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“Mijo come quick Mami got a surprise for you!” Valentino called from the playroom. Vax perked up from his tablet his antennas twitching before he zapped into the playroom in an instant with a huge grin.
“Hola Mam- oh.” Vax grew quiet as he spotted the little hellhound boy standing next to his Mami.
“I bought you a friend! You said you wanted one so here he is tada!” Vax watched the boy, unsure as Valentino pushed the small boy toward him gently.
“My names Liam. Uhh you’re Vax right?” Liam looked back at the huge overlord behind him before back at Vax with a weak smile.
“Yes.” Vax was quick to respond, his wide eyes staring at Liam unblinking.
“Great! Okay Mamis gotta get back to work okay Mijo? Have fun with your new toy!” Valentino called, drawing the staring boys attention.
“You’re not going to stay? but it’s Thursday! Fly day, you always take me to the roof to fly and then we get milkshakes and-“ Vax zipped into his Mamis arms, tugging a little as Val’s smile faded.
“Nothing gets passed you huh baby? Look Mamis behind on his work and Liam came all the way from the street to be here! What if you like playing with him more than flying hm? you won’t know till you try!” Val reassured Vax, picking him up and kissing the corner of his screen.
“Kitty is here if you need anything and I might be done in time for milkshakes okay?” Val put his son down only to see the small tears welling up and Vax wiping them with his sleeve.
“Oh no no no Mijo it’s just for today I’ll take you flying tomorrow okay?” Val crouched to comfort the now sniffling little boy.
“You p-promise?” Vax sniffled as his Mami wiped the tears away.
“Of course, anything you want baby, try to have fun with Liam okay? He is your first friend that’s your age too!” Val smiled, leaving one last kiss on Vax’s head before he stood to leave.
“Mami loves you.”
“I love you too Mami.” Valentino gave Vax a small wave before leaving. Vax kept waving until his Mamis footsteps were heard entering the elevator.
“Um do you guys have any food, mum forgot to feed me last night” Liam asked kicking at the ground a little as Vax finished wiping his now tired eyes.
“… kitty, um… kitty gets me food.” Vax half mumbled, the shyness taking over as he fiddled with his sleeve.
“You have a Fizzbot maid?! I’ve only seen them on TV” Liam replied as he approached the robot and looked at her curiously, his ears flopping left to right as he did.
“She doesn’t look like she has food.” He replied, poking at the robot who just stared.
“She does… um she goes gets it you just have ask nice” Vax refused to make eye contact with Liam as he walked up beside him.
“Kitty can me and Liam have a snack please?” And before he could even finish Kitty had jetted off towards the kitchen to prepare it.
“Whoa! And she does everything you say?!” Liam’s tail wagged as he went to follow her.
“Hey wait up!” Vax followed Liam to the kitchen as the other boy watched kitty work. After just a moment some cheese and assorted meats were held out to them both. Liam wasted no time digging in, his big teeth on display as he ate off the plate like some kind of animal for a moment before he seemed to realise.
“OPs mmf- sorry I was hungry!” He smiled as he started picking the meats up one by one, trying not to scoff it down.
“Is that how your family eats cause you are a dog?” Vax asked, tilting his head to the side as Liam pondered the question.
“Mmm we are meant to sit at the table with forks and stuff but mama lets me sit in front of the TV most of the time and if the forks aren’t clean I just use my hands!” Liam explained before licking the now empty plate.
“I see.” Is all Vax said as Liam perked up.
“Hey kitty can I have a juice?!” He asked watching as the robot didn’t move.
“Is she broken?” Liam asked as Vax tugged at his scarf.
“Um she only listens to me and Mami and papa.” He mumbled again, looking away as Liam stared at him with a slight tail wag.
“Um … kitty can Liam have a juice please, you can tell her which kind” Vax pulled the scarf over his face a little more to hide nervously as Liam perked up.
“Apple please!” He basically cheered before kitty zipped around the kitchen and returned with an apple juice box with the straw in it and handed it to Liam.
“Thanks kitty!” Liam smiled as he sipped and looked around the large open space room.
“So this is your house? Looked bigger from outside.” Liam informed as he started to walk around sipping his juice.
