betterthanaplan | The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Monday afternoon

As tempting as it was to just stay in their little vacation bubble at sea, Duke and Octavia did have things to do back in Fandom now that the school break was over, so the Cape Rouge chugged back into port in the late afternoon to dock at her usual slip.

It was immediately beset by porgs.

"Alright, alright," Duke said, a laugh underlining the exaggerated annoyed tone of his voice. "I know, I know, how dare I exile you from your homes. I'm a cruel, cruel man."

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okteiviakom]

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From:

okteiviakom

"A very cruel man," Octavia agreed, crouching down to greet the porgs as they swarmed her feet.

(Though only after she'd texted Bellamy to let him know they were back. She loved the birds but she loved her brother more.)

"Ha yun, strikon," she murmured to one that tried hopping onto her bent knee. "Yu don mema osir we?"

From:

betterthanaplan

"Are you asking if they forgot about us?" Duke asked. (Look, don could be confusing, okay?)

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia glanced up with a tiny smile.

"Close," she said. "If they missed us."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Nah. They only love me for my boat." Duke gave her a little shoulder bump with a positively doofy smile. "Good thing I've got someone else to love the rest of me."

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia's smile wasn't very far from doofy, either.

"Not sure I should let you say crap like that in front of Polly," she drawled anyway. "You're gonna break his heart."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke pressed his hand to his chest. "You're right! Poor Polly, my one true love, bereft and forgotten, you deserve better!"

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia snorted as she straightened up again. "I thought that was Rey," she said. "Are you saying I shouldn't trust the radio?"

Which she very seldom listened to, yeah.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke couldn't answer for a few moments, due to the snickering.

"Oh no, Nina's definitely reporting the full, unvarnished truth," he said finally. "Maybe I'm just destined for two true loves. One of which is a bird."

From:

okteiviakom

"And where does that leave me?" Octavia had to wonder, with an amused look. "I'm not liking where this is going."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Please," Duke said. "I'm a well-known scoundrel. Like I"m going to let something like destiny tell me how to live my life?"

He said that off-handedly, but 'fuck destiny' was going to become a major theme of his life in the not-too-distant future.

From:

okteiviakom

Octavia took her turn to give him a shoulder bump. "Good," she said. "I prefer you at full scoundrel, anyway."

From:

betterthanaplan

"And I'm way too old and set in my ways to change now."

From:

okteiviakom

"Normally I would argue against 'too old'," Octavia quipped, as her shoulder bump turned into more of a lean against his side, "but in this case I think it's actually a positive, so I'll let it be."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Are you kidding? I think I spotted some gray in my beard this morning."

He didn't. But he wasn't far out from his first few gray hairs. (And not even just because he was potentially going to get nearly aged to death at some point.)

From:

okteiviakom

Well yes, but that had little to do with his age and a lot with how stressful his life was!

Anyway, Octavia definitely took that as an invitation to lean in and squint at his beard. "Hmm."

From:

betterthanaplan

Which made Duke raise his hand to his chin self-consciously. "I was kidding."

From:

okteiviakom

All the better for Octavia to press a quick kiss against the back of his hand, then, before snickering.

"So was I."

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke dropped his hand again, leaning down for a proper kiss. "Good. Because while I'll definitely be a silver fox, I am so not ready for that yet."

From:

okteiviakom

"So just be a regular fox instead," Octavia murmured, reaching up. "I'm okay with that."

From:

betterthanaplan

"Oh, I've always been one of those."

Did the porgs miss watching these two making out? Because the porgs were definitely going to end up watching these two making out.

From:

okteiviakom

"Mm-hm," Octavia hummed her agreement, because words quickly became secondary.

Look, they were about to give up living together again. The transition from being all in each other's personal space all the time to her going back to the apartment she shared with her brother absolutely called for making out and if the porgs couldn't handle that, that was on them.

From:

betterthanaplan

The porgs, fortunately, didn't seem to mind.

Or notice, really.

"You sure you need to go back to your apartment?" Duke asked when he paused for breath. They'd had this conversation before, but hope sprung eternal, at least when makeouts were actively happening.

From:

okteiviakom

"Uh huh," Octavia replied, not sounding all that certain about it while she was taking her chance to nuzzle his cheek. "It's where I live, snogon."

Even if she never referred to it as 'home'. Not in English, not in Trig.

From:

betterthanaplan

Duke let out a put-upon sigh. "Just because all your stuff's there . . . and you brother too, I guess."

Bellamy, of course, won out over the 'stuff' in every single way. And Duke knew it.

Even if he claimed to not always be sure that the guy really existed.

From:

okteiviakom

Bellamy probably even physically outweighed all the stuff Octavia had. She really didn't have much.

She let her head drop against his shoulder, and gave in to the urge to wrap her arms around him. "Yeah."