Blitzo walked down to the kitchen, looking through the cupboards he started looking for coffee, miraculously it having slipped his mind in his breakfast fervor from the previous day. "Where does he keep anything in here..." Blitzo said digging head first through the cupboard.
"It's up there..." Octavia said, entering the room and making the usual kind of pulled face she made around people in defiance.
"Oh, Octavia! I..." Blitzo said, bumping his head on the inside of the cupboard.
"Is there any coffee left?" Octavia said, smiling slightly as Blitzo rubbed his head feeling the bag of coffee and finding it empty.
"As luck would fuck me... No." Blitzo said, sitting on the floor and tossing it in the trash bin. "You come down here often?" He added, the kitchen being more of a showpiece in high-society, there were usually servants to know where anything was.
"Yeah, sometimes it's nice to just do something on your own." Octavia said, sitting down at the table.
"There's leftovers if you want? I made far too much yesterday." Blitzo said, noting the slightest hint of a smile on Octavia's face.
"No, there's this cafe nearby though..." Octavia said as an open invitation. "Might be nice to get out?" She said, scratching the back of her neck nervously, in a manner similar to Stolas.
"Well, let's get to it! Bring Loony." Blitzo said as he walked back out towards Stolas' bedroom.
"We've got a date!" Blitzo said as he burst into Stolas' room, finding the owl nodding off gently. "Get up, get up, get up!" Blitzo said jumping on Stolas in bed and shaking him awake.
Stolas was still groggy and moving slowly, gesturing back at Blitzo and murmuring in response.
"Fine, you asked for this. Kind of..." Blitzo said, picking up Stolas in his arms and carrying him to the bathroom placing him in the shower and turning the water on.
Stolas screamed as soon as the cold water hit his body.
"Freshen up, we've got our first date." Blitzo said, sitting on the sink.
"Care to? Join me?" Stolas said, slowly feeling the water get warmer and he could stand up.
Blitzo rolled his eyes as he joined Stolas in the shower, Stolas rubbing Blitzo down with the suds from the soap, gently carressing his shoulders and back.
There was an air of passion in the steamy shower, but it felt more intimate than romantic, Stolas was gentle with his hands as he rubbed up and down Blitzo's body. Stolas knelt down so Blitzo could rub him down as well, a task he took on dutifully.
As they washed the suds off their bodies, Stolas stepped out to grab a towel before Blitzo followed suit.
Stolas sat on the edge of the bathtub, arching his back and glistening in the light of the morning sun.
Blitzo sat down on the sink, it was strange seeing someone so well cut of wax like Stolas being all soggy.
Stolas used a blowdryer and dried his feathers all around his body. Blitzo giggled seeing him all styled out of proportion. It was amazing how much maintainance Stolas took, he'd still looked flawless at his lowest moments.
Blitzo dusted off his old outfit he'd arrived in, it was a bit much considering, but present company might very well forgive him this much. He got dressed as he felt Stolas kissing on the back of his neck. "You look, ravishing..." Stolas whispered in his ear.
The cafe was a short walk away, Stolas still had an air of confidence in his stride, unafraid to be seen arm in arm with Blitzo. "It's a lovely day." Stolas said, turning his head to look at Octavia and Loona. They both still had a general sense about them of not wanting to be there. But it was muted far beyond Stolas could have ever remembered in the recent years.
The air still had a freshness about it from the prior storm, as sulfur-choked as the skies were, the rain still managed to wash away that and leave an uncharacteristic freshness. It welled up in your sinuses in way that couldn't help but make one smile.
"So, how are you, Via?" Stolas said, looking back at Octavia without breaking his stride. "Fine, I guess?" She replied trying to not meet Stolas' gaze and accidentally catching Loona's. "Like, total besties." Loona said, sarcastically leaning towards Octavia and clasping her hands, as Octavia joined in the motion but not the words.
Stolas hadn't met many of Octavia's friends, so even the false effort had a tinge of honesty to it. Turning back his head before Octavia started blushing, in a way that both broke and proved the facade.
Arriving at the cafe, it was a neat little room with a kind of slightly gauche fake Romanesque style that had been built to serve a level of throughput, but still maintained enough genuine wear to feel lived in and few enough patrons to feel almost cozy.
The group followed as Blitzo stood in line, feeling somewhat alien in the presence of Stolas in a public place, wanting to grab his hand out of the same fear that made him wary.
Everyone ordered, Blitzo his preferred black coffee, Stolas liked lattes, Octavia ordered something, of which 4 of the 5 stipulations were something beyond the pair's understanding, Loona gestured for a second of Octavia's order. Stolas got everyone some breakfast sandwiches, if only so Blitzo wouldn't ask about the leftover pancakes later.
They sat down in a booth placed strategically between the back and the entrance to merit the least suspicion. Blitzo and Stolas on one side, Loona and Octavia on the other.
Stolas didn't want to ask about Stella, it was a topic that still ached heavily on him. "Take it someone had a night to remember?" Octavia asked, gently needling Stolas by her uncharacteristic forwardness, as he sipped his latte and scanned his eyes across the table.
"It was nice, yourselves?" Stolas said in a chipper tone, leaning forward and placing his chin in his palms. "Actually, yes..." Octavia said looking at Loona, her ears tilting slightly to follow the conversation more than her gaze.
"Anything top shelf is a good night." Loona said, slightly puckering up as whatever Octavia had ordered had now not even faintly resembled coffee as she set it down with a bit of a shiver. "We just listened to some music." She said in a deadpan manner.