“This is just my floor, there is loads more floors.” Vax informed the boy as he fiddled with his scarf nervously some more.
“You got any brothers or sisters?”
“Um no but my Mami says he is trying to make me a little sister!” Vax half mumbled as Liam sped up to run and look around the corner to before walking back towards Vax exploring every edge of the room.
“Tell them not to, I have 9 siblings and it’s the worst, like I’d never get to pick which juice I wanted my older brothers always drink all the apples ones.” Liam added as he spotted the TV in the playroom.
“Oh cool! Do you have Voxflix?!” Liam ran to grab the remote, tail wagging as he turned on the TV.
“Vox is my dad.” Vax stated, watching as Liam raised a brow.
“So that means yes?”
“Yes.” Vax felt his face heat up slightly in embarrassment.
“There is this super cool show about cat warrior! Everyone at school is talking about it but I don’t have Voxflix, we should watch it!” Liam practically bounced up onto the couch with his juice as he searched for the title. Vax fought his shaking hands and lifted himself up and onto the other side of the couch.
“What’s school?”
“You don’t go to school? Everyone goes to school!” Liam half laughed before going back to searching.
“I don’t.” Vax added with a tug at his clothes, his frown deepening.
“It’s where you go to learn with like teachers and stuff, you know where you learn to read and write and play on the playground.” Liam stated it like it was such a normal thing. Vax stood up on the couch before his little wings flapped, lifting him as he made his way to his room to grab his tablet. Once there Vax was quick to grab his tablet and type up what Liam had said.
“School.” Vax mumbled as he typed it into voogle.
“Safe search on, No results.” Vax read with a frown.
Liam had to be lying
He grabbed his tablet and flew back into the playroom where Liam was sat smiling and nodding to the theme song of the show.
“My tablet says school isn’t real.” Vax stated as he landed next to Liam and showed him his tablet. Liam was barely able to tear his eyes away from the TV before looking down at the tablet.
“Can you play games on your screen?” Liam poked at Vax’s face for a second before Vax smacked him off.
“Ah! No that’s my face and look! School isn’t real!” Vax held the tablet closer to Liam as the dog sipped his juice.
“Your tablets broken then cause I go to school all week, well except for today. Mama said I had to come here.” Liam turned back to the TV, uninterested until the TV blinked off.
“Hey!”
“What do you do at school.” Vax inquired as the other little boy tried to turn the TV back on.
“What? Uh, it’s where you go to learn your times tables and stuff, and my best friend Jarred is there and we throw rocks at the girls.”
“Times tables? Like computer code tables?” despite Vax’s clear curiously, Liam turned the TV on again.
“No like 1x1 is 1 stuff, and the teacher reads us books and we colour…” Liam’s attention drifted back to the TV as Vax thought about what he had said.
“I can read without a teacher and Mami is teaching me to colour properly.”he mumbled to himself as Liam wagged his tail to the TV show.
“That’s Probably why you don’t go to school then, it’s for learning.” Liam added slurping the last of his juice as Vax frowned and looked down at his tablet.
Oh yeah that’s probably why…
Vax opened up his coding app and stared blankly at the options before glancing back at Liam who was excitedly watching the show. Vax connected his Bluetooth to the tablet and played his playlist as he continued coding that small shark game he was working on quietly. Not sure that having a friend was exactly thought it would be.
---
“Vax! Vaaaaax!” Vax looked up from his tablet to notice Liam waving his hands in front of him.
“I’m bored of TV what else do you do for fun? Can we go to the park?!” Liam pushed his face in close to Vax to make sure he was paying attention.
“I’m not allowed to leave the tower without Mami or Papa.” Liam’s ears drooped as he rolled his eyes.
“But it’s so boring in here?! What do you even do for fun?” The puppy sat across vax’s lap and in top on his tablet, preventing Vax from working.
The closeness was new… he was unsure how he felt about it.
“Well I normally play video games, read, draw or… oh and it’s almost time come!” Vax jumped up and fluttered his wings as he took off towards the tank lining the wall. Liam giggled as he ran to follow the bug boy as he landed. Vax placed his face against the tank as he watched eagerly.
