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He woke up and already knew it was going to be one of those days. He rolled around the silk sheets of his enormous bed, trying to force himself to go back to sleep, to go back to not thinking. When that proved itself impossible, he realized just staying in that room would only make himself feel more miserable.
With a sigh, he decided he wasn't going to fight it, just go through the day until his stupid brain gets tired. He wraps his naked body with his wings and goes to the kitchen, finding Velvette indulging in a bowl of 90% sugar 10% cereal, chewing away, with a spoon in one hand as she swapped between the tabs in her phone at lighting speed with the other. He sits on the chair facing her, like a sack of sand flopping to the ground. He grabs the closest fruit he could reach and starts eating, more to uphold his routine than to quench any actual hunger. With his elbow on the table and head resting on his hand, he looks at nothing, his pupiless eyes looking more empty and cold than usual.
After a couple of minutes in silence, with only the sounds of their chewing being heard, Velvette decides to break the ice, her eyes already hurting from going back and forth between Valentino and her phone. “Up early, hum. Any plans for today?”
“Eh…not really.” He said in a half dead tone that made her curious for a second, but not enough for her to pay much mind.
“Well, i'm going out tonight, so if you aren't dead by then you can come. Also, i need some new girls, preferably with cold toned skin, so my new line can really pop! Also, no uglies! Don't give me your scraps!”
“Sure. I’ll hook some up for you. I’m not feeling like going out tonight, Babydoll. But have fun for me.” He finishes his eating and he leaves her alone again, not looking back as he slowly walks to the hallway. Velvette has enough worry in her to send Vox a message that Valentino was having one of his ‘moopy days’ and to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. She finishes her breakfast and goes on with her day.
Valentino walks through the hallway like a lost child in the dark, only half knowing where he was going. He doesn't know why he is feeling this way or where this mood came from, just that it happens sometimes and he needs some distraction from it. He thought of his usual ‘go to’ of sex and drugs, but remembering his previous attempts at doing just that, and gave up on the idea.
If he opted to distract himself with sex, he wouldn't be able to get it up more than once, and, while his whores wouldn't dare say anything, he didn't want to go through the embarrassment. And drugs would just make him feel worse, if not the uncomfortable and very-much-not fun high, then the ‘coming down lower than ever’ would do it.
He didn't want to go out, but he also didn't want to stay home either. He was hopeless.
But maybe there was one thing. He had tried before and it helped a little, so why not?
So he walked laziely to his art studio with all the enthusiasm he could manage, which wasn't that much.
Valentino looked at the sea of suplies: there are materials for every media he could possibly want. All of the highest quality anyone in Hell could get their hands on, some even imported from the living world.
He just stared at the various pieces that laid incomplete all over the work tables and unfinished paintings thrown about to the corners, and also at the few finished ones that decorated the space, looking for anything that could spark inspiration, but nothing spoke to him.
Deciding he just really needed something to do with his hands, Val pulls a blank sketch book from inside a drawer and a piece of charcoal from a tray on the work table. He sat back on the custom made chair that was designed to give him perfect back support, opened the sketch book and forced the charcoal up and down against the paper, filling it with uneven blackness.
His mind completely focused on the movement of his arm, as his wrist stayed firm holding his tool. The ‘up-and-down’ motion of the charcoal on the page making the white of the paper slowly disappear, and once he deemed it enough, he flipped to the next page.
He kept going until the end, and then went backwards, filling the back of the pages as well. The movements went faster and faster, making the paper hot enough that maybe it could go up in flames. By the time he reached the end of the book again, there was nothing left of the charcoal but the soot all over his fingers. He lightly closed the sketch book, stood up from the chair, then threw it across the room, with enough force to leave a mark on the wall.
Val let his breathing calm down, he didn't even notice it started getting worked up in the first place. He wondered how long he had been at it, mindlessly doing his repetitive task like a machine. He asked himself if he should keep going, filling more and more books to throw at the wall until it crumbled down all over him, or maybe find another meaningless motion to lose his mind to.
But before he could spend much time in his internal debate, a ‘zap’ and a ‘thud’ alerted him of nothing being alone in the room anymore, not like he reacted to it in any way.
“Val.” Vox spoke with a ‘stern father’ voice he usually reserved for their role-playing sessions or when he wanted the paparazzi to leave them alone while still keeping his ‘likable’ persona.
