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It wasn’t easy being the backbone of the Vees, but for Lucifer’s sake, one of them had to do it. From the outside, people tended to assume that it was Vox, but Velvette knew better than anyone that her flat-faced darling could throw a temper tantrum worse than Valentino. And working with Valentino was like working with a toddler; at the best of times he was erratic, selfish and acted on his whims without taking a second to think about the consequences. At his worst… well, he and Velvette had had their fair share of massive blow-ups at each other. One time, after Valentino had spent her birthday with Angel Dust instead of her, Velvette had set his porn studio on fire – which distracted Val for long enough that he didn’t notice the fire she had set in his bedroom as well.
And so, it fell to her to keep the ship afloat, so to speak. Currently, she was balancing three separate projects that she was running at the same time. There was the new season’s runway collection; a singing competition that she was producing in collaboration with Vox; and of course, the ever-ongoing task that was maintaining the Vee’s perfect image on social media.
“Is this a joke?” She asked the designer who was currently presenting her a garment, her lips curling slightly with disgust.
“N-no Miss Velvette,” The designer quivered, making a meager attempt to hide herself behind the model wearing her piece.
“Really? Because I find it pretty fucking funny that you thought that I’d put that design anywhere near my runway. Are you taking the piss out of me? Out of the Vees?”
“Of course not Miss Velvette! I just thought-“
“No, your problem is that you didn’t think. This is the second outfit you’ve brought me, and you still can’t Get. It. Fucking. Right.”
“You said you wanted something more classic…” The designer’s voice came out in a small whimper.
“Yes, I said I wanted classic!” Velvette yelled, “Not this fucking shit! Where is the colour? The shape? The craftsmanship? I could fall asleep just looking at it.” She flipped her ponytail out of her face with frustration. “I’m going on a coffee break, and when I come back, I at least want a mock-up of a new garment. If you can’t even manage that, you’ll be lucky to be leaving this building with the hands that made this abomination, bitch.”
“P-please Miss Velvette, I need this job,”
Velvette cocked her head back towards the designer as she left the workshop. “If you need a job so badly, my good friend Valentino is always hiring. I’m sure even you could get a role in something.” She stalked off with a sharp grin, letting the door slam loudly behind her.
Velvette’s idea of a coffee break was making an intern go and grab three coffees for her so she could go and deliver them to her boys and make sure they weren’t fucking anything up too horrendously. It was always the same order – an iced macchiato for her, black coffee for Vox, and a sugary, strawberries and cream abomination for Valentino. They had a coffee shop within the headquarters, so it didn’t take the intern long to return with the three drinks, hanging them over to Velvette without daring to make eye contact.
The first of the trio Velvette decided to drop in on was Vox, who she found hunched over a laptop in his office furiously clacking on his keyboard.
“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” she asked, hopping up to sit on the table and placing the coffee at Vox’s side.
“Velvette you’re an absolute angel, you know that?” Vox stated matter-of-factly, immediately picking up the coffee cup and taking a big gulp.
“I do know, thank you darling,” She grinned, “Heaven would be lucky to have a bitch like me up there.”
“Lucky for me, you like it down here way too much to ever leave us,” Vox said, a slight grin playing at his lips.
“Naturally. Plus, you piss-babies would be hopeless without me here to look after you both.”
“Very true,” Vox agreed, taking another swig of his coffee, “Speaking of…”
Velvette rolled her eyes with faux annoyance, “What do you want from me now?”
“It’s the TV show,” Vox sighed, rubbing his hands over his face with frustration, “We have plenty of talented people ready to put on the show, but it’s killing the entertainment value. No one wants to see a bunch of talented people having a swell ol’ time on TV – I was thinking maybe we could kill the contestants when they get eliminated? Try and see if Carmine would be interested in some sort of brand deal with us?”
“Risky, Carmine doesn’t exactly love us,” Velvette mused, “How about we plant some of Valentino’s whores in the auditions? I’ve seen some of the shit he has them doing, doing an embarrassing audition for a TV show is nothing compared to that.”
Vox thought about it, a little buffering sign appearing between his brows as he mulled over the idea. “You know what, that could work,” He hummed.
“I’m on my way to go and check in with our pretty little pimp now, I’ll bring it up.”
“Velvette, you’re amazing my dear,” Vox sighed, standing up from his office chair to press a kiss to her forehead, “And while I have you… The new VoxDrone model isn’t selling as well as I’d like…”
Velvette sighed, hopping off the desk. “I’ll have the influencers I have under soul contract start pushing it – If you’re lucky I might even post something myself. Story though – not main feed.”
“You’re a lifesaver doll-face,” Vox called after her, and Velvette blew him a kiss before making her way down to the porn studios.
She heard Valentino before she saw him (and thank Lucifer he was nowhere near one of her models this time). The moth demon was often shouting about something or another at work, and normally Vox was the best bet to calm him down – more often than not Velvette did nothing but aggravate him further. But she was here now, and never one to back down from a challenge, she was going to do her damn best to calm Val down from whatever petty thing had him wound up this time.
“Hey bitches!” She called cheerfully as she entered the studio, a pungent scent of sex and smoke hitting her nose violently.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Valentino snarled, his heart-shaped glasses askew on his face as he swirled around to face her.
