Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Vees were in the middle of their supposed biweekly internal meeting. They finally agreed to come together for one after continuously pushing it off for a later date.

Usually, they just barged into the other’s office/studio/dungeon to informally update them on news, but they had to somehow rope in their little workers this time.

“And that’ll be when we maximize our opportunities,” Vox said with a sly grin, using a laser pointer at the graph on the projector.

He continued his spiel and Valentino decided to take another puff of his cigarette. He blew the pink fumes into the faces of his two employees, Travis, and a cute little moth-like girl.

He ignored their uncomfortable coughs as the smoke dispersed, but he didn’t miss the way Vox’s words caught in his throat.

“Anyway, we of course will spit it and have an earning off 33.3% each…” Vox continued as if it was a simple hiccup.

Except, this wasn’t the first time today Vox stuttered with his speech. Usually, he’s flawless when it comes to his presentations, especially with how much time and effort he puts into making them organized and pretty.

But today, Vox stuttered, took many long pauses, and lost his train of thought to the point it was starting to become uncomfortable.

Valentino, high on his drugs, could picture himself standing up there and doing a better performance.

Seemed like Velvette had a similar thought. She was lounging on chair, body postured across the table as if she couldn’t care less, but her eyes held different emotions. There was worry and mild intrigue there, as if she wished to record his failings for her own personal record.

Vox tugged at his bowtie, speaking to no one in general, “Fuck, why is it so hot? No one better be messing with my thermostat.”

One of Vox’s assistants shyly spoke up. “Sir, we ensured it stayed within the range you prefer. No one—”

“Who told you to speak?” Vox barked back, turning sharply to the little eel demon, and flashing his hypnotic eye.

The assistant flinched and apologized profusely.

“Anyway, what was I saying? Fuck. Give me a moment.”

Valentino tried really hard paying attention to the meeting. He didn’t give a fuck about the boring Overlord meetings, but when it had to do with the Vees, he put in more effort.

Despite this, Valentino lost the plot for the last 30 minutes now.

He was high, but not that high. Vox was rambling. The presentation was a stunning 10/10. But this meeting should have been an email.

And physically, well, Valentino couldn’t believe his eyes. Vox was fidgety, eyes darting this way and that. He looked just like the way he did right before Valentino pushed him onto the bed to satisfy him on the rare days when he was willing to be dominated.

There was no way he was needy right now. Especially in front of the extras.

“And, um…” Vox faltered, buffering slightly with a glitch in his screen. “And yeah! That’s all for now.”

The projector turned off and their employees stood from their spots, with notes written down to share with the V personnel.

“That was certainly something, Vox,” Velvette said sarcastically. She flipped her long ponytail behind her shoulder, ignoring the loud smack as it hit her assistant square in the face. “Well, I’m going to get back and do some real work if you don’t mind.”

“I’m more than happy to take your share, Vel,” Vox said with a bit more electricity than he probably intended.

“Now don’t you get snappy at me,” Velvette said with a pointed jab to Vox’s chest. “I’m out of here.”

She put up her middle finger and walked out the door, her two assistants rushing after her.

Vox buffered again, having a delayed reaction to Velvette, but she was already out the door.

Instead, he yelled to his assistants with his hypnotic eye blaring,” Hey, go back and tell the others to update my spreadsheets. It better have the new finding from today.”

The two aquatic demons looked back at Vox confused, and then perked up and rushed out of the room.

With his bad eyesight and cloudy mind, Valentino almost thought Vox hypnosis didn’t work.

Valentino decided to stand up and slowly walk over to where Vox was standing.

“What was Velvette’s problem?” Vox asked when he sensed Valentino’s presence. “I made sure to highlight the good stuff she made this quarter.”

“That’s alright, Papi,” Valentino said with a smile. He looped his fingers into the waistband of Vox’s pants and pulled him towards him.

“Why don’t we take care of the real business at hand?”

Vox stumbled into Valentino, clawed hands pressing clumsily on Valentino’s chest.

“What—Val wait. I have wor-r-k to do,” he said with a glitch.

The moth demon used his other set of hands, one to tilt the corner of Vox’s screen upwards so he was looking up at him, and the other cupping his ass.

Vox seemed to relish the touches but then stiffened. There was a quick flash of color bars across his screen face, but it returned to a confused scowl. He pushed Valentino back harder, and his four arms slunk back.

“You had work to do last night,” Valentino pouts and crossed two of his arms. “And the night before, and the night before that. I miss you and… your little friend.”

Valentino eyes lowered from Vox’s eyes to his crotch.

“That BIG friend to you!” Vox said with a laugh. “But that’s not the point. Val, I’m busy.”

“When will you be on your break?”

Valentino’s two workers stood awkwardly by the door. Travis was itching to get back to shooting, and the moth demon made quick glances at her boss and his friend.

“Just give me a couple more days,” Vox said as if that sounded sane. “I crunched the numbers, and I’ll get to our fourth quarter deadline if I follow that schedule.”

Valentino frowned and looked down at the tv demon. He was shaking slightly; could it be from rage? His posture was stiff and uncomfortable.

“You work too much.”

“You don’t work enough!” Vox shouted; his voice full of static but having no energy behind it. “Ever think that maybe I’m working overtime to even things out?”

“All I need to do is call Angel Dust for one shoot, and I’ll be—”

Vox shook and emitted small sparks of electricity. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m leaving.”

He stood there for a few seconds with his eyes closed. Valentino stared.

Vox opened his eyes slowly. He opened his palm and looked down at it. Valentino continued to stare.

Without another word, Vox grumbled and walked out of the meeting room. Valentino didn’t miss the way he almost tripped out the door.

***

Vox cursed all the way down to his office. He couldn’t believe he was unable to teleport through the wires. Now he had to do the awkward walk of shame.

He ignored the systems update required message many times during the meeting. Vox couldn’t afford to do an update. It required time—time he didn’t have now.

These past few weeks he’s been grinding through work. He’s been gathering all the data, scoping through all of Pride, and developing more technology to launch.

He didn’t want to admit that for all of this to work within this timeframe he’s been cutting corners. He bypassed protocols and waivers, testing new tech patches on himself and not the ones whose souls he owns, just to save time.

Some didn’t work at all. And some flat out just failed—and he hated how that made his body feel. That on top of connecting to the mainframe and keeping up public appearances made his body worse for wear.

His head was screaming at him. His fans were constantly on, trying to cool his overheated body. He felt shaky and his mind was all over the place.

Vox ignored his aching body when he got a message that he was on low power and dismissed it quickly. He was almost to his office where he could plug in.

Unlucky for him he didn’t check the percentage.

Right when he stepped out the elevator to the VoxTek floor, his power drained. His legs became jelly and he crashed to the floor.

His head banged the tile floor, and he heard a crack. But before he could do anything about it he powered off, and he was out like a light.

Chapter Text

Two VoxTek employees were finishing up with their lunch break when they noticed their phones disconnected from their data.

They were tasked with ensuring the cellular network provided a constant 5G service for all of Pride’s customers. Mr. Vox would surely be on their tails if he found out.

They rushed out of the cafeteria into the main hall to quickly hurry to the circuit room to fix the problem.

The smaller employee, a shark-like creature, was in the lead but quickly tripped over something on the floor.

“What is it, Caspian?” The taller manta-ray employee spat out before looking down in horror.

To their utter shock they saw Mr. Vox sprawled face down on the floor.

Caspian quickly looked around the empty hall; everyone was already back in their stations because they knew better than to be dawdling around. Mr. Vox was very clear when it came to taking breaks. He was able to use his many surveillance cameras to keep track of who was on break, where they were on break, and when they began and ended their break.

Once he realized this wasn’t a prank or a test—which the older employees regularly did when he first sold his soul to work for VoxTek—he crouched down and tapped Vox’s shoulder.

“Sir?” He asked quietly, unable to keep the fear from his voice.

All of Vox’s employees knew from day one not to linger in Vox’s presence unless it was discussed upon beforehand. Caspian was taking a risk because even though he was just a grunt in the system, they all knew Vox had a preference and slight soft spot for sharks.

As soon as Caspian placed a scaly finger on Vox’s pristine jacket, Vox whole body spasmed, and a wave of electricity and static wrung out from him.

Caspian jumped back and hid behind the manta ray demon, fearing for his life. But then Vox went still. And they stood there in silence.

Caspian broke the peace after looking down at his phone as well as scanning the cameras in each corner of the hall. He noticed only the cameras were powered down.

Since Vox essentially powered this whole building, he put two and two together.

“We got to help him get to his office,” Caspian said with determination but also apprehension laced in his voice. “Something’s wrong with Mr. Vox.”

The taller demon was hesitant but knew if Vox found out his employees slacked off during a crisis, their souls would be demolished for good.

They each quickly grabbed Vox’s arms and supported him upwards. He towered over them, so his feet dragged along the floor. Glass pieces fell from his face. They struggled to keep their balance, since the dead weight of Vox’s head kept trying to propel them forward.

“He’s been cracked,” Caspian said in shock. And with that they quickly rushed down the hall to his office.

***

Velvette was getting ready to save her latest concept art file for her new fashion line when her network connection cut out. In the short time after Vox’s useless meeting, she was able to brainstorm and sketch out new outfits the denizens would be dying to buy next season.

The one time she decided to use her tablet instead of a pencil and paper, the data decided to say fuck you.

Sometimes Vox did his little updates to improve the network, and that meant it had to be powered down for a short while. He was attempting to expand from 5g to 6g, even though 5g just rolled out.

Sighing, Velvette kept the tablet open and unsaved, but decided to work on another of her many tasks at hand. She went to work cutting fabric, taking down measurements of her newest models, and snapping pictures of the work in progress.

After a good chunk of development, Velvette returned to her tablet to see if she could save her work now. To her complete and utter disgust, she still had no data. And even the building’s WIFI was down. Whatever project Vox needed to do was not more important that hers.

Realizing she couldn’t even call him to yell about it, she told her assistants to keep cutting and sorting fabric while she went to deal with business.

Right when she stepped out the door she collided with long limbs and the sweet smell of smoke. She looked up and saw Valentino straightening his heart shaped glasses.

“What is it Valentino?” Velvette snapped, still reeling from the way his many elbows socked her in the jaw.

Valentino frowned. “I was in the middle of a livestream. I had my top whores all in position for a client willing to pay a hefty sum. Everyone in my dungeon was so into it you had to be there. The scripts were immaculate, the costumes were to die for…”

“Valentino! The point, please?” Velvette rubbed her forehead.

“Oh,” Valentino chuckled, then turned furious. “It took everything to tear my eyes away from the scene. I bet you can picture the way my heart stopped when I saw my client’s frozen face staring into my soul.”

Leave it to Valentino to waste time explaining his story when he could just say—

“So, your connection cut out too?” Velvette asked.

The tall moth nodded near tears. “I tried to call Vox, but it wouldn’t go through.”

“Usually, he warns us about these updates,” Velvette says with a sigh. “He even mentioned in his silly presentation that we all have to push it to get to Q4’s deadlines.”

Valentino folded his arms. “Oh, he’ll definitely be hearing about how much money I just lost due to his little stunt.”

“Come on,” Velvette said, grabbing hold of one of Valentino’s arms and pulling him away from her studio. “Let’s go give him a piece of our mind.”

The walk to the VoxTek floor was excruciating for Velvette because she couldn’t get on her phone and check out the latest trends. She was forced against her will to be present. She was surely going to give Vox a piece of her mind.

She looked over to Valentino on the walk to Vox’s office. He was strangely calm. It seemed like he cooled off from his little meltdown.

As they were getting ready to barge through the door to Vox’s office, Velvette could hear whispering on the other side. It was more than one person, and it sounded panicked.

Valentino stiffened beside her, indicating that he probably heard it too. Usually, no one ever enters Vox’s office other than the Vees. Who could he be talking to?

Before she could even react, Valentino tore open the door and essentially flew inside. Velvette was right behind him ready to call Vox out.

Staring back at her and Valentino wide eyes and shaking as if a demonic ghost was present, were two of Vox’s underlings. They were crouching down facing the wall, and had their heads turned back to face the now open door.

Due to being dazed seeing a couple of nobodies, Velvette almost missed the unmistakable electric blue claws hiding behind the shark-like VoxTek employee.

Vox was sitting against the wall, head down, and not reacting at all to this commotion.

“What is the meaning of this?” Velvette asked with disgust. She didn’t know what to make of this.

“M…Ms. Velvette…M…M…Mr. Valentino…please let us explain,” the shark demon babbled.

“Oh, you better explain,” Valentino said with a gruff voice. He stepped forward, flapping out his wings. His long tongue slithered out, dripping with pink salvia. “And make it quick.” In the dimmed office with only a few of Vox’s monitors and the glowing shark bits illuminating the space with white, blue, and red, Valentino looked intimidating with his piercing, glowing, red eyes.

The two VoxTek employees shuffled about, so they were essentially bowing towards Valentino. Velvette’s frown deepened when she saw Vox continue to sit slumped against the wall.

“We were on our lunch break when we noticed both the 5g and the WIFI went out,” the manta ray demon said with a gulp.

“We saw Mr. Vox by the elevator, and he was unresponsive…mostly,” the shark demon added. “All the cameras on this floor are down too.”

“Mostly?” Velvette cut in. “What do you mean by that?”

The shark demon tore his beady eyes away from Valentino to look at Velvette. And she didn’t look any less scary. Despite her height, her glare could cut even the scariest sinners down. She would know. She was constantly putting Vox and Valentino in their place.

“Well, he sparked and emitted some static but that was it.” He reached out his closed palm and opened his hand to reveal glass pieces. “And his screen cracked.”

Velvette pulled the shark demon up to his feet and swiped all the pieces in his hand. She came up right to his face.

“And not a peep will come out of you about this little incident, do you hear me?”

No one, absolutely no one other than the Vees and their closest assistants saw weakness from the Vees. No cracked screens, no panic attacks, no injuries, no overdoses, no nothing. Velvette considered killing them on the spot to make things easier for them.

“No one was in the area, ma’am,” the manta ray demon spoke up, as if she was able to read Velvette’s mind. “Not even the cameras picked up on it due to Mr. Vox himself controlling them.”

The shark demon nodded, having the audacity of building more confidence with the way things were going.

“We could have left him there. But our souls are bound to him. We eat, sleep, and breathe VoxTek. We swear on our souls not to spill.”

Velvette looked back to Valentino who actually seemed to be considering their useless words. “Val!” she yelled out.

“We have pressing matters to deal with,” he said simply, eyes landing gently on Vox’s still form. “We can deal with them later.”

With that, the two demons were kicked out of the room, fates uncertain. Valentino flicked on the lights and cursed when he was momentarily blinded by the bright fluorescents. Now he understood why Vox never used those fucking lights. He should have them removed at this point.

The sharks swimming around Vox’s office walls were restless from the light and the unexpected visitors. How Vox could focus with these death traps swimming about with their glowing eyes and skin Velvette would never understand.

Velvette and Valentino were both by Vox’s side at the same time. She looked over to the moth demon, unsure of what to do.

Valentino took charge and carefully lifted Vox’s screen upward, to get a glimpse of his face.

They were met with a black screen, and a cracked one at that, and Velvette wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Those little lackeys said he was cracked and cracked he was. Luckily, it was only a small section in the corner.

Usually, a simple slap to the face or shaking him this was and that would rouse him from a KO. But after a while of trying, Velvette concluded that he was literally powered off.

“All this because he didn’t charge up the night before? Val, I told you, whenever you charge your phone at night, remind yourself to make sure Vox is plugged in too.”

Valentino had his clawed hands on Vox’s shoulder, rubbing circles with his thumb. If this wasn’t a serious situation Velvette would make a comment about it to mess with him.

“He decided to not sleep with me like at all this week.” The sulking tone was so clear in his voice. “Work over my sexiness can you BELIEVE?”

“Yeah, what’s up with him, actually?” Velvette agreed. “He was acting super weird today. Weirder than his normal weird. It was cringe.”

The moth demon decided enough was enough, and swiftly picked Vox up like he weighed nothing.

“Let’s plug him in so he can explain himself.”

Valentino walked along the thin platform to where all Vox’s hardware sat in his floating office. Leave it to Vox to have such a dramatic office set up to give himself a power trip every time.

Vox was set down carefully in his chair while Velvette looked for his charging cable.

Velvette remembered the first time she had to help Vox out when he unexpectedly shut off. Valentino wasn’t there to help her so she picked the first cable she could find. She somehow managed to separate his stream of consciousness from his main body and trapped him away in a scrapped TV monitor that was on its way to the junkyard. She had to ask for Vox’s tech support team to assistant—it was so humiliating.

That never happened again. Although he was hesitant about it at first, he decided to school Velvette on all his tech needs in case of an emergency. That was one of the moments that made the Vees even closer. They each told one another their weaknesses. They were a team, and that meant they had each other’s backs.

Velvette plugged the thin black cord to the back of Vox’s head and sighed in relief when the power charging symbol lit up on Vox’s cracked screen.

When he wouldn’t rouse on his own for a while, Velvette decided to press the power button on the side panel of his face. Vox warned her years ago that one: it hurt like shit to be forced into alertness. And two: it was essential when maybe his systems were too weak to awaken on his own.

“Vel,” Valentino said after another bout of silence. “He’s not waking up.”

Velvette’s blood ran cold. Vox, of course, warned her that this could happen. If the forced power on doesn’t work, that means to wait for him to be fully charged and try again. And he was currently on…one percent.

Biting her lip in frustration, Velvette sat back on her knees, looking up at Vox’s powered off screen. The cracks, due to them being small, would heal over time on their own.

She couldn’t help but worry though. What on earth could possibly be going on with Vox? They didn’t have time for this. He had an important meeting tomorrow that could bring about a great business deal for the Vees.

This problem is a little more dire than the WIFI being cut off.

Chapter Text

Valentino lost track of time throughout the night. He soothed his nerves by smoking his cigarettes and watching the ashes fall slowly to the cold floor. If Vox was awake, he’d yell at him about messing up his floor.

