Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The study was wrapped in the calm of the early evening, broken only by the soft scratching of a pen, the low, thoughtful murmurs from Stolas, and the occasional ping from Blitz's phone. He sprawled on the couch, one leg casually draped over the armrest, eyes glued to his phone as he played some mindless game. The stack of papers on the coffee table lay forgotten, a silent testament to the fact that he'd come here with every intention of being productive — or at the very least keeping the prince company while Stolas buried himself in his work and reminding him to do things like, take breaks for food.

Stolas leaned over a tiny, glowing plant, no bigger than a large coffee mug, his eyes alight with the kind of enthusiasm Blitz could only attribute to the royal's obsession with anything green and alive. "Ah, yes," Stolas murmured, fingers absently brushing the leaves, "I must remember to take a sample of this sap later. It’s a marvelous shade of red."

Blitz rolled his eyes, but a grin tugged at his lips as he glanced at the owl from over the screen of his phone. "You and your plants, Stols. What’s this one’s deal? I can practically hear you chomping at the bit to talk about it from here," he teased, the edge of amusement in his voice.

Stolas chuckled softly, a deep, contented sound that made Blitz’s teasing all the more enjoyable. 

"Well, it's a particularly rare species, you see. A *Rubeus Floris*, native to the deepest parts of the underworld forests. The sap it produces is said to have... mysterious properties." He reached for the plant again, hands moving with that mix of grace and precision only he could manage, as if it were some fragile artifact.

Blitz raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing in mock suspicion. "Mysterious properties? You sure you're not just trying to make it sound more impressive than it is Feathers?"

The owl’s expression shifted ever so slightly— a twinkle of mischief and sincerity mixing in his eyes. "I assure you, darling, it’s quite real. As I was saying, the sap—" He reached closer, fingers grazing the plant’s smooth surface, his hand just shy of its delicate, twisted vines when—

SNAP

"Ouch" Stolas jerked back, wincing as something small but sharp pricked his finger. The plant’s long, thorn-like tendril had caught him just enough to draw a bead of dark blood. He hissed, cradling his finger with exaggerated care. "Well it was Rude."

Blitz stifled a laugh, his grin widening as he sat up a little straighter. "You okay there, Stols? Ya need a band-aid?"

"Very funny," Stolas muttered, his tone both exasperated and amused, glancing at the plant with narrowed eyes. "It's supposed to be a healing sap, it’s not supossed to have sharp thorns. How irritating."

Blitz chuckled, leaning forward on the couch, his voice dropping into a more teasing tone. "Guess your plant's a bit of a biter, huh? Maybe it just doesn't like being touched by royalty." He smirked, giving a little shrug. "You sure you didn’t just upset it by bragging about it?"

Stolas gave him a pointed look, rubbing his finger absentmindedly. "I’m sure it’s a simple misunderstanding, but I do appreciate your... concern." He glanced down at the tiny wound, the blood already starting to clot. "Nothing to worry about, Blitz. It’s just a minor inconvenience."

Blitz stretched out on the couch again, his grin lingering. "Alright, alright. But hey, next time you wanna play with your little garden, maybe put on some gloves or something, yeah?" He waved a dismissive hand as he picked up his phone again. "Wouldn’t want you bleeding all over the place."

Stolas let out a soft, amused huff, but there was a warmth in his eyes. "Yes, perhaps you’re right. I’ll be more careful." He gave the plant one last, cautious glance. "Just... not as fun without the drama."

Blitz snorted. "You just love the drama, don’t you?"

"Maybe," Stolas admitted with a sly smile, looking back over at Blitz. "But only when it’s interesting drama."

Blitz snorted again. “Sure, like you and your ‘killer plants.’ What’s next, you gonna start growing venomous roses?”

“Not a bad idea…” Stolas trailed off, his fingers idly twirling a pen as his eyes glazed over with a flash of new, unspoken plans.

“Hey, hey, no. I can see the wheels turning in that pretty bird brain. No more killer plants, Feathers.” Blitz jabbed a finger toward him, half-smiling. “I like you better with less potential murder hazards, thanks.”

Stolas laughed quietly, the sound rich and fond, but it faltered almost as quickly as it came. His quil clattered from his hand.

“Stols?” Blitz frowned.

The owl blinked, his pupils dilating oddly. “Oh, that’s… peculiar…” he murmured, lifting his hand to his temple as if the room had just tilted.

Blitz sat up instantly. “Okay, nope, don’t like that tone. What does ‘peculiar’ mean? You okay?”

