Chapter Text
Total Transparency: Blitz had already taken a bath in this tub.
It was such a long time ago, one of their first Full Moons, and they had both been very drunk. He didn’t really remember the bath, but he remembered the water lapping over his skin as they kissed and rutted against each other. He remembered how deep the tub was and how Stolas had to hold him up. He remembered thinking: this stupid owl doesn’t even see I’m getting more out of this deal than he is.
Blitz pestered Stolas every damn day about committing to some bathtime fun until finally the prince gave in. Stolas was still such a stickler that even though it had been over three months since Blitz was shot, he still conducted daily check-ups. Stolas was a worrywart and it made Blitz blush.
“If at any time you feel too hot, you must tell me,” Stolas demanded with a serious look in his eye.
“Isn’t that the point of a warm bath?” Blitz teased.
“Blitz.”
“Babe.”
Ok, that was mean, he knew Stolas’ weakness was when Blitz used those sweet little names.
Blitz granted mercy. “If anything feels off, I will tell you immediately, and you can give me a full examination.” He grabbed Stolas’s robe and pulled him down so they were eye to eye. “A very thorough examination.”
Stolas, now a very flustered owl, ran the bath while Blitz undressed. Things took longer to do now after his injury. Oftentimes, he would feel the pull of pain in his stomach and have to slow down. Some mornings, it was difficult to get out of bed. Stolas told him not to fret too much, this might not be forever, but Blitz wasn’t too sure.
Blitz had never been a fan of seeing himself in the mirror. Now, instead of looking at all the pieces of himself he despised for so long, he had a new blemish to stare at.The bullet wound was dark against the candle light, making the red, marred flesh of his stomach a dark maroon. The bullet had been blessed and the healing had been rough; the twisted way his skin had healed showed it. It was a hideous spot among his burns and scars.
They took it day by day, and they both did their best to be upbeat, regardless of the constant reminder of the danger still lurking. Even as he looked at the wound in the mirror before him, healed over but still a gnarled, ugly reminder of what had happened to him, he knew that he would never be what he once was. He would never run as fast again, never twist himself into tight spaces, never feel fully him again.
But he survived.
All because of Stolas. Blitz wasn’t dumb, he knew Stolas had put more time, energy, and magic into keeping him alive than anyone else would have. Blitz knew he should be dead. He wanted to ask Stolas what he had done to keep him breathing, but he couldn’t bring himself to make Stolas relive that.
As much as the bullet took from Blitz, he wondered if it took more from Stolas.
“What a beautiful sight you grace me with, my darling.” Stolas’ voice was in his ear and his reflection set on Blitz in the mirror. “The bath is ready. Join me.”
Most nights since his fever broke, Blitz woke to Stolas holding him, rocking him, gifting him soft kisses and even softer words. Thanking Blitz for being here, thanking Blitz for being so strong, thanking Blitz for not leaving him alone. They never spoke of it in the morning, but Blitz remembered more than what he probably should have regarding his dance with death.
Other days, Stolas held his hand a bit longer than needed. Sometimes Blitz caught Stolas staring at him from across the dinner table with a look of concern. On the very rare occasion, Blitz would catch Stolas wiping his eyes from sudden and unexplained tears.
It was in these moments Blitz realized that perhaps, he had done something that made him worthy enough to be called ‘love.’ What it was, he wasn’t sure. Blitz looked into the bathroom mirror and tried to see himself through Stolas’ eyes. All he saw was a washed-up assassin clinging to the robe of his rich boyfriend. It was only a matter of time until Stolas saw it too.
Until then, the bath called to him.
Stolas had filled it nearly to the brim with bubbles. Although the bathtub was large, Stolas still had to stick his talons up along the edge to lay down properly. Stolas got in first, and with a flick of his hand, created a step stool so Blitz could reach the top. Blitz stuck his foot in, grumbled that Stolas hadn’t made it hot enough, and then ran a single finger along the inside of Stolas’ talon to tickle the bird for being so stubborn. When Stolas had had enough, Blitz joined him in the tub.
“So are we cuddling or what?” Blitz teased.
Stolas giggled as he pulled Blitz against his chest so that Blitz was resting with his back against him. One of Stolas’s hands laid flat on Blitz’s chest, holding him close, while the other wrapped around his waist. They sat in comfortable silence with each other for a while, letting the warm water soothe their aching muscles and weary bones. If the temperature dropped by the slightest degree, Stolas would say a little spell and the water would warm right back up.
“Can I ask you something, my love?” Stolas cut the silence.
Somehow Blitz knew what Stolas was going to ask. He knew he could not have gone so long without Stolas needing answers. Stolas would never demand them, and if Blitz told him to shut his beak, he would.
“What's on your birdie brain?” Blitz said, for he knew he was no longer in a place to turn him down.
Stolas’ nuzzled his head against the space between Blitz’s horns and held him even tighter, an act that had become all too familiar to them both. The water gently lapped at the soft shift of their bodies.
“Do you still feel alone?” Stolas asked.
