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“The sky quite reminds me of you,” Stolas breathed, a breeze of fresh hellish air blowing against him and ruffling his feathers slightly.
Blitzø pulled his jacket back on, smoothing it out slightly and rolling his eyes. “Yeah? Well, what doesn’t remind you of me, eh Stols?” he said while buttoning up his top button. He began walking over to the door of the demon’s extravagant bedroom, so he could make his way back down to his van.
“Leaving already, Blitzy?” Stolas asked, turning around and seeing Blitzø’s back to him.
Blitzø turned to face him. “Uh, yeah. Our whole transaction is kind of finished.”
“Transaction?” Stolas asked, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach at the analogy.
Blitzø sighed, taking a few steps closer. “Yeah. Transaction. I fuck you so I can keep the book. Remember?”
“Oh. Right. Yes, I knew what you were referring to. I just…” But Stolas trailed off, seemingly unable to find the right words to get his point across. He wasn’t even sure what kind of point he was trying to get across. “Will you join me for a moment?”
“Stolas. You know how much I love spending time with melodramatic princes. But I’m off to hit the sack.” He started to leave again, making his way back toward the door. But, again, Stolas stopped him.
“Please, Blitzø. I would just like to talk.”
“Since when has talking been our thing, Stolas? I’m here to screw you into your mattress. And would you look at that! Mission accomplished. We don’t have anything to talk about. But hey if you’re up for another round…”
The owl demon held his hands clasped together in front of him, nervously messing with his fingers. “Uh. No. Thank you.” In all honesty, he hadn’t even really been up for the first round.
“Then my work here is done, your majesty.” Blitzø leaned down, bowing to the prince and pretending to tip his imaginary hat in a sarcastic fashion.
Stolas didn’t respond.
“Oh come on, Stolas,” Blitzø continued, walking out to where Stolas stood on the balcony. “Chillax. What’s on your mind so much that you want to have a conversation with me?”
Stolas turned, placing his hands on the railing. “The sky just looks beautiful tonight. I thought maybe you’d want to see it. You can get a good view of it all from here.”
“Okay. One: I can look at the stars from home whenever I want. Your fancy ass palace isn’t the only place where the sky is visible. And two: When the fuck did I start caring about things like stars. You’re the one in charge of all of… that.” He gestured upwards, leaning his back up against the banisters beside Stolas. “Not me.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter who is ‘in charge’ of ‘all of that.’” He threw up air quotes as he slightly mocked Blitzø. “You can still enjoy it. Enjoy the beauty of it all.”
Blitzø gave a half-hearted glance up to the sky, looking at the twinkling lights above him. “It is… cool. I guess,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. But, after a moment of stubbornness, he gave a longer look at what was above him. He would never admit to Stolas the fact that he found the night sky to be astonishingly mesmerizing. Sometimes, when he visited the human realm for a job, he would take an extra peek at the sky above him, just to see what it was like to be a human, looking up at the space above him.
Stolas gave a small, grateful smile. He considered this a win. “Isn’t it?” Through everything that had happened throughout Stolas’s time in hell, things like the misery of being married to Stella or the situation with Blitzø, he at least had the stars.
As time had gone on, though, whenever he looked at something beautiful, he could only think of Blitzø. Flowers in his garden or the flecks of burning light glittering in the sky seemed to have deeper meanings now. Stolas had never been in love; he hadn’t been in love with Stella.
But lately, when the blooming buds outside his palace caught his eye, he would smile, and think about the demon who was currently standing by his side.
“It all reminds me of you,” he said again. “The stars. They’re lovely.”
Blitzø let out another sigh. “Well, it shouldn’t,” he replied, crossing his arms in front of him and looking down at the ground.
“But it does.” Stolas turned toward Blitzø, so he could properly look at him. After a few moments of silence, he continued speaking. His words came out slowly, as he contemplated each syllable. “Blitzø. I don’t think… you don’t realize… you don’t know how much I enjoy your company. I love… you know. Being around you. Not just when we’re in bed. But when we’re spending actual quality time together, you know? Like, now. Like getting to look at the stars. Or that time you let me show you the garden. Or when we went to the human realm to find Octavia and you were on that human show. I would love to do that more. I would love to spend more time with you outside of just, what you like to call, ‘business,’” he threw up another set of air quotes.
Blitzø gave a harsh laugh. “Stolas, stop fucking with me. Save that for the bedroom, eh? There’s nothing about me that should make you feel that way. I don’t know if you’re getting the wrong vibe or if you’re just delusional. Personally I think it’s a combination of both. But just… stop.”
“I’m not… messing with you. I’m—”
“Seriously, Stols. Stop it. It’s cruel to play with a man’s feelings, you know. Don’t pretend anything we have is, well, anything .”
“I’m not pretending, Blitzø. Please just listen to me.” A note of urgency and fierceness crept into the prince’s tone. “Nothing has been the same since we first spent the night together. I don’t care about what happens in bed anymore. I haven’t for a long while. I care about what we are. I care about what you are to me. About who you are. I was just thinking about all of this. About how everything beautiful that exists reminds me of you. Pretty colors. Clear water. Night skies. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Only you.”
Blitzø pushed off of the banisters. “Yeah, well, you might want to get that thought out of your head, Stolas. I don’t believe in that lovey dovey bullshit anyway. You know the drill. We have our deal. That’s that. You don’t love me and I sure as hell don’t love you.”
There was a pause as Stolas let that last sentence shatter his heart.
“Anyway,” Blitzø continued. “See you next month.”
Stolas didn’t stop Blitzø as he left the room.