Chapter Text
Angel Dust sidles up to Valentino, "So, Val, I hear you adopted the regressor?"
"Oh!" Valentino squeaks quietly, smiling down at Angel, "Yes! My baby, Y/N!"
"She was super cute when I met her."
"I know, she's the cutest thing, you should hear her babbling and see her when she's really little, or when she's coloured something in, or drawn something. She's adorable."
Valentino's grinning, attention fully removed from the shoot he's supposed to be working on.
"Where is she today?"
"With Vox," Valentino sighs, "I have work to do, so I can't take care of her, I don't want her around all of this."
Angel Dust blinks, processing the words that just came out of the moth's mouth, he has never, in his entire afterlife, heard Valentino suggest that anyone should be kept away from his work, or referred to what he does as anything anywhere near as negative as 'all of this'.
"Ah, Vox and Velvette like her too?"
"Of course!" Valentino shakes his head in amusement, "How could they not! You met her."
"Do you think I could see her again?"
Valentino nods slowly, thinking it over, "She did like you. Mm, yeah, I'll have to check where Voxxy is, but," He checks his phone, "I suppose it's about lunch time… Alright everyone! Time to go on break!"
Employees file out of the room, leaving Angel and Valentino, with Val calling Vox.
"Hey babe! Where are you and Y/N? Can you go up to the penthouse, Angel Dust wants to see her again. Yes I'm sure it's fine. He brought her in, that's how I know. Yeah 'Oh'. And have something made for her to eat. No I don't mean you have to cook her something, just… I don't know… Never mind, we'll come up to the penthouse, and I can make something for lunch. Yes I'm sure, have a little faith in me Voxxy. Oh hush, you'll be there? Good. Love you too." There's a longer pause, and Val laughs, "Thank you mija, I love you too, I'll see you soon, yeah? Mkay, bye honey! Bye babe."
Valentino turns back to Angel Dust who's been watching amusedly, "Vox is bringing her to the penthouse now, so we need to go so that I can make her lunch. Satan, Vox is so useless sometimes, talk about incompetence, he can't even make her chicken nuggets or puffy dogs or something, all he has to do is open the oven, but noooooooo, that's too hard! With Velvette banned from the kitchen and his attitude, I'm the only one who cooks, except when my little one isn't little, she loves to cook sometimes. Although, I don't think we can survive on biscuits. Not for lack of trying on her part though."
Angel Dust snorts, "She really likes biscuits?"
"Oh yes, I love her, but she does need to eat something besides cheese sticks, pretzels, and biscuits." Valentino shakes his head, stepping into the lift, gesturing for Angel to follow when he presses the button for the penthouse level, "To be fair to her, she will eat other things when I put them in front of her, usually. Ah well, they joys of having a little one."
"What's her age range?" Angel asks curiously.
"Normally, she's between one and eight I think, but when she gets really exhausted, or when she's sick, she'll drop to newborn, and at points she's regressed to somewhere in her teens. I'd say about twelve to fourteen if I had to guess. She's got a wide range."
"I remember, she was pretty young when I met her."
"When I left she was about five, so she's older than when you last saw her," The doors open and Valentino steps out into the penthouse, moving into the kitchen where he pulls out premade puffy dogs from the freezer and sets them on the bench, turning on the oven and setting a timer to check the oven, "Hm. She might want her markers… Come on, we're going up to her room."
Angel Dust follows Valentino upstairs to your room, where Valentino goes through your art drawer, pulling out your markers, along with a sketch book, "Pick a colouring book from over there." Valentino points to a shelf where Angel Dust finds several colouring books, pulling out a Bluey colouring book and handing it to Valentino, "Great. Oh, and can you get the horses?"
Looking around, Angel spots three hellhorse toys, grabbing them, "These ones?"
"Yup. That should be enough, thank you!"
With your toys collected, Valentino stands, and leads Angel Dust out of your room, and back into the penthouse, where the doors of the lift open revealing you and Vox.
"Papi!" You squeal, wriggling to escape where you're perched on Vox's hip.
"Woah there bubs, let me get out of the lift first," Vox rolls his eyes, stepping out of the lift and setting you down on your feet, snorting when you run over to Val and reach up to him, "I don't know how she has so much energy."
"Mija!" Val lifts you up under your arms, holding you above his head and spinning around as you giggle, "Have you had fun with Mama? Hm?"
"Yeah!" You chirp, "We went an' did alllll da works! An we went ta a meetin! An Mama an I fed Socky!"
"Did you! That sounds so fun sweetheart!" You're placed on Val's hip, still giggling, "Guess what, we have a guest mija."
You tilt your head, ears perking up, "Frend?"
"Mhm, do you remember Angel Dust?"
Your eyes widen in excitement, "Gel!"
"Hiya little one-"
"A'gel!" You're squirming out of Val's grasp and skipping over to hug Angel Dust's leg, "Hihi Gel! Guess what! Mama an' I did all da work today! An we got to go see Socky! He's mama's shark! We's best friends! An yestaday Sissy an' I went ta see Rosie! An Milla! An it was so fun!"