“What?” Val still had the energy to look the other in the eyes at least.
“What is wrong? You should be at work right now! There are a lot of sets and props waiting approval! We already have enough delays with Angel being a fligthy bitch, we don't need you too!” Vox wasn't really that upset, but he figured long ago that Valentino was more receptive to harshness when he got like that, needing the laziness beaten out of him… in a figurative sense.
Valentino made a face like an annoyed teenager giving an obnoxious sigh. “Unlike your job…” Vox rolled his eyes as Val pointed dramatically at him “Mine involves a certain concentration and state of mind i can't reach with a gallon of coffee and a hit of coke! I’m not in the state to work, and your stalker ass should know that!!”
As Valentino sat back down and crossed his arms like a scorned child Vox just sighed, realizing he would need to take a different approach.
“You should really take something to calm you down though.” He said ‘matter-of-factly’ making Val explode again, but with the intensity of of a firecracker rather than an atomic bomb, for he was already tired of the conversation and everything in general.
“IF YOU WANT TO DRUG ME JUST DO IT ALRE-” Val’s screeching was suddenly stopped by Vox’s extended hand offering him 2 pills. At first he was surprised, then curious, but then finally surrendered and took the pills from the other, swallowing both dry with a shrug.
“Happy, now?” Val asked, still in a confrontational tone. Vox sighed again, then he went and pulled a chair closer to the other and sat in front of him. Dispite averting his eyes, Valentino didn't made any move to get away from the situation.
“Val, i understand that you sometimes wants to-”
“I DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE THIS! FUCK!”
Vox waits for Valentino to calm down a little before continuing.
“I get that you sometimes gets a little…fatigued, and that it gets in the way of things, but i need you to try a little harder to snap out of it! We are a team! We are in this together! So if you need help, just tell us!” He gets closer, really focusing in every micro movements of Valentino’s expression.
“But i don't know what's wrong!!” Val scrunched up his face. He wanted to disappear. He wanted to cry. But he stayed there.
“We can find out and i can fix it!!” Vox’s voice got louder, trying hard to get through to the other.
Val stayed silent for a while, thinking back about, not just that day, but all the times existing felt wrong to him. And not because he was a demon in hell, but because, maybe, he shouldn't even have been born in the first place.
“Somethings can't be fixed, Vox. Somethings are already made broken.”
Vox got closer and put his hand on Valentino's cheek, softly caressing his skin with his thumb. They stared at each other for a while, trying to focus on the feeling of the touch.
“You know you are perfect for me, right Val?”
“Yeah.” he blatantly avoided his gaze.
With a sigh, Vox stood up. Val returned to look at him.
“Okay. Me and Velvette will take care of things. Rest for as long as you need, just promise me to not hurt yourself.”
“Yeah.”
“Val!”
“Okay! Fine! I promise!” he growled in between his teeth. Vox deemed it good enough. He sighed again and turned, slowly walking closer to the closest camera.
“See you in a couple of hours.” He said, flashing Valentino one of his rare sincere smiles before zapping away in the electric current.
Val stayed there for a while, trying not to think too much about…well, all of that. After that talk, staying in his art room was feeling too suffocating, so he decided to leave and wander through the halls again.
He walked through the darkened penthouse, the only sound being of his claws tapping against the polished flooring and the soft buzz of the ever present cameras, slowly shifting to following his movements as he went. But the closer he got to the living room, he could hear the constant ‘tap tap’ of the rain drops against the wall-wide windows.
He gets closer to the glass and looks down at the city. His city. It wasn't that different from the one he had lived on during the later part of his life, but the view he had sure was. Seeing all the little people crawling around like rats, trying to scavenge for the dignity they lacked.
Sometimes Val wondered if he deserved to be like them. If he being at the top of the food-chain wasn't some sort of mistake. It made him want to jump and let his broken body be melted in the asphalt by the pouring acid…or maybe defenestrate some bitch to do that in his place.
The sound of a notification in his phone breaks him from the thought, remembering he had left it on the center table last night. He ignore the emails, missed call and messages from his useless sluts, ‘Can't those bitches leave me alone for one second!?’ he thought, but didn't had the energy to actually be upset.
