Prototype

by Anonymous

Summary:

Valentino is pretty sure there's a baby in the basement.

Chapter 1

V Tower is one of the tallest buildings in hell. It was obvious to anyone who looked upon it. What hell’s citizens didn’t know was how deep into the ground it went as well. The pride ring wasn’t very big once you got down to it – so they had to expand in a different way.

It had originally been Valentino’s idea. Hidden passageways, evacuation routes, potential smuggling paths… It was Vox’s idea to expand upon it. An underground city. Some place to move the lower class citizens of hell – or maybe a place to hide high profile sinners from exterminations – something that would benefit hell and bring a profit to the Vees.

However, that much digging would take decades. With some help from the Industrial District, it might go faster, but that cunt Carmilla would not soften up to them and Velvette fucked things up even more. Not that he could blame his babydoll, but fuck he and Vox had been trying to get on her good side again for years.

So, for now, they only had a couple of floors of their tower deep in the pride ring’s earth.

A basement.

Which was useful for storing all kinds of shit. Good for a company that’s always moving forward. Gotta dump the old junk somewhere so others couldn’t rifle through for resources or reverse engineer. Good for weapons too. Supplies. Servers.

And secret evil labs, apparently.

“The fuck am I looking at, Vox?” Valentino asks.

Vox waves a dismissive hand. “Old department. I cut the funding last month – wasn’t worth shit.”

“I’m talking about that – that fucking – is that a baby?”

Vox bends forward and squints at the tiny lump with a tablet for a head. He nudges it with the back of his claw. It flops over with a squeak not unlike a dog toy. A thin fracture has spread across its screen. He turns back to Valentino with a raised eyebrow.

“Obviously fucking not.”

Valentino stares.

Vox rolls his eyes. “Val, it’s just some old prototype. It’s not alive.”

“I swear I saw that shit move. It blinked.” More like its screen flickered – but Vox’s head was a screen and when he flickered, it was pretty much the same as blinking.

“You’re seeing things. Now come on, do you want those contracts or not?”

Right. The contracts. Another thing they stored.

“Why are the contracts stored on the same level as your evil lab?” Valentino asks. He follows Vox back into the dimly lit hall. “You better not have fucked with the souls I own, Vox! Vox? Don’t walk faster – Vox!”

 

xoxoxox

 

Valentino doesn’t think about the lab or the tablet for a week until Velvette cracks a joke about Carmilla’s daughters.

Daughters. Children. Babies.

He scrunches up his face. He doesn’t know why his first thought was baby when he saw – whatever that prototype was. It was just small. Not including Imps, there aren’t many children in hell. Most were in Cannibal Town or older teens who aged up into adults after a couple of years. The others… well, it wasn’t something most sinners like to think about. Not even the Vees.

Baby should not have been his first thought.

It was probably just some tiny spy robot.

He really isn’t into tech as much as Vox is.

So he’s not sure why he’s back in the basement to look at a robot. It’s not like it can be another Kitty.

Still, he studies it.

The tiny crack that Vox had made was gone.

Valentino slides his finger across it, just in case he couldn’t see it with his shit vision.

He knows it had been there. This was the same room, the same desk, the same robot…

He picks it up.

It flops in his hands limply.

It’s just a robot.

Valentino flips it over in his hands. Runs his fingers along the edges of the tablet. There’s a charging port. He pulls open a few random drawers with a free hand and feels for a cable. When he finds one that fits, he clicks it into place and then plugs it into the closest outlet he can find. Was there still power on this floor? There had to be, he could hear the hum of machines in the walls.

In his pocket, his phone buzzes and pings. He ignores it.

He stares at the tablet screen.

Taps the single button at the side.

…

Nothing.

No.

There’s a yellow light blinking near the charging port.

Carefully, he lays the body of the robot down on the desk so that the tablet screen is facing up. He can’t keep his eyes off the little yellow light. He lights a cigarette and sits back in a dusty chair, waiting. He’s not sure how long he’s sitting there.

His phone pings again.

Valentino twitches and glares down at it.

Vox:

               Where are you going?

               I can’t see you.

               What are you doing in the basement?

Valentino:

               Jerking off

He has just barely sent the message off when he hears shuffling. His head jerks up in time to see the robot – baby – whatever – is now moving. He sits there in stunned silence. He’s not sure why. Obviously, it had the ability to move, it had limbs. But the way it crawled – crawled too close to the edge of the –

Valentino lunges forward, catching the baby before it hits the ground. It lets out a squeaky grunt. It struggles to maneuver itself in his arms so he carefully turns it around to face him.

Two red eyes gaze up at him, wide and innocent.

It blinks.

It has a mouth, he realizes. Curved into a tiny smile.

The mouth opens as it babbles.

His phone pings again.

Valentino silences it.

Chapter 2

Notes:

I've added some tags and will likely add more later!

Holding the baby in his arms is a little awkward at first. It has been literal decades since Valentino held a baby at all and back then he had not been so large and so thin. Just his hand is almost the entire length of the baby. It’s the first time he’s felt so alien in his body since he first died.

Once the baby is settled in his arms, he strides towards the elevator and slams his finger on the call button. At the last moment, he loosens his wings and uses them to partially hide the baby from sight. As pissed as he is that Vox hid a baby, he knows that if anyone saw him with it, it’d do something to their image. Jury was out on whether it’d be positive or negative.

He can feel the camera watching him when he steps into the elevator. He determinedly does not look at it. Instead focusing on the feeling of the small body in his arms.

It’s warm.

Alive.

…And nibbling at his chain. He lifts another hand to maneuver it out of the baby’s mouth, then lets it gum at his finger instead. It has no teeth – not yet. Plenty of drool, though. It’s fucking disgusting.

He wiggles his finger, watching the baby’s expression as it puzzles over the feeling in its mouth. It gnaws harder but he hardly feels it. He’s going to have to get it food. It is alive so someone must have been feeding it, right?

Whatever. It needs food.

He can’t remember the last time they had food in the cabinets or fridge of their living quarters so he’d probably have to order out. He pulls out his phone as he steps out of the elevator and taps through a few food delivery apps. He doesn’t have anything exactly baby-friendly.

He sets up a few downloads for Imp food services then walks down the hall and through a door to his bedroom. He'd be able to buy himself a few minutes alone with the baby if he went here instead of the Vees shared living space.

Once inside, Valentino spares the baby another glance, then pauses. It’s still chewing on his finger, but it is also staring up at him. He shifts it in his arms, watching as it moved its head to keep him in view.

Valentino hums. It’s kind of cute.

He places it on his bed to give himself a chance to make new accounts for the apps he downloaded. When he looks down at it again, he sees it struggling to move around. It’s tiny fists clutching the blanket as it tries to drag itself forward – towards him.

Definitely cute.

The bed is plush enough that any attempts to crawl is almost impossible. It’s still too high off the ground though and he’d rather have the baby contained in a crib or a pen – neither of which he has.

The next best thing is his laundry basket. Empty, thanks to Kitty’s efficiency. He takes his comforter off his bed and folds it carefully inside and plops the baby on top.

“Be good,” he says to it. Its eyes widen and it perks up, babbling excitedly. It takes a moment for Valentino to realize that that’s the first thing he’s said to it. Be good. He snorts.

He sits on his bed and starts his order. Food first. He’d experiment with groceries later.

The payment information auto fills Vox’s name and card information. He’s about to finalize the payment when a message pops up.

From Vox.

He must have been waiting until Valentino’s full attention was on his phone.

Vox:

               I’m coming up.

Valentino isn’t sure what he expects Vox to say. He knows Vox will try to take the baby – to do what, he doesn’t know. Likely nothing good. He sure as hell wasn’t going to let that happen so they were going to argue.

He glances at the baby. Poor thing didn’t need to see that.

His first thought is to hide it in the closet.

Moving from a basement to a closet isn’t much of an upgrade. But this is different – it was for a good reason and his closet was huge anyway. It would only be for a few minutes. He lifts the laundry basket and carries it inside.

When he tucks it in, the baby reaches through the mesh, babbling.

Valentino hesitates.

He steps back and closes the door.

…

A whimper.

He flings the door back open.

The baby falls back, startled, and then its smile is back as it rights itself and reaches towards him again. Fuck. He couldn’t do this to it. He kneels next to the basket and puts a hand in to pet the baby’s head. It tries to touch his hand, but its arms are far too short to go above its own head. It’s a miracle it’s able to crawl around at all if he thinks about it. He lowers his hand so it can grab his fingers.

Immediately they’re stuffed in his mouth and Valentino scoffs and smiles. “Oye, I’m not food.” He blinks. “Shit.” He forgot to pay.

Valentino pulls his fingers from its mouth and drags the basket out of the closet. He’s barely straightened up to look for his phone when the door to his room is opened and Vox walks in.

His eyes dart from Valentino to the baby in the laundry basket and back.

He looks genuinely baffled.

“What are you doing with that thing?” Vox asks.

Valentino frowns and narrows his eyes. He knows Vox had been watching. “I got it out.”

“Did you log it?” Vox gestures at the baby. “I didn’t see it on the records.”

Of course he didn’t log it. He was getting a baby out of a cold, dark, basement!

“No,” he snaps.

Vox rolls his eyes and pulls out a tablet from – somewhere. He didn’t usually carry tablets around. His fingers dance over the screen and then he flips it over to face Valentino, waiting for a signature.

The action is so bizarre, Valentino finds himself signing with his finger. Vox hums and after a few more taps to the screen, hands the tablet to him. This time it displays nothing but the home screen. What the fuck? Here he was ready for a fight and Vox just acts like it’s not a big deal—

“You can have that,” Vox says. He strides past Valentino.

Towards the laundry basket.

And there it is. The rage bubbles back up and Valentino can feel his fur bristle.

Vox bends down and pinches the top of the baby’s head as though he were picking up a piece of trash, then lifts. The baby lets out a whine of displeasure.

He throws the tablet over Vox’s head where it shatters into pieces against the wall.

Vox drops the baby back into the basket and gives him an unimpressed look. “Val.”

“The fuck are you doing?”

“Taking this back to storage. I thought that was clear,” Vox says. “The tablet you just destroyed is the newest model. It’s much better than this one.”

“The tablet?” Valentino snarls. “You think I wanted a new tablet?”

“Uh, yes. Why else would you grab that thing?”

Valentino isn’t sure why Vox wants him to say it out loud.

“Because it’s a fucking baby that was alone in the basement!” Valentino grabs and flings the closest item he finds at Vox’s head – his phone. This time, Vox has to duck out of the way. Valentino throws his hands up. “Vox, why the hell do you have kids in the basement?”

“If I had children they would not be in this tower, Val, don’t be ridiculous.” Vox pauses. “They’d be in our factories. Tiny fingers are great for detail work.” He wiggles his claws.

On a normal day, Valentino would have found the joke hilarious. Today, it infuriates him. He bares his teeth at Vox. “That’s not fucking funny, Vox.”

Vox blinks and lowers his hand. His eyebrows are pushed together as he studies Valentino. “Huh. So, there is a line.” His head tilts a little.

“What?”

Vox straightens up and folds his arms behind his back. He circles around the laundry basket and back to Valentino’s side. “Can’t say anything about our sources for our parts and Velvette’s fabrics outside Vee territory, but our tower and warehouses are clear of child labor, Val, don’t worry about that.” He pauses, eyes rolling up to the ceiling as he thinks over what he said. “I am… 92% sure. We’ll check in on that if it bothers you so much.”

He doesn’t know what line Vox is talking about or why he brought up child labor. His main concern is the child – the baby – in front of them.

Who was alone in a basement.

Vox must realize this because he puts on a placating expression and gestures to the laundry basket.

“That’s not a real baby,” Vox says simply.

“Like hell it isn’t.”

“It isn’t.” Oh, he fucking hates that bored, matter-of-fact tone.

“You think I can’t tell what’s a fucking baby or not? Vox, look at it!”

He doesn’t look at it.

“I saw it. It’s not alive, Val,” Vox insists. He chuckles in that hot, patronizing way. It’s less hot when it’s directed at him. “Aaand I know you’re smart enough to know what’s real and what’s machine.”

Valentino lets out a low growl. “It crawls and makes baby sounds.” He jabs a finger in the baby’s direction. “It slobbers everywhere.” There is more to it than that. He just knows. Just because he couldn’t put it into words—

Vox shrugs. “It’s programming! Bugged programming. It’s poor balance and jumbled audio.” He shakes his head fondly and then grins at Valentino, waggling his finger at him. “Alright, I know what this is. You just want to know what I was up to!”

“That’s not…” Valentino frowns as he trails off. Wait, he did want to know that. Didn’t he? It’s basically what he was asking.

He hates this. He wants to hold onto the fury and the confusion but Vox –

Fuck. Vox is acting as though everything is fine! It’s one of the things that made them a good team. Vox balancing his temper. Valentino making sure he didn’t get too into his own head. But this is not the time for that. This is important. This… He needs to be angry about this–!

Vox wraps his arm around his waist and tugs him close.

“I get it, Val! I shouldn’t have kept it from you. It’s just so par for the course I didn’t think to tell you about it.” He chuckles again, fingers pressing into him. They hit a muscle just right and Valentino leans into his touch. “Frankly, I’m flattered you’re so interested!”

Valentino scowls. “…Well?”

Vox turns and plants himself in front of him, holding his arms and leaning back, a bright grin on his face.

“As you know, Val, we at Voxtek—”

Valentino pulls away with a scoff and a roll of his eyes. Vox laughs awkwardly and grabs him by the crook of his elbow and spins him back around.

“Alright, alright,” Vox says quickly. “This was part of a project to push my abilities even further – moving my consciousness completely to another body.”

“Can’t you already do that?” Valentino makes a vague gesture with his hand. “To the… TVs and stuff?”

Vox shakes his head. “No, I’m talking complete removal of myself where I don’t have to worry about this body getting snuffed. Doesn’t matter if I’m destroyed – I’m already in my new body – no regeneration wait time! Hell, no permanent death by angelic weapons! And don’t get me started on customizations!” Vox’s eyes are practically sparkling. He gestures at the baby. “This is a manufactured body. This isn’t a baby and it’s not made from babies, if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s just a machine.”

“…It’s not.”

Vox’s smile twitches. “Come on, Val, I just told you…”

“If you would just look at it, asshole—” his voice comes out weaker than he would have liked. Vox pounces on it.

“I’m going to lay it out for you,” Vox says. His screen flashes brightly, stunning Valentino into silence. “It was in a basement in the dark for over a month. If it was a living being it would have starved to death. You literally plugged it in and turned it on.” He softens his voice. “You remember that, don’t you?”

Valentino could feel his resolve crumbling. Robots in hell were… really something. More advanced than anything he had seen when he was alive. Almost magic. Sometimes even Kitty appeared to be more than she seemed. Hell, that was why he named her.

But she is a robot.

This is different. He could feel it in his gut and his instincts are rarely ever wrong.

“Why is it so small?”

Vox blinks. “What?”

He isn’t sure why he asked at first, but now that he thinks about it, it’s a good question.

“If it’s supposed to be a new body for you, why is it so small?”

“It was a prototype. It wasn’t fully developed and something fucked up the process when it was growing.”

“Robots don’t grow,” Valentino says, latching onto the word.

Vox’s smile drops. To Valentino’s annoyance, the new expression on his face isn’t one of being caught – it is exasperation. Like he just realized he is going to be stuck with Valentino all day discussing stocks or whatever business bullshit he tries to teach him. Clearly, someone didn’t cancel his meetings for today to deal with his princess.

Vox huffs. “Are you really going to make me go over the whole process with you? For a fucking tablet?”

Valentino crosses a pair of arms and cocks his hip to the side. “How badly do you want to take it away?”

He can feel the puff of hot air expel from Vox’s head. “You’re impossible.”

“Vox, just fucking look. Really look.”

“I know what it looks like. Turning it on doesn’t change anything.”

Frustrated, Valentino turns around and strides back to the laundry basket. He’d fucking show him then. Shove it in Vox’s stupid face. All Vox had to do was hold it and it’d be obvious that –

He freezes.

The baby –

It isn’t moving and its screen has gone completely dark.

He feels Vox come up behind him.

“Huh, looks like it died.”

Chapter 3

“You only charged it for what, twenty minutes? You should know better than that,” Vox says callously.

Valentino whirls towards him, baring his teeth. “Fuck off!”

“Can I take it back now?” His grin is back on his face. Smug.

“No!”

Shit. Shit. He doesn’t know what to do.

Getting Vox out of the room feels important but he’s not sure if that’s because he’s pissed.

Vox probably knows how to fix this.

Vox is the one who hid a baby in a basement.

“Get out,” he hisses. “Get out, Vox. I don’t want you here.”

Vox’s grin becomes strained, and Valentino takes a moment to relish it. “Fine,” he bites out. “But don’t take it out of the tower and return it to the basement when you get bored. I don’t want that technology getting in the wrong hands. Capiche?”

Like hell he’d take it back. “Yes! Now get the fuck out!”

“And log it!” Vox snaps over his shoulder.

He slams the door behind him once Vox leaves and runs back to the baby. He picks it up carefully, heart aching as he takes in the limp body. It isn’t really dead, is it? Fuck. Maybe – asleep? Stasis? Sometimes Vox would shut down for a few minutes when he did a reboot.

Something twitches.

Valentino didn’t see the movement, but he definitely felt it. It twitches in his hand again and then, to his relief, starts wiggling – screen still dark.

Its arms stretch out, waving slowly. Clumsily, like it…

It can’t see.

“Oh, baby,” Valentino gasps softly. He puts a finger in its hand and immediately, the baby’s stubby fingers try to wrap around it. Its other hand waves more energetically, grasping air, so Valentino gives it another. It stills, squeezing tightly, and makes no sound. “Ah, pobrecito, you poor thing… Can you even hear me?”

It doesn’t respond to his voice. If it didn’t have such a tight grip on his fingers, he’d think it was just as dead to the world as it had been when he first found it. A state he was beginning to doubt it ever was in.

He cradles it in his arms and plants himself next to the only free outlet he has in his room. This time, he keeps holding it as he plugs it in and the yellow light flicks on.

A few minutes pass and the baby’s screen reboots. It blinks up at him curiously and then looks down at its hand still holding his fingers. It squeezes again.

Valentino swallows.

Alive.

Definitely alive.

Vox is just stupid.

 

xoxoxox

 

He does have to put the baby down for a few seconds to retrieve the laundry basket and immediately runs into a problem. The baby’s display needs to be charged in order for it to see or hear, but it needs to stay still. When it lays on the ground, the squirming it does to roll over and sit up loosens the charging cable and if it doesn’t, its awkward crawling will disconnect it completely. The cable is only six feet long.

The obvious solution is to charge it when it sleeps – but then what if it strangles itself? It also just isn’t tired and if its tablet lost its charge while it was awake it’d break Valentino’s heart again. Babies shouldn’t have their senses deprived – that should only be for adults.

So, Valentino finds himself sitting on the ground, leaning over the laundry basket and examining the little thing as it charges – every inch. He didn’t want any more surprises. He takes in the head first.

If it didn’t have a body, the baby’s head would look like an ordinary tablet. Off-white and just a little thicker than what Valentino is used to nowadays. There’s the charging port, a USB port and even a headphone jack. He’s not sure what the other two could be used for but commits them to memory in case something comes up. He also finds a thin button that controls the volume of its head. He only taps it a few times to see if it works and is relieved it doesn’t appear to cause any discomfort to the baby. He sets the volume to a reasonable level. Crying is awful, but babies need to tell you when something is wrong. He would not mute it.

There’s also the main button on the side of the screen which would, on a normal tablet, take you to the home screen or put it to sleep. He taps it once, cautiously, and the baby looks up at him with a smile and the yellow charging light blinks rapidly three times. Nothing else changes so he decides not to mess with it.

He also discovers that the only clothes it has on is a jumpsuit with a label on its chest that reads:

P.45.13.01 v1

VOXTEK ASSET NO. XXX1

It’s unsettling. It’s probably the name it had when Vox insisted he log it.

There are no undergarments and more importantly, no diaper. Which is… a little weird, because he also discovers that It is a He, so the equipment is there. Did he just not shit?

There’s nothing too out there with the rest of his body aside from being disproportionate to his head. Two legs, two arms… his skin is grey and smooth. It’s all very plain. Clinical, almost.

Robotic.

He banishes the thought.

Fucking Vox got to him.

He decides to fashion a diaper from a clean towel for now, folding it carefully and pinning it in place. It’s bulky and awkward – but it works. The baby, of course, absolutely despises it and fusses.

“It’ll be way better than shitting in your jumpsuit,” Valentino tells him with complete seriousness.

The baby squirms and kicks his legs, whimpering. Valentino uses one of his hands to rub gently at his belly, then taps his fingers up his chest to tickle under the edge of his face. The baby squirms even more, this time with what he can almost call a giggle.

He plays with him for a few more minutes to distract him, then slips the jumpsuit back on. Immediately, the baby begins to whimper and fuss again. Valentino clicks his tongue.

“None of that, you were just fine with it earlier.” He scoops him up to give him a quick look over, then puts him back down, making sure his cable is still secure. “We’ll get you something more comfortable.”

Clothes, diapers, food, wipes, powder, utensils, a crib, bedding, toys, shit… Valentino stands to look for a scrap of paper to write it all down. Time made it so easy to forget how much you needed for a baby.

Thank fuck he’s rich.

“Kitty!” he shouts. He sees from the corner of his eye that he startled the baby.

Kitty appears at his side immediately. When Valentino speaks again, he makes sure it’s a little softer. “Get me another phone.”

She zips away and Valentino grabs a discarded script and a pen to write down his list which is three times longer than he thought it would be. He checks on the baby again and ends up having to plug the cable back in. Fuck. This is really going to be a problem.

Kitty brings his new phone on a plate. He can see it’s already been an hour since he first brought the baby up – and his light is still yellow. Valentino was hoping it’d turn green or something to give him a sign of a full charge. Even so, an hour isn’t enough, and he has only been charging for maybe half of that time.

He unlocks the phone and it boots up all his apps immediately. There are a few text messages from employees and a missed call from Travis – the shoot for today started a few minutes ago. The crew is competent enough to get some prep done but he’d have to make an appearance at some point. Might as well be now.

He’d take the baby with him. There will be plenty of places to charge the baby at his studio ever since Vox had that electrician sent in after the fire. He’d have more eyes on the baby and he could have the food delivered there with no real issue. There is also a number of dressing rooms for the baby to nap in and their cleaning station will work perfectly if he shit.

Who knew a porn studio could be so well-equipped?

 

xoxoxox

 

Vox and Velvette are in their shared living quarters. He knows they’re talking about him because they stop as soon as he steps into the room.

“Looks like a fucking baby to me,” Velvette says. There’s a cruel twist to her lips and Valentino knows she’s just saying that to fuck with Vox. He must have already explained everything to her. But only his side. Dickhead.

“Velvette, I swear,” Vox says, staring down at the table with his hands splayed in front of him. “If one more person loses it in this tower I’m tearing the building down.”

Velvette snickers and Valentino flips both of them off as he checks the fridge for any food – just in case.

There’s nothing but some stale corner store beer and a dick he cut off from someone in the freezer.

He makes to slam the door – remembers the baby in his arms – and instead closes it slowly. Food delivered to the studio it is then. He pulls out his phone to reorder and makes sure the payment goes through this time.

Vox raises an eyebrow. He must have gotten an alert in his head about the transaction on his card.

“You’ve never ordered from there before.” His eyes narrow and Valentino can tell he’s going over the order. “This isn’t for you – you don’t eat any of this stuff in the morning.”

He likes Vox knowing every little thing about him – it’s hot, but in this case, he finds it annoying.

“Obviously it’s not for me. It’s for the baby.”

“…It’s being delivered to your studio.”

“No shit.”

Vox chuckles. “Val, you’re not taking that to your studio.”

Valentino glares at him. “You said not to take him out of the tower.” He gestures at the baby and then vaguely to the lower floors of the tower. “My studio is in the tower.”

Velvette cackles. She has her phone pointed at him and her fingers tap up, showering him with emojis, no doubt.

“Don’t post that,” Vox snaps. Nosy bastard.

“Aww, what’s the matter? You don’t want anyone to see mommy Valentino?”

“Valentino’s reputation can handle a baby. A real baby. What it can’t handle is him being a complete moron who can’t tell what’s real and what’s technology. It’ll be the lamppost incident all over again.”

It takes everything in Valentino’s power to not crush his phone in his hand. He is standing right here. Fuck them both.

“So, what’re you going to name the little bastard?” Velvette asks, leaning forward. Is she recording?

Vox slams his hand on the table. “He’s not naming it!” He jabs his finger in Valentino’s direction. “Do not name it!”

He is so going to fucking name him.

“Oh, piss off, Vox. Let me have some fun,” Velvette says. Before Valentino can register the movement, her other hand reaches out and swipes at the baby’s screen. He lets out a disgruntled squeak as his face is swiped offscreen and back around again.

Valentino draws back quickly, shielding him with one of his hands. He bares his teeth at Velvette and growls. “Don’t touch him.”

She arches an eyebrow, phone held up high, but Valentino doesn’t budge. That’s the thing with Velvette – you had to make sure she couldn’t walk over you on the shit that matters or there’d be no fucking respect. She huffs and turns away.

Valentino looks down at the baby to make sure he’s alright. He has a little quiver to his form now, like Velvette’s touch has harmed him. Valentino uses the hand shielding him to stroke the side of his face gently until the quivers slow to a stop.

“It has to start with a V,” Velvette continues, tapping a finger to her chin. “Oh, I know. How about Vox Jr.? It has your head shape and everything, Vox.”

Vox sneers. “Are you done?”

She smirks and waves her hand, turning back to her phone. Vox glares back at Valentino.

“Val, if the public sees you carrying that thing around like it’s a real baby, we’re going to be the laughingstock of Pentagram City.”

“He is a real baby,” Valentino says. “And like you said.” He gives a mocking bow. “My reputation can handle it.”

“It’s not a baby. You’re going to look like a moron. We can’t have that, not with our meeting with Carmilla coming up. She isn’t going to take us seriously. We don’t need her to have another excuse to cancel on us again.” Vox gives a pointed look at Velvette.

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that bitch could hold a grudge?” Velvette snaps.

“Because we told you,” Vox says. “Many times. I warned you as you were walking into the me̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠n̸͐̈́͟͟͝g̷̵̸̡̼̱͎͎̞ͤͬ̅͢͟͞. I thought you had it! Have you any idea how pissed she already is with me for swiping her best hitman forty years ago?”

Valentino decides to take the opportunity to slip out. It’s not as smooth as he likes, he can hear Vox’s shout after him, but he keeps moving.

He gets a message on his phone.

               Order Cancelled

“Oh, that petty bitch!” he screams.

The baby flinches. He swears and softens his voice.

“Shit, not you. Never you. I’m sorry, baby.”

He has half a mind to march back to Vox and force him down onto the table and use his face to make a new order, then smash his screen.

Fuck him. He probably wants Valentino to storm back in.

He isn’t going to do that.

Vox can’t make him do anything.

There’s really nothing Vox can do to stop him from doing anything either.

He punches his order into his phone again, this time using his own card. It’s embarrassing to realize he has to look up his own card information to do it. Fuck Vox.

He can go wherever the fuck he wants. Order whatever he wants. Feed the damn baby whatever he wants.

Name him whatever he wants.

Vax, he decides. It’s simple enough and sounds like Vox which will piss him off. And it starts with a V, which will make Velvette happy. It also matches the label on Vax’s jumpsuit in a roundabout way so it feels like he is reclaiming the name for him or some poetic shit like that.

Vax whimpers in his arms and he shakes himself out of the anger – most of it. He doesn’t want to scare him so much which is fucking difficult because Valentino knows he’s scary as fuck. That’s why Vox is so confident his reputation can handle a baby.

Valentino takes a few deep breaths, then steps into the elevator and cuddles Vax closer.

He swears to fucking god if anything else pisses him off today he is going to fucking lose it and rip his studio apart.

He gets a text from Travis almost immediately.

Angel Dust is fucking late.

Chapter 4

Notes:

Warning for Val being... well, Val.

He cannot rip his studio apart because there is a (literal) goddamned baby in his arms.

The thought forces him to attempt to smother his temper but he can hear his own squeaks slipping out and feel his antennae trembling in his irritation. There’s a heat in his face and a pounding behind his eyes as his vision tints red. He closes them. He will be calm. It’s just fucking Angel Dust. He can do whatever the fuck he wants to him right when he puts the baby down and that slut arrives in the studio.

He hears a squeak.

Valentino opens his eyes.

Vax is staring up at him, eyes following his twitching antennae. When he notices Valentino is looking at him, he squeaks again.

Valentino scoffs and he can’t help the grin that slips onto his face. “You little bastard, are you mocking me?”

Vax makes a few more baby noises, excited to hear him talk. Valentino wonders how long it has been since he’s heard another voice.

“I’ve killed bitches for less, you know. Ripped them to pieces. Can’t do that to you though, can I? You’re too adorable with your big ass head and googly eyes.”

Vax babbles louder and more quickly. Valentino chuckles and pets the side of his face a few times. Vax manages to maneuver his finger into his mouth and begins to gnaw, coating his hand in drool all over again.

“You’re so damn disgusting,” Valentino says fondly.

By the time the elevator door opens onto the floor of his studio, the heat has faded, his vision has cleared, and the pounding has dulled into a barely noticeable ache. He exits the elevator, making sure to keep Vax distracted with his hand for now. He was pretty sure all the movements and lights would make him fuss. His goal was to bark a few orders and then have Vax settled in a dressing room. The food he ordered should be coming any minute and he’d take the time to get him fed, plug him in, then have one of his girls watch over him as he worked.

Past the front desk and through the doors to one of several movie sets, his crew waits.  There’s a nervous energy in the air as they watch him enter and he feels the moment all of their eyes land on Vax. He hears a few murmurs and ignores them for the most part.

A script is shoved into his hand for him to review. Angel Dust still hasn’t shown up, so they’d be filming alternate scenes that didn’t include him. This still requires some setup, and he supervises as the set is reassembled to reflect the appropriate scenes.

Vax is partially shielded under Valentino’s wing, though he’s been letting him peek out and get accustomed to the surroundings. He’s reviewing a short take from the day before on a laptop when Travis speaks up after handing him a coffee. Taking the cup had shifted his wings, putting Vax in full view for a few seconds.

“Mister Valentino, sir, uh… What is that?”

The crew goes silent and suddenly all eyes are on them again.

He narrows his eyes. “What do you think it is?”

Travis doesn’t answer right away. “It… looks like a new… Voxtek product?”

Valentino stiffens, then decides to let the stupidity pass. He speaks again, slower and more carefully, “This is a fucking baby.”

Vax even blinks and mumbles softly, trying to see everyone’s faces.

A few of the girls look interested while the rest of the crew looks unnerved.

He can feel the camera lens zooming in on him from the corner of the room.

“You,” Valentino continues, voice still carefully level. “Are going to treat it like one.”

There’s a chorus of ‘yes, sir’ and ‘yes, daddy.’

He hears a nervous laugh.

A few of his other employees who were next to the source cringed away, immediately revealing to him who it was. It’s a woman – a goat themed sinner. She’s well-dressed with nice curves and a pretty enough face. He’s not sure what her position is. It doesn’t really matter. Her eyes are wide when he focuses on her and she’s already seconds from tears.

He curls a finger in her direction and then shouts to the others, “Everyone else, get to work!”

Everyone scrambles back to their places, leaving him alone with the sinner.

“How you doing, baby?” he asks her. He lowers his free hand to her waist, guiding her to his own dressing room.

“Good,” she replies.

He chuckles and opens the door for her. “Good to hear. I need your help with something.”

“Of course.”

That wasn’t a question. He grinds his teeth and smiles, closing the door behind them, and shows her Vax. “You’ve seen my baby… He has a special condition and needs extra supervision.” He tilts his head. “And Daddy’s busy with work. Your job for today is to watch over this angelito and make sure he gets a full charge.”

He pulls out Vax’s charging cable and twirls it between his fingers.

The expression on her face tells him everything he needs to know.

“You want me to… just stay here? In the room with it?”

“Babysit, yes,” Valentino purrs. “Oh, I’m sure it won’t be difficult for such a capable young lady like yourself.”

She has just enough sense not to comment on that. Reluctantly, Valentino holds Vax out to her. Vax squirms, looking back at him in confusion and then at the sinner in wonder. When she finally has her hands on him, he squirms even more, whining. If he cries, the shoot should still be fine – he has most of the dressing rooms soundproofed.

The sinner holds Vax awkwardly, just barely able to keep herself from holding him by his head, which makes Valentino’s irritation spike. When she plugs the cord into the wall, she sets Vax on top of the desk and plugs him in as though plugging in a phone.

She jumps a little when she realizes Valentino is just standing there, watching.

“Sir? The shoot?”

He sips his coffee. It’s too hot for him to enjoy it yet.

Vax is already on his hands and knees, crawling along the desk and getting much too close to the edge again. The baby had a damn double death wish. Fortunately, the bitch realizes what’s going to happen and takes him off. She puts him on the floor. Vax scoots away, loosening the cable as expected.

Her hands are shaking and she looks at Valentino uncertainly.

“Do you need help, doll?” he asks.

“I… can - can you tell me how to keep it still?”

He swirls the coffee in his hand.

“Cradle him,” he suggests.

She stares and then nods. “Right.”

Valentino tilts his head. “Have you cradled one before?”

“Sir?” He does not repeat himself. “I… no, sir, I’ve never cradled one of… these before.”

‘These.’ Not ‘a baby.’

He considers that maybe she’s a new soul under his contract. It’s so hard to keep up with them nowadays. Maybe she didn’t know how things worked around here. Because Valentino thinks it’s very obvious after you’ve worked for him for a few hours, that what he says, goes. If Valentino says day is night, then you tell him good morning during a 6pm shift. If Valentino says you’re sucking off twenty guys before lunch, you get on your fucking knees.

If Valentino says something is a baby – you treat that baby like it’s his flesh and blood.

“Ah, no worries,” Valentino says. “Leave him be.”

The relief on her face disgusts him. You can’t ask for shit from people these days. Not that he was ever really going to leave this bitch alone with Vax.

No, he just needed an example.

He waits until she’s far away from Vax, who has already unplugged himself and was clumsily crawling across the floor.

She notices his expression too late.

Valentino throws the coffee at her head. The cup nails her in the eye and the contents spill. She screams and stumbles back against the wall, scalding hot coffee coating her skin and her clothes. When she starts sobbing, he grabs the back of her collar and drags her out of the room. He slams the door shut.

Maybe now the rest of the crew would get the fucking hint.

His cellphone pings.

He ignores it.

Vax’s eyes are wide and confused. The screaming sinner having appeared and disappeared too quickly for him to really register where the loud noises had come from. Valentino is glad – he’s sure the baby would have begun crying if he really saw. Right now, his mouth is in a small, wobbly line like he might cry, but isn’t sure if he wants to.

Valentino picks him up and gives him a quick squeeze which has Vax smiling again. He unplugs the cord from the wall and plugs it into an outlet right next to the couch.

“Are you going to be a good boy?” he asks Vax, holding the charging cable in front of him. “Are you going to stay still for me?”

Vax gazes up with innocent eyes.

Not buying it, Valentino takes two plush pillows and arranges them on the corner of the couch, then tucks Vax in-between them. Once he’s sure he’s settled in, he plugs him in. The yellow light blinks on.

Vax can’t really move from his position and for once he doesn’t seem too eager to. He would just kick his legs out occasionally, eyes shifting around to take in the new environment. When he starts chewing on his own hand again and lays contently to watch Valentino, Valentino relaxes into the couch and lights a fresh cigarette.

He keeps the smoke away from Vax for the most part – not that it would have an effect on him. It was only effective when it was his intent to drug someone, or he was horny. Vax’s eyes follow the shapes with interest, almost hypnotized. The smoke and the moment of peace is finally enough that Valentino can feel his anger dissipating again. He wonders if Vax has a calming effect on him or if it’s just his own determination to not blow up in front of the baby.

