havent programmed in years - confused by why RETURN is not returning

[buran]

the problem is that you try manipulate global variables inside the function count, without declaring them as such, using global keyword. So there is e.g. heads_count in the global scope, as well [different] heads_count inside the function, i.e. local scope.. Anyway, working with global variables should be avoided, unless you have really good reason to do so. And that is what you are doing - returning values from function. What you need to do, is to assign the return values (i.e. unpack the tuple you return).

Before that, a couple of other issues, you need to take care of.
1.

x = 0
x = int(x)

x is 0, no need to cast to int
Same for rest

2. It doesn't make sense to initialize the variables, then pass them as arguments. Your function does not use the arguments you pass (except x, but see 3. below). Remove the parameters from your function

3. No need to use while, better use for loop if you know exact number of times you want to iterate - 10

import random
 
def count(n=10): # how many times to toss, n=10 by default
 
    heads_count = 0
    tails_count = 0
    options = ["heads", "tails"]
    for i in range(n):
        result = random.choice(options)
        if result == "heads":
            heads_count += 1
        else:
            tails_count += 1
    return (heads_count, tails_count)
 
     
     
def main():
    heads_count, tails_count = count()
    print(f"heads: {heads_count} tails {tails_count}")

main()

Note, a lot of things can be done differently, but you get the idea