some, in a way that seemed almost hopeful.

"I think I'd like that."

For... several reasons, actually.

[betterthanaplan]

"Cool. Me too."

He reached up to brush some hair off of her forehead, the bracelet she'd slipped into his pocket in Boston clear on his wrist. He hadn't put anything into the empty compartment yet, not having realized it was empty for that reason, but he'd found it in his pocket that morning and made sure to put it right away.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia saw it.

And her expression softened. She didn't pretend she hadn't noticed it.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke saw that and followed her gaze.

"Sorry it took a little while to find it," he said softly. "You were too sneaky." And he'd been distracted by cannons that day and then just. . . . Life in general.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gaze flicked up to his eyes. "I think I was just sneaky enough."

To give him a gift at the same time as Lucifer, and still put a little buffer between them. Kind of.

[betterthanaplan]

"Sneaky enough," Duke agreed. He held up his hand and tilted the little compartments into the light. "I love it. That's sand in there, right?"

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah," Octavia murmured, with a nod. "It's supposed to be from where they'll plant corals with some of the money I paid for it."

[betterthanaplan]

"Yeah?" Duke smiled. "You helped plant corals?"

[okteiviakom]

A smaller nod.

"And protect the ocean." A beat. "Well, my money did, anyway."

[betterthanaplan]

"Money is still helping," Duke assured her. "At least in this society."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia rolled her eyes - not at him, at capitalism.

"Anyway," she said, softer, reaching carefully for his wrist to turn the bracelet a little. Bringing the empty capsule up. "This one's... for whatever you want to put in it." A pause. "I thought, maybe sand from the Bahamas, or something."

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh!" Duke looked down at it, brushing his fingers against the empty capsule. "I wondered a little about that. The Bahamas is a good idea."

[okteiviakom]

"Anywhere you like," Octavia murmured, as if that wasn't already clear.

[betterthanaplan]

"I think I like the Bahamas. Our little safe place."

[okteiviakom]

The 'our' was always a little complicated, but like hell was Octavia going to say that out loud right now, when it looked like this gift had gone over well.

(Of course she'd been nervous.)

"You'll have to do it next time, then," she said. "Bring a little something back."

[betterthanaplan]

"I think I will," Duke agreed. He leaned down to give her another little kiss. "I love it, gona. Mochof."

[okteiviakom]

"Pro, jaka," Octavia murmured as she reached up to meet him halfway for the kiss. "Hapotei."

Yes, his actual birthday was long gone, but that wasn't going to stop her.

[betterthanaplan]

"Hapotei?"

It was still the right month. It counted.

[okteiviakom]

"Happy birthday," she told him, softly.

Yes, it was one of those phrases that had just sort of gotten shortened.

[betterthanaplan]

"Ah. I'll have to remember that one this fall, huh."

It was too bad Lucifer didn't have a birthday. They could go all out at him the way he did for them.

[okteiviakom]

"I'll tell you again if you forget," Octavia told him, a tiny smile tugging at her lips.

[betterthanaplan]

“I thought you might,” Duke said. “You’re the best teacher I’ve had.”

[okteiviakom]

The smile tugged wider, failing too be wry.

"How many teachers have you even had?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Well, I did technically graduate from public school," Duke pointed out. (It had been very technically. There had been bribes involved.) "So more than you might think. Definitely enough to appreciate your patience and attention to, uh, detail."

The word "detail" was accompanied by a waggle of eyebrows, yes.

[okteiviakom]

"So you didn't get to make out with most of the others?"

That was what the waggle told her!

[betterthanaplan]

"There was depressingly little making out with teachers in my history," Duke agreed. "Though really, that just makes you even more special."

[okteiviakom]

Was Octavia not supposed to respond to that by reaching up to kiss him?

Tough, because she did. Nothing too much, because she was aware this was a public space, but... Look, she'd managed to take some steps during Sunday's date night. Made some progress.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had no objections to any amount of kissing she wanted to give him.

"Ai hod yu in, snogon."

[okteiviakom]

"Ai hod yu in, seintaim, snogon," Octavia murmured, happily, her arms winding a little more around his waist. "Nau en otaim."

[betterthanaplan]

"Nau en otaim," Duke agreed, hugging her in return. "You're sticking around for lunch, right?"

[okteiviakom]

"That was the idea, yeah," Octavia confirmed. "Do you have something good for me?"

She loved almost every bit of food he ever put in front of her, let's be real here.

[betterthanaplan]

"Crawfish etouffee," Duke said, tugging her towards a table. "It's a Louisiana classic. Like a spicy fishy stew."

[okteiviakom]

"I don't know what half those things mean," Octavia teased as she let him tug her along. "But I trust you."

[betterthanaplan]

"Crawfish like halfway between a shrimp and a lobster, etouffee is a fancy word for the dish type, and Louisiana is a US state with a really distinct culture that other people like to imitate," Duke explained with a smile. "I'm going to assume you know what 'fishy' and 'spicy' mean. Did stews survive the apocalypse?"

[okteiviakom]

"Stews were too simple not to," Octavia told him, pulling away so she could slip into a seat. "Even if most things you'd put in them didn't."

[betterthanaplan]

"I had a feeling. Stews seem kind of . . . primordial."

[okteiviakom]

"Like they're just... part of the human experience?" Octavia joked.

Mostly.