Chapter Text
Papito, I’ll pick up dinner on the way back! Will be late! Te amo Voxxy xoxo <3
Valentino sat on the little swivel chair, staring down at the message, ready to press ‘send’ before rapidly hitting delete. He won’t have enough time to actually come home with take out without raising suspicion tonight…
¡Hola papi! I’m working late tonight! Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine! Kisses baby <3 <3 <3
His eyes scanned the unsent text with a disgruntled quirk of his lips. Looking up, Valentino was met with his own disheveled reflection in the dresser mirror. Reaching up with his manicured hand, he brushed through his healthy antenna in a futile attempt to fix the messed up white fluff. He frowned at the stickiness; fuck… There is definitely cum in there…
He loves his feathery antenna, it made him unique, made him cuter… Val can’t wait to get home and have Vox wash and comb through his fluff for him while they soak under the showerhead. He hates the awful dry shampoo his pimp makes the makeup artists drown his neck ruff in.
Valentino looks back down at his phone.
No that won’t do… He deleted the message again. Valentino couldn’t possibly lie to Vox while looking like this. “My Voxxy doesn’t deserve this…” Val lamented to himself out loud, pouting down at the cracked phone screen.
Hey Papito, working late tonight. Say Goodnight to my lovely Velvette for me! Te amo Voxxy, muchos besos <3
That should be good enough! Val grinned at the screen with a genuine look of joy for once today. He cupped the phone with both hands and kissed the screen as if it was Vox’s face. “Mua! I love you Voxxy… I’ll be home soon…”
Val couldn’t help it. He knows it’s annoying, but talking out loud comforts him, gets him through the day-
“TINO! HURRY UP!” That sudden familiar yelling made Val jump out of his lavender skin. If he had pores, his skin would be pimpling up like a slaughtered chicken.
“For every minute you spend in there, you’re fucking five ugly bastards and hags with your bimbo ass!”
Valentino had wanted to switch out his fake lashes for longer ones, but he couldn’t risk his mami chulo to make good on that threat. Val sprinted towards the door in his heels, knocking the chair over in a loud crash, muttering a faint oops, before throwing the door open.
“Sí, mami chulo!” Valentino cracked a bright happy smile, hands folded neatly behind his back.
The shorter demon sneered up at him. “Good girl…” She droned and patted his cheek rather harshly and Val’s chest tightened at the patronizing tone. Even though he knew how to smize well, he still struggled not to let his happy face falter as he tasted bile at the back of his throat.
“Now get on stage!”
As long as he keeps on stroking this woman’s ego, he’ll get off work on time, so he won’t sleep through half his day off tomorrow… He wanted to spend Saturday with Voxxy and Velvette for fucks sake!
Valentino could never forget the first time he met Vox. That night 10 years ago at that dingy bar, right after Val got fired from his last job as a stripper because he refused to fuck this girl with a nasty yeast infection. Well, if there was one good thing about selling your soul it would be job security…maybe?
But boys and girls still gotta eat! He came onto Vox pretty strong first thing when he entered the bar. The coke in his system had definitely helped his confidence, even if it made him reckless. If it had been someone else, Valentino could’ve been stumbling out of a dark alley with stab wounds littering his body…
Call him a moron for falling in love with someone simply for being nice to him in hell. Plenty of serial killers are nice and charming to their victims, but Valentino fills his void with drugs, alcohol, and a myriad of bodily fluids anyway. What is a knife in his gut going to change that, if he could pretend for a few hours that someone will stare into his eyes more than at his dick in exchange?
“What’s your name, papito? Hope you like naughty chicks with big cocks~” Val had purred at the strange sinner with a monitor as a head. “But I can be a good girl for you too! For a price I can be whatever you want…”
Then the TV man slid him a folded up napkin and Valentino couldn’t have imagined how his life would change after that night.
He reminisces about it at least one a week; whether he’s watching Voxxy typing away in front the monitor or walking up to the stage under the studio’s neon pink lights, pretending that the cameras weren’t real and only Vox’s doting eyes were on him.
And he indulged in it. It did help him dance better, helped him focus on not tripping in his ridiculous high heels, focus on why he sold his soul…
But it’s not like he hates shooting music videos! They were a lot of fun as long as he remembered the choreography and the lyrics, and he gets to sing more than he sucked dick.
