Title: But At Least I Keep Trying
Author: Keith
Fandom: Helluva Boss
Setting: Ozzie and Fizzarolli's Bedroom
Pairing: Fizzarolli/Asmodeus | Ozzie
Characters: Fizzarolli, Asmodeus | Ozzie
Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort
Rating: T
Chapters: 1/1
Word Count: 883
Type Of Work: One-Shot, Request #2 On Gimme-A-Thrust
Status: Complete
Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Hurt/Comfort, Unsanitary, Nightmares, Hyperventilating, Original Male Character Mention, Original Female Character Mention, Claustrophobia Mention
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Brick and Nikiva.
Summary: In the light of morning, nighttime's darkness was a distant memory.
AN: Hey guys, it's me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have a writing Twitter and Helluva Boss Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Gimme-A-Thrust! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD If you want it, please contact me on Tumblr/Twitter!
I have requests open on my blog and will write a ficlet or headcanon thread for things sent to me! Rules and things are on the post, linked in my pinned.
At any rate, this one really spoke to me, and I couldn't ignore the idea I had for it. It's short and sweet but these will all have varying lengths, it just depends on when the story is finished.
But At Least I Keep Trying
Fizzarolli never mentioned it in the morning.
Ozzie would go so far as to say that four or five nights a month, sometimes worse in the summer or dead of winter, Fizzarolli would wake with a silent scream, like he did that night. Tears tracked his cheeks, and his whole body shook with the effort it took not to shriek, sob, or otherwise make a sound. His robotics would whirr and hiss as they adjusted to his heaving, and the otherwise silent room would close in around him until he thought for sure he might suffocate.
Dim neon lights lit the walls in the bedroom they had shared for years, now, just as they always did in the crevices neatly cut out of the wall for them. They cycled slowly, pink to blue and every color in between, something familiar buzzing beneath their sluggish display. Olli's heart crashed against his chest as he tried to take just one good breath, dizziness setting in as he realized belatedly that the room was no longer silent. His hyperventilating hadn't started with the permission of his brain, but that didn't mean that there was any stopping it, now.
Asmodeus, to his credit, never asked about it.
Instead of speaking, the larger demon simply pushed up to lean on one arm, scrubbing his free hand over his face. The blanket fell over his hips, pooling in his lap as he turned his heads slightly to take in the clearly panicked imp at his side. At first, his expression was unreadable, but the glow of his eyes softened and he leaned forward, shifting to sit mostly on his hip. Lifting the hand his ability to sit up wasn't hinging on, he scraped his claws first and foremost over the smooth nubs where Olli's horns had once been.
The subtle grooves that remained caught his nails a few times, and the familiarity in the motion pulled a choked sob from the quaking imp in his bed. Usually, messing with what was left of his horns turned him on, but he couldn't find it in himself to feel any way about sex at the moment. Ozzie clucked softly, an absentminded sound that did wonders for Olli's anxiety, his hand slowly trailing down the side of his lover's face. Any second, now, he expected the dam to break, the telltale squeak before the storm, and he was ready.
Maybe there had been a time when this song and dance should have gotten on his nerves. It wasn't exactly a very sexy thing to wake up to, a gross-sobbing little imp clinging to the blanket like his mother's skirt. He would have turned anyone else out on their ass for it, for making a mess of him and his bed, for annoying him with their emotions. But this was Fizzarolli, his silly little guy, the one demon in all of Hell that never wore on his nerves. Nikiva thought he hadn't heard her laughing with Brick, calling him His-arolli, and he hadn't exactly admitted to it.
Sometimes he didn't want to think about what that implied.
Not that he had a thought in his head at the moment, though, nothing aside from caring for the other. Fizz finally stilled, that squeak piqued in his nose, and the quivering returned full force. Sobbing loudly, his head fell forward, hands covering his face. His eyelids screwed shut as tears and snot ran down his face like a faucet, uncaring that drool occasionally joined it.
Without so much as a thought to be disgusted, Ozzie lifted his little lover into his arms and cradled him against his chest. A soft array of shushes left him as he curled around the blubbering imp sat in the crook of one arm, his other hand passing over his shoulder. Large hands gently worked over his body, the nudity far from his mind at the current moment. His only goal was to make sure that Olli got through this, because he couldn't stand to see him like this. If he could, he'd knock the bastard that did this to him around like he was made for it.
Olli deserved better.
Working him over in his hand, Ozzie eventually felt him up, giving him the usual treatment of a comforting hand job. He didn't do well with emotions that weren't lustful, and the thing that comforted him the most was sex. At least Olli didn't mind it too much, wordlessly accepting his fate as his well of tears began to dry.
Minutes or eons passed between the moment that Fizzarolli had woken up and the rise of the sun that morning, and it was in the silent, cold dawn that his heavy eyelids finally didn't lift once more. Another night skittered away, slinking back into the shadows under the bed and in the closet. Like always, Ozzie was the monolith of light and comfort that kept them at bay, a silent protector that wouldn't tell a soul what he saw.
They wouldn't talk about it, later, as Olli usually didn't want to, and Ozzie would never force him to do anything at all. The cycle would repeat the next time it happened, as it always did, and he would see to it that the other would be alright, as always.
AN: Welp, this one definitely hit 'ficlet' territory. I really do love writing little vignette things like this, and this one came to me so easily that I had to just get it out, I think. Regardless, the nonny that sent this was so sweet, I got the ask while at the store with my hubs and just grinned like an idiot for a bit.
Prompt: Request #3 On Gimme-A-Thrust: Ozzie lovingly petting Fizz cuz he had a nightmare.