Valentino twists in his seat so that Vax can get a better view, then starts blowing rings of smoke in the air. He tries a few other tricks he’s rusty at but the further they are from his face the more interested Vax is, so he ends up keeping to smoke rings and hearts.

He’s so focused on Vax’s face that he doesn’t notice the door open.

“What the fuck, Val.”

Valentino turns around.

Angel Dust.

He’s at the door of the dressing room, covered tightly in his pink robe. He’s looking between Valentino and Vax with horror and disgust. The expression is quickly turning into anger. His eyes flash. All eight of them.

“What the fuck, Val!”

Valentino doesn’t have a clue what the fuck went up Angel’s ass today before a shoot, but he is not in the mood to deal with this attitude. Who the hell does he think he’s talking to?

“Get the hell out, Angel, or this is gonna turn ugly real quick,” Valentino says, standing up.

“Not without the kid,” Angel says, drawing himself up straighter as though he had a damn spine.

That ungrateful little slut.

Wait.

Valentino squints at him. “The what?”

“The kid. I’m not leaving him with you! I don’t care what the hell our deal says, I’m not gonna let you touch that kid!”

“The baby,” Valentino says slowly. “…You can see he’s a baby.”

Angel looks a little confused but just as pissed. He swallows and his body trembles. “No shit.”

Valentino closes his eyes. The relief flooding through his blood feels better than any drug.

“Fuck,” Valentino sighs. He snuffs his cigarette in an ashtray and lets himself fall onto the couch. The impact makes Vax bounce a little and he giggles, freed from his pillow prison. “Thank god.” He waves a hand at Angel lazily. “Calm your tits, Angel, I don’t do kiddie porn.”

Vax wiggles in his spot, loosening the charging cable, and tries to climb up Valentino’s knee. Valentino watches him for a few seconds before picking him up and holding him closer. Vax’s eyes are wide and curious, catching the sound of his heart which was thumping hard and loud in his chest.

Angel steps closer, cautiously. Valentino lets him. He even goes as far as to gesture at him to sit down with him, though he keeps his eyes on Vax who is now babbling again and tugging at a button of his shirt.

“Where did ya get a baby?” Angel asks. He sits next to him, knees pressing tightly together and hands clenching in his lap. “I… I know they sometimes end up here but they’re usually… scooped up.”

That was one way to put it. Murdered. Eaten. Raped. Sold and slaved.

People got off on all sorts of shit in hell.

It wasn’t any of Valentino’s business and the very least the Vees did was not make it their business.

“He’s Vox’s,” Valentino says.

“…Vox’s?”

Valentino shrugs. “He says he made him. Hell if I know that’s true or not… But he doesn’t want him.” He scowls. “Doesn’t want me to want ‘im either. Claims he’s not really alive. Just some robot.”

He can feel Angel looking at Vax again. “Looks alive to me.”

Valentino grunts. He doesn’t want to let it show how good it feels to hear that.

But he has a feeling Angel knows and that’s the only reason he continues.

“He’s not the only one who thinks that.” He saw the way his bitches looked at him and Vax. They didn’t see a baby – they saw a thing. Oh, they’d play along, but it didn’t change how fucking blind they are.

He spares Angel a glance and he can see he’s irritated at that. Satisfaction blooms in Valentino’s chest. About fucking time someone saw.

“They’ve probably never seen a real baby in hell before,” Angel decides. “I dunno what Vox was thinking when he came up with that robot story, but I’ve seen babies and they look just as fucky as us. I mean, sure, it’s been a couple of decades, but you don’t forget the fuckin’ feeling of seeing one of these little guys burning down here with the rest of us.”

He can understand that. Valentino doesn’t think he’ll forget the moment Vax woke up and crawled, obliviously, to the edge of the desk. Catching him. Holding him. Had it really only been a few hours ago?

Angel shifts at his side. “What, uh, what’re you gonna do with him?”

“Dunno.” They were literally in hell. What the fuck was he supposed to do with a baby? From what little information he heard about babies in hell, they didn’t grow up. Older teens were different – their minds developed enough over time that they technically matured. But something was screwy with babies and young children. It was so fucked up.

Valentino plans to take care of him, of course. He isn’t going to let the little bastard get taken by someone worse. But keeping a baby for the rest of his afterlife? With his lifestyle? His temper? He didn’t trust himself not to snap one day.

And all it would take is one bad day.

A bit of drool drips out of Vax’s mouth. Valentino wipes at it, careful not to end up spreading it across his screen. Messy thing. Vax stretches his short arms out to try and grab him. Valentino lets him, unsurprised when his fingers end up being chewed on again.

That food better be on its way over.

“Maybe, uh…” Angel’s fingers twist together. “Maybe Charlie – uh, the princess… maybe she can… do… something?”

Vax wiggles and coos in his arms. It’s not hard to imagine that bimbo gushing over him.

“Never heard of her helping the others. What’ll make this one so special?”

“I… yeah. I don’t know. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” At least Angel was trying to think of solutions. The princess was something to look into. Maybe.

“Does he have a name?” Angel asks.

Valentino hesitates. He knows Vox can hear.

Fuck him.

“I named him Vax.”

Angel Dust snorts a laugh. “Figures.” He tilts his head with a mischievous look. “Does this mean Vox is an anti-Vax-er?”

Valentino snickers, because it’s funny and he knows it’ll piss Vox off even more.

When his phone gets a notification, he expects it to be a message from Vox. Instead, he finds it’s an alert that his food has been delivered to the front desk of his studio. About fucking time.

“Is that for Vax?” Angel asks.

Valentino has half a mind to backhand him for reading over his shoulder.

“Yeah. Go on and pick it up,” Valentino says.

Angel blinks dumbly. “Oh, sure, but what about –”

The look Valentino shoots him makes him shut up. He nods demurely and leaves the room.

“Do you see the shit I have to deal with?” Valentino asks Vax, rolling his eyes. “That slut is late to work, slacks off here in the back and he dares try to backtalk? Can you believe that? I don’t know what the hell is with this attitude these bitches have when they get too comfortable. I’m too fucking easy on them, that’s what it is. They have no idea how good they have it here.”

Vax hums and kicks his feet, knocking them against his arm.

Valentino narrows his eyes. “Don’t you start too.” He tickles Vax’s stomach until he’s squirming and trying to bury his face against his chest. “That’s what I fucking thought.”

Angel comes back with a bag of food, a paper plate, two bottles of water, and a juice.

“I couldn’t remember if I saw teeth on ‘im so I brought water to soften stuff up,” he says. His arms sweep the table to get everything set up. “Only had those big servin’ spoons and forks at the snack bar – I brought a fork, but I think using our fingers is fine? We could use the fork to mash things together. Um, no baby bottles, obviously… Sorry.”

Valentino scoots himself closer to the edge of the couch and uses one of his arms to pick out a few items that he didn’t think Vax would be able to eat. Just a few embellishments to dishes – things that were too sweet or too hard. Angel picks up on what he’s doing quickly enough and starts mashing some of the approved fruits from a fruit cup together.

It’s quiet work and their activity catches Vax’s attention as he tries to twist around and see what they’re doing. He makes a few sounds and Valentino finds himself talking back. At first, Angel is confused, then wisely keeps his mouth shut.

“It’s not the best shit but it’ll do for now. We’re going to get you actual baby food. Most of this has too much sugar,” Valentino tells Vax. “You’re gonna eat this salad as soon as we’re done – it’s the healthiest thing here. Gotta mash it up real good though – I blend mine into a smoothie in the mornings after working out.”

Vax coos.

“Rethinking the juice, though,” Valentino continues, giving it a taste. “Didn’t realize how fucking sweet this is… Ah, fuck it, you deserve something nice. You don’t have teeth to rot yet.”

He and Angel finally have everything mashed to an acceptable level. Valentino considers the fork, then decides against it. He doesn’t want to accidentally scratch Vax’s screen if he gets too squirmy. He uses his finger to scoop a tiny portion of the mashed fruit first and holds it up in front of Vax so he can see it.

Vax looks at it curiously, then up at him. His mouth opens to babble again and Valentino takes the opportunity to slip it inside his mouth.

Vax jerks back in surprise, mouth opening and closing until his tongue finally works it out and his throat bobs as he swallows.

It’s like a flip is switched.

Vax lunges towards his hand so suddenly that Valentino almost drops him. The distressed cry he lets out sends something inside Valentino reeling – violent, angry and hurt. His hands scramble to regain their grip on Vax, heart pounding in his ears. He scoops another finger of mush and puts it in Vax’s eager mouth. The baby barely swallows before his mouth is open for more. He whimpers and squirms to get closer, tears spilling out of his eyes.

Desperate.

Vax begins to sob, which just adds to his distress. It’s too difficult for him to eat and cry at the same time and it makes him sob harder.

Valentino rubs Vax’s back gently and coos softly at him, quickly feeding him more. “Yes, baby, I know, I know.” It’s just words. He doesn’t know shit. What the hell.

Vox – what the hell.

“He’s starving,” Angel says, voice pained and eyes wide as he watches Valentino give Vax another bite.

“Angel, go to Imp City,” Valentino demands. Angel straightens up. “Take my wallet and buy supplies. I’ve got a list.”

“Yeah – yeah! Of course.” Valentino leans to the side, giving Angel access to his pocket that held the list and his wallet. Angel tugs it out without issue and opens it. “Which card?”

“Cash first, then any with my name. That prick would probably have his locked once he catches wind of what I’m up to. Have everything sent up to my room. My bedroom.”

Angel nods and tucks the wallet away. He stumbles to Valentino’s clothing rack that holds some of his clothes and throws on shorts and a shirt.

He pauses.

“Val – the shoot?”

“Fuck the shoot. Tell everybody to get the fuck out.”

Angel has enough self-preservation to not comment on that. Instead, he straightens his clothes in the mirror, double checks that he still has Valentino’s wallet and the list, then runs out the door. He can hear the crash and movement outside the door as everyone else flees the studio at Angel Dust’s instruction.

His phone rings. Valentino pushes Ignore without even looking.

Fuck Vox.

“Shh, shh, baby, it’s okay,” Valentino tells Vax. He’s never been so glad to have four arms more than this moment. He’s holding Vax as still as he can while also trying to comfort and feed him at the same time with him wailing in his ear. It’s fucking hell.

Vax’s sobs turn into hiccups as time passes and he fills up. Food has dripped onto his jumpsuit from his desperate squirming and his face is smeared with tears and bits of food.

Finally, all he can hear is soft whimpers.

Valentino stifles a snarl as he wipes at his own eyes with the heel of his palm.

Fucking bullshit.

Vox said he had left him down there for a month. Valentino couldn’t understand how the hell Vax survived. There had been nothing to eat down there and even if there had been, Vax obviously wouldn’t have been able to feed himself. Someone had to have been there. Someone had to have known.

Would Vox really…?

Vax whines and bites on his finger.

“I know, mijito,” Valentino sighs. “You’ll get more. It will be high quality shit too, I fucking swear to God or I’ll cut Angel’s dick off.”

Maybe Vax had survived on electricity? Vox could go a while without eating when he did that – but not a month. Vax hadn’t been plugged in either.

He tries scraping the little bits of food left on the plate and lets Vax suck on his finger afterwards. Maybe it hadn’t been a month. Vox didn’t care about projects he abandoned enough to remember details on the spot – maybe it had been a few days. Maybe Vax is just a tough little bastard.

He remembers the tiny fracture across his screen. When he had returned, any damage done to Vax’s body had disappeared. He’d been in the exact same spot too.

Vox had said the most obvious evidence that Vax wasn’t alive – wasn’t like them – was because he hadn’t starved to death.

But…

If he was like them, then he could starve to death. He just… wouldn’t stay dead.

“Fuck.”

Valentino covers his face with two of his hands.

What if he had?

What if he had starved to death?

Over and over and over again.

Chapter 5

Even with the crew gone, Valentino stays in his dressing room. Cleaning Vax up had taken a bit of time and while he is sure Vax is still hungry, it’s clear that the eating and the crying has tired him out. Valentino ends up splayed on the couch, Vax on his chest and plugged in with his head resting on his fur. He watches the yellow light with half-lidded eyes, feeling the frustration well up as it fails to turn green. Maybe the only color it had was yellow.

He knows that’s not what it is, though.

He hears a tiny squeak as Vax yawns and feels a rush of affection and a sudden urge to hug him a little closer into a cuddle. Not one to resist urges, he does. Vax definitely enjoys it, and it makes some of the frustration ebb. He relaxes his hold and rubs small circles on the baby’s stomach with one of his thumbs.

Angel Dust is shopping – having texted him a couple of times to get estimates on Vax’s size for clothes and diapers. All Valentino had to measure with was his hands, but it seemed to be enough – Angel hadn’t messaged back aside from a thumbs up and a kissing emoji.

Vax’s screen dims as his eyes close and Valentino observes closely, wondering if his screen will darken completely. His breathing changes as he sleeps and the screen stays on. Valentino’s both relieved and worried. Relieved he’ll be able to tell the baby is asleep but worried that it will drain his charge when Valentino isn’t there to keep him plugged in.

“Only a couple of hours in and you’re already a handful,” he mutters. “I had to shut down a whole studio for you.”

He might not have had to – but he knew he couldn’t trust the crew to watch Vax. He trusted their competency when it came down to their job, but trusting them to care? He hadn’t realized it would matter to him so much but maybe he should have.

Trust was hard.

He could confidently say he trusted Vox and Velvette with his own life.

But not Vax’s. Vox thinks Vax is just an object at best and would want to trash him at worst. Velvette got this far by stepping over the weak and kicking them while they were down – Vax would not register as someone of importance, if she even considered him a someone at all. She was content to take Vox’s word for it that he wasn’t even alive.

He considers Angel Dust for only a few seconds.

But no.

No, he couldn’t trust Angel alone with Vax. The bitch was supposedly going sober at that hotel, but how many times had he sworn to go sober before that? How many times had he lied and gone on stage, only to make a damn fool of himself and twist a limb? How many times did Valentino have to track down and pull his sorry OD’d ass out of some drug den so he would be fit enough to go back to work? He cost Valentino thousands with every missed performance or shoot.

You couldn’t trust junkies. Junkies were needy and selfish. Completely unreliable and bad for business.

Junkies didn’t give a damn about other people.

Junkies make you love them and turn you into their enabler.

Junkies sell their own flesh and blood for one hundred and forty dollars in broad daylight just to get a hit.

Valentino scowls and shifts on the couch, sliding himself up so he’s sitting, Vax still snuggled to his chest. Fuck, why did Valentino have to be the one who found him? All he can think about is how hell is full of the worst people who would screw babies over. He was already missing the days when babies were not his problem.

His life would go back to normal if he just…

Fuck. He can’t even entertain the thought.

Babies in hell is such bullshit.

There’s no one he can trust with Vax, he decides. Not right now.

God he was so fucked.

A little over an hour later and despite being plugged in the entire time, there is still no indication of a full charge which is a huge disappointment and Valentino isn’t sure what he’s doing wrong. He doesn’t let Vax sleep for much longer though – it was still morning, and he already has plans to have him nap a few more times throughout the day.

Just in time, Angel Dust texts him to let him know he’s finished shopping. A quick peek at his bank account and Valentino can see he’s spent almost two thousand dollars. He sends Kitty down to help Angel when he arrives.

He rouses the baby, first with gentle touches and then speaking softly to him until the screen brightens and Vax opens his eyes. They dart around a bit, blinking hard and when they focus on Valentino, Vax lets out a burst of excited, animated babbles, reaching up with his hands. He grabs onto Valentino’s fingers and holds them tightly, staring up adoringly.

Valentino’s heart melts.

He hikes him up and pushes his head against the top of Vax’s screen gently. Just to hold him a little closer. Vax lets go of his fingers and his hands go up to touch Valentino’s face curiously, hands clumsily bumping against his glasses. Valentino allows this to go on for a minute or two, then pulls back after giving both of Vax’s hands and the top of his head a quick kiss each.

Completely and utterly, 100% fucked.

xoxoxox

He’s already settled back in his bedroom by the time Angel Dust lets him know he’s on his way up to his room. Still holding Vax, Valentino opens the door to his room and looks out, spotting the spider as he gets out of the elevator.

Angel Dust is pushing one of the carts that Valentino and Velvette use to transport costumes or clothing collections. There are large boxes balanced at its center, with shopping bags stuffed in between them and on top. Angel has more bags looped around his arms and Kitty had her own pile to carry, teetering awkwardly to the side from the weight.

Valentino uses two of his arms to relieve Kitty of her burden, and she darts towards his bedroom door to keep it open for them. Once inside, Angel slumps over one of the boxes on the cart, exhausted. Valentino can see it’s a crib.

Angel wheezes and then straightens. “Do ya need help setting this up?” he asks, giving the box a few thumps with his palm.

“Do what you can while I get him changed and fed,” Valentino instructs. He may not be able to trust Angel alone with Vax, but he could trust him with errands and tasks like these.

As Angel tears into the box, Valentino hooks a box of diapers in one hand and paws through the loose bags for wipes, ointment and some clothes, then goes into the bathroom with Vax.

He checks the towel he had fashioned into a diaper. Nothing yet. He discards the towel anyway and gives Vax a real diaper. The baby still doesn’t like it but it’s clearly an improvement and fits surprisingly well. But then, he supposes Vax must be closer to imp sized than a human child. He also discards the jumpsuit and replaces it with a onesie. Pink, of course, with white hearts decorating its front. Angel Dust knew his tastes.

Vax’s fussing doesn’t last too long. Once he’s back in Valentino’s bedroom he’s busy observing the chaos which has taken over. The room is an absolute mess. Shopping bags, boxes, instructions and plastic wrap littering the floor. Valentino doesn’t worry about it – Kitty would clean as soon as he gave her the go ahead and he needed her for other things.

He sends Kitty to fetch bottled water and with that, Valentino is able to prepare some formula in a baby bottle. He’s not quite sure if Vax would be able to drink it or if he’d even want to. It was very difficult to gauge his age. He could crawl but it wasn’t a steady one and his head appeared to hinder any attempts to stand or walk.

He settles Vax more comfortably in his arms and pulls a bib from one of the bags Angel had placed next to him along with his wallet when he first started getting the formula ready.

The bib has a pink piggy on it.

“Do you still have Nuggies?” Valentino asks Angel over his shoulder.

Angel freezes, then nods stiffly, keeping his eyes down on the crib he was halfway through assembling.

Admittedly, that was surprising. Both Fat Nuggets still being in Angel’s possession and his competency in anything involving assembling shit.

Valentino hums and fastens the bib onto Vax. He looks adorable.

He offers the bottle to Vax and the baby mouths it curiously at first, attempting to chew it like Valentino’s fingers. When a drop slips into his mouth, he tries biting at the nipple, making dejected sounds when nothing comes out, which makes Valentino’s chest ache. He tilts the bottle up a little more and squeezes right when Vax gets his mouth in a good position. Vax stills, eyes wide, then works his mouth carefully until he’s suckling properly, working the formula out on his own.

“Good boy,” Valentino says. “Knew you’d get it.”

It’s almost calming to watch Vax drink. It’s obvious that the baby is enjoying it – his hands touch the bottle experimentally until they drift down to his sides. His eyelids droop a little as he suckles contently and twenty minutes later when the bottle is empty, they shut.

“Ah, ah,” Valentino says, poking him gently until his eyes open again. “No falling asleep on me, mijito. I need you awake.”

Baby food has Vax alert and squirming again in his arms. This time Valentino knows he isn’t starving, and it is more likely Vax remembers starving so he is instinctively trying to eat as much as he can. Seeing the desperate struggles still hurt like hell though and he spends a lot of time trying to soothe him and keep him from stabbing his screen with the tiny plastic baby spoon.

“How often do you think he needs to eat?” Angel asks once Vax is finished eating and Valentino is wiping his face off.

Valentino shrugs. “Every couple of hours. I’ll figure it out as I go.” He pets Vax a few times, removes the bib and then lowers him to the ground so he can crawl around. Vax scoots on his ass to turn around and clutch Valentino’s pants leg. He tugs at it and Valentino knows he wants to be held again. “Babies always find a way to let you know when they need something.”

A loud trumpeting sound rips through the air, startling everyone in the room.

Valentino and Angel both look at each other and then slowly turn to look at Vax, who appears the most startled of all. Valentino picks him up and Vax kicks his feet uncomfortably, his mouth a tiny wobbly line.

He smells it then.

The disgust is overridden by the feeling of relief because if there’s one thing babies are known for other than their godforsaken wailing, it’s their shit.

Angel Dust snorts and covers his nose as he ducks to the side, snickering. “Aw, fuck, Vax! What did we feed you?”

Vax whines.

“Fucking finally. Let’s get you changed,” Valentino says, grinning as he carries Vax to the bathroom again. “You little shit.”

xoxoxox

Valentino knew it was only a matter of time before Vox showed up. The only reason he hadn’t come before is because he had his own job to do and meetings to attend. He’s not surprised when he shows up unannounced. He is surprised when he zaps into his room directly instead of knocking and coming through the door.

The flash startles Vax and he hides his face in Valentino’s chest, while Angel winces as though seeing Vox in the flesh physically pains him.

“Angel. Out,” Valentino snaps.

Angel Dust hesitates, then nods. “Yes, Val.”

Vox doesn’t even look at Angel as he skirts past him and out the door. His eyes are on all the products and bags on the floor. None of which, Valentino realizes, are sinner manufactured.

“We aren’t even sponsored by these companies,” Vox says, horrified. “This is imp shit.”

Valentino glares. “I needed baby supplies. Imps have babies.”

“You didn’t…” Vox presses his fingers to his screen. Takes a deep breath. “That thing doesn’t need any of this.”

“He eats and shits,” Valentino points out. “I know you saw that, asshole. Did you get a good view?”

“That doesn’t mean anything. That body was meant for me, of course it needs some form of nourishment to be sustained and it needs to eliminate waste somehow when it’s active.”

Valentino just barely resists punching the wall with his fist. “That’s not what you said – you – you said he wasn’t alive. That he couldn’t starve.”

Vox shakes his head in disappointment. “Val, I didn’t say that, come on. I said that would be the case if you hadn’t plugged it in and turned it on.” The smile he gives is almost fond – but Valentino can see it’s more like pity. ‘Poor Valentino, the idiot of the Vees.’ “When you turn something on, it consumes energy. You’re replenishing that energy with food and the electrical charge.”

“You didn’t say that.”

“You know you don’t listen that well when you’re angry.”

Before Valentino can snap a reply, Vox waves a dismissive hand. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because of the cancelled shoot. You sent everyone home before filming anything. I heard Angel Dust was late, but he did get there. Did you want to talk about what happened? It must’ve been serious.” He frowns. “The princess wasn’t involved, was she?”

Valentino blinks. “What? No.” He shakes his head and sneers. “Shut up, you already know this.”

“I’d like to hear it from you.”

He grinds his teeth. “I shut it down because the baby needed to be taken care of.”

“…The baby.”

“He needed the attention.”

Vox stares at him. Valentino can just tell he’s running through potential things to say and calculating his responses.

“Right, okay. Have you tried turning it off?” Vox asks. “Turn it off and you’ll see all this feeding and diaper changing is a waste of time.”

Turn him off? Valentino feels his hold tighten around Vax instinctively.

Vox extends a hand. “I can show you. Let’s turn it off for a few hours. I’ll reschedule my meetings and we can go out for a late lunch. We could use some time to ourselves.” His eyes soften. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? We’ll call it a date.”

Valentino draws himself up straighter. “Don’t you fucking dare touch him.”

Vox keeps his hand outstretched. His eyebrows furrow, as though he really can’t understand why this upset him. When Valentino doesn’t relax, he lowers his hand and folds both arms behind his back.

“…Alright,” Vox says. “What do you want, Val?”

“I don’t want you to touch him,” Valentino answers immediately.

Vox rolls his eyes. “I got that. But what do you want? What is all of this for? I don’t get that part.”

Now it’s Valentino’s turn to be confused. Vox sees this and continues.

“Is it… Am I working you too hard? This is the first time you’ve shut the studio down in years.” Valentino can see the moment he decides this is the issue. Presumptuous shit. “You just had to tell me. We can have someone stand in for you for a while so you can get some rest.”

Valentino feels offense rising in his chest, as well as a touch of unfounded anxiety he quickly smothers. “You’re replacing me?”

“We have binding contracts and employees need their paychecks. We’re not replacing you, we’re just moving forward until you can catch up.” Vox studies him. “I… really thought you could handle the workload.”

“I can!” He would just need a few minutes between every cut. Just a couple. Fuck, he can do that! He shouldn’t have shut the studio down – he should have sucked it up and worked around Vax. Fuck.

“I don’t know about that. You’ve been acting differently. This whole situation has been… out of character.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? When have I ever not been able to handle work? It’s my life.”

“I think we hit a limit,” Vox says. His voice is disgustingly patient, and Valentino wants to shoot him in the face. “It won’t be permanent, Val, of course not. You’re my partner. This is just about your health. How does a week sound? You’ll be back in time for our meeting with Carmilla.”

“Oh, fuck you, Vox!” he snaps. “I’ll call everyone back in – we’ll do a late shoot. I don’t need a damn week off!”

He catches Vox’s satisfied look and realization dawns on him.

He walked right into that.

He’s furious.

It’s fine. It’s fine. He can handle it. He’s Valentino.

“Well, damn, Val, you don’t have to tell me twice! Alright, I trust you.” Vox grins. “I’ll see you tonight, alright? We’ll have dinner together. Talk things out.” He twirls a finger in the air as he turns around and struts out of the room. “I know just the place!”

Valentino feels himself deflate once he’s gone.

“…Shit,” he mutters. He looks down at Vax. “Alright, you’ll be ready for another nap soon, yeah? I can work with that…”

Vax, who had been silent when Vox was in the room, perks up and squeaks.

Valentino pulls out his phone and taps out a quick text to Travis to round the crew up – only to stop halfway when he almost trips over one of the many shopping bags piled in his room. He’d need time to put together a diaper bag. He decides to get that done first.

Angel Dust had put the crib together, but he hadn’t been able to put in the mattress and bedding. Valentino quickly finishes that up and places Vax inside, taking a moment to watch how he reacts to his new prison. Vax sits and holds onto the bars of crib and stares around curiously. He looks down and squeezes the bedding with his small hand, letting out a soft coo.

Satisfied, Valentino searches the shopping bags and boxes for a diaper bag. Had he written that down on the list? He didn’t think so – but Angel apparently bought one anyway. It’s a soft pink. He goes to his bathroom where he had put most of the diapers and begins to pack the bag, freezing when he hears a whimper. He grimaces and starts packing a little faster.

Vax’s whimpering turns into a full-on cry and Valentino drops the bag and leaves the bathroom to pick him up because apparently, he’s a goddamned doormat. Fuck, he had only been gone for a few seconds. The cry turns into hiccups and whimpers the longer he holds him until he finally quiets. Tiny hands twist into the front of his shirt tightly.

Valentino’s stomach turns.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He deletes the partially written message to Travis and brings his hand up to the back of Vax’s head, holding him a little closer.

A week, huh?

Chapter 6

Vax whimpers every time he steps towards the crib now. It takes a few minutes to get him in there without cracking over his whimpers, but when he finally does, Valentino is able to go through the rest of the shopping bags without him crying as long as he stays in view. He sorts the items in groups, assembles a highchair and play pen, and discards the trash on the floor. Kitty sweeps by every time and cleans it up – soon she’s leaving the room itself to discard full trash bags.

Angel had picked everything from his list, as well as a few extra things that Valentino hadn’t thought of at the time. There were, of course, a few more things that he could think of that he’d need to get eventually but for now everything he had would do. He takes Vax out of the crib and puts him on the floor to explore while he puts everything away properly. Vax is eager to follow him around, but his crawling is much too awkward to really keep up. At one point, Valentino has to stop everything he’s doing to pull his phone out and record Vax scooting on his ass instead, a look of pure concentration on his face.

He sends the video to Velvette out of habit and then Angel Dust as an afterthought.

He’s left on read and given a heart emoji, respectively.

He also gets a text from Vox, who was probably going through his sent messages like the invasive son of a bitch he is.

Vox:

               Did you need me to call in your employees for the shoot?

Valentino:

               Im taking the week off do what u want

Vox doesn’t respond right away, then,

Vox:

               Ok.      

               Dinner. Tonight at 8. Wear something nice.

Valentino:

               Nope. Busy.

He doesn’t have a babysitter, and he doubts Vox would be okay with him taking Vax with them out to dinner. Really, he’s doing Vox a favor.

Vox:

               We had an agreement.

Valentino:

               Did you get it in writing?

The lights flicker and Valentino puts his phone away. He looks down at his feet at Vax who has finally scooted all the way to him and is wrinkling his pants leg with his tiny, tight fist. Valentino wiggles his fingers in front of Vax’s face, catching his attention. When Vax lets go of his pants to chase his hand, Valentino lets himself sit on the floor. Vax notices and immediately tries crawling on him.

“How old are you?” Valentino asks him. He carefully takes Vax’s hands in his own and pulls him up slowly until he’s standing. Vax wiggles and stomps his feet. “Will you be able to walk? Can you do that for me, baby?”

Vax just beams at him.

Valentino lifts him up a few inches from the ground and bounces him gently, more so to play with him rather than encourage him to walk. Vax giggles and kicks his feet out with every bounce. When Valentino stops and lowers him so his feet touch the ground, Vax bounces himself.

“Fuck, you’re adorable,” Valentino says. He loosens his grip and lets Vax wobble in place, then the baby falls on his ass with a happy squeal. Valentino gives him a few playful pokes to distract him just in case he has a delayed reaction to falling. He ends up completely unbothered, which is a relief. He wiggles his fingers again and Vax follows them with attentive eyes. “So easily distracted, aren’t you? Or are you just hungry again? Are my fingers that delicious? You’re lucky I use a holder for my smokes.”

Vax babbles.

“You are. Nicotine tastes like shit, you’d hate it. Yuck.” Valentino sticks his tongue out.

Vax’s eyes widen.

Valentino grins and does it again, this time wiggling it.

Vax laughs and sticks his own out. Only for a second, then again. And again, until he has it out long enough to try and look at it, going cross-eyed in the process.

Fucking precious.

Valentino tilts his head left, flicking his antennae to get Vax’s attention, then tilts it right. Vax head follows, tilting with him.

“Such a smart baby,” Valentino coos. “You must get that from me.”

It’s a joke, obviously.

Then the thought sinks in.

Valentino looks up at his bedroom, full of baby supplies. Days worth of food and clothing. There’s a goddamned crib. He’s only had him for a couple of hours.

Something squeezes his heart tightly in his chest.

He looks back down at Vax and then scoops him up for a cuddle.

“I can’t keep you,” he sighs. For some reason, he doesn’t want Vox to hear. “Sweet thing, we need to find you a safe home. I can’t be your mami.”

Vax lets out an excited squeak as he gets his hands in Valentino’s fur. He pulls himself up a little and buries his face in it. His excited babbles are muffled and Valentino laughs. It must sound fascinating to Vax from his position because his head jerks back and he is back to gazing up at him with huge eyes and the sweetest expression on his face.

Valentino thinks about the princess. Charlie. The hotel… Would Vax be safe there? The hotel could defend itself, but he didn’t like that the Exorcists had targeted it in the first place. He doesn’t even know when the next Extermination is going to be – the clock tower no longer counted down.

As far as he knows, there’s no updated news on Hell’s relationship with Heaven. The hotel pushed back – but that’s all they did. Heaven could come back at any time with an even larger army and destroy the hotel. There was no guarantee of a cannibal army or Lucifer himself to defend it.

It's too risky.

Cannibal Town is by far the most civil collection of sinners, according to Vox, but only if you blend in with them. Something Vox is unable to do nowadays unless he were to shift to his old head. Vax, with his tablet head, would stick out too much and get eaten on sight. They aren’t on good enough terms with Rosie to get any kind of pardon.

They aren’t on good terms with any other Overlords, really.

As for Hellborn, the ones who are accessible are too weak and mortal.

This left…

Valentino leans back to look at the ceiling, the fingers of one hand dancing along Vax’s side and making him laugh.

He could make a deal with someone. Another sinner; but not one of those pathetic fucks he usually employs. He’d need to find a high-quality soul – and yes, he’d need their soul – and make a deal which would have them love and care for Vax. The more he thinks about it, the more the idea appeals to him. This sinner would be permitted to live near Valentino under his protection. They’d have food and housing and sanctuary during the Extermination. Hell, it’s a bargain. All they have to do is raise his baby.

“We’ll have to find someone this week, won’t we?” Valentino asks Vax, holding him up in the air in front of his face. Vax paws at his glasses and knocks them askew. “Asshole.”

Valentino puts Vax back down and stands up, resuming his organization of the room. He moves just quick enough that Vax scrambles to catch up to him when he crawls. By the time he’s almost done, Vax is completely tired out and sitting in one spot, eyes drooping.

All it takes is another cuddle session and a hummed tune and the baby is asleep in his arms. He puts him in the crib, now pushed closer to an outlet, and plugs him in. He had done some thinking and determined that Vax wouldn’t strangle himself around the neck – flipping over was too difficult for him with the shape of his head. He was still a little worried about the cord wrapping around his fingers or limbs, but he’d be in the room with him for now.

Experience told Valentino that he should take the opportunity to nap himself.

Necessity told him he needed to see who Vox was getting to manage the whores he had on the street, his studio and his clubs. He trusts Vox’s judgement for the most part, especially for things involving the studio, but Vox doesn’t have the same experience as him when it came to the other things.

Valentino lays in his bed and scrolls through his phone, going through his emails and texts for any updates. Most of them already have Vox’s insignia, marking them as redirected to Vox. He clicks them anyway to read Vox’s responses. The emails are civil and professional and signed by Vox. The text messages to his whores on the streets, he can tell, are written by Vox’s AI to imitate Valentino’s style and made to look as though Valentino sent them himself. He’s mercifully given one the night off due to injury and pulled one from tomorrow’s shoot to cover. The shoot is shortened, and Vox has already filled the four hours with makeup and costume fittings – to be overseen by Velvette. Another shoot is going to be covered by Vox himself and the majority of the others by Travis. Velvette and Vox appear to be alternating between club management for a few nights and leaving it unfilled for the rest – which is fine. A lot of that time was put aside for him to unwind while technically working. Self-care and shit.

A message from Vox pops up.

Vox:

               Do you have a backup choreographer? I’m not finding anything in the soul directory.

Valentino:

               Sugarbelle is the backup choreographer she might be under the name Dia

Vox:

               Looks like she’s killed herself after the coffee incident. She won’t be back for a few days.

Oh shit, was that who that was? She was new. He makes a mental note to fire her.

Valentino:

               Cant trust these new hires for SHIT.

Vox:

               Do you have anyone in mind to replace her for Wednesday?

Valentino:

               No not rn. Ill get back to you tomorrow

Vox:

               Alright.

               Eat something.

As soon as the message is read, Kitty appears at his side with a protein bar, an apple, and a bottle of water. He’d forgotten to eat lunch.

Valentino:

               <3

He takes them from Kitty and munches while he continues to go through the messages. It’s not until he’s tossed the wrapper and core that he remembers he is supposed to be mad at Vox. For some reason. Or was Vox mad at him? Whatever. He’s sure they’ll find a way to piss each other off again.

Vox:

               The point of a week off is to not worry about work. Get out of your business email and rest.

See? As though Vox hadn’t been the one to message him with something work related.

Valentino:

               Fuck you I can do what I want with my time off

Vox:

               You’re impossible.

“Kitty,” Valentino calls. “Wake me up in an hour.”

xoxoxox

Valentino wakes up Vax just as he needs another diaper change. Vax fusses during the change but once it’s done he calms down for the most part, only to become ten times more lively when be sees Valentino getting his bottle ready.

“Oye, messy little bastard,” Valentino scolds lightly when Vax shoves the bottle in his mouth and dribbles some on his bib. He keeps his hands on it longer than before, making Valentino confident he’ll be able to hold it on his own after some practice. All of the signs were pointing to Vax being older than maybe six months but younger than a year.