Stolas swayed slightly, catching himself against the edge of his desk. “It’s likely nothing, darling. Just a little—” He stopped short, blinking rapidly as his feathers fluffed involuntarily. “—lightheadedness.”

Blitz was off the couch in two strides. “Lightheadedness my ass, you look like you’re about to keel over.”

“I assure you I’m quite—”

And then Stolas did keel over.

Blitz lunged forward on instinct, catching him just before he hit the floor and bringing him over to lay on the couch.

“Stolas! Hey—heyyy, come on, don’t you dare pull some dramatic fainting prince crap on me right now—”

Stolas didn’t answer.

Blitz’s tail lashed, panic creeping into his throat. “Oh, come on, Feathers, wake up! You can’t just— you were fine a second ago!”

Stolas let out a barely there groan but didn’t show any other signs of life.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit—” Blitz fumbled for his phone, thumb shaking as he scrolled through contacts. “Who do I even call for this? Poison control? Fucking plant control…”

Snapping his fingers he dropped his phone and rummaged around the owl’s robes for his own, unlocking it and hesitating slightly with his fingers over the contact.

She’s not going to pick up...

Chapter Text

Ring

Ring

Rin-click

“What is it dad? I’m in class” Came the hushed, bored monotone after the call connected.

Blitz couldn’t hold back the relieved sigh at the sound of her voice. “Via! Oh thank Satan, your-”

“Blitz?” She cut him off, voice sharper and more annoyed now “Nope, not dealing with this right now”

“Don’t hang up, your dad is dying!” he rushed, hopeing to get the words out before she hung up.

There was a long pause.

Long enough that he might think she really had hung up on him if it wasn’t for the background noise.

Then there was some rustling on the other side as the background grew quieter. “What did you do?” 

Blitz froze mid-pace, tail flicking. “Why do you automatically assume I did something?”

“Because you always do something.” Octavia’s voice was flat, unimpressed. “So. What did you do?”

“Nothing! Really, I technically didn’t do anything—he was poking some stupid plant, it poked back, and now he’s—uh—horizontal and not talking!”

“Horizontal?”

“Yeah, like ‘passed out’!”

“...Is he breathing?”

Blitz glanced down at the couch. Stolas looked annoyingly peaceful, chest rising and falling in slow rhythm, feathers soft against the pillow. He looked more like he was taking a nap than maybe dying.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s breathing. Kinda too much, now that I actually look at him. But he won’t–!”

The line went dead.

“...Wait no no…” Before he could fully process her hanging up on him, the sound of big front doors of the palace opening caught his attention.

He wanted to sneak to the door to see who was there, but when he moved towards the hall something tugged in his chest, making him look back at the sleeping prince–looking way too peaceful for the situation at hand.

Thankfully he wasn’t given enough time to have to acknowledge or even give a second thought to whatever feelings were twisting in his gut, because the door to the study opened and Octavia walked in.

“Oh thank fuck, Via, I thought when you–-”

“Don’t call me that Old Man” She cut him off sharply, pushing past to get to the couch and check Stolas’ vitals.

“...Don’t call you…? But isn’t that your name?”

Via huffed, still not looking at him. “My name is Octavia, I never told you that you could call me Via”

There was a beat of silence where Blitz just looked confusedly from her, to Stolas, and back to her. Raising his hands and taking a step forward.

“Is this really the time to be doing this?” He flinched when she turned her head fully around to glare at him. “Ok ok geez. Octavia”

She gave a curt nod before turning around so that her head looked the right way again and crossed her arms, “Good. Now tell me everything”

—

Octavia glanced down at Stolas again, still peacefully unconscious on the couch, and then back at Blitz. “You seriously didn’t know what plant he was messing with?” she asked, incredulously..

Blitz scratched the base of one of his horns, looking sheepish. “Look, plants are like… his thing. All I know is he was all cute and excited about some rare thing, and the next thing I know, he’s knocked out cold. Couldn’t tell you what it was if my life depended on it.”

“And you didn’t even think to—” She raised an eyebrow, her arms still crossed, “—I don’t know, ask him what it was before letting him play with it?”

Blitz stood up straighter, spines raising defensively.  “Of course I did! But you know how he gets when he talks about shit like this. It’s like… a whole thing. Like he’s in a trance, and I get hypnotized by all the weird Latin crap he says. All I heard was ‘Rubeus Floris’ and ‘mysterious sap,’ and I zoned out. I didn’t think he’d actually get poked by the damn thing.”

Via’s head snapped to him so fast, he almost got whiplash. “Did you say Rubeus Floris?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s the fancy Latin, right? Sounds like a dessert or something.”