Opening whatever Velvette had sent him, hoping he hadn't left her hanging for long (he knew how much that upset her), he finds that she had sent him a video. It looked like it was about a couple fighting very publicly, throwing colorful insults and eventually even furniture and attracting a bigger and bigger crowd to spectate the show. He couldn't help but lightly chuckle, and that eventually evolved to an actual laugh once the people on the video started shooting at each other as they kept the insults going. At the exact time he finished the video, he received a new text from Velvette (he always wondered how she did that).
>Omg that shit was so funny xD
>We NEED to make Vox get
those 2 to do a show! It will
make numbers!!!(✷‿✷)
dat wold b funy<
>Also! I made
something so fucking hot
you NEED to were it w/
me at the club!!!!!(ﾉﾟ0ﾟ)ﾉ
>And you WILL go!
You know i don't take no
for an answer! (＾3＾♪
Your in charg, Babydoll<
<3 <
He stared at the exchange of texts, only later noticing it managed to make him smile. He always admired the way Velvette always knew what to do the get what she wanted, and in this case it was to make Val smile a little. He would show her thanks for it later, he would make sure of it.
He pondered about where he was again, thinking that even if he didn't feel deserving, he still had people that wanted him there. People that, just like him, had worked so hard to get to the top, and if they deserved the spoils, so did he!
He fucked and fought his way through the filthy to get to his rightful place. To be by the side of the only people that meant anything, that are actually real. And if they wanted him, maybe this really was where he should be.
He was taken from his deep thinking by the zap sound close to him, followed by the feeling of Vox’s firm hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, Babe! Job is finished for today. So, what about you order us some food and pick a movie while i take a shower?” He gave Valentino’s cheek a gentle peck and left for his bathroom.
Sometimes Val would get pissed off at Vox for telling him what to do, but most of the time he actually liked it. He couldn't explain, but the way Vox talked with him when he was…like this, would always come off as guidance and care rather than orders and condescension. Maybe he was just desperate for anything that could help, to have something to ground himself in. Maybe it was on purpose, Vox knows so much about him it wouldn't be that far fetched he would find out how to help him the best he could. Regardless, he did what he was told, ordered take out and put on a show (some hellborn slop. They needed to know what the competition was up to after all!) and relaxed on their luxurious couch.
Vox showed up, and the both of them slotted into their roles, like a scene from a mundane romance. They joked about the show and took bites of each other's food, they exchanged kisses and little bites, but never even petted below the belt. It was different, but Val weirdly enjoyed it once in a while, it made him feel…okay.
Eventually they moved to Valentino's bed. In his mind it was slowly turning into ‘their bed’ over the course of years, but he never felt secure enough to say it out loud, not even in his ‘good days’. They stayed there in silence for a while, not going beyond gently brushing their hands over each other's upper bodies.
Half of Val’s heart was in pain over not going any further: was Vox too tired of him? Had he gone to someone else for sex? Was Val so undesirable that he wasn't even worth being fucked anymore?!
But the other looked at Vox, at his relaxed eyes and gentle smile, and felt loved. Vox, who has been dealing with Valentino's bullshit for decades and still deemed him worthy to stick around. To help. To take to the top and make sure all of Hell knew it! Val truly didn't deserve his business partner.
“Hey.” He decided to break their comfortable quiet, like an idiot. “Sorry for today. Sorry for…well, everything.” Vox's expression became more serious, but he let him continue. “I know i'm not the easiest bitch to deal with, but you still do and… i don't know where i would be without you…”
Vox lovingly cups Valentino's face with his hand. “This is what partners are for, right? You had your fair share of getting me out of my own head as well, and i also should say ‘thank you’ for it more often.” Their faces get closer, their eyes fixed on the different shades of red from the other's
“I love you.” Vox let's it slip, as it was the most natural thing to ever come out of his mouth. They stay staring at each other, as stears slowly flow down Valentino's cheeks, breaking the spell.
Noticing Vox starting to panic, Val smiles and speaks up before the nervous idiot has a panic attack.
“I love you, too.” His voice comes out wobbly from his crying. He forcibly buries his face on Vox’s chest, only relaxing once he feels the other's arms embracing him firmly.
Maybe he wouldn't be back to normal by tomorrow, or even for a long time, but Val knew that no matter what happend, everything would be alright.