This time when he feeds Vax the baby food, he has the high chair ready next to his desk. Vax is put in and after some adjustments, is settled in nicely, kicking his feet underneath and sliding his hands across the surface of the little table curiously. A good sign.

He starts bouncing and making excited noises when he sees the jars of food. Valentino spoons it out onto a plate in front of him and waits a few seconds. Vax barely hesitates before he uses both of his hands to dig into the mush and brings them to his face, chewing and licking at his fists. It’s horribly messy and Valentino has to pretend to be happy and encourage him, even when the mess somehow drips onto the carpet. Thank God for Kitty.

Despite his disgust, he still uses his own fingers to wipe at the mess on Vax’s face and redirect it to his mouth. He does this every few minutes, determined to make sure Vax doesn’t waste anything. Vax also, for some bizarre reason, enjoys Valentino wiping at him and pauses eating and smiles at him every time. He suspects it’s more for the physical contact and the attention rather than cleaning him. It also makes him feel less disgusting, since Vax’s smile has the effect of completely melting his heart into goo.

He’s pulled out of considering picking Vax up and hugging him (and ruining his outfit) by a notification on his phone.

Velvette had finally responded to the video he sent of Vax. He’s a little surprised by that – he didn’t think she really gave a damn.

Velvette:

               Why is it dragging its ass on the carpet like my uncle’s chiwawa

Valentino:

               Your CHIHUAHUA had worms.

Velvette:

               Ew??? Your baby has worms????

Valentino:

               NO

               Crawling is hard for him

               Let the little bastard experiment

Against his better judgment, Valentino sends her a photo of Vax eating, along with the mess he made.

Velvette:

               That’s so gross why would you want to deal with that

It’s followed by a trail of vomiting and thumbs down emojis.

Valentino:

               He needs to eat bitch

Velvette:

               Get someone else to do it Vee. That shit looks nasty.

Valentino swipes at a bit of baby food on the table with his pinky and licks it.

Valentino:

               Shit tastes nasty too

She sends a wall of vomiting and rolling in laughter emojis. She knows he must have just tasted it for her.

Velvette:

               Some of us have real work to do. Have fun playing mommy. kisses

Valentino tucks his phone away and turns his attention back to Vax. Vax has his hands on the plate, spreading the meager traces of food along its surface. It’s still all over his hands and bib – and there’s smudges on his face from saliva and Valentino’s fingers.

“Ah,” Valentino says, frowning and leaning towards him. “How the fuck do I go about giving you a bath?”

Chapter 7

Valentino plays it safe and sticks to using only a cloth soaked in warm water and gentle soap to clean him up. Vax was a little confused by the new sensations but warmed up to it quickly enough. It’s cute, how curious he is. It made a lot of things easier and overall, Vax is a damn good baby.

At least, for the first day.

It’s so hard for him to remember that it’s only the first day. Time is flying and at the same time it feels like he’s already had the baby for a lifetime.

Valentino puts Vax in the newly assembled playpen and pokes around the toys Angel had bought. A bunch of them are plastic and involve mostly buttons and stacking, putting shapes into other shapes, and making sounds. He ends up sitting next to the playpen and experimenting with the toys with Vax for almost two hours. Vax’s favorites, at least for today, are a toy phone with squishy buttons and a plastic set of keys, a classic.

He's giving Vax a diaper change when Kitty pops up with his in-house evening drink. Thank God for four hands. He finishes up the change and then holds Vax in his arms as he gives him a bottle, sipping at his own manhattan. When he feeds him the baby food this time, he sticks to feeding him himself. No need to get him so dirty again. He’ll choose when to let Vax feed himself as soon as he sorts out a schedule.

He’s wiping at Vax’s mouth with his bib when he gets a text from Vox.

Vox:

               I had some of your favorites delivered from Jeronimo’s. Come out and get it.

Good, he is starving.

Valentino picks Vax up along with his two toys and leaves the bedroom.

“Take two,” he says to Vax. “In meeting the other Vees. I guess for Vox it would be… what? Take four? Whatever, this will be the second time with both of them. Let’s hope they make a better impression on you, those rude fucks.”

Vox and Velvette are sharing their usual couch, takeout spread out on the table in front of them. Velvette, of course, is on her phone as she eats, while Vox’s attention is focused on the TV. He has a plastic fork of food in one hand valiantly trying to make its way into his mouth, but it keeps missing and instead smudges against his screen.

Valentino can’t believe he sleeps with the man.

Vax has gone very quiet, looking around the dimly lit room uncertainly. Valentino catches his attention with his toys and plops him down next to him on his couch. Vax wiggles in place until his back is cornered against both Valentino and the couch, and he chews on his toy keys. Valentino puts one of his hands next to him just in case he tries to wiggle away while he’s eating.

Neither of the other Vees even notice. He finds himself relieved that they’re not giving him shit… but also annoyed that they’re giving him no attention.

Kitty, attentive as usual, portions out his favorites from the takeout and hands it to him on a plate and adds another drink. The food and drink eventually make the irritation go away and the night instead feels more peaceful. Vox occasionally mutters a curse at the TV that has Vax watching him in interest and Valentino watching Vax in turn. He wonders what the baby thinks about Vox.

He’s halfway through a cigarette and nursing his… fourth or fifth drink when he decides to speak.

“I’m going to look for a home for Vax,” Valentino says.

Velvette perks up. “Vax?” she repeats. Her phone is pointed at Vox immediately. “Oh my god, he named it. What do you think of that, Vox?”

Vox gives her a cold glare and then looks back at Valentino. “What the hell are you talking about, Val?”

Valentino flicks his cigarette into an ashtray and pockets his holder. “I can’t take care of a baby forever. I’ve got shit to do. I need to find someone who’ll take him in.”

“Basement,” Vox says. “Return it to the basement. That’s… Val, I literally said take it to the basement when you get bored so the technology doesn’t end up in the wrong hands and now you wanna hand it out to some random asshole? What the hell – why are you like this? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.”

He did say that, didn’t he?

“They can live on our terf. It’ll make keeping an eye on them easier. I’ll own their soul – I just need a high-quality soul. No junkies or serial killers. Can’t be weak, either. They have to be competent.”

“Why are you saying that like it’s the plan. There is no plan. Take it back to the basement.”

“He’s never going down there again.” Valentino crosses one pair of arms and looks away from him. “I thought I’d find someone new, but it’ll be better to find someone who already works for us whose history I can pull up. Someone who doesn’t hate us.”

“Plenty of these fucks love us,” Velvette says. “Even the ones who hate us love us.”

Vox turns on her immediately. “Don’t encourage this!”

Valentino leans towards her, encouraged. “I need someone loyal, not a fan. Someone who will take this seriously but not out of fear. Fear makes people do crazy shit and I don’t want Vax hurt.”

“Vax is a stupid name,” Vox says.

“None of your losers are gonna cut it, Val. What you’re really asking is for one of us to give up one of our contracts, aren’t you?” Velvette asks.

“Consider it a favor for storing all your junk. I’m the one who has to deal with these trashy souls to keep the edges of our territory in check and it’s almost as much as yours and Vox’s combined. That’s not exactly easy.” He smirks. “As I’m sure you’ll find out.”

“You really think rubbing your vacation in my face is going to make me want to help you?”

“The longer I have to take care of Vax the longer you have to manage my assets.”

“It’s only a week,” Vox corrects. “Valentino, you’re not taking more than a week, right?”

“Oh, you think we can’t handle it, Vee? Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”

“Babydoll, I’d pay good money to see you manage my whores long-term but even I’m not so cruel as to subject you to that torture for more than a week.”

“My souls are off the table,” Velvette says. Valentino opens his mouth to protest but she lifts a finger to silence him. “I have nothing to do with Vox’s little robot. This is between you two.”

She flips him off as she gets up and leaves the room.

Valentino turns to Vox.

“Done ignoring me?” Vox snaps.

“You love how much it pisses you off, don’t deny it,” Valentino says.

Vox takes a sip of his drink instead of replying. Kitty brings Valentino another and he takes a generous gulp.

“It’s not happening, Val,” Vox says. “Velvette and I don’t waste souls on… projects like yours.”

Valentino almost breaks the glass in his hand. “Waste? You sure as hell don’t complain when that waste lines your pockets with cash! I’m asking for one favor!”

Vox mouths the words ‘one favor’ and rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to have a soul’s contract rewritten just to watch over a broken tablet. Don’t waste your oh-so-rare ‘favors’ on stuff like this. Put it back in the basement and you’ll forget all about it.”

“Like you did?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Vox says as he leans back and pulls out his phone to scroll.

Vox doesn’t even flinch when Valentino throws his glass against the wall to the left of his head.

Vax does. His eyes, large and watery, have Valentino dropping the conversation and picking him up to take back to his room. He hears Vox call after him questioningly, but he ignores him.

“Useless asshole,” Valentino mutters. Vax sniffles and he softens a little. “No, no, it’s fine. Not like I wasn’t managing this on my own anyway. Sure as hell makes you wonder about the term partners, though, no?”

He’d have to pick from his own contracts. Shit.

Not all of his souls are incompetent – otherwise he’d never be able to run so many studios and clubs. It’s just that he needs all of them. Vox and Velvette didn’t understand. Their work was so clean, everyone was chosen specifically for their roles in their network.

Valentino had to work with what he had. It’s because he did this that Vox and Velvette were able to build their empires upon it. They know this on some level but that didn’t stop them from shitting on his work when they disagreed on things. It was always like that. Valentino was a dirty whore until Vox wanted to fuck and he was a violent pissbaby until Velvette needed a hit carried out.

“What about you, huh?” Valentino asks Vax bitterly. “What am I to you until you want to eat? Until you need something?”

Vax’s eyes are closed. He’s dozing in his arms. Valentino suddenly feels bad for asking at all.

He’s just a baby, of course he needed him. What was he getting upset at Vax for? It’s fucking Vox and Velvette he should be pissed at.

When he makes it to his room he puts Vax to bed in his crib, plugs him in, and pulls out his rarely used laptop from under a pile of old magazines and rejected scripts. Kitty brings him another drink as he boots it up and before long, he’s relaxing in bed, searching his soul directory for anyone who might be useful. It’s a slow process; he owns thousands.

He’s interrupted a few hours later by Vax’s whimpers.

Valentino is sure he’s nowhere near drunk, even though getting up for the first time after lounging and drinking for almost four hours has him wobbling a bit. He’s steady by the time he makes it to Vax. The baby looks grumpy and Valentino can smell why.

At least Vax has good reasons for needing him.

“And you’re lucky you’re cute,” Valentino murmurs, poking Vax’s belly and then taking him to the bathroom.

He takes extra care when he changes his diaper this time. He isn’t drunk but that didn’t mean a couple of drinks didn’t make him careless sometimes. Vax is important right now so he couldn’t be careless.

He blames the drinks for his lack of self-control when it comes to giving Vax another cuddle session instead of putting him back to bed immediately. He also blames Vax for being so fucking adorable. He cuddles Vax in his bed, muttering endearments and nonsense, tickling him until the baby is giggling and laughing, and then kissing him until he drifts back to sleep. He carefully slides out of bed and lays Vax in his crib.

…It takes two tries for him to plug him in.

Kitty brings him another drink and he waves her away, deciding to cut himself off for the rest of the night.

It’s only 12:30 am but the drinks he’s had should be enough to help him sleep. He throws himself under his covers and has Kitty turn off the lights.

xoxoxox

Valentino shoots up out of bed.

He has his gun out and pointed at the sound that woke him up. A scream.

He blinks.

No, a cry. A baby?

Baby?

What –

Vax.

Shit. He lowers the gun.

His phone begins buzzing and pinging but he ignores it to turn on the light and go to Vax.

As he suspected, nothing is actually wrong with him. He had just woken up alone in the dark.

“Hello, baby,” Valentino says. “Heeey, none of that. You’re alright. Don’t cry…”

Vax continues to cry, but his eyes are focused on him. Valentino lifts him up to cuddle him into his fur and the crying quiets into hiccups and whimpers.

There. Fucking easy.

He hikes Vax up a little higher to his shoulder and he finally quiets completely. He can feel the tiny fingers threading through his fur with an occasional tug. He walks back to his bed to sit and just holds him for a few minutes. When he’s satisfied that Vax isn’t going to start crying again, he lowers him back to where he can see him. Checks the time.

3:27 AM

“Oh, baby, I think you just made enemies out of Vox and Velvette,” Valentino says, thinking back to the notifications on his phone. He kisses the top of his head. “Let’s get you back to sleep.”

As soon as he puts Vax back in the crib, he checks the messages on his phone.

Velvette:

               WTF IS THAT NOISE

               I’M WORKING

               MAKE IT SHUT UP

               TURN IT OFF

               THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU

Valentino:

               Go to bed babydoll its late

Too late he remembers that he’s mad at her. …He thinks.

Velvette:

               Fuck you both I can stay up as late as I want

               I can’t stop now the ideas are flowing

Vox must have told her the same thing. He looks at Vox’s message next.

Vox:

               It has a mute button.

Dickhead.

He looks back at Vax who is still staring up at him, eyes watery.

“Aww, Vax, baby, I know you’re sleepy,” Valentino says. He pulls up the stool of his vanity next to the crib and sits next to it, leaning over and draping two of his arms inside. He tries to give him soothing touches as he hums to him, but Vax is determined not to sleep.

…So much for being a damn good baby.

He takes that thought back immediately when Vax nuzzles his hand.

Thirty minutes later and Vax shows no sign of drifting off. When Valentino unplugs him and puts him in his arms for the fourth time to try and rock him to sleep, Vax tries to bury his face in his chest again and struggles to keep his eyes open. He’s definitely tired, he just won’t sleep in the crib.

“Why won’t you sleep, baby?” Valentino asks. “It’s comfy; you were sleeping fine earlier.”

Vax, of course, doesn’t answer.

Valentino sighs and takes him towards his own bed. No more sleep for himself, then.

He takes his gun from under his pillow and puts it in the dresser next to the bed, then lays down, settling Vax in next to him. He keeps an eye on him, watching for any sign of him being too active to sleep.

But Vax is quiet. Awake, but quiet.

When Valentino reaches over and turns the light off, he feels Vax stiffen. That’s… weird. Vax’s face still dimly lights the bed – and when Valentino looks, his eyes are welling up with tears all over again.

“Oh, sweetie, no, what’s wrong?” Valentino asks him softly, heart aching.

Vax still doesn’t make a sound.

Valentino frowns and puts a hand over his belly. He’s relieved when Vax’s tiny hands wrap around his fingers and squeeze tightly. He doesn’t bite them this time. Just stays very quiet and very still.

It occurs to Valentino then, that Vax had probably spent many nights alone in the dark, unable to see or hear or speak. And he had just woken up to it for the first time.

“It’s okay to fall asleep, I’ll be right here,” Valentino says. While he knows Vax doesn’t understand, he hopes his voice at least comforts him. He decides to hum something again, and the noise soothes Vax enough that his eyelids droop and his screen dims. Valentino continues for a few minutes after he’s fallen asleep. He considers putting Vax back in his crib and then drops the thought; the idea of Vax waking up alone and crying again makes him want to die. He’d much rather have the baby wake up at his side.

Valentino closes his eyes but doesn’t let himself fall into too deep of a sleep. He dozes, aware of his arm still holding Vax, the fingers gripping his own, and the rise and fall of his chest.

Chapter 8

Notes:

One more chapter of fluff before things that aren't fluff start happening <3

Vax stirs again a little after 5 am, which is roughly around the time Valentino usually wakes up anyway.

“Good morning, baby,” Valentino says between kisses as Vax coos at him. “Welcome to day two.”

Vax needs a diaper change and after that’s done, Valentino prepares his bottle and food, then sets him down to feed him. Vax is just as desperate for food as the morning before.

It’s heartbreaking and Valentino ends up feeding him more than he probably should have. Vax is very happy afterwards, so that’s all that really matters. He leaves him to sit for a little while as he cleans his face and the highchair, then lets him out onto the floor to explore. Predictably, Vax crawls around to follow him instead, like a hyperactive little bug.

Cute.

Valentino substitutes his morning workout with yoga – he’d need to make adjustments to his usual routine for the week now that Vax would be a part of it. Vax is very interested in watching him and occasionally crawls in the way. Valentino takes the opportunity while doing a seated forward bend to peck Vax on the top of his head as he tries to crawl over his legs.

The rest of his session is devoted to squeezing and playing with Vax as he ruins any actual attempt at yoga. He tries to encourage Vax to escape from him when he ‘catches’ him but the baby is much too happy to be held and cuddled. After a bit of failing to try to teach him how to escape, Valentino decides that’s fine – he’ll just make Vax work for the cuddles instead and spends another half hour rolling just out of Vax’s reach. He rewards him with hugs every time he manages to catch him until the baby tires himself out.

Vax settles in for a nap not long after and Valentino orders breakfast for himself and slips into the bathroom for a quick shower. By the time he’s done, Kitty is already setting the food out on a breakfast tray with a mimosa. He waves the drink away and has her bring him a coffee instead.

As he eats, he goes over his last few messages with Vox, then winces. He forgot to look for a replacement choreographer. Last night he had been so focused on trying to find a potential foster for Vax, it had completely slipped his mind. There’s still time to find someone but… well, sometimes it was just better to do things yourself.

And it’s been a while since he’d had enough time to choreograph anything for anyone who wasn’t Angel Dust.

Or perform.

Or dance for himself.

Fuck, maybe he did need a real vacation. At the very least he should coax Vox into going out dancing with him one of these days. Velvette too. They might agree when Vax has a new home and after their meeting with Carmilla. If not, he can push and say it’s to celebrate or something.

He considers just propping his phone up and coming up with something here in his room, then changes his mind. Staying cooped up would drive him insane and after a quick look, he can see there’s still a room available at the dance studio floor of the tower. He books it for the next couple of hours and gets ready.

“You wanna leave this room, Vax?” Valentino asks as he rouses him an hour later. “I know I sure as fuck do.”

xoxoxox

Vax christens his visit to the dance studio by shitting his diaper as soon as he arrives. Valentino has a fully stocked diaper bag slung over his shoulder so it’s not a big deal. He just puts Vax down in the center of the room and has him changed. Surrounded by mirrors. Completely normal.

He ends up having to summon Kitty with an app to dispose of the diaper and quickly concludes Kitty will be solely at his side for the rest of the week. Vox and Velvette would be sure to notice her absence, but she belongs to him anyway. Honestly, he’s surprised he hasn’t heard from Vox by now. It’s already past 8 am and Vox should have been up and about an hour ago. Earlier, if he has a meeting.

His phone pings and Valentino rolls his eyes. He swears sometimes its like Vox has planted a chip in his brain to let him know when Valentino thinks about him. He should really get that checked.

Vox:

               What happened to a week off?

Valentino:

               Couldn’t think of a replacement and if I dont get them started ill be set back more than a week

Vox:

               Workaholics. You AND Vel. I don’t know how I deal with you two. Do what you need to do and then get out of the studio. I mean it.

Hypocrite. But at least there isn’t a comment on Vax being present in the dance studio.

There’s a lot of space in the room for Vax to crawl around, he’s already entertaining himself with his reflection on the wall of mirrors. This gives Valentino enough time to set up the area for both of them.

For Vax, he unrolls a mat from a pile against the wall and spreads a blanket over it and scatters a few toys around. He zips up the diaper bag securely and puts it next to the mat for Vax to poke and prod at if he gets curious.

For himself, Valentino sets up a phone tripod and has Kitty hold open his laptop for him. He leans against the wall and has her push play so he can familiarize himself with the song first.

Vax lets out a squeak and Valentino looks over at him in surprise. That’s right – he hasn’t heard real music before. Just Valentino’s humming and singing.

Vax’s eyes are wide, and his mouth is open into a small ‘O’ as he listens. He doesn’t look distressed, just surprised.

Then he starts moving.

He’s swaying in place and waving his arms around, occasionally kicking his feet out. Like he’s—

“Oh my god.”

Vax is dancing.

Valentino is kneeling at side immediately, grin so wide it almost hurts his face.

“What are you doing, Vax? What are you doing?” he says in overexcitement; he does not want Vax to stop. Ever. “Are you dancing? Do you like the music, baby?”

Vax laughs, bouncing a little. Valentino sways and bobs with him in encouragement.

He’s going to die. He’s so fucking adorable.

“You’re so good at this, Vax,” Valentino coos. “Are you looking for a job? Do you want to be my new choreographer? You might be a little too young, baby.”

He tickles Vax’s stomach and Vax bursts into another round of giggles.

He’s so happy. It’s infectious. Valentino can’t remember smiling so much at someone whose life he wasn’t threatening.

The song ends and Vax continues swaying a little until he realizes it stopped. He blinks up at Valentino almost accusingly.

“Oye, don’t give me that look!” Valentino scolds playfully. He looks at Kitty. “Kitty, play it again.”

Obediently, Kitty plays it again.

And again.

And again.

Kitty plays it until Vax is out of breath and laying peacefully on top of the blanket Valentino set out, freeing him from the cuteness trap.

Luckily, Valentino was actually paying attention to the song as well as Vax, so he has a good idea of where to start on his dance. He has Kitty play it at a lower volume and works through potential movements, murmuring some of the lyrics as he does so.

It’s fun. He loves his work, he really does, but finally working through a whole dance by himself for the first time in years hits different. Angel Dust is fine to personally work with, but he’s such a fucking brat sometimes, it drives him crazy. And when he isn’t a brat? It’s because he isn’t fucking sober and just becomes a pain in the ass. All that time walking him through a dance is wasted.

So, yes. He’s having fun with this. He has fun even when he fucks up – forgetting not all of his dancers have four arms. Incorporating the sway of his wings into the dance when he knows none of the dancers have them because with him it looks amazing. More than once he unintentionally flaps his wings open in a beautiful display at the end of the dance and he has to start over but its with a laugh and kiss at the camera.

Vax is an angel the entire time after he gets his rest. While Valentino works, he keeps himself busy by slobbering and smudging all over the wall of mirrors. Once and a while he’ll try to crawl towards Valentino but when he finds his toys, he’s sufficiently distracted. He even still sways to the music as he plays.

It’s not until Vax catches sight of the end of his wings closing after another mistake that he starts crawling towards him, and Valentino is forced to pause to avoid kicking or stepping on him.

“What’s the matter, baby?” he asks. “Bored already?”

Vax makes it to Valentino’s feet, then sits up and lets himself fall forward, gripping Valentino’s wings that hang loosely behind him. Valentino smiles – then completely melts as Vax nuzzles into the fur of his wings. He’s going to be a puddle before they ever leave the studio.

“You,” Valentino says fondly, sitting down on the floor with him. “Are fucking distracting.”

Vax is still holding onto Valentino’s wings, now almost laying on them since they folded onto the ground. Usually, Valentino prefers to keep them pretty and tidy when he’s not helping a client – they could form creases for a few minutes if he sat on them wrong – but Vax is enjoying them too much for him to care. When Vax sits up and plays with the fur, tilting his head and then watching as though waiting for something, Valentino realizes why Vax had decided to touch them.

He scoots back and slowly stretches them out a little and gives them a tiny flap. Vax shows only awe and not fear, so he lets them stretch out to their full size. Vax babbles excitedly.

“Gorgeous, aren’t they?” Valentino asks. He flutters his wings and watches the fur ripple and the scales glitter in the light of the studio. “I thought it was such bullshit to be turned into a bug, but these wings almost make it worth it.” He grins. “And I make the bug thing work anyway. I’m just that hot. Aaaand there’s other perks. To the bug thing.”

Vax stares up at the wings in delight and Valentino takes in his tablet head again. He wonders if he would begin to develop any abilities like other sinners. Not aging didn’t necessarily mean he couldn’t get anything. But… most of their abilities appeared to be based on how they lived their lives or a trait from their bodies. Vax obviously hadn’t lived very long.

Valentino finds the thought uncomfortable, though he shouldn’t. Shit happens. He puts two hands out to Vax and the baby immediately flumps forward and determinedly crawls into his arms. Valentino pulls him up and hugs him, then stands.

He places Vax next to the diaper bag and rummages inside for a few treats. There’s a small packet of some weird fruit puff things and he chooses that after giving it a quick taste. He lets Vax discover they are food and then spreads most of them out across the blanket to keep him busy.

Enrichment, or whatever the fuck it’s called.

It buys him plenty of time to do one clear shot of the dance he made. He even has time to review it and ends up admiring himself more than usual. It’s very clear in the video how… happy he is. Truthfully, it’s a little embarrassing, but his pride in a good performance overrides it.

He’s reviewing it for a third time when Vax crawls to him and tugs at his pants, hand in his mouth and drooling all over.

“Did you finish already?” Valentino laughs. “You found every crumb, didn’t you, bichito? Well, lucky for you I’m all done here.”

He sends the video to Vox, picks Vax up, and finds the bag of the remaining treats. He perches on the barre and feeds them to Vax one at a time. Only about three minutes pass by the time Vox messages him back.

Vox:

               Very nice. I looked around and found I have a contracted soul who did work on dances for a few shows. I’ll lend him to your studio and have him work with this when he instructs the others.

Anxiety rears its ugly head again and Valentino isn’t able to smother it in time before he sends his next message.

Valentino:

               WORK with it? The fuck is wrong with it as is?

Vox:

               Absolutely nothing. It’s almost too good, Val. I don’t want all your talent to go into one random music video. This one doesn’t even feature Angel Dust! We need to sprinkle in some mediocrity – people should pay more for something you made.

Valentino:

               Fuck you. You’re lying.

Vox:

               I’m serious. You’re worth more than the music video this is for.

              Wait, I get it.

Get what…?

His phone rings. Valentino slides the button to accept the call and Vox’s face appears on the screen.

“What?” Valentino snaps, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re tired of being behind the scenes,” Vox says.

Valentino blinks, then narrows his eyes. “No, I’m not.”

“What’s a midlife crisis in hell called?” asks Velvette’s voice from Vox’s side of the call.

“The fuck is Velvette doing with you?”

Vox lifts whatever device he is using for the call and shows that they’re in one of Velvette’s studios and she’s currently fitting a few of Valentino’s whores with new outfits.

“I stopped by before the shoot I’m supervising,” Vox explains. He lowers it so it’s only his face in the shot again. “So, here’s what I’m thinking. Next quarter we do a complete overhaul of your responsibilities. Nothing we can do about the quantity of projects we already have in the works, but it’ll be a start. We’ll set time to go over our soul directory because I know you haven’t been filing them accurately and pick out who to delegate to. I already see a slot; we all have free time overlapping three weeks from now. We’ll use that time to—”

“I want to go dancing,” Valentino says, ignoring everything else.

Vox’s voice falters. “Uh, what?”

“You said we have free time. All three of us, right? If it’s free time, real free time, I want to go dancing. No work.”

Vox is quiet for a minute, then sighs and rolls his eyes in the way he does when he’s pretending to be annoyed. He thinks Valentino doesn’t know the difference. “…Yeah. Alright, fine.”

Valentino swings his legs, pleased. “Send me the date and time and I’ll choose a place,” he says.

“Perfect,” Vox says dryly. “I need to cover your shoot. I’ll think up a plan for next quarter and talk to you tonight.”

When he hangs up, Valentino lifts Vax up from his knee and bounces him cheerfully. “Let’s get you back to my room and have you all charged up. I bet you’re still hungry, eh, gordito?”

Chapter 9

Valentino packs everything back up, leaving a little teething ring out for Vax to hold as he makes his way back up to his room. A couple of employees see him pass and give polite greetings, but his attention is only on Vax, who gnaws determinedly on his ring. It’s almost impressive how easily he absolutely coats it in drool.

He’s still going at it when Valentino makes it to the floor of his living quarters. He watches in amusement as Vax presses back and then lunges forward to bite as violently as a tiny baby with only gums can on the ring.

It’s too violent.

The ring, covered in drool, slips out of Vax’s hands and the baby lets out a small sound of distress as it lands on the ground and rolls to the door. Before Valentino or Kitty can take a step towards it to retrieve it, one of his attendants by the door, Rita, leaves her station and picks it up for him. The other, Laura, watches calmly, staying still in her alcove.

Rita bows at him politely and holds the toy up for him in her palms. Valentino finds himself caught off guard by the gesture. The two were very demure and obedient, so obedient that they rarely left their stations and kind of merged with the background to him.

He takes the toy without comment and Vax is back to chewing on it contently as he eyes Rita curiously. Valentino sees the small smile she gives the baby before she bows again and backs up to her station.

Laura and Rita…

That’s an idea.

Two souls he owns who he’s known for years. They already lived on V Tower property, and he’s never had to go after them for stupidity, attitude, or negligence. Before they had the tower, he’d usually have them pleasuring his more classy clients. He might’ve even used them on Vox himself back when they were getting to know each other. Over time as he adjusted to the demands of their consumers and Vox’s business plans, he needed their services less and now their jobs were simple – eye candy and the occasional service to guests when they held meetings.

More often than not he has them stationed at doors just to open them. This wasn’t a bad thing. They were his doors. Personal doors.

There is a form of familiarity they had with him and the other Vees that he’s not sure Vox and Velvette are aware of. They were almost always just outside the door when the Vees hung out together. Valentino wouldn’t be surprised if they already knew about his search for a foster for Vax. Surely, they’ve overheard countless private conversations, but nothing has ever leaked to the public. Their contracts had been drawn so early and carelessly by himself that he knows for a fact its loyalty that keeps them from doing so.

On top of that, he’s pretty certain that they’re a couple. A stable couple for decades, so raising a baby would be easier for them than one singular demon. They are definitely a pair to consider since he only has less than six days to consider anyone.

When they’re back in Valentino’s room, Valentino decides to switch it up and feed him the baby food first, then the bottle. Vax ends up cuddling up in his arms as he drinks, eyelids drooping adorably. When he’s done, he’s out like a light and Valentino is able to tuck him into his crib and plug him in with no problems at all.

He’s still a little worried about tonight, though. Vax doesn’t like waking up alone in the crib and especially not in the dark. He can’t have Vax in bed with him again if he wants to get his own sleep in. Valentino is a large guy and one wrong move would end badly for the baby.

A bassinet, maybe? He thinks he’s seen bedside bassinets – though he’s never owned one. A quick search on his phone confirms they do exist in Hell. He makes notes of a few other things he needs. He can order all the items online and have it delivered by tomorrow, but why should he when Angel was due to get off work? Angel liked Vax enough to do it without an attitude.

Vox texts him before he can text Angel. He snickers when he reads it.

Vox:

               Your whores are more unruly than I thought they’d be.

Valentino:

               Ooooh? How long has it been? A little more than 24 hours? Interesting.

Vox:

               Fuck you.

Valentino:

               Which whores? The ones in the studio or the ones on the street?

He’d put money on the ones on the street. They were out there for a reason, after all.

Vox:

               Streets.

Valentino:

               If you need to slap a hoe, slap a hoe. Show them that daddy’s in charge.

Vox:

               I was hoping to keep this as a hands-off experience. Not that I’m against showing them who’s boss, but I’m a busy man.

Valentino:

               Oh, baby, nooo. You need to meet them in person. They already put together I’m not there if they’re giving attitude this early. Give them a scare by making an example of one. Or at least make sure they know you’re always watching. That should keep them in line until I get back.

Speaking of unruly whores, if Vox is already complaining about them, Angel should be about done filming for the day. He brings up his contact and types out a message.

Valentino:

               I have another list of things for you to pick up for Vax. Stop by my room to pick up my card if you’re done filming.

Angel Dust:

               Sorry, daddy. Vox sent me out on a job.

Out on a job? What kind of job? The streets? That’s…fine. He guesses. But why send Angel Dust? Was he the unruly whore? That sounds about right but Vox said it was one on the streets. Of course, if he sent Angel to the streets then that would apply… Ugh. He should have just said it was Angel.

Angel had to be handled differently.

And Valentino could really use him. Whoever the client is couldn’t be important enough that another one of his whores couldn’t handle it in his place.

Valentino:

               I’ll have Vox send someone else.

Angel Dust:

               He don’t have anyone else for this job. It’s a drug deal.

…

What.

What the fuck is this shit?

He doesn’t bother to yell at Angel and instead switches straight to Vox’s contact.

Valentino:

               Vox. Baby. Honey. Luz de mi vida

               Where the FUCK did you send Angel Dust

               Vox does not answer right away.

Valentino:

               Vox.

Vox:

               So, you’re not going to believe this, but Angel Dust volunteered to put in some extra work!

Valentino:

               Where is he

               Where the fuck is he you shitty bastard

               VOX TELL ME WHERE THE FUCK HE IS

               VOX

               VOX ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW

               Babe.

               Just tell me

               I need to know

               VOX.

Vox:

               He’s covering for you in the drug deal in Kaiju Kolony.

Oh fuck no. No, no, no.

He slams the call button on his phone to yell at Vox.

He doesn’t answer.

Valentino:

               ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE

Vox:

               I’m in a meeting, obviously.

Valentino:

               WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SEND ANGEL DUST

Vox:

               Because I’m In A Meeting. He said he could handle it and I’ve seen him go with you to deals before. I’m pretty sure he can hold a gun.

As fucking arm candy. And no shit Angel knows how to handle a gun – he was in the goddamned mafia! Not that Vox would care to know that. That wasn’t the point.

Valentino:

               YOU are supposed to handle shit like this!

Vox:

               I never said that. I said I’d find someone to cover for you.

               There’s no need to get so worked up, Val.

               Besides, delegating IS handling it. Everything will be fine.

Valentino:

               You can’t have Angel thinking he’s big shit like this. Fuck you Vox he’s going to be a fucking BRAT for WEEKS

Vox:

               Get him back, then. Knock him down a peg. But you still won’t have anyone to cover your little drug deal.

Valentino:

               FUCK YOU.

Valentino can’t go himself. He can’t leave Vax. He can’t risk taking Vax – the idea of putting him in a car at all makes him feel sick.

Leave him with Laura and Rita? Not yet. He needs Vax’s protection under contract, and he hasn’t even approached them with the idea.

He has to wait.

He wants to rip his own antennae out.

Instead, he picks up his phone again and stabs at the screen to type out a message to Angel.

Valentino:

               Come straight to my room when you’re done. We’re going to TALK.

A full ten seconds pass.

Angel:

               Yes daddy.

Vox sends a message right afterwards.

Vox:

               Don’t make too big of a mess.

               He’s filming tomorrow.

Then why the fuck would he let Angel Dust go when there’s a chance he’d be killed during the deal? Motherfucker.

Valentino sighs and drags a hand across his face, body shivering with anger and anxiety. So much for a week off. He feels like he’s still working except he’s being held hostage and forced to watch this dumpster fire. That just goes to show how much the Vees needed him, those useless fucks.

He doesn’t have time to sneak in a real nap while Vax sleeps and – fuck he forgot to eat lunch again, didn’t he? He’ll have Kitty bring him something. There were probably leftovers from dinner last night. In the meantime, he still needs to get someone to shop for him if he wanted Vax to sleep through the night later. If not Angel, then…

Laura and Rita can do it.

Valentino takes a deep breath and looks over at Vax to make sure he’s still asleep, then walks to his bedroom door with his list. It’ll just take a minute to tell them what to do.

He hesitates.

He glances at Vax again.

He’s still asleep.

It’s fine.

He puts his hand on the doorknob.

Hesitates again.

He takes it off.

One more time, he looks at Vax.

For fuck’s sake, he’s fine. He’ll stay fine. Just this morning he took a shower while Vax was napping! One room away.

Laura and Rita are two rooms away.

He closes his eyes and pushes two of his palms against them.

“Get ahold of yourself,” Valentino murmurs. He’s just on edge because of this Angel Dust bullshit. With the lack of food and lack of sleep… he’s being overly sensitive. Overthinking things.

He takes another deep breath.

Vax is healthy.

Vax is safe in his crib that is in Valentino’s bedroom in V Tower in Vee Territory.

Valentino is just being a little bitch about leaving him alone for two minutes.