Even if she never admitted it, Valentino knew Velvette was worried herself. She couldn’t hide the panic in her voice quick enough.

And the other obvious fact was that they BOTH stayed in Vox’s office throughout the night, checking the charge constantly.

If they wanted to leave, they could have. He should have been good from this point forward, so they didn’t need to babysit.

But the room seemed colder than usual. Darker and lonelier, despite the multiple shark eyes and bright monitor lights.

And Vox was… so quiet, sitting slumped on his chair without even stirring.

Valentino cursed his mind into silence with a squeak. He didn’t know why his brain was being even more dramatic than it already was. Vox was always a still and quiet sleeper compared to Valentino. But usually there was subtle static sounds to indicate some sort of life within that cold machine head.

Of the many times Valentino made his way into Vox’s bed, or vice versa, he noticed the TV demon being light sleeper. Vox was always on “go” mode, mind racing with new business plans, tech inventions, and ways to capitalize on the consumer market. 

It wasn’t even like Valentino tried to sneak up on Vox at night, but he had to admit it got weirdly tiring seeing Vox’s screensaver shut off and his face resurface. Instead, he’d feel Vox’s questioning eyes follow him as he got comfortably in bed. Sometimes Valentino just wanted to sleep, and no favors were needed.

Satan, what even was their relationship? Valentino HATED sitting around doing nothing because that allowed his mind to wander.   

He had Vox’s still hand in his own hand, fiddling with the glowing claws. For once, he didn’t even have any dirty thoughts of what those fingers could do to him on a good day. All he wanted was for them to curl against his in embrace.

Shuffling was heard at the foot of Vox’s chair. Velvette was awake.

“What percent is V at?” she asked with a yawn.

At some point in the night, she went down to her room to pick up two blankets and pillows for her and Valentino. Vox had a nice comfortable chair, why should they suffer on the floor?

Valentino peered over to the right side of Vox’s screen where there was a green charging battery icon.

“Forty seven percent,” Valentino replied.

“He charges slower than my tablet, what the fuck?” Velvette cursed. “Not even halfway there when it’s been like four hours?”

“At least he’s charging.”

Velvette stilled at that, and Valentino barely caught it through the dark pink haze that engulfed the section of the room.

“Val,” she started, “is that…optimism I’m hearing from you?”

“I might still be high, Vel,” Valentino dismissed with a chuckle.

“You’re always high.” Velvette sat up straighter and bore into Valentino’s eyes.

Her thick ponytail got messed up throughout the night, as well as her clothes getting wrinkled from staying on the floor. Valentino knew he fared no better.

“You’re in here far more than me, Val,” Velvette continued to pry. “You know he shouldn’t take this long to charge. He literally sells chargers with the promise of speed and efficiency.”

“Yeah, well usually he doesn’t get to zero percent,” Valentino said back. “He gets low, but to die is completely different. And he didn’t even seem to notice his low power during the meeting.”

Velvette laughed but there was no humor in her voice. “He didn’t notice, but WE sure did. He looked like a mess, and you know it.”

On a good day, Valentino would agree, laugh, and probably say ‘but he’s OUR mess.’ But for some reason there was irritation that held him back. Not necessarily at Velvette for making that comment, nor at Vox for causing this. Okay maybe just a tiny bit but not really. Surely there was no reason for his feelings, so he pushed it away.

“Yeah well, you can head out if it’s getting too much,” Valentino said after an unreasonably long pause.

“Ew Val, I just wanted to vent. Don’t be weird.”

With that she pulled the covers up to her chin and turned her head away. She went on her phone and started fiddling around on it. What app could she be on that didn’t need data? Valentino would have loved to know.

***

“Vince. Vince wake up!”

Vox opened his eyes to an annoyed woman glaring at him. They were both sitting at a dinner table. There were all sorts of food: meatloaf, dinner rolls, salad, a fruit platter, and… was that a chiffon cake?

Vox looked down at the food and then back up at the lady. She called him… Vince?

A piercing headache slammed through him that literally knocked him off the chair. His hands went straight to his temples. He felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head.

“Honey! Goodness, Vince are you alright?”

The woman was at his side in an instant, sitting him up and fussing with him. She was prying his eyes open, massaging his head, it was all too much.

“Geez, Barbara, give me a break.” Vox shoved her off him and tried to calm his breathing.

Wait, he called this woman Barbara. Oh right, that was his wife.

And Vince? Well Vince was his name.

“Are you all right?” Barbara asked with a frown. All the worry got washed away from her after Vince shoved her. “Did you take your pills?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Vince said after the throbbing started dying down. It didn’t disappear but it was manageable.

He got up from the floor and sat back on his chair. He stared at his porcelain plate, unmoving even when Barbara slowly picked herself up from the floor and walked back to her spot on the table. He ignored the way she was massaging her arm, the arm he pushed.

“Would you look at me…Vince?” she asked with a quiet voice.

Vince rolled his eyes. After rubbing under his nose, he looked up to the sad woman. Her eyes were full of exhaustion, brown hair was frizzy and unsightly, and clothes had stains from cooking.

It made Vince annoyed.

“They’re getting worse, dear,” Barbara said scared. “The Ergomar tablets haven’t been helping for a while and you know it.”

“Are you of all people really lecturing me right now?” Vince said with a sneer.   

Barbara’s eyes widened in fear, but she pressed on.

“You know the school children are curious. They keep asking why I’m patched up. And these headaches…the pain makes you lose yourself. They’re accidents but—”

“But what?” Vince asked. He knew as a teacher Barbara had a lot of pressure with teaching the new generation post war. It was an emotional job for her because they never had kids of their own. They tried but it didn’t work. Vince got tired of trying and found it easier blaming her.

Vince cut her off because he knew the game she was trying to play. She wanted to guilt him. If she just stayed back and didn’t crowd over him and his personal space, she wouldn’t have gotten in her many unfortunate situations.

She was a teacher. She could baby the children for all he cared but babying him was unacceptable. What would it do for his reputation as not only a man, but as a successful pitchman if it got out that his wife of all people acted as his nurse behind the camera?

She had kids looking at her every day. How did that compare to the thousands of home shoppers watching his infomercials and buying his products every single day? It simply did not compare.  

Barbara was silent for far too long, so Vince decided to serve himself some food. He didn’t skimp on the portions. He knew Barbara was amazing in the kitchen.

He was sipping water when he heard a sniffling sound. He looked up and found Barbara quickly swiping at her eyes.

“Crying?” Vince asked, and he was so tired. Tired of having to deal with these migraines, tired of having to deal with Barbara’s emotions, and tired of pretending to care about this marriage.

He thought he knew what falling in love meant when he met Barbara those many years ago. But the cute, little quirks that made her unique, made her annoying now. Vince was sure the same could be said about him. But he was over fifty now. He had a really successful career despite not having a loving wife or kids to share it with.

The war ended years ago. Why Barbara was still working when he pulled more than enough for the both of them…well it was obvious that there was no trust there.

Due to him being in the public eye, that made him and his personal affairs easy targets to be scrutinized.  

And Barbara really wanted to bring her students to the discussion…

“Why are you crying?” Vince asked. He pushed away the pain in his head and heart. What he felt didn’t matter.

“I just want you to get help,” Barbara said simply.

“Okay,” Vince started, “Now why are you really crying?”

Barbara looked back at Vince from across the dining room table. The sun had fully set at this point and warm light from the lamp lit the space. There was a flowery candle lit in the living room, and its sweet scent mixed with the food.

With no harsh light to showcase her age, Barbara looked just as she did when she was twenty. She had the same messy hair, which Vince found endearing. She was a klutz, so there was dirt on her sweater from brushing against a tree.

On a better day, Vince would have been able to find love in his cold, suppressed heart.

Vince wondered what Barbara saw when she stared back at him with glassy eyes. Did she imagine him when he was younger, and gentler, and kinder? Did she regret it?

She never did answer Vince’s question.

***

Before Vox woke up, he had to manually override the systems update notification as well as dismissing all the warning report logs.

He got a calendar ping saying that he had a meeting with this up-and-coming music overlord. Vox vaguely remembered that the overlord already did a collaboration with Velvette to gain a following on social media. Now he wanted to take it to the big screen with Vox, so he decided to hear him out if they could make a good deal.

Vox hated to admit that he was a little shaken up about his dream, or he should call it a nightmare. His death should have taken the number one spot for “horrors that plague him”, but this one took it. It was the beginning of the end. His mental sanity, relationship, and job all went on the decline.

Ignoring things that didn’t benefit him was one of his strengths, so he knew he’d forget all about this in no time.

He checked his percentage and saw he was at 67% and charging. Then he remembered he literally passed out as soon as he stepped out of the elevator. He never made it.

His eyes shot open, and he jumped out of the chair, charger tugging at the back of his screen head.

Vox was in his office. Some of his monitors were in sleep mode, but his shock jolted a few of them on since he was still plugged in.

He felt something was holding onto his hand a second too late because it let go. Valentino was sitting beside him, eyes closed, and Velvette’s blanket messily thrown on him. He watched in slow motion as Valentino’s arm fell onto his lap, which made the pimp open his eyes in confusion.

They both stared at each other dazed.

“VOOOOX?” Valentino screamed.

Vox jumped and someone yelled out by his foot.

“Ow! You’re stepping on my hair!”

Vox turned to look at Velvette ungracefully sprawled at the foot of his chair. The blankets were thrown off her as she poked Vox to get off her strands.

“Uh,” Vox said with a nervous chuckle. “What’s going on here, guys?”

“Don’t you even start with me!” Velvette bolted upwards like a spring. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“What exactly am I explaining?” Vox asked incredulously. He pulled out his phone and started mindlessly scrolling.

Velvette gasped so he turned back to her. She pulled out her phone and notifications started blowing it up. She quickly switched it to silent mode.

“The network was down, genius,” Velvette said. “Whole building had no WIFI either. Even your cameras were off.”

Vox raised an eyebrow and turned to his monitors. He swiped a hand and video feeds stared showing up on the screens.

“Looks good to me,” Vox really had the audacity to say with a straight face.

“Voxy,” Valentino butted in. “Now that you’re awake everything is back online.”

“Satan,” Velvette cursed. “Don’t baby him, Val. Look at the screens and tell me what you see.”

Vox frowned but listened. One video feed showed some VoxTek employees clearly jumping for joy in the control panel room. It looked like they haven’t slept a wink trying to troubleshoot the problem. In Valentino’s studio there were many performers who were just lounging around that started picking up their phones in relief.

Vox could have said it was all just a coincidence if he didn’t have audio connected as well.

“My WIFI connected guys!”

“We should finally save Ms. Velvette’s work!”

“Travis, go ahead and call that client to reschedule so I can let Valentino know!”

“Do you think this has something to do with Mr. Vox?”

That last one was a new hire Vox attained. He cut off the video feeds and sighed, not really wanting to turn around to face the Vees.

“All night Vox.” Velvette said. “We were here all night. Work had to be put on hold. Remember our Q4 deadlines?”

The thing is, he really didn’t know why that got cut out when he powered off. Usually it was simply the power, and that was when he was plugged in or near the device. Network was usually harder to disrupt.

Vox cleared his throat, trying to get a handle on the situation. “My dear, don’t you worry about missing deadlines. This little slip up won’t affect our goal. I planned for us to have some breathing room.”

Velvette was shaking her head in dismay. Valentino was silent but narrowing his eyes at Vox.

He took in both their messy appearances. Did they really stay in his office until he woke up? Did he fuck up their plans that much for them to be concerned?

“Why did it take you so long to charge?” Valentino asked, wasting no time. “We couldn’t even manually power you on.”

Vox silently thanked the seven rings of hell that it didn’t work. He didn’t want to have to deal with a lasting headache. As for his charge, he didn’t know for sure. Maybe it was the charger, but most likely it was him. He’d have to do diagnostics to figure it out. But he didn’t have time.

Or maybe he wasn’t ready to deal with what he’d find. He pushed away the memories he had when he was human and turned back to his partners.

“Maybe a faulty cord.” Vox said it as a statement. He kept his voice level with no hint of uncertainty. “I’ll have to get that checked.”

“So, you’re good?” Velvette asked.

“I’m feeling great!”

“All you needed was a charge? We stayed in your room watching you around the clock and that was the only issue?”

“No one asked you to baby me,” Vox said with more frustration than he wanted. He immediately felt shame when Velvette shrunk back at his words. “I’m fine now so, thank you…I guess.”

Velvette looked to Valentino, as if begging for backup. What could Valentino possibly add to this discussion? There was nothing else for Vox to say.

“Are you okay?” he simply asked.

Why are you crying?

“I truly am,” Vox replied with a tight expression.

“You seemed off yesterday though.”

Now why are you really crying?

“Please…don’t accuse me.” Vox said it with a chuckle, adding a smile to seem less annoyed. He knew he messed up with Velvette.

Fresh memories still on the surface of his mind threatened to spill out. He thought he ran from his past.

“I have a meeting this morning,” Vox continued. He glanced at the time on one of his monitors. “That music overlord wannabe. I should prepare for that.”

“I guess I’ll go back to the work that was left on hold yesterday,” Velvette said.

“That’d be great. You’re doing great work, Vel.”

“And everything will be like nothing ever happened—”

“—Vel.” Valentino looked to her in warning.

“—Because time only runs when you allow it to.”

That one stung; Vox gave her that one. He knew he deserved it. Keeping his mouth shut was the smartest thing to do in this scenario so that’s what he did. Velvette bundled up her blankets and pillows and walked out of the office. Vox’s sharks watched her leave.

He once again pissed Velvette off. Yesterday after the meeting his mind was hazy, but there was no excuse today. He’d try to appease her by sending her some money once she cooled off. A shopping spree with his credit card was his go-to apology and did wonders to her mental health.

Valentino lingered when all was said and done.

Vox sat in his chair and turned to face the monitors, indicating that he was busy and wanted to prepare for the upcoming meeting.

Silence followed and Valentino still didn’t leave. Vox began working. He opened some files on the music overlord and searched the internet for weaknesses. He glitched a few times, but Vox dismissed them for nerves. Vox rarely cared when Valentino did Satan knew what in his presence while he worked, but today was different.

He felt better than yesterday but he still felt off. Could Valentino sense that? Did he want to poke and prod at Vox like that blasted woman did?

Half his mind was combing through search results, while the other nagged to him about Val.

He unconsciously ran a hand across the corner of his screen and felt bump lines indicating healing cracks. Did that happen when he passed out?

When the majority of his sharks swam away from his peripheral vision, he turned back and saw just the tail end of Valentino’s cape wings flutter out the door.

Vox made eye contact with one of his sharks, a large hammerhead that was one of the older sharks he purchased.

He could have sworn it was sneering at him.

Chapter Text

Vox got lost in his work, taking extensive research of the new overlord, and organizing all of his findings. The fact that he worked with Velvette previously, made it even easier to compile all his documents and files quickly so he could move on to the next.

He probably should have just asked Velvette for a rundown of what they accomplished together, but she was currently pissed at him, so stalking online was better. He vaguely remembered her saying she brought up his follower count by a lot due to recreating a meme online and posting it on VoxTok.

He could’ve sworn he heard something in the back of his mind, but he knew sometimes his sharks liked tapping the glass, so he ignored it.

There was about an hour and thirty minutes until he had to leave for his meeting. Vox needed to change his outfit since it was the same one he worn yesterday, and also had to drink coffee.

All at once his senses were overwhelmed and he felt someone invading his personal space. Vox saw a shadow creeping up behind him and quickly swiveled his chair to see the intruder.

When his eyes caught his shaky assistant standing before him, Vox finally relaxed.

“Elliot, what’s this about?”

The eel demon looked at him with a hint of fear, but strangely also concern. “Sir, I tried knocking for a while, but to no avail. I let myself in…sorry.”

He knew he heard something earlier…but it didn’t register to him as knocking. As if mocking him, an internal popup labeled audio processing troubleshooting came up. He was so used to dismissing these popups he got rid of it before fully processing what it said.

“…prepare the car for you.” Elliot looked at Vox expectedly.

Vox cocked his head at Elliot’s wide expecting eyes. “Wait, can you repeat that?”

He watched as his assistant gripped his clipboard tighter.

“I said, your upcoming meeting is in forty-five minutes. With how traffic is downtown, it’s better if you left in twenty. I can prepare the car for you.”

“That can’t be right,” Vox said more to himself than his assistant. He looked to the clock and saw he lost track of time. How did it pass him by so quickly?

“Sir?”

“Prepare the car,” Vox confirmed. “Also, make sure there is a dead eye coffee ready for me in the lounge.”

“Would you like breakfast too?”

“Did I ask for breakfast?”

“No sir,” Elliot said looking down at his shoes. “I’ll be leaving now.”

Vox was alone once again. He put all his monitors into sleep mode before hesitating a bit. He kept two monitors on and tapped into the video feeds. One in Valentino’s studio and the other in Velvette’s.

Valentino was sitting in his wing chair, Travis right beside him with a script.

All seemed to be normal until Valentino stood up and walked towards the set.

“Angel Dust, baby, I need you to try a little harder than that,” Valentino said with a buttery voice. “Let me help you—”

Vox shut off the monitor and looked to where Velvette was. He ignored the burning in his heart and the way a gentle throbbing was slowly building at the back of his head. Usually, he’d continue watching just to see how weird Val could take these sessions. Other times, if he didn’t want to wait, he’d just teleport through the screen and somehow convince Val not to waste time with the porn star. Today, though, he wanted none of that.

Valentino was making them a lot of money with Angel Dust. And it was purely transactional…their relationship, at least at this point. Vox really didn’t want to think about how similar Val sounded speaking to Angel when he spoke to him behind closed doors.   

He looked to the screen at Velvette, her assistant, and her models sitting at a round table with a bunch of fabric. Velvette was pointing at each piece while her assistant took notes on a clipboard.

