Work Text:
Velvette pushes her sewing machine off the table. It collides with the floor in a satisfyingly-loud crash, very fitting for the kind of mood she's in. The one time she tries making clothing by hand, and it's hard. Her whole career in Hell is built off fashion at this point, yet she can't seem to sew one outfit herself. Amid her intense frustration, she feels a pang of grief cut through her, carrying memories from a literal lifetime ago. Mum always made it look so easy…
“Vel, you okay in here?” Vox pokes his head through the door, eyeing her with concern.
“Does it sound like everything is all right?” she snaps.
Vox walks up behind her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. She has half a mind to yank it off, but he begins rubbing little circles against her back, and it's actually pretty calming. He's been through enough of her tantrums by now that she supposes he must be able to handle things right every once in a while.
“What are you working on anyways? Or… what were you working on, I guess.”
“I'm trying to make Halloween costumes. It's… not going well.” She gestures at the mess of broken sewing machine parts on the floor.
“Why don't you just snap them into existence like all your other clothing lines?”
“I wanted to make them myself! Like my mum used to when I was a kid. Anyways, it's not for one of my shows. They're just for us.”
Vox gives her a rather fond look, an affectionate smile scrolling onto his screen. “I have an idea; why don't you ask your papi to help out. He’s pretty good with a needle and thread.”
“He is? I don't think I’ve ever seen him try.”
“Maybe if you weren't always on that damn phone—” Vox cuts himself off with a laugh, and he has Velvette laughing, too. Sometimes, Vox's dumb humor isn't that much of a bother, actually.
She does agree to go see Valentino. Even if he can't help her with her costumes, he will let her burrito herself in his wings until she feels better, and that's better than nothing. She finds him in his room, hunched over his tablet (despite how massive it is), seemingly working on some art. She plops herself down in his lap, and he instinctively wraps one of his free arms around her waist, pulling her against him. Other than that, though, he seems laser-focused on his drawing (which really won't do).
“Papiiiii,” she says rather loudly, her tone making it sound more like a complaint than a name.
“Yes, babydoll?” he replies, still not taking his eyes off his tablet.
“I need your help with something. Daddy says you're ace at sewing… and it turns out I'm not.”
“What do you need to sew for? You can just snap your fingers and magic your next line into existence. Take the easy way out, amorcito.”
“That's not the point! I'm trying to make some Halloween costumes for us and I wanted to do it by hand! It's just… harder than my mum made it look. Anyways, like I said, I was told on half-decent authority that you can sew pretty well. So, will you help me or not?”
Valentino does look at her now, resting his chin on one hand, an amused expression on his face. “You really didn't know? You're literally wearing the onesie I made you last year.”
She looks down at her onesie, a deep pink one made to look like a cat, with black paws, ears, and a black tail as well. It even has a V embroidered on the front. “You made this? I thought you just ordered it somewhere.”
“Well, that explains why you acted pissed the whole week after I gave it to you.”
“Well, thanks, I guess. It's my favorite, even if I did think you must've bought it from one of my competitors for like, the past year.”
He pets her head gently, smiling affectionately. “I know, muñeca. Now, why don't we go see about those costumes?”
“You've made quite a mess in here, hm?” Valentino comments as they enter Velvette's room. She'd honestly already managed to forget about the broken sewing machine, and felt a bit embarrassed about the whole thing now.
“Yeah, I uh… Wasn't exactly having a cracking good time earlier.”
“No matter, we can work without the machine. I prefer it that way, actually. I'm assuming you have some kind of direction for all this?”
Velvette nods and passes him a few sketches she had on her desk. “I was gonna do a puppy since I'm always a cat. I thought it'd be cute to make Vox a onesie like mine, so I designed his like a shark. And you—”
“A butterfly? You do know I'm a moth, yes?” Valentino cuts her off, a big, goofy grin on his face.
“It's supposed to be ironic! Plus, I thought the pattern would look nice on your wings. We don't have to do the sketches anyways, they're dumb ideas.” She knows she's pouting, but she really doesn't care. All it ever takes is one slight mistake to tip her emotional state from sunshine and rainbows to thunder and lightning. She hates it.
“No, no, I think they're cute. Come here, dulzura, let's get started.”
He grabs a few bolts of fabric in varying shades of blue, clearly intent on working on Vox's costume first. Fitting, she'd started with that one because it was the least complicated design.
“We can't really use the pieces you already started on…” He gestures toward the fabric mangled by the sewing machine it's stuck in. “Not really sure how you managed that one. We'll just start from scratch here.”
