"Save it, bitch, I'm working," was just another one of the many retorts snapped by Blitzo to Stolas' flirtations. The bird's constant stream of honeyed words and compliments were starting to make Blitzo's head spin.
"You both need to get a room."
Maybe her dad needs to fuck off, Blitzo thought angrily. Stolas hired him to be his bodyguard, not his prostitute. Psh. Aren't I already?
The day continued with a multitude of imps attempting to murder and/or kidnap Stolas. Honestly, Blitzo was surprised there was even danger considering he'd just assumed the prince was lying out his ass to get the imp to come to Loo Loo Land with him. Apparently not. Which was surprising, considering Stolas wasn't afraid to lie about . . .
Blitzo shook his head with a soundless snarl and focused on his job again. He blew the brains out of an imp sneaking up on Stolas and was rewarded with a flirty, "Oh! My, what aim you have, Blitzy~"
Blitzo lost track of Stolas after that.
That slutty fucking clown needed to get his.
"Bitch, I make more money killing people than you do being a cheap-ass robo-ripoff of an overrated sell-out jester!"
"Oohoohoo! Someone's salty! Real or not though, people love me! Does anybody love you, BLITZO?"
Blitzo curled up in his bed, blankets pulled over his shoulders. Small shivers wracked his body, which throbbed dully where bruises marred his flesh. He'd retreated to his bedroom upon returning home, claiming he was just tired and sore after their long day. Loona had easily believed him and let him be.
He was only half lying; it wasn't a real lie if it was partly true, right?
Pulling the blanket up tighter around himself, Blitzo closed his eyes. He'd gotten used to these waterfalls of emotions; he'd had quite a few of them as of late.
He'd rarely felt this shitty mentally until recently. Why was that? Well, the answer was glaringly obvious and called him Blitzy.
"Does anybody love you, BLITZO?"
Blitzo nuzzled farther into the comforting warmth of his pillow. He wanted the thoughts to leave him alone instead of screaming in his head. The voices were deafening.
No. No one loves me, Blitzo thought dejectedly. His eyes burned. Would things have been different if he'd been able to say yes? Probably not. He would have still gotten into that fight with Robo Fizz, but maybe he would have felt better about it.
His phone dinged. Blitzo shifted just enough to unearth the device from underneath a fold of blanket. The screen was glowing and displayed a text from Stolas. Of fucking course. The last thing he wanted right now was more reminders of how he was just a fucktoy. Blitzo pulled the blanket over his head.
His phone dinged again.
Fucking Hell.
Blitzo swiped his phone and slid it open.
Birdie Bitchlord: Blitzy, I'm sorry I didn't stay longer to make sure you were okay. Octavia and I needed some father-daughter time.
Birdie Bitchlord: How about you come over tomorrow, and I'll take care of you? We'll have a movie night?
Blitzo scowled at his phone. Like hell he was going to spend any time with that asshole outside of their agreement. He'd been doing a well enough job of keeping to himself. He just fed Stolas lies about how he was busy.
Blitzo: no im good
The imp then put his phone on silent and tossed it across the bed. A guilty pang in his heart made his hands clench tighter around the fabric bunched in his fingers. He didn't like ignoring Stolas because what they had before, it had seemed real.
Seemed, Blitzo reminded himself bitterly. Wasn't actually anything. He never actually cared.
He scoffed. Why am I acting like I liked him? I didn't. He was just . . . okay. That was all.
Blitzo knew, deep down, he was lying to himself.
Stolas frowned at his phone. His messages with Blitzo were open, staring coldly back at him.
What am I doing wrong?
Stolas sighed, slumping in his chair and putting his chin in his hand. He tapped his talons on the desk and settled down to think.
Blitzo didn't want to come over. There had been a point, Stolas had thought, that the imp would have come over if asked. Truthfully, the more the prince thought about it, he was sure Blitzo hadn't been to the palace even to roam around by himself the last two months.
This thought made Stolas wilt.
