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Vox rubbed his screen gingerly, feeling along delicate new cracks in the bottom corner of it as if that was going to do anything. He lay draped on his chair in Valentino’s parlour, paranoid and nursing a headache. The prick moth demon had punched him for daring to be in a mood. He hadn’t been up for anything besides kisses so naturally, he was now shirtless in a room that technically didn’t belong to him. Ah, the joys of dating someone as temperamental as Val.
Vox had a cigarette balanced between two fingers, the smoke blue and fizzing with electricity that faintly lit up the dark space. His screen was dim due to the break and the TV demon’s paranoia and the light barely illuminated more than his hand a foot away from his face.
The chair he was so dramatically sat on was plush, cushioned and made of a deep red velvet like everything in Val’s studio parlour. When he was done with his cigarette, Vox pressed the lit end to the wood on the arms of the chair. He was entirely unbothered about if it left a mark or set the furniture ablaze.
Vox got to his feet, the sharp point of his light blue heels clinked against the smooth stone of the dark marble floor like glass. He tossed the remains of his cigarette to the ground, stamping out whatever was still lit. He grabbed his shirt from the bed and pulled it back on, straightening it out as much as he could. It was still a mess, and not even his blazer could disguise how exhausted he looked and felt.
This whole thing was all because Valentino was in a bad mood. He’d wanted more than just simple affection because his prize sinner, Angel Dust, had been hanging out publically with some former overlord Vox hadn't heard of. According to the moth demon, it was entirely not allowed for Angel to have a life, like his contract stated he could, and had hit Vox for even considering the possibility that maybe it wasn't Angel's fault. So now the TV demon was pissed off too.
Vox muttered under his breath, screen and voice glitching in sync. He kept spacing out, his built-in malware defence working twice as hard to keep whatever spam Val sent him from corrupting important files. Who cared if he kept getting popups? At least he was alive. Ads were only ever annoying when they let Velvette connect her phone to him, and when they interrupted recordings. Currently, all he was doing was heading upstairs to confront a certain star over actions that had only directly affected him once.
The halls and floors of Val's floor stayed ever the same. Black and white tiled and marble floors, red, gold-gilded walls with the moth demon's insignia etched in like fancy wallpaper. Framed posters lined the walls, acting as paintings for decoration. Each one advertised one of Valentino's many products and shows, each one taunting Vox as he walked. It felt like the cerise eyes were following him, though he knew that the only thing watching him right now was his own cameras stationed in every corner.
After a few more moments of walking, he arrived at Angel Dust's room. Vox knocked, but upon getting no response, he teleported through the wood via the electricity in the security cameras that were positioned both outside and inside the room. The actor didn't even hear Vox come in. He was too busy on his phone having a smoke break on the balcony that overlooked the fountain in the main parlour area to notice.
"Didn't learn your lesson from Val?" Vox's voice glitched a little, startling Angel.
"Wha- Vox? The fuck-?" The actor replied, pushing his poof of hair out of his mismatched eyes. They were filled with undisguised hostility toward the TV demon, though nothing could hide the way he winced as he noticed the other's broken screen. "Haven't ya seen enough o' me today?"
That was true, Vox had been on set for a while as per Valentino's pestering requests, but this conversation was still required. If Angel didn't stop seeing this former overlord, there would be a lot more violence and probably issues for more than just the duo. Personally, Vox didn't care who dated whom, but considering this was making Val become further abusive to not only his staff, which was normal and almost expected at this point but him too, well, that was an issue.
"More than enough, trust me," Vox replied, scowling. His footsteps tapped on the stone floor as he approached Angel's balcony, making his approach far more ominous than it actually was. "Can't seem to escape your damn face."
"Sooo.." The spider demon frowned in confusion, "What d'you want then-?"
"As you've clearly noticed, Val is in one of his moods today." Vox traced the crack in his screen absent-mindedly again, ignoring the look Angel gave him. It fizzed and glitched his display a little, just annoying the overlord further. "Logically, however, He shouldn't be."
Vox stopped beside Angel, though he didn't look over. He gazed across to the rest of the parlour and at the other balconies dotted around. The largest and most decorated by far, draped in gold and fabric like some kind of announcement that it was the best, was the one belonging to Val's room. Vox had been in there only minutes before, and even thinking about the prior events was enough to make his antenna flatten. Vox just shook his head, continuing with his tangent.
"Profits are high, performances are going smoothly. So naturally, I'm wondering what the FUCK," The TV overlord paused to glitch, electricity flickering off of him like a high voltage tazer, "-Has him acting like this. THEN I hear his most profitable bitch, our money maker is ruining our image. Running around with some drunk sinner, for free, no less! I'm sure you can see where this is going."
Angel continued to frown, but it was out of hatred this time. The only thing that changed his mood was the way Vox kept glitching before anxiously glancing over at Valentino's room. The TV demon had turned to face Angel now, so the injury was so much more obvious on his smooth screen of a face. The actor almost felt.. bad for the other.
"He hits you too, huh?" Angel murmured, "Didn't think he'd go that far.."
In response, Vox's eyes widened, and the electricity around him practically short-circuited in a mini explosion of electric blue. Static fizzed and crackled dangerously as hypnosis entered his only good eye. His smile fell to a scowl, and suddenly, all he felt toward Angel was white-hot rage.
"THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME." Vox's fear was audible. His fear of appearing vulnerable. His fear of needing help. His fear of Valentino, and his hatred for that fear. Angel flinched back in response, narrowly avoiding electrocution. He, however, didn't avoid Vox grabbing his shirt in a blue-clawed hand as his rant continued. "THIS IS ABOUT YOU AND VAL'S IMAGE YOU'RE FUCKING DESTROYING, THE COMPANY'S REPUTATION, AND MY FUCKING WALLET, UNDERSTAND?"
The second Vox let go of Angel's shirt, the spider demon just glared. He had no words, just annoyance at the other's yelled rant.
"I don't give a fuck about Val's reputation or image. I've told him an' I'll tell you." Angel ignored the hostility Vox displayed, instead focusing on making a point, "In the studio, I'm his to use, fine. But out there? That's my life. One I'm finally makin' for myself. One that's long over fuckin' due." The overlord attempted to interrupt, but Angel continued, "I can make my own choices, see who I wanna see. WITHOUT some rich fucks permission, understand?"
"YOU-" Vox began, though he paused. Angel had a point. Valentino never made coherent and foolproof contracts. The overlord couldn't do anything in this situation, but if he went back to Val without solving this, Vox was definitely going to get hurt. "This will end badly for everyone, you self-centred prick."
"Yeah, probably. But ta be honest with ya?" Angel's frown turned to a tired smile as he looked over at Vox, "The more selfish I act, The more free I feel."
Vox began to walk away, tired, pissed off, and not looking forward to the conversation ahead.
"Look, Just. Just keep this quiet. If I can convince Val you listened to me, I might be able to stop the prick from hurting us- I mean you. But he isn't entirely dumb. He'll catch on if he hears you talking about.. What's his name, Husk? So just.. keep the secret."
"You'd do that for me?" Angel sounded almost awestruck, entirely confused by the thought of Vox doing something for anyone other than himself, "I- Thanks."
"Yeah, whatever." Vox muttered, "See you tomorrow, Angel."
And Vox left, echoey footsteps signalling his departure, on his way to keep a half promise, and to trick a demon.