It looked like both Velvette and Valentino were doing great work, so Vox let out a sigh of relief. He could do his meeting without any worry.

He left his office to go freshen up in his room.

As he was walking to the lounge, he came across a lot of his employees. Vox was hyperaware of the way they did double takes of him as he passed, and the silence of the room as he went.

He made it to the floor where the Vee lounge was, and it was a separate floor from any of the Vees’ businesses. Right there on the counter was a mug of coffee with three perfect shots of expresso.

As he was sipping his coffee, his eyes wandered to the top cabinets. In the lobby they stocked alcohol, party drugs, and some of Velvette’s potions. The ones they mass produced for bars and clubs were in the basement warehouse. Velvette and Valentino came up with a potion that simply calms the mind and body for them to take as they needed.

Vox opened the cabinet, took a small bottle, and poured it into his coffee. He watched the milky pink substance swirl into the dark brown liquid, and then like magic, disappear.

He was glad he asked for a triple shot of expresso. This potion tended to be on the sweeter side, and he always had to dilute it.

“Your ride is ready,” Elliot said in the hall behind him.

Vox heard him approaching this time around. He went over a few tasks to be completed while he was away, dismissed him, and then downed his spiked coffee quickly. Vox already felt his budding headache fading away.

Satisfied he could feel electricity building up quite nicely within him, he teleported out of the Vee tower through the surveillance camera in the corner of the lounge.

A sleek black car was waiting for him by the front entrance of the tower, but there was also a crowd of demons standing to the side.

Seeing him appear out of thin air, an imp demon screamed and pointed at him.

“There he is!” she said with adoration clear in her voice.

The denizens swarmed him, and he barely had time to straighten his bowtie and plaster on his business-like smile.

A news reporter intern from 666 news shoved a microphone into his face and asked, “It’s been a few weeks since the extermination was called off. What’s the status on angelic security for the next wave?”

He knew there was no new development on angelic security. After Velvette’s little stunt at the latest Overlord meeting, Carmilla was not as enthused to work with him on that project as compared to when he pitched it to her the first time. And then she had the audacity to instead give up her weapons to help the Princess of Hell and her rag tag group from the hotel.

Despite that fact, he had his quick little speech memorized at this point. It was so easy manipulating the masses, giving them crumbs of hope embedded with the lies. Keep them waiting but having no clear-cut deadline was his go-to approach.

But as Vox opened his mouth to speak, he felt the temperature rise around him, and there was no thermostat to blame this time around. His usually calm heartrate in front of a suspecting crowd sped up to an almost unnatural rate. Vox cursed this fact. How could something as full of life as a beating heart still be required down in Hell?

“I…uh…” Vox wished he kept his mouth shut to at least pull himself together first, but static was building up within him to the point of being lightheaded.

“This is just like that time he went at it with the Radio Demon,” he heard a quiet voice say in the crowd. Or was his audio processing it at a lower volume for some reason?

“Are you talking about the Please Stand By color bars?” Another demon asked. “Because it’s much different this time around. He completely lost it back then.”

Humiliation and anger flashed through Vox, and it took a lot for him to not lose it once again. How dare they bring up Alastor right at his doorstep. If it was to make fun of the deer—especially after that embarrassing display during the latest extermination—he’d clap along. This…this was not needed or wanted. Even though it’d been weeks, maybe it was still a good idea to release that video for the masses to see. They’d see who’d lose it this time around.

Vox forced his face back on screen, and saw the demons look up at him curiously.

Snatching up the microphone from the poor intern, he spoke while allowing his left eye to swirl with power.

“You will all be pleased to know that development for Angelic Security is running smoothly. Trust us with your safety. Know that you will be protected with state-of-the-art technology the next time angels come knocking on your doorstep.”

Exerting himself more than he wanted too, he watched, finally, as every sinner’s eyes swirled with his hypnotism. They were wide-eyed and open-mouthed, just like they should be. 

He did one last cocky smirk down at the demons and walked to his car.

“It’s a twenty-minute ride,” Vox said bored to the driver. “Get us there in ten. I’m late.”

***

Twelve minutes later with a couple sinners, imps, and hellhounds injured from being run over, Vox made it to his meeting spot.

The wannabe overlord chose to meet at a concert venue, which Vox found kind of cliché, but he didn’t have time to care. Why he refused to meet at VoxTek’s brilliant meeting room, Vox wouldn’t know.

Vox couldn’t ignore the fact that he was starting to feel shitty all over again. He thought after a good night’s rest, a light coffee, and Velvette’s potion, they would get him right. But it felt like things were wearing off much faster than he liked.

He got a little lost in his head in front of the crowd, and he knew that was bad for business. Luckily there weren’t that many denizens there. Heck, there was even just an intern representing the news. Imagine the damage control he’d have to do if a real reporter came.

Professionalism and good image were very important to the way the Vees ran their enterprise. Media is all about the way the public perceives ideas and information. If they wanted to control the media landscape, they needed to control their image as well.

Vox straighten out his suit jacket and walked into the concert hall. He was met with a hellhound at the front desk.

“Welcome Mr. Vox. How may I help you?” she asked with a genuine smile.

“Hello…Clara,” he said after reading her nametag quickly. “I’m here for a meeting.”

“Oh of course!” the hellhound said with a howl. “He’ll be right with you. Make yourself comfortable.”

Clara pressed a button on the landline and began typing on her computer. Vox was satisfied to see the VoxTek logo imprinted on all the devices at the desk. His ego didn’t allow him to get comfortable to seeing his success. It made him go on a power trip every time.

“Vooooooox! It’s so nice to see you in person,” a raspy voice said across the hall.

Vox looked away from the front desk and saw a wolf-like sinner clapping his hands together, claws scratching annoyingly across one another. He wore a v neck graphic t-shirt under a jean jacket and some skinny jeans.

“I’m so used to seeing you on a screen,” the wolf said. “You’re much taller than I imagined.”

“And you are?” Vox asked, slightly annoyed by this dude’s big personality. He spoke to him like he knew him.

“My apologies. My excitement got the better of me. I’m Beck and dub myself an overlord representing indie music and bringing about more awareness towards the genre.”

Vox stared at the wolf because he was clearly wasting his time. He knew about indie music, he did research on its development, but to be a whole overlord just for that? How limiting.

“Let’s take this meeting in one of my stages,” Beck suggested.

Vox followed behind Beck silently, taking in the scene around him. There were sinners scatter all around tuning their guitars, plugging in their keyboards, and wiping down their drum sets.

They got to the stage and sat on the edge. Beck began pitching himself much to Vox’s dismay.

“I died a few years ago. In life I was an up-and-coming musician. I want to still follow my dreams you know. I won’t let literal death stop me. “

“Then form a band,” Vox said, holding himself back from kicking his feet off the stage ledge like a little girl. “Seems like you’re doing fine.”

“Vox, please,” Beck said. “It’s more than that. I run a center for budding musicians to pick up skills on their instrument of choice. Indie music gives denizens of any class a chance to explore their art. I do have my band. But it’s all about awareness as well.”

“And my partner worked with you a while back to bring more awareness, correct?”

Back looked at Vox with an intense expression, then softened quickly. “Yes, Ms. Velvette was wonderful to work with. We got a couple hashtags going. And I became a meme which is awesome.”

Oh, so Velvette got the honorific, but Vox didn’t? Who did this guy think he was?

“Buuuut,” Beck continued, “that’s not quite enough for me. That’s why I’m speaking with you today.”

“And what can I do for you?” Vox asked.

Right when he finished speaking, the lights dimmed, and spotlights lit up on a smaller stage across from them. A band began practicing their set list with the lead vocalist screeching the lyrics.

Indie music wasn’t his music of choice, so when Vox had a headache and was feeling not so great, it was a recipe for disaster. He felt like he couldn’t hear Beck speak, nor could he focus enough to think himself.

“That’s my newest group,” Beck said like a proud parent over the singing. “They have a performance tonight.”

Whoever was in charge of the lights were going crazy. It felt like a rave with the multicolored death beams alternating and flashing like crazy. Vox shut his eyes hard to try to relieve some pressure he felt where his brain should be.

The bassist went crazy on a solo when Beck spoke up again.

“Social media was a great first step, now I want to take it to the next level. I want to produce quality music videos made by VoxTek equipment. Moving further from music videos, documentaries are in my future as well.”

Vox really had to strain to catch all of what Beck was asking for. The potion was giving him a really bad reaction when it mixed with the loud music and flashing lights. He felt like he was going to be sick. The air in the concert hall was stuffy.

“I hear Valentino has an amazing set in his studio, and I want to be able to film there,” Beck continued. “And Velvette’s team helps with fashion and makeup for me and my band.”

It took a while to process all that. “You want all the Vees involved? What do we gain from you?”

The pounding in his head was now in time with the beating of the drum. Vox tried to keep a professional appearance, but it was dark, so it didn’t matter. He held onto his TV head to try to still the rattling.

“You’re essentially my manager. I just ask that I oversee…With my profits, I’m only asking for thir…three percent, and the rest goes to you. You can also make a profit off me by creating ads and merch. I’m already making so much money. With you involved…just imagine.”

Some of Beck’s demands cut out from Vox’s processors. But overall, it looked promising. He could invest in a music overlord like Beck and see how he benefited the Vees.

“I got to say, Vox,” Beck whispered at the side of his screen where his ear should have been. Vox froze because how the hell did he get so close?

“What’s that?” Vox let his hands fall to his lap, taking on a manner of everything being okay.

A furry arm wrapped around Vox and rested on his shoulder. “My peers wanted me to make a deal with the Radio Demon. They thought having our music broadcasted on his show would bring in a lot of fans.”

Electricity surged through Vox in anger, and he was satisfied to feel Beck flinch. The fur on his arm stood on end.

“But I knew you were the better option,” Beck said smoothly. “Media is the future. And everything you touch turns to gold.”

Vox heard that crisp and clear through the loud music. His grin widened as he turned to Beck. He was surprised to see how close the wolf demon was to his face and didn’t back down.

“We have ourselves a deal. Welcome to the business.” Vox extended a hand.

Beck used his free hand to hold on tightly to Vox’s. Blue electricity wrapped around their hands. Vox watched Beck’s reaction as the power ran through him and made his hairs bristle. Beck opened his eyes after the electricity faded.

Beck slunk his arm away and he was on his feet in no time. With a snap of his fingers, the lights turned on, the strobe lights ceased, and miraculously the band stopped playing.

“Done with practice?” Vox asked suspiciously.

Beck had a shit eating grin. “Yeah, they did what they needed to do. And here is my contract. Everything I said during the meeting.”

A rolled-up scroll was shoved in Vox’s chest, and he was ushered out the door.

With Vox settled in the car with the window rolled down, Beck peered inside.

“I don’t know why people warned to never meet your heroes,” he laughed. “This has been a dream come true so far. Looking forward to working under you.”

During his ride back home, Vox wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and relax. But he couldn’t help but find that Beck acted a little odd. Warily, he opened the contract and briefly scanned it.

I, Beck, demand minimum 30% of the profit from my promotional materials including commercials and merch.

Hmmm… that didn’t sound like the three percent he heard in the meeting.

I, Beck, retain my overlord status and keep my soul intact during our partnership.

Sure, fine…whatever.

I, Beck, will be overseeing all the development for his content. All decisions must be approved by me before moving forward.

That didn’t sound like he was working under Vox.

Lastly, I, Beck, will work with the Vees, but will not be residing within the V Tower. I am allowed to have a personal life outside of work.

Vox didn’t even know what that meant. How could that overlord separate the two? All Vox could think about was ways to get more money.

He rolled up the contract and shoved it in his suit jacket. He knew one thing was certain.

He fucked up.

Chapter Text

Velvette sat smugly in the meeting room. She kept glaring angrily at those two VoxTek employees who were found caught in Vox’s office. They were currently sitting at the table awaiting their fate.

Valentino was sitting at the head of the table, the one nearest the door. He licked his lips in hunger while smoking his cigarette.

“Please let us explain!” Caspian spoke up through the tense silence and the smoky air.

“The point is you’re not supposed to explain!” Velvette snapped. “The fact that you know…means it’s already over.”

The shark demon looked exasperated. “Ms. Velvette, what were we supposed to do? Mr. Vox was out of commission, and we had to take a stand to help.”

“No one was around when we found him,” the manta ray demon spoke up. Velvette didn’t care enough to find out their name.

“And after we left the office, we made sure no one suspected a thing.”

“Hmmm…so now we’re lying,” Valentino said with a chuckle. “We know you little techies already started rumors. Because how else could the network fail, hm? You all work tirelessly day and night to ensure VoxTek runs smoothly. It must be the workings of your boss—”

“No, Sir!” Caspian yelled out more out of fear than disrespect.

Valentino’s reddish-pink eyes widen comically in shock.

Velvette rolled her eyes. Why did she even bother trying to talk to Vox’s employees? He’d deal with them swiftly and efficiently.

“Please believe us!” Caspian continued. “Let us explain to Mr. Vox! Where is he? Is he alright?”

Velvette cringe at the questions. They really thought Vox of all demons would understand better. If he found out these two little underlings were actually…worried about him…he’d explode.

And they would rightfully see it as anger, but Velvette knew he’d really be blowing up in embarrassment and would let it affect him for a very long time. Vox always tried to hide it, but he was sensitive. He always pushed it deep, deep down, and had his mask up to compensate.

Heck, it was before her time, but even she knew the strange mess between Alastor and Vox had him spinning. He couldn’t let it go even after seven years.

“Vox is fine,” Valentino said while exhaling more smoke. “He should be here soon.”

Velvette was impressed Valentino was actually acting professional for this long. Usually it was her and Vox trying to rally him around like a child while he whined all the while.

There was no telling what mood Valentino would be in. It switched on the daily.

While they waited for Vox to return from his meeting, Velvette’s mind wandered to how hard she’d been working for the past few weeks. Vox was relentless with his demands and hopes about taking the company further. She was sick of it. No normal being could keep this up without crashing and burning.

She had to admit, though, these past few weeks she created some of her best work. Her assistant, Melissa pulled up the numbers, and she was trending across social platforms for an array of topics. Her fashion was soaring, and many demons were anticipating her next runway showcase. She was selling out of her love potions like they were candy during Halloween.

Still, she wanted a damn break.

“Do you want to work for me?” Valentino was heard whispering to the aquatic demons. “Maybe I can convince Vox not to kill you and move you to my company. Water play is in these days…”

“Valentino!” Velvette shouted while massaging her temples. “Please.”

As much as she appreciated her Voys, they certainly pushed her to the edge.

***

One too many sex jokes later, Vox zapped into the meeting room. His eyes were closed, and he was loosening his bowtie.

With a sigh he began mumbling to himself. “That was a mess. Geez…”

“Vox, you made it back,” Velvette said quickly.

He opened his eyes and glitched in surprise. “Velvette, my dear…and Val…and what are you two doing here?”

Vox scanned the room and quickly straightened up his posture.

“Mr. Vox—”

Velvette cut in. “You, Vox, were very busy yesterday. But I think it’s time to deal with these two.”

She didn’t miss the way Vox froze for a little too long. She also noticed his normal blue tinted screen was…slightly grayish and dull. He looked off.

“Okay…” Vox said cautiously. “What did they do?”

Velvette wasn’t a fan of the way his voice was full of nerves. Did he not realize who else was in the room with them?

Valentino made some grand gesture when he stood up from the table, and slowly walked over to where the two shivering employees were. He placed one of his hands on the table next to the manta ray demon and peered down at them menacingly.

Realizing Val wasn’t going to do anything that required intervention, Velvette continued. “These two were the one who found you…indisposed. And Val and I found then in your office. They know too much.”

While she was speaking, Vox had taken out an off-white scroll of paper and was twiddling with it mindlessly. That coupled with him tapping his foot, and blinking rapidly, he seemed impatient.

“I’m finished,” Velvette said, trying to reel in her anger.

Vox seemed to snap out of it with Velvette’s biting words and looked directly at her.

He made a smacking sound as he opened his mouth to speak. “They know too much about what?”

If this life was a cartoon, her jaw would have been on the floor. She, once again, turned to Valentino for some support because she knew she was getting too angry to handle this on her own.

The overlord in question just finished dragging a finger along the manta ray’s arm and then sucked his finger seductively.

Velvette wanted to be anywhere but here but then it would have been too kind on Hell’s part.

“Vox,” Valentino said like he was talking to a toddler. What a hypocrite. “They know too much about your weakness. Didn’t you say it wouldn’t be good for our brand?”

“I wasn’t w-weak,” Vox replied with a stutter like that stunt he pulled didn’t scare the shit out of them yesterday.

“Do you want me to expose you in front of your employees…or should we take this outside?” Valentino asked with a dry laugh.

“Look,” Vox said quickly. “I think we have bigger problems to d-deal with at this current time.”

“So, when it’s our employees they’re cut off the second they even breathe wrong, but yours gets special treatment?” Velvette asked.

“T-th-that’s not what this is about, Vel,” Vox said uncomfortably.

She could tell he was starting to lose it, so she bit her tongue. “Okay, tell me your final verdict and we’ll move on.”

“Let them go,” Vox said after taking a breath. “But I will deal with them accordingly if you know what I mean.” He turned to Velvette and tapped his left eye with his claw.

Okay, Velvette could accept that. Keep them here but make them believe they never saw him in that state. Good.

“Well, you heard him,” Valentino said gruffly. “Get out of here.”

The two employees sang Vox’s praises and sprinted out of the room. They were long gone before the chairs stopped spinning.

Velvette should have felt anger from losing to those lower-level workers, but there was a bigger dilemma it seemed like Vox was anxious to express.

Vox stood in silence as the two other Vees settled into their chairs to hear the updates.

“O-o-okay guys,” Vox began to stammer. “L-let me explain it t-to you f-f-f-first.”

Velvette’s eyes widened in complete bewilderment. When Vox ever stuttered and glitched it was either because he was extremely angry or extremely nervous as far as she was aware.

He began pacing around the room, stopping only to involuntarily glitch out in the process.