He was doing something wrong. It had all started after Blitzo got kidnapped. They'd shared that intimate night, and then . . . Blitzo had begun avoiding him like the plague. And despite Stolas' attempt to bid for at least one night a month, it didn't seem to be working. The imp was cold as ice. It was like they'd never made any progress at all.
Or perhaps there was never any progress in the first place. Perhaps Blitzo decided he didn't want a married man. But . . . previous evidence suggested otherwise, didn't it?
Stolas closed his eyes, leaning into a hand with a sigh. All this emotional toiling was giving him a headache.
Blitzo was sleeping in; he'd given everyone the day off, and he intended to do whatever he wanted after the previous day's fiasco. Loona was out with a friend shopping (or causing mayhem; whichever came first), so he had the apartment all to himself. He was sprawled over his bed, spread eagling that bitch, when he was woken up by the doorbell ringing.
Blitzo jolted from his hazy half doze to look around. He blinked sleep from his eyes and groaned; fuck whoever decided to wake him up at two in the afternoon. Slinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he yawned and scratched his bare chest.
"Coming! Motherfucker," he grumbled. He plodded to the door and checked the peephole.
Blitzo's mouth went dry and his blood pressure skyrocketed. He dared not even breathe.
What the fuck was Stolas doing here?!
Reluctantly, rage boiling under his skin, Blitzo threw the door open, preparing to spit venomous words—only to be met with a beaming Stolas holding two coffees. He wasn't dressed in his usual royal attire, instead wearing a light blue romper—collar popped—that was almost sinfully short . The outfit and the look on the demon's face made Blitzo's knees weak. Fuck. Why were there still positive emotions relating to that fucking asshole? Their interactions shouldn't make Blitzo act like a crushing schoolgirl and send butterflies to his stomach.
"Good afternoon, Blitzy!" Stolas beamed. He held out one of the iced coffees. "Oh, I didn't wake you up, did I?"
Blitzo blinked stupidly at the owl. He knew his sparse clothes must've screamed 'I woke up like this' because that was true.
"Uh . . . it's fine, I was just . . . dozing anyway," Blitzo said. He scratched the back of his head with a large hand as his other took the proffered coffee. "So, like, why're you here?"
"Well, I know you turned down my offer to come over, but . . . you and I don't spend any time together anymore. And you had a rough day yesterday, so I wanted to come cheer you up. That's okay, isn't it? I know I've come uninvited, but I felt you might like company?"
Blitzo did his best to keep the wince from his face. Spend the day with Stolas? Fuck, he didn't know if he could do that.
The prince seemed to sense the hesitance, and his features drooped.
"I mean . . . i-if you don't want to spend time with me, you don't have to. I just . . . we don't have to do anything intimate. I wasn't planning on coming over to jump your bones—"
"Fine. It's fine. Come the fuck in, then," Blitzo grumped. He backed away from the door to allow the prince to enter. Stolas' mouth lifted back into a smile as he ducked under the doorway.
"Hungry at all, Blitzy? I also brought some seafood ravioli from dinner last night; thought you might like it," Stolas chattered as he suddenly materialized a Tupperware container in his hands.
"Um, yeah, actually, I haven't eaten yet."
"Wonderful! Here, I'll warm it up for you. Why don't you pick out a movie in the meantime?"
Blitzo stared blankly at the prince who now fluttered his eyelashes at him. He nodded without even thinking, earning a bright smile before Stolas turned his back to get to work in the kitchen.
Blitzo was confused. Here Stolas was making him lunch, telling him to pick out a movie, treating him like a . . .
A little whisper in the back of his mind said, boyfriend. Blitzo shoved that voice down.
And Stolas was doing all this after showing up unannounced and unprompted. He'd even mentioned he hadn't come here to slob his knob.
I don't even know what's real, the imp thought with frustration. One second we might be . . . close . . . and the next? He's only with me to get his rocks off.
