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Blitzø didn’t really know what to do with himself. There was only so much re-adjusting of blankets that a person could do before they risked waking their sleeping guest, and he knew that Loona wasn’t going to let him out of her sight for a while. He couldn’t even shame her for it - he felt the same way. The adrenaline of the day was wearing off, and all he could do was watch his accidental houseguest curl up on a couch that wasn’t built for him.
Stolas was a quiet sleeper, soft little hoots occasionally slipping past his beak as Blitzø walked around the room, his own body begging for rest that he knew wouldn’t come. The fan squeaked when he tried to turn it on, so he sighed and flicked the switch, rubbing his eyes. “Fuck.” he whispered, nothing quite registering with him beyond Loona’s tail swishing against the carpet and Stolas shifting slightly on the couch. He felt oddly floaty, like he wasn’t entirely connected to reality, and when he tried to think about the events of the day, all he could feel was a cold emptiness. Did Octavia know where her dad was? Had she even seen the trial? He hoped she hadn’t. No daughter should have to watch their father go through…well…
“...Dad?”
Blitzø turned, realizing that he hadn’t heard Loona move, though she must have, because she was kneeling in front of him. He hummed in response, “Hey Loony. Hey, I’m..I’m here.”
“You’re here.” Loona repeated, grabbing his forearms. She pulled him in for a hug, her fur muffling the outside world for just a moment. “Fuck, Dad…I-” She sniffed, and Blitzø felt his heart shatter. He put his girl through so much, she shouldn’t have seen any of what she had today. No one should have. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Hm. Me too, believe it or not.” Blitzø huffed, pulling away slightly to look her in the eye. They were wet. His probably were too. “Shit, Loona, you shouldn’t have- I shouldn’t have-” He paused, closing his eyes for a moment. She had, and he had. He couldn’t control that now. He changed his own subject, gesturing with his head. “Are you okay with this?”
Loona looked back at the sleeping former prince on their couch, her ears flicking as she seemed to really consider it. “He doesn’t have anywhere else.”
Blitzø shook his head, “But are you okay with it? He could…I dunno, get a shitty apartment or something, he doesn’t have to stay. I mean, it’s not like I don’t want him to stay but I don’t want- this is our home, Loona. If you don’t like-”
“Shut up.” Loona interrupted, a small laugh somewhere in her voice. “He’s staying. I know you two are…messy, right now, but…he saved your life. It’d be pretty shitty of me to thank him for that by kicking him out.” She pulled away, “Besides, the two of you obviously care about each other, and I think he’s gonna need you in the next few days. Like, a lot.” She swallowed, rolling her shoulders back, “Just don’t-don’t ignore the rest of us, yeah? And don't go doing stupid shit, I can’t handle-I don’t want to be scared like that again.”
Blitzø nodded, taking her hand. “I won’t. Not if I can help it. Okay?”
“You’d better be able to help it.” Loona muttered, wiping her eyes. “For me. And for him.”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Blitzø squeezed her hand before he let go, Loona giving him a small smile before she padded back to her room, hesitating before almost closing the door - she left a small crack. She didn’t usually do that.
Blitzø moved to grab his phone out of habit before realizing that, in the panic of the initial arrest, he’d probably left it at IMP or dropped it somewhere. With little to do without it or without turning on the TV, he sighed, moving to the couch again. Stolas’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut, his fingers white-knuckling the ratty blankets. Blitzø bit his lip, but he was only able to contemplate waking him for a brief moment before a hurried banging on the door made his heart leap into his throat.
His initial reaction was to dive for cover in a panic, thinking that they’d changed their minds and that Satan had come back for him - but no, the knock wasn’t aggressive. It wasn’t even loud, just an oddly metallic rapping noise that hadn’t let up since it had startled. Blitzø shook himself, glancing at Stolas to confirm that the noise wasn’t waking him before quickly scampering to the door and yanking it open, prepared to give whoever was on the other side a mouthful for potentially waking his sleeping…whatever they were. However, he barely got the chance to open his mouth before he had an arm full of gangly robotic limbs and a face full of plush horns that very nearly suffocated him.
“Fucking asshole!” Fizzarolli hissed in his ear, his metallic arms squeezing him just tight enough to be painful. “Don’t you fucking- you nearly- you need to pick up your fucking phone when people call you, you ass!”
Blitzø wheezed what little response he could get out while being crushed half to death, “I-Fizz, Christ on a stick-” he tried to pull away, but his captor refused to give, “fuck, I can’t breathe-”
“ Good !” Fizzarolli yelled despite his grip loosening enough to look Blitzø in the eye. His makeup was fucked, fat tears rolling down his face and exposing the sheer number of scars that lay hidden under the foundation. “Serves you right for-for terrifying me like th-that!” He sniffed, rubbing his eye and smudging his face even worse.
“Fuck, Fizz, I-I’m sorry, I-shit-”
Fizzarolli opened his mouth, closed it, and pulled Blitzø in again, the embrace much gentler this time. “I thought-I thought I was going to lose you again.” Fizzarolli hiccupped, burying his face in Blitzø’s neck.