The props were brought out, the microphones and speakers were set up…
Valentino strikes his opening pose and takes a deep breath as the ambience lights are dimmed. He slides his lower limbs down the inside of his thighs, settling the other two on his cocked hips and leans forward slightly, while ignoring that disgusting cameraman kneeling on the ground, clearly trying to look up his skirt…
Then the crisp SLAP of the clapperboard rang out and Val’s expression instantly bloomed into that joyous enthusiastic look with the intensity of a thousand suns. It was truly hard to resist that wide ditzy toothy grin, showing off all of Val’s perfect teeth.
His eyes fell to seductive slits and his pastel eyeshadow sparkled under the spotlight. He just looked like he would taste of a huge pink glitter bomb if you took a bite; especially in those shimmery pastel pink fishnet stockings and top, paired with neon pink hot pants and fur trim coat.
Two dolled up female background actresses rushed up to him from both sides.
“All you girls step- step aside! It's time to get…
Bimbofied!”
Valentino finished the verse by pushing the two girls aside and onto the mattresses outside the camera’s frame. He’s done this move a good ten times since Monday and he doesn’t feel any less guilty about it… Maybe he’ll get Ruby and Sinatra lunch next week as an apology.
Valentino had to once again ignore the urge to turn around and make sure his coworkers are ok and keep on singing while cat walking towards the camera, winking at the lens just as he’d practiced for the past week.
His heels fell to the ground with perfectly rhythmic clicks that synchronise perfectly with the sensual swaying of his hips. This final performance must be perfect! He couldn’t afford to make ANY mistakes!
“Bimbofied, ba-ba-bimbofied!
Just a soft serve with a side of fries!”
He sang out the lyrics his lyricist wrote for him, sticking his long slender tongue out at the camera and holding his hands up in peace signs to punctuate the lyrics with a sexual display. He knows the camera just zoomed into his lips, knowing that the audience watching this will be jerking it to his mouth more than they would be listened to his mouth. Valentino really has yet to meet a fan who wasn’t introduced to his music through the music videos.
“Bimbofied? More like Sugar-fied!
Let me Sugar that daddy before he dies!”
Valetino wonders what his Voxxy was doing right now, just as he plopped himself down onto the lap of the actor smoking a prop cigar, dressed like a stereotypical old fart with bars in the bank.
Maybe Val will call him to pick him up from the studio later? His employer won’t like it… But who cares when Val’s off the clock in an hour? Hater’s gonna hate when that bitch can’t control his boyfriend because she doesn’t own Voxxy’s soul.
Valentino grinds down on the actor’s crotch, pretending to stick his long tongue down his throat, before abruptly pulling way and looking up at the camera above.
“Just kidding, a bimbo never dies!
My pretty kitty cat still has nine lives!”
Valentino cocks his head cheekily before attempting to stand up.
Then he felt fingers dig into his waist, preventing him from getting up-
This wasn’t part of the choreography? Did he forget something again? His picture-perfect smile quivered when he looked down at the actor, who was equally as confused. He was nice enough to try and whisper up to Val as his smile fell completely and-
“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, VALENTINO?!!”
Val’s shoulders jerked up and he instinctively scrunched his eyes tight as his whole body froze for a moment. He couldn’t bear to open them even when the angry stomps came closer-
And then he was jerked to the ground and all the actors rushed off the stage to stay out of crossfire.
“Bitch, stand up when I’m talking to you!!”
Val scrambled up from the ground, ignoring the buzzed pain in his knees from colliding with the hard floor, and the claws yanking his arm up none too gently. Valentino has long since accepted that he won’t find a sympathetic eye from his coworkers even if he looked around pleadingly.
He looked tiny despite still hovering over the woman, even when hunched over. “I’m sorry, se- señorita. I- I was…” He stuttered, his explanations and excuses a jumbled mess stuck in his throat, behind that rock forcing tears into the corner of his darting eyes.
The sudden slap across his face woke Val up and left a sharp ringing in his ear, and a piercing sting that reached from his jaw all the way into his ear drums.
But his pimp’s voice has never been clearer, practically boring into his brain. “You’re supposed to ACT a dumb bimbo, not BE a dumb bimbo bitch! But I guess it can’t be helped, huh? LOOK AT YOU!” She wound up her hand and smacked his thigh with a rolled-up script book. Val couldn’t help instinctively jerking his leg away from her malice, no matter how mad that made the woman.