“Voxy?” Valentino asked concerned.

At the same time, Velvette said, “Alright, well, are you going to explain what happened?”

She was able to hold the concern back from her voice, but she was definitely curious.

Vox had the scroll of paper in his hand. He waved it around as if it could explain itself, then slumped in defeat.

“I think I f-fucked up,” Vox said while throwing the scroll in front of his partners.

“Oh, that means it’s a day that ends in Y,” Velvette tried to joke.

Valentino took the scroll and unraveled it slowly. He proceeded to scrunch up his entire face trying to parse through the tiny text.

Velvette would have giggled if Vox wasn’t having a panic attack a few inches away.

“I can’t see shit,” Valentino said blatantly. “…but I know for sure this is a contract. I can feel the energy.”

Usually, contracts made by any of the Vees ended with a night of celebration. They would come together while not worrying about their pending tasks to be complete and let loose.  

But with Vox tweaking like this, alarm bells were ringing in Velvette’s mind.

“What did you do?”

Vox chuckled nervously.

“Vox, you can’t be serious!” Velvette screamed after hearing Vox’s explanation and reading through the contract.

“I’m on Vel’s side for this one, Voxy,” Valentino chimed in. “What were you thinking?”

“I-I couldn’t t-think alright!” Vox said with his hands on his head. “I literally couldn’t h-hear my own thoughts.”

“I just made him a bit more famous by creating content from his music. I made him trend and the fans did the rest. Now we have to essentially work for the guy!” Velvette almost wanted to cry.

“And you didn’t even get his soul?” Valentino asked. “Did we just…lose at a negotiation?”

“D-don’t say we as if you helped at a-all!” Vox yelled back.

“My way through a deal is through force,” Valentino said with a cheeky smile. “But you always say words are better. Doesn’t seem like that worked out for you this time.”

Velvette was going to snark some more, but it actually looked like Vox was hurt by Valentino’s comment. Weird.

“Alright, alright,” Velvette said trying to clear the air. “Valentino, shut it before I make you. Vox, take a breath and get that glitching in control.”

The two older overlords sulked in silence like children. That gave her some time to think and process what happened.

“Technically, this isn’t a bad contract,” she said slowly, watching Vox’s eyes widen at her. “We love taking advantage of denizens, so it seems bad, but this is a healthy contract. And we still get most of the profit.”

While Velvette was alive, she took her job as a social media influencer quite seriously. That meant reading in between the lines when it came to agreeing to brand deals and collaborations. She always made sure she wasn’t getting herself in sticky situations she wouldn’t be able to escape from.

After dying and being part of the Vees, she long since moved on from deals that both sides benefited from. When maintaining status as an overlord, power came from one’s supporters and souls.

“Luckily this deal is just for a year,” she concluded. “By then, you can negotiate the terms or drop him completely.”

“That does make sense,” Vox replied, and he finally calmed down. He still didn’t look like his bright and chipper self, but it was a start.

They all wrapped up the catch-up meeting soon after that and went along their business.

Since Velvette was the first to leave, she turned back and said, “Since Vox secured a deal, that means we party. Tonight, we’re all booked, but tomorrow night is fair game. Look the part.”

When Velvette made plans, Valentino and Vox listened. She wanted to turn this mishap into something not to take too seriously. They all worked so hard anyway.

When both her Voys responded positively to her request, she walked out of the room to her studio to get to work.

***

Vox made Elliot file his contract and ensure that his schedule was free tomorrow evening. Once everything was in order, he rushed to his private bathroom.

His head was spinning, and he was sure his screen was a staticky mess. His screen display wasn’t working so he bumped into things on his way inside.

Ignoring the pain of the sink bumping into his side, Vox slammed open the toilet and dropped to his knees.

Metallic bile on top of the bitter aftertaste of coffee spilled out of his screen mouth. He gripped the toilet seat so hard it was beginning to crack under his claws while he heaved out whatever was left in his empty stomach.

The love potion did not sit right with him this time around, despite trying to suffer through it.

System Update Required popped up once more.  And he dismissed it once again with a swipe of his fingers.

Even if Vox wanted to do it at this point, the update would overlap with Velvette’s outing. He knew he had to get back on her good side, so the update would have to wait for a time when he had at least three days of free time.

Vox sat kneeling against the toilet, face down in the bowl and in agony. He spasmed from time to time, and with it came bursts of electricity and a painful pounding in his head.

“Fuck…maybe I should have eaten something this morning,” Vox said pathetically into the disgusting toilet bowl.

But seeing the dark and glowing liquid bile made him lose his nonexistent appetite even more.

His internal fans started kicking in. Vox quickly flushed the toilet and stood up slowly. He was a bit wobbly on his feet but stayed upright.

After an internal fight with his code, he was able to bring back his face display, and he blinked against the bright bathroom lights.

Looking directly in the mirror, Vox was surprised at what he saw. Black liquid was drooling from his mouth, which he quickly wiped away. His clothes were wrinkled, and his bow was askew. His screen was diluted and slightly blurry, or maybe his eyes were just unfocused.

The very inner part of his mind (that he never listened to) was telling him to slow it down and maybe focus on fixing himself up. But how would he control the future of Hell if he didn’t keep working at this amazing pace? The Vees’ outreach was incredible. Denizens from all classes were taking notice and putting their trust in them. That was his whole catchphrase after all.

Vox raised a pointed claw and willed for electricity to build at the tip. Nothing came out.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “C’mon…I know I still got it. C’mon!”

A surge of power escaped from him; way stronger than what he wanted to release. He glitched out as electricity danced from his finger. The lightbulbs above him shattered one by one, and glass rained down on him.

Vox slowly opened his eyes to a now dark room, with only his eyes and claws glowing.

“F-fuck.”

***

Vox put in a work request for one of his electricians to fix the bathroom lights. No questions were asked, just as he preferred.

A few hours had gone on at this point, and Vox was unable to work. His eyes strained against his monitor screens. It was hard for him to keep an eye on Valentino while working. He needed a break.

He walked upstairs to the V dining room. He was so spacey that he didn’t even realize he didn’t teleport. At this point, he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to do it. He was losing control of his powers. Maybe some food would help.

Expecting to be alone at this time, Vox was shocked to see Velvette at the table scrolling on her phone.

She looked up and her expression softened. That was a good sign, right?

“Vox, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said to him. She was still scrolling on her phone and all sorts of notification sounds rang from her device.

Hopefully that meant his little test didn’t cut out the power in the whole building again.

“Yeah, well, I realized I didn’t eat at all today,” he said calmly. He sat down right beside her and pulled out his phone.

Velvette turned her whole body sharply and stared at him with wide eyes. “Wait, and you took a vial of love potion? I saw it in the bin, and Val said it wasn’t him.”

Vox ignored her gaze and he shrugged. “It was me. I took it with coffee.”

Kitty ran into the room and placed a glass of lemon water on the table by Velvette.

“Kitty, get me another water, and bring a plate for Vox. Same as me.”

The little robot nodded and skirted away.

Velvette continued, “You’re insane for taking that empty, Vox.”

“This isn’t anything I haven’t done before.”

“Yeah, but you’re usually not this tired.”

Vox stopped dead in his tracks. Bad memories swirled in his mind of his wife’s nagging. Her complaints. The worries that she would put onto him. It made him lose his mind, how she thought she knew him more than he knew himself.

“Vox?” Velvette asked, but her voice sounded like it was underwater. “You’re spacing out…again.”

“Who said I was tired?” Vox asked, after his audio resynced up.

Velvette rolled her eyes and turned back to her phone. “If you don’t want to talk, fine.”

Kitty returned with the plates of food and the extra glass of lemon water.

The meal was a classy sirloin steak, paired with root vegetables and a salad. It looked great but Vox had no appetite.

Eating in silence wasn’t anything new for Vox, but he could feel the awkward tension in the air. Velvette played some music on her phone while she ate, her eyes glued to the screen.

Vox tried eating the food, but all he could process was the sourness of the vinaigrette, the chewy texture of the meat, and how the food went down his throat like rocks.

He set the fork down and pushed his plate back.

“Velvette,” he said quietly.

Velvette was dancing subtly to a rock song. She turned to look at him curiously. “Done eating?”

He looked at her with a squint, waiting for his mind to compare her with the only other woman he used to care for in his life. Vox was thankful that comparison never came. Velvette was a wild card when he took her in, but she proved her worth early on.

“You’re buffering,” Velvette said with a sigh.

Not wanting to lose her interest he said, “I know I messed up.”

“We talked about it,” she said quickly. “It’s only a year in the grand scheme of things.”

“No, I’m talking about my behavior towards you,” Vox said boldly. “I snapped at you one too many times and you don’t deserve that.”

Velvette looked genuinely touched by the way her eyes shined in shock.

“C’mon V,” she said while nudging his shoulder. “I know things are stressful right now. I’m not taking it personally.”

She got it. Instead of blaming him and finding all the things about him as being “wrong”, she took into account the circumstances. Even though she had no idea what was going on with him behind the scenes, he wasn’t a problem in her eyes. He needed to know that.

“You still didn’t deserve that,” Vox pressed. Because while she moved on from it, He took note of her expression every time. She was a strong woman who didn’t let anyone walk over her, but she still had feelings, especially when it came to her partners in crime.

“What are you insinuating?” Velvette crossed her arms together with a smirk.

“Well…” Vox started proudly, “On top of this being an apology you deserve a reward for the amount of hard work you’ve put in for Q3 and the amazing things being done for Q4.”

He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a chrome blue card with the name VOX etched magnificently in red lettering.

Velvette sat patiently like a child waiting for her present, and she was beaming.

“I’m giving you my blue zircon card to use for whatever you wish,” Vox said, matching her smile. “Go on a shopping spree. It’s my treat.”

“Wow, Vox, I don’t know what to say,” Velvette said as she reached for the card.

It wasn’t the first time she used his credit card. She always loved putting on an act.

“Thank you,” she finally said genuinely. “Like usual, I’ll give it back to you 24 hours from now.”

“Right before we go out,” Vox realized. “How smart.”

They fell into a comfortable silence this time around. Velvette cleaned her plate, while Vox broke the food up into small pieces to make it seem like he ate more than he did.

Kitty came to clean up the table.

“Depending on how my shopping goes, I might not see you until tomorrow night,” Velvette said seriously.

“I had to move things around on my schedule so the same goes for me,” Vox nodded. “Have a good night, Vel.”

“You too Vox.”

Chapter Text

Valentino took a couple shots of alcohol in between the huffs of his cigarette. It was getting late into the night. After a packed day of working his whores, he wanted to unwind before bed.

He had a very high tolerance when it came to getting high and drunk, so he had to take drastic measures to ensure it hit him just right. The Vees were going to have a nice night out tomorrow, but Valentino didn’t want to wait until then to have some fun.

Valentino inhaled his smoke long enough until he forgot the look on Vox’s face when he teased him earlier. The apparent hurt in the expression on his screen got him messed up more than he wanted to admit.

Vox usually liked it when Valentino whined and teased him. It allowed him the chance to prove just how wrong those sentiments were. Sometimes it consisted of him manhandling him to submit, other times he used his glowing screen to put him in a daze.

“Kitty, get me a daiquiri,” Valentino muttered into his hands. “And make it extra sweet!”

This was going to be his last drink. Then he’d pass the fuck out.

When Kitty returned, he downed the glass quickly and tossed it aside carelessly. Then, Valentino walked away to his bedroom, hips swaying even though there was no physical audience present. He knew Vox could have been watching from the screens though.

He took his sweet time getting ready, putting on one of Velvette’s sheet masks on his face while scrolling on his phone.

He came across a video on VoxTok. It was shaky and unsteady, but Valentino could clearly see Vox was the center of attention. It showed him frozen; his screen was replaced with color bars and the text Please Stand By in white lettering.

Valentino watched the trainwreck unfold, curious on how Vox handled that little mishap in public. Luckily, an arm seemingly bumped into the demon holding the phone, because the video lurched and ended abruptly.

The caption for the video read: Managed to catch a glimpse of the #OverlordVox. The wait was worth it. #Vees #VTower #Vox #FYP

Typical testimonial. Valentino rolled his eyes, and even laughed when he saw the abysmal likes. The tagging could’ve used some work; Velvette would have told him that. If the video got big, he’d ask Velvette to just delete this post, but it seemed like it was posted by a nobody.

Still, why did Vox freeze like that on camera? Judging by the crowd in the video, there were news reporters there probably trying to get some simple info Vox was always happy to share.

Just when Valentino was about to click on the fan’s profile, a text from Velvette came up. He clicked it and an image of her emerged. She was grinning smugly while holding Vox’s shiny credit card.

Velvette: Got a shopping spree out of him. And he apologized.

Valentino: No wayyyyy! I’m jealous. >:(

Valentino: Take me with you <3

Velvette: You snooze you lose.

Valentino smiled at his phone. They secretly had a competition on who could sweet talk their way into getting Vox’s money. With that, Velvette was now currently in the lead.

Vox made the most money out of all of them, despite them being an iconic trio. When it came to the work they did together however, it was always equally split by three.

Valentino had his porn stars, erotic films, and a couple clubs that got him a pretty good amount of money. Velvette had her love potions, fashion line, and she was a full-on influencer.

Vox on the other hand, was the CEO of a huge tech monopoly, and had a crazy amount of shows on the air. That’s what got him the big bucks.

So, Velvette and Valentino had no shame using his money, and he seemed to enjoy passing it out like it grew on trees.

Valentino: Enjoy ur time. Get me something in that big haul of yours.

Velvette: We’ll see. Night!

Valentino took off the mask and massaged the remaining essence into his moth skin. He still looked as flawless as he did in life, only more purple.

After putting on his glasses so he could see how hot he was in the mirror, he finally got into his gigantic plush bed. He got comfortable under his wings, breathing in the comforting incense sticks that mimicked his smoke.

Not even thirty minutes later—right when Valentino was truly going to fall unconscious—the double doors slowly opened.

He stilled, trying to discern who would interrupt his rest. Kitty knew better. Travis wished he could. Velvette would never at this hour.

Valentino’s room was dark but still had subtle pink and red lights making it almost seem like a lowkey nightclub if it existed.

So, when he saw the florescent blue lighting from the corner of his adjusted eyes, he sat up.

Vox was standing at the door, in his light blue pajamas with shark print patterned around the fabric. He looked tired, and his glow wasn’t as bright as usual. But maybe he was being considerate for Valentino.

He wanted to act smug and tease Vox for finally coming to his room after a long absence, but Valentino felt unsure. Vox was acting weird, and he was too drunk, high, and tired to unpack all that.

“Voxy,” Valentino tested the waters. He didn’t pose it as a question to put Vox on the spot.

Vox simply sighed and made his way to ‘his side’ of the bed. He sat on top of the covers which made Valentino smile. He knew his wings were the better blanket.

Valentino went to work despite his creeping exhaustion. He lowered himself so Vox would be looking down at him and crawled onto his lap. Two of his hands went right to the side of his screen. The other two slid up from Vox’s waist to his chest. He toyed with the buttons on his shirt.

Vox’s tough exterior melted slightly at the touch, his eyes slipping closed as he glitched from the sensation. He then opened his eyes and looked down at Valentino.

“Val, not today.”

Just when Valentino was about to be turned on…

Valentino scrambled upwards so he was now straddling Vox. He managed to undo a few of his buttons and was teasing the skin underneath.

“But Papito,” Valentino purred, “I can make you feel better.”

Vox sat there unwilling while Valentino tried his magic. Despite feeling his and Vox’s lust, Vox wasn’t budging.

“I came here to rest,” Vox said after shuddering. A streak of electricity ran across his antennae. “And I feel fine.”

Valentino couldn’t argue with that. There was a weird part of their relationship where sex seemed to be the only solution. Valentino wasn’t sure if that was accurate anymore when it came to him.

After wiping at the corner of Vox’s screen, Valentino grinned. “Works for me.”

Before he could slip off Vox back to his side, Vox grabbed his waist and pulled him close. Valentino gasped at the sudden change, but relaxed once his lips met Vox’s screen.

Vox’s mouth parted and his tongue made its way into the moth’s mouth. Valentino was so touch starved that he was thrilled just to be making out with Vox after a few days of nothing. His giddiness made him not realize the metallic taste that came from Vox.

It was almost less metallic and more chemical. Valentino remembered when he wanted to try biting as a new kink. He bit Vox’s arm, and instead of only blood, there was a black liquid tar pooling from him that tasted toxic.

Valentino came to adore the machine parts of Vox that mixed seamlessly with his bio parts, but if he tasted heavy metals from just his lips, that should have raised some alarms.

Too bad Valentino downed that extra daiquiri. His mind was spinning, and his skin was buzzing, and Vox was so passionate when he kissed him. It’d been so long since they spent time together, so Valentino wasn’t going to complain.

A wing wrapped around Vox as the two overlords clung to each other. After their lips parted and silence enveloped them for a while, Vox fumbled with the edges of Valentino’s fluffy wings.

The sensation made Valentino squeak out in confusion. Once Vox managed to squeeze an arm free, he felt him relax against him.

“Sorry, it’s just a bit h-hot.”

Vox’s voice was very distorted which made Valentino chuckle.

“It’s here for you any time you want.”

Vox was simple and slept on his back, while Valentino was on his side, staring intently at Vox’s screen.

A while passed, so a screensaver of VoxTek’s logo bounced around the screen.

Valentino only got a taste of their special moment he usually had with Vox, and he was bouncing with energy. There was no way he’d rest any time soon.

His hand slipped under Vox’s, feeling a slight twitch of the glowing claws. Once Valentino was sure Vox relaxed, he slowly interlaced their fingers.

***

The forecast said there would be a storm and to shelter in place.

Vince sat unmoving on the couch, watching the weatherman speak on his television.

There were no lights on in the house except the tv which was far too bright for Vince’s eyes. He turned off the lights a while ago, not wanting to deal with things if the power went off. The tv would be an indication.

