(O.O)

Blitzø wasn't having a good day.

The bitch barista from the coffee place where he usually got his daily iced coffee had made a mistake with his drink and instead of his usual, the sinner gave him iced Macha instead!

Who the fuck drinks iced Macha in the morning?!

It was too much of a hassle to wait in line again for him to change his drink, so the tall imp decided to just go back to work instead.

When he got back to the I.M.P. HQ, he noticed that half of his team were not in their usual spots.

He turned to his receptionist/daughter and asked her where M&M was.

"They're in your office."

Blitzø tilted his head in confusion. However, his daughter had already returned to checking her phone and was now ignoring him.

So he shrugged and entered his office to talk to his employees.

When he got inside he was greeted by the sight of M&M occupying the visitor's chairs that were in front of his desk.

"Blitzø! You're back! How's coffee run?" Millie asked.

The tall imp glared.

"Terrible. The stupid barista messed up my order and I wasn't able to get my morning cup."

"Awww. You poor thing."

He ignored the comment and instead, Blitzø gave her and her companion a suspicious look.

He crossed his arms in his chest before saying, "Okay, so are either of you telling me why you're here or do I have to guess?"

The couple shared a look that Blitzø endearingly called the two-talking-to-each-other-without-actually-saying-anything-glance. Before Moxxie finally stepped up and said.

"We're worried about you, sir."

This got a raised eyebrow from the taller imp.

Before he could have him elaborate further Millie joined the conversation.

"You've been acting weird lately, boss. Talking to yourself, absently staring into space, plus you stopped stalking Moxxie and me for no reason!"

Blitzø was taken aback. He hadn't expected anyone to notice that he'd been feeling off for several days now. He seriously thought that he'd been able to hide his feelings well from his employees.

But they did notice. It touched and annoyed Blitzø at the same time.

Of course, because of his emotionally stunted personality. He opted to continue to focus on the later emotion.

"So you two decided to corner me to feed your curiosity?" He snapped.

Deep down, he knew that was the most unlikely reason why his employees would want to know what was wrong with him. But ever since that thing in Stolas' palace happened, he'd been doubting his ability to identify people's feelings for him.

No, don't think about that fucking bird. He told himself.

"Of course not, Sweetie," Millie's voice resounding, bringing him out of his musing. "Like my Moxxie said. We're worried about you. If something's bothering you, you know you can count on us to help, right?"

She looked at Moxxie, who nodded with a reluctant expression. She turned back to him and continued.

"You always said that we're a family, B. And families worry and take care of each other."

Blitzø eyes watered. Utterly touched by his emplo–no, by his friend's words. Unable to hold himself any further, he finally broke down and told his friends what happened a few days ago.

The two imps patiently listened to his tale.

"And then I heard him say, One day, my Darling, you would accept my feelings and perhaps return them! I mean, what the fuck?!" He yelled, pacing anxiously at the room.

"Is he joking?! I know for a fact, this whole arrangement between us is nothing more to him than him wanting me to fuck him! There's no feelings to return! That stupid delusional bird!"

Blitzø ended his rant with a huff before he sat down on the chair that had previously been occupied by Millie. He was breathing heavily, eyes downcast and he was biting his lower lip.

He hadn't expected himself to simply go off like that.

Sure, it felt nice to finally be able to talk to someone about what had been eating him up. But at the same time he was ashamed that he was letting something like this get to him and involving his employees with his own problems.

A hand gently landed on his back, and Blitzø flinched a little at the contact. He turned to his side to see Millie– who the hand belonged to– was giving him a sympathetic look.

Normally, he'd hate it when others gave him that look. But he found that he didn't mind it much if it came from his female imp employee.

"Oh, B. It must've been quite a shock for you."

"Not really. I was more angry than shocked. I mean, where does that bastard get off saying he has feelings for me when he has never once given me any indication that he had them in the first place."

"Well, I wouldn't say he's never shown you indications of those said feelings in the past, sir, " Moxxie said, earning a glare from the tall imp.

"What are you talking about, Mox?"

The white haired imp eyed his boss nervously, before sending a Help-me-look towards his wife.

Blitzø heard Millie sigh beside him.

"What Moxxie is trying to say, B, is that the prince has been very open about his feelings for you for quite some time now."

Blitzø's head snapped towards Millie's direction and he gave her a look of disbelief.

"What the hell are you talking about? When exactly did Stolas admit that he liked like me that way?"

"Are you kidding me? He may not have said it directly, sir, but he shows his real feelings through his actions."

Blitzø scoffed at that. "You mean by having transactional sex with me every month?! Sure, I feel his love, alright."

"No, not that. What I mean, is that he shows his feelings every time he visits the office, sir! He practically calls you darling openly!" Moxxie pointed out.

"That's just a nickname he has for me. It's the same as impish little plaything ," Blitzø reasoned.

"Okay, then how about those times when he took you out for lunch dates, Boss?" Millie suggested.

