Chapter Text
Door opened to his home, Alastor turned on the lights. His home was rather small, just an apartment with the bare minimum, a decor of his taste and a couch to sleep on. It was all he really needed after all, he didn’t spend much time in here anyways. The familiar atmosphere of his apartment filled the air, and having a sleeping overlord on his back in this particular setting… It felt quite intimate.
The deer walked to the couch—still carrying the sleeping man—and gently laid him down. He made sure that he wasn’t laying in a too uncomfortable position, as his big squared head made it quite difficult to comfortably lay down.
“You can be such a nuisance sometimes, Vincent…” Alastor mumbled to himself, slowly sitting down on the carpet as he stared at the crt head : he looked so peaceful now that his screen was almost completely turned off, a soft blue light emerging from it…
How much of a curse was it for Vox to live with such an inconvenient appearance? His head was heavier than average, which could be bad for his back, and he had to rest a lot to not get hurt… But it was a fitting punishment, Alastor thought, pretty humbling he must say. And his pal was quite smart despite everything, he’ll find a solution for this won’t he?
The radio demon wasn’t really into these kinds of visual obnoxious technologies, but he knew that these greedy companies were always aiming for the smarter, sharper, brighter and newer in their picture boxes… Such is how they grow and hook as many weak and susceptible souls as possible. He was unsure if that was possible with Vox, but he’s seen many other sinners changing their body parts every now and then to fix them or improve them. And knowing him, Alastor was so sure that if he could change his head to a better tv, he would have done it without a second thought. It would mean improvement to him, less problems and being more in touch with his audience. This change would be nothing but beneficial to the media overlord…
Suddenly, the deer’s chest started feeling strange, unexplainable feelings overflowing his mind as his eyes darted towards the other man.
“Change…” He mumbled, wearing an uncomfortable expression on his face. That word was certainly bugging him to cause such a reaction—but why? Change can be a good thing, especially for someone like Vox who wants to grow and attract as much audience as he could. He’ll change… But would he still be the same Vox that’s laying on his couch right now?
Alastor would be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy the tv head man’s company—not that he sees him as a friend or even remotely cares about him of course—but simply because that man was free entertainment! And because his frankly disgusting care and affection towards the red haired man was quite useful—although he was only acting this way towards him, for some reason the deer couldn’t figure out. And because his mere presence, with his charming smile, and his cute little tie, and his striking and quirky personality, and his adorable manners, and his attracti—
“What am I thinking right now!??” Alastor, noticing his smile getting awfully and
sickeningly softer as his thoughts went on, perked up his ears and tensed up. He then felt his face getting warmer, which made him feel even more disgusted at himself.
“Gross…” He grumbled, standing up swiftly and removing his coat. Maybe that’s what was making him so warm. Nothing more. Nothing else that would be inacceptable to him. Maybe some water could help him calm down.
Alastor walked to his little kitchen counter, pouring himself a cup of water and adding in a few droplets of sinner blood that he keeps in his jars. He quickly chugged all of it, sighing as he finished. Refreshing.
He glanced at Vox, then at the cup again. He couldn’t help but think about it again. The deer was just overthinking it definitely, Vox would still be Vox no matter how hard he can try! He can already imagine him with some improved TV screen head, ruling as the strongest overlord—and thus, having himself freed from his shackles…—, but still being a hysterical big-mouthed fool. And his ego would still be as ridiculously big, not letting anyone else exist on the same level as him, something he clearly proved with his past as a human… So if something were to change about him, it would be them.
“Us, hm… ” Alastor murmured, as he walked back to sit in front of Vox’s sleeping body. The picture box was softly snoring, getting really comfortable in a place that usually wouldn’t let anyone other than Alastor do so. The radio demon could keep fighting himself in his mind, but his heart, no matter how cold he found it to be, knew how he felt : he didn’t want things to change between them, and he liked whatever they had together. Even if he didn’t know what to call these feelings.
Alastor scanned over Vox once more. He never really had the opportunity to stare, since the other demon was the one usually looking at him as he would endlessly ramble about whatever’s on his mind. He started noticing details about his pal that he didn’t catch until now : his antennas. He definitely knew they were here before, they were so expressive after all! They would bounce and perk up when he gets excited, or drop when he gets sad—just like a dog, Alastor thought and giggled—, and there was a noticeable spark going through them when he would get too emotional.