He leaves the bedroom.

It’s easier once he’s out and going past their living quarters to the door where Laura and Rita are waiting outside of.

“Girls,” Valentino calls. “I need you two to do some shopping for me.”

They had been outside the doors when Angel had brought the first round of baby supplies. He can see their interest and its soothing to a small part of him that isn’t completely livid at Angel right now.

“You’ve met Vax,” he says in a gentle croon. The small smiles he glimpses are encouraging. “Poor baby needs a few more necessities and I don’t have anyone available.”

Rita takes the list he offers and reads it. She looks back at him and gives a small bow. “Yes, sir,” she says. “Do you have a preferred shopping center?”

“You’ll find most of it in imp stores. I don’t know what they’re called but I need good, quality shit. Money’s no object of course.” He hands his card to Rita as well.

Laura steps up and glances at the list. Her antennae twitch as she reads it over with a thoughtful frown. “Is that all you want us to get?”

Valentino tilts his head, intrigued. “I have some supplies already, as I’m sure you two saw. If you see anything else I might need, feel free to purchase it.” A part of him wants to press and see if they have knowledge of infants, but he’s left Vax alone for too long already. “Try and get this done quickly. We’re counting on you two.”

He doesn’t wait to see them off, instead slipping back through the door quickly. When he’s back in his room he goes to Vax immediately and places a hand on his small chest. It moves up and down as he sleeps. He hears a very soft squeak as Vax exhales.

He’s fine.

Of course he is.

He takes care of him.

Valentino sits down on his stool and crosses his top set of arms over the edge of the crib to rest his head on. He watches Vax until most of the tension leaves his body and his own eyes drift closed.

He’s roused from his catnap by a knock on the door.

Angel Dust, probably.

He looks down at Vax, making sure he’s still asleep, then gets up to answer the door.

All his previous rage and anxieties slam back into him full force when he sees Angel Dust in front of him. He’s in a clean suit with that stupid damn fedora on his head. He’s holding a case by its handle in one hand. The deal was a success.

Any positive feelings he might be able to scrounge up for that is snuffed by the look in Angel’s eyes. He knows that fucking look.

That bratty, ‘great, now I have to deal with this fucker,’ look.

The look vanishes when he drags Angel into the room by his hair, knocking the stupid hat off his head. Angel is terrified.

Not so tough now, is he?

“Val—”

Valentino rips the case from Angel Dust’s hand and throws it to the side of the room where it hits something with a loud bang.

He hears a whimper from Vax as he’s startled awake.

Shit.

Angel’s trying to talk.

“—I thought since you had the baby, I’d—”

That’s what it fucking was.

Of fucking course.

“You’d what? Take charge?” Valentino asks. He brings his hand back and slaps Angel across the face.

Vax whimpers louder and Valentino’s antennae quiver.

Stupid.

He needs to move this out of here.

Angel stumbles, holding his cheek. His voice cracks.

“No! No, of course not. That’s… Val, that’s s—”

“A baby doesn’t change shit. You forget your damn place, Angelcakes.” He makes to grab Angel and drag him out of the room, but he just barely darts out of the way.

Further into the room and consequently, closer to Vax who has begun to cry.

“I didn’t—” Angel chokes. “He told me—Val, I just—"

Valentino sneers. This little bitch.

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing? You think I don’t know you’re hiding behind a baby? My baby?”

Angel’s eyes dart towards the crib where Vax is as though he couldn’t hear him crying the whole time.

“No, that’s not what I’m doing! I swear, I wasn’t thinking. Vox—"

Valentino lunges forward and manages to grab Angel by the neck. He wrestles him down onto the ground and then once he’s sure he has a good grip, lifts him and forces him further away from Vax. He uses two of his other hands to pull at Angel’s arms so that he’s forced to arch back and look at him.

“That baby can’t protect you, Angel, because news flash, he won’t be here for much longer. You’re wasting your time.”

It hurts to say it out loud now. Now that he’s faced with what will happen if he were to somehow, for some reason, keep Vax. His reputation can handle a baby, yes, but those close to him will know he’s spread thin enough as it is. They’ll use Vax to wiggle into any cracks and try to gain power. Hell, some might use Vax to butter him up and gain influence over him. He wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why Angel had been so obedient when it involved Vax in the first place. Lord knows he didn’t do it because he likes Valentino.

Angel has always made it clear how ungrateful he is for all the shit Valentino has to put up with. Really, he should have suspected this the moment Angel helped him feed Vax.

He’s not going to pretend it doesn’t hurt.

It's that brief pause – that tiny moment of reflection that gives Angel enough time to slip a few words in that Valentino hears.

“Vox didn’t have anyone else for the deal. He made it sound important when he asked me to do it. I’m sorry – I’m sorry, Val, shit, shit.”

…

Valentino narrows his eyes, considering.

It is important. All of his drug deals are important – though Vox had never given him the impression that he thought so. Valentino needed the drugs to keep a portion of his souls in line. If Valentino didn’t supply, they were more inclined to go somewhere else and he’d have to track them down. They could go to other demons or worse, other Overlords. He would lose out on time, money and souls.

So maybe Vox did know that. Maybe his eye-rolling and cutting comments were just to make him feel above trivial drug dealing. Maybe he really had told Angel to do this and lied to Valentino that he volunteered.

Because, really, Vox wouldn’t wander around asking for someone to fill the position out loud like a lost child.

…Of course he fucking told Angel to do it.

Fucking Vox.

He moves a hand up to Angel’s face and releases his throat.

He’d give Angel another chance. Just one.

He’s getting so sick of everyone fucking with him.

“You,” Valentino says coldly, squeezing his jaw. “Are not to mess with these deals again. Got it? I don’t give a damn what Vox says. I own you. I don’t want you anywhere near them.”

“Yes,” Angel chokes out, eyes wide. “Yes, I got it.”

He picks up Angel with two of his hands by the collar of his shirt and harshly throws him towards a wall. Angel stumbles and falls, limbs tangling with the curtain and dislodging the long rod. It falls towards the—

Valentino’s heart drops.

The curtain rod is half of the length of the room.

And one half is right over Vax’s crib.

He sees the metal rod hit the crib. Hears it.

No, no no no no—

It’s not until he sees Angel scrambling back up and towards Vax that he’s able to force himself to move.

They reach the crib at the same time.

Valentino grabs Angel’s arm and half drags, half throws him to the side. He flings the rod away and he cups Vax’s face with two hands while his other two poke and prod at him. He’s hurt. He must be hurt. Where did it hit him? He just held it a second ago – it was too fucking heavy for a baby to handle. His face – is there a crack? No, no – Any dents? Any blood? Did he even bleed like them? Did they have anything for first aid? Gauze? Bandages? None of the other babies had ever gotten hurt when he took care of them. He doesn’t know where to start – he can’t remember. Oh, fuck.

He doesn’t—

He doesn’t see anything.

Valentino blinks and slows his examination. The sound of Vax’s panicked wailing finally reaches his ears and he’s filled with utter loathing of himself but…

Vax isn’t hurt.

He’s just scared.

The pole had been too long to land inside the crib and hit Vax – all that touched him was the curtain. The sounds and the impact and sudden darkness, plus the noise Valentino had been making must have terrified him. His and Angel’s scramble towards him and Valentino’s reaction might’ve made it worse.

Angel…

Valentino looks up and sees Angel getting up off the floor. The fuck was he doing there?

Doesn’t matter.

“Get out,” he says, baring his teeth at him. He’s mad at him. He’s not sure he remembers why.

The look Angel shoots him almost has him dragging him back towards him to slap him – but Vax needs him right now. He’ll punish Angel later. For… for whatever he did. Because of that look and whatever happened before.

When the door shuts behind Angel, Valentino feels his fur smoothen and he looks back at Vax, whispering soft endearments as he picks him up. He gives him another look over just in case, then rocks him until the crying slows to a stop.

Valentino takes Vax to his bed and curls up with him. He can’t help but look over him again. Vax is quiet, eyes still large and watery, but he isn’t hurt. He still tries to hold his fingers and wants to cuddle up to him. He’s a little shaken and he knows that if he wants comfort, it’s something that Valentino can provide.

He’s too small to understand what happened.

Too small to understand it had been Valentino who made him cry.

Valentino kisses the top of his head.

It’s alright.

He knew something like this was bound to happen – it just happened a little sooner than he thought.

It’s fine.

He hadn’t even been angry at Vax.

It wasn’t the same.

This whole thing was just an accident.

Vax is okay. It won’t happen again.

He’ll be careful.

Chapter 10

Laura and Rita drop off their haul and Valentino sets to work on putting the bassinet together immediately, allowing the girls to mind Vax as he does so. He keeps a loose eye on them as they play with the baby on the floor of his room. Their touches are gentle and their smiles soft, it makes him feel more comfortable about approaching the idea with them.

Vax, after some shyness, has discovered that other people are fun to play with too. It doesn’t take long for him to try to chew on their hands and fingers. He loves to try and grab at their hair – the girls don’t react harshly at all when he manages to give it a tug.

Valentino thought about simply dismissing them when he finishes putting the bassinet together, but he has to remind himself he’s on very limited time. Laura and Rita meet most of his requirements. All they lacked is strength but… he could provide that. Protection. From a reasonable distance.

At the very least he could bring it up to them. The sooner he knew who wouldn’t want anything to do with Vax the better. He can move on to someone else if they refuse.

“Girls,” he calls, lighting a cigarette and sitting on the floor with them. “There’s something I’d like to talk about.” They immediately turn their attention to him and Vax eagerly crawls to his lap. Once Vax is settled, Valentino speaks again. “Have you two had children before?”

“I did,” Rita says.

“I had baby twin sisters,” says Laura.

He is about to continue until a thought occurs to him. “Where are they?”

“Oh, Heaven, I hope…”

“Same here. They were good girls. They went to college!”

Valentino had never really thought about that; the families of sinners going into Heaven. He didn’t really think about families at all, to be honest. He has no doubt all of his family ended up in Hell. Hopefully they all met their end during Extermination Day.

“Ah.”

“And yours, sir? Are yours here or…?”

“I don’t have children,” he answers. Not that he knows of, anyway.

Laura suddenly looks sheepish. “Oh… I’m sorry, please excuse me for the assumption.”

Valentino shrugs. It was a fair assumption, all things considered. He clears his throat and continues.

“I’m asking because Vax needs someone to take care of him. Someone who isn’t an Overlord like me.” He twirls his cigarette in the air, noticing Vax’s eyes following it. “I’d like to know if you’d be interested.”

The girls look at each other, then back at him. “Take care of him?”

“Do you mean as a babysitter or… a nanny?”

“Permanently. As a foster. Or parents, whatever.”

“Why us?”

“I don’t have many options, sugar.” He takes another drag of his cigarette, watching them carefully. “And we’ve known each other for a while.”

“Oh, I’m not sure…” Laura says, frowning thoughtfully. Reluctantly, Valentino can appreciate the honesty. “He won’t grow up, will he? That’s what I’ve heard.”

“What about work?” Rita asks, looking at Laura. “We can’t both be working.”

“We will really need the extra money if we have a baby. Diapers alone…”

“Well, I think Imp merchandise is cheaper, isn’t that right, sir?” Rita looks back at Valentino for confirmation.

“I’ll be covering the cost of everything and you’ll be provided with a new apartment,” Valentino says. “I still need to go over them and have them refurbished, but it will be available. As for work, I’ll be paying you for this. If you choose to continue to service me up here in the tower, I’m sure that can be arranged.” He’d like to know where they are at all times and if they got a job somewhere else that’d be a bitch to deal with. “But Vax will always be your priority. We’ll cover it in your new contract, if you choose to accept.”

“How long do we have to decide?”

“I need him out of my hands in five days,” Valentino says. “So before then.”

“Then…” Laura says slowly after giving Rita a long look. “We should try as soon as we can. A trial run.”

Valentino’s antennae quiver and he holds Vax closer to himself for just a moment. He knows the two catch the movement, but they don’t say anything about it directly. He should be happy that Laura and Rita are considering it – he’s almost positive they’re accepting. A trial run is smart. Solve as many issues as they can before they come up for real when he’s busy.

“Not today,” Rita says. He’s sure he doesn’t imagine her voice getting a touch more gentle. For his sake. He doesn’t mind it too much, but it also makes him feel self-conscious. It shouldn’t. The girls must have overheard several things over the years – maybe even things between him and Vox.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Valentino decides. “We’ll make arrangements.”

Vax is sad to see the girls go when Valentino dismisses them, but he’s also tired out enough for another nap.

It’s a good opportunity to try out the bedside bassinet.

Valentino loves it.

He doesn’t realize it until he’s in bed next to it, but having Vax within arm’s reach is perfect. Vax is completely content to sleep with him in view and for Valentino… it’s nice to see him safe. The only downside is the difficult to resist compulsion to just reach over and pull Vax closer.

Fortunately, Kitty brings him leftovers from last night’s dinner to him for a late lunch. Valentino is able to distract himself by eating and he feels some tension he hadn’t noticed before draining from him. When he finishes, he scrolls through his phone for a few minutes, booking the earliest tour possible for the apartments to the side of V Tower for tomorrow morning, then goes under the covers for a nap himself.

He wakes up two hours later and is just able to change and feed Vax before he goes down to the shared living quarters of the Vees. Vox is already there and flashes Valentino a sharp grin before turning his attention back to a phone call where he’s delightfully threatening an employee’s life and family. Valentino lounges on his couch as he waits for Velvette to join them, cuddling Vax who is already sleepy again. Hopefully he’ll sleep through the night tonight.

Kitty tries to bring him a drink and he gives her the subtle order to have his made all non-alcoholic. Vox would have a fit if he realized Valentino was the sober one for the rest of the week. Valentino didn’t want to risk getting too loose around Vax anymore. He didn’t want to add child neglect to his list of sins – not when child endangerment had just recently been added.

Velvette joins them half an hour later and Vox immediately launches into a speech of the changes they’ll be going through for the next quarter. Valentino lights a cigarette and tunes him out. He didn’t need to hear all the blabber – Vox would just summarize it for him later. Give him a list of things he’d like done, Valentino would change it into a list of things he wants to do, they’d fight, Vox would cave, and that would be the end of it.

Vox snaps his fingers, and Valentino is annoyed that he ends up meeting his eyes like a dog at the sound.

“As for our meeting with Carmilla, that bitch won’t budge. We will be meeting in her territory. All three of us. Val, your time off will be up by then. No excuses, got it?”

“Aww, I wouldn’t miss the chance to see Cici and the girls,” Valentino purrs.

Vox makes a face and Velvette squints at him in disgust.

“Val, when we meet them, I want you to try and keep your involvement in the discussion to a minimum. We don’t need Carmilla to feel provoked by a comment about her daughters or some shit. Business only, none of that Cici shit, got it?”

Valentino pouts. “Tch, but when will I get a chance to talk to them again?”

“If our deal goes through, you’ll have all the time in the world. Just be a little more patient.”

“Why would you want to talk to those bitches anyway?” Velvette asks.

Valentino flicks his wrist. “You know, to catch up,” he replies.

“Next, we need to go over the losses we’ll be facing during your absence, Val,” Vox says.

“Well, that’s hardly my fault. I left you two in charge.”

Velvette’s hand waves in the air. “Uh, excuse me, the fuck?”

Both Vox and Valentino look at her quizzically. “Yes, Velvette?” Vox says.

“What do you mean catch up, Valentino?” Velvette narrows her eyes. “I’ve never seen you talk to that wrinkled old bat since I’ve met you.”

“Not Carmilla. Clara and Odette. They’re the ones I fuck with,” Valentino replies. He thinks about it. “I guess I wouldn’t mind chatting Carmilla up again. Buuut, I’d wait until the deal goes through because then she’d have to stick around.” He snickers.

“Hold on,” Velvette snaps. Her fingers are pressing against her temples as it all comes together. “Is this all your fault? Are you the reason that bitch hates us? It wasn’t Vox swiping her damn hitman or me at the meeting, was it? It was you.”

Valentino grins. “Almost got it, babydoll.” He takes one last drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out in an ashtray. “I was the hitman. Poor Cici, she took it so hard.”

“I cannot believe this,” Velvette says. “You worked for her?”

“Eh. Favors for favors. She doesn’t like getting her hands dirty.” He tilts his head. “They still owe me one, you know.”

“Holy shit, and you’re just telling us now?” Velvette looks to Vox, who already knows all of this and doesn’t react. She sneers at him. “You’re just telling me now? What the fuck. How did you get that out of fucking Carmine? She makes a point not to owe anyone.”

“She doesn’t owe me anything, but Clara and Odette do,” Valentino says. “Carmilla just offered to fulfill it. One favor.”

“How? What the hell could you, all offense intended by the way, have done for them?” When Valentino opens his mouth to reply, she holds a finger up. “No, actually, doesn’t matter. Here’s a better question. Why don’t you use that favor to have her collaborate with us?”

Valentino makes an offended noise. “It’s a personal favor, babydoll. This was well before I joined the Vees. I’m saving it for an emergency. We have an eternity to build our business relationship with her.”

“I’m with Val on this one. Besides, having you and I involved might have her deny the favor completely. It’s been a few decades,” Vox says. “We’re getting off topic. We need to—"

Valentino and Velvette are spared from more business talk when the dinner they ordered is delivered and they start stuffing their faces. Vox ends up throwing his hands in the air and rolling his eyes when they ignore any of his attempts to continue speaking. It’s not long before he joins them and they’re ignoring each other and browsing their phones like a real family. Though, Valentino ends up offering Vax tiny portions of his own food instead, keeping his screentime to a minimum.

It’s already dark outside and the room is lit only by Vox’s bright screen and a few of the city lights from the surrounding buildings. Vax has been squirmy – sensing that it would be time for bed, in the dark, soon.

Velvette leaves for bed early while Vox has stepped around to the other couch and turned on the TV. Neither of them has asked about Vax today or said hello – neither of them even brought him up to complain about him being there. He supposes he should be grateful they’re not bitching, but… It doesn’t feel great to know something this important isn’t worth their attention.

He kisses the top of Vax’s head in an attempt to soothe his growing irritation.

At least with Laura and Rita, Vax will have two attentive caregivers looking out for him. Hopefully. Fuck, he really hopes they will genuinely care about him. It looks like they like him enough. But will the feelings stay? What if they get tired of him? He’d have them bring him back of course, kill them, absolutely… He really didn’t want it to come to that. He wants so badly for it to go alright.

He has to believe it will. That the feelings won’t fade. It’s possible for families to stay together in hell – just look at Carmilla and her daughters. They’d been together since the moment they reunited and that was almost forty years ago.

(And Vax is much cuter than her daughters and much easier to love.)

Even the Vees can be seen as an example. Velvette hasn’t been around too long, but Valentino knows that she’s here to stay. As for him and Vox… they’ve never truly regretted their partnership. Family is much too sentimental a label for Vox to use and for Valentino… well, he just wouldn’t say it out loud without a hint of mockery. Velvette would likely use the term for publicity and followers, but he thinks there would be some authenticity laced in there.

If only those feelings would extend to Vax.

For a moment, he entertains the thought of all three of them taking care of Vax.

It’s interrupted by the memory of Vox picking Vax up by the head.

Velvette swiping at his face.

…Valentino causing the curtain rod to fall.

His stomach turns and he squeezes Vax a little tighter, surprising the baby. Vax starts to squirm, so he loosens his hold and puts him down on the floor.

He’s surprised when Vax slams his palms on the floor and crawls determinedly towards Vox. Valentino quickly scoops him back up into his arms before Vox notices. Not that Vox has even glanced at the baby all night, but…

He’s not sure why he doesn’t want Vax to go to Vox. Vox hasn’t really threatened him. His biggest crime, really, is just not realizing Vax is a baby. If he ever got his head out of his ass, then he is sure Vox wouldn’t hurt him since Valentino has claimed him. He feels it in his gut.

Vax makes a few grumpy whimpers as he looks towards Vox.

Vox doesn’t notice. His eyes are glued to the television.

Vax squirms a little more insistently. Valentino huffs. “What’s gotten into you, bichito?”

Vox turns towards him, distracted. “What?”

The blue glow of his screen is like a beacon and Vax squirms more. Was it the light? Did Vax like the glow of his screen in the dark? It would explain why he wasn’t interested in Vox in regular lighting.

“Not you,” Valentino says. “Vax. He won’t stop moving.”

Vox’s screen flickers and he turns back to the TV with a disinterested grunt.

What a fucking prick.

“He wants you, Vox,” Valentino clarifies. “He’s trying to get to you.”

Vox’s head tilts a little towards him again, appearing confused. Then, surprisingly, his expression shifts into a thoughtful frown. “…Right.” He leans back a little and his hands go on his thighs. His next words come out as careless, but Valentino can tell he chose them specifically. “So, what do you want me to do about it?”

In response, Valentino stands up and steps in front of him, then plops Vax between Vox’s legs.

Vox, apparently, has no paternal instincts whatsoever. His hands don’t move from his thighs to steady the baby. He just sits there, glancing at Vax’s head briefly and then back up at Valentino. “Okay,” he says dryly. “It’s here. Now what?”

Valentino doesn’t say anything. Instead, he watches as Vax tries to get a better look at Vox’s face. He can’t because Vox is too busy looking up at Valentino.

“Look at him, asshole,” Valentino says. “He wants to see your face.”

Vox sighs and looks down. Vax coos and reaches up towards him.

Valentino isn’t sure what he expected to happen, but he is very disappointed when Vox just looks back up at Valentino after a few seconds. Vax’s palms land on Vox’s sweater vest instead, fingers clumsily twisting into the fabric. Vox acts as though he doesn’t even notice.

No, disappointment doesn’t cover it. He wants Vox to see. Because if he saw, if he cared, then maybe together they could—

“Alright, was that enough?” Vox asks. “Or was there something else you needed me to do?”

He feels his heart break.

Didn’t he want to hold the baby? Didn’t he feel the need to treat the baby like it matters? The need to care?

“No,” Valentino says.

He picks Vax back up and leaves the room.

Chapter 11

A few employees watch him curiously as Valentino is shown around the building to the side of V Tower the next morning. There are four open apartments on this side of the tower, usually used for security, talent and crew members under specific contracts that promised protection during the Exterminations.

He would be taking one of them to have refurbished for Vax and his future caretakers.

Valentino holds Vax in one arm, playing with him with another, and scrolls through his phone to browse the inventory of imp stores as he listens to the sinner telling him all about the apartment’s amenities. Most of the information is familiar; Vox and Velvette had talked him through it when they first started building and expanding the tower years ago. He listened sometimes, despite what they thought.

He can tell the sinner is incredibly nervous to be talking to him directly. That Valentino was on his phone and seemingly not paying attention was probably giving him an anxiety attack, but Valentino knew giving him his full attention would be worse. He has already decided he likes this particular little demon and would spare him that terror.

One of the first things the sinner had brought up was the size of the rooms – plenty of space for children to run around.

His words, not Valentino’s.

It could be that word is spreading, but Valentino decides to practice positivity and assume it’s because the man sees Vax as the baby he is.

In the end, only minimal work really needs to be done to the apartment. His main concern is freeing up more outlets and ensuring Vax will have his own space. The demon takes his notes seriously and recommends a team to do the work – which Valentino approves. He also hires someone to clean the place just in case.

A couple of hours later and Valentino’s back in his room, changing and feeding Vax before his nap. God, he wanted one himself, but he doubted he’d get the opportunity since he needed to make a list and order more baby stuff to deliver to the apartment as well as have some of what he already has moved.

He hadn’t got much sleep last night either. He spent most of it reworking Laura and Rita’s contracts, ensuring they would be under his control at all times. That absolutely nothing could be done to harm Vax and that threats to Vax’s safety and Vax himself could not be used in any way against Valentino or the Vees. Making sure the contract was thorough had taken hours and without his usual nightcap, falling asleep afterwards was difficult.

Vax, at least, had gotten a full night’s sleep. He’d need to let the girls know that the bassinet would be necessary until he got used to sleeping alone.

He’s just changed Vax into a clean outfit after a food mishap when he gets a text on his phone. Anger and frustration well up unexpectedly and he has to take a minute, the heel of his hand pressing hard against his temple, to calm himself. There was nothing to be angry about.

He’s just tired.

With a deep breath, he lowers his hand and looks at his phone.

Velvette:

      I need you in my studio

      I’ve got the material for the new line I’m working on but I need your updated measurements for it if you want dibs

He’s rather relieved it’s nothing important. Future Valentino might be upset about missing this, but he had other things to do now that Future Valentino would be more upset about if he didn’t do them.

Valentino:

      I’m busy.

Velvette:

      Yeah, right

      You can bring your baby

That catches his attention. She’s likely saying it mockingly, but she hadn’t even looked at Vax yesterday, so it feels like it came out of nowhere. He glances at Vax who blinks sleepily at him in his arms. He could probably nap relatively peacefully while they’re with Velvette – he’s sure a baby carrier is amongst the piles of merchandise in his room.

Valentino:

      Fine.

It takes a while to find the baby carrier for Vax – the box is labeled as a car seat which explains why he had tossed the thing into a far corner of his bedroom. It’s larger than he expected and it’s a perfect shade of red and pink that he likes. Valentino ends up having to stuff a small pillow behind his head so it wouldn’t be wedged in. Other than that, Vax has no problems and settles in comfortably and is out like a light. Valentino drapes a blanket over him to shield him from the lights and then goes to Velvette’s studio.

“The fuck happened to you?” Velvette asks the moment she sees him.

Valentino frowns, then remembers he didn’t get a chance to look over himself after getting Vax settled in. He just… forgot.

“What?” he asks grumpily. Hopefully he can pass it off as a bad mood – whatever she saw.

“You have bags under your eyes. Aren’t you on vacation?”

He huffs. Vacation. “Didn’t get much sleep. I was busy.”

He takes a quick look around the studio until he finds a suitable place to put Vax’s carrier. Quietly, he peeks inside to make sure the baby is still asleep, then goes back towards Velvette. He glances at her desk – then at the wall of fabrics.

“Where’s the new material?” he asks. He’s pretty sure he would have noticed it right away but he doesn’t see anything.

“Still in the truck,” Velvette replies easily. “I’m getting to work the minute it gets here. Hop on the pedestal – the quicker we get this done the sooner I can start and the sooner you can go back to diaper changes.”

And to think a small part of him thought this might be enjoyable.

Perhaps that was irritation due to sleep deprivation talking. He thinks Velvette’s acting as she normally would.

He steps onto the pedestal and waits patiently as Velvette pulls out a roll of tape and her phone.

“So, what’s the angle?” Velvette asks, finger swirling in the air as she manipulates the tape to take his measurements.

He blinks a few times, confused and wondering if he had missed a part of that sentence.

“Angle?” Valentino asks, raising an eyebrow.

“With your little mommy game,” she says. “What’re you trying to get Vox to do? What do you want?”

Valentino doesn’t understand at first. Then he does. He grinds his teeth and feels the tape pause in place when Velvette notices him holding his breath. She jabs his thigh with a finger. He lets the breath out slowly.

“It’s not a game, babydoll,” he says calmly.

She scoffs.

“You’re telling me that the Overlord of Lust and Depravity really knows how to raise a baby?”

“I had a life before this, you nasty little bitch,” Valentino snaps.

Velvette’s mouth twists as she considers that. “You’ve really been feeding it? Changing diapers? All of that?”

Didn’t he send her a picture?

“You think I’m doing it for fun?”

Velvette glances over at Vax who continues to sleep in his carrier contently. Then, she lets out a dramatic huff. The measuring tape rolls back together with a snap and she marches towards the baby. Valentino is behind her in a moment, keeping a close eye on her as she comes to a stop, lifts the blanket, and hovers over Vax.

“You keep scowling like that and you’re going to get wrinkles,” Valentino says when she doesn’t move for a few seconds.

She flings a hand in Vax’s direction. “I don’t see it, Vee. How can you think that’s a baby?”

Fuck. Her.

“How can you not?”

“For one, there’s no reason for one of them to be down here. The fuck could a baby have done to end up in hell?”

“It’s happened before,” Valentino says. “No one talks about it, but it has.”

“Kids, yeah, I know that. But this thing can’t even walk.”

“Trust me, babies end up down here and it’s fucked. Creeps get their hands on them as soon as they drop in.”

“Second,” Velvette says, and Valentino wonders if she just blocked out what he said. “There’s no reason for Vox to lie. He says he made that thing.”

“He didn’t,” Valentino says. Though, that doesn’t sound quite right even as he says it.

“Think, Valentino, if this was a real baby, why would Vox bother to keep lying about it?”

His first thought is that Vox doesn’t want him and Velvette to think he’d actually keep a baby alone in a basement like one of those creeps he mentioned.

“Do you really think he thinks we’d care?” Velvette asks, when he says it out loud. Before he can respond, she holds a hand up and rolls her eyes. “Obviously, you care. I’m asking if you think he would have known that.”

“…No.” He’s never given any indication he gave a fuck about babies.

Vox has never given any indication he didn’t.

“So why would he lie?”

“…I don’t think he’s lying. I think he made a stupid mistake.”

“What’s mistake could he possibly have made?”

Valentino throws his arms up. “I don’t fucking know! Maybe he made a baby! He fucked up, somehow and doesn’t want to admit it! I don’t know!”

It sounds stupid even as it comes out of his mouth. Sinners couldn’t have babies – he doubts they can accidentally make one. But if, somehow, somehow, Vox made a life in hell… then what did it matter whether it was supposed to be possible or not? It doesn’t change anything.

Vax is a baby.

He needs to be taken care of.

Why the fuck didn’t Vox or Velvette want that for him?

It doesn’t matter how Vax came to be. It can’t matter.

“I have to believe that it’s a mistake. That Vox is just stupid,” Valentino says slowly. “Because if this isn’t a mistake… If Vox found a baby or – or made one and knowingly left it alone for weeks in a basement, I might just fucking kill him.”

Velvette scoffs.

Then she sees the expression on his face. “Holy shit, you’re serious?”

...He thinks so, if he could. Vox is stronger than him.

If he did, he’d let Vox come back. Maybe. It might be too dangerous to let him.

…

It would never come to that. Surely.

“Vax is a baby. That’s the important thing,” Valentino says, doubling down. Velvette opens her mouth to protest, but Valentino flares his wings and lowers them the next second. “That’s enough, babydoll. I don’t want to hear any more of this.”

This isn’t about a new fashion line at all, he realizes too late. Way too late, like a goddamned idiot.

He wonders if Vox put her up to this.

“I need to feed Vax,” he lies.

Velvette lets him go.

xoxoxox

At first, he intends to go back to his room with Vax and wait for the moth girls to join him.

He ends up on the roof of the tower instead, which gives a perfect view of Pentagram City.

And the sky. Vax has woken up and is staring up at it with interest. His head turns a little this way and that, trying to find where it ends. Valentino stays put in one spot, allowing the baby to take it all in, then shows him around. The roof of V Tower was also home to a good portion of his collection of plants. Big ones that didn’t need his or Kitty’s constant care and benefitted from hell’s acid rain.

Vax squeaks as he bats at the leaves of one of Valentino’s largest flowering plants when he holds him up to it. He’s never really gotten a chance to show them off to anyone since Velvette joined the team.

“I’ve had these babies for years,” Valentino says. “Had to get most of them from the other rings in Pride. You won’t find gardens like this anywhere else in Pentagram City, there’s too many territory disputes and nobody gives a shit about these things down here; not like they do fucking and fighting.”

He carefully lowers Vax onto the ground and his fingers are quick to dig into the dirt. After a bit of hesitation, Valentino sits down with him. It’s not like he hasn’t gotten dirty by gardening before, even if Kitty is the one who does most of the work nowadays.

“I didn’t either, at first. I liked plants for the aesthetic, but I hadn’t considered growing them myself. Vox had tried wooing me with flowers – real gentleman-like and yeah, it worked, of course, then one day he brought me a potted one. I don’t know if maybe they ran out of the usual bouquets or what, but it was different,” Valentino says. “Poor thing didn’t last long. Vox got me another a few weeks after it died and he saw the bouquets weren’t doing it for me anymore. Eventually I got better at taking care of them. Learned about them and shit. Vox would get me more any time one caught my eye... Then I started looking for them myself. Once we got the tower, I really went crazy with it.”

Valentino digs his own fingers into the dirt and Vax’s hands try to grasp at the small mounds he makes. He takes a handful and sprinkles some of it on Vax’s lap, making him giggle.

“Vox himself doesn’t care for them. He likes things all sleek and sharp angles. He likes sharks – but he lets me have this. Encourages it, sometimes. He says it helps me decompress, whatever the fuck that means. He probably thinks it controls my temper.” Valentino scrunches up his face. “It doesn’t, by the way. Not plants, not drawing, not drinking…” He shakes his head. “Nothing.”

Vax’s fingers pinch at the flecks of dirt on his clothes. Valentino takes more from the ground and covers his hands. Vax giggles again and shifts in place until he’s on his hands and knees. He smiles as he crawls towards him and then pushes his dirty hands into the white fur of Valentino’s wings. He does it again… and again until there’s a solid dirt patch in his fur.

Valentino sighs and strokes the top of Vax’s head fondly.

“You’re lucky you’re so adorable, mijito. I’d have killed so many for doing less than this. Ah, but don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. You’re so tiny.” He picks Vax up again, dirt and all, and nuzzles him. They should probably get ready for Laura and Rita. “Maybe if plants did help me, I’d be able to keep you. Or if Vox helped me. Or Velvette. But between you and me, I think that the plants have a better shot.”

Chapter 12

“Even when his charge runs out, he is aware,” Valentino tells the moth girls. “He can’t hear or speak but he can still move and feel. He doesn’t like it. If something goes wrong and he loses charge don’t leave him.”

“Poor baby,” Rita murmurs. She gently rubs the side of Vax’s face with a thumb.

He explains Vax’s charging issue to them and, thankfully, they don’t question it. Plenty of employees have seen Vox plug himself in – not to charge (It was the opposite. Vox was able to charge anything if it connected to him) but they didn’t need to know that.

The four of them are in the Vees shared living quarters. While Valentino’s bedroom is big, there’s still more room out here and Vox and Velvette have fully booked schedules until late tonight. The girls wouldn’t be bothered. His home isn’t like the apartment that Vax would be moving to, but he still wants Vax to get used to having more space in a place that felt homier than just a bedroom.

Vax and the girls have taken to each other well. There were some slow starts as they helped clean Vax up and get his food ready. Like Valentino himself, the memory of taking care of children came back to them and now Laura was warming up a bottle after they had fed him. Rita held onto Vax, playing with him as they waited.

When Laura comes back with the bottle and Rita hands Vax to her to feed, Vax clumsily grabs onto it himself. The girls laugh at his eagerness and the expressions on their faces give Valentino mixed feelings. He’s happy they like Vax, but that just means soon he will be giving Vax up to them for good.

It’s fine.

Vax will be taken care of.

Back when he was alive, things with the babies in his care were complicated. He didn’t have the guarantee that they’d be taken care of when he was gone.

And then he was gone.

He died and didn’t know what ever happened to them.

Dark thoughts that haunted his early days in Hell when he could afford to think about them.

It didn’t matter now. They were gone.

Vax was here, now. He’d be gone too, but he’d be gone in the best possible way that Valentino can manage.

Valentino feels a stab of affection in his chest when Vax looks around after finishing his bottle and perks up when he sees him. His arms go up, hands making grabbing motions at him.

“You want to say hi to Valentino?” Laura asks sweetly. “Let’s go say hi!”

She walks closer to where he’s sitting and Vax leans out of her grip. Valentino quickly scoops him up and puts him in his lap. Vax falls back against his stomach and snuggles up against him with a happy mumble.

Every single particle in Valentino’s body melts.

He knows the girls are watching and he can’t afford for them to start having second thoughts out of some desire to be kind, so he doesn’t outwardly react beyond petting Vax on top of his head.

Vax yawns.

“It’s time for a nap, isn’t it?” Laura asks, giving Vax a soft look.