Blitzo sighed internally at his emotional game of tug-o-war. He was so conflicted; between ignoring Stolas entirely but also missing the tall demon simultaneously, his mind was being pulled in every direction. He turned his attention to picking out a movie. He had quite a few, some not even opened, so he decided to select one of those and pop it in.
Blitzo grabbed a hoodie from his room and then flopped onto the couch. Stolas entered the living room a moment later, two plates of food in his hands.
"Lunch, Blitzy," the prince said. He held one plate out to the imp who promptly took it. Blitzo would be lying if he claimed he wasn't starving, and he knew that Stolas' cooks were very good at their jobs, so he took took the proffered food and began wolfing it down.
"My, someone has an appetite!" Stolas laughed. He took a sip of his coffee as he seated himself in close proximity to the imp. "So, what are we watching?"
Blitzo tore himself away from taking another bite and glanced up. "Uh, some movie I got as a gift from Loona. Never watched it. Brokeback Mountain, I think."
"A cowboy movie, I can only assume?"
"Psh, of course. As if it wouldn't be."
Stolas only smiled at that and settled in, a sleight of hand making a fork appear in his grasp. Blitzo kept one eye on the prince even as he ate; they were so close together, their thighs lightly touching. He allowed it for now.
They relaxed and instead focused on the movie. Blitzo didn't know what to expect from it, but as long as there were horses (there were), he would watch it.
However, it became increasingly clear as the film progressed that this was no mere cowboy movie. A fact Stolas was becoming aware of as well.
"Oh, Blitzy," the prince started, his voice a purr. A talon crept up to run down Blitzo's thigh. "You didn't tell me this was a romantic movie~"
Blitzo flushed, his hands twitching at his sides at the contact.
"Cuz I didn't know," the imp grumbled, swallowing thickly. The dark hand traveled from his waist to his chest, Stolas angling himself to press more of his body against Blitzo. "What're you doing?"
Stolas grinned. "We can't cuddle while we watch a movie?"
"W-well, as long as that's all we're doing."
"Fine by me." Stolas' tone screamed of contentment as he snuggled up to Blitzo further, laying his head on his chest and all but forcing the imp to slide onto his back. His head supported by a ratty throw pillow and Stolas pressed against his body (and halfway hanging off the small couch), Blitzo was acutely aware of how domestic this was. One of his hands was even settled warmly on the curve of the prince's spine. His hand went slowly up and down with the rhythm of Stolas' breathing. His feathers tickled the underside of his chin. Stolas' scent warmed him despite his animosity, the now familiarity of it settling into his bones and mentally launching the imp to the time before the deal.
Before. Hmph. Blitzo scoffed internally. Before Stolas revealed his true intentions.
His eyes prickled without his consent. He forcefully blinked, frowning to himself at the wave of weakness.
A brush against his ribs startled Blitzo out of his stupor. He glanced down at the bird, whose hands had just slipped down to gently hold onto either side of the imp. The touch was so soft, so casual. Like this was something they did often.
Why did Stolas bother trying to spend time with him when he only wanted him for sex? Why was Stolas holding him like this, watching a movie? Why did Stolas do anything with Blitzo outside of riding his dick?
Not for the first time, Blitzo was confused. He tried to concentrate on the movie—he'd been spaced out for a significant chunk of it by now—and attempted to not let his mind wander. He wanted to lose himself in this romance between the main characters instead. He wanted to pretend he could have something like that.
Blitzo's attention quickly wandered back to the demon snuggled against him and the hands on his ribs. This . . . this wasn't so bad, was it? Things seemed better now, pretending that nothing was wrong. It felt more like normal again.
Normal, huh? Didn't think Stolas would ever be part of my 'normal' life, Blitzo mused bitterly. But . . . maybe things can improve from here. If I can pretend everything is fine, that nothing ever changed.
Blitzo's claws curled into Stolas' back as a wave of emotion rushed over him.
Fuck, he wanted this. The realization made his heart skip a beat and his stomach flip.
I want this so fucking bad.