What the demon didn’t notice before was their heights. They were uneven, his left antenna being slightly taller than the right one. Alastor couldn’t help but find it rather cute, and surprisingly fitting for Vox, as messy and sloppy as he is sometimes. But the other overlord would probably disagree on that. He would consider it an “imperfection” to his brand or even to himself, as he was always so keen on his appearance being faultless. And knowing him, he would probably try fixing them to perfection the second it would start affecting his impeccability…
Alastor also knew how sensitive and reactive these antennas were. The TV head man would jolt whenever the red deer man touched his antennas, and get even more flustered as he played with them—much to Alastor’s delight. Which meant that if he tried anything with them, it would hurt. A lot. And he didn’t like the thought of Vox hurting himself over such a silly thing. He thought of maybe… complimenting them to avoid any of that. Not because he actually likes Vox and his stupidly endearing antennas of course—he just cannot afford having such a valuable pawn getting hurt for something like this.
“I’m such a helpful pal, he’s so lucky to have me!” Alastor proudly giggled to himself, sitting up pridefully as he thought of how Vox would interminably thank him for flattering his oh-so fragile ego.
…
All of the sudden, Vox twitched, his antennas jumping as he slightly curled up. The deer started getting worried, thinking that something could’ve malfunctioned during his sleep because of what happened earlier. He intensely looked at him, trying to spot if anything was wrong. He had no knowledge of how these troublesome technologies get fixed or how to discern any problem.
“Wait…” Alastor muttered, before realizing and sighing with a chuckle : Vox was probably just cold! He stood up, looking for a blanket to keep him warm until he encountered another issue—he was unsure whether the blanket would warm him up too much. The whole point of this was to cool down his TV head wasn’t it? If he gets him a blanket, that would just ruin it… or maybe not? Maybe his body doesn’t affect his head, so he simply uses a lighter blanket. But that wouldn’t make sense! Does he usually sleep in a colder room than this one, and that’s why he’s uncomfortable? So maybe he just sleeps in a freezer. Is that why he’s blue? Maybe he sleeps naked—gross, he immediately brushed away this thought from his imagination.
“Hell if I care-!!” Alastor frowned, his face flushed in a bright red as he covered it with a hand. Why did he even think of that!? Why would he even be that worried about this stupid picture box!? Could it be… No way in hell! He wasn’t falling for him—like Rosie would accuse him of doing—was he? Let alone even getting attached to him! His chest was tightening again at the thought of these feelings.
The deer probably drank too much earlier, that’s why everything was messy in his head. He wasn’t feeling this way towards Vox, period. He’ll reevaluate all of this tomorrow, when he’ll be sober enough to realize how silly his overthinking was. Still flushed, Alastor grabbed his coat and gently placed it on the sleeping man to end his inner conflict.
.
.
.
After a few minutes or so of more staring either at Vox or at the ceiling, Alastor saw himself getting sleepy too. He yawned, groaning as his head started feeling more heavy. He took one last glance at his guest : he was peacefully sleeping, his screen giving off a soft blue light at very low brightness as he was softly smiling. Seeing him so calm and composed was a rare yet comforting sight. The radio demon grinned tenderly, and began getting his face closer to the picture box as he was sitting on his knees…
And then, a delicate kiss was pressed against Vox’s forehead.
As delicate as that kiss was, Alastor jolted, backing away rapidly, not only because he had the horrifying realization of what he had just done, but also because the crt was still warm on touch, catching him off guard.
“Did I just—” He grimaced, starting to blush as he looked back at what happened just there. Even Vox wouldn’t dare doing such a ridiculous thing, no matter how sappy he could get. He was definitely more than just a little tipsy—he was completely wasted! He’s going to overwhelm himself once again if he keeps thinking about this. He’ll keep in mind to never bring his annoying pal to his place ever again, it was definitely his static that was messing with his mind, or some mind control hypnosis stuff he put on him somehow…
The overlord will just sleep for now, and forget about this whole mess… His eyes got more and more heavy, so he slowly got up to sit on the other side of his couch. He yawned once again and placed his elbow on the couch arm, resting his head on his hand. The deer stole one last glance at Vox : this man surely made his evening a total mess. But he won’t lie to himself—it wasn’t a bad experience to have him over like this, even if he was knocked out the whole time. It wasn’t so terrible to spend time in private like this, and he’ll maybe ask to do it again someday.
Alastor smiled one last time at the picture box, feeling all dizzy and tired. He closed his eyes, letting himself fall asleep to the matching sounds of their static buzzing together in sync...
…
“Rest well, my spark.”