The Pompous and The Prick

Chapter 5: Allure and Intrigue

It had been about a month of Stolas moping around and occasionally trying to date, when Stolas saw Blitz's face come up on Lustinder as a 'single in his area'. He had dropped the bowl of cereal he had been holding right on the carpet. D**nit, Blitz kept making him spill his cursed cereal. He scrolled through. There were a bunch of seductive pictures from different angles in bad lighting, with the description only saying 'You up? P.S. the O is silent'. He couldn't help but chuckle a little over this silly display of his physicality. The pictures that showed some skin, which were most of them, showed that he didn't yet have the scar on his right shoulder. He wondered when they were taken, and how long ago this account had been made? He wondered if he had gotten many messages from it. He was sure he had; Blitz was quite handsome after all. Adrenaline began rushing in his veins. He wondered how many of them he replied to, how many he met up with, and how recently? He wondered if he'd seen many people while they're arrangement was still active. He wondered if he ever thought of him while he was with other people. He wondered if he thought of him at all.

Red eyes brimming with tears, Stolas shook the thoughts from his mind as they were not helpful. The alluring face smiled at him from his phone. He swiped right and waited. But no response ever came.

It was dark out and Stolas let out a sigh that came out as some type of hoot. It had only been 2 weeks or so, but everyone was only looking for hookups or were looking for him. Not him, as in Stolas the father, gardener, and genuine person; the Goetia prince with money and status. He couldn't blame them; not really. Trying to get by in hell was difficult, and though he had never lived it, and probably would never understand just how hard it could get, he knew at least to some extent how necessary it must be for some to lie and manipulate for survival. That's what Blitzy had done to him after all, and he still loved him.

Love was a strong word; it was the right word, but it held power. it was holding Stolas back from truly searching for someone else to love. He was being tied down; tethered to someone who was forced to drag him as a lead weight, and he didn't want to do that to him anymore. Octavia had encouraged him to fight for Blitz, but he felt he had been fighting for a long time, and now that he was officially rejected, yes he felt unfathomable sorrow, but it was also freeing. He didn't have to beg for affection from someone who would never return it.

Stolas knew there might be troubles with a rebound. Especially with trying to find someone else who also wanted a genuine connection, but he would be open with them, and tell them where he was at emotionally and see if they were willing to give a relationship a try.

So far he had been on 3 dates, all in a disguise, and all equally unsuccessful for different reasons. The first, with a succubus named Chadwick, who on the first date suggested a three-way and would not stop talking about his six pack. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with a six pack, or three-ways for that matter. But for that to be all you can talk about is . . . less than ideal.

The second and third dates were with an imp woman named SallyMay. She was a sweetheart, but despite being older than him, he could only bring himself to see her as a daughter or perhaps the sister he never knew. He also chatted with other women, but he found himself feeling similarly to them as well. With the arranged marriage and all, he had never really had a chance to explore his sexuality, but now he came to realize that he was gay all along. SallyMay and him got along famously, and she was such a wild, free spirit. It was a sad day when he told her that he couldn't see her that way, but she was understanding. Sad, but understanding. She told him they could talk any time as friends, gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away. He didn't have a single butterfly.

That's when he found a new app called Faceless Love. It's like it was made for him. And maybe it was, or at least made for the people hoping to find him, and he had to respect the business savvy. He made an account using a name he liked and some pictures he thought represented him. He also discovered emojis which were these cute little faces and pictures the kids were sending each other and added them into his profile description to make him seem approachable. At least he thought it did.