Blitzø blinked, stunned. The interaction, so far, was not helping his whirlwind of nerves, but he wrapped his arms around his friend’s waist in return, pulling him inside the door and shutting it with his foot so that they weren’t in the public’s immediate eye anymore. He squeezed tightly, unsure exactly where this was going, but not entirely disliking it. “I’m sorry.” he repeated, his voice hushed. “I’m so-”
“Fuck you.” Fizzarolli whispered, his own voice matching Blitzø’s hushed one automatically. “Don’t-that wasn’t your fault, don’t you dare…” He trailed off, and Blitzø could have sworn a rib cracked under Fizz’s last squeeze before he pulled away. “You’re one lucky son of a bitch; I hope you realize that.”
“Yeah…yeah, I-yeah.” Blitzø could only nod in agreement, “How the fuck did you get here so quick?”
“I have a hot boyfriend who can teleport people, you know this. Don’t change the subject.” Fizzarolli snapped, roughly swiping at his tears again. “Ugh, fuck.”
“Right.” Blitzø nodded again, unsure of what else he could do at the moment. “Uh…okay, why are you here?”
Fizzarolli froze, staring at him for a moment. “...you’re joking.”
“Not really.” Blitzø frowned, just now realizing that Fizz was wearing nothing but a pair of pajamas and his false horns. “The cameras were still rolling when I got off the hook so…I mean, unless the TV turned off in your house or some shit, you knew I was alive.”
Fizzarolli gaped, “I- fuck if I knew you were alive! I didn’t know shit! For all I knew, they could have gutted you outside of those doors! Ozzie wasn’t telling me shit , I don’t think even he knew what happened afterwards! And I didn’t know what condition you were in if you had lived! Or if you were okay, or if-if-” He swallowed, pausing to take a deep breath. “You terrified me, Blitzø. I couldn’t just- and I tried texting you, but you weren’t responding so I called you and you still didn’t respond…”
“I don’t have a phone right now.” Blitzø turned his pockets inside-out to emphasize the point. “I would have picked up, I swear. I’m so sorry, Fizz. Uh-please don’t yell. Stolas is sleeping.”
Fizzarolli hiccupped again, glancing around before his eyes landed on the couch. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” Blitzø turned to look with him, shocked to see that Stolas hadn’t moved a muscle. On second thought, memories of Stella screaming at early hours of the morning on the rare occasion that he’d stayed the night popped into his head, and he figured that being a heavy sleeper was probably one of the only ways the Goetia wasn’t constantly falling asleep standing up. “He’s staying here for…a while, probably.”
Fizzarolli tapped his metal fingers together, his anger seemingly evaporated to reveal his anxiety, “Shit. I didn’t think-I mean, I’m sorry for…barging in like this.” He muttered, pulling on his dress a bit, “You’re alive. Confirmed. Not hurt?”
“Not hurt.” Blitzø nodded.
“Not hurt.” Fizzarolli repeated, “I should…go.”
Blitzø frowned, “Wait, no. No, stay here. If you want, I mean.” He glanced at Loona’s bedroom door, where a snout was peeking out. It disappeared and the door closed properly as he did, and he huffed. “For a while. I have…uh…hot water.” He looked at the kitchen, “Or alcohol.”
“Not much of a drinker.” Fizz mumbled, finally seeming to realize exactly the situation he’d brought in, standing in his newly-made-up-with friend’s house in his night dress, his horns lopsided and his makeup smeared to high heavens. “Doesn’t lead to good things with…y’know…” He gestured to his metallic limbs.
“Right, yeah.” Blitzø rubbed the back of his head, “I’ve got...not a lot, really.”
Fizzarolli shifted his weight on his feet, “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Blitzø sighed, giving the jester a halfhearted punch in the shoulder, “Nearly gave me a heart attack, but…I’m glad you’re here. Really.”
Fizzarolli frowned, “Why?”
“Dunno.” Blitzø shrugged, “Everything feels…weird. Off. I know you’ll at least give it to me straight.”
Fizzarolli chuckled, “Yeah, right. Me. Straight.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Blitzø cracked a smile, “That’s not even creative.”
“I’m hilarious.”
“Objectively untrue.”
Fizzarolli mock-gasped, hand flying to his chest, “How dare-”
Blitzø laughed, “I do. Oh, I dare.” He hesitated slightly before he put his hand on Fizzarolli’s shoulder, “Thank you.”
“...for body-slamming you?’
“For caring so much.” Blitzø never, not in a million years, would have thought that he’d be thanking someone for something like that. He never thought that he would be hugged so much in one day, never would have thought he’d have a Goetia on his couch. He never thought that his daughter would be scared to let him leave her sight, or that his childhood best friend would be crying in front of him, scared for him. But all of that had happened in one day, and he couldn’t care less about how he portrayed himself at the moment. He couldn’t care less that his own eyes were once again welling with tears or that he was falling into his friend’s arms for another embrace.
Fizzarolli guided both of them to the floor, taking it in stride and touching Blitzø like he was made of glass. He murmured small assurances into Blitzø’s ear, and didn’t complain when Blitzø tangled his fingers in the soft fabric of his shirt. He just held him, the metal of his arms cool against Blitzø’s skin but his chest oh so warm. “I’ve got you.”
And the strangest thing was?
Blitzø believed him.