"Oh, did you know that Blitzy plays?" Stolas said, rolling his fingers in his hand. "I don't really..." Blitzo hastened to add. "Stolas just taught me some scales on the piano." slinking back in his seat slightly.
"That's nice." Octavia said, feeling some level of comfort that her teasing Stolas for information hadn't immediately retread the immediate awkwardness of their meeting.
The group sat and made small talk for a while, the usual kind of pedestrian stuff that wasn't ment to ply anything out of either party.
"A ha! Gottcha!" A voice came cackling from behind a houseplant, accompanied by an immediate camera flash. It was one of the intolerable paparazzi types from the Envy Ring.
"This'll make me some good scratch, I'll finally-" the imp barely made out before Stolas decked him from across the table. Blitzo caught his camera as it flew over the table.
"You really should get rid of that thing." Stolas said, having had his cynicism of snoopers turn into a full-blown hatred in the recent days.
"I just wanna see what kind of sick nudes he's got on this thing..." Blitzo said scrolling through the images on the screen. "Maybe it's that Angel guy or..." he said, the first image on the screen being the most recent one of their group.
Blitzo was smiling as he looked at Stolas, not noticing that he'd had subconsciously grabbed his forearm on the table, as if negotiating his way into holding hands. Stolas looked dignified as ever, but his eyes held a certain glow that Blitzo only remembered having seen in their recent days together.
Octavia had a smile on her face and a posture that denoted relaxation, instead of her usual resignation. Loona looked more engaged than Blitzo could have ever remembered seeing her. Octavia leaning back into Loona's direction.
"Oh, give me that!" Stolas said, reaching towards Blitzo and snatching the camera. "Oh, my... You do make a pretty picture, Blitzy." Stolas said, tracing the image with his finger. "We certainly do." Blitzo said, kicking at Stolas' leg under the table and gesturing forward.
"Girls, what do you think?" Stolas said, sliding the camera across the table to Octavia and Loona. Octavia was taken aback by the kind of still life on the screen, even if she hadn't been aware of it, her air of gloom was not in any way evident in the photo.
"You said there was porn on this thing?" Loona said, looking over Octavia's shoulder and hovering coyly. "It's a nice picture, you should assault people more often, Stolas." she said, barely aware she had placed her hands on Octavia's shoulders.
The group walked back, still drinking their coffees and laughing about what had happened. "Must you always cause a scene, dad?' Octavia said, brushing her hair back to cover her face.
"Yes, and we're all the richer for it, my little owlette." Stolas said with a high note of pride.
"I wanted to hit him too." Octavia said, laughing.
"You snooze, you lose, honey." Blito said, finishing his coffee and dumping the cup in a garbage can as they passed by on their way to the estate.
"Damn right there!" Loona said, as she playfully hit Blitzo on the shoulder.
"I missed out too, you guys." Blitzo said, embarrassed that Stolas had been quicker than him.
Octavia tackled Blitzo to the ground on the lawn outside the walls that surrounded the estate. "You snooze, you lose?" Octavia said as Loona and Stolas quickly took note of the game and dogpiled on Blitzo.
"Alright, I suck at this guarding thing." Blitzo said, as he warmly embraced everyone on top of him with his arms and tail. Octavia quickly took the camera from in front of her chest and snapped a picture.
Everyone walked back into the manor and took up places in the parlor, Stolas sat in a chair in the corner of the room reading a book about carnivorous plants, crossing one leg over the other and kicking up and down slowly as he became engrossed in what he was reading. Loona fiddled with a crystal decanter on a table in the corner, gently swirling the amber contents around the small figure of an exploding star that sat within.
Octavia sat alone on the couch and laid back, feeling sleepy as she played around with a deck of cards, with no objective in sight but idle boredom. Blitzo sat at the piano bench miming his fingers over they keys, slightly too nervous to attempt anything with volume.
Stolas looked up and found a sense of peace seeing everyone getting along so well. The image felt familiar to him, but this sense of comfort was unusual to him. His whole life he'd been waiting for everything to come down around him, maybe this was a momentary reprieve, an unsteady balance that reaching out could ruin.
He felt welling up within him a sense of duty to make sure this wasn't the case. He drifted over to the piano stool and ushered Blito over. "I'll go a little slow." Stolas said placing his fingers silently over the keys, Blitzo instinctively placed his fingers over Stolas'.
The piece Stolas was playing was designed for two, two melodies, one sad and one determined. Gradually they were intended to meet in the middle, fall slowly and then rise up again.
Blitzo didn't really think much of his own abilities to do anything anyone would classify as high-society, but he nodded when Stolas had finished with the motions. They looked each other over and nodded, Stolas with a smirk that nobody in the room but Blitzo could account the nature of.
Loona moved closer as Stolas and Blitzo started playing. Sitting on the arm of the couch on Octavia's side, their hands touching on the arm of the delicate centerpiece. "Oh, you're gonna want to hear this." Loona said, bracing herself for Blitzo's usual nerves to overtake any pretense of ability.
Stolas played the piece as he always had, Blitzo's tempo perfectly matching his. Loona sat with a perked air of surprise. The pieces were intertwined so well, as it rose up to the triumphant crescendo. Stolas had played out his part, which by all means was the more optimistic side of things. Blitzo carried on past where Stolas had played out, matching the usual tone using Stolas' happier notes, giving the piece a more mutual joy.
Octavia and Loona clapped as Blitzo hugged Stolas from the side, due to Stolas' fluffy chest, the only part fully visible being his toothy smile.
"You were right." Octavia said, tapping Loona on the knee as she still had a slight confusion about her.