Blitz knew his body would tense, but he could not stop it. He knew his mind would scream ‘run, bitch, he is getting too personal’ but he could not silence it. If he told Stolas to stop, he would. Stolas would never bring it up again if Blitz told him not too. Three months ago, Blitz would have done just that.
Blitz shifted himself until he was chest to chest with Stolas. He put his hands on Stolas’ shoulders and pushed himself up enough to look into Stolas' eyes. Stolas held him as though Blitz would float far into the ocean, never to be seen again.
When Blitz took too long to answer, Stolas continued. “The night I thought…” Stolas paused, took a breath, and continued in a shaky voice. “When I thought you were not going…” another shaky pause, “...to wake up again, you told me ‘at least I’m not alone.’ Do you still feel that way, my love?”
Blitz tried to blink away the memory, the confession he thought only existed in his mind. He had said all those things, hadn’t he? It was honesty hour, and he felt this existence they had carved for themselves stuttered and halted.
“No,” Blitz told him.
Stolas searched him, small white pupils darting before settling. “You think you will again?”
“Yes.”
Where was this truthful shit coming from? Blitz did not open this easily. Yet Stolas’ hands held him in the water, his face concerned and unwavering, and the words flowed like rushing rivers flooded with melted spring snow.
“Everyone leaves,” Blitz quietly told him as though the words were fragile. “Once is unlucky, twice a coincidence, but after that, it's just what life is.”
Stolas whispered. “You think I will leave?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Blitz placed his hand on Stolas’ cheek and watched as the drops of bathwater darkened his feathers. “I’ll fuck up one day and you will have had enough of me. It’s bound to happen. It always does.”
The owl bastard smiled at Blitz’s sad declaration. The fuck?
“Oh, my love, my Blitz, let me show you something.”
Stolas let one of his arms float away from Blitz’s body and emerge with a curtain of soapy bathwater. His arm flew in a swooping arch over their heads, he painted the air above them with a dazzling lavender blue magic. Blitz watched in awe as the colors disconnected and creaked until an opening in the air itself revealed the night sky right above them. Like snowflakes, the stars emerged from the dark veil of space, dotting the bathroom air until Blitz wasn’t sure if they were still in Hell.
Perhaps this was Heaven.
Nah, Heaven was for losers, but this was something better. Something real.
“My purpose as part of the Ars Goetia is to read the stars,” Stolas explained, and with a wave of his hand, the stars turned and grew ever brighter. “Pull prophecies and see futures. I can find any impending outcome among their vast celestial libraries.”
Stolas settled his free hand at the base of Blitz’s neck, leaving trails of water streaming down his spine. The stars bobbed and weaved through the bathroom and Blitz reached a finger to touch one. It rippled as though he had thrown a stone into a pond.
“You must understand something,” Stolas told him, his breath hot against Blitz’s neck. “All these predictions I can find are just that. Predictions.”
Under the white glow of the stars, Stolas looked ethereal. Fuck, Blitz didn’t belong in this glorious embrace. Stolas trusted him more than any wise demon should. What had he done to deserve to be looked at this way, touched this way?
Loved this way?
Stolas’ hand danced across Blitz’s collarbones, up his neck, along his jaw, until they met his chin, and ever so gently, he guided Blitz’s face until it met his again.
“The stars are very good at predicting futures,” Stolas said. “I am very good at reading them.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Blitz asked.
“There is nothing written in the stars stopping ‘us’ from being a possibility. If you care for me as much as I care for you, and I think you do, the future is quite clear. As long as I’m living, I could not find a single moment of you feeling alone.”
“You want that?” Blitz whispered. “You would want…me?”
“Wasn’t it obvious?” Stolas sang. “I’ve wanted to be with you from the moment you told a silly little joke about a silly little horse.”
Blitz let his hands fall around Stolas’ neck. “Wow…that is…Stols, that is a long fucking time.”
“Yes, I know.”
With the stars, the very ones holding the secrets of their future, shining in the air around them, Blitz kissed Stolas. He kissed him as a way to show ‘I am trusting you.’ Kissed him as a way to say ‘I’m not good at this, so be patient with me.’ Kissed him as a way to promise ‘I will do my best by you, to make you laugh, to make you smile, to make these stars see how much I care about you.’
He drew back and smiled. Fuck, how could he say no to Stolas when he was looking up at him with his big owl eyes and his stupid grin.
“Shouldn’t argue with the stars, huh?” Blitz said. “You up for trying this ‘us’ thing out?”
Stolas hooted (too fucking cute) and pulled Blitz’s into a tight embrace. The bathwater splashed along the sides and landed outside the tub. The rug was soaked, Blitz had a mouthful of bubbles, but what the Hell, he was going to let Stolas have this moment. After all, he had been waiting 25 years for it.
Ok, maybe Blitz had been to. Only for the first time, he didn’t see this as a guilty daydream.
“What do you say about us getting out of the tub?” Stolas asked as he helped wipe the bubbles from Blitz’s face. “I fear I will become a duck if I sit in here any longer.”
“Better than a chicken,” Blitz teased, and then a thought emerged. “Hey, babe, what do you think about visiting Millie’s parents again? I’ve got this crazy idea about their barn…”