“I was nice enough to forgive you for the lashes, nice enough to ignore that UGLY fucking tie you wear to work EVERY, SINGLE, FUCKING, DAY!” She rained down one hit on his thigh for each word.
“I’m sorry, señori- AH!” A red burning mark was already forming on his tender skin and Val squinted from pain with every hit, but his legs were anchored to the ground. His knees felt heavy and even his unharmed skin hurt, phantom pain practically taking over him.
“And this is what you bring to the stage? Maybe if I beat you across the head a few more times your brain will finally realign, huh?” She jabbed her nail into his naked stomach as she screamed at him some more, droning on and on...
Val couldn’t bear looking at her face, the way she grits her teeth at him in rage. Why him? Valentino will never truly understand… The venom in that woman’s words stung more than his sore cheek, but Val wouldn’t dare reach up to cup his face.
“I’m sorry, señorita! I’ll try again, I’ll- ” He’s trying to remember what he was supposed to do right after that verse, but it was hard to focus when someone’s beating the shit out of you.
Sensing his wandering mind, she grabbed a fistful of Val’s neck fluff and yanked his face down towards hers, sending him stumbling on his ankle-breaker heels. Val could feel her heated breath on his face. His eyes were still half squinted, though his face was starting to numb up anyway so with some misfortune his eye will be closed shut by tomorrow, and he’ll get screamed at again next Monday for looking sloppy…
“Haven’t I made it obvious? Haven’t I made it clear since Monday?” She hissed sharply. And once again the rolled-up script book collided with his sore thigh and Val lets out a pained whimper. “You sit on his lap AND you stick your tongue in his mouth! With all the dicks and pussies you slop on everyday, you can’t remember how to FUCKING KISS?!”
And that’s when it happened; a stray tear finally rolled down his cheek. It’s the one thing Val wanted control over, but even that was too much to ask for… He just really loves him, is that wrong?
The dam was broken.
And when the dam breaks there is no going back.
“What the fuck you crying for?! I’ll give you something to cry over, for wasting my time, for wasting my fucking money!” This time she actually laughs at him, but it was a hollow laugh, but somehow still filled with promises of much worse punishments. “I can see your stupid ass face swelling! How the fuck am I supposed to film you looking like a pig? You think people want to see this?”
The stage and studio around them are still filled with people, resetting the stage, rolling the equipment back into place, ready to begin reshooting the music video. The footsteps around him and soft muttering only make Valentino feel all the smaller and powerlessly alone.
His pimp finally let him go, leaving Val to shiver under her gaze from a distance. “You’re coming in tomorrow morning 8am sharp, Tino!” Then she jabs her finger at the rest of the crew. “And so will all of you! You can thank that whore for it later…”
Val knew he messed up again. It was all his fault, because he couldn’t pin it on anyone else at the studio who didn’t deserve it… But his Voxxy would’ve held him close, ran his gentle claws through his neck fluff and assured Val that he didn’t deserve to be bashed either, but what was Val supposed to do with this information?
As caring as Vox was, he has never been to the studio, and hell forbid Val would never let him inside this fuckhole covered in neon signs lying to your face and posters with sexy women and men smiling down at observers, selling a hollow dream of fame and attention.
So, he just sucks it up. After stitching a smile into his cheeks, the rest of the night became a blurr. Val was a natural performer, he worked great even on autopilot. Though he was sure that if his mami chulo could, she’d rip out his brain and stick a robot in there. The cute and sexy outfits, the glitz and glam makeup, the shiny diva heels… He really was a great pinche puta when he’s just a piece of meat with paint and rhinestones on it.
Valentino only came back when the shoot was finalized. The next thing he knows he’s sitting on a folding chair, sweat dripping from his forehead, thankful for the waterproof mascara, clothes sticking to his skin like glue, ankles screaming in pain, blisters pulsing angrily at the back of his soles… Fuck, he really needs a smoke right now.
A makeup artist squirted some remover oil onto a cotton pad and began rubbing it into his face, and Valentino flinched at the coolness against his cheek. His eyes flickered over to the employee next to him. His employer never wastes time having his makeup removed inside the studio after a shoot. Usually, she would just send him home to clean himself up, unless they’re preparing for a new shoot.