"It's just lunch! And those are not considered dates or proof that he likes me."

"But he takes the time off his day to come from his palace all the way here to imp City just to see you."

"Well–" Blitzø trailed off as he thought back on the times Stolas did come to visit him.

At first, he was pissed that the perverted asshole came to his workplace.

The last thing he wanted was to be distracted and have sex with the Goetia demon in the same place he worked.

However, Stolas was surprisingly a gentleman during his visits and had insisted that he only came to treat Blitzø for lunch.

It was the idea of free food and good company that always got Blitzø to agree to go with him.

He never really thought anything about it until now, nor did he consider that the avian demon had another reason to do such things for him.

As he was thinking this, his employees continued listing other things that Stolas did for him and it was becoming harder for him to deny that the damned bird had feelings for him.

"There was also that time when he visited you when you were sick."

"And that time he sent you a whole box of assorted horse plushies."

"And let's not forget about the fact he came to our rescue when those humans captured us."

He winced at that one. He was grateful for the rescue, but it did serve as the most incriminating evidence that Stolas might really like him more than just a plaything.

"Also, there was that time–"

"Alright, alright! I get it! Fucking stop already!" Blitzø yelled.

"Face it, B. His Highness has had feelings for you for a while now," Millie finally finished.

"But he can't have feelings for me! I mean, just look at us! I'm an imp for Satan's sake and he's a fucking prince."

"But does that really matter, sir? If you two like each other and are happy to be together, then what society thinks should mean shit to you," Moxxie told him.

Blitzø felt his face heat up at that statement. "And who the fuck said that I feel the same way for that birdbrain? I don't even like that bitch all that much."

Liar. The voice in the back of his head whispered.

Shut it.

Moxxie shared an exasperated look with his wife, who simply shrugged.

Blitzø saw the exchange and suddenly felt the need to defend himself.

"What?! I really don't feel the same way for him. I mean, I always thought that what we have was just a transactional fucking. Him possibly having feelings for me complicates things."

His employees stared at him with wide eyes.

"Why would it complicate things, B?" Millie asked.

"I don't do love and feelings , Mills. I've been burned too much in the past that I simply can't let myself fall for another person. Trust me. Love isn't worth the effort."

Both demons looked skeptical at his statement. Not really believing that their boss who's been obsessed with their loving relationship didn't actually believe that love was worth the effort.

"So what are you going to do then, sir?" Moxxie asked.

Blitzø grabbed his head and screamed in frustration.

"Fuck, Moxxie, use that pea of a brain of yours. If I knew what to do, do you really think I would've been off all week?"

Aside from the uncertainty of Stolas' feelings for him, the other thing that bothered Blitzø was the idea of what he was going to do with the knowledge that the prince actually loves him.

Despite what everyone thought of him, Blitzø wasn't a heartless bastard. He was flawed– like many people in hell– and made far too many mistakes, but he never intentionally wanted to hurt the people he loved or those who had a relationship with him.

However, shit still happened and people got hurt because of him.

And while he doesn't return Stolas' feelings, he didn't want the damned bird to join that long list of people he hurt all for loving a piece of shit like him.

He doesn't deserve that.

So Blitzø was at a loss on what to do.

His friends must've noticed his inner turmoil because he suddenly felt Millie's hand land on his back again, giving him a comforting rub.

"Oh Blitzø, if you're really that uncomfortable with being in a relationship with the prince, why don't you just end it while it's still early?" Mills asked.

Blitzø gave her a look.

"You know why, Mildred. We still need Stolas' book for work."

"Screw that," a new voice resounded from behind the three imps.

Their eyes all widened at the sight of their secretary, Loona, standing by the door.

"If you're not happy with the prick, dump his ass. No book is worth it if it makes you feel this shitty, Dad."

Blitzø eyes watered. It was rare for his baby girl to worry about his well-being. It was even rarer for her to call him Dad.

The fact she did both touched the imp's heart very deeply.

"Sir, I think I speak for all of us that if you really no longer want to continue this arrangement with the prince then we are alright with you returning the book to him."

"Moxxie's right, B. We don't need some stupid book if it means you have to sacrifice your happiness for us to use it."

"That stupid book is our only access to the human world," Blitzø felt the need to point out.

"So? Even if we no longer have access to the top side, we're still assassins. I'm sure we can get by," added Loona, "This is hell. There's plenty of people to kill here."

Blitzø looked around his friend– no, right now, they were more than that. They were family.

He looked at his family, and felt really happy. Their loyalty, care and support were heartening.

Who needs romantic love when he has an unconditional one coming from the people before him.

"Alright. Tonight, I'll return the book and end things with Stolas," he announced with a big grin that matched everyone's.

Everything was going to be alright. His company would survive this and his family would stay by his side.

He didn't need that stupid prince in his life.

If the tiny part of his heart that hurt at the thought of losing Stolas believed the same thing.

TBC

(O.O)