"Wow! That's so cool, sounds like you've been having so much fun here."
"Yah! Papi an Sissy an Mama are da best!" You notice the horse toys that Angel Dust holds, "We play?"
"Yeah we can play, do you want to go sit on the rug?"
"Mhm! Kay!" You reach up and grab Angel's free hand, pulling him over to the rug and sitting down.
Angel Dust places the horses down and you pick each one up, "This one's Rose! An this one's Kiera! An this one's Reuben! Rose does 'ressage, an she does show jumpin. Keira does cross country an she doesn't like dressage at all, she says 'nuh uh, I dun wanna do that fank you very much!' an she also does show jumpin too. An Reuben 's very clumsy, an he does a little dressage a bit, an he does a bit of jumpin too, bu' he's a schoolmaster! He does everything!"
"You know a lot about horses!"
"Yeah! Horsies are the best! I love dem. Wanna do show jumpin or dressage?"
"I don't mind, how about show jumping."
"Kay! You get Rose, an I'll have Keira, an uhhh." You look around and shout, "MAMA! Where's a jump!"
Vox jumps, and blinks, "Oh, um, do you want me to go and get your blocks?"
You nod, "Yeah please!"
"Great, I'll go get those."
"Mama's gonna get the jumps! Till then we can warm up, so you gotta start with walking, and do vaultes which are just circles, like this." You walk your horse in a rectangle, and then walk her in a circle, looking at Angel Dust expectantly, "See?"
"Ohh, cool!" Angel follows suit, walking Rose in a vaulte as well, "What next?"
"Then, we do trotting, and change the diagonal, which means we have to go the other way so that all of the horse is warmed up!"
"Alright, sounds good."
"And then we do cantering! to warm up! An cantering is faster and super fun!"
"Do you like going fast?"
"Yeah!!! Kiera can go reaaally fast when she gets excited!"
Vox walks back over to the two of you, "Jumps for you milady." He places the blocks on the floor next to you.
"Thanks Mama!" You bounce up and give Vox's side a quick hug before sitting back down and setting out the blocks as jumps.
"Kay, now we gotta go over the poles, an' we go over them in a canter! An before you go over the pole, you gotta count your strides, like this!" You mimic a canter with Kiera, and count down each time her back feet hit the ground, until you get to the pole, "Five, four, free, two, one! Over the pole! See?"
'Oh, okay, five, four, three, two- oops!" Angel pauses, "We've got to the pole already!"
"Das okay! It doesn't matter really, but ya gotta learn how to know how many strides to the jumps, an you can jump at any number!" You reset Kiera a bit away from the jumps, "Like dis! Seven six five four free two over the pole!"
Angel Dust mimics your movements, counting aloud just as you had done, and goes over the pole, smiling when you clap, "Now we's gotta make the jump higher! Oh, wait d'ya wanna do a bounce or jus' one jump?"
"I don't know, how about a bounce."
"That means we gotta set up another jump a stride away from da first one, an we'll make them both higher! See?"
You place another couple of blocks about a stride away from the first 'jump' and stack up another two blocks on top of the first jump.
"So now we's gotta do the strides like las' time, an then we take one step an jump over again!"
You demonstrate with Kiera, Angel Dust following suit with Rose.
"Mija!" Val calls out, catching your attention,
"Yah!"
"Lunch is ready, do you want to eat at the table?"
"Kay!" You turn to Angel Dust, "Papi made lunch! So I gots to pack up now, c'n you hold Kiera an Reuben too? An I put away da blocks!"
"Alright, sounds good." Angel Dust grabs Kiera and Reuben, placing them on the coffee table and watches you gather the blocks up and put them in a bag with the rest of your blocks, "All done?"
"All done!" You stand and brush your pants off, looking at Angel Dust expectantly, "You eat lunch with us?"
"Yup, I'm coming little one."
"You c'n sit next to me!" You grab Angel's hand, pulling him towards the table and sitting down in your chair excitedly.
Valentino places a couple of puffy dogs on your plate, "Careful mija, they're hot and you don't want to burn your mouth again, hm?"
"Kay foin." You pout, making Vox and Val snort, "'mato sauce?"
"Do you want to burn your mouth?" Vox blinks at you and hands you the tomato sauce bottle,
"Noooo, fank you!" You squirt the tomato sauce onto your plate, and offer it to Angel Dust, "D'you want 'mato sauce?"
"Yes please, thank you!" Angel Dust smiles at you, taking the bottle to put some on his plate as well.
The four of you eat lunch relatively quietly, with random horse and dog facts scattered throughout Vox and Valentino's business conversations, which they both nod along to, giving all of the right reactions and making you giggle.
Angel Dust observes the whole time, watching the innocent interactions between you and the two overlords, noticing the way that Valentino and Vox censor themselves more or less, avoiding topics that Angel Dust would expect to appear in their buisness conversations. He finds himself shocked to see the way Valentino acts around you, the way that every time you pipe up, the conversations change to be more focused around whatever you've said, the way that Val and Vox smile whenever you speak, and not the type of smile Angel Dust is used to, this is a genuine, loving smile.