Barbara was stuck at school with her children. Not that it mattered anyway. She was spending more time outside and less time at home.

Vince would have been at work himself, but they told him not to come in today. He lashed out on screen last week. It’d been bad. They told him he had to cool off for a while.

His products weren’t selling as much as he wanted them too. His wife was stifling and difficult.

And his migraines were absolutely unbearable.

The damn tablets weren’t working anymore. Barbara yelled at him to go back to the doctor, but he refused. Why? He didn’t know.

He was tired of it all.

Not only did his wife look at him like he would explode any second, but his work colleagues also walked on eggshells around him. It made him angrier.

The sound of the rain overshadowed whatever the weather man was saying.

It didn’t help that all the windows were open, and cold rainwater poured into the house and onto the hardwood floor.

Vince let himself go in the week after his public humiliation. He rarely showered. He didn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. The headaches were too great. Everything was too much.

The dull throbbing in the back of Vince’s head started to get heavier. Anytime he thought about anything the pain got worse.

He let out a scream of frustration, his voice getting smothered completely by the rain.

Where did it all go wrong?

Vince stood up quickly, ignoring the dizziness and pain that surrounded him and walked to the front door. He picked up a picture frame from the side table and looked down at it.

Him and Barbara on their wedding day.

He dropped it, not caring where it landed, and walked outside in the storm.

Vince’s button-down shirt and slacks got soaked instantly. He didn’t care. Instead of hopping in his car, he decided to walk. He lived in a safe neighborhood anyway.

With no one out on the road, Vince was able to walk in the middle of the street, eyes closed and face upwards towards the darkened sky. The splashes of the rain managed to soothe the pain in his head a little bit.

Once his feet hit the sand, he knew he made it.

He used to always take walks with Barbara at the beach. It was both their favorite place, so when Vince finally got enough money, he surprised her with a house on the coast.  

With the sand sinking into his shoes, reality struck him in the head. He doubled over in pain, fingers pressed hard into his skull for a second of relief. Nothing came.

Tears mixed with rain poured down his face, as he massaged his whole face fiercely.

A stinging sensation pulsated from his eye, and he managed to scratch at the skin near it.

Vince wasn’t thinking clearly, but he didn’t care anymore.

When he walked into the high tide, he wasn’t thinking about Barbara.

He thought of his parents and how he disappointed them.

The saltwater burned at his cut which made him realize it was deeper than he thought.  

Vince specifically walked into the danger zone section of the beach which was closed off due to far too many shark-related accidents.

Vince always thought sharks were misunderstood. They were hated on because they were violent. But they were only violent because they were messed with. If you left them alone, you’d be good.

With the high tide, more sharks would be closer to the beach.

When Vince’s feet could no longer reach the bottom of the ocean floor, he stilled and slowly sunk into the water.

He opened his eyes and they adjusted to the darker water compared to the moonlit surface. Compared to the violent waves up above, things were much calmer down here. Vince drifted and went to deeper and deeper territory.

It wasn’t long until he reached shark territory. Vince broke to the surface and inhaled air mixed with rain and ocean water.

He went down under again and waited near the bottom.

A beautiful young shark swam past him curiously. He watched the way it glid along the water, unafraid of the storm that raged above it.

Vince wished to see a great white shark one last time. They were rarer to spot but some were spotted in this area.

There were many sharks he saw, but none were the great white. And most of them were juvenile.

After a long while of breaking for air and returning to the depths, Vince gave up on seeing the sharks.

He reached the surface right as a large wave took him right back down. Panic finally kicked in as he tried to swim to the top, but he kept getting swept away.

He knew he wasn’t making it back to the sand alive.

On one hand he accepted it, but there was another part of him that wanted to live.

He wanted to go back home, close all the windows, and finally turn off that TV. He wanted to clean up the mess he let pile up in the house and clean up that mess he let pile up in his heart.

But that was wishful thinking.

Vince was all out of air, and that’s when he ultimately thought of Barbara.

And miraculously, his head didn’t hurt anymore.

***

Valentino woke up sweating. His arms were wrapped around Vox’s body, and his head was resting on his chest.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The VoxClok on his bedside table said it was like 3am. There was a glass of water that Kitty must have brought for Valentino’s hangover. He downed the water and turned back to Vox.

The TV demon was still on his back and his screen was powered off.

Valentino found Vox’s claws and reached for them. He was shocked to find them so stiff. Next, He bent Vox’s forearm up and it stayed there. It was almost as if Vox was a rusty machine that was in dire need of an oiling.

Valentino chuckled to himself at the thought.

“Hey, Vox, you up?” Valentino asked.

Vox’s pajama top was still unbuttoned, so Valentino ran a hand along his collarbone to will him awake.

He brought his hand back quickly when he realized how hot Vox’s skin was.

“Yo, Vox?”

Valentino hesitated, but reached out to touch Vox’s screen, and he felt a deep heat emanating from him.

Fully panicking, he grabbed Vox and pulled him towards his chest. Vox was unbearably hot against Valentino, but he didn’t care.

Valentino manhandled him trying to get a response, pressing against his screen, tugging his arms and legs, and even fiddling with his antennae. When that brought no results, he felt around the back of Vox’s head.

Finding the power button, he pressed and held it for a few seconds.

When nothing happened, Valentino jumped out of bed and pulled out a power strip. After making sure nothing else was plugged in, he connected the charger.

“This better work,” Valentino said to himself quickly.

He plugged in the charger to Vox and just about died when the green charging icon DID NOT show up.

“Mierda!” Valentino cursed. “I do not have time for this today, Vox!”

He unplugged it, blew on the charging port like that’d change things, and plugged it in again.

Not taking any chances, he pressed and held onto Vox’s power button, while he reached for his phone. Velvette would be pissed, but he couldn’t do this alone.

“…Val?” a groggy voice said underneath him.

Valentino looked down to see Vox look up at him innocently. In the corner of his screen, there was a charging icon that showed 72%. He wasn’t even dead?

“Vox?” Valentino asked, hand still holding the phone to make an emergency call. “Are you good?”

“Why are you on top of me like this? I said I wanted to rest today.”

Valentino could see how this looked. He had one leg straddling Vox while the other was on the ground. And he had to reach over Vox to grab his phone, so it looked like the camera was pointed right at his face.

“I didn’t do anything. Don’t get any ideas,” Valentino said annoyed.

“Alright, well goodnight.”

“Goodnight?” Valentino asked.

“Don’t tell me it’s morning already,” Vox mumbled.

“It’s like three,” Valentino said slowly. “Do you want to explain what just happened?”

“Me?” Vox asked with distortion. “Val, you were the one trying to get a late one in.”

Valentino wanted to scream.

“I’m talking about you overheating and not turning on at all.”

“Huh?” Vox said after a yawn. “That can’t be right.”

“The charger didn’t work and the power button—”

Vox cut in. “I do think your cables need some work. I saw the fire at your studio. Can’t have that in the bedroom too.”

He was so stubborn it made Valentino want to rip his fluff out. He watched as Vox’s screen switched to screensaver mode to power off mode in a matter of minutes.

Valentino settled back into bed and draped a wing across Vox’s body. When his internal fans kicked in, Valentino quickly retracted the wing and made sure Vox’s body temperature was sound.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Valentino woke up to an empty bed. 

For once he stayed on his side and didn’t creep into Vox’s territory. Maybe he was subconsciously keeping his body still to ensure Vox had a good rest.

He sat up and took his sweet time stretching out his long limbs. He felt immediate relief when his joints popped and clicked into position. 

Using one hand, he ran his fingers where Vox used to be. He felt remnants of warmth. Normally, that would have meant that Vox recently got up. But with how hot he was last night, it could’ve been a few hours ago.

The VoxClok said it was 10am. 

He was already running late, and his day barely began. He had a couple shoots to film, and he needed them by tonight. Valentino didn’t want to think about work AT ALL when the Vees went out to the club.

“KITTY!” Valentino screamed.

The little robot zoomed into the room like she was waiting for him.

“Make my usual breakfast. And make sure my coffee is ‘to-go’. Extra sweet.”

She left and that’s when Valentino realized he didn’t get a hangover. Having a ten-foot body definitely helped when it mattered. 

When Valentino made it to the lounge he saw his meal on the counter, and Velvette was sitting on a bar stool.

“Morning, Vel,” Valentino said while doing some last-minute fluffing of his fluff.

“You’re up early,” Velvette said, peering up at him. “You actually look refreshed. Did you and Vox finally reunite yesterday?”

Valentino leaned on his hip and smirked. “Mayyyybee. That, and also my new drinking routine. Got like five drinks in.”

“Geez,” Velvette said with a shake of her head. Today she had her hair in afro puffs. “How did you not wake up with a hangover?”

“Kitty had me covered.”

“Did you and Vox talk?”

That was such a quick shift in tone, Valentino didn’t say anything for a few good seconds. 

Valentino was weighing whether to tell Velvette about the scare last night in his mind. Vox was too stubborn to even realize it and put his ego down. Seemed like only he and Velvette noticed. 

“...not really,” Valentino started slowly. 

“Was it because you passed out drunk?” Velvette asked lightly. Her eyebrows were raised slightly, and Valentino knew she could sense his hesitation.

“He came into my room and got into my bed. None of my tactics worked on him. Usually, all it takes is a simple–”

Velvette cut in quickly. “You don’t need to explain that part!”

Valentino realized he was gesturing with all twenty of his fingers. He let his arms fall to the side and continued with a chuckle.

“Anyway, after he made out with me, we just passed out… literally.”

“Sounds boring,” Velvette added. Her phone was face down on the counter. She was really giving her full attention.

“It was!” Valentino whined. “So, a few hours pass, and I wake up thinking my room is on fire. Vox was literally overheating. And he wouldn’t turn on for some time.”

Velvette shifted by folding her arms. “Wow. What did you end up doing?”

“After panicking and trying to charge him up I was just about to call you,” Valentino said. “Then that little fucker woke up and dared to assume I was messing with him.”

“Wait,” Velvette said, “he didn’t realize he was overheating? He really acted like everything was normal?”

Valentino thought for a moment. “He has been hot for a while, and not the way that you think. At the Vee meeting he complained. And when I tried to cover him with my wings, he got uncomfortable. His fans kept kicking in.”

“What’s going on with him?” Velvette said more to herself than to Valentino. Then she spoke a bit louder. “Why has he been so dodgy lately?”

“No idea,” Valentino said seriously. “Did you see him today?”

Velvette nodded. “He seemed normal enough. Said he had a lot to do, though.”

“Good thing we’re going out today,” Valentino said. “It’ll give him a chance to unwind and maybe he’ll be more honest.”

“Can’t let him drink too much, though,” Velvette warned. “You know how emotional and unstable he can get.”

Oh, Valentino knew. And that was something that he found endearing about Vox. Vox would kill him if he knew.

Valentino took a sip of his coffee. It was sweetened to perfection and had a splash of rum for flavor.

“Breakfast looks good,” Velvette spoke up again. Her phone was in her hand now, and she was typing. “Melissa’s asking for me, so I gotta get back to work.”

“Work or that shopping spree?” Valentino joked. 

“Val, be real,” Velvette laughed. “I did most of my online shopping hours ago. Sales don’t last forever.”

She left the room and Valentino got to eat his breakfast. It was still warm, so he didn’t have to yell for Kitty. 

It was time to slay the day.

***

Vox had a pile of scripts on his desk he needed to approve. Most of them were the typical on-air soap operas that just needed to be renewed. Once in a while he got a new show, and that took longer to look through.

He was up since seven and kept a watchful eye on Valentino. 

Vox knew Valentino’s schedule. So, he was surprised he slept through his 8am alarm. 

He tried to focus on the papers in front of him, but his eyes always veered to look at Valentino’s unmoving body. His hands kept subconsciously grazing the spot Vox laid. 

Vox was surprised when he woke up to find Valentino curled up next to him. Usually, a long limb would have been in his face. A wing would have somehow wrapped around his neck. And they just would have been a tangled mess.

But Valentino stayed to his own side. Even his wings were off him. The only thing was Val’s hand was placed gently on Vox’s chest. 

Vox slapped his screen to put his mind away from Valentino for a moment. 

Even though he did that, his eyes turned to Valentino’s bedroom on the screen. It was empty so that meant he was up. 

He swiped his fingers and another monitor turned on. He looked around at Val’s studio and only saw porn stars prepping for shooting. Travis was sitting in a director’s chair talking and Angel Dust looked annoyed, barely listening. 

Vox turned on all the monitors, swiping through different cameras trying to find him.

He finally found him in the lounge, and Velvette was there too. They seemed to be talking.

Curiosity got the best of him, so he decided to turn the audio on to eavesdrop.

Right when he was going to snap his fingers, he heard a knocking at the door.

“Enter,” he said, annoyed. Vox cleared his screens so they were back to showing sitcom trailers, documents, and some stocks.

Elliot walked all the way to the center of Vox’s office. The sharks had a watchful eye and followed him as he walked along the platform.

“Good morning, sir,” Elliot said with a slight bow. He bit his lip.

“Elliot,” Vox responded, prompting him to speak his mind. 

“Our interviewee is here for the 11 am showing,” Elliot said. “The stage is ready for a soundcheck.”

“And who am I interviewing again?” Vox asked, tossing a few scripts in the trash bin.

Those shows weren’t going to be thrown away. They just wouldn’t be prime time television.    

Elliot squirmed, trying to stay still. “It’s Mr. Evans. You made a partnership last year. He helped manufacture the new drones and wants to share updates before the Q5 launch.”

“Right, right,” Vox said, and he instantly remembered who he was. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Thank you, sir,” Elliot said. He was near shaking. 

With a sigh, Vox asked, “What’s the matter?”

Elliot looked at him with widening eyes, shocked.

“Out with it.”

The eel rubbed his hands together. “Sir, I don’t mean to intrude, but your office is freezing.”

“Freezing?” Vox looked around. He wasn’t expecting this to come out of his assistant’s mouth. 

“Yes, sir. It feels like it can’t be more than fifty degrees °F in here.”

“That can’t be true–” But Vox shut right up when he saw the temperature say 45. 

He found the other parts of V tower to be uncomfortably hot. He was suffering in Valentino’s room last night. The wings added extra heat he didn’t want to deal with. Seemed like Val noticed somehow…

Vox unconsciously looked at his sharks. They were used to the warm temperature that was the standard, but they had the ability to adapt to a change in temp. It’d be hard to notice a difference with them.

“I’ll be off then,” Elliot said, rushing to get out of the room. “I’ll tell Mr. Evans to be in position for you.”

Vox quickly got his last-minute affairs in order. He emailed a couple people on their pilot scripts, set up a few meetings, and briefly checked up on a few analytics from his sales. 

The change in temperature was a slap to the face when he got to his studio. With the cameras, lights, monitors, and crew, it was stuffy. 

Evans was sitting on a chair on the set. He was a hellborn shark demon from the Greed ring. He owned a factory and Vox ensured all the materials got there safely for him to utilize. Since Vox was bound within the Pride ring, Evans had to be the one going back and forth.  

Vox poured himself some iced coffee from craft services to cool down. He hated how sweet it was, until he realized he poured himself a latte. 

He flagged Elliot down and handed it to him without an explanation.

Vox finally sat down on his couch for a soundcheck. He and Evans shook hands and briefly talked while the crew got everything ready.

The makeup and costume team went to work without disturbing them, straightening Vox’s bowtie, ensuring there were no creases in his jacket, and even made sure Evans was looking right. 

The props team placed a water bottle on the round table near Evans and gave Vox his mug of americano. The drone prototype was placed beautifully on display.

After testing out the sound and making sure the cameras were working, the director asked Vox if it was okay to start. With a simple thumbs up, they were ready to go.

“Rolling in three, two, one…”

Vox watched the teleprompter and began. 

Thirty minutes into the interview, Vox began to zone out. Evans was talking about his upbringing and how he wanted to build things, and this is how he got his company. 

He looked at the live studio audience while he sipped his coffee. 

“...how about I show them what it can do?”

Vox caught that the question was being directed at him, so he quickly said, “Let’s see the magic.”

Evans got up and started explaining the different parts of the drone, and Vox was actually impressed. 

“You can use a remote, but also it can be controlled with your VoxTek phones,” Evans explained.

There were oohs and ahs coming from the audience. 

Evans turned it on and started controlling it with his phone. The media team set up a three-camera view. There was the standard screen with Vox and Evan, a view of what the drone saw, and one screen showing Evan’s phone.

While the drone went up, Vox felt some tingling in his antennae. A spark of electricity sparked from the tip and dispersed in the air.

Vox cursed to himself. He looked around, wondering what his body was reacting to. His eyes caught the drone, which was beginning to spark.

Every time that the drone sparked out, Vox felt electricity race through him which made him shutter. Why was this happening?

“Seems like we’re getting some technical difficulties,” Vox said through gritted teeth. He made a sign to the director to cut to commercial. Evans didn’t notice a thing and continued to play with the drone.

“And we’re off,” the director said quickly. “What happened?”

Right when he asked that, Vox and the drone short circuited at the same time.

The drone fell to the floor, but Evans managed to dive to catch it in time. 

Vox crumpled to the floor, but no one was there to catch him.     

When he came to, there were a few audience members gasping. Elliot and the director were right by his side, sitting him up.

“Sir, are you alright?” Elliot asked.

“Shoot,” Vox grumbled. He stood up quickly and brushed off his jacket. “How long was I down?”

“Not even twenty seconds,” the director said.

“Alright.” With that Vox walked to where the audience was sitting. They looked at him expectantly. 

His eye began swirling and he made sure each and every guest was locked in on him. His internal fans kicked in as he exerted himself in the stuffy room, but he finally got everyone’s eyes swirling back at him.

“That was a great show, am I right?” He spoke to them. “It was perfect in every way.”

Once he was sure they were properly hypnotized, he released them. The audience snapped back to attention and cheered when they realized Vox was next to them.