She sighed, turning away from him to walk to the table, where the plan still sat innocently. “It’s not a dessert, Blitz. That’s a Red Thorn Bloom. Dad used to talk about them when I was little. It’s one of those enchanted things our ancestors used for alchemy. The sap’s harmless, but the thorns—” she cut herself off, frowning deeper, “—they’re not supposed to exist anymore.”

“Yeah, well, apparently your old man found one that didn’t get the memo,” Blitz muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “So what, it’s poison? Cursed? Do I need to get him to a witch doctor or like—”

“No.” Octavia walked back over, crouching beside Stolas again, her fingers hovering over one of the faint black spots on his hand. “It’s not poison. It’s… sort of a sleep curse.”

Blitz blinked. “A what now?”

“A stasis effect,” she clarified, like that cleared up everything. “It puts the victim into a magically induced sleep. They don’t age, don’t wake up until it’s broken. There’s usually a counterspell, but—” She hesitated.

“But?” Blitz prodded, shifting from foot to foot anxiously.

Octavia’s feathers puffed slightly, and she groaned like she hated what she was about to say. “...There’s an old legend attached to it. Something about ‘true intent breaking the thorn’s slumber.’”

Blitz’s tail flicked, unease rippling through him. “...Okay, what the heaven does that mean?”

“It means,” Octavia said dryly, “that the last recorded case of this happening got solved when the afflicted person’s partner kissed them awake.”

Blitz stared at her. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

Chapter Text

A silence hung in the room, thick enough to choke on. Blitz opened his mouth, closed it, then crossed his arms tighter. 

“No,” he finally said flatly.

“...’No’?” Via sputtered, voice pitching slightly. “Fuck you mean ‘No’?”

“Language Octapus,” Blitz huffed at her “and ‘No’, as in I’m not going full Prince Charming on him like we’re in a knockoff fairy tale”

Octavia’s face scrunched up. “It’s not like I want you to dumbass, I just said that that’s how it works! Also what the heaven did you just call me?”

“You don’t want me to call you Via, which is fair. But your name is too fancy so I picked something else”

He said it so matter of factly she actually gave it some thought. 

“Whatever fine, although Octapus is weird.”

He smirked at her, shrugging, “Eh, we can workshop it”

That actually got him a–in his head–affectionate eyeroll, before she turned back to her father, squeezing his hand. “I still think you kissing him be our best bet.”

“Yeah, well, that’s–that’s not an option,” Blitz huffed, tail flicking erratically. “We’re just friends. Totally normal, platonic, boring definitely-not-kissing-each-other friends.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh-huh. I’m not an idiot, I know you two have history and care about each other”

“I care plenty! Just not in—that way!” waving his hands wildly as his voice rose an octive or two. 

“Look, there’s gotta be another way. A potion, a chant, some demonic CPR—I’ll even get Loonie to Veevle something if I have to.”

Octavia just stared at him for a long, uncomfortable beat, then said flatly: “Or you could just stop being a coward and kiss him.”

Blitz’s mouth fell open. “Excuse you?”

“You heard me. You two been hovering over each other like lovesick idiots for months.”

He gawked at her, eyes wide. “W—I have not!”

She glanced meaningfully at where Blitz was, indeed, standing uncomfortably close to Stolas’ side, one claw hovering inches from his head.

“…Shut up,” Blitz muttered, stepping back and crossing his arms again. “It’s called making sure he’s still breathing.”

Octavia sighed, standing up. “Fine. Keep denying it. But if you don’t fix this, he’s gonna be asleep indefinitely. And I’m not explaining to the council why Dad’s been napping for eternity because you couldn’t swallow your pride long enough to–”

“Fine!” Blitz cut her off, voice cracking just a little. “Fine! I’ll do it! But only ‘cause I don’t wanna get yelled at by that stupid parrot, alright?”

Via smirked faintly. “Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night,” She turned and made her way to the door. “I’ll give you a minute.”

The door clicked shut behind her.

For a long moment, Blitz just stood there, staring down at Stolas. The quiet pressed in, heavy, the only sound the soft tick of the clock on the wall and Stolas’ steady, peaceful breathing.

“Damn it, Feathers,” Blitz muttered under his breath, dropping to one knee beside the couch. “You just had to go and prick yourself on some blessed flower, huh? Couldn’t just have a normal night with your weird plants.”

He hesitated, looking down at Stolas’s face–serene, peaceful, annoyingly beautiful even while unconscious. His chest tightened.

“…This isn’t going to work,” Blitz muttered, leaning in anyway.