"If I Tackle You, It'll Be Because There's A Mattress Behind Us And You Asked Me To," Blitz Said, Unable

"If I tackle you, it'll be because there's a mattress behind us and you asked me to," Blitz said, unable to help making dirty jokes when opportunity presented. His dumb grin softened again though, and he nodded, picking the drink back up. "Look, that night, that whole con, it was all really shitty. We were both shitty and using each other." The amber liquid held the lights of the club beautifully. Blitz sighed, looking down into it, and swirled it around for a moment.

"There's an annual party devoted to people who hate me," he said, voice cracking ever so slightly. Fuck, he wasn't going to fucking cry. That shitty place had fucked him up, but he wasn't going to goddamn cry. Blitz took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, and met Chaz's eyes again. "But you? Weren't there. You coulda gone. But you didn't. And that means a lot to me. I think... the way you're acting... it's uh. Look, I'm no good at... but this whole thing, your vibes, feels like... maybe people haven't given you enough second chances. Or something. Christ, um..."

Blitz took another swallow of the drink. It really did go down smooth, even if it burned. He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at the pretty shark again. "Maybe we both fucked our first impressions of each other. But maybe we can like, do better, you know?"

That was when Blitz's date drifted up. Demetri was a beautiful succubus, his expression perpetually sweet, who often liked to flirt with Chaz even if he never really tried to pick him up. He seemed to take in the situation between the two of them with a glance, and he leaned against Blitz. "Hey, Chaz." Demetri's smile was warm.

"You guys know each other?"

"I'm here a lot," Demetri admitted, blushing.

"Of course you are." Demetri had danced with Stolas at that damn party. Of course he knew this shark too. He... fuck. He was nice. Really nice. Blitz offered him the glass, and Demetri took a sip while Blitz looked back at Chaz. "Let's try again sometime, huh? Besides, I uh.. I might... have kind of... fuckin... stolen something from you. That you probably want back? You remember a long leather jacket? I mean if you don't want it, fuck, that thing's snuggly as shit. But if you do...?"

Even if Chaz was in a space he'd grown comfortable in, seeing Blitz again and seeing the smirk on his face slowly but surely made the shame from that night well up back to the surface, not just for selling and pushing himself out to any one who'd allow him into their bed, but for what he ended up doing, rushing out of the manor upon seeing his keys were missing and drugging Blitz to try to keep him quiet, locking him in his trunk and allowing Crimson to try to kill not only him but Millie too. Mobster or not Chaz tried his best to treat his bedmates well, he never forced it on them or tried to genuinely hurt them, at the time he had reasoned it was nessecary for his hail mary plan to work, but in the time since, part of him wished he'd push his utter desperation for someone's warmth in the same bed aside to try to make a compromise with them all, Where'd it even get him? He still ended up sleeping in cold bed more often then not, on the run and crying himself to sleep at how fucked up he made everything and some part of him thinking... maybe he deserved to end up on Crimson's wall of trophies. His mother would certainly be ashamed to see what her son had become, and he didn't even have the jacket she gave him to clutch to hold off that thought...

You could tell he was lost in his head, the glass was already clean but he still cleaned it vigoursly with his claw, more him trying to work out his nerves then him trying to do his job. Maybe, Just maybe if he did this JUST right he could at least give Blitz a decent conversation, a decent night that wasn't him using the Imp who'd done fucking nothing him and he still drugged him. If this went right he wouldn't be forgiven, but he hardly believed he deserved that, but at least he'd actually help someone instead of dragging them down like he'd done all his li-

The way his entire body froze when Blitz caught his hand was the most noticable thing in the world, head just thinking "This is it, He's just gonna pull me over the counter and gut me before I can even do anything" However he felt weak in the knees when he felt Blitz squeeze his hand, the shark doing it back, even clinging a bit when Blitz pulled away but he stopped himself, hoping Blitz didn't notice, standing there like a deer in headlights when Blitz said his name, just hoping the scarf around his head muffled his slight whimper of fear.

Of course he saw through his disguise, it was rushed together and he wasn't the most 'blend into the crowd' kinda demon to begin with, eyes widening at what Blitz said, letting him slide the card over to him before sighing, grabbing the hanging end of his scarf, untying it from around his face and pulling off his shades, setting them both on the counter as he leaned it on it, breating out to calm down, his heart was pounding right now.

"Fuck you just saw right through this huh" He swings the scarf around for reference before he sighed again "Your too smart for me that's for sure, though Im surprised your... giving me this, after everything I did." The shark says dropping the scarf and picking up the card, reading the number over before looking back at him, surprised how soft a gaze he found from Blitz "Um but I... appreciate it, it's really sweet and a lot for a guy like me. I..."