A young imp girl was waving her VoxTek phone from the front row. He grabbed her phone, turned on the camera, and swiped a couple selfies of himself and the audience behind him. The girl was beaming with excitement.

He gave the phone back to her and winked. 

The crowd cheered and he walked off satisfied with his damage control. 

***

The day went by so slow for Velvette. 

The work she had to do was so tedious. There were a lot of measurements to be taken. A lot of fabric orders needed to be placed. And there were auditions for her next fashion show. 

She noticed a dip in the number of hellhounds that were buying her clothes from the last release. Her top buyers were sinners and succubus. 

So, Velvette and Melissa had an open call audition for some hellhound models to walk the runway. This time she wanted to make sure the collection appealed to all in hell. 

She was satisfied with the turnout, and pleased with all who she chose, but Velvette was exhausted. 

She wanted to check the tracking for the goodies she bought with Vox’s money, but she knew none of them even shipped yet. 

After that heartbreaking reality, Velvette decided to research which club the Vees would grace their presence with tonight. 

They could go to one of many clubs that Valentino ran, but she wanted a change of scenery. 

She told her voys to dress to impress, so something classy was a must. There needed to be good cocktails, she wanted a couple pictures to post. 

Velvette narrowed it down to two clubs. She sent the links in the group chat.

Velvette: Pick between these or else.

Valentino answered almost immediately. 

Piss Baby: Oooh I like the vibe of the second one.

Velvette: Isn’t it the hottest thing ever?

Piss Baby: Those drinks are calling my name. Counting down the hours.

Velvette: Imma go get ready soon.

Piss Baby: Right behind you!!!

Vox answered thirty minutes later.

Flat Faced Prince: Seems like The Aphrodisiac is the chosen one. 

Velvette: Boooooring.

Velvette shut her phone off and started packing up for the day. There was about three hours before they had to leave, and Velvette wasn’t sure that was enough time to get ready. 

“Hey, Vel,” Melissa caught up to Velvette before she left. “Shipment should be in by tomorrow morning. “It might be a late start for you, so I’ll have them all sorted for you.”

“Thank you, Mel,” Velvette said. “Remember, by texture and by color.”

“Absolutely.”

She left Melissa to lock up her studio and she walked to her room.

There was a couple outfits Velvette was debating about wearing, so they were already set out on the bed.

She took her time trying on the different outfits, already picturing in her mind the hairstyle and makeup that would accompany them.

The chosen look was a sleek one sleeve crop top in black, and a royal pink mini pencil skirt to match. Her makeup took her one hour to make sure the intricate eyeliner design came out perfect. And for her hair, she put it into a sleek low bun.

Velvette was ready to go. 

She texted the group chat to see where they were at in the process. 

Velvette: Ready whenever.

She attached a selfie of her makeup, quite proud of how it came out with the time restraints. 

Flat Face Prince: The car is outside. You look great, Vel.

Piss Baby: You look like a million bucks. I’m downstairs. 

The fact that Valentino didn’t send a picture back made her curious. Vox she could understand. He wasn’t that into fashion. But Valentino…he was a different story.

She made her way downstairs, walking confidently in her ten-inch stilettos. 

Velvette saw Vox first. He was wearing a satin V-neck long sleeve top in the color navy, tucked casually into black dress pants. She was surprised at how well he cleaned up.

Valentino crept out from behind the wall. He was wearing a sheer black lace bodysuit with hints of gold, with low rise black pants to show off his hip bones.

Velvette snapped a couple selfies of them as a group, they exchanged some compliments, and then shuffled into the car.

Vox sat in the front by the driver, while Velvette and Valentino were in the back. 

Valentino passed out tiny liquor bottles to drink on the way to the club. It was a must to be a little buzzed.

They each downed it like a shot and chatted about their day. Velvette couldn’t help but be grateful to have Vox and Val by her side. She wasn’t able to say the same thing in life.

***

Nineteen-year-old Vienna nervously paced around the room. Her head was hurting because the braids were way too tight, but her friends said it looked better up in a ponytail.

She just got off Instagram live, doing a mini haul of designer brands she bought. There was a lot of engagement, but she couldn’t shake the nausea creeping within her.

“Take another shot and relax,” her best friend Noelle snapped. “You’re acting like you’ve never done this before.”

“I haven’t!” Vienna snapped. She took the shot glass and downed it. She hated the way it burned her throat. “I’ve never been in a club before. What if they find out?”

“With you shaking and shivering, they might catch you,” her other friend, Bethany retorted. “Two million followers but still acting childish.”

Vienna’s “friends” were both 21 and up, and she met them online. The three of them were big on social media. Noelle was popular for traveling around popular cities and trying food. Bethany got big doing makeup tutorials. Vienna enjoyed fashion and doing “Get Ready with Me” videos.

There was a spontaneous decision where the two older girls decided to go to the club and wanted to drag Vienna with them. They prepared a fake ID for her and everything. Now they just needed her to get past the bouncer.

Vienna tugged on her skirt. The texture made her uncomfortable. She didn’t like the way it rose up her legs every step she took. 

Bethany did her makeup despite Vienna’s protests. The lip color and eyeshadow clashed against her dark skin, but they were running late. She couldn’t fix it up.

As they rode in the uber to the club, Vienna felt a rumbling in her gut telling her it was a bad idea. She looked at her two friends.

Noelle was crossfaded and was acting off. Bethany was on her phone texting people.

When they got to the front of the line to the club, the bouncer’s eyes went straight to Vienna.

Noelle nudged her quickly, hinting that she needed to get to work.

Vienna quickly straightened up, making her chest appear larger, and hiked her skirt up a tad.

“Hey ladies, how are you all doing tonight?” the bouncer asked with crisp eyes. He had a kind smile and was holding a Bluetooth speaker. 

“We’re good,” Noelle giggled. “I absolutely love the music you’re playing. Hip-hop is my favorite.”

Vienna was impressed at how quickly Noelle went to work wooing the bouncer. Hopefully with this, they’d get out of paying the entrance fee.

“Ladies, I need to check your IDs real quick,” the bouncer said after some small talk. 

The IDs were checked one by one, and Vienna was last. She handed it over with a still hand and a confident expression.

When the bouncer locked eyes with her she smiled warmly.

He smiled back and handed the ID to her.

“Have a great night, ladies. It’s on me.”

When Vienna got inside the club she deflated in relief. “Guys, it worked!”

“Of course it worked,” Bethany rolled her eyes. “No one makes fakes better than my guy.”

The music was so loud and there were a lot of people dancing in their midst. 

Bethany spoke up again. “I’m gonna go. My girl wants to meet up with me.”

“WHAT?” Vienna turned back quickly.

At the same time, Noelle yelled out, “Okay see you later, girl!”

The building was huge, and it was packed to the brim with dancing bodies. With the dim lights it was hard to see where to go.

“So do you want to dance?” Vienna asked when Bethany left.

“I was planning to sit at the bar and wait for some guy to talk to me.” Noelle spoke without joking.

Vienna wanted to say she was concerned since she already drank and smoked, but Noelle was already walking away.

She absolutely did not want to be sitting around at the bar, but she was nervous to hit the dance floor alone. 

“Why did you even ask me to come?” Vienna asked. Due to the loud music, her voice was drowned out. 

She felt anger build within her but also frustration. She had a hard time connecting with her colleagues in university. She was even thinking about dropping out and becoming a full-time influencer. 

Vienna worked so hard trying to build and maintain online friendships and was overjoyed when Noelle and Bethany accepted her requests. 

Seeing them leave her in the dust left a bad taste in her mouth. 

However, she wasn’t going to let this ruin her night. After one final tug of her skirt, she walked boldly into the dance floor. There were a couple of girls dancing together.

Vienna started dancing. She allowed the music to carry her. Her love of free expression, great music, and sense of community overpowered her feelings of awkwardness and rejection.

She was going to make it work tonight.

***

The Vees got to The Aphrodisiac after some time. The traffic was particularly bad this time of night, and the club was in a different location than their usual strip of clubs and bars. Vox ended up napping along the way, and Valentino and Velvette made sure to tease him about being an old man. Velvette snapped many pictures for blackmail.

Valentino slipped out of the car, stretching out his limbs. Vox and Velvette waited for him to finish his routine.

“Let’s go, ladies,” Velvette said, starting her walk through the front door. Not wanting to be upstaged, Valentino linked arms with Vox and dragged him forward.

“How are you doing today, papi?”

“Good,” Vox said immediately, but then he froze for a split second like he was forgetting something. “Nah, I’m good.”

Valentino found that a bit strange, especially after the mess that happened last night. But Velvette said he looked fine so Valentino would take her word for it.

They were greeted as soon as they walked through the door by the club staff. Some of the cocktail servers walked up to them and extended an arm. Valentino kissed the back of their palms and continued on.

He felt Vox tug him a little closer. Valentino hid a smirk.

Velvette found them a booth that gave them a perfect view of the dance floor and was very close to the bar. 

“I’m thinking we start off with a couple shots to celebrate Vox’s deal,” Velvette said. She shrugged off her light jacket and placed it next to her purse. 

“If we could not bring up that deal, then I’ll celebrate,” Vox said with a frown. His arm somehow moved from being linked with Val’s to being wrapped around his waist. 

“C’mon V,” Velvette said. “That’s one of the main reasons why we came.”

Vox sighed and sat across from Velvette.

“I’ll go get the shots,” Valentino sang. “Check the menu for our real drinks though.”

He turned without waiting for a response. Vox was acting like a Debbie downer but that’d change after he warmed up a bit.

The bartender saw Valentino coming near, so he finished attending to a sinner across from him.

“What can I get you, Mr. Valentino?” 

Valentino pushed up his glasses to get a good look at the bartender. He looked freshly killed. He was tall too. Maybe later he’d convince him to leave this job and come work for him. 

“Give me 3 shots of Fireball, and 3 shots of tequila to wash it down. Make ‘em chilled.”

“Absolutely sir. Lime or lemon? Salt or sugar?” 

“We’re going bare on these.”

The bartender went to work quickly. He set out the glasses and poured the drinks to the brim without spilling.

“Your drinks, sir.”

Valentino was actually impressed. With his four large hands, he handled the 6 drinks with ease. He set them on the table and sat right next to Velvette.

He bit his lip from laughing at Vox’s frown again.

Velvette took one sniff and folded her arms. “A Fireball…really?”

“Look, we need to ease into it,” Valentino chuckled. “I also got tequila, don’t worry.”

“You better have!” She pushed two drinks to Vox. “C’mon let’s down ‘em.”

The three of them held up their Fireballs, cheered, and downed them. 

The cinnamon whiskey burned nicely down his throat. He watched the other two recover quickly, each grabbing their second shot.

Once their glasses were empty the club truly seemed to come to life now. The music magically got louder, and the colored lights got more vibrant.

“Scooch out the way,” Velvette said, pushing against him. “I want to put our orders in for the cocktails. I got Vox’s order. What do you want?” 

“Get me a hurricane please.”

Velvette cringed. “How are you never getting hangovers with those sweet ass drinks?”

“A man never shares his secrets.”

Valentino watched Velvette walk off, and then turned to look at Vox. 

His screen light was dim, and he was slumped against the seat. 

“Vox are you awake?” Valentino asked. He reached over the table and shook his shoulder.

Vox jolted upright, electricity bouncing off him. If Valentino left his hand any longer, he would have gotten shocked. 

“Why are you so tired today?”

“I’m not!” Vox barked back. He tipped his empty shot glasses back into his mouth, trying to get any last drops.

“What drink did you decide to get?”

“Death in the Afternoon.”

“Whooooa,” Valentino said. “I didn’t know you were an absinthe fan.”

Vox looked at him disappointedly. “Val, yes you did.”

“Aw c’mon Voxy. I’m just making small talk.” 

Valentino leaned forward from his seat and pecked at Vox’s screen. After a few moments of sulking, he gave in and kissed him back. As their tongues twisted around, Valentino could clearly taste something metallic. 

“GROSS!” a voice yelled out.

Valentino turned and saw Velvette standing in front of them holding her phone. She was snapping what sounded like hundreds of pictures.

Velvette slid back into her spot without Valentino even having to move this time. 

“I told the bartender to make them quickly because I wanna dance soon.”

Valentino sat back down. “Yeah, a few great songs came and went. There better not be any lame songs when I get up there.”

“After our drinks, it won’t matter what song is playing,” Vox said with a laugh. 

“True.”

“Fair.” 

A cocktail server came with their drinks after a few minutes. The yellowish green drink was placed in front of Vox. Valentino’s orange and red hurricane was set on the table adorned with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Velvette’s orange-pink drink was set down. It had a lime slice and a sprig of mint. She said it was the Old Cuban. 

Despite wanting to rush out on the dance floor, the Vees spent quite a long time talking, laughing, and drinking. Slowly but surely, they went from tipsy to drunk. Each of them had a couple cocktails to their name.

Vox was an emotional drunk, he got needy and clingy as time went on. He found his way to Valentino and Velvette’s side of the booth. He was leaning into Valentino’s fluff while his clawed hand was gripping his waist, not letting go.

Valentino was a touchy drunk. He got even more seductive than when he was sober. He had four hands, and he used them. Three of those arms were on Vox, under his shirt, in his pants, and on his antenna. His other hand gently patted Velvette on her back. He was great at multitasking.

As for Velvette, she was a talker. She babbled about the nonsense she saw online, annoying people she met around Pride, and all the stuff she bought with Vox’s money. Valentino missed quite a bit of things she said since she spoke quickly, but she didn’t seem to notice. 

When the music changed to a particular song, the three Vees perked up. They didn’t even need to say anything. They scrambled from the booth and out onto the dance floor.

Valentino’s head was spinning but it only added to the experience. 

***

Vox danced for the first time in a long time. 

He was a bit stiff and awkward at first, but then it slowly became natural to him. The months he spent working and away from the club didn’t erase the muscle memory he built over the years. 

The exhaustion tried to creep in throughout the day, but the music definitely helped keep it at bay. He had a little too much to drink. He got a couple warning messages from his code about instability. 

But was he unstable or just drunk? He went with the latter.

Seeing the look on Velvette and Valentino’s faces was worth all this. He decided that when he got sober and settled for a bit at the tower, maybe he’d run some diagnostics to see how his systems were doing.   

Vox danced up behind Valentino, grabbing at the skin of his hip bones. Val knew what he was doing with those low-rise pants, and it drove Vox insane. 

Valentino looked back with a wide smile, continuing to dance onto him. 

Velvette was close by, moving perfectly to the music as if she was dancing to choreography. 

The three continued to dance. Once a not-so-great song started playing, Vox volunteered to go talk to the DJ.

The DJ listened intently to Vox, knowing who he was, and promised that the next song would get the blood pumping. Vox gave some suggestions and went back to find his group.

To his complete and utter horror, a disgusting sinner was dancing way too close to Valentino.

Vox stumbled a bit on a plastic cup and kicked it out of his way.

Valentino looked down at the sinner like he was food. He leaned down and whispered something in his ear.

That didn’t set Vox off, but the slimy hand that went on Valentino’s back did. 

Mind spinning, he raced forward, pushing the sinner back into an unsuspecting crowd. 

“Vox, what’s going on?” Valentino asked.

“Really?” Vox asked.

“Vox, relax,” Velvette commented. 

“Me? Relax? What–” 

The sinner that was pushed got up and slammed into Vox. 

He glitched out but stood his ground. “Excuse you?”

The sinner’s eyes were bloodshot, but then realization hit. “I…I’m so sorry. He just…I…”

“Shut up,” Vox said.

He grabbed the sinner’s shirt and started hypnotizing him.

“Vox, stop it alright,” Velvette said. She wasn’t dancing anymore. And she wasn’t smiling.

As much as it pained him to see her unhappy, this was crazy. “W-w-why are y-y-you defending this trash?”

“Vox it wasn’t anything se–” Valentino started.

“I don’t want to hear it from you.”

Vox’s head was spinning. He felt hot, and sick, and wobbly on his feet. The adrenaline mixed with the alcohol spelled disaster. 

“Vox?” he heard a distorted voice. It was way too far away. It sounded like it was underwater.

It seemed like the very few lights that were in the club shut off, because it was pitch black. Why was no one else freaking out about this?

Was it an attack?

Something was placed on his shoulder. He let electricity fly and heard a delayed scream. 

It sounded miles away again.

A glitchy popup came up on his screen.

Audio Processing: Fail.

Visual Processing: Fail.

Oh shit. He felt around his environment in the dark, trying to detect any cameras or wires. This must have been a newer place, because Vox didn’t remember setting up any here. 

A shuddering glitch ran through him and so did the alcohol.

A problem has been detected and VOX has been shut down to prevent damage to his systems. 

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: MALWARE.EXE. 

That was the last thing he saw before his face hit the floor.

***

Velvette didn’t even have time to react before the trainwreck unfolded.

One second Valentino was sweet talking a sinner to get him to sell his soul and join him, and the next second Vox came barreling in like a bull.

He was clearly upset, glitching and stuttering, and not making any sense. 

Vox didn’t look good at all, Velvette realized. 

When he froze holding onto the sinner’s shirt, she knew something was very wrong. Vox had a blank look in his expression, like his eyes weren’t seeing anything.

Then his screen started flickering like a light switch. Each time it flickered, it got dimmer and dimmer.

Velvette called out to him, but he didn’t react.

The sinner pulled his shirt free and slipped back into the staring crowd.

Valentino placed a hand on Vox’s shoulder, trying to get his attention.

She watched in horror as Vox electrocuted him. Valentino’s fluff shot up as he screamed and backed away. His hand was burnt. 

He walked to her side, still holding onto his burnt hand. It seemed like a lot of electricity. What was Vox thinking? He treated Valentino like an enemy!

Vox’s expression changed slightly. His eyes danced around and there was fear written all over it. But it happened in just a second.

Moments later his screen was replaced with the text code:

A problem has been detected and VOX has been shut down to prevent damage to his systems. 

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: MALWARE.EXE. 

Malware?