“Yeah,” Valentino says. He adjusts Vax in his arms and stands, almost missing Rita’s halting arm movement to take him from him. He cringes inwardly and pretends he hadn’t intended to put him down for the nap himself. He gives Vax another pet and holds him out to her.

Rita takes him with a smile.

Vax makes a displeased sound but he doesn’t cry. Rita soothes him and it’s not long before Vax is snuggling up in her arms instead. When he falls asleep, she carefully walks him to Valentino’s room.

Valentino watches, hovering outside the room as they set Vax down to nap in the crib. They tuck him in and even remember to plug in his charging cable. They keep the door to his room open, which calms most of Valentino’s nerves about being in a separate room from Vax.

“Naps in the crib are fine,” Valentino says when they join him again. “He has trouble during bedtime when it’s dark. He slept through the night when he was in the bassinet beside me last night, but that was just one night. If he does it again then I think you should use one until he gets used to sleeping in the dark alone.” He tilts his head, thinking. “A nightlight could help… You can try anything as long as it doesn’t harm him. Any questions?”

“Do you have extra cables to charge him?” Laura asks. “We can put one next to the crib and the bassinet and have one on us in case something happens.”

Valentino hadn’t been able to find any other cords that matched Vax’s charging port. He would have to ask Vox where he could find them or, if it came down to it, have Vox make one for him. Vox could shift the ports on his own head to be compatible with whatever wires he needed to plug into himself. He’s seen him manipulate wires that weren’t attached to his body. Surely there was some kind of overlap there. Or maybe he could just have his development team make a new cable for him.

He thinks of the blinking yellow light. Never a full charge.

Maybe Vox could have something better made.

Whatever, it would get done.

“Just the one for now. I’ll get some more,” he says. He glares at both of them. “Be careful with it.”

The rest of the afternoon and evening is uneventful. Vax’s nap is interrupted by a dirty diaper, so the baby joins them when Valentino orders food for them all. During playtime, there’s a discussion on how to use the time that Vax is awake. As a sinner, Vax would not age, so what would be the point of trying to teach him anything? On the other hand, Vax has proven to be an intelligent and engaging baby, so he could be capable of learning something. Maybe nothing as complex as speaking – but communicating some needs? Learning to understand his caretakers?

Ultimately, it’s for the girls to decide and he can hear them talking about where to buy children’s books as they leave for the night.

Personally, Valentino couldn’t imagine himself reading to a baby. There’s always been so many other things to worry about instead. He usually just chatted with them. It would also be annoying to read from a book – he can’t exactly zoom in to read the smaller letters. Then again, weren’t the words usually large in children’s books? Maybe…

…It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t have Vax for much longer anyway.

For now, he sings softly to Vax, a mixture of words and hums as he sways with him in his arms. When he falls asleep, he takes him to his room and places him in the bassinet, then crawls into bed with him, continuing to hum until he’s sure Vax is set to sleep through the whole night.

Valentino would be spending a portion of the night working. Again.

Eventually the girls would have Vax with them on their trial run without his supervision before he officially signs off on them keeping him and binding them together via contract. That is still a window of time he isn’t willing to risk them taking advantage of. So, he spends a couple of hours drafting a temporary contract. It’s not too different from the one he’s already been working on, but it does make it clear this is a temporary arrangement.

He's just finished it when Vox texts him.

Vox:

               Did you have to leave a mess here?

He must be back.

Valentino replies with a quick insult (he knows for a fact that Kitty and the girls had cleaned up) and glances at the time. 2 am. Not the most ideal time to ask Vox for a favor.

He really needs that new wire for Vax, though, and it’s not like Vox is going to go to bed right away or do anything important.

He’s reluctant to leave Vax alone, but talking to Vox would only take a minute and he feels calmer than he had the last time he was faced with leaving Vax alone. He gives the sleeping baby a quick kiss and quietly slips out of the room.

He finds Vox digging his claws in a box of cereal he must have hidden, not appearing to be in a very talkative mood. If he squints, he can just barely make out spots of blood on his shoes. Something must have gone down at the club.

Usually, he’d ask, but Vax is more important now.

“Vox.”

Vox grunts as he swallows a handful of cereal. When Valentino doesn’t continue, he huffs and meets his eyes. “Yeah?”

“I can’t find any other cables that work with Vax to charge him.”

Vox’s brows furrow for a moment, then relax. “Oh… Yeah. It was a prototype Val, I only had…” He blinks and frowns. Shakes his head. “I told you it’s outdated. It’s one of a kind. You’re not going to find another one.”

“Can’t you make one?”

“I’m not plugging into that thing. Do I look like I can handle a virus right now?”

…He did look a little run down.

“Tomorrow, then.”

Vox grimaces. “I’m serious, Val, plugging into that thing can really fuck me up.”

“Do you need to plug in? Can’t you copy the one I already have? How different can it be from any other wire?”

Vox blinks again, appearing confused. “I… No. It’s…” He trails off. One of his hands goes up to the side of his head. His eyes flicker as he tries to find the words. “It’s not…”

God, he really did have a rough night, didn’t he? Valentino finds himself almost concerned.

“Is that not his cable?” Valentino asks. “It works on him, but I always thought the yellow light was weird. He’s never fully charged.”

Vox snaps out of it. “It is. It just wasn’t built to work optimally. To get a new one that actually works, I’ll have to take the tablet apart to get a look at what to put together.”

Valentino stiffens. “No. No, you’re not taking him apart.”

“Just the tablet itself – the head. The back of it should come off.”

“No!” What the fuck, Vox. “Can’t you just remember the parts you need? It can’t be that hard!”

Vox taps a claw to the side of his screen. “All the data I had on it was expelled from my memory; it was a cancelled project. We probably have files and blueprints down in the basement where you found it, but I sure as fuck am not gonna look through all that mess for something this trivial.” He waves a hand. “If you care so much, look for it yourself. Log it. Get me the information and I’ll put a wire together for you. Easy. Easier to let me pop the thing open, but what do I know?”

“You’re such a useless piece of shit!”

Vox sneers. “Christ, Val, I gave you options! Get off my ass!”

Valentino hurls the nearest object – an ashtray – at him as he flees the room.

It was probably not a good move to make when he wanted Vox to do something for him. Still, he stomps his foot once and spits another curse at him. Then another, softer curse at himself for making noise. He goes back to his room.

Vax hasn’t woken up, so Valentino quickly slips into bed, letting out a pleased chitter when he’s settled in next to him with no issues.

Such a good boy, sleeping so soundly.

Abruptly, his mind goes back to the word Vox had dropped so casually.

Blueprints.

He rolls over so that he’s facing Vax’s bassinet.

Carefully, he puts a hand on Vax’s sleeping form. His body is warm. His tiny chest moves up and down as he breathes. If he listens closely, he can hear the softest squeaks every couple of breaths. He leans closer to study his face. His screen is dim, but he can still make out his sleeping face. Subtle twitching. Does he dream?

Tomorrow the girls would stop by to take care of Vax first thing in the morning – with his supervision. They’d have the whole day with him and Vax this time. But if he left Vax with them for a couple of minutes – no more than an hour…

He’d have an opportunity to look in the basement for…

For…

Vax wiggles a little in his sleep, a clenched fist pushing up and one leg kicking out.

Valentino swallows.

Fuck, Vox.

Blueprints.

Son of a bitch.

God, he feels insane.

Vox can just make copies of the shitty wire. It works well enough. Besides, he’d really prefer to only have Vax in the care of the girls when they’re under contract. He can’t go down to the basement until then because he’d have to take Vax with him, and he swore that he’d never take him down there again.

It’s a shitty excuse but coming up with it is the only way he’s able to fall asleep that night.

Chapter 13

By late afternoon of the next day, the apartment is ready, so Valentino sends Laura and Rita away to start moving in as soon as possible, cutting their first fully supervised day short. It’s fine, there is still enough time for him to observe them and even better it will be in the place Vax will be living in.

He also wasn’t going to say no to spending more one-on-one time with Vax.

He ends up having Angel Dust bring him a children’s book for hellborn with large pictures of animals in hell with their names. It’s surprisingly not a terrifyingly illustrated copy. Vax enjoys spreading his fingers over the pages and sliding them across, awkwardly tracing the pictures with his stubby fingers. Valentino reads the names to him even though he doubts Vax will learn what they mean.

“Not a lot of animals are here in the city,” Valentino explains to him as Vax admires a picture of a horse on his lap. Its mane is made of flames. “I’ve never seen a damned horse… The pigs, yeah, sure. Uh, sharks… They’re sold as pets here. Yeah, that’s right, there’s pet stores, so, I guess there are animals… Not wild ones is what I meant.”

The next page shows a pig.

“That’s a piggy,” Valentino coos. “I used to have one. I gave him to that slut, Angel, after I found out how big and ugly they get. It’s only a matter of time before he sells him for dope.”

Vax squeaks up at him, making Valentino smile. He does it again. Valentino laughs and lowers his head to give Vax a quick kiss. When he pulls away, Vax continues to stare up at him, then stretches up as though trying to reach him. Curious, he lowers his head again.

Vax pushes his face against the lower half of Valentino’s cheek.

He holds it there for about two seconds and then pulls back, smiling.

Valentino lets out his own tiny squeak.

“Did you give mami a kiss, baby?” he asks, voice cracking.

Fuck, not mami. Fuck. Shit.

Vax babbles and looks back down at the book, pinching at the pig on the page and completely unaware of how much he’s tearing Valentino apart.

“Thank you, baby, you’re so sweet,” Valentino says softly. He uses one of his hands to pet the side of Vax’s head as he continues to paw at the page. He leans into his touch automatically.

Fuck.

“I don’t know how you can resist keepin’ him, Val,” Angel says from across the room. He’s just accepted a fresh bottle for Vax from Kitty and makes his way back towards him. “I know why but he sure ain’t makin’ it easy, is he?”

Vax makes excited babbling sounds when he sees the bottle and Valentino picks him up and adjusts him in his arms. Vax shoves the bottle into his mouth the moment it’s put in front of him.

“Still hungry, huh?” Angel asks, worried.

“He likes to eat,” Valentino says. “It’s his favorite thing. My little gordito.”

He winces at himself for that last bit.

Vax is not his.

He can’t bear to see Angel’s pitying look. Thankfully he doesn’t say anything about it.

“You gonna give all this baby stuff to the girls?”

“What else am I going to do with it?”

“I dunno. I figured you’d keep some of it for when he visits.”

Valentino shakes his head. “He’s not visiting me. I’ll be visiting him. They won’t be long visits either.”

He couldn’t get too attached.

Vax is not his.

Too bad no one has explained this to Vax, who has snuggled up to him again now that he’s finished his bottle.

He wishes he didn’t love the baby so much. It would make things so much easier. He wishes he was strong enough to just drop Vax off and be done with it.

But he’s not.

He wants to make sure Vax will be safe.

Which leads him to Vox’s domain later that night, Vax in tow.

“Vox,” he calls, though he knows Vox already knows he’s there.

Vox grunts and his head tilts a little, acknowledging him. In front of him, all his monitors are lit up. He can see multiple screens scrolling rapidly through social media, boxes flashing text too quickly for Valentino to read, most likely censoring keywords on topics Vox didn’t like being discussed or deleting bad reviews on their products and services. There were also camera feeds watching all the civilians of the Pride Ring. He recognizes some assistants and his whores and even the inside of the Hazbin Hotel thanks to the cameras placed by their little fish demon spy that Vox had thrown over there. One monitor is dedicated to keeping an eye on Velvette, who is managing Valentino’s clubs tonight.

“I need you to review these contracts,” Valentino says, stopping at his side.

Vox looks at him curiously. “Huh, really? You haven’t had me do that in years.”

“These are important.”

He lifts the contracts from his side and holds them out.

Vox stares at them and Valentino can feel his rage bubbling up again. If he calls him stupid for this he swears—

He takes them. He holds each page in front of himself, one at a time, then hands it back to Valentino.

Vox pulls up a photocopy he took of the contract onto his monitors in front of him and scrolls through quietly. Valentino can see a box on another monitor making suggested edits. A different word here, a specification there. He pulls up a hologram panel and swipes at it with his claws, making little arrows to swap the positions of two paragraphs.

He’s treating it seriously.

Vox flicks his wrist without looking at Valentino, gesturing at a section of his control panel he has disabled, and Valentino sits down, relieved.

He’s asked a couple of questions once Vox realizes the contracts are all almost identical, the main difference being one is temporary and the other for a much longer, unspecified, term. When Valentino gives his answers, he’s under the impression that Vox is binding the contracts together, and he watches the process, trying to stay invested.

The warmth from the heated vents of the monitors, the low hum of machinery and Vox’s familiar voice is enough to have Valentino’s exhaustion come back to the forefront of his mind. Vax has already fallen asleep in his arms, and he looks so cozy there. He feels the rush of warm affection for him.

Too warm.

He opens his eyes at the feeling of Vox’s hand cupping his cheek and the other gripping his elbow, keeping his arm from sliding down – an action that surely would have Vax tumbling out of his arms.

He has to swallow back the feelings that sprang from the action. It didn’t mean anything.

“How the hell aren’t you getting any sleep? You’re on vacation,” Vox says, almost scoldingly.

“Fuck you,” is the only thing Valentino’s sleep deprived brain can think of to say in response.

Vox rolls his eyes. “I’ve sent the edited copy of your contracts to your phone. Get some sleep tonight and review them in the morning.”

xoxoxox

Morning comes too soon.

Vax hadn’t slept for long, having awoken from his arms as soon as he left Vox’s space and cried. Some cuddling and humming is enough to eventually quiet him down and once they were both in bed, he fell asleep quickly. Unfortunately, he was fidgety that night and Valentino found himself staying awake to make sure he didn’t unplug himself.

Too soon, he has to get up and get ready for the day. Too soon, midmorning comes and the girls let him know their new apartment is ready with their personal items and for their new baby.

It all happens so fast. He’s at their apartment, the four of them familiarizing themselves with the new space and letting Vax explore. Vax is played with, fed, put down for a nap. Kitty and Angel Dust drop off some of the supplies from Valentino’s room to add to the girls own. There’s conversation between all of them – Valentino can’t even remember the words coming out of his mouth. All he can think about is the baby sleeping in the other room, the door open for his own peace of mind.

When Angel leaves, Valentino goes over the contracts with the girls again, this time with Vox’s edits. Vox has weaved the contracts together beautifully, his only new addition related to security and keeping information on Vax out of the hands of rival companies. A completely reasonable request.

They sign the contracts so easily.

Moments like these usually had him feeling self-satisfied that he’s snagged another couple of souls, but he already owns these two. He doesn’t feel satisfied at all. He should. His goal is so close.

A part of him wishes there had been something wrong with them.

Valentino distances himself from Vax when the baby is awake for more playtime and food. He redirects him to the girls when he tries crawling towards him. The girls are encouraging and for the most part it works. Vax is easily won over with food and attention but sometimes Valentino can see his head looking around the room and trying to find his face. It takes everything in his power to not pick him up and tuck him under his wings and shower him with kisses.

Night falls long before he’s ready to leave.

Vax is settled into a new bassinet that the girls purchased. Rita crawls into bed with him as Laura sees Valentino out.

This isn’t goodbye. Not yet. He’ll see Vax in the morning. Just to make sure everything went alright. Then, he’d leave him alone with the girls for the whole day, check in again before bed. Address any issues.

And if everything goes good…

That’s it.

Vax will have a family and Valentino will go back to whatever the fuck he did before.

xoxoxox

He’s a damn mess.

He can’t bear to stay in his room where evidence of Vax’s existence rests, so he goes into Vox’s bedroom. He curls up under the covers of Vox’s bed and shuts his eyes, silently chanting in his head that everything is fine. Vax is fine. He can get used to this.

Hours must have passed because he hears the moment Vox teleports into his room and walks towards him.

“Val.”

Valentino curls into a tighter ball.

The bed shifts on Valentino’s opposite side and he opens his eyes when he hears two soft thuds of something hitting the floor. Vox kicking his shoes off. There’s more movement and a rush of cool air as Vox lifts the covers and slides under with him. His screen is dimmed but the light coming from Vox’s face is still enough to take the darkness from under the covers.

This, combined with Vox’s arms going around him and pulling him closer from behind, has him feeling a little less miserable.

He gives an offended squeak when he feels Vox shift away from him a little after what must have been only an hour of spooning him. Vox’s amused huff drags out another squeak.

“Here,” Vox mutters, nudging him with something small and plastic.

His phone. When had he grabbed that?

Valentino rolls over and takes it. The screen is unlocked so obviously Vox had something to show him.

When he sees what’s on the screen, he almost drops his phone.

It’s a camera feed featuring Vax, asleep peacefully in his bassinet at Laura and Rita’s side.

The apartment had some security cameras – but this hadn’t been one of them.

“You installed another camera?” Valentino asks.

When?

Vox nods and reaches over, swiping at the phone screen and tapping a button to show multiple feeds. “More than one. Look, there’s around three in every room. I’ve given you access to the direct feeds to these and the ones originally installed.” There are at least eighteen cameras. Not for the first time, Valentino is happy that Vox is such a damn creep. He briefly flips between each camera and then back to Vax.

He's okay.

Valentino puts the phone face down on the bedside table and flips over onto Vox so that he’s straddling him.

Vox lets out a single, triumphant, laugh.

Chapter 14

While Valentino hadn’t gotten exactly a lot of sleep thanks to his enthusiastic romp with Vox that night, he did end up having a restful one. He had knocked out soon afterwards. Too soon, it turns out, as Vox’s sheets are still a mess when he wakes up.

“Easy!” Vox hisses when Valentino jerks up out of bed and climbs over him to snatch his phone. It’s past 6 am. He overslept. He isn’t due to meet the girls or Vax for a couple of hours yet, but he’s still horrified with himself that he hadn’t woken up and checked in on his baby.

He taps on the camera with Vax, still asleep. Laura and Rita are also still in bed, but they’re awake, talking in whispers, he thinks. There’s no audio. He goes back on the footage to see if Vax had woken up in the middle of the night.

He hadn’t.

Good. That’s great. Perfect, even.

It hurts.

“Val,” Vox whines, still under him.

“Don’t you have a meeting or some shit?” Valentino snaps at him.

Vox raises an eyebrow. “I did. But someone’s comatose ass wouldn’t get off of me this morning, so I had to have someone fill in.”

Valentino rolls his eyes, making sure to jab his elbows into him as he lifts himself off him. Bullshit. Vox could move him easily. He just wanted to cuddle like the clingy piece of shit he is.

He doesn’t call him out on it when said clingy piece of shit eagerly joins him in the shower. In truth, Valentino enjoys the closeness and the attention. Vox does all but pin him onto his newly cleaned and prepped bed (courtesy of Kitty) when they’re out. He’s hardly even dry but Vox doesn’t appear to care. Valentino is fully convinced he wants to go another round when Kitty appears at their side with a platter of neatly cut fruit, and he realizes what this is.

A trap.

He hadn’t eaten again last night and sure, he was considering skipping breakfast to see Vax early, but it wasn’t like he was purposely starving himself. He just had other things to worry about.

Things that were getting harder and harder to think about as Vox continues to touch and kiss him and, eventually, feed him. He spends the next hour getting absolutely spoiled and coaxed into another round and then again until he’s left feeling warm and bubbly and disgustingly soft after they’re all cleaned up. He’s more than happy to eat an extra portion of breakfast without Vox’s assistance, though the man continues to cling to him.

He can see the triumph in Vox’s eyes over his plan working. His plan to distract him or… whatever. Valentino isn’t exactly sure what the end goal was, he just knows Vox reached it.

But he can only stay distracted for so long.

“I need to visit Vax,” Valentino says.

Vox frowns. “The cameras—”

“I need to see him in person.” Valentino pulls away from him and starts pulling on the clothes Kitty left for them. “It’s almost over.”

He’s so close.

Vox relaxes. “Right. Alright. Uh, see you tonight?”

Valentino thinks about it. His own bedroom is still decorated with some of Vax’s things.

He nods and pretends not to see Vox pump his fist from the mirror on the opposite side of the room.

xoxoxox

When he arrives at Laura and Rita’s apartment, it’s Rita who opens the door and lets him inside. Laura is a ways back, holding Vax and ready to greet him. She doesn’t get to say a word before Vax lets out a loud, excited squeak.

Valentino is sure that if he had the coordination for it, he’d have thrown himself out of her arms. Instead, the baby can only lean as close to him as he can and wave his short arms at him, squeaking insistently.

Valentino is in front of him in three long strides and takes him. Vax doesn’t know what to do with himself at first. He doesn’t want to lie in Valentino’s arms. He tries to adjust himself to stand or sit and his fingers pull at his fur uncomfortably. Even when Valentino shifts him so that he’s pushed against his chest, Vax tries to wiggle his way up to his face, babbling and squeaking excitedly and hands squeezing at any part of Valentino he can hold.

“Fuck,” Valentino chokes out.

Laura’s eyes are watering and Rita’s hands are up to her own face, covering her mouth with the tips of her fingers.

Fuck. Fuck. No.

“He’ll get used to not having me around,” Valentino says when he’s sure his voice will come out steady.

The girls aren’t convinced, but nod in agreement.

He doesn’t stay for too long. Even though the girls try to show him what they plan to do with Vax for the day – invite him, he doesn’t allow himself to stay. He’s given the perfect reason to leave when Laura reminds him about the extra charging cables he still needs to acquire for Vax. He leaves them with the instructions to charge Vax as much as they can. If he can’t find the necessary… information to make Vax a better wire, he’d have Vox copy the old one and who knows how long that would take?

This means he must go to the basement.

His chest aches at the thought, but he forces himself to get over it. Vax needs this. It doesn’t matter what he finds.

Vox sends him a curious text, asking where he’s going. When Valentino reminds him, he sends an assistant to equip him with a bulky work-tablet to log whatever he takes out and to help him incase he can’t find what he’s looking for. He reluctantly listens to the assistant instruct him on how to use the app properly, then he’s sent on his way.

The sound of his own foot tapping the floor of the elevator is driving him crazy, but he can’t stop. He distracts himself by looking in on Vax through the cameras on his phone. The pain and longing are enough to cover up his anxiety. He’s not sure if that’s worse.

The elevator door opens, and he has to walk for a while to find the same room he had met Vax in.

Everything looks the same as when he left it.

He goes to the desk where he had first found Vax and runs a hand along its surface. Still dusty.

Surprising. Vox has plenty of gadgets that clean rooms at least once a month. Everything was so sensitive to dust, especially in the basement. He lowers himself to look inside the drawers of the desk, going through them more carefully this time. None of it looks particularly organized. It looks like one of his own drawers from before he had Kitty assisting him, where everything is stuffed inside haphazardly. There’s wires and tools and pieces of metal… chunks of what looks like rubble. He takes them all out and puts them on the desk.

He doesn’t see anything special. None of the parts look like they go together or even connect to Vax. He looks back down at the drawer itself and searches for any kind of label on it.

There’s nothing.

Which is not right. It should have a label; something to identify it so that it could be logged if it was removed. None of the items are labeled either. He gathers them all up and stuffs them back inside, then moves to the next drawer.

Files.

(Blueprints?)

Valentino’s stomach turns.

These are labeled with random letters and numbers. Project names. He tries searching for anything that could hint at a robot or a baby or bodies. He doesn’t see anything, so he pulls them out one by one, flipping through them. He keeps expecting to find something about Vax but…

But it’s random information. Data on parts. Numbers and tables. Something about electricity.

He goes through them again, focusing, because surely, he’s just missed something. There’s something he hadn’t understood. He knows he is not particularly smart.

…It’s nothing. All unrelated to Vax. None of it is even related to the junk in the other drawer.

He pulls out the tablet he had been given and searches for one of the file names. The results show it in a circuit breakers category which – what the fuck? He searches another. It’s more of the same thing. Things completely unrelated to Vax.

Scowling, Valentino puts the tablet on the desk and goes to the file cabinets pushed awkwardly against the walls in a disorderly mess. He tugs them open, flipping through more papers. Finding nothing but more information on parts. One is full of plastic boxes of screws. Another just has fabric and broken glass.

“What the fuck!” he snaps, slamming them closed.

He snatches the tablet back up and stabs at it angrily. Was Vax put in the wrong room? He’d have to find the right one. Anything related to him should pop up if he puts in his name.

What was Vax’s name in the system again?

He types in Voxtek Asset, grimacing when thousands of results pop up. Right, there had been a bunch of numbers before that, hadn’t there? Fuck. He’d need to find the jumpsuit he found him in to look it up.

Or…

Valentino:

      What name is Vax under in the logging system?

Vox:

      P.45.13.01 v1 VOXTEK ASSET NO. XXX1

Valentino types in the name.

His finger hovers over the search button.

It’s fine.

It’s fine. It doesn’t matter what he sees. It won’t change what Vax is to him.

He presses Search.

…

“Are you fucking serious?” Valentino screeches.

One result is there, Vax himself, and the only information listed is his current status – checked out by Valentino. There’s nothing else related to him. There’s no category he belongs to. He slams a finger on the result to expand the details. There had to be something.

All he sees is the log history.

He sees his own name as the most recent entry. The only record of Vax leaving the basement.

The one before is from Vox almost two months ago. From what he can tell it was just a notice of moving from one room to another.

The last one is from months ago. The first time Vax’s data was ever put in. By an employee named Baxter. The name sounds familiar, which is weird since he has no reason to remember the names of Vox’s employees.

He taps Baxter’s name.

All of his logging history is put on display.

The last one was from six weeks ago. A quick look over shows it was just a bunch of lab materials he checked out and hasn’t returned.

Valentino is not sure what to do with this information. It doesn’t tell him anything about Vax.

Valentino:

      Who’s Baxter?

Vox:

      He’s the mad scientist I sent to the Princess’s hotel.

The fish spy.

Vox had sent Baxter away.

Valentino:

      Why did you send him of all people?

Vox:

      He’s the only one who wanted to go. He wants to research the redemption process or whatever. A bit of truth makes it easier for him to infiltrate. Why so interested now?

Valentino:

      He’s the first one who logged Vax into the system.

Vox:

      And?

Valentino:

      And I can’t find anything else related to Vax!

There’s a long pause and Valentino suspects Vox is checking himself. It lasts much longer than he thought it would. He’s startled when the lights of the building flicker and a glitched mess of a text is sent to him. It deletes itself from his phone the next moment and is replaced by a more legible one from Vox, only for it to be deleted as well and Vox calls him instead.

“That piece of S̴̭̯̤̬͙͚̥̪̗̥̼̻͐̀̋̈͘ͅͅH̷̢͚͚͂̊̎I̶̧̡̛̻͉̲̬͇͙̘͚̜̖̎̈́́̿͒T̵̨̤̬͆̅̃͛!” Vox shouts when Valentino answers. “I don’t know what that fucker did but you’re right. Everything’s F̸̭̀̍̋Ȕ̷̱͈̜̪̮̀̅͛́C̸̲͍̱̀͛̋͂̕͜K̶̗̣̤̣̏͂Í̸͙͉̌̿̒Ņ̸̜̦̘̒̔͂̚G̶͙̥͊́̌ ̸̻́͆̐̕Ģ̸̝͙̩̗̓͝O̵̯̺̜͉̗̅̌͐͐N̸̺͉͇̤͍̎Ë̴̱̞̻̰̭́̄. This better be a damn system ë̸͍́r̵̩͛r̶̗̄o̸̙͐r̴̳͊ because if that son of a bitch actually ţ̵̹͉͈̖̥͖̩͚̆̄̈́̽͐̂͒ǫ̵̠͕͚͕̪̦̭̪̤̐̊͊̅̈́͛́̒͆̌͋̓ó̸̡̧̱̠̻̥̤͇̼̠̾̀̇͝͠k̴̼̺̗̘͇͐̈́̍̓̈͝ anything I’m s̶̖̃k̶͎̈́i̸͈͗n̶͚̕n̴͇̈́ȉ̵ͅṋ̴͑g̸͓͝ ̸̠̓ḧ̷̨i̴͗ͅm̷̠͂ ̵̺̂a̸̖̋l̵̬̐i̴̪͊v̷̦̌ê̶̫ and making him watch as I feed it to my sharks.”

“What about Vax’s wire?” Valentino asks.

“What?”

“I need a new wire for Vax. You said there might be blueprints down here.”

The lights flicker again.

“Oh my god, Val, are you F̴̳̿̏U̷̢̬͎͋C̷̬̪͑̎̃K̷̠̔I̸̛͉̰̥͗N̶̛͕̩͖̏̕G̶͙̩̬̾̊̑ serious? We might have a damn leak and that’s what you’re worried about?”

“Yes, asshole! I’m not walking out of here with nothing!”

“Better make yourself real damn cozy down there, then. Fuck, I did not need this on top of ě̵͉v̷̜̒ȅ̵̬r̶̫̀y̶̪͊t̶͕̏h̸̗́í̷̯n̶̗͒g̸̱̒ ̷̱̅e̸͚̕l̸͇̾s̶̜̿é̷̖!”

Vox hangs up and Valentino throws his phone against the wall.

He winces.

Shit.

He doesn’t bother checking to see if it somehow survived, he heard the crunch.

Whatever. It’s not like he wanted to talk to Vox again anyway. That useless fuck didn’t want anything else to do with this whole situation. He’s been trying to get rid of Vax since day one, so you’d think he’d try and help.

Fuck Vox.

Pissed, Valentino sits down on the only chair in the room. He knows if he waits long enough Vox will come. He always comes.

He reaches for his phone in his pocket to look at Vax’s cameras, then swears.

He broke his phone literally a minute ago.

He’s so damn stupid.

He needs a new phone.

He needs to check on Vax.

Kitty can’t bring him one if he can’t contact her.

Valentino stands up and kicks his chair with another swear. It swivels and spins, hitting the filing cabinets against the walls. He winces when the impact disturbs the dust on the cabinets and walls. He might have even heard the crack and crumble of something breaking, though he can’t see what.

Fine. He’ll walk out with nothing.

Only because his dumbass can’t go five minutes without fucking breaking something.

Chapter 15

As soon as Valentino is off the elevator, he throws the work tablet at the head of the employee waiting outside, the impact leaving a bloody crater in their skull. They crumble to the ground, twitching with blood pooling around their head. He kicks them out of the way and stomps down the hall to the lobby of V Tower.

“KITTY! PHONE!” he shouts. He’s lighting a fresh cigarette and ready to yell at the next unfortunate employee he runs into when he finally registers the sound of a crowd of people.

“Mr. Valentino!”

“Sir—"

“Mr. Valentino! Mr. Valentino, if you have a moment—”

He takes a long drag of his cigarette and turns to face one, four – nine fuckers with cameras and microphones, each with their own posse of slutty reporters and crew. None of which are his or Vox’s employees. What the fuck was Vox doing? Shouldn’t he have stamped them out? Surely they must be due for a pruning.

“Aww, sweethearts, I don’t have the time,” he croons, breathing out a cloud of red smoke. He gives them a wry smile when a couple of them back up and halfheartedly waves at it with his hand.

Kitty zips up to him a moment later and hands him a brand-new phone. Valentino pockets it quickly and makes his way to the opposite elevator. He isn’t sure where he is going. He needs – fuck. He needs to get away for a minute. Calm down. Check Vax on the cameras and get Vox to make copies of the wire. He… fuck, he needs to get the wire. He can’t backtrack now with these sluts following him.

Stupid.

He should have thought of that.

Fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine.

Get away. Calm down. Check cameras. Get wire. Visit Vax? Go to Vox. New wire. Visit Vax.

“Mr. Valentino, rumors are circulating that you are taking leave from the Vees. In fact, your associates have been seen managing your businesses and employees have reported complaints about delays in filming—”

“Have they, now?” Valentino asks, snapping his head around to face him and grinning viciously.

The Sinner stutters over his words and Valentino softens his expression. He clears his throat. He can’t, however, clear the red slowly blurring his vision. He can see his clouds of red smoke thickening in response to his agitation, causing the crowd to back up even further. The elevator door opens and he and Kitty are able to step inside. He holds the door open with a hand and leans out.

“I’ve been engaging in a personal project,” he explains. He winks. “I’m sure the public knows how passionate I can get. My associates have always been supportive of my work and we’ll announce it when it’s properly prepped, yeah?”

Valentino lets the doors close before they can ask any follow-up questions. He’ll let Vox come up with some bullshit. He’s so fucking great at that.

When the elevator door opens to his floor, Valentino stomps out and almost bumps into Kitty who had dashed forward to open the door to their living quarters at the end of the hall. When he’s inside, she’s gone and back in another second, this time holding a plate with a drink. Valentino knocks it back, only to scowl when he remembers there’s no alcohol in it. He throws the glass onto the floor and himself onto his couch to curl up and light up a new smoke.

He's so fucking pissed.

And tired.

And tired of being pissed.

He’d call for Vox if Vox wasn’t one of the reasons he was so pissed off in the first place!

“Fuck!” He tugs at the rim of his hat, then yanks it off and throws it across the room. His hand finds his antennae next, and he runs his fingers through the intact one. He tries to focus on the soft feeling of the fibers and not on the urge to pull and pluck.

Red is still bleeding into his vision. It just wouldn’t stop. He clenches his fists and forces three of them to tuck under his armpits to stay still and curl up into a tighter ball. The cloud of smoke around him thickens.

He wants Vox.

“Piece of shit,” he snaps at the air.

Kitty brings him another drink. An automatic response to his aggression when it involves Vox. Useless when the drinks are nonalcoholic.

Stupid bitch.

Sneering, he uncurls himself and flips the tray in her hands up so that the glass’s contents spill over her. She sparks and shrinks back with a soft mechanical whine.

Valentino flinches and sits up properly to glare at her.

She’s already straightened again, her usual glowing grin in place. Static and unfeeling.

He flicks his cigarette on her head.

“Don’t fuck with me,” he warns her and his stupid fucking brain because he can not deal with humanizing all his robots just because his baby might be one.

Isn’t one.

He takes his glasses off his face and buries his head into the arm of the couch miserably. He lets his glasses slip from his fingers but is robbed of the satisfying sound of their impact on the ground because Kitty, who exists only to serve, catches them. It’s just as well. The sound would only have been a temporary relief. He’d be even more pissed if they were actually broken and then Vox would use that as an excuse for him to get an updated prescription or some shit.

Slowly. Painfully slowly, the anger and the red fades and he’s left feeling empty and more tired than anything else. He can’t rest yet.

Valentino takes his phone out to check if the proper apps are installed. They are, as usual, and he’s able to get back into the cameras on Vax easily.

His next puff of smoke comes out with a happy chitter when he sees Vax suckling on a bottle on Laura’s lap in the living room. He’s plugged in and looks to be nodding off. He’d be due for a nap soon, then. That’s good. It’s for the best. He could pick up the wire without Vax knowing he was even there.

After he gets confirmation that the reporters have been cleared from the lobby, he sends a text to the girls that he’s on his way to pick up the wire and have copies made.

It’s torture to resist their invite to come inside and check in on Vax, but he already knows the baby is asleep in his crib. There’s no reason to put himself in a spot where he might wake him up and make things harder for them all. He takes the wire and leaves to find Vox.

Filming is done for the day, so Vox would be in his usual space down below.

Valentino pounds on the door.

“Let me inside! Bastardo, you owe me!”

It slides open, surprising him and almost making him tumble inside.

He expects a furious TV demon, considering the glitching mess he sounded like during the phone call.

Instead, Vox is completely composed.

Either he shoved that feeling down and locked it away temporarily or he’s already found a solution to the problem – a solution that involved a lot of stress relieving violence. He can’t help but wonder what that means for the Baxter guy’s spy mission.

“What do you want, Val?” Vox asks.

“You know what! Vax needs more charging cables and all I have is the shitty one.”

Before he can stop himself, Valentino throws the cable at Vox. Vox, thankfully, catches it and loops it between his claws. He frowns.

“You didn’t find the blueprints?”

Valentino sneers at him. “Oh, fuck you, you know I didn’t.”