He tosses her a pair of fabric scissors, which earns him an alarmed, “Don't throw scissors, you bloody prick!” from Velvette as she dodges.
She takes a place on the floor next to him, amid all the fabric, and sets to work cutting out shapes. This is the easy part; just line up the stencils she made with the fabric and cut around them. The actual sewing is what she wants Valentino's help with, and she's a bit irritated her earlier tantrum means she has to start all over. Maybe she should've cut all her shapes at once so she at least wouldn't have to do this bit over for more than the first two pieces…
As she places cut fabric down, she notices Valentino already beginning to stitch things together, eyeing her sketches as if they're a detailed step-by-step guide. To her surprise, it does seem to come easily to him, and he's making pretty quick work of the fabric she cuts. She wants to chalk it up to him having so many extra hands, but that would probably be even more of a hindrance if he didn't know what he was doing.
“What made you learn to sew?” Velvette asks after a while. She's just started cutting fabric for Valentino's costume, and he's about halfway done sewing Vox's.
“It was before you got here, nenita. Voxy told me I needed to find some kind of stress relief that didn’t get people killed, and I figured I'd try something that keeps my hands busy. It's calming, in a way. Plus, I can give the two of you little handmade gifts when you've been very good, so I guess it's a win for everyone.”
He shrugs at the end, as if he didn't just sound uncharacteristically sappy, and Velvette smiles softly. Sometimes, Val can be really sweet.
“How long did it take you? I know I get frustrated mad quickly, but it feels like it'd take forever to be any good.”
“It did take a few months before I felt like I was making any real headway, yeah. I got frustrated a lot early on because what I made wasn't really any good, so it felt like there was no point in keeping on.”
“So why did you?”
“I was already an Overlord, had been for a while. I guess I was just a little tired of everything feeling so easy. It was nice to have a challenge with pretty low stakes. I could fuck up as much as I wanted and it didn't mean shit because nobody had any expectations. Actually,” his tone turns thoughtful, “realizing that was what made it easier to get better. Nobody had to see how much I sucked, only the work I was actually proud of. And after a while, I had a lot more work to be proud of.”
Velvette hums thoughtfully, considering his words. A lot of what she does is easy: snapping clothes into existence, pretty much dictating all the trends in Hell, getting most anything else she wants through either Vox and his money or Valentino and his hold on pretty much half the city. It isn't that she doesn't do anything real herself; she's highly creative and very persuasive, two qualities that'll take you far in the business world. Half of Vox's new ventures these days come from her ideas, even. It's just that coming up with things is the easy part, and the hard part is what she likes to leave to everyone else.
Except now, sitting on her floor with Valentino as they make cutesy Halloween costumes by hand, the hard part doesn't seem all that hard. She scoots over closer to him and he smiles at her, immediately using a free arm to pull her against him. She settles comfortably there to continue her part of the work, except…
“Mi corazón, would you like to try sewing again? This part of your design is relatively easy for a beginner, and I’ll show you just what to do.”
She looks over to realize he's completely finished Vox's costume and is preparing to start on his own. He's arranging cuts of fabric to form the design she'd envisioned for the wings, a pattern mimicking stained glass. She nods, deciding it can't be that hard if he's at least going to help her out. He smiles as he hands her two pieces of fabric, one yellow and one red.
He does show her everything, carefully explaining how the fabric should be lined up to come out evenly, how to work the needle through without getting those weird bunched-up bits she always seemed to get when trying on her own, how to properly seal off the ends so the thread doesn't just pull right out (another problem she was having). He takes his time with her, showing far more patience than he's generally known for having, occasionally even placing his hands over her own to guide her. In the end, his costume doesn’t come out quite as good as Vox’s, but he doesn't seem to mind.
“It's really obvious who made which costume between yours and daddy’s,” Velvette comments somewhat dejectedly as she goes back to cutting fabric, now for her own costume.
“I think it's perfect, babydoll. I wouldn't have it any other way.” Valentino leans over to kiss the top of her head, making her smile once more.
“It's not, but thanks anyways.”
“Perfect for me, then. You put a lot of work into it, and the design is wonderful. Stop being so hard on yourself. I wish my first sewing project came out half that good.”
“You didn't have somebody helping you, though. You were just rawdogging it.”
“And yet, I still didn’t show that much promise!”
“You're being awfully nice tonight, y'know. Starting to think you're going soft on me,” Velvette teases.
“Oh, preciosa, I went soft on you a long time ago.”