Vox’s body shook as a glitch ran through it, and he heaved out all of his alcohol. Sinners moved out of the way to avoid the splash zone. 

He then collapsed, screen making a direct impact with the hard floor. 

The sound of glass shattering was so crisp. So clear. 

The music crawled to a halt. The lights turned back on.

And Velvette and Valentino were frozen in shock seeing Vox on the ground.

Chapter Text

If it wasn’t for Vox’s fans whirring or the slight static in the air, you’d be able to hear a pin drop.

The Vees were in the car riding back home. Velvette sat across from Valentino, who held Vox on his lap…in his arms.

Valentino’s expression was…interesting. It didn’t show anger, or fear. It was just still. He wasn’t looking at Vox. He stared out the window.

So Velvette decided to look at Vox. His screen was shattered into a million tiny pieces. This time it couldn’t heal on its own. It needed to be completely replaced by his tech team.

He was limp in Val’s hold, head bent at an awkward angle. She wanted to tell him to support Vox more, but she was still shellshocked from the scene that just occurred.

Vox’s designer clothes were wrinkled and soaked with puke and sweat and whatever liquids machines naturally produced. She tried ignoring the thick black goo slowly trailing down the broken cracks.

Velvette looked down, but then she saw his wilted claws. Usually bright, they seemed to have lost their light.

Her eyes darted to Valentino’s burnt hand. It was the only one not touching Vox. It rested on the cushion beside him.

“Val.” Velvette tested the waters. She was disgusted at how tight and quiet her voice was.

Valentino didn’t even blink.

“Val,” she spoke a bit louder.

What was she even going to tell him? So much happened quickly in that short time.

Then her mind remembered something.

“Remember Vox’s screen?” she asked. “It said malware. What was that about?”

Valentino slowly turned to look at Velvette, eyes sweeping briefly to Vox before finding her.

“Val, say something.”

He did just that. “What is there to say? We both saw it. Hell, everyone at the club saw it.”

Velvette didn’t say anything because it seemed like he was going to continue.

“We both noticed he was off. He said he was fine. We moved on. Now it came to bite us in the ass.”

Was he angry? Velvette was trying to read his tone. She did sense anger, which was justified, but there was more there.

Valentino’s glasses were askew on his face. “We saw the signs…but we ignored them.”

“Ignore is a stretch,” Velvette tried to counter. “Vox is a big boy who can take care of himself. Also, he deflected it any chance he got.”

She bit her lip to silence herself. It wasn’t about her so she didn’t need to be defending herself.

“...He shocked me.” Valentino said changing topics. “And it hurt like a bitch. It reminded me of when we didn’t know each other very well and we fought.”

Velvette was always curious about the stories of her voys before she joined them. She got the general idea, but some details slipped through.  

“It was a pretty good fight if I do say so myself, but Vox put me in my place in the end,” Valentino chuckled. “We vowed to not fight each other at 100% as long as we both remained partners.”

Unconsciously, while he was speaking, Valentino pulled Vox closer to have better support of his head.

When Velvette joined the Vees, she thought Vox and Val were this weird married couple. But then one day Val was so excited to share that Vox said they could date… again. And every few months they’d break up and start this weird ritual all over again.

Sometimes they’d break up over the dumbest things. Valentino looked at someone a little too long at the club so Vox broke it off. Vox wanted to focus on work (like the situation now), so they’d be on pause. Valentino would break it off if the sex was bad…which was rare but happened. Or if Vox did one of the many stupid things he always did that pissed Val off.

At the end of the day, they were partners through the good and the bad. And Velvette was happy to be part of the ride, sometimes giving her 2 cents if they both were unbearable for things to work out naturally.

“I could tell he wasn’t himself,” Velvette said. “He wouldn’t have shocked you if he knew it was you.”

“I know,” Valentino confirmed. “Still hurts though.”

The ride was unbearably slow. The traffic seemed to have gotten worse as the night went on.

“We need to do something about all those people at the club,” Velvette said after a while. She was looking out the window at a group of demons lining up to enter a bar.

“I could threaten them but once the videos are out it’s over,” Val said with a sigh. “You should comb through the apps and delete them as they come.”

Velvette nodded. “And once Vox is better he can personally hypnotize the people at the club to completely forget.”

When silence followed for a long time, Velvette turned to look at Valentino. He just looked back at her with a frown.

“What?” Velvette said, panic rising. “Is that not a good idea?”

“It’s a perfect idea…in theory,” he said. “I ignored you earlier but this malware thing has me thinking.”

Don’t think too hard . Velvette wanted to joke. Your brain will melt.

“Vox’s little techies will clean the malware,” Velvette said. “Should be simple enough.”

“If it was simple it would’ve already been dealt with, no?”

And that was one of the smartest statements Val said tonight. Velvette was rendered speechless.

She looked back down to Vox whose fans had turned off.

“How is he?” she asked.

“Cold.”

“Cold?”

“Yeah,” Valentino said. “When he’s burning up that means he’s at least putting up a fight. He’s out cold and freezing to the touch.”

Velvette expected Valentino to be freaking out, but he seemed really calm. It weirdly impressed her.

Not thinking too much about it, Velvette leaned forward and grabbed Vox’s dangling hand.

She felt sharpness immediately spreading throughout her palm, and Velvette feared Vox had remnants of electricity that needed to be unleashed.

But she trusted her gut and didn’t let go, and no shock occurred. Because his hand was ice cold, it felt painful, but her warmth warmed him.

“Come over here,” Valentino said after watching Velvette’s actions carefully. He used his burnt hand to gesture her over.

She unbuckled her belt and sat over by Valentino’s left side. Since Vox was sprawled out, she ended up moving his legs so they rested over her lap, and Valentino fully held his head. She resumed holding onto Vox’s hand.

Being closer, she could smell Valentino’s amazing perfume, but also a sour metallic scent permeating from Vox. 

She rested her head on his fluff and they both sat in silence for the rest of the way home.

***

When the car pulled up very close to the entrance of the V tower, Valentino made sure Vox was completely covered with his wings.

Velvette texted Elliot to scrounge up Vox’s personal tech team, and make sure they were ready for when they arrived.

As they walked into the building, Valentino tried not to let his mind wander more than it already did. The events of the night sobered him up, and he was sure the same could’ve been said for Velvette.

When Valentino picked Vox up from the club floor, he was absolutely pissed. His hand was throbbing, he lost a potential dealmaker, and Vox ended up like…that. But more than anything else, Valentino was mad at Vox for doubting him.

“I don’t want to hear it from you.”

Vox had said that. And his eyes held hurt and frustration.

Valentino adored when Vox was jealous. That meant Vox held him closer, watched him more, and ensured that the masses knew who Valentino belonged to.

But what Vox said…it was clear he didn’t believe Valentino shared the same feelings.

Valentino could hear Velvette rushing after him, tall heels clanking on the smooth floor. He unwrapped his wings to get a glimpse of his partner in his arms.

Even if Vox were to wake up–he wouldn’t–the cracks on his screen would make his face obscure.

He gently stroked the side of Vox’s head while he waited for the elevator.

“Elliot said everyone is ready for him,” Velvette said after catching up with Valentino.

They went down to Vox’s floor in silence, and were faced with Elliot when the doors opened.

“Mr. Valentino! Ms. Velvette,” he greeted quickly. “Please come this way.”

They all walked into Vox’s bedroom, but then Elliot took them to a side room. He opened the door and they stepped into what looked like a small control room with a medical bed.

There were screens all over the walls that Valentino didn’t understand the contents they were displaying.

Right by the bed was a small team of three aquatic demons.

Valentino placed Vox on the bed. He started looking around the room a bit more but quickly turned back to see the demons stripping Vox of his shirt.

There was a big box of cords that one of the techies was rummaging around in.

He began plugging Vox to the wire and connecting it to one of the monitor screens. His vitals popped up.

Valentino didn’t know much about medical stuff, but he knew seeing the text in bright red was not a good sign.

Because Vox’s biology was so weird being part machine and part human, he needed 2 different ways to be monitored. An IV was placed in his arm after they searched many times for a vein. After they secured him to the other health monitors, Val could see that Vox’s heart rate was low and blood pressure was plummeting.

The three techies got to work trying to stabilize Vox, completely ignoring Valentino and Velvette in the process.

One of the techs was writing out complex code on a computer Vox was hooked up to. Valentino watched at how fast he was typing. Despite getting error messages, the tech stayed glued to the screen and was unwavering.

Another tech worked on stabilizing his bio side. She injected him with a clear liquid while placing a cuff on his forearm.

The last tech worked on Vox’s hardware. He was carefully picking off the glass that embedded into Vox’s head. There was a brand new glass panel on the table.

 Elliot stood to the side nervously.

There was a tug on Valentino’s arm, and he saw it was Velvette pulling him to the back wall. They took a seat.

“I texted them about the malware so they’re on it,” she told him. “All we can do is wait.”

“Waiting is something I can do,” Valentino replied.

I’ll wait for as long as I need to.

***

Carmen Valentine loved hanging out with his best friend Emilio.

They both just turned sixteen and summer was just starting. Carmen picked bananas straight from the tree and placed them in his basket.

They found a nice grassy spot on the hill and laid out their blanket.

It was strange. Every year, summer started on the same day, but it felt different this time.

The sun was brighter than it had been the years before. The bananas were sweeter and the air was fresher.

He looked over at Emilio, who was distracted by a butterfly that landed near the picnic basket.

Emilio laughed, and Carmen was mesmerized by the way Emilio’s eyes crinkled and his head tipped back. Loose brown curls fell back as he laughed.

“Looks like it wants to eat with us,” Emilio said. He turned to look at Carmen.

His heart was beating so fast. Carmen peeled a banana and handed it to him.

“There’s enough to share.”

They came out here because Carmen wanted to cheer Emilio up. You wouldn’t know Emilio was in constant pain because he was always smiling.

He finished up treatment a few days ago, right before summer started.

Carmen couldn’t picture a life without Emilio in it. They met in primary school and stuck together like glue.

Emilio was diagnosed with a disease at the end of middle school, and had been dealing with chronic pain since then. But throughout it all, he was by Carmen’s side.

He was there when Carmen started dating this girl in high school. He was there when he broke up with her a year later.

Carmen was starting to think about Emilio as a little more than just a best friend. He liked when they held hands when no one was looking. When they hung out, Carmen would shift to be right next to Emilio whenever possible. They even shared a bed.

Being family friends, they could get away with all that.

But Carmen wanted more. He didn’t want to hide anymore.

“What’s on your mind Valentine?” Emilio loved calling him his middle name.

Valentine’s day became Carmen’s favorite holiday, because Emilio said it belonged to him.

“Do you like the bananas I caught?” Carmen asked.   

“Caught?” Emilio chuckled. “Like a fish?”

Carmen blushed. “It was hard to find the ripe ones.”

“I love the bananas you caught.”  

Emilio took his time peeling the banana, inspecting it to make sure there wasn’t a dark spot.

“It’s perfect.”

What was perfect was Emilio’s pink lips, his warm brown eyes, and his suntanned skin.

Carmen, at the time, did not notice Emilio’s fatigue, lack of appetite, or pain.

They peeled bananas, taking bites and talking in between. The boys got closer as the day went on, sun rising and then beginning to set.

“Emilio,” Carmen started after swallowing a chunk of banana.

“Yes, Valentine?”

Carmen’s hands were sweaty. He wiped them on his pants and took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to let fear hold him back.

“On the first day of Summer, I want to tell you what I’ve been feeling for the past few years.”

Emilio looked at him warmly.

“Emilio, you are my sun. You’ve always been there to support me growing up. I still remember the day we found each other as kids. You walked into the classroom, sat down right next to me, and asked me for my full name. From then on we were inseparable. And together we’re growing up as men. You make the hard days bearable. The world may be dark, but with you it’s a little brighter. A little kinder.”

Carmen watched as Emilio’s eyes became glassy and he looked at him in shock.

“I’ve had feelings for you long before I even realized it. And I can’t hold back on my feelings anymore. I…I like you Emilio.” 

Carmen wasn’t sure what he said after that. His mind went blank as he continued to babble, repeating some stuff, and adding some details elsewhere. But through it all, Emilio listened patiently with a smile.

After Carmen finished, Emilio pulled him into a tight hug.

Carmen could feel how boney Emilio was, despite eating the bananas he picked.

“That is very sweet of you, Valentine,” Emilio said after wiping a tear. “You mean a lot to me too. But I think we should wait and see.”

“What?” Carmen asked, feeling like cold water was dumped over him. “Wait for what?”

“I…have a surgery coming up in a few weeks. It’s in the United States. The recovery time is going to be long apparently.” Emilio smiled and tucked a stray curl behind his ear.

“I want to focus on that first. After that, it’s fair game. Do you think you can wait for me?” Emilio asked.

“I’ll wait for as long as I need to!” Carmen said. It wasn’t a flat-out rejection. And the way Emilio said it was so loving. He’d wait no problem.

Emilio leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Carmen’s cheek. They felt cracked but still perfect.

“Just something to hold you over while you wait.”

The sun had fully set by then.

***

Carmen Valentine waited but he didn’t get the response he was expecting.

There was a complication with the surgery. Emilio’s parents broke down as they explained. Emilio did not survive.

Emilio came back, but only so they could all say farewell one last time.

Carmen was numb. His black suit was too big since he had to borrow it from someone else. Emilio’s parents were grieving. Carmen was not on good terms with his family so he was alone but surrounded by acquaintances.

No one was going to call him Valentine anymore.

The holiday was tarnished for him.

The bananas were going to go bad.

Carmen had two selfish desires that were the extremes. One, he wished Emilio said yes. They could have dated for the few weeks Emilio had left. Carmen would have been able to say I love you to him so many times so it seared in his mind. Two, he wished he never met Emilio. If Emilio was removed from Carmen’s life it’d be complete shit. He gave him hope and now the rug was pulled out from under him. Now he had nowhere to go but down.

A deep, deep, part of him was trying to convince him that the time he and Emilio had together was worth it. But right now, it hurt too much to care.

So Carmen Valentine said goodbye to Emillio.

And turned around and never looked back.

***

Velvette noticed that Valentino dozed off after a while. She blamed it all on the alcohol as she tapped on his shoulder.

Her heels were off and placed to the side. They were starting to pinch her heel.

Val opened his eyes slowly and looked down at Velvette.

“They said he’s stable,” Velvette told him. “Since they have medical stuff here I told them to heal you too.”

They walked over to where Vox was and one of the tech assistants held out a salve and a bandage. After getting Valentino sorted they turned to the elephant in the room.

“So, give us the update,” Velvette said.

There was only this one techie in the room. Elliot and the 2 others left after stabilizing Vox and realizing Velvette and Valentino were not leaving.

“It looks like the malware just mixed with stress, overwork, and alcohol which caused him to shut down like this,” the techie explained.

“Hold on a second,” Valentino said. “Just? As if it’s not that serious?”

The tech assistant looked up at Valentino curiously. “Yeah, no, I mean it’s serious but the malware does that. I’m saying the other stressors made it worse.”

“The malware,” Valentino repeated.

At first Velvette wasn’t sure where he was coming from, but then it clicked.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “You’re making it sound like it’s a constant.”

The aquatic demon looked at Velvette and then glanced up at Valentino. “Wait…Vox didn’t tell you?”

As soon as the techie said that, he froze with widened eyes. With the look in his eye, Velvette had the idea that he knew he screwed up.

“He absolutely did NOT tell us about the malware,” Velvette said angrily. “But can’t you just remove it? Clean him up like a phone.”

The demon looked like he was going to pass out from fear. He was withholding information, probably something Vox already knew. He had an obligation under Vox, but the Vees held more power than this techie, and right now Vox was unresponsive.

The demon spoke slowly. “I am afraid I cannot do that.”

What’s your name?” Valentino asked.

The techie froze, petrified that giving up his name was essentially giving up his life.

“Just say it so I can address you,” Valentino snapped. His patience was running thin.

“I…it’s Ford, sir.” the demon said. “Please just know that Mr. Vox puts a lot of trust in me and my team. I’d really apprec–”

“Ford,” Valentino said. “Why can’t you remove the malware?”

After looking at a passed out Vox for a lifeline and receiving nothing, and calculating his odds, Ford began explaining.

“Vox has a condition....it must have spawned from when he just started out in hell. Having a TV as a head made it difficult to get around. And constantly switching monitors allowed for mishaps to happen. That's why he hired me and the others.”

Velvette took all that in. “What condition?”

Ford sighed. “This is a virus that attacks all his inner workings...the machine parts of him. Slowing them down, making them ineffective to the point of total collapse.”

Velvette and Valentino turned to look at each other abruptly. They wanted to make sure they both heard it correctly. 

“This couldn't have just spawned out of nowhere,” Valentino said, actually trying to think if that was possible.

“He doesn't tell me much, but I suspect he was part of a bad crowd when he just got to hell. Maybe someone had ill intentions. Made promises they never intended to keep and took advantage of him. Did irreparable damage and now he has to suffer the consequences.”

This Ford grunt really knew all this information? It seemed like every day Velvette was learning something new about Vox and Valentino despite living under one roof for years. 

“But he never told me that.” Valentino said what Velvette was thinking. “I was there when he had different TV model heads. I saw him switch them out and even helped out.”

“It probably predated you.” Ford said it so matter-of-factly it made Velvette’s frown deeper.

“Okay but how come he hadn't endured total collapse?” Velvette asked. “He may glitch and stuff but surprisingly he always bounces back.”

Ford walked over to the computer with the wall of code on it.

“Mr. Vox and I worked on a code that acts somewhat as a crutch. As long as the code is updated and running, Vox’s body will be maintained. He gets to very low points but he won't break down like an old phone.”

Valentino asked, “What was up with those error messages earlier then? Was it the malware fighting back?”

Ford nodded. “I just wanted to get his body up and running again so I cut some corners. It’s a longer healing time but better than nothing.”

Velvette glanced at Vox’s still form on the bed. The vitals all around him looked stable, and a shiny new screen was applied. Valentino didn’t look thrilled though.