Val waves softly at his pimp to get her attention. Her gaze immediately turned into a glare. His heart still clenches with dread as she zeroed in on him. Val opens with the sweetest and softest tone he could muster up. “Uhm… señorita? I can just get cleaned up… later… at home. Could I- ”
Her eyes widen with disbelief as she crossed her arms. “You want to leave?” And she sneers. “After that stunt you pulled today?” Of course, she grabs him by the chin, jerking his face up to look into her strangely calm looking eyes; the calm before the storm.
Valentino would be wise to just go along with whatever was still planned for tonight’s schedule. Good boys and good girls get rewarded, they get left alone in peace, they allowed their lives to be stripped from them just so they wouldn’t get hurt. But Val gets hurt anyway, whether he gets the dances right on the first shoot, or breaks his ankle on stage; if it doesn’t come now, it will come later anyway.
But Vox is always there for him, whether he comes home happy or with bruises. Vox has never left him to rot, but if Valentino keeps on coming home late, leaving Vox to fall asleep on the couch from worry everyday…
“Oh, I get it. It’s your little boytoy isn’t it?” She smiles at him; it doesn’t reach her eyes.
“No, no, no it’s- ”
“Oh, so now you’re lying to me?”
A bright pink collar snapped around Valentino’s neck and he actively chokes as she wrenches the chain away from him, it effectively shoos the other employees away.
“Listen here, you Latino bitch, you wanna leave so bad? Fine!” She leans in, voice barely a whisper. She wants Val to hear this, and she wants it to sting. “The doors right there.”
“But I want you to remember.” She cupped his cheek, caressing his cheek much too gently. “Your special little boyfriend won’t be so special to you anymore, when you stink of cum and squirt…”
Valentino only just realized he was tearing up again. It’s as if he has forgotten how to be scared.
“So go ahead make yourself handsome for that date with your boo, just as long as you bring back double your street whore quota until midnight.”
His employer kicked him out the door after that. Dragged him across the studio floors by the antenna and pushed him out the door with the sole of her foot, and Valentino was relieved.
Then terrified.
Two thousand Souls is already hard to manage in a night, four thousand Souls is impossible.
Where is he going to find 8 demons to fuck for five hundred Souls each in TWO hours? No, an hour fifty…
Valentino’s hands were shaking as he stared down at Vox’s contact. His profile image smiled up at him; Vox in one of Valentino’s white shirts, sitting at their little dinner table with some shitty coffee. It had looked like an oversized shirt dress on him, and Val had helped him tie his extra two sleeves around his waist into a ribbon. Vox always looks so cute in Val’s clothes and he loved it.
If Val called Vox right now that happy moment would turn into a nightmare, haunting him. Val really fucked up this time around. He needs a shot, at least half a line of coke to get through this shit, no scratch that… Valentino brushes through his antenna, he needs the whole bottle and needs to plant his face in a whole bag of Columbian, overdose, come back alive, just to have enough energy to deal with this shit all over again.
Val found himself wandering the streets of the Pride ring like a lost dog, the few times he does get hollered at he hisses at them before he can catch himself. People aren’t going to give him money if he acts like an aggressive cokehead.
“Focus, Tino. Focus…” Valentino leans against a lamp post and clutches at the fluffy heart shaped purse his sadistic freak of an employer had been nice enough to toss after him. Val digs his nails into the soft little handbag, closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths.
He couldn’t stay like this for long though. Any second now someone could snatch his purse away. Not that he had anything more expensive than old candy, condoms and make up in it anyway, but it was his favorite gift from Velvette and Val would rather drink his pimp’s piss right now than have it stolen.
Valentino rifles through his bag for his pink lip oil. “Get yourself together, Tino. It’s nothing you haven’t done before…” he mutters to himself, puckers up his lips to run the applier across his lips and his wrist shakes. It’s the ugliest attempt at painting his lips he has ever made. He rubs at the mistakes, realizes it’s a lip stainer too, and is only just able to stop himself from throwing the lip oil against the asphalt.
He wanted to cry.
He could barely pick up the sound of a car window being rolled down.
He almost jumps out of his own skin when he heard two loud beeps of a car horn; an interested customer. Just what Valentino needed right now…
“They’re gonna think we’re trying to get ‘you know what’, Vaggie!”
“It’s worked before with Angel! We just need him, uh, her, uh, them to notice us and we’ll take it from there…”
Valentino leaned into the rolled down car window to get a better look at the two women inside.
“¡Hola, mamitas! Looking for a good girl to play with?”
