Chapter Text
Blitzø blinked at Stolas. “No?” he asked.
“No,” Stolas repeated, then chuckled. “Unfortunately, I’m still not quite recovered from Striker.” He gestured to the bandages still wrapped around his upper thigh.
Blitzø swallowed and looked away. “Look, Stolas, about that, I–”
“There’s no need to apologize, darling,” Stolas said. “It was just… unfortunate timing, that’s all. But yes…” He smiled. “It seems we’ll have to behave ourselves tonight.”
Blitzø narrowed his eyes at Stolas. “You could’ve fuckin’ told me that before I drove all the way here, you know,” he said. “Wouldn’t have wasted the gas.”
“I still need the grimoire, darling,” Stolas reminded him. “So it wasn’t a waste. Besides, I found a movie I thought you might like. Would you like to stay and watch it with me?”
Blitzø froze. “Oh come on, will you stop?” he said, his voice rising.
Stolas frowned. “Stop what?”
“Pretending like you give a shit about me! We both know you don’t, Stolas, so knock it the fuck off!”
Stolas actually had the nerve to look hurt. “What–I–Of course I care about you!” he said, his brows furrowing. “I know I’ve been selfish. I know I’ve said things that I shouldn’t have said. But I’ve been trying to give you space, and I’ve been trying to show you that I don’t just want you around for sex!”
“Bull! Shit!” Blitzø replied. “That’s all this has ever been! You wanting me to fuck you because you’ve got a fucking imp fetish, you pompous ass!”
Stolas’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?” he demanded. “Is that really what you think?”
“I’m fuckin’ right, aren’t I?” Blitzø said.
Slowly, Stolas seemed to deflate. “Of course not,” he said, his voice much quieter now. “But if that’s what you think, and I can’t change your mind, then…” He turned. “Come with me,” he said.
Blitzø swallowed, his heart slamming against his ribcage as he followed Stolas. That… defeated look… Blitzø wanted to take it back. Wanted to apologize. But that felt so much scarier than just letting it break. So he didn’t.
When they reached Stolas’s study, the owl demon walked around to the other side of his desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a box. Stolas stopped for a moment, staring at the box and sighing heavily before holding it out to Blitzø. “Open it,” he said.
Blitzø took the box, his hands shaking. Carefully, he slid the lid off revealing…
“An Asmodean crystal?” Blitzø asked. “How the fuck did you get one of these?”
“I asked Asmodeus for one so that you could get to the living world… without my grimoire.” Slowly, Blitzø looked from the crystal, to Stolas, whose face was stony save the tears pooling in his eyes. “I don’t want to keep asking this of you if you really don’t want it, Blitzø,” he said. “I love you. And I know you don’t believe it, but it’s true. And I’m not going to ask you to stay if that’s not something you want.”
“Why?” Blitzø asked, his voice shaky. He cleared his throat. “So you’re just gonna toss me aside? Like you’re done with your fucking plaything?”
“No,” Stolas said. “Our deal is just over. I’m letting you choose. You can… choose to stay, or you can choose to leave. I won’t stop you, and I’ll never ask anything of you again if you decide this is something you really don’t want.” Stolas stepped carefully towards Blitzø, leaning down and caressing his cheek. “But you mean so much more to me than you’ll ever know, Blitzø. All I really want is for you to be happy.”
Blitzø looked back down at the crystal in his hands, Stolas’s gaze too intense to return. What did he want? His first instinct was to recoil from Stolas’s touch, to run out of the study, get back in his van, and drive.
But Stolas’s hand on his cheek was warm, and soft, and he found himself grasping it and holding it there. Tears began to pool in his eyes, and he wiped them hastily away. “I-I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know what I want.”
Stolas nodded and pulled away, leaving Blitzø’s cheek cold in his absence. “I’ll let you think about it,” he said. “That’s… a better answer than I was expecting, but I won’t press the matter any further. You should… probably go home.”
Blitzø nodded half-heartedly, then stopped. “What was that movie?” he asked.
“Hmmm?”
“That movie you wanted to watch. If it’s not too stupid I might… I might stick around for some of it.”
Stolas smiled, sending Blitzø’s stomach into flips. “Black Beauty,” he said.
Blitzø narrowed his eyes. “Ninety-four or twenty-twenty?” he asked.
“Ninety-four,” Stolas replied. “I’ve read the book, and that one’s a better adaptation.”
Blitzø smiled. “I’m in. You got any popcorn?”
The look Stolas gave him, that smile, the spark of hope in his eyes, just how fucking happy he looked.
Maybe…
While Stolas grabbed blankets and set the movie up, his servants bringing in a bowl of popcorn, Blitzø sat on the couch, still holding the box with the crystal in it. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with it in the meantime. He didn’t trust people not to get into his van while he was watching the movie with Stolas, but it seemed too important to just set down somewhere in the mansion…
“There we are,” Stolas said, setting a pair of blankets down on the couch. Then he looked at the box in Blitzø’s hands. “I can put that back in my study for the moment. Wouldn’t want to get butter all over it, now would we? I’ll give it back to you before you leave.”
Blitzø nodded and handed it to him, too nervous to speak. His heart thumped loudly in his ears, as the alarm bells in his mind reached a crescendo. WhatamIdoingwhatamIdoingwhatamIdoingWHATAMIDOING?
Stolas took the box and left the room, humming softly to himself.
Blitzø had half a mind to leave. But the idea of hurting Stolas… it was easy, and yet it wasn’t. Just thinking about it threatened to rip Blitzø’s heart in half. But he didn’t know how to do… this. Whatever this was.
Stolas came back and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, keeping distance between them. He hit play, then draped a blanket over himself, grabbing a handful of popcorn. Blitzø curled up, pulling his knees to his chest. Stolas had never done this before–sitting so far away from him. Usually he couldn’t get enough space. It felt… It felt wrong.
Slowly, Blitzø scooted closer to Stolas, moving the popcorn bowl to the floor. Stolas turned, a little startled, as Blitzø lifted the blanket and deposited himself against his side. “Fuckin’ blanket hog,” Blitzø muttered, but he couldn’t help but smile at the silly grin on Stolas’s face. A moment later, Stolas put an arm around his shoulder, pulling him close against him. Blitzø kept still, hoping the heat in his face and the thumping of his heart would remain unnoticed.
If Stolas did notice, he didn’t say anything. He leaned his head lightly against one of Blitzø’s horns for a moment, sighing contentedly.
Well… Shit. Maybe this was worth a try after all.