“So if I'm understanding this right, because he's been overworking his body like mad trying to hit impossible deadlines this virus is wreaking havoc and causing severe side effects?”

Velvette looked at Valentino as he spoke. She could feel anger radiating off him again.

“Yes,” Ford said simply.

“So if that didn't happen he probably would have never told us about this serious ailment he has to suffer with?” Valentino asked.

Ford seemed to have sense the anger too because he softened his unemotional tone. “I can't speak for Vox but I do know he wanted me to swear to never mention this to anyone.”

Velvette placed a hand on Valentino’s arm.

“This virus attacks the mechanical parts of him,” she started. “Then what about his heart? Lungs? All the things that connect him with being human?”

“I suspect he'll just be trapped in an unmoving husk that was his body. And it doesn't matter how many times he updates the hardware. This virus is in his software. It's literally wrapped within the code of his being.”

Valentino tore away from Velvette’s grasp and walked up to the side of Vox’s bed.

“Val!” Velvette called out for him, but he just stood silently.

“I can give you three some privacy,” Ford said. “Mr. Vox is stable so only time is needed at this time. If any assistance is required please request for me and my team.”

Ford walked out of the control room. Once the door closed, Valentino yelled.

“How could you keep this from us!”

“He’s unconscious Val,” Velvette said, rushing to his side. “He can’t hear you.”

“Yes he can!” Valentino yelled again. “Vox…why?”

This was a lot to take in but both of them couldn’t be screaming. She had to be the rational one even though it hurt her too.

Keeping a huge secret like this was bold on Vox’s part. If this condition happened right when he got to hell, he suffered from this for many years.

“That’s why he was glitchy,” Valentino started. “That’s why he was stuttering. That’s why he wouldn’t turn on, or charge, or sleep with me. That’s why he got hot, got angry…got–”

“Val, enough,” Velvette said. She grabbed his arms and tried to pull him. He didn’t budge.

“I saw the signs but it still was too late.”

Valentino said it so quietly she almost missed it.

“What?” she asked.

“I noticed all of them,” Valentino answered. “But he still had to be resuscitated back to life basically.”

“He’s stable, Valentino. This is a good–”

“No,” Valentino said. “I should have said something earlier.”

“I thought you talked to him about it,” Velvette said. “Vox dismissed it, remember? We both addressed it.”

Valentino seemed to be frustrated that Velvette didn’t get it, but he wasn’t making any sense.

Let’s get Vox comfortable,” Valentino said. “Then I will explain.”

Valentino was very gentle with Vox as he wiped him down. He used a cloth to remove the grime from his skin.

The new screen was freshly polished so he left that alone.

Velvette came back from Vox’s room with a clean set of sky blue pajamas. These didn’t have shark decals, but they did have a fun pattern of waves.

She turned and gave them privacy as Valentino finished buttoning up the shirt and turned to work on his pants.

Once the soiled clothes were in the bin, Velvette and Valentino moved Vox over to his bedroom next door. Val held onto Vox while Velvette carried the wires and cords still attached to him.

After plugging everything back in and seeing his vitals stabilize once more, Valentino pulled Velvette back into the control panel room.

“It’s almost like you don't want Vox to hear,” Velvette said.

Valentino shut the door to make a point.

“Okay, I want to tell you about my time in the human world.”

“You really went into detail the last time about your time as a stripper,” Velvette said. “Oh or that thing you did to your family…”

“Vel,” Valentino snapped. “Now is not the time. I want to tell you something positive-ish for once.”

She looked up expectantly at him. Other than to text Elliot, or do a brief scan on social media, Velvette stayed off her phone the whole time. That proved to Valentino that she cared and was committed.

“When I was a teenager, I wanted to ask my best guy friend out. His name was Emilio, and we were childhood friends.”

Even after many years of being dead, the memory was seared into his mind. It didn’t help that he just dreamed about it like thirty minutes ago. Valentino thought that turning his back would’ve made him forget. That was not the case.

“He was suffering from a degenerative disease. I knew he had it but I ignored the signs. He said the treatments were working. I had hope that he’d overcome it. I confessed to him and he told me he wasn’t ready yet.”

Valentino still remembered the way the sunset was hitting Emilio’s brown hair. There were banana peels everywhere and the scent surrounded them.

“I told him I’d wait…but then he died. And I never got over that.”

There seemed to be acknowledgement in Velvette’s eyes. “This connects with Vox, doesn’t it?”

Valentino nodded. “Vox getting hurt like this made me think. I saw the signs that he wasn’t doing well. I didn’t press further. Then it got serious. What Vox has…it’s chronic at this point. And I want to be there for him.”

“Since you weren’t there for Emilio?” she asked.

“If Hell is real that means Emilio is in Heaven,” Valentino said with a small smile. “He really put up with me. Instead of me talking to him to see if he was good, I could only think about my little crush. He knew that and that’s why he said he was getting better.”

Velvette rubbed her arms. “And do you still have feelings for this Emilio guy?”

“When I fell in love with him I was just a boy. I am much different now than I was before.”

Valentino felt relieved getting to say this to someone. Because in life, no one even knew he liked Emilio. He pretended that he didn’t exist for his own mental health.

“Now I’m here and I met Vox and…I guess I’m catching some feelings for him.”

“You guess?” Velvette said with a hearty laugh. “I cannot believe you said that with a straight face.”

“Whaaaat?” Valentino asked.

“It’s obvious you’re in LOVE with him!”

“Lower your voice!”

“No!” Velvette snapped. “You both have been playing this weird cat and mouse game. This “should I should I not” bullshit! Is it the label that scares y’all? What is it?”

“Velvette!” Valentino dragged two hands down his face in horror, one of them being the bandaged one.

“It took Vox making a complete fool of himself for you to realize?”

Valentino slumped in defeat. He knew he lost this round because she was right. Vox broke up with Valentino right when Q3 ended so he could focus on his work. Valentino would have allowed it to happen if not for the malware rearing its head. He was just so comfortable in this weird routine that he lost sight of his truth.

“I can just see Emilio looking down at you and laughing his head off,” Velvette smirked at him. “He’s probably fully married to his lover, wondering if that childhood bestie of his ever found happiness.”

Valentino’s eyes widened in surprise. “Happiness?”

“Yes,” Velvette snapped. “You heard of it? You’re allowed to have happiness in Hell.”

It was an oxymoron. But in that moment Valentino could have sworn he felt the brief warmth of sunshine after years of never feeling it again.

“Good to know,” he said after looking up at the ceiling. “I’ll keep that in mind for one day.”

Velvette folded her arms. “Aren’t you going to confess to him?”

“One day, sure,” Valentino said.

Her eyebrow raised in questioning. “Seems like you didn’t understand.”

“Oh, I got it,” Valentino said. He gave a thumbs up for emphasis. “I just think my confession would be selfish at this time.”

“Selfish? Wow Valentino is thinking about someone other than himself? But I don’t think you should be wasting your opportunity either.”

Velvette meant well, but Valentino was sure about this 100%. He moved on from Emilio, but that didn’t mean he forgot his lesson.

“I want the opportunity to be perfect and I don’t want to have to wait once I’m ready. I want to get to know Vox. And I want him to get to know me. More than just being partners in crime. I am Valentino the overlord, but I’m also Carmen Valentine.”

“That’s your human name?” Velvette asked.

“That’s all you got from my beautiful speech?”

Velvette laughed and playfully punched his shoulder. “I hear you. I really do. Hopefully you two can work it out. Just know I think yall are weirdly good for each other. When you two are in sync you are unstoppable. It’s when you guys are petty things start to fall apart. Oh, and my human name was Vienna. Never thought I’d say that again.”

“Is that name a location?” Valentino asked.

“Isn’t your name a holiday?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Whatever!” Velvette huffed.

“Thanks by the way,” Valentino said after a pause. “And don't you dare tell Vox before me. I need to confess in terms he’ll understand or he’ll combust.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on opening that can of worms anytime soon.”

“What do you think his name was?” Velvette asked. “Vox’s human name.”

Valentino shrugged. “I’m so used to Vox that’s all I can imagine. Surely it starts with a V.”

The two of them walk out of the control panel room and to Vox’s bed.

The soothing sound of static came off of Vox like snores. On either side of Vox, Valentino and Velvette slid under the covers beside him.

“What should we say to him when he wakes up?” Valentino asked while getting comfortable. He snuck a hand under Vox’s shirt to rest on his chest. He was relieved to feel warmth and a strong heartbeat.

“I kinda cooled down a little bit,” Velvette said. “Maybe we shouldn’t yell at him immediately.”

“I’m chill too but he still fucked up,” Valentino countered.

“Oh absolutely, and that’s why I said we shouldn’t immediately,” Velvette said. “Once we get some coffee into him, that's when I’ll tear him a new one.”

“I’ll clear my schedule so I can write out all the people Vox has to hypnotize,” Valentino said.

“You just want to get out of work,” Velvette sighed. “That takes like 2 seconds to pull up a list.”

“Got me there,” Valentino chuckled.

Soon silence fell in the room, and dreams followed shortly after.

***

SYSTEM REBOOT: FINALIZED

POWER: ON

RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS…

Audio Processing: Confirmed

Visual Processing: Confirmed

Virus(s) Found: MALWARE.EXE

MALWARE.EXE_stable

BATTERY: 100%

Welcome_Back_VOX.EXE

Vox woke up staring up at his bedroom ceiling. There were blue neon strip lights that ran along the perimeter.

He blinked slowly, adjusting to the dim room and wondered what time it was. The last thing he remembered was his hearing going out and everything going dark.

The club!

With a start, Vox tried to sit up but pressure made him only able to flinch. He felt a warm hand pressing against the skin of his chest and fluff against his neck. Valentino was sleeping beside him with one leg thrown on top of his.

To his other side, Velvette wrapped her arms against Vox’s. She still had a full face of makeup. He felt warm air on his arm every time she exhaled.

Vox had no idea what happened after everything went dark and how he got back to his room. What he did know was there were no error popups that appeared. He felt great despite drinking and partying a little too hard. His mind was clear.

The fact that Valentino and even Velvette were sleeping with him was a…good thing right? But then again, Vox questioned why it was today of all days to have a sleepover.

There was an 80% chance that everything was perfectly fine. But that 20%...he had to make sure to read how Val and Vel reacted in the morning.

The time said it was about 6am. It was the weekend. He could afford having a late start. Closing his eyes, Vox soon drifted off again.

When Vox woke up again, Valentino and Velvette were nowhere to be found. He squinted at the bed, trying to see the dents that bodies would naturally have made. It was smooth and undisturbed.

Did he dream the Vees were in his bed with him? Why would he do that?

Vox got out of bed and saw the pajamas he wore. He knew damn well he didn’t put these on.

Getting through his routine quickly, Vox was impatient to see where Valentino and Velvette were. He thought about checking for them on his monitors but then just decided to confront them head on.

Right when he walked out of his bedroom, he saw Elliot standing by the elevator.

“Sir, I’m glad I caught you this morning,” Elliot said. “I thought you were just going to teleport.”

Oh yeah, he should have done that. Oh well.

“Seems like you needed something,” Vox said while smoothing his vest.

“I just wanted to check in on you to see if you’re well.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Trying to hide the fact that he was sweating, Vox said, “Of course I am well.”

“The tech team said it was a close call,” Elliot continued, not noticing the rising panic in Vox. “A day longer and it would have been bad.”

 “What would have been bad?” Vox blurted out. He wanted to get to Val and Vel so bad and couldn’t be wasting his time here. He had a bad feeling.

“The malware,” Elliot said. “It’s been contained once again. Apparently it’s been a while since you did an update.”

“Do they know?” Vox asked. He kept his voice level, but he wanted to combust. He was holding on by a thread.

“I’m assuming you’re talking about Mr. Valentino and Ms. Velvette. They were the ones who told me about it.”

Vox wanted to scream so bad. There was anger rising from him; he didn't realize his eye was spinning.

“How much do they know?” he asked.

“I left pretty early on,” Elliot said. “So I am unsure.”

Maybe there was a way he could still come out on top. Depending on how much they knew, he could come up with an excuse.

Without giving Elliot a response, Vox teleported through a camera and reemerged in the lounge.

Valentino was sitting on a bar stool while admiring his nails. Velvette was right beside him, scrolling away on her phone.

And right at the counter was a freshly brewed americano with a post-it note that said VOX.

All the anger and frustration melted away in an instant as they made eye contact with him.

“Hey, Vee,” Velvette said calmly.

“Voxy, you’re up,” Valentino said.

There was a part of Vox that wanted to run. But instead, he grabbed the coffee and took a sip.

“Guys…” he started. “How are you this hellish morning?”

Velvette set her phone face down on the counter. That was the first sign.

Valentino was silent, constantly glancing at Velvette back to Vox. That was the second sign. Val was waiting for something to happen.

“What happened last night?” Vox tried to say lightly. There was no point beating around the bush.

“What do you think happened?” Valentino asked.

Vox paused to process what he said and the way he said it. There was no anger.

“I got a little too drunk and passed out?” he asked as a question.

Valentino pursed his lips and looked around the lounge.

“And I’m assuming it caused a scene and you dragged me back to the tower?”

“I mean…all that is obvious,” Velvette said. “I think there’s something you want to tell us.”

Vox froze. A vague memory flashed in his mind, blurry but still there. He was still alive. He was sitting on the couch of his home. His wife sat next to him while she begged him to tell her what the doctor said.

Once he mentioned the migraines, the way Barbara’s eyes looked at him changed.

He didn’t want that to happen with Valentino and Velvette.

“We already know,” Velvette said, pulling Vox away from his mind. “Please just let us hear it from you.”

The Vees were a trio, but Vox was the leader. He was the unbreakable mastermind that pulled all the strings in the background. He clawed his way up to power when he arrived in Hell, ensuring he’d never be weak again. He partnered up with Valentino and Velvette, letting them grow and shine in their own way.

If they knew he was…defected…Vox couldn’t handle that.

He felt a hand placed gently on top of his. Valentino. He noticed bandages wrapped around his palm. He’d have to ask how he got that at some point.

If he was going to tell them, Vox was going to ensure he still was strong. He straightened his posture and looked them in the eye.

“I have a chronic malware that developed in Hell,” Vox said. “Usually I am able to keep it under control with my frequent updates. I got too comfortable believing it wasn’t as strong as it was. I stopped the updates and my symptoms got worse.”

“How did it develop?” Valentino asked.

Vox’s eyes drifted slightly, as if remembering the past. “I wanted power and I didn’t think things through. I made a deal. While I did grow in strength, this is my weakness. A reminder of my mistakes.”

“Why didn’t you tell us, Vee?” Velvette asked. “You hid this from us all this time.”

“To be completely honest…I was scared.”

“Scared?” Velvette said. “That’s not the Vox I know.”

He knew Velvette was trying to cheer him up, but there was no point.

“C’mon Vel, it’s just us here. We can drop the act.”

She flinched and lowered her eyes. Seemed like she didn’t expect him to admit it.

“Why were you scared to tell us? Your partners.” Valentino began stroking Vox’s thumb. He didn’t want to admit it, but that was holding Vox together right now.

“When I was human, I developed chronic migraines. When I told my wife it made things worse for us. She saw me as weak. I lashed out due to the pain. Our marriage was never the same after that.”

Vox kept his chest high and his eye contact steady. But his heart was beating super fast.

Valentino looked at Vox with his big red moth eyes and his dumb heart glasses.

Valentino opened his mouth and said, “Good thing I’m not your wife.”

Velvette turned to look at Val with a shake of her head. Vox glitched out for a second, processing the randomness of what Val said.

“Val, what?” Velvette asked.

At the same time, Vox said, “Huh?”

Valentino didn’t react to their looks. He just stared back at Vox.

“I saaaid…I’m not your wife who sees you as weak,” he said with a smirk. “How dare you assume I’d act like her?”

Vox was dumbfounded. He was sure there was a loading bar on his screen.

“I-I don’t k-know,” Vox said, trying to calm himself down. “I guess you could call it trauma.”

“Well…to be honest, I’ve seen you at many of your weakest points,” Valentino explained. “And similarly, you’ve seen Vel and me at our lowest. And guess what? We’re still here.”

There were definitely moments Vox could recall of the Vees being there for each other. When Vox found Valentino in Hell, he was struggling to make ends meet as a stripper. Despite that, Vox saw a spark that could develop into success. Valentino and Vox were there for Velvette when she just got to Hell. She came down kicking and screaming about how unfair it was that her life was cut short. They told her it didn’t need to end. And finally, Valentino and Velvette were there when Vox and Alastor had their final meeting and battle 7 and a half years ago. They literally picked up the broken pieces and Vox came out stronger in the end.  

So why was it so hard to tell them?

“Val is right,” Velvette said. “We were there for each other when no one else was. We make sure our brand’s image is perfect because we know each of our pitfalls and can fill in the gaps. We only have each other.”

“We only have each other,” Valentino repeated.

He told his partners the truth. And they were looking at him with shiny eyes and a smile on their faces.

Every few years the code suppressing the malware needed to be updated. There’d probably come a point when nothing else would work. It terrified him to think about what it’d do to his body and mind. When he was alive the migraines made life unbearable. He ended it all before it even reached the climax.

But he had Valentino and Velvette this time. And technology was ever growing. The future of Hell belonged to the Vees. And he needed to have hope.

There was a lot of explaining to still do on his part. A lot of damage control before Monday came around.

But for now, Vox wanted to take this as a small win.

He got a few reminder pop-ups for work he needed to do. He made a mental note to push those back.

Work could wait.

“Finish your coffee, it's getting cold!” Velvette yelled at him. “We still have a lot to discuss.”

With a chuckle, he pulled the cup to his mouth and drank.

Vox made eye contact with Valentino. He caught him staring with the softest expression he saw in a while. It caught Vox by surprise.

Valentino smiled and intertwined their hands.

Ever so gently, Vox squeezed his hand.