Vox rolls his eyes and holds the wire up in front of himself. With a spark of electricity, it comes to life and stabs itself into a port on his head – which shifts to properly adapt to it. He turns towards his control panel and swipes at a touch screen. At the base of the control panel, two thick wires snake up and plug into him as well. More electricity shoots up and down the wires and then Vox is reaching down, pulling a new, thinner wire out of a compartment in the control panel. When Valentino leans forward to listen, he can hear a hum and a whirl, like the wire is being created and unwound from within.

Abruptly, Vox slices it with a claw. It’s long, much too long for one extra wire for Vax. Vox loops it a couple of times between his hands and cuts it again, making a total of four separate wires. He lays them in front of himself and touches the end of one with his claw – it sparks. With another flash of electricity and demonic abilities, the connector is formed. Vox does the same for the other end, then again for each wire following it.

It ends with Valentino holding four new wires for Vax, plus the one he already had, making a total of five.

Vox flashes jazz hands at him.

Valentino scrunches his face up to the smell of melted rubber.

Vox drops his hands, mouth in a jagged frown.

“Was that all you needed?” he asks.

It is. He has what he came for. Except…

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Vox’s eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”

“That’s it? You just give me the wires? After that bitchfit you threw?”

“Bitchfit?!”

“You acted like what that Baxter guy did was a huge deal and tried to make me feel like the shit I was doing wasn’t important! You pissed me off! How about a fucking apology, asshole?”

“What—” Vox bares his teeth at him and stands up. “What the hell? You should be grateful I did this at all! How about a damn thank you?”

“I’m not going to thank you for trying to suck up to me! I know that’s what this is!”

“I was doing you a favor, you delusional bitch!”

Valentino stiffens. “I’m not—Fuck you.” He wants to throw something but all he has is the wires and he needs those. He stomps his foot. “Fuck you, Vox.”

Vox snorts, unimpressed. “Look, you got what you wanted, right? You won, so why bitch about it?” He waves a dismissive hand. “Just take your spoils and go.”

“I’m not crazy.” The words slip out when he should have stomped out.

“Ha!” Vox gives him an amused look. “We’re all crazy. Delusional? Well, that’s all you, babe.”

Hurt instead of anger unexpectedly hits and maybe Vox sees that because he sighs and presses his fingers to the side of his screen. “Val. I mean it. What’s the actual problem here? Because I can’t figure it out.” He sits back down. “I got you what you wanted. So I bitched and moaned a little, isn’t that what we do?”

Yes, but he hates it when Vox is the one who gets him mad. He should have been there to make him feel better. Valentino should not have been the one to crawl to him and give him a way out with the opportunity to suck up to him. The Baxter shit didn’t even seem to be a problem to Vox now – he didn’t need to be an ass about it earlier. Valentino had tried to do what he said and the moment he couldn’t, Vox acted like he was being unreasonable.

“Not all the time,” is all he gets himself to say.

“I know, sometimes I spoil you,” Vox says, shaking his head. “Okay, I’m sorry I got mad earlier. That wasn’t your fault.” He sweetens his voice so much it comes out mockingly. “I’ve just had a lot of work lately, remember? Things were piling up. Forgive me?”

Valentino takes in the apology and then lets himself relax a little. “Fine.” He makes his voice just as sweet. “Thank you for the wires, baby.”

Vox scoffs. “Yuh-huh.”

Valentino raises an eyebrow.

“You’re welcome, sweetie,” Vox corrects.

Satisfied, Valentino struts out. “I’ll see you tonight,” he promises.

Vox’s exasperated sigh follows him out. “Christ.”

Chapter 16

Valentino cheats.

Just a little.

He doesn’t go straight back to Vax and the girls. Instead, he grabs a late lunch from a snack bar and tucks himself into an alcove to eat and watch Vax on the cameras. He’s still taking a nap. It’s not until an hour passes and Vax is awoken by the need for a diaper change that Valentino goes back to the apartment with the new wires.

Vax is changed and wide awake when he arrives.

Rita is playing with Vax on the floor when the door is opened for him. Vax’s head bobbles around to see Valentino and with another excited cry, he crawls towards him quickly and digs his fingers into the fur of his wings. Valentino has to pry his fingers off one by one to pick him up properly.

A quick snuggle is all he allows himself before handing the wires to one of the girls.

He really shouldn’t have shown himself, but he needed to see him again. Just for a minute before his goodbye tonight.

Valentino realizes this was a mistake when Vax presses another of his kisses to the side of his face.

He doesn’t want to say goodbye.

The girls ask if he wants to stay and play with Vax.

He says yes.

xoxoxox

At some point, he must have muscled the girls out of the room because they both end up in the kitchen pretending to prepare dinner while he’s left alone with Vax. They peek their heads out occasionally to check in on them, but Valentino decides not to care.

It’s hard to care about anything other than Vax who is flailing under his tickles and giggling so much he ends up with the hiccups. His tiny body bounces with each one and he looks absolutely baffled for the first couple before accepting his bouncy fate.

Valentino decides to maybe hold off on the tickles until he calms down. He finds some of Vax’s toys instead and dangles a colorful ball that appears to be a mix between a teething ring and a rattle. Vax reaches for it eagerly, bouncing with each hiccup as he scoots on his butt to get closer. He grabs it with his tiny hands and bites it. The drool, of course, follows.

It’s so gross.

He’s adorable.

Valentino searches for another toy and chooses a different ball; a normal rubber one that is almost the size of Vax’s torso. Vax’s eyes follow it when he picks it up and the teething ring drops out of his mouth as he reaches for the new, colorful object. He can barely wrap his arms around it when he gets it, and it slips away and bounces against the sofa, then rolls back to him. He scoots towards it again and then slowly makes his way back to the teething ring he dropped.

Grinning, Valentino chooses a plush block with letters and numbers on it, and he puts it a few feet away from Vax. Vax scoots towards it as well, pauses, then goes back for the other two toys to try and drag them with him. Apparently, he didn’t want to give up one in favor of another.

“Greedy little thing,” Valentino coos.

Vax murmurs grumpy nonsense as he tries to hold everything at the same time. He’s much too little and clumsy to do it and his hiccups aren’t helping. Valentino sees the start of a tantrum coming when the ball slides out of his grip and he flops forward, landing face first onto the plush.

“Ah, no, no, no,” Valentino says, scooping him up into his lap before the first cry can come out.

Vax’s mouth wobbles until Valentino gathers up all his toys and puts them in his lap as well.

He finishes it off with a kiss to the top of Vax’s head and the baby is back to smiling in no time. Disappointingly, but probably for the best, the hiccups have stopped, and he can peacefully play with his pile of toys. Valentino adds to the pile when he’s not looking, to Vax’s delight.

“I hope they spoil the fuck out of you,” Valentino tells him. Judging by the amount of toys Vax already owns, he doesn’t think he has to worry about it. “Maybe Voxtek can make some toys, hmm? You’ll be the first to play with them. We’ll make sure you get the best of the best. We can find all your favorite things and get you one in every color.” He cups Vax’s face. “Well… not we, I guess. Your mommies. I won’t be there to see you decide…”

He needs to take a minute before he can speak again. “They treat you good, baby? I’ve been watching – you do like them, don’t you? You’re such a good boy with them. You get all the good naps and yummy food, yeah?”

Vax babbles softly in response. Most of his attention is on the toys occupying Valentino’s lap with him.

“The moment they mistreat you or neglect you, I’ll fucking kill them, I promise.” His antennae twitch as he considers his own words. “You’re just a baby so you wouldn’t get why it has to happen. It will only hurt for a little while, but you’ll see they deserve it.”

He wouldn’t, really. It isn’t as though Vax will grow up and move past things. But he would forget and maybe that will be better. Ideally, Valentino won’t have to kill anyone. Besides, the girls are doing a good job and the only reason they aren’t with Vax right now is because of Valentino himself.

An hour and a diaper change later, Vox sends a text asking if he wants to go out and eat dinner with him. Velvette, apparently, will be working late tonight. Valentino tells him he’ll be eating with the girls. He just… wants a little extra time with Vax.

He decides to take over for feeding Vax during dinner, this time aware of the moment he practically bulldozes Laura away with what he had intended to be a light bump of his hip.

He sees looks of uncertainty and fear pass between the girls and it occurs to him maybe he shouldn’t have told Vax about how quickly he’d kill them if they did something wrong. At least not while they were just in the other room.

He can’t have them raise Vax out of fear. God fucking dammit. Why didn’t he think?

“My apologies,” Valentino murmurs. The false sweetness habitually injected into his apologies doesn’t do much for those who know him. He can see that clearly by how discomforted the girls remain.

He eventually gets a conversation about Vax going that is enough to get them to visibly relax. They tell him about what Vax did while in their care, noted his favored foods and toys, and explained future plans such as their continued employment – though they would be taking leave to adjust to Vax in their lives first. His attention starts drifting away from the conversation and back to Vax the longer the evening goes on.

It’s getting closer and closer to nightfall – closer and closer for Vax to go to bed. For Valentino to say goodbye.

He gets to hold him as he gives him his bottle, making sure to ask this time. Vax suckles eagerly and manages to hold the bottle himself the entire time, though Valentino keeps his hand on it just in case. When he’s done and burped, he snuggles against Valentino and heaves out a loud, heavy sigh as though he’d just come home from a long day of work. His eyelids droop.

Sleepy baby…

That’s about it, then. He doesn’t think he’d be able to stand putting him to bed himself knowing he wouldn’t be waking up with him.

Valentino hands him to Laura and Vax squirms a little, suddenly more awake. He tries to keep Valentino in view as he tells the girls goodnight.

“You too, Vaxxy, be good, yeah?” he manages to say without choking.

“Say bye-bye to Mr. Valentino,” Laura says sweetly. She gently takes Vax’s hand to wave it for him.

It feels like being shot in the chest.

Vax coos in delight when Valentino tickles his stomach one more time. He tries to grab his fingers to gnaw on them and Valentino slides his hand up and distracts him with a pet along the side of his head instead.

Vax will be fine.

He’ll get updates, he’ll check in on him during inspections…

It’s all going to work out.

xoxoxox

It’s barely 10pm and Vox is already asleep by the time Valentino stops wandering V Tower and gets himself to go to his room.

Nevertheless, he’s automatically granted access. The door slides open and he finds Vox in bed.

His screen is completely blacked out as he sleeps. Once upon a time, Vox’s screen would display his dreams. They never really made sense – but too much teasing and lies about their contents from himself and Velvette had Vox update himself so they wouldn’t be displayed.

Not seeing himself on Vox’s screen anymore made him regret that. It had been exciting to see how often Vox dreamed of him. Endearing when he was feeling sappy. Fun when there was just enough context displayed that Valentino could play with him as he slept.

He isn’t careful enough when he gets into bed with him. A buffering wheel flickers on his screen.

Vox’s eyes appear, blinking sleepily.

“Val?”

“You didn’t wait for me,” Valentino says, adding a whine to his voice.

Vox sighs and throws his arms around him to pull him closer. “Oh, because you were so eager to come?”

“What does that mean?” Valentino snaps. He wiggles away halfheartedly.

Vox grunts and adjusts his hold to pull him up so that Valentino is on his chest, head just below his own. “You know, ‘cause you were doing the whole baby thing.” He yawns and closes his eyes.

“Tch, lazy old man.”

Not that he was in the mood, anyway, but still.

Vox pinches him and then pushes the lower half of his screen to the top of Valentino’s head in a sleepy kiss.

The action reminds him of Vax and it feels like he’s getting shot all over again.

“Vox—”

His voice cracks and he quickly tucks his head further down. It’s too late.

Vox shifts. He can feel his eyes on him.

“Yeah?”

What did he even want to say? He misses Vax? He wants to keep Vax? What the fuck would Vox say to that? And even then – who gives a fuck what Vox says? Valentino isn’t stupid – these feelings he has? They don’t mean anything. He’s a damned Overlord. He’s part of the Vees. He can not add a baby to what he has. Vax would just get hurt. He would get hurt. He’s gone over it a hundred times in his head. His lifestyle is too dangerous. He’s too dangerous.

He should consider himself blessed that there was an option that allowed him to keep Vax safe. Vax has a little family now. It’s everything Valentino could do for him.

He needs to be happy with that.

He needs to stop thinking about him.

“Val?”

His first instinct is to get Vox to fuck all the thoughts out of his stupid little head. Vox would do it without question.

But when he gets himself to sit up and look at Vox’s face and he sees his attempt to cover up his concern, he’s just filled with frustration and hurt and it makes him feel sick. He doesn’t want Vox in him.

This is Vox’s fault.

Why the fuck did he have to hide a baby in the basement?

He’s getting pissed off and Vox is just sitting there, clueless.

He’s so stupid.

It all feels so stupid.

“I’m leaving,” Valentino manages to spit out. The last thing he needed was to stew in anger and lose more sleep.

“Leaving?”

“To my room. I’m going to bed in my room.” The words come out awkwardly and Vox appears even more concerned as he sits up. Valentino is already up and out of the bed.

“…Am I invited?”

“No.”

Vox is staring at him hard, like he’s trying to figure something out.

Stupid.

“This better not be about the tablet.”

Valentino stiffens and when his furious squeak slips out against his will, Vox throws his arms in the air.

“I haven’t even done anything!” he snaps. “I was sleeping! What, am I not allowed to sleep anymore? The fuck was I supposed to do while you were playing house? You realize Velvette and I are working double to cover your ass, right? Did you consider that? Do you consider anything besides your damn self? We have a company to run, Val!”

As if he hadn’t been considering someone else for the past few days! “All of this has been for Vax, you piece of shit.”

“Right, for Vax,” Vox scoffs. “This stunt is honestly the craziest shit you’ve ever pulled.”

“This isn’t a stunt—”

Vox waves a hand dismissively. “I’ve been playing along and doing a damn good job at it, but at this point you’re just looking for things to be pissed at. We both already know your bipolar bitchass will be back here in a week once you forget about the damn thing.” His grin at him is cruel and derisive. “So how about you just skip the dramatics and cut to the part where you’re back in my bed?”

Valentino loathes that he can’t slam the door to Vox’s room, so he does the next best thing and slams his fist into its control panel. It crunches and the door screeches and whirls as it struggles to slide open and close repeatedly. He stomps out, leaving it and a swearing Vox behind.

xoxoxox

When Valentino enters his own bedroom, the first thing he sees is the bassinet and he wants to vomit.

Instead, he separates it from his bed and slides it against the wall. There are other things that belong to Vax scattered around, so he picks them up and dumps them into the bassinet. He can have Kitty or an employee drop them off tomorrow, preferably when he isn’t in the room. Area cleared, he lets himself drop onto his bed, staring at the ceiling.

There’s a nagging feeling in him. Check the baby.

He needs to resist.

He can’t check him every minute for the rest of his afterlife.

…Vax won’t be gone forever. If he wanted to, really wanted to. He could visit outside of times when he’s inspecting them. He could feed him. Play with him. The girls wouldn’t object.

But that’s not a good idea.

He’s already gotten too attached. Any longer, and he’ll never let go.

Fuck.

He covers his face with one of his arms and allows himself one tiny whimper.

He’ll be fine. He’s lived decades without Vax. He didn’t even really have him the full week.

Vox is right.

Give him a couple of nights of drinks and clubbing and he’s sure he’ll forget the kid even existed. He’ll look back at his payroll another week from now and wonder what the fuck he’s paying Laura and Rita for when they’re not even at his doors.

He’ll be fine.

Even so, he doesn’t get a minute’s worth of sleep.

His alarm rings at 5:30 am.

Back to work.

Chapter 17

Notes:

This is one of the first chapters I drafted that started the whole fanfic

The meeting with Carmilla is not until 2pm. A soft, ‘fuck you’ to the Vees because they couldn’t possibly be important enough for her to deal with first thing in the morning.

This gives Valentino about seven and a half hours to be miserable about Vax.

Technically, this is the seventh day of his ‘vacation’, but he already knows he’s to use the time to catch up on the status of all his projects and his whores. His inbox is flooded with emails and text messages he hadn’t even thought to check since that first night. Script rewrites and reshoots. Delays due to Vox’s perfectionism and refusal to give creative freedom during filming. His whores had attempted to steal more than their contracted cut but not without consequences. Vox has already dealt with them, violently, and now he was down a few whores as they pull themselves back together after getting shat out by his sharks.

His clubs are running smoothly and aside from the usual barfights, nothing of interest has happened.

He’s able to get his normal workout in the morning now that there isn’t a baby to worry about. A long shower leaves him feeling refreshed enough and he touches himself up with makeup, this time able to cover the bags under his eyes.

Vox and Velvette are already gone by the time he orders breakfast for himself. The two were eager to get as much work done as they could before the meeting. A glance at the group chat and he sees them discussing potential places to eat out if the meeting is a success and what to get drunk on if it isn’t.

He opens the app to look at Vax.

The two moth girls are up already. Rita dotes on Vax at their table while Laura is in the kitchen. She’s bustling around and putting a breakfast together for them. When Laura goes to Rita and Vax, unintentionally blocking Vax from view, Valentino closes it and puts his phone away with a sigh.

He’s fine.

He’s fine because Vax is fine.

xoxoxox

Travis is taking the lead in filming today and to his credit, doesn’t panic when Valentino walks in. He’s here only to observe and catch up on any changes to his productions. Kitty hands him the script and he flips through it as he listens to the actors on set. It’s all passable and he can see himself working with it tomorrow. He goes to the back and reviews his other projects and checks the postproduction status on some.

It’s easy and it’s… not horrible.

If he thinks about Vax, it hurts. But if he doesn’t, if he focuses on work and doesn’t let his mind wander…

It’s not horrible at all.

After the meeting with Carmilla, he’d go out. Visit his clubs. Drink, finally, and hook up with one or two or three of his girls.

…Ah, he still needs to get rid of Vax’s things.

He can’t take someone to his bed with baby stuff still in the room.

His chest aches and he sits down to absently watch the rest of today’s filming, taking a coffee from Kitty when she offers it.

It will be better tomorrow. He’ll actually be working.

At 1:15, Valentino’s in the back of a limo, reapplying makeup as he ignores Vox and waits for Velvette to join them. She settles in next to him and throws her legs over his, snapping at someone on the phone. He wishes she wasn’t. He’d rather she talk to him and distract him. Instead, he is tempted to look at his phone.

Laura is in the kitchen again while Rita and Vax wait at the table for his lunch.

He closes the cameras quickly before the feeling of despair can overwhelm him.

He opens his social media and scrolls through his feed without really seeing it.

He practically dives out of the limo when it stops at their destination in the hopes that something will distract him.

Carmilla’s territory.

He’s so far from home. From Vax.

He feels sick.

When he, Velvette, and Vox are in Carmilla’s building, he pulls out his phone again.

Vox swears.

Has he been watching what he’s been doing on his phone? Of course he has. Fucking asshole.

“When the meeting starts, Val, you can’t do that,” Vox says. “Velvette, yes, you? No.”

Valentino flips him off. Yeah, he gets it. Image. Whatever. He just wanted to check for a second. Vox is the one who installed the extra cameras in the first place so why was he so pissed about it?

When the cameras load up, he’s surprised to see nothing has changed since he last checked. Laura is still in the kitchen and Rita with Vax at the table. Of course Carmilla’s internet service is shit. Fuck. Just his damn luck. He scowls as he puts his phone back in his pocket. Just in time, as one of Carmilla’s assistants finally welcomes them and escorts them to an elevator. Velvette makes a snide comment and too late, Valentino realizes she was waiting for him to reply.

He checks his phone again.

Vox shoots him a glare.

“Val.”

“We’re not even in the fucking room yet,” Valentino snaps.

Vox sneers and his damn attitude follows him into the conference room. The assistant shows them to their seats. Valentino sits on one and swings his legs up onto a second.

On his phone, Laura reaches for the food in the cabinet.

Her arm lowers with the jar.

Her arm goes up again.

Scowling, Valentino refreshes the cameras.

It’s the same thing.

The cameras are on a damn loop.

Valentino clenches his teeth, Vox’s name at the tip of his tongue. He swallows it back and hunches over his phone, dragging his finger down to refresh the cameras again.

Nothing changes.

Vox glances over at him with a raised eyebrow. There’s a moment when Valentino sees his eyes go distant as he peeks at what he’s doing. Vox rolls his eyes and Valentino notices the service on his phone flickering off and then on again as Vox adjusts his connection for him.

He didn’t ask for his damn help, but whatever.

He looks at the cameras again.

…It’s still looping.

This isn’t normal. This isn’t normal at all. Why were the cameras not working? Why now when all three of the Vees are not in their territory? When Valentino isn’t home to protect Vax?

Vox’s eyebrow twitches.

He’s noticed too.

That—that means something. There’s something to notice.

Valentino takes his legs off the second chair.

“Val,” Vox says warningly when he shifts in his seat. “Stay. That can wait. This is important.”

“The fuck’s going on?” Velvette asks.

“Nothing,” Vox snaps.

Angel Dust’s contact is pulled up on his phone as Vox gives him a pointed look.

Fine.

He shoots Angel Dust a text, demanding he check on Vax and the girls.

Angel Dust:

               Is he alright? What’s wrong?

Valentino:

               YOU TELL ME. GO. NOW.

Angel Dust:

               Yes Val

Some of his agitation is soothed just knowing something is being done. He can’t take his eyes off of his phone.

Velvette:

               What’s happening?

Valentino ignores it. He refreshes the cameras again.

Same thing.

Velvette:

               DID YOU JUST LEAVE ME ON READ???

He swipes the message away.

“What the hell, Valentino?” Velvette snaps.

“Velvette,” Vox says warningly. Valentino can feel his eyes on him, but he does not look up to meet them. “Valentino. Both of you, focus. We just need to get through this meeting. We can not have her walk in on us like this. Val, put the phone away and silence it. Angel will check on it and message you back – I’ll tell you when he does.”

He doesn’t believe him.

Two minutes have passed. Valentino opens Angel’s contact.

Valentino:

               ARE YOU THERE YET?

Angel Dust:

               Almost.

Son of a bitch. What the hell is taking him so long?

Angel Dust:

               I’m here.

Valentino:

               WELL???

               ANGEL ANSWER

               ANSWER ME

               ANGEL DON’T FUCK AROUND WITH ME

Angel Dust:

               No one’s answering the door. I’m going in.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Another minute passes. Maybe seconds. He isn’t sure.

He slams a finger on the call button.

Vox is saying something but he doesn’t care to listen, all he hears is the ringing as his phone tries to connect the call. Six times. It rings six times and goes to voicemail.

Anger and anxiety have him frozen in his seat. He fights against the numbness and red in his vision to type his next few messages.

Valentino:

               ANGEL ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW

               FUCKING USELESS SLUT

               ANGEL.

               ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE.

Nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Valentino stands up.

Vox looks at him. “Don’t you fucking dare, Val.”

Velvette’s eyes widen. “Valentino.”

He checks his phone one more time.

One minute. One minute since he demanded Angel answer. One minute too long.

He runs out of the room before either of them can get out of their seats.

“VALENTINO!”

The elevator doors at the end of the corridor slide open and he’s prevented from charging in by three bodies already inside.

Carmilla, followed closely by Clara and Odette.

They’re in the damn way.

“Valentino,” Carmilla greets. “What a surprise. I didn’t think you woul—”

Valentino grabs a small table that stands against the wall and throws it through the window to his right, shattering it open. Without a second glance at the three women, he jumps out.

He doesn’t fly often but that has no effect on his ability. Jumping from such a high building gives him plenty of time and pressure to adjust and he’s soaring over buildings in almost no time at all. He heads straight for V Tower, furious when a couple of nobody sinners try to take shots at him from the ground. He doesn’t have time to shoot back or get close enough to memorize their faces.

He needs to get to Vax.

His landing on the pavement in front of the apartment is rough and there’s a shock of pain in his legs, but he forces that to the back of his mind.

The door to Laura and Rita’s apartment is closed. Had Angel really even arrived?

He can hear Vax crying.

Valentino almost breaks the door down when he bursts in.

A quick scan of the room reveals no immediate threat.

His eyes land on the familiar lanky figure of white and pink fur facing away from him.

“Angel Dust!”

Valentino digs his claws into Angel’s shoulder and forces him to turn around.

He recoils immediately when he sees Vax is in his arms, a mix of fear and relief shocking his body. He can see past the red now and all he sees is his baby.

Vax’s cries stop and he lets out a soggy sounding squeak, unharmed.

“Vax,” he cries weakly. “Oh, fuck—"

He shakes his head and focuses back on Angel. This stupid, useless fucking slut who – who…

Who hasn’t moved.

Blood is oozing out of his shoulder where Valentino had grabbed him, but he hasn’t reacted at all. Not even a flinch.

“Angel,” he says, struggling to keep his voice steady. “Angel, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Valentino grabs his chin and squeezes hard.

Angel lunges forward, his arms making a jerky motion as they cradle Vax up and closer to Valentino. He almost takes a step back instinctively. Instead, Valentino stands his ground and uses two hands to grab Angel’s arms and steady him so that he doesn’t drop Vax.

He yanks Angel’s face side-to-side, staring into his eyes.

They’re vacant.

As he moves Angel’s head again, the light catches at the right angle.

He squints.

White rings pulse inside Angel’s eyes.

Valentino frowns and lifts his free hand, then snaps his fingers in front of Angel’s face. Nothing. He looks down at Vax in his arms. Vax is reaching towards him, whimpering. His own eyes – now that Valentino knows what to look for – his own eyes are pulsing with white rings as well. Not unlike Vox’s own when he...

No fucking way.

Valentino takes Vax from Angel’s arms.

Angel stumbles. When he rights himself and looks up at Valentino, his eyes have returned to their normal colors. His body sways and his lips twitch. Before he can speak, his eyes roll back and he crumbles to the ground – Laura and Rita do the same, the resulting noise startling Vax into whimpering and nuzzling into Valentino’s fur.

Valentino brings a hand up to soothe him.

“Shit.”

Chapter 18

Vax needs to be changed.

Vax fusses when he takes him to his changing table to clean him up. He doesn’t want to be out of Valentino’s arms.

“You’re alright, baby,” Valentino says. He makes sure to keep talking to him. The poor thing must have been so confused as to what was going on.

After changing him, Valentino goes to the kitchen where Laura had collapsed and is surprised to see she’s surrounded by dozens of broken jars of food and a pool of blood. Looking up at the cupboard, it’s completely empty. He searches the fridge and finds a bit of a treat that resembles yogurt. When he offers it to Vax, the baby eats it eagerly, starving. Had he not eaten?

Shit, has he been charged?

He warms up a bottle of milk for him as he feeds him and then once Vax starts suckling contently, Valentino pulls up the camera app on his phone.

It's updated now – he can see himself on it. He lifts a hand and waves and the tiny version of himself does the same with no delay at all.

What the fuck?

Had it just been bad internet connection?

He swipes back to look at what the girls had actually been doing all day.

It’s exactly what he had seen that morning.

Rita stands with Vax, her back to the camera, not moving. Laura’s hand goes up and down from the food cupboard, dropping a jar.

Except now…

Now he can see it’s a different jar each time. If he looks closer, he can see the spill of food slowly spreading along the floor with each jar that’s dropped. He speeds the video up and it becomes obvious that Laura was stuck in a loop of reaching for a jar of food and dropping it on the ground until her arm was just going through the motion, carrying nothing, glass shattered all over her feet and food drenching her clothes. He sees Angel Dust enter hours later, closing the door behind him and taking in the scene. He goes to Rita, mouth opening and closing as he tries talking to her. He takes Vax from her arms and his other pair go up to shake her shoulders – but his eyes meet Vax’s and his body slumps. Then, slowly, he straightens and turns to the door and walks into it.

He bounces off and stands there awkwardly, unable to open it. He takes a couple of steps around the apartment until he ends up where Valentino found him, completely still.

Valentino pauses the video when he sees himself burst in.

“Oh, mijo,” Valentino says to Vax. “Oh, no, no no, this isn’t good.”

Fucking hypnosis.

Why the fuck did he have to have hypnosis? And why the fuck was it so powerful?

…He really is made from Vox, isn’t he? He doesn’t know how else Vax would have access to such a powerful ability. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence or—Fuck. It… It still didn’t change anything. He didn’t think so. It’s not important where he got it from!

Vax is a baby – he can’t control it. Clearly, he had just wanted something, and it triggered it. He wanted food, so Laura got him food, but Vax didn’t know how to relay instructions such as opening the jar or getting a spoon.

Valentino wouldn’t be surprised if Vax had triggered the ability while in his care, he just hadn’t noticed since sight-based hypnotism didn’t affect him and he hadn’t known to look for signs. During the trial run, all of Vax’s needs were met, and he would see Valentino periodically. This was the longest stretch of time he had been without him.

He missed Valentino.

He wanted Valentino.

“No, baby,” he whimpers. He kisses the corner of his head. “You’re not supposed to want me too.”

Vax drops his bottle onto his belly and babbles and tries to lean up to him, bumping his head lightly against Valentino’s chin. Valentino mutters soft words of endearment as he kisses him again.

He needs to be charged. He hasn’t been charged all morning. He didn’t have his nap either. This is a mess.

Angel groans from the floor and Valentino finds himself feeling a little relieved at that.

“Angel,” he says.

“Val?” Angel murmurs back, sitting up and rubbing his head. “What… what happened?” His eyes widen and he stumbles up. “Where’s Vax?”

“Here.” Valentino walks towards him so he can see. He tilts his head, consideringly. A part of him wants to be mad at Angel. It’d be so easy to be mad at him.

He can’t afford to be. Not right now. He needs to try and stay calm.

“Vax has hypnosis and you and the girls got caught up in it,” Valentino explains to him. Angel stares. “Wake the girls. We need to get this mess cleaned up.”

He puts Vax into a bassinet next to the couch and lets him play with his fingers as he tries to think of how not to lose his shit on the girls. This was hardly their fault. Hopefully they won’t be too put off by Vax’s power. Maybe there is a workaround. He needs to go back to work but if the girls can just continue to watch him for a little while maybe they can still salvage this.

These were unexpected circumstances.

All he has to do is remember that and not get angry. Not at them.

“Uh, Val?” Angel calls.

Valentino grunts.

“She’s fuckin’ dead.”

Valentino’s head snaps towards him. “What?”

Angels is over Rita’s body, hand gripping her chin with a grimace as he looks her over. “She ain’t breathing and she’s got blood coming from her eyes. Vax must’ve scrambled her brains or something.”

“How the hell…” Valentino makes sure that Vax is still plugged in and then stands to look himself. Sure enough, both girls are dead.

Angel lets out a low whistle. “I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”

He’s never seen Vox kill anyone with his hypnosis.

But then he’s never seen Vox use it for longer than a couple of minutes. His bigger projects were done in sessions over the course of several days.

Maybe there was a reason for that.

Laura and Rita had been under Vax’s control for, at the very least, six hours.

Shit. Fuck.

“Now what?” Angel asks. “If he can kill people just by lookin’ at them, then that don’t leave a lot of options.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Valentino snaps.

What was he going to tell Vox and Velvette? Vox already knows why he left, but the moment they learn he needs to keep Vax himself for even longer they were going to lose their shit. He’s not sure what they’ll be more furious about, him leaving the meeting or keeping Vax. He was going to hear so much crap from them.

He's lucky the meeting with Carmilla is keeping them away, buying him a few precious minutes.

What the hell can he really do? Fuck. He needs to get back to work. His productions, his whores, the Vees. He can’t just— Damn it. He had been so close. So close to having this problem solved. So close to having things back to normal. So close so close so close—

“This’ll just happen again if you give him to another random sinner,” Angel muses. “I ain’t exactly the weakest son of a bitch either but he still got me almost instantly.”

No one under his contract could resist hypnosis like him. Anyone outside of their circle strong enough was an Overlord and he’d be damned before he’d hand over what is now clearly his biggest weakness to another Overlord. Alliances and favors? Those weren’t enough. Any Overlord worth their salt would hold Vax’s life over his head for the rest of his existence.

Why, why couldn’t this have worked out? Why the one time he was genuinely trying to do the fucking ‘right thing’ or whatever? He tried. He really, fucking, tried.

“Do we take him back to your room?”

He can’t keep Vax. No matter how much he wants to. He can’t. He’s too dangerous, too angry, too volatile, too—

“Val, what are ya—”

“Would you shut up and let me think!” Valentino shouts, grabbing a lamp and throwing it at him.

Angel dives out of the way so that it shatters against the wall. Valentino flips the coffee table and kicks it, breaking it in half. He grabs something else – a chair he thinks – and throws it too. He hears the shatter of glass – a window? Did he break the window? Did it fucking matter? This apartment isn’t going to be used anyway because god forbid anything goes right for once.

He feels his body moving. Arms sweeping the area. Punching, kicking, breaking. He needs to rip something – someone. He needs—

“Val, stop! Wait, wait! You’re gonna—”

Fucking Angel Dust.

Valentino grabs the nearest object and hurls it in Angel’s direction. There’s a crack – he missed. It hits the wall – but he still sees Angel through the haze of red in his vision, diving to the ground.

But there’s a sound. That stupid sound. That crying—

…Crying.

Crying – Vax. Vax is crying.

Valentino stops.

Fuck. Oh, fuck.

No no no no nonono—

What the fuck. What the fuck. He knew Vax was there – he knew and he still—

Is he fucking BRAIN DAMAGED?

Why did he do that? Why is he so stupid and careless.

Why, why, why, why—

The bassinet Vax had been in is overturned and broken.

Vax.

No—

He sees movement.

Angel is huddled in a corner, cuddling Vax in his arms and shielding him with most of his body. He’s humming a shaky, broken tune, casting Valentino nervous glances.

He flinches when Valentino takes a step towards them.

Again, Valentino stops. He feels lightheaded – pulled out of his outburst too soon. His pulse is pounding in his ears and blood – blood… He’s bleeding, he realizes. One of his arms has multiple scratches and a long gash going down it. Thick, dark, blood oozes out. He must have cut himself – had he been punching something? There’s an uncomfortable fuzzy feeling forming in his other hand all the way to his elbow.

Vax is still crying.

He needs to hold him. Comfort him.

But he might—

He…

Blood. He needs to deal with the blood.

Valentino stumbles towards the bathroom instead, where he knows they put a first aid kit and slams the door behind him so hard he swears he sees the wall shake.

There’s a mirror acting as a cabinet door above the sink – he opens it and reaches for the kit. His hands are shaking too much and when he grabs it, he fumbles it and the kit smashes onto the floor, opening and spilling its contents. The sound of each item making contact with the floor feels like a bullet being shot into his brain.

God fucking dammit—

He rips the mirror down and shatters it.

The sound – the shards – the mess

It makes it a million times worse

Of course it does

He hates it he hates it

Why did he do that that was so fucking goddamn stupid he makes everything worse why did he do that why

He takes a step back and the sound of glass crunching under his heel makes him want to dig his hands into his skull and rip the sound out of his head.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He tries to find the damn bandages.

He feels detached from his limbs and all he can see is the mess amongst a sea of red, red, red—

GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.

He almost keels over when he dives for the bandages he finally spots. He collapses onto the toilet, the only surface in the bathroom clear of mess.

His hands are still shaking as he winds the bandage around and around his arms. Too loose at first. He shakes his head, almost knocking his glasses off, and does his next couple of loops more tightly. He moves to the next arm. Spots of blood bleed through but the roll is finished and he’s left staring at his poorly bandaged arms, trembling still.

He doesn’t leave when he’s done – instead lighting a cigarette and leaning his head against the tiled wall.

He can still hear Vax’s cries. He’s never cried for so long before.

Fucking Angel Dust. Couldn’t he calm him down? It isn’t fucking hard. Vax is a good baby.

He’s halfway through his second cigarette when most of the fuzziness in his limbs fades and is replaced with annoying aches. His vision has cleared, and he glares at the bloody bandages sloppily applied to his arms. Blood is drying on his hands.

He finishes the rest of his cigarette and takes a deep breath, then stands, wincing when he hears a small crunch.

He pushes some of the broken glass aside with the toe of his heels as he walks to the sink.

Stupid.