"Im sorry, for all the shit I pulled, that's doesn't change it I know, that's why I gave you that drink on the house, it's actually really expensive usually so I wanted to treat you. It's... the least I could do right?" The shark relented, voice cracking at the end and him wiping out his eyes and breathing in. Looking at the card

"Sorry I'm allergic to a scent Big O uses in here but... are you sure you want to give me this? I sure as hell fucked first impressions with you, that's why I thought you'd maim my ass if you saw me, not... be nice to me. I still won't be surprised if you tackle me right now actually" The shark admitted, he didn't really believe that Blitz wouldn't hurt him right now, he deserved it right? Everyone else who was around that day wanted to kill him after all.

cant believe this is the note we’re starting pride month with

[ for @infxnatum - Eclipse did offer writing lessons, so.... ]

It had been a few weeks since Blitz last passed by that pretty blue bird, but the guy's offer was still playing in his head. That comment about writing lessons had probably been a jab, and most of Blitz wanted to resent it... but what if it wasn't? What if it was a genuine offer? What if this fucking bird was willing to sit down with him and help him get better at spelling, at writing?

The thought appealed. Not because he wanted to spend time with the guy, Blitz hardly knew him--even if Eclipse was intriguing and had some kind of delightfully spooky vibes--but because the thought of someone wanting to just help? It was so alien that it was fascinating, a thought the imp couldn't put down. He didn't know where to find the man, or even how to get back in contact--chucking that note at him in a diner had been a one-off opportunity--but this was Hell. It was, for all intents and purposes, a small town. Eventually, people always ran back in to each other.

Cheerful after a full day of killing--and very good killing, well done killing, especially an execution that had involved fire--Blitz was walking home, whistling. He felt good in his body, his mind was relatively clear--for him--and all of the grief and turmoil of recent days... well, it wasn't fixed, not really, and it never really would be, his heart was going to stay broken as long as Stolas was gone, but things felt better. Bearable.

So, in a relatively good mood, he immediately perked up when he caught a flash of ocean-y feathers up ahead.

"Hey! Fluffball!" Blitz darted up to the--yes! Fuck yeah, definitely Eclipse. "You heading off somewhere important, or can a guy waylay you for a few fuckin' minutes?"

How hard will you fight for your team and Stolas?

"Hard," Blitz answered, his voice a little flatter than usual. He was at his desk, arms loosely folded behind his head, boots on the desk with one ankle crossed over the other--a posture that might have looked relaxed if not for the sudden suspicion and heat in his eyes.

"Why? You wanna go? Cause I've got the time. If you want to threaten them, any of them, oh, I've so got the time."

Threatening him was one thing. Blitz was used to that. But the people he loved? The imp would abandon all self-preservation, all common sense, if it meant protecting them.

Do you feel like Stolas SA'ed you?

Blitz frowned hard at the person asking him this. He didn't know them, so it really didn't seem like any of their damn business. But all the same, they looked like they cared, and he had to believe they were coming from a good place.

"No," he said, his voice serious, firm. "It wasn't a great situation. It wasn't good for either of us. But even though it was... fucking terrifying at the end when I thought I was losing my business, when I was losing him, even though there were times that I just... felt like shit, like some washed up, reused, half-dried condom he happened to find amusing... that shit? That was on me. How I--fucking... how I fucking..." Blitz closed his eyes and dropped his face into one hand. "How I fucking feel is on me. It's more cause of my depression and trauma than him.

"Like, sure. Go for it, you could argue that with his position and his power, he had me at his mercy and could have done anything to me, that I never could have said No, that he could coerce anything out of me. But you weren't, you know. Fucking there. I was. That was my body on the line, my body in the bargain. And I can tell you this, Stolas never made me feel unsafe. I freaked out once, one time, because the way he touched me reminded me of... something I don't want to remember. And I was going to fucking press on, ignore it, shove that whole bullshit reactiony thing down.

"But Stolas noticed something was off. Stolas cared. More than I did. He put the brakes on. That fucker grabbed me up and just held me until I was breathing right again and it.... you can't... You can look at him and see a demon prince and say oh yeah, no, fuck that guy, he's not perfect, he did some questionable shit, and you can label him a monster.

"But you can't label him as my monster.

"You can't label him for me.

"Stolas didn't force me. He wouldn't. Nights with Stolas were probably some of the safest nights I've ever had. Some of the best. I was actually... you know... fucking happy with him. Even when it still scared me to even admit it to my fucking self. I could have walked away at any time and that bird would've let me. He probably would've gotten up, held the door, and reminded me in his," Blitz's voice cracked, "soft fucking voice," which he loved, God he loved that man's fucking voice, "that I could always come back. When I was ready.

"If you want to blame someone for a fucked up situationship, don't blame Stolas. Blame me."

Hey Blitz. For exactly how long were you imprisoned? Heh. Get it? Because...because you're an imp?

"Ha, ha. Very funny, asshole. I get it. Imps, imprisoned. Kind of opens up the door to whole meta analyses of the word imprisoned and the fact that imps are basically born into a prison because, you know, we exist to fucking serve all of these assholes, have no power, no representation, and unlike humans we don't get an afterlife or a way out or--"

Blitz abruptly shut up, realizing he had taken that way too seriously. Grumbling under his breath, he sucked on his iced-coffee--the new dick-shaped straws from Guzzler's were a fucking treat--and stared down at his phone screen, pretending to be cool.