“What are you doing?” The dog glanced through the tank, you could see the outline of the upper floors if you looked up and squinted.
“Papa walks out of his office to start his rounds any minute now!” Vax smiled as he watched, eyes perking up when the blurry double doors slid open. A blurry figure stepped out, the only defining feature being the bright blue glow from his square head as Vax smiled.
“Papa! ¡Buenos días!” Vax yelled, imagining his voice could carry through the heavy tank and Vox would hear him. Watching as the figure straighten its bow tie before zapping off down the hallway.
“And sometimes that happens! Mami might return with him soon if it’s a good day, but Mami’s working late so… it’s probably a bad day.” Vax thought to himself as he reworked his parent’s schedule in his mind.
“Why doesn’t your dad just come say good morning?” Vax pulled his head from the glass with a shocked expression.
“Because! His Vox of Voxtek! The biggest ceo of the biggest electronic business in all of hell he can’t waist time with simple hellos!” Vax reiterated his father words with a nod.
“Oh… well my dad says goodbye every morning so that werid... anyway can we play video games?” Vax gave the place where his father once stood one last look before nodding.
“Yeah um but I’m not sure how to play two player.” Vax lead the way to the playroom, turning the TV and game console on with his mind as he took the controller.
“Oh you need another controller… kitty can you call Elliot and ask him to bring a controller up?” Kitty vanished in an instant.
“Whoa! You have like every game ever!” Liam grinned as he watched Vax scroll.
“Yeah I’ve played a lot of them but I actually only like shark frenzy 2” he mumbled.
“Oh show me how to play!” Found himself smiling a little as he selected his favourite gameplay mode.
“Oh okay! I’m not very good.”
“I don’t mind, I don’t have video games at my house!” Liam watched intently as Vax played a round, barely noticing when Elliot entered with a few boxes in hand.
“Mister Vax sir you requested a controller? I know you have particular tastes so I bought one of each colour to choose from- oh you have a dog now? Fun!” Elliot put down the collection of controllers.
“He is not my dog he is my new friend Mami bought me, go pick one Liam!” Liam got up and looked through all the choices with a small giggle.
“My apologies sir, does master Vox know about this? it wasn’t on his schedule.” Liam popped out of the pile holding a bright orange controller that he cut open with his claws.
“Now we can play 2 player! I can be your shrimp and you the shark!” The boys seemingly ignored Elliot who merely looked worried before bowing as he took his leave. As the game booted up the two player mode Vax felt a small tug in his chest.
This is exactly what he though friendship would be like.
---
The two boys played and snacked and played some more and before Vax knew it, it was after 6pm. Him and Liam were at the top of the shark tank feeding Viva some treats.
“Don’t put your hand in she will eat it!” Vax laughed as his wings flapped behind him to hold Liam to the top of the tank.
“So cool! She eats just like the game!” Liam tossed another fish cake in as both boys watched the shark snap up to eat it.
“Mijo I’m back my sweet bean! I bought milkshakes!” Valentinos voice rang out as Vax’s antennas twitched, almost dropping Liam vax flew down to drop him off before zapping around the corner and onto his Mami.
“Mami Te extraño!” Vax hugged his Mami tight until a hand pried him away and put a milkshake in his grabbing hands.
“I missed you too Mijo, and look blueberry for my blue boy.” Val chuckled as Vax took a sip.
“Thank you Mami! me and Liam had so much fun today! We played video games and Liam taught me hide and seek!” He squeaked happily as the overlord raised a brow.
“Liam… oh you mean the dog, wow that’s really great baby boy. I’m happy your are so happy!” Val gave Vax a kiss on the cheek before putting the boy down.
“Yeah and maybe next time we could go to the park! Liam says he knows a great one near his house!” Vax smiled but frown when his Mami coughed and almost spat his drink.
“Mmm a park? With all the dirt and swings baby no we don’t do parks but it’s a cute idea." Val took a dramatic seat on the couch as Vax grew quiet, sadly sipping his drink.
“Oh yeah and kitty, take the doggie to the front door, playtimes done!” Kitty was at Liam’s side in an instant.
“Oh goodbye Liam! I can’t wait to see you again!” Vax waved as Liam waved back unsurely.