Kitty. Where’s Kitty? He needs to get Kitty to clean this one. And whatever’s outside the bathroom.

Valentino washes his hands carefully, making sure to get every spot of blood off of them, then folds his wings back over himself to cover his dirty bandages. He hovers next to the bathroom door.

Vax is still crying.

He opens the door and all he can do is stare. Surely he hadn’t done all of this in just a few seconds? Had it just been seconds?

It’s fine. None of this stuff is his.

And Vax is okay, isn’t he? He fucking better be. He…

If he isn’t, it would be Valentino’s fault.

But if Angel had just kept his damn mouth shut then this wouldn’t have happened.

He wouldn’t have wasted time on – on that.

He takes in the room again and realizes too late that Vax isn’t there. Valentino feels a jolt of panic that Angel took him, but he hears Vax’s sobs in the bedroom. The door is open.

He enters to see Angel on the bed, Vax still in his arms, sobs loud and drawn out.

Angel is avoiding looking at Vax’s face and while Valentino understands why, it still pisses him off because Vax didn’t understand why.

Angel’s eyes meet his and the bitch has the gall to glare at him.

“Get out of my sight before you piss me off even more,” Valentino tells him.

Angel’s glare darkens. “And leave ya alone with him?”

An ugly, rattling sound comes out from Valentino’s body and he stands straighter. “The fuck are you trying to say?”

“You coulda killed him!” Angel snaps.

His head pounds as he tries to keep his temper in check.

God, he wants to slap the shit out of Angel Dust right now.

“Angel,” he says in a growl. He pauses and tries again, softening his voice. “Angel, I need you to pick up more food for him while I get everything cleaned up and ready for him to move back in with me.”

Angel curls a little tighter around the crying baby. “I ain’t leaving him with you.”

“You can’t take him,” Valentino says. Like hell he’d trust a junkie with a baby. “And he has no one else but me.”

Vax has managed to peek out from Angel’s hold and sobs louder, reaching for Valentino. Angel’s face falls.

“Come on, kid,” Angel says weakly. “Why didja have to choose this bozo?”

Valentino doesn’t have time to get angry over that because the next moment, Angel is handing Vax to him.

Vax settles in his arms, still whimpering, but squeezing the front of his dress shirt. Slowly, and as carefully as he can ever remember being in this body, Valentino lifts his hand and gently wipes his tears away.

This, somehow, seems to satisfy Angel enough that he gets out of the bed.

“Meet me in my room, Angel,” Valentino says.

Angel gives him a curt nod.

After Valentino watches him leave the bedroom, he puts Vax down into the bedside bassinet and plugs him in again.

Vax whimpers loudly, tears welling up again as he struggles to sit up and reach him.

“Shh, now, mijo, we’ll nap together soon. Give mami a minute, okay?”

He would just gather a couple of things to take with him. Maybe cuddle Vax to sleep and then deal with Vox and Velvette when they get back from the meeting.

He’s barely straightened from giving Vax a kiss when he feels the charge in the air.

His fur stands up on end.

Fuck.

There’s a burst of electricity and Vox is in the doorway of the bedroom, sparking and furious.

Chapter 19

Valentino draws himself up in front of him, blocking him from entering.

“Not now,” Valentino says.

“’Not now,’” Vox repeats coldly. He laughs. “’Not now’, he says. No, we’re doing this. I’m so fucking done with that thing.”

“Fuck off, Vox, I mean it.”

“I seriously thought this whole thing was a cry for attention, you know? Some weird-ass test to get me to spend time with you or listen to you or fuck, I don’t know! You’re insane. You do insane shit; and babe, I love that about you, but fucking up this meeting for us – humiliating us like that? That’s too far.”

Valentino shifts in place, bringing the heel of his palm to his head. Fuck. It’s pounding. He can’t handle this right now.

Vox takes a deep breath. “Obviously, you’re going through something. I don’t know what it is this time, but it’s fucking something.” He jabs a finger in Vax’s direction. “And I don’t know why that thing is in the center of it, but we’re getting rid of it.”

“I’m fucking working on it!” Valentino snarls.

“No. We are getting rid of it right here, right now.”

Vox shoves past him.

It’s

It’s not the shove that does it

He and Vox have shoved and dragged each other around before

Countless times

It’s the threat in his voice

The determined step he takes in Vax’s direction

He’s not sure when he moved but suddenly Valentino’s nowhere near the doorway and Vox is stumbling into a wall outside the bedroom, blood seeping through rips on the back of his coat. He regains his bearings and turns to Valentino, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

“What—”

“You stay the fuck away from him,” Valentino snarls.

That’s the end of it. That should be the end of it.

Valentino feels the shift in the air the moment Vox’s face glitches in and out. He sees Vox stomp towards him – feels him grab him by his furred collar.

But it’s not until Vox’s sparking claws cut into his face with a harsh slap that any of it really registers. He stumbles – or, his body tries to. Vox still holds him by the collar. Before Valentino’s feet can rearrange themselves under him properly, Vox shoves him, and he falls. He barely feels the impact of the ground or the pain in his arm from the gash. Instead, all he feels is the slap – the claws. Vox’s claws.

One of his hands goes up to touch his face.

Because that couldn’t have happened.

Vox wouldn’t—

His face stings.

His hand comes away with blood.

Vox—

He hit him.

Vox hit him.

“You—” Valentino stops.

He’s still on the ground.

He looks up and Vox is above him, a strained grin in place as his right eye twitches and his left eye pulses with black rings. His claws spasm and electricity sparks between them.

Vox is stronger than him. Even if Valentino had the most souls, Vox’s demonic abilities have always outclassed his own. He’s always known this – he hasn’t considered it a problem for decades. He learned to trust Vox very early on. Vox has always made it clear that they are partners. Valentino does not work for him. Even if he’s stronger. Even if he’s older and smarter.

He does not own Valentino.

He does not get to hit him.

Valentino lunges.

Vox, apparently predicting that, zaps out of the way. Valentino spins on his heel to follow the arc of electricity but it’s too fast. He feels Vox’s physical form manifest behind him and then he feels his hand dig into his fur to grab the back of his neck and shove him down as he kicks the back of his legs.

Valentino flares his wings open as he falls, knocking Vox away and giving himself enough time to recover. He’s on Vox again in the next instant.

How fucking dare he hit him?

Who does he think he is?

Vox just manages to grab his two upper arms to stop him from using them to hit him – but Valentino has plenty more.

He isn’t given enough time to use them. Vox’s grip tightens and he sees the arcs of electricity and then—

Pain.

Pain pain pain pain pain—

He can’t open his mouth to scream and his vision flashes white.

Hundreds of thousands of needles burn through his skin and bones and he tries to get away but his body won’t move. Move, move, move, move—

He can hear Vax crying.

He’s hit with the realization that if Vox knocks him out, he and Vax would be alone together. If Vox knocks him out, Valentino wouldn’t be there to take care of Vax.

He can smell something burning.

Valentino blinks, vision no longer white. He’s twitching on the ground.

Vox had let go.

He tries to get up, only to spasm and collapse again, every muscle in his body screaming in protest.

Vox is standing to the side, watching him, face blank. When he decides that Valentino won’t be getting up anytime soon, he sighs and turns around back towards the bedroom.

Valentino almost blacks out when he lurches forwards and digs his claws into the hem of Vox’s pants.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Vox snaps, stumbling and turning to glare at him. “Val, don’t—”

He pulls him down.

Vox falls with a loud swear and uses his free leg to kick Valentino’s hand off of him.

Two of his arms go up to shield his head when he sees Vox raise his legs to kick him again.

Only one hits him before he senses Vox pull back. He takes advantage of the hesitation and scrambles away and back to his feet. Just as he reaches Vax, Vox’s claws snag his wings and yank him back onto the ground, flipping him over and forcing him to meet Vox’s eyes as he straddles him.

Vox is braced for retaliation, eye pulsing and claws sparking. He doesn’t move, though, and Valentino thinks, maybe, he hadn’t wanted to fight in the first place. If he tries, Valentino can buck him off. Vox hasn’t truly pinned him yet and even if he did try, he didn’t have enough arms to do so.

Something Vox quickly realizes himself.

Wires that Valentino hadn’t noticed snake up his sides to further restrain him.

Fuck—

No, no, no, fuck.

He puts every ounce of desperation he can into his voice.

“Vox, please, don’t.”

Vox hesitates.

Valentino slams his fist into the right side of his face.

Revulsion and panic shock him when he feels the glass of Vox’s screen shatter under his fist and something glittery mixed with blood coats his hand. The wires around him tighten painfully for a brief second before loosening.

Vox stumbles back, swearing and wires flailing. He bangs into a broken chair and almost trips, just barely catching himself. Cracks are all over his screen and there is a hole right where Valentino’s fist had punched through. More glittery blood dribbles out and Vox’s hands go up haltingly to try and do something to stop it.

Valentino finds himself frozen.

He’s never broken Vox’s screen before.

…He had to—

If he’d held back, Vox wouldn’t have let go.

More panic seizes him when Vox has finally steadied himself and his screen is facing him. A distorted red eye flickers into existence and meets his own. His mouth opens and thick liquid leaks out with the sound of electronic feedback. It closes into a pained grimace.

He’s already moving, and Valentino can’t believe he wasted time watching him when he should’ve… No.

He couldn’t… He can’t hit him again.

He…

Vox realizes what he’s going to do at the same moment.

“V̶̓͋̅̋̿͐ͅx̸̜͎̥̓̀̎̐̚͠k̷̢̥̭̗̿͒͘k̸̢̛͓̥͎̳̼͂͊̕x̷̢̦̠̺̰̳̓̽̆̃̄͂a̵̭͕̳̯̓̋̇̚ã̸̢̼͎̬̭͖̂ͅĺ̵̫̪̥͋̐—̸͇̭̯̻̀̂́̽!̶͔̙͉̥̘͊̎͗̽̐̚”

Valentino scrambles up to his feet, grabs Vax, and flees.

He doesn’t go far.

He can’t.

Valentino bursts into one of his less popular clubs, wings flared open as large as they can go, demonic form straining against his own skin.

“GET OUT.”

Everyone is too terrified to notice the wailing baby in his arms or the tremors in Valentino’s damaged form.

They run out screaming. Some of his souls linger, terrified that he has come for them.

He beats his wings once – twice – and snarls at them again.

“GET OUT!”

Their final warning before he fucking kills them.

They run.

One has the sense to flip the sign up front to CLOSED. Valentino throws something – some large piece of furniture probably – in front of the door. His body spasms and he has to catch himself before he accidentally drops Vax.

He’s so fucking tired and everything hurts.

He can’t rest yet though.

Valentino pulls his gun out from his back holster and points it at one of the cameras in the club. He shoots it. He shoots every fucking camera in the club – then he shoots the fucking overhead speakers playing music. Then he kicks open the doors to the backrooms of the club and shoots the sinners who were hiding, naked, in terrified silence. He shoots the television sets and anything with a screen. He shoots the posters and advertisements on the wall displaying Vox. Twice over.

It’s only when he’s sure that the entire building is empty that he finally finds a clean room. It takes everything in his power to not collapse straight away. Instead, he focuses on making the bed as comfortable as possible for him and Vax. He needs to calm the baby and himself.

He needs to figure out what to do.

Vax continues to cry for the next hour.

“Shh, mijito, shh, lo siento,” Valentino says. He’s given up rocking him – his body has been spasming and twitching without warning and he doesn’t want to drop him. Instead, he has Vax in bed with him, cuddling him to his chest under the covers.

The fighting had already rattled him. Valentino shooting every camera in the club had pushed him over the edge. The poor thing is terrified and confused.

And so, so loud.

So fucking loud.

Valentino strokes the top of Vax’s head, shushing him again softly.

The noise isn’t helping him. He can’t calm himself down and if he can’t calm himself, he can’t calm Vax and if he can’t calm Vax, the noise won’t stop.

He feels a hot flash of anger and hatred towards the baby.

He shuts his eyes.

He imagines muffling the cries with a pillow or – or just muting the damn thing.

Shake it. Throw it.

Make it shut up.

STOP.

No. No, he can’t do that. He’s not a thing.

He won’t hit Vax. He loves Vax. He’s so small. Hitting him will hurt him – break him – kill him. He can deal with some crying. Vax is just scared. Confused. He’s a baby, he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t need to be hit. It won’t help. It would make Valentino feel better for a second, but it won’t help. He’d feel worse afterwards and Vax – Vax could die.

Valentino adjusts Vax so that he’s up closer to his face. The crying is unbearable and the more he listens, the more his own heart just breaks. He’s fucking this up – he’s really fucking this up.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “Vax, I’m sorry.”

The baby continues to wail.

The impulse to shake him until he shuts up grows.

So does the shame.

Fuck, when had this gotten so bad?

He cringes when Vax’s cry reaches a higher pitch. Why couldn’t Vax just understand? He needs him quiet. Shouldn’t he have some sort of baby sense to know that Valentino was trying to take care of him? Shouldn’t he already trust Valentino? Shouldn’t he feel safe? He didn’t need to cry. He needs to stop crying.

Stop crying.

Stop crying stop crying stop crying shut up shut up shut up shut up—

He yanks the covers off of himself and jolts up, slamming his fist into the headboard.

Valentino’s breath hitches.

Vax wails even louder.

SHUT UP.

The claws of his lower set of arms prick the fabric of Vax’s onesie.

He can barely see the crack in the headboard through the red of his vision. Vox’s blood still coats his fist. He never cleaned up. He never had the chance.

His stomach lurches at the memory. The broken glass. The blood.

It could have been Vax.

But it was Vox.

And wasn’t that just as bad?

He hadn’t—Vox wasn’t going to stop.

He wasn’t.

He couldn’t risk it. He had to do it.

A sob slips out.

Not – Not from Vax.

“Oh, fuck,” he chokes. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He loosens his hold on Vax and runs his hands over the baby gently. Petting. Trying to just breathe. Vax is the one crying. He needs to calm Vax down. He can’t break apart himself, not now.

His own body starts to tremble until another sob slips out. Then another and another until he’s crying almost as hard as Vax. Crying as much as a damn baby. He can feel the anger in the back of his head. He doesn’t want this. He doesn’t want to feel this revulsion and self-loathing and guilt.

But…

He can’t even imagine hurting Vax in this state.

Instead, he hugs Vax closer, trying to seek out as much comfort as he’s trying to give.

This is better, he thinks.

Chapter 20

Notes:

Happy Halfway Point! The tags of this story have been updated.

He has to go back.

Valentino has no food, no diapers and no charging cable for Vax. His phone is fried from Vox’s electrocution. He can’t call anyone – not even Kitty.

For now, Vax sleeps, his tiny body exhausted from his own crying.

Valentino feels pretty hollow himself. He wants nothing more than to sleep too. This is his club, but he likely won’t be alone for too much longer. A curious sinner, an employee, or a damn idiot might force their way in. Even if they don’t, who knows how long Vax’s charge will last? He hasn’t been charged since this morning.

As for Valentino, the more intense muscle spasms have stopped. He finds a few of his muscles still twitchy and all of them sore. His cheek has swollen and the spots on his arms where Vox had grabbed him are burned to hell and look utterly gruesome. Any contact his arms make with each other or the blanket intensifies the pain tenfold.

There’s also blood. Blood has seeped through the bandages and onto the bed. It’s over his arms and dotting his clothes. It’s dried on the tips of his fingers and claws and the dark combination of blood and whatever was in Vox’s screen stains the hand he used to punch him. More is on Vax, who he had held and cuddled with in the same hands, dirtying the baby’s clothes and face.

Stupid.

He doesn’t think he’ll be able to get Vax up to his room without waking him up. He’ll have to deal with what will probably be another long round of tears. But when he’s in his room and locked up, safe, he can summon Kitty to bring Vax’s supplies to him. He can put Vax in the bassinet and charge him. They can sleep together again. They can rest.

He needs to rest.

He’s so damn tired.

Vox is likely still patching up his screen. While they’ve never done… that before, he’s sure they’ll both be too busy licking their wounds to confront each other right away. Maybe. Valentino wouldn’t be surprised if Vox had some kind of plan to follow for if they ever got in a physical fight with one another.

He stretches his legs out to try and slide off the bed.

Pain jolts through his muscles and a hiss slips through his teeth.

He hears muffled thumps.

Valentino freezes.

A creak.

It’s by instinct when he quickly and gently scoops Vax up in a bundle and tucks him against his chest and uses an arm to retrieve his gun from the bedside table. His muscles throb from the sudden movements.

More thumps, softer this time. He can hear doors out in the hall being opened and closed softly. Someone is being slow and careful. Someone who knows he’s here.

It’s not Vox, he knows that much.

Valentino waits on the bed with his gun pointed at the door, listening carefully. He can hear footsteps – heels? He flexes the fingers of his free hand. It might be one of his girls. He raises his hand and feels for—

There.

A chain manifests in his hand and the body at the other end immediately stills.

He can feel the familiar flutter of the soul through the chain.

Angel Dust.

How the fuck did he find him? Did Vox send him?

No, Angel must have been there when it happened. He had barely been leaving the apartment when Vox appeared.

…He saw.

Valentino lets his hand drop and the chain disappears. A moment passes and he hears Angel’s heels again, this time straight towards his room. He sees the shadow in the crack under the door.

The door opens slowly, and Angel pokes his head in a full five seconds afterwards. His eyes immediately land on the gun in Valentino’s hand. Angel takes a calming breath and then looks up to meet Valentino’s eyes.

Valentino lowers the gun.

Encouraged, Angel takes a cautious step forward. Then another. Valentino lets him until he’s right next to the bed. There’s a tote bag hanging from his shoulder.

“Is Vax okay?” Angel asks.

It takes a minute for Valentino to find his voice. He had been sobbing for a while.

“He’s fine. Just tired from the crying,” Valentino whispers. “Vox didn’t hurt him.”

And neither did he.

Vax is okay.

He curls himself closer around Vax, wings over the both of them like a blanket.

Angel Dust lowers the tote bag from his shoulder down onto the covers in front of him. He widens the opening so he can show baby formula, a bottle and diapers. Two of Vax’s charging cables are on top.

Valentino doesn’t know what to say.

He pokes his arm out from under his wings to take the wire. Angel flinches. “Val,” he croaks. “Shit, that looks bad.”

Valentino ignores that obvious statement and bounces the wire in his hand so Angel can plug it into the wall. After he does so, he carefully tries to plug the other end into Vax without waking him up.

He fails. There must be some kind of current that he feels because Vax stirs with a little mumble as the yellow light flicks on.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Valentino says softly. He adjusts his wings around them more snuggly. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep for mami, okay?”

Vax blinks sleepily and then coos at him with a smile, all of the violence and tears from before forgotten.

Valentino’s heart tightens. “I’m sorry,” he tells him again. He’s not sure what he’s apologizing for this time. Everything, probably. “I’m so sorry.”

Vax only yawns.

He notices Angel from the corner of his eye picking up the tote bag and setting it to the side of the bed. “I can—"

Vax flinches.

Valentino’s heart drops. He doesn’t hear what Angel says. His attention is solely on Vax.

Vax, who is trembling like a leaf now.

He’s not crying, but his eyes are wide as he curls up into Valentino’s chest.

“Vax? Baby? What’s wrong? You’re okay, yeah?”

Fuck, god, he has to be okay. Please.

“Vaxxy? It’s okay, baby. You’re safe.” What is he scared of? Angel? Why? Maybe his voice? A voice? Just – someone else’s voice?

He almost jolts back and out of the bed when Angel leans towards them both.

“Hey, Vaxxy, remember me?” Angel asks softly and without permission from Valentino.

Valentino wants to slap him. Vax is scared. Don’t make it worse.

Vax continues to tremble and Valentino is forced to divert his attention from Angel and back to trying to soothe him. He was okay just a second ago! He needs Angel to leave. If Vax doesn’t want Angel here, then Valentino doesn’t either.

“Get the fuck out, Angel,” Valentino growls.

“Hold on,” Angel murmurs.

What?

Again, without permission, Angel reaches out past Valentino’s wings and towards Vax with a hand and Valentino wants to bite it. What the fuck—

Vax stares at his hand, then shyly tugs at Angel’s fingers. Too many emotions are going through Valentino, none positive. Fuck, fuck. He doesn’t want to lose it again.

What the fuck did Angel think he was doing? He told him to get out.

“Yeah, you’re just a little spooked, huh?” Angel asks. “I bet. You had a rough day, didn’t ya, Vaxxy?”

Rising anger plummets into despair.

It hurts so much to know that he was part of what instilled Vax with fear. He’s too young. He didn’t deserve this at all. He wanted Vax to be happy and safe.

Instead, he’s terrified and in Valentino’s arms.

Angel sits on the bed and scoots closer. Valentino feels himself bristle but he can’t do anything with Vax in his arms and touching Angel. He doesn’t want to scare Vax. Did Angel already know that? Is that why he’s being such a bold little shit right now?

Valentino lets out a huff that sounds like a hiss.

Angel fucking ignores it and Valentino wants to scream.

Angel appears too deep in thought to notice. He doesn’t have to wonder what he’s thinking about for long.

“Val, if he’s got Vox’s powers, doesn’t that mean he’s like…” Angel trails off. “I mean, I know we can’t have babies but that can’t be a coincidence, can it? Are they… are they family? From up top?”

What?

That hadn’t been something he considered. But he can see where the thought came from – Angel’s family is all spiders just like him.

Was Vax related to Vox? Legitimately related?

And if they were related, did Vox know him when he was alive? Back when they met, Odette and Clara had told him they were able to identify Carmilla immediately as their mother from a photo even though she looked nothing like she did when she was alive. If Vox knew Vax, that would mean Vax had been down here just as long as him. That’s not… impossible. Just strange to think Vax might be older than himself.

Or was he some distant relative who died recently? Would Vox still be able to identify him as a relative?

…He, Laura and Rita were all moth demons and they aren’t related. At least, not as far as Valentino knows. It could just be a coincidence. There’s other TV and electronic demons out there. Not nearly as powerful as Vox, but…

Surely Vox wouldn’t have left him in the basement if he knew they were related – but then why keep a random baby in the basement?

Both ideas make him sick.

Sick enough he has to accept the alternative.

“No. Vox says he has blueprints. There was a scientist. If they… built him—"

“Obviously he’s lying. You know he ain’t no robot.” Angel says. “I think he’s a baby. Someone Vox wanted to hide.”

“I don’t give a damn what you think,” Valentino snaps. He winces and lowers his voice. “He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t leave him there to die.” Not again and again and again. The only reason he’d do that to anyone is if he loathed them and wanted to torture them. No, Vox wouldn’t care to do that to a baby. If Vox wanted to get rid of Vax, he’d have used angelic means.

“Have you met Vox?” Angel asks. “He’s not exactly a family man, is he?”

“I know Vox better than you ever will,” Valentino says coldly. “He wouldn’t leave him – not if he’s his.” The possessive bastard. He’d use him, yes, but leave him without putting him down? He refuses to entertain the thought.

Angel looks outraged. “But he did, Val! That’s how you got in this mess!”

Valentino strokes his finger along the top of Vax’s head. He had this same conversation with Velvette, didn’t he? Because if Vox wouldn’t torture a baby and he wouldn’t leave his own, then it just means…

“Vox is stupid,” he says. Decides. “He fucked something up doing experiments and he’s too stupid and blind to see what he actually made.”

Angel’s expression falls. “You’re really just gonna defend him? Even after what he did to you? What he tried to do to Vax?”

His tone says it all and the only reason he’s getting away with this whole conversation is because Vax is here. “Watch it, Angel.”

Angel shrinks back.

Good.

Angel straightens again.

Not good.

“You deserve to know what he is and where he came from! You’re the one raising this baby. Vox needs to tell you the truth.”

Valentino sneers. “Why does it matter?”

“Val, are you serious?”

Are you stupid?

“Angel. Either shut up or get out.”

Valentino stubbornly refuses to identify the feeling in his chest when Angel gets up and leaves. Instead, he adjusts Vax’s cable, making sure he’s still plugged in. He’ll let him charge for a little while longer before going back to his room.

Not five minutes later, Angel is back and speaking again.

God fucking dammit.

“Can I see your arms?”

Valentino looks up and sees he’s brought wet towels and the club’s first aid kit. Reluctantly, he stretches one bloodied and wounded arm towards him. The sooner he got this over with, the soon he can get out of here.

Angel expertly wipes him down. Despite himself, Valentino feels his anger and anxiety start to wane. The motions and more importantly, the person, familiar. Comforting. Even Vax watches the movements without fuss and his eyelids start to droop. He stirs when Valentino has to switch the set of arms he’s carrying him in so that Angel can finish cleaning and dressing his injuries, and then he’s alert again when Valentino takes the chance to clean off his and Vax’s faces. He mumbles grumpily at the contact but doesn’t cry.

When they’re done, Angel dumps the towels to the side of the bed and throws the remains of the first aid kit on top.

“You’re not staying here, right?” he asks.

Valentino snorts. “Of course not.”

“Do you want to use my phone to call a car? I left it at the bar. Figured you wouldn’t want Vox to overhear anything we said.”

His stomach turns.

“I’m walking.”

Angel blinks. “Like… walking, walking?” He looks Valentino up and down. “Val… you’re not looking great. You sure you want people to see you an’ Vax like this?”

“Tch, it’s only two blocks away and it’s getting dark out.”

Angel makes a face and then it drops into an expression of shock.

“Wait… Two…? You’re-you’re going back?”

Valentino barks out a laugh.

“Where else would I go?” he asks Angel with what’s probably a slightly manic grin.

Angel gets a new expression on his face that Valentino can’t identify. “Val, you hardly got any rest. You need to recover.”

What else was new? That’s why he’s going home. He raises an eyebrow and waits for Angel to continue.

“I can keep an eye on Vax for a little bit. Just to make sure nothing happens to him while you rest.” Angel takes a deep breath. “Look, maybe you and Vax can stay at—”

Valentino scoffs. “I’m not trusting addict trash with my damn baby.”

Angel flinches. His previous expression is gone and is replaced with hurt and anger. He can tell Angel wants to talk shit back. He almost wants him to so he can take out some of his lingering anger at Angel’s whole attitude this afternoon. When Angel speaks again, his voice is colder.

“I’m just sayin’ that I don’t think you should be alone with this. You can’t protect Vax from Vox if you ain’t at 100%.”

“Vox won’t try that shit again if he knows what’s good for him.”

He’s been thinking and… he knows Vox. His next step, if he doesn’t hide his face, will be visiting Valentino to try to appease him. Fighting will be the last thing on his mind.

Because Valentino ran.

And Vox, no matter how pissed he is, doesn’t want to lose him.

“Val, I saw what he did."

“And I’m so damn happy you enjoyed the show.” He keeps fucking bringing it up. How many times did he have to hear about how badly he got his ass beat?

Angel’s hands ball into fists. He has the sense to not yell and his next words come out in a hiss. “Why the hell are you like this? I’m trying to help! I don’t…” Angel hugs himself and he softens his voice further. “I don’t want you an’ Vax to get hurt, is all, okay?”

Liar.

It’s a weak thought, though. Maybe some part of Angel does feel sympathy for him. If not him, then surely Vax, at least a little. Some part that doesn’t want to just use Vax to get on Valentino’s good side. He really shouldn’t be shoving Angel away. He needed all the allies he can get if he wants to keep his own sanity over this whole business of what’s a baby or not.

“We won’t,” Valentino says. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Angelcakes.”

Angel slumps. “Will ya… will ya at least let me walk back with you?”

What, like a security guard? How stupid. Valentino could crush him or any demon who approaches him without much effort, even if he is injured. Does Angel think he can do something about Vox?

What a fucking joke.

“Do what you want.”

As Valentino expected, the walk back is mostly uneventful. With his wings coated over his body, no one can see the injuries and Vax is so small with his face pushed against his front that he just looks like a tablet. The only evidence of his major injuries is the lack of a sway to his walk since he’s focused on not wincing or limping with each step as his muscles throb in pain. Angel Dust follows him like a regular whore at his heels and most of the attention goes to him since he’s dressed like a slut. By the time they pass a sinner its too late for them to notice Valentino’s swollen cheek.

In almost no time at all they’re at the door of V Tower and Valentino finds himself not so sure of what will be waiting inside for him.

“Val,” Angel says, that weird expression on his face again. “I know you don’t like the idea but—"

Valentino cuts him off. “Visit me later, baby, and bring presents for Vaxxy, okay?”

He lowers himself to give Angel a kiss.

Angel turns his head so that he catches his cheek instead.

He wants to dig his claws into his jaw and force him to take it.

But what’s the point? He’s home and he’s tired. Angel can be as bratty as he wants right now – he’ll make him pay for it some other time when he remembers.

“…I will,” Angel says, like it’s a mission. He’s glaring up at the camera at the corner of the door.

Vox probably got a kick out of that.

The doors slide open for Valentino, then shut suspiciously quickly the moment he’s inside.

The lobby is empty and no one is manning the front desk. That’s surprising considering it’s not too late at night yet. Perhaps Vox hadn’t been able to make it up discreetly in his own state and had the area cleared.

The dark room is tinted blue from dimmed screens flashing advertisements. Vox’s face is displayed on most of them. He can see the blinking red lights of cameras in all the corners of the tower. Machines hum in the walls.

All Vox.

He wonders if he’s watching him right now or if he’s still recovering. Maybe both. Velvette isn’t here – she might be with him. If it’s really bad, then she might be the one patching him up…

Velvette’s never seen either of them hurt like this before. She hasn’t been with them that long. She knows what they’re capable of so he doesn’t think she’d be surprised that they can get hurt, but surely she must have something to say about them having been the ones to hurt each other. They’re partners – they’re not supposed to do this to each other.

Would she feel unsafe?

Would she feel more unsafe with him or with Vox?

He doesn’t like the obvious answer.

Valentino steps into the elevator, anxiety twisting in his gut. Vax yawns. It’s a cute distraction so he takes the time to adore him instead.

When the elevator door opens, he almost expects Vox there, waiting for him.

But there’s no one.

He has to open the door to their living quarters himself since Laura and Rita are dead.

No one is waiting for him inside either.

“Kitty?” he calls.

To his relief, she’s at his side in an instant, waiting patiently for orders.

“Good girl,” he sighs. “Go down to the apartments and bring me some of Vax’s clothes, yeah? A bib and more formula… Whatever you can carry.”

With a soft robotic whirl, she’s off.

His bedroom is just as he left it.

He doesn’t stifle his happy chitter when after he’s reattached the bassinet to his bed and plugged Vax in, the baby immediately cooed and snuggled in to get comfortable. Valentino drags himself onto the bed as close as he can to him and it’s not long before Vax is asleep, squeaking softly with each exhale.

There’s a soft knock on the door and Valentino almost jumps out of the bed, heart thudding hard in his chest. That isn’t Kitty – that was too fast.

His eyes dart down to Vax, praying he doesn’t wake up.

Another knock.

He does not want to answer it.

Vax twitches.

Valentino gets out of bed and throws the door open in the most aggressively quiet way he can.

It’s Vox, of course.

He looks horrible.

His suit, sweater vest and normal dress shirt have been replaced with a loose tee – evidently something Velvette snapped onto him judging by the lack of buttons. He can see the hint of a bandage over his collarbone. And his face…

Valentino had been gone a while – he really thought Vox would have done more to fix it but he clearly hadn’t. There was a shitty attempt at wrapping half of the screen that Valentino had punched in. It was almost as bad as Valentino’s first attempt to wrap his own arms. He can even see traces of blood on them from Vox’s hands.

There’s a hint of something at the edge of the bandages – gauze or sponges, maybe, had been stuffed into his frame and were soaked with Vox’s… insides. He has no idea how that works. Vox’s body never really made sense and sometimes it’s fun – but this makes him sick.

One of Vox’s eyes and half of his mouth is still visible. Valentino can’t even begin to wrap his head around how the hell that could possibly work when he opens it to talk.

“Val—” Vox starts, lifting a hand.

Valentino flinches.

Shit. Fuck.

Vox freezes, eye widening.

He lowers his hand and Valentino wants to die.

He’s not sure if it’s because Vox noticed, or if it’s because he reacted at all or – or because despite everything he still wants Vox to touch him.

Vox takes a step back to give Valentino more space to come out of the bedroom with him. He closes the door behind him. It makes him anxious, but it’s a small barrier between Vox and Vax.

He doesn’t think Vox is here for Vax at all, though.

Slowly, Vox moves his hand again, palm up. He holds it up between them awkwardly like he wants to touch Valentino, but also doesn’t want to ask for permission. With a sigh, Valentino reaches out and flips their hands so that they’re palm to palm, allowing their fingers to interlock with each other’s.

Vox’s eye turns goopy in affection and relief.

“What the he–rkk–ell happened?” Vox asks. With the look on his face right after the words come out, Valentino knows this is not what he intended to say. This is unplanned. Vox’s expression twists as he catches himself, then shifts into resignation. “We don’t hit each oth–other, Val. Not like that. That is–is–zzt–isn’t us.”

“You hit me,” Valentino says.

“You hit me first. Velvette says my back looks like swi–zzt–swiss cheese! What the hell did you think I was going to-to-to do?”

Valentino suddenly recalls the dried blood on his fingertips. The rips in Vox’s coat from behind. It had happened so fast—

“I had to.” He glances back at the door behind him. Glares back at Vox, voice hardening. “You were going to hurt Vax.”

“I wasn’t…” Vox trails off. He sighs. “Fuck. I didn’t think you’d react that way. I misca–ca–clzt–calculated.”

It is as close to admitting he was wrong for it as he could possibly get.

It’s…

No.

No, he’s not accepting that.

“Miscalculated? Vox, he’s a fucking baby. My baby! Why wouldn’t I react that way?”

Vox’s eye widens.

“Val…” There’s something wrong with his voice when Vox says his name. It’s not the glitching mess or the distortion. He doesn’t like it at all.

He almost sounds scared.

“Val, he’s not yo–yours. You d-d-don’t have a baby. That thing isn’t a baby.”

Valentino stiffens. “I’m not saying – I know he’s not – I didn’t have him!” He forces himself to lower his voice. He tries to stay calm. “I’m not fucking crazy.”

Vox tightens his grip on his hand, staring at him hard. Somehow, it feels more intense with just one eye. “I want you to be okay.”

“Well, I’m not. No thanks to you hitting me! You electrocuted me, asshole.”

“I know.” Vox thinks over his next words, then, “We’re partners, Val. We don’t n–n–need to fight or threaten each other like that. And I didn’t mean to ma–ma–kkcht–make you feel like you have to.” He nods to himself. “Look, I won’t mess with–with Vax. I don’t want this to happen again – I’m doing this for us. But you need to work with me here. We need con–cht–conditions. Rules.”

“A deal,” Valentino realizes, lowering his hand.

Vox pauses, caught off-guard, and Valentino is surprised that a deal truly isn’t what Vox had been leaning towards.

“I don’t think we should need a con–trk–contract detailing why we shouldn’t hurt each other,” Vox says. “Val, I don’t want to hurt you. Do you really want to hur–hur–hurt me?”

The answer comes out easily as he stares at Vox’s damaged screen, despite how pissed he is with the man. “No.”

Vox’s eye softens. “That’s good. We c–ckt–can sit down and talk. Try and set things straight. We’ll get you some h—”

He’s interrupted by Kitty’s appearance. She’s back and this time holding an overstuffed diaper bag. Instinctively, Valentino makes to grab the bag. He pauses, hand still in Vox’s grip.

Vox is frowning at Kitty. His hand squeezes Valentino’s again briefly, then he lets it drop. “Right, uh, do what you gotta do,” he mutters. “I’ll be dealing with all… this tonight.” He gestures at his face. “Tomorrow, I want to get a look at the damage I did, alright? Velvette will kill us if we don’t get properly treated.”

Valentino swallows back what he thinks might be an apology.

“Tomorrow,” he agrees.

Chapter 21

Kitty brings him painkillers – not the good ones since he needs to stay sober, but they’d have to do. It’s a struggle to sleep and Valentino is staring up at the ceiling in pain. He has half a mind to go to Velvette now and get something stronger, but he can’t leave Vax.