“I’m here to bring you coffee, prick. But if you don’t want it-“
“Give it here,” Val snapped, snatching his disgustingly sugary drink out of her hand and making an obnoxious slurping sound as he took a sip.
“So, what’s got you all worked up this time, piss-baby? Another whore turn down your advances?” She teased.
“Fuck off,” He spat, before gesturing wildly towards Angel Dust who was perched on the bed in a tight leather outfit, “He looks all wrong for this scene – and NO ONE HERE IS DOING THEIR JOBS AND FUCKING FIXING IT.”
The whole room seemed to flinch as Val raised his voice again. With a sigh, Velvette plucked the script out of Valentino’s hand and stalked over to where Angel Dust was sat, eyes flickering between the script and the leather-clad porn star on the bed. “Why the fuck have you put him in leather?” Velvette frowned at her partner.
“Because he looks so sexy in leather – he always looks sexy in leather, I don’t know why it’s not working this time,” Valentino pouted, emotions swinging wildly between angry pimp and pissy toddler.
“He should be in lace for this – pink lace, it’ll compliment his fur.”
“Lace?” Valentino seemed offended by the very notion, “No, lace is too innocent. And Angel Dust is not fucking innocent.”
All of the men in the room seemed to exchange a smirk at that and Velvette resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Lace will work for the scene,” She insisted, snapping her fingers at a random person in the room, “You- go up to my studio and get someone to grab the pink lace piece from my spring collection three years ago. If you get it wrong, I will fucking end you, ‘kay darling?”
With the threat of murder from Velvette, Angel Dust was quickly switched out of the black leather into delicate pink lingerie, all lace and ribbons and frills. Valentino narrowed his eyes behind his red-tinted heart glasses. “I still don’t know…”
“Just run the fucking scene, Val. It’ll work.”
“Alright, alright – FROM THE TOP!” He yelled, flopping back into his director’s chair like a stroppy child.
The scene began again from the top, Angel Dust and his co-star relaying corny dialogue which served only as a flimsy setup to get to the fucking. Admittedly though, Angel was a pretty good actor even when he was spouting porn lines. He had a way of making you fall in love with him, even when logically you know it’s not real. Velvette supposed that was why he was so popular – and why Valentino was so obsessed with him.
Angel Dust and his partner were a good way into fucking – Velvette’s poor lace garment tossed to the floor – when she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her from behind.
“Hey amorcita, I’m so sorry for yelling before,” Valentino purred into her ear, his accent thick as he lowered his voice. He got on her nerves like nothing else, but fuck he really could turn on the charm when he wanted to. “You know I just get so passionate about my art.”
Velvette made a noncommittal humming sound, resisting the urge to make a snide comment about him acting like a baby.
“You know, some of us are going out partying tonight. You should come with us baby, you never party with me anymore,” Val pouted, pressing a kiss to her jaw.
“You think I have time to party when I’m too busy sorting out you and Vox as well as my own shit?” She teased.
“You work too hard amorcita,” Val whined.
“Or maybe you don’t work hard enough,” She grinned, “Teasing, darling. But really, I owe you a night of partying. After the next runway we’ll plan some shit, yeah?”
“Okay, only because you promise,” Valentino relented, reluctantly letting go of her waist so that they could both get back to their jobs. Velvette kissed him once on each cheek before leaving the studio, Angel Dust’s moans becoming more and more muffled as she headed back up to the workshop. Her coffee break had turned more into a coffee help-everyone-else-with-their-jobs type of thing, but she didn’t mind. It was part of her job after all: designer, musician, influencer, and backbone of the Vees.
That night, after dragging Vox to bed to keep him from working through the night, and even later when Valentino stumbled in drunk, the three Vees found themselves curled up in Velvette’s bed together. They all had their own bedrooms, of course, but… Velvette had to admit that it was nice to share sometimes.
“Velvette~” Valentino slurred, “Thank you for saving my shoot today baby, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Velvette rolled her eyes (fondly, admittedly) as the moth demon gave her a clumsy kiss.
“As much as I hate to agree with a drunk Val, he’s right,” Vox smiled – a genuine smile, something that was rare for him to give to anyone other than his partners. Velvette treasured every one of those smiles like they were a gift. “I can’t imagine running VoxTech without having you there to help.”
“Oh, I can imagine it. You’d have crashed and burned a long time ago,” She taunted, earning her a poke to her side from Vox which made her yelp with ticklishness, squirming into Valentino’s side to avoid her other partner.
Val wrapped his arms around her gladly, laying his cheek atop her curly hair. “I love you Velvette,” He hummed earnestly.
“Gross,” Velvette shot back, nestling her face into Valentino’s chest.
“I love you too, you know,” Vox said, shuffling over and draping an arm gently over her waist, “I love you very much indeed.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re both so cringe.” And then, face burning bright red with embarrassment she mumbled, “I love you both too.”
They may be assholes, and they may be ever so slightly incompetent at their jobs, but Velvette loved her partners more than anything else in hell. And every night she was happy to fall asleep with them, ready to clean up whatever messes they ended up making the next day.