"Goodbye Vax! um were are we going-" the door was closed over as Vax sipped his drink.
“Is his Mami waiting for him?” Vax asked as Val flicked on the TV.
“Uhh maybe I don't know, I found him nearby so, probably? Ha! I’m glad you like him so much” Val sipped at his milkshake as Vax joined him on the couch, climbing into his large lap.
“Oh Mijo you won’t believe the day I had, so many things went wrong, I’m so lucky to come back to your cute face everyday.” Val smiled as he twisted his son’s antenna softly, gaining a small squeak from his happy son.
“VAlEntiNo!” Vax gasped as the lights flicked before his father appeared in the doorway.
“Hello my beautiful husband~ can I help you?” Val smirked as he continued to twirl Vax’s antenna casually.
“Don’t pull that crap? Why the fuck is my assistant telling me you pulled a kid off the street?! What if someone saw?! Do you know what this could do for our optics?! FUCK!” Various screen's popped up around Vox as he observed the security footage from today frantically.
“Oh please, his mother was right there I just threw her a couple of hundreds and she let me take him. Besides Vax had a great day with his new friend, didn't you sweety?” Before Vax could open his mouth to agree Vox scoffed.
“You let it near our son?! Who knows what intell it could have learnt, did it have a phone Vax?”
“No we just played games and-”
“Oh and great you wasted a whole day, instead of learning coding like I asked, perfect, amazing.” Vox began to pace as he played back the footage to check.
“I actually finished the lessons you gave me last week. You didn’t come see me to give me more yet.” Vax mumbled as Val picked him up.
“Oh my smart baby! Look at you!” Vax smiled as his Mami showered his screen in kisses.
“Is that why I don’t go to school?” The room fell silent for a moment before Vox sighed.
“That is exactly why I didn’t want him talking to hellborns!” Val merely lowered the boy back to his lap.
“School sucks anyway, don't think about it Mijo, I never graduated.” Valentino scoffed, giving Vax’s a reassuring pat.
“It shows.” Vox added, skimming the footage of Valentino ‘buying the kid’ for the day.
“but can I go to school? They have playgrounds and friends and-“
“YOU CAnT VAx.” Vox growled clearly becoming irritated with the whole situation.
“Hey don’t yell at him Vox, Don’t start because you’re in a bad mood.” Val spat back, pulling Vax in close who frowned and shrunk into himself.
“Right, you’re right.” Vox inhaled as he closed his holo screens and thought for a second.
“You cant go to school because you are an anomaly. You are the child of two of hells overlords, hellborns would probably try and kidnap you for a heavy fee or revenge and goetias school won’t except anyone who isn’t them. Even if I did strike a deal there you would still be at risk, those cocky fucks would pick on you or worst and I couldn’t even sue them for it.” Vox explained, but all Vax heard was ‘you can’t go to school.’ His eyes began to tear up.
“Hey hey Mijo don’t look so upset that’s why I got you that doggie to play with today! Wasn’t that fun!? He could come back and play again!” Val cooed as Vox visibly shook his head in disagreement but lost to Val’s silent glare.
“It was fun… but I wanna go to school with playgrounds and timetables! Papa even blocked the websites so I can't even see if I don't like it!” Vax sniffled as he wiped a tear and Val’s cold heart melted at the sight.
“Well how about this, PAPA will unblock the websites and we will build you a playground! Clear out one of the floors just for you! So when your doggie friend comes over you can pretend it’s school huh?! Doesn’t that sound even better than real boring school?” Val promised as Vox closed his eyes and sat next to them on the couch in defeat.
“… I guess, and I’d maybe feel better if we watched a movie…” Vax sniffled as Val wiped his teary eyes with a roll of his eyes.
“You up for a movie Papi? It would make us both feel better.” Val teased, taking a sip from his milkshake with a waggle of his eyebrows.
“I don’t have a choice do I, I got a playground to design apparently.” Vox mumbled as Val leant forward to let his husband slide in behind him.
“mmm whatever you want Mijo, you will never be without. Don't worry” Val assured Vax as the kid searched through the shark titles on Voxflix, enjoying the warmth of his Mami as he did.
Whatever he wanted. Always.