When you're finished eating, Val scoops you up, cooing to you and grinning when you sigh dramatically at the suggestion of having to get cleaned up.
"Mija your hands are covered in tomato sauce, do you really want that to get on Kiera, Rose and Reuben?"
"Maybe they'll like it?" You suggest hopefully.
Val raises an eyebrow at you, getting another sigh in response.
"Kay I wash my hands."
"Mhm, let's go do that, sweet thing."
You're carried into the bathroom, leaving Angel Dust alone with Vox.
There's a long awkward silence, where both pick at their food, pointedly ignoring the other, before Angel Dust nervously breaks it.
"You guys seem to really care for her."
Vox freezes for a moment, and then relaxes slightly, "Yes, we do. She's one of us now."
Angel smiles, "I'm glad, she deserves a loving home, and people who care about her."
Vox doesn't respond for a while, so Angel Dust assumes he isn't going to get anything else out of Vox, but then Vox murmurs, "She does. I'm glad it's us."
"I think she is too."
"Yeah. Val and Velvette love her."
The fact that he doesn't say that he loves you sticks in Angel Dust's mind, but he doesn't press it, knowing he's already pushing his luck with the questions he's asked so far, so he just nods instead.
The pair finish their food in silence, and Vox gets up before Angel Dust can, and reaches out for Angel's plate, which Angel hands him, smiling gratefully.
When Vox is no longer near, instead in the kitchen, packing the dishwasher with everyone's plates, Angel Dust hears him sigh.
"And I love her too."
It's just loud enough for Angel Dust to hear, and he nods, "I know."
You come barrelling into the room, heading straight for Vox, shouting, "MAMA! I CLEANDED MY HANDS!"
"Nice one bubba!" Vox grins at you, offering a high-five which you enthusiastically reciprocate.
Valentino follows soon after, smirking as he watches you recounting the entire situation to Vox, with Vox nodding along, listening to your every word as though you were telling him the most interesting story.
You're starting to yawn after every other word when Val walks over to the two of you, "I think someone might be ready for a nap, what do you think Mama?"
You shake your head violently, "Nuh uh! 'm so- 'm so 'wake."
"Are you sure about that mija?" You nod determinedly, "You might want to tell your body, sweet thing."
And all of a sudden you're swept up into Val's arms, eyelids feeling heavier now that you're being cradled, "'m still no' tiwed."
"Of course you're not mija, but I think that Angel has to go now."
Angel Dust stands, and gives you a light pat on the head, "It was good to see ya again, bye kiddo!"
"Bu-bye Gel." Your eyes are closed now, only opening occasionally, and you're handed to Vox, who starts to walk, but you're asleep before you see the destination.
Valentino walks Angel Dust out of the penthouse, more than happy to chatter more about you until they reach the bottom floor, where Angel Dust is released.
*.*.*.*
Angel Dust arrives back at the hotel at about two in the afternoon, shocking everyone at how early it is for him.
"What happened?" Charlie's the first to question him, others close behind.
"I went to see Y/N, the age regressor who was sold to Valentino."
Charlie gasps, Vaggie's expression darkens, Husk freezes momentarily, and even Alastor's shadow temporarily gains more control over itself.
"Chill, guys, she's fine."
Vaggie blinks, "You're telling us, that the overlord of Porn, and the rest of the Vees, are capable of taking care of her?"
Angel Dust shrugs, "I got there, I pressed Valentino about it, well, not really, I mentioned her, and Valentino was all too eager to talk about her. She wasn't with Valentino, and apparently when Val's working, she hangs out with Vox and Velvette. I asked to see her again, and Val was almost immediately calling up Vox to see if they could go up to the penthouse for me to see her. Vox seemed to be more hesitant, but he took Y/N up anyway. They have a regression room for her with everything she could ever want. By the time Vox and Y/N got up there, she was so excited to see Valentino, calling him 'Papi' and Vox 'Mama' and I think she called Velvette 'Sissy' but I can't really remember. I hung out with her for a while, we played with her horse toys and she taught me about show jumping, and then Val got her to eat lunch. Vox and Val talked buisness, but they seemed to skip over the non-age-appropriate stuff, and whenever Y/N joined in, they'd shift the conversations to whatever she was talking about. She was covered in tomato sauce by the time lunch was finished, so Val took her to get cleaned up, and that left Vox and I, and Vox was actually willing to talk about her, and talk to me, which is unusual to say the least. And he said they all loved her. Satan, they even know she needs a nap at certain ages!"
Everyone is silent for a moment, before Husk speaks, "So it sounds like we should keep an eye on things in case it gets bad. But otherwise, they've got it handled."
"That's a good plan." Vaggie nods, "You'll keep an eye on her Angel?"
"Of course, she's such a sweetheart. And I know that Ethan said he'd keep an eye out for her as well."
"Great, well, I'm glad she's okay." Charlie smiles, "Even if that means she stays with the Vees."
Vaggie and Angel snort.