Work Text:
Blitzo had been working at the local community outreach shelter for a few months now, and the job, while nice and paying well, wasn't the most exciting at times. Usually, he and his co-workers were attending to the homeless, or the occasional runaway child. His shifts also varied in times, but it wasn't uncommon for him to be given the night shift when needed. Tonight was one of those nights where he had to work, and it was going to be a tough one. Much of the staff was out the clock at that point, and there weren't a whole lot of people in the shelter at the moment, so until someone else came in or one of the residents needed something, he was free to do whatever. And that's how Blitzo saw himself in the breakroom, reading a book.
He was in the middle of the chapter when he suddenly got a signal on his chipper. The signal indicated someone new had entered the building. Blitzo sighed before he closed the book with the bookmark and went to see who showed up. However, the moment he entered the reception room and saw them, he nearly gasped. There was what looked to be none other than Prince Stolas of the Ars Goetia. However, he was dressed in rather casual clothing for his status, wearing a white t-shirt with blue pants, carrying a duffel bag that looked to have been packed like he was trying to beat the record for the fasted packing of a duffel bag. Next to him was presumably his daughter, who looked no older than six, feeling scared and confused. One last thing he noted was that Stolas was wearing sunglasses, despite the fact that the sun was gone by that point.
"Hello there. You must work here, right?" Stolas spoke, his voice soft and timid. "Me and my daughter need somewhere to stay. At least for the night."
"Um, sure..." Blitzo said as he approached them slowly, at this point realizing that Stolas's beak was... bleeding? He wanted to know what the hell happened to the prince, but that was not the main concern at the moment. Octavia looked up at the imp, the owlet frightened.
"Daddy got hurt, and he won't tell me what happened," she spoke.
"It's okay, little one. Daddy is going to be all better. Now what is your name?" Blitzo asked.
"Octavia."
"Wow, that's a nice name!" Blitzo complimented, causing the owlet to smile. "Follow me, you two. We got more than plenty of room here."
Stolas nodded and led his daughter to where they would be sleeping. It was a shelter, so it was a far cry from the usual luxuries of a Goetian palace, but compared to others, it was more well-kept and organized. Octavia yawned as Stolas helped tucked his daughter to the bed.
"I know today was scary, but remember that things will be better tomorrow. All that matters is that you're okay. Goodnight, Starfire..." Stolas whispered before he kissed his daughter on the forehead and she went to sleep. During this, Blitzo got out a first aid kit.
"Okay, pretty bird, let's fix up your beak," Blitzo said as he opened up the kit. "But first, can you please take off your sunglasses?"
"I- Is that necessary?" Stolas gulped in hesitance.
"I mean, this isn't really a good time to wear them, and they could get in the way."
Blitzo immediately regretted insisting Stolas took off his sunglasses when he saw a black eye on his left eye. He didn't even want to know if there were any other injuries on his body. Realizing the situation was more serious than he thought for the prince to come here with his daughter this late at night, he motioned him to go somewhere more private where the owlet or anyone else couldn't hear. Ironically, they were at the break room, where Blitzo began treating his injury on his beak.
"Normally, we're not supposed to pressure our residents into giving out their backstory, but given that you look awful - no offense - and the fact that you and your kid needed to stay here rather than at your fancy palace... did something happened?" Blitzo asked as Stolas winced from him gently cleaning the wound.
"No, nothing happened," Stolas attempted to deny.
"Weird. I don't recall 'nothing' leading to cases where people got hurt," Blitzo argued before sighing. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'll forget about it, but remember that I and all of our staff here do care about you, and we're here to help you if needed."
Stolas took a moment to think as Blitzo finished up patching up the wound on his beak before moving onto his black eye. As he put an ice pack on the eye, Stolas spoke.
"It was my wife Stella. Me and her... don't exactly have the best relationship, given it was arranged by our families. We've had our... disagreements at times, but never in front of Via. I made sure of that. Today, however, she was in a particularly terrible mood, and when I tried to talk to her..."
Stolas didn't dare continue, but he didn't need to. Blitzo didn't know who Stella was, but he wasn't happy to hear that she was responsible for hurting Stolas. He'd heard about how disturbingly prevalent domestic abuse was in the family, and how very few, if at all, face any consequences no matter the severity. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be for a man like Stolas to get a woman convicted of hurting him.
"But it's okay, it was my fault, really-"
"Stop," Blitzo firmly said, stopping the owl from victim blaming himself. "Nothing justifies that type of violence against you. And the fact that it led to you and your daughter having to leave your own home just to feel safe is far from ideal to say the least. Does she have any idea of this?"
"No, and I don't want her to think about it. She's so young..."
Stolas's fight to not cry seemed to have been going on for quite some time, but now, it was a losing battle. Stolas ended up weeping, tears forming even in his black eye. Blitzo could only hug Stolas and offer the prince comfort as he continued to cry. He wanted to kill everything within a ten mile radius just from hearing this kind, gentle soul cry, but it wasn't want Stolas needed at that point.
"Stolas, look at me please," Blitzo softly commanded, and the owl did. "I am terribly sorry you are going through this. You cannot be at that place any longer because she is dangerous, can hurt you, and who's to say she won't kill you? I'd highly recommend divorcing her ASAP. I can also testify on behalf of you and show evidence-"
"It's not that simple, darling..." Stolas sighed "Divorces are rare in the family and even looked down upon. And what if she gets custody of her?"
"It won't happen once they realize how awful she truly is," Both were silent for a moment before Blitzo spoke again. "Stolas, I know how you feel about feeling like the world is against you and feeling down. Years ago when I was 16, a terrible fire happened at the circus and killed my mom, and it almost killed my best friend Fizzarolli. I felt like it was my fault at times for allowing it to happen and not saving my mother, and only recently have I've started going to a therapist to work it out. I can't say it's the same situation that you're in, but I understand where you're coming, and I want you to know that everything will get better when you stand up for yourself and realize that you're a lot stronger than you think. I promise you, Stolas, it will be better..."
Stolas didn't say anything, but only nodded as he took off the ice pack. Blitzo gave the prince a pill to help speed up the healing process for the wounds he could and couldn't see before leading him back to the bedroom where Stolas laid next to his daughter.
"Thank you for being there to help us. I'm not sure how I could ever repay you for your kindness and hospitality..." Stolas smiled.
"Don't worry about it, birdie. This one is on the house."
Blitzo would kiss him on the forehead as a parting gesture of going to sleep before the owl went to sleep. Though he wasn't exactly harmless, Stolas looked a lot better now than when he first showed up. As Blitzo decided to spend the rest of the night next to the father-daughter duo, he looked up at the window, the night sky full of stars glowing.