Vax, predictably, wakes up hungry at around one in the morning and Valentino has Kitty prep the food and a bottle for him. There’s not a lot of tears this time, but Vax is desperate to eat again.

Accidentally disabling Laura and Rita so that they couldn’t feed him had taught him there wouldn’t always be food.

What a horrible lesson.

Vax’s squirming jostles his injured arms and he has to bite back his hisses and swears, covering them with soft endearments and apologies. This time when he gives him his bottle, he settles him in the bassinet first. Vax yanks the bottle towards his mouth and suckles eagerly, fingers maneuvering clumsily to keep it still. Valentino lets the bottle go and gives a soft hum of approval when after two fumbles, Vax is able to hold the bottle on his own.

“You’re doing so good, baby,” he whispers. “You’re so smart. Are you learning?”

Vax’s eyes go to his face and there’s a muffled babble as he tries to respond and drink at the same time. A bit of formula dribbles out of his mouth and Valentino quickly cleans it up.

When he’s finished, he doesn’t look too eager to go back to sleep, so Valentino sets him onto the bed with him to let him crawl around on his blanket. Vax ends up sitting next to him, chewing the fabric and coating it with his drool. Valentino lays back down, keeping one hand on Vax to make sure he doesn’t crawl off the bed.

There’s also the thought that Vax might get taken away if he accidentally falls asleep.

It won’t happen. He knows it won’t, but it worries him anyway. He has to hug a pillow to his chest to keep himself from sitting up and staring at Vax to make sure he doesn’t disappear.

Vox said he wouldn’t mess with Vax anymore. He says that now but what about another week from now? A month? Valentino doesn’t know how long it will take to find Vax a home. The hypnotism changes everything.

He already knows what Vox is going to say about it. ‘Oh, it’s a prototype, Val, it’s built to have my abilities’ or some shit. He hadn’t even cared to bring it up when he came to try and take Vax away. Vax’s ability isn’t important enough for Vox to worry about.

So Valentino would have to worry alone. He’d find someone resistant to mind control. There had to be someone. Someone he can trust. Someone strong but…

He can feel the tears welling up and he shuts his eyes. Shit.

No.

No. Vax isn’t going anywhere.

He’s staying with him.

He doesn’t want Vax leaving his sight. He can’t do that again. He can’t have it fail again. He’d die.

He’s keeping Vax.

…

Oh, fuck.

Oh, fuck he has a baby.

Fear, excitement, dread, happiness—He digs his claws into his pillow.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

What is he going to do with a baby? Having him for a couple of days had been stressful enough and now he’s keeping him? What was he thinking?!

A manic giggle slips out of his mouth and he bites into his pillow to muffle it.

Fuck.

This is crazy.

He’s so fucking stupid. How many times did he already almost kill the poor thing? Once was too many! He can’t keep him! He can’t but—Fuck!

He feels movement under his hand as Vax crawls up and closer to his head – and then Vax’s head flops back against his shoulder. Valentino shifts himself up a little to get a look at him and his heart feels like it’s going to burst.

When Vax looks up at him, pure innocence and adoration in his eyes, he breaks.

“Fuck, oh, fuck,” he says. “God dammit, I love you.”

He scoops him closer and peppers his face with kisses.

Vax giggles louder with each kiss, wiggling against him.

“My precious angelito,” Valentino continues. “Yes, baby, mami loves you so much.”

xoxoxox

Valentino wakes up to a familiar tune made up of pleasant beeps from Kitty. The second he moves, pain shoots through his muscles and he hisses, claws and teeth finally tearing through his pillows. He gets ahold of himself and looks up at Kitty to see she’s brought him a plate with a new phone, water and more shitty painkillers. He swallows them without a second thought, praying they do something this time.

Vax is awake and watching him quietly from his bassinet, but now that Valentino is looking at him, he’s smiling and wiggling to roll himself over and up into a sitting position. When he’s settled, he babbles and squeaks, reaching for him. Valentino can almost feel the pain melting away just by looking at him.

“Good morning to you too,” Valentino says. He scoots closer and picks him up, unplugging him and giving him a kiss. “You’re such a good boy, Vax, waking up so sweet.”

With a few hours of sleep under his belt and a clearer head, Valentino is able to see and feel bits of sweat and filth on both of their bodies that he and Angel must have missed. On top of that, Vax needs another diaper change.

He hasn’t reorganized the supplies yet, so it takes an extra couple of painful minutes to get Vax cleaned up and changed. To his regret, he doesn’t have anything to give Vax a proper bath right now – most of the important things had been taken to the apartment. Bathing supplies had been in the bathroom and… well, Valentino might have torn them apart. He can’t really remember the specifics.

After Vax is as clean as he can possibly get and set loose on the floor to explore, Valentino checks his new phone.

It hadn’t needed to be said that Valentino would be taking an extended absence from work. When he checks his emails and schedules, he sees Vox has already covered a majority of his responsibilities. Dozens of projects have been cancelled, both his and Vox’s. Deadlines of what’s left have been extended, and employee hours have been cut and a handful of layoffs have been enforced. It occurs so smoothly that Valentino suspects Vox has enacted a failsafe plan for when one Vee is seriously incapacitated.

There’s also over a dozen messages from Velvette and two missed calls. Most of them from last night, yelling at him for leaving them alone with Carmilla. Insults when he doesn’t respond. Then, concern because he still hasn’t responded. More anger. There’s a longer gap than usual in between the next bundle and Valentino can guess this is when she found Vox. Her next messages are careful questions about what’s happening and why did he do this – where did he go and then:

Velvette:

               Are you OK?

Valentino:

               I’m fine babydoll

               Sore. Burns are a bitch.

Velvette:

               I’ve got something for that when you come out.

Thank fuck. He’d go out to meet her in a minute after a quick shower.

He’d rather not take a shower while Vax is awake, but he feels grimy as hell the longer he thinks about it. He reasons he won’t have the shower on for long – he doesn’t want to get his bandages wet. He just wants to get a good scrub in.

After making sure the bathroom floor is clear of anything that can harm a baby, he lets Vax into the bathroom and closes the door. As Vax wanders around, Valentino undresses and steps into the shower, sliding the pink frosted door closed behind him.

Vax’s pitiful, drawn-out cry has him stumbling out before he can even touch the shower valve.

He’s fine, of course. The crying stops when Valentino speaks to him and nuzzles him – but the moment he steps away towards the shower, the tears return.

He picks him up and rocks him gently.

“Come on, baby, don’t cry,” Valentino begs. “I just need five minutes. Please?” He has a tub – he can clean up in there. Vax will be able to see him, and it’d probably be easier anyway. He should have done that in the first place.

He makes to put him back down but then Vax stares up at him with big, watery eyes and a trembling mouth. Abruptly, his fists tighten around bits of Valentino’s fur, and he pulls himself up and pushes his face into it, whimpering.

Valentino chokes back his own whimper.

Whatever. It’s fine. He’s going to have Vox and Velvette help clean him up anyway. He’ll clean the rest when Vax takes a nap. This was his fault, he should have planned it better.

He gets a text from Vox the minute his clothes are back on.

Vox:

               I made breakfast.

Kissass. Vox rarely cooked anymore unless it was for his cooking show. He knows Valentino likes his cooking – it’s why he stopped in the first place. Some fight they had a while ago had Valentino criticizing his ability to cook at all and that caused Vox to suspend all cooking activity in their kitchen. A punishment he never retracted, the sensitive bastard.

Vax is ready, cleaned and dressed for the day. Valentino has put his food and formula and bottle in the diaper bag to take out with him for breakfast. He puts him in his arms and walks to the door and…

And…

He takes a step back.

He looks down at Vax again, checking to make sure he’s still alright. He has everything he needs in the bag. He’s ready.

He stares at the door.

Vax coos in his arms.

His hand twitches up towards its knob.

He lowers it.

What if Vox had lied?

What if he was waiting to recover just enough to take Vax away when Valentino’s guard is down?

Valentino finds himself glancing at one of the cameras in his room. He knows Vox is watching. Vox is always watching.

He shakes his head. Of course Vox is always watching. It’s a fact of life – it’s how he’s lived for the past forty years. There’s no reason for him to be uncomfortable with that fact. Last night had been an out of the ordinary experience for both of them. He’s feeling wired from it and the lack of sleep and his injuries. Vax will be fine.

Valentino leaves his bedroom and follows the smell of food to the other Vees.

Vox is hunched over, leaning over Velvette’s shoulder where she sits at the table while she shows him something on her phone. When Valentino steps closer, Vox snaps up and turns towards him, relief quickly flickering across what remains of his face.

His screen is bandaged up more cleanly, now, and there’s some clear tape over the thin cracks on his more intact side. He’s back in his regular outfit sans the jacket and his sleeves are rolled up neatly.

“Did you get some rest?” Vox asks. Except the voice doesn’t come from Vox’s mouth; it comes from the phone he’s holding in his hand. Valentino frowns at it. Vox sighs, his mouth opening to let the puff of air out, and he speaks. “Still dam-dam-damaged,” he explains.

“Less annoying to listen to,” Velvette adds.

It’s a little off-putting, to be honest, but it doesn’t really matter as long as Vox is conscious.

There’s a small, unexpected part of him that wants to ask Vox if he’s alright; if there’s any more damage aside from a broken screen and his voice glitching out.

The words don’t come out.

Vox seems fine.

In fact, he’s already speaking again, gesturing at the breakfast he made. Vox decided to go for a full homemade breakfast – which meant he must have had ingredients delivered first thing that morning or raided the studio pantry. Either way he would have had to be up early, so he had been planning this since last night. There’s quiche, bacon, spiced peaches, muffins, and some other sides Valentino can’t find it in himself to care about.

Why is Vox fine?

“You gonna sit down?” Velvette asks.

Vox glares at her and then looks back at Valentino, hopefully.

Valentino pushes some of the breakfast aside to make room for Vax’s things. He sits down next to Velvette and settles Vax onto his lap. Vax, who is burying his face against his front, refusing to look at the Vees as though not seeing them means they wouldn’t see him. Valentino strokes the back of his head soothingly. Part of him wants to get rid of the other two if it means Vax would stop being afraid.

He can’t do that. This is their home as much as his and they’re a part of it.

He wonders how they would react to his decision to keep Vax. He can’t bring it up right this minute; he can hardly believe he made the decision himself.

Vax shows his face after a little more coaxing and his eyes light up when he realizes Valentino is about to feed him. Vox and Velvette are forgotten as he eagerly eats. It’s not until he’s finished and Kitty is bringing him a bottle when Valentino realizes they’re watching him. Vox quickly glances away when he sees him noticing his stare, but Velvette stays, arching an eyebrow.

She leans towards the both of them.

Valentino grips Vax more firmly and shies away from her, glaring at her hands that might poke the poor thing. He sees no pokers, instead, he sees one of Velvette’s potions in her hand.

“Vox filled me in to not touch the baby, alright? So maybe try calming down and sitting still so I can work,” Velvette says, rolling her eyes.

He relaxes a little. “What’s in that potion?”

“It’s for pain and regeneration.”

He leans away again. That’s not what he asked. “What are the side effects?”

“Since when do you care?”

“I have to take care of Vax – I can’t fall asleep while he’s awake.”

Velvette scowls. “Just put him to sleep then!” She wiggles the potion. “You’ll pass out with this within the hour.”

He shakes his head.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Velvette snaps. “Put him to sleep and charge him! He’ll still be there when you wake up.”

“Velvette,” Vox says warningly.

Valentino stares.

Velvette glares at Vox and then huffs. “Fine.” She puts the potion down onto the table with more aggression than necessary and gets up. “I’ll whip up something else.”

There’s an awkward silence after Velvette leaves. When Vox glances at Kitty, she is at their side in an instant. She cuts a slice of the quiche and plates it for Valentino along with a variety of sides, setting it in front of him. It looks fucking delicious.

“Travis is handling your filming today,” Vox says in a terrible attempt at conversation. It’s fucking weird not to see his mouth move when he speaks, but Valentino feels ugly when he sees Vox’s damaged face. He lowers his gaze to Vax instead.

“I know. I saw.”

“It’s just temporary. We’ll be releasing promotional shorts based on some of your most popular past films leading up to the new releases. One of our offshoot studios has other projects we can publish in the meantime. I’ll be keeping an eye on everything and… you. As for you – and uh, Vax… I need you to take it easy for the next three months, alright?”

His head snaps up. “Three months? Now you’re giving me three months? Are you fucking kidding me? You only gave me a week to find Vax a new home! A week!”

“I didn’t give you a week to get rid of it, that was your idea,” Vox says, crossing his arms over his chest. “I gave you a week vacation.”

“It was implied!”

“It really wasn’t, Val. Do you want to listen to the recording? I can pull it up right now.”

Valentino swallows. Wait. Shit. No, no, Vox said—

Vox said… He can’t remember.

Vox lifts his phone.

“Fuck off,” Valentino says. “I don’t want to listen to your damn recordings.”

The phone is lowered. Vox sighs. “If I wanted anything, it was for it to be returned to the basement when you got bored with it. It was you who made everything so complicated with apartments and time off and contracts.”

That was such a load of shit! He had to! For the Vees! He was doing it for them so he could work because they’re supposed to be a damn team.

Valentino can feel his face heating up. He’s not sure if it’s from anger or humiliation. This wasn’t all him. Vox must have said something. He pushed Valentino into making these decisions – that’s what he does. He makes suggestions, he makes threats, he—

“You wanted to replace me.”

Vox blinks. “What? No, I didn’t want to, Val. You were…” His eye flickers down to Valentino’s plate. He sighs. “That’s not what I meant. I didn’t want to replace you – I still don’t want to. You’re not replaced. We can straighten this out after you eat your breakfast. It’s getting cold.”

Valentino stabs at the slice of quiche with a fork as Vox leans back into his chair, scrolling on his phone.

There’s no plate in front of him. Velvette didn’t have one either, now that he thinks about it.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Valentino asks.

Vox doesn’t look up. “I already ate.”

“You cooked and ate before I came out?”

“I can hardly eat much like this,” Vox says, gesturing vaguely at his face. “Small portions is all I can handle. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Valentino puts the fork down. “What did you eat?”

Now, Vox looks up. “…I picked at stuff as I cooked. So, a bit of everything, I guess? Except the final product.” He glances at the discarded fork. “Why?”

“Why now did you cook?”

It’s not that easy to tell since half of his face is gone, but Vox looks uncomfortable with the question. He notably doesn’t answer right away either. Shit, did Vox put something in it?

No, no, he wouldn’t. Would he? He can’t remember if this is something Vox might have done before. It’s not completely out of character for the both of them. In any other case it would be fine, they had their reasons, but if this is about Vax then that changes everything.

“Does it matter why?” Vox asks grouchily.

Oh. Fuck. This. He’s not touching this food. He’ll get takeout.

Valentino stands up.

Vox’s eye widens and his mouth opens. “Wait, Val, c-ckk-come on—!"

xoxoxox

Velvette joins him in his bedroom with the expression of someone who is completely done with his shit.

“Vox—” Valentino starts.

She lifts a hand up to silence him. “Not now.” She has her fancy potion case in her other hand. “Let me see your burns.”

Valentino places Vax in his bassinet and sits on the bed next to it. Carefully, he unravels the bandages on his two burned arms. Velvette sits to his side, facing him, and taps his third bandaged arm, then scowls when he says it’s a cut, not a burn. She has him unwrap it anyway to get a look, then has Kitty bring her supplies to clean him up more. The robot disappears the next minute.

When Velvette’s satisfied, she opens her case and pulls out the new potion she brewed, along with some pieces of pink fabric – then dumps the potion on it. She wraps them around his burns. Valentino flinches at first from the bite of cold, but then it turns cool and soothing and it takes everything in him not to melt against her.

Velvette’s smirking, smug over a job well done. She lets him have his moment of relief and then unwinds more bandages, wrapping them around the burns and the cut on his arms. Some of the cooling effects go away but most of the pain is gone.

His muscles, unfortunately, are still sore. When he says so, she just gives him more shitty painkillers with the reminder that her other potion would have relieved him of that.

“Why did you two fight this time?” she asks finally.

Valentino stiffens.

“I mean just now. You left him in there pouting over his quiche.”

He considers playing dumb. Then he considers that Velvette asked. He’s not sure if that means she’ll actually listen, but it’s worth a shot.

“Vox is acting weird,” Valentino says.

“You both are.”

“What the fuck am I doing?”

She gestures at Vax and Valentino sneers.

He’s acting different, maybe, but that’s because she’s never seen him with a baby before! He’s not acting weird.

“This isn’t weird. This is completely fucking reasonable. I’m trying to keep Vax safe and I—” He stumbles over the words. “I can’t trust Vox to help me with that.”

“Oh, shut it, are you really that upset he’s not interested in your tablet?”

Valentino feels the hurt slice into him like a knife. He covers it with anger. “It’s not that. He was trying to take him away. He was going to hurt him.”

“Because he was pissed off you screwed our meeting! Of course he’s going to try and take away your new toy – he always does that shit! That’s normal.” She shrugs. “He’s calmed down some, hasn’t he? He won’t give it a second thought unless you keep acting like this. And don’t fucking attack him again!”

“That’s another thing!” Valentino snaps. “Vox isn’t… is he even hurt?”

“The fuck are you going on about? Of course he is.”

“He’s not acting like it!”

“Valentino, I treated his back myself. He’s got over a dozen holes in him from when you yanked him across the room. Believe me, he’s hurt.”

Valentino waves a hand in front of his face. “His face? How the fuck isn’t he in agony?”

“He put himself offline for that one, didn’t he? Only way to keep from shutting down from the shock of the blow. He was a wreck when I found him.”

The words sound familiar. Had Vox talked him through this before? He was always talking about advancements and upgrades to his body that Valentino had started to just tune it out.

…He wonders if he had hinted at working on Vax and he just hadn’t listened.

“Offline?”

Velvette shrugs. “You know how he’s always fucking around with his body. It’s like… he disconnected himself from that half of his face. It's still damaged but he’s not gonna feel it. As far as his body knows, he’s never had a right side of his face.” She scrunches up her face as she rethinks her words. “Obviously, he knows, and he knows he’s hurt. He’s just tricking his body so he won’t be dragging his ass around whining all day.”

“It’s weird,” he insists.

“Do you know how it will look if Vox goes on set with half of his face missing, moaning and groaning about the pain? While you aren’t leading projects anymore? People will talk, Vee. You have the excuse of a ‘secret project’, but Vox doesn’t. We have to keep up appearances until you’ve both recovered.” She flips her hair. “Lucky for you boys, you have me. I’ll have you straightened out in a couple of days.”

He’s reluctant to admit that it makes sense. Vox has received cracks in his screen before, especially in the early days, and he always pretended they didn’t hurt as much as they did. As time moved on, he was able to project himself on television as completely intact. It was the same now – just this time he wasn’t feeling the pain, apparently.

“And he couldn’t use your potions?”

“Oh, he can and he is. For his back. Yeah, fucker can’t put that part offline. It’ll be healed up soon enough.”

“So it wasn’t that bad?” Valentino asks.

Velvette frowns. “Where’d you hear that? His back was nothing he couldn’t handle, but it was still bad. His face especially – going offline from the pain in his face doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have bled out. He’s lucky I got there in time.” She shifts uncomfortably. “Valentino, he told me to take it easy on you and not ask about it, but this is serious. If either of you had killed each other—"

“We wouldn’t.”

“You said you might.”

“I didn’t mean that.”

“It sounded like you did.”

He’s saved from the conversation by Kitty reappearing. She presents a tray – full of one serving of the breakfast Vox had made. They both stare at it disbelievingly.

“That fucking simp,” Velvette scoffs.

“Stubborn asshole,” Valentino mutters.

“Well, fuck, Vee, he spent all morning making it,” she points out. He feels a twinge in his chest at the reminder. But Vox was just doing it to kiss ass and probably drug him. It didn’t mean anything else.

She takes the small bowl of spiced peaches and picks a slice with a toothpick and pops it into her mouth. Valentino isn’t able to cover up his look of longing in time.

“If you’re hungry, eat. This is all yours,” Velvette points out.

“I’m ordering takeout,” he says. He finds himself still staring at the food. He isn’t even sure where he’s left his phone, to be honest.

Velvette frowns. “Come off it, you love Vox’s cooking. You should be taking advantage of this – it’s been months since he last cooked for you.”

“What if Vox did something to it?” He feels like an idiot saying it out loud.

Velvette’s jaw drops.

“You think he’s trying to poison you?”

He’s surprised to see how offended she looks on Vox’s behalf. He thought she’d be more offended that he thought that and still watched her eat a portion without saying anything.

“Not to kill me, but-”

“He’s not trying to fucking poison you, dumbass!”

Well fuck him for being cautious!

“He would if he wants Vax!” Valentino snaps back.

“Nobody wants your stupid tablet!” She shakes her head in disbelief and disgust when Valentino winces. “You’re being fucking paranoid. Eat the damn quiche!”

He slaps the tray away.

The sound of its impact against the wall and then the floor is impossibly loud.

Vax bursts into tears and Valentino wants to kill himself.

The feeling vanishes when Velvette turns to Vax so harshly her ponytail almost whips across Valentino’s face.

“Would you shut up?” she snaps.

Valentino sees red and he stands.

“Don’t you fucking dare yell at him!”

She stiffens and bares her fangs at him. “Oh, hell no, are you threatening me? Me?”

He grabs her arm.

He can see the glow on her hands – he’s not sure what she plans to do. Either attack him or use something to hit him, but he doesn’t give her the chance to. He’s faster than her even when he’s hurt. In a couple of strides, he’s already at the door to his bedroom and flings it open.

There’s not enough room in him to be surprised to see Vox waiting outside the door, arms up to catch Velvette when Valentino shoves her out of the room. He grips onto Velvette tightly, already braced so they wouldn’t topple over.

Valentino barely catches his wide-eyed look and he slams the door closed.

Chapter 22

Valentino flexes the fingers of the hand that gripped Velvette.

It’s been about half an hour since he threw her out of his room.

He’s grabbed her before – yanking her out of the way of danger. Playfully, when he’s tossed her over a shoulder or carried her under his arm. Sometimes pulling her out of the arms of another sinner because he was jealous and wanted to steal a dance.

This was different. He grabbed her as though she were a disobedient whore. Tossed her outside of his bedroom.

Velvette isn’t a whore.

Velvette’s his friend.

Tiny hands grip his flexing fingers and Valentino looks to Vax, who had stopped crying not long after Velvette had been thrown out and Kitty had cleaned the mess. The baby isn’t looking at him and instead chomps down on his fingers with his gums. They’re both on his bed again. They’d been cuddling at first but now Vax is livelier and trying to coax him into giving him more active attention.

Valentino wiggles his fingers in his mouth until Vax lets go to get a better bite, then uses another hand to gently flip Vax over on his back. He pushes down on him, tickling his stomach as Vax squirms and giggles and squeaks. Valentino adjusts himself on the bed and lays on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and tugging Vax a little under himself so that he’s just below his face. With a grin, he lowers his head and blows raspberries onto Vax’s stomach.

Vax squeals. He kicks out at Valentino but doesn’t try to escape at all.

“You just want to play, don’t you?” Valentino asks. “You want aaaall of mami’s attention.”

He definitely had it.

Valentino can’t believe how quickly he shut out Vox and Velvette.

But it was their fault! Vox for being such an untrustworthy sack of shit and Velvette for being an unbearable bitch.

The thought isn’t quite enough to get rid of the cold ache in his chest.

“They have no right to be mad,” Valentino tells Vax. “They started it. They were the ones who started being assholes. Velvette didn’t even hear me out about you. She just took Vox’s word on what you are and where you came from.

“She lied to me too. You were asleep at the time, but she said she wanted to get my measurements because her new fabric came in. Really, she just wanted to know what I wanted from Vox. Vox put her up to that.” He swallows and struggles to keep his voice from trembling. “Vox has her play shopping with me. Parties, sleepovers— Vox doesn’t… Vox doesn’t like the same things I do, you know? We’re not compatible at all – that’s what Velvette’s for. Velvette joins the team and just happens to like all the same shit I do? We usually get along so well – it’s probably some of Vox’s algorithmic bullshit. She’s just another perfectly crafted string to tie me down here.

“Of course she doesn’t really care. Why was I stupid enough to think she might?”

A part of him knows this is just depressive babble, but another part of him keeps pointing out all the ways it’s true. He sniffles and buries the hurt under anger and spite.

“She probably ate that peach to try and get me to eat that stupid spiked quiche. They planned that shit. Vox was waiting outside and everything.” Valentino shakes his head and picks up his phone to order something. “What kind of old man who died in the 50’s knows how to cook anyway? One who would use that skill to lace someone’s food, that’s who.”

He’s scrolling through his apps and looking at menus when Angel texts him.

Angel Dust:

               Am I good to come over?

Valentino:

               Feel free. You better have a present for Vax.

Angel Dust:

               I do.

Valentino:

               And breakfast for me <3

Angel Dust:

               I’m picking something up rn. Ill order 4 u 2

Angel must not have been far. He gets a notification that someone is trying to buzz in not twenty minutes later. Vox had apparently increased some kind of security in the tower. Angel texts him that he had to wait at the front desk. Him. Angel Dust.

Vox and Velvette hadn’t stuck around. Their schedules were packed now – clearly they went to work. Good. He doesn’t want them around him or Vax or Angel.

Vax goes very quiet when Angel walks into Valentino’s bedroom and watches him uncertainly, hands squeezing Valentino’s wings.

“Hi, Vax,” Angel says softly and in a sweet voice. “I brought ya a present.”

He comes a little closer and Vax recognizes him with a happy squeak. Valentino can’t really find it in himself to get too upset about it. Especially not when Angel pulls out a floppy stuffed dinosaur and wiggles it in front of Vax in a silly dance. Vax eagerly grabs it and pushes his face into it, then stuffs one of its limbs into his mouth.

“Knew that would be a hit,” Angel says, grinning.

“Did you bring breakfast?” Valentino asks.

Angel’s grin fades a little. He sits on the bed and then awkwardly puts the bag of takeout next to them.

Kitty makes a disgruntled robotic noise and leaves the room. She comes back with plates and sweeps the food off the bed and properly plates it, then serves Valentino. Angel quietly sips an iced coffee and picks at a bag of apple slices as if he isn’t hungry. He shouldn’t be; Valentino knows the slut stuffed his face before he got here. He can see it in the way he tries to tilt his body into a more appealing angle that doesn’t show off his stomach that he’s probably sucking in.

The breakfast Angel chose for him is acceptable. They’ve eaten together plenty of times of course. After his first bite he realizes how much he’s starving and it takes everything in him not to inhale the food. He wouldn’t be able to tell anyone if it tasted good or bad – he just wanted it in him.

The question of how Vox’s quiche might have tasted passes through his head and he quickly shoves it away. It was probably shit anyway.

“How’re your arms?” Angel asks when Kitty sweeps the trash away.

Strangely, Valentino feels like hiding his arms from him. They twitch just a little and he resists the urge.

“Fine. All patched up.”

There’s an uncomfortable pause. Angel clears his throat.

“Got any plans today?”

“No.” He doesn’t even want to leave his room. Vax likes it here anyway.

“…What about work?”

“I’m on leave.”

“Forreal? How long?” Angel asks, horrified. “Is that why my schedule just went crazy?”

Now that he thinks about it, he remembers seeing triple shifts on Angel’s schedule. Vox was betting on using their biggest star to keep their profits up even after cancelling so many projects.

“Three months.”

“Holy shit, is Vox punishing you?”

“Do you think I’m a child? Of course not.” Vox thinks he’s… sick. Or something. Whatever. He’s going to make use of the time. Get used to Vax and make this whole thing work. He can do it. He’s done it before and there had been more than one baby – though admittedly he hadn’t taken care of them 24/7 and he hadn’t run a whole porn studio and several clubs at the same time.

“He has to know that keeping you from work is like, literally torture,” Angel points out.

“I can focus more on Vax with that time.”

“I guess so, but, Val…” Angel trails off. “You’ve always… I mean, when it would come down to it, you would choose work every time. I know you love Vax, but if he keeps you from work this might end with you… not focusing on him.”

Valentino stiffens.

“Are you saying I’ll get bored?” he snaps. “Of my baby?”

Angel shifts in place, looking a mix between ready to run or fight. “I think you really love your job and your money and your status,” he whispers. “I think you’ll put them above anyone who can’t keep up.”

Valentino scoffs. “Oh, fuck you, this isn’t about you, Angel Dust.”

Angel flinches.

Besides, that was different. Valentino is in power now. He can afford to take care of Vax. He has a team. Even if he can’t stand them or… or trust them right now. They’re still a team. They still—

They fucking need him, so they’ll pick up his slack until he gets this all figured out.

“Vax is a baby,” Valentino adds. “It’s different. He needs me. It’s not his fault he’s so little.”

“What about Vox?” Angel asks.

“What about Vox?”

“Val, he hurt you. He tried to hurt Vax. Let’s say… let’s say you do put Vax above work. What happens if Vox don’t like that?”

“Vox will just have to live with it.”

“What if he can’t?”

“Angel, if Vox couldn’t live with half the shit I brought into the tower you wouldn’t be alive to be pissing me off right now.” Valentino rolls his eyes. “Look, we talked, alright? He’s not gonna fuck with Vax. So, relax.”

It was much easier to say that to someone else than to believe it himself.

“Did he even apologize?”

“Yes!” Valentino says. “You nosy slut! Yes, he apologized, are you happy now?”

Angel obviously doesn’t believe him. “Did he admit Vax is a baby?”

What the fuck was with this interrogation, anyway? He hates this. He hates having to defend Vox when he’s still mad at the man himself. It’s a struggle to keep himself from yelling, but a full stomach and a baby in his lap helps.

“I already told you – he’s too stupid to do that. Vox and that damn scientist fucked something up when they were experimenting.”

“What scientist?”

“The fish one. He’s at your stupid hotel.”

Angel jerks back. “Wait, you mean Baxter? That psychotic little sadist?” His fist thumps against his knee. “We fuckin’ knew he was a spy!” He blinks and then grimaces. “Shit, he and Vox worked together, then? With Vax?”

“I don’t know the details.”

Though Angel calling him a ‘psychotic sadist’ didn’t bode well.

“He’s an asshole but… I don’t know, maybe we can talk to him. If you’re right about the experiments, then we can have him pull up info on Vax and look into it. Shove it in Vox’s face that Vax is the real deal, you know?”

“…He’s alive?” Valentino asks.

Angel nods. “Oh, yeah, we didn’t attack him or nothin’. Second chances and whatnot. It worked with Pentious and he wasn’t very obvious about the spying so he lives in the hotel’s basement.”

“Vox didn’t kill him?”

“No? Why would he? If he’s a spy then wouldn’t that be kinda stupid?”

“He was furious,” Valentino says, remembering the absolute mess Vox was when he discovered Baxter had messed with their logs. Only on the phone though – he hadn’t seen that anger in person. “I thought for sure he’d kill him or bring him back here. Maybe feed him to his sharks.”

“Uh, no, we haven’t seen Vox around at all. From what I’ve seen of Baxter he looks fine. Not that I see him a lot since I’m in and out – he’s kinda a recluse, ya know? Stays hidden in the basement and when he comes out, he treats us like little test subjects. Only one he kinda gets along with is Niffty and that’s ‘cause she likes the pain. It’d be cute if they weren’t so freaky about it. It’s not even the sexy kind of freaky either.

“If Vox wants him dead then I don’t think he should come here, we’d just be getting him killed.” Angel twiddles his thumbs. “I’ve been wanting to say… You know, you should go to the hotel. You can talk to Baxter and maybe uh… Charlie.”

Valentino ignores half of that.

“I had an agreement with Vox to not leave the tower with Vax.”

Angel scoffs. “Didn’t you already leave when you ran to the club? Who cares?”

Not Valentino. He already knows he’ll eventually break that rule of Vox’s. He’s not going to last staying cooped up in the tower forever. It’s the distance that bothers him, really, because they’d need to take a car. The idea of putting Vax in a car makes him anxious. It’s stupid, he knows it’s not the same and he will have to get over it eventually, but all he can imagine is the crying and the stiffening bodies pushing against him and that horrible, horrible smell.

“The hotel is too far.”

There must be something in his voice that warns Angel not to push.

“I’ll ask Baxter about him, then,” Angel decides. “…If I ever see him. Between my shifts and him never coming out, that might be hard. He shows up during lessons so maybe I can sneak an ask in? Could have Charlie corner him…”

Valentino doesn’t see a reason to stop him from asking. He doesn’t really give a damn what answers Baxter has, either. For all they know he might say Vax is a robot too and then Angel will feel like a moron. As for himself…

He’s already decided Vax is his – he’ll love and take care of him no matter what. Angel’s wrong. He won’t get bored.

He won’t leave Vax.

Vox said he hadn’t told Valentino to get rid of Vax last time.

Well, he hadn’t told him this time either.

He won’t listen to any of Vox’s attempts to twist those words in the future.

Chapter 23

Valentino knows Velvette is back by lunch because she makes sure to kick his bedroom door and that alone is enough to have him stay locked in his room. He doesn’t want to see that ugly bitch’s face. Maybe he could have forgiven her for yelling at Vax, but kicking his door had been petty as shit and if she was going to have an attitude about it, so was he.

He spends the rest of the morning and afternoon in his room. He has enough supplies for Vax that he can manage it. He skips lunch because he almost convinces himself to find the leftovers from breakfast – only to cop out when he remembers Velvette had left a potion on the table and they had left Vox alone with it.

When he tries to order out, he sees Vox autofill his card information for him.

Valentino cancels the order out of spite.

Of course, when dinner rolls around, his stomach calls him an idiot and demands he go out and eat.

He doesn’t want to order and have Vox pay for it – or worse, tamper with it.

He reasons that there’s food all over the tower. Vending machines, the snack bars, the studio pantries… He can get anything.

The problem is Velvette appears to be working from home. If he listens, he can hear the TV on and tuned into the news which she likely isn’t even paying attention to. She knows he doesn’t want to look at her. She’s doing this on purpose.

But fuck her, this is his tower too.

And Vax’s, now. Vax isn’t going to stay locked away.

He has all of Vax’s things together to take with him only to freeze when he gets to his own door.

He can’t.

An uncomfortable chill goes up his spine.

He can’t get himself to leave his room.

Not when he knows Velvette is still home and Vox might be coming soon.

Valentino puts the diaper bag down and squeezes Vax against himself, then sets him down as well. He’ll feed him in his room again.

His phone pings.

An order of food – dinner – has been delivered to V Tower for him. Kitty leaves the room and picks it up.

He’s just started feeding Vax when she returns with the takeout. It’s one of his regular orders.

But he hadn’t ordered it.

Vox had.

Vox is watching. Vox knows he hasn’t eaten since the breakfast Angel Dust had given him. He knows he just chickened out of leaving his room. He knows Angel is on the second half of his double shift and is too busy to get him something else. Vox is trying to be considerate. He’s looking out for him. Trying to get on his good side.

Or he’s trying to poison him.

Valentino tries to stomp the thought out, but it sticks. He pushes the heel of his palms against his temples as if he could physically push the paranoia out.

It’s ridiculous. Vox wouldn’t go through the trouble of drugging his takeout. There are easier ways to drug someone. He shouldn’t have to worry about his food being spiked. His brain is just – he knows he’s fucking with himself. Overthinking it all.

“Get it together,” Valentino mutters to himself.

Vax, oblivious to Valentino’s issues, bites at the empty plastic spoon in one of his hands. Valentino shakes his head to clear it and continues to feed him. With a free hand, he texts a shopping list to Angel. More food and diapers for Vax and some food for himself.

Angel texts back that he’ll be working very late – does he need it asap or can he wait until morning?

Kitty tries to present the food to Valentino again, but he waves her away. He’s gone longer without eating.

Valentino:

               First thing in the morning, Angel

Angel sends a thumbs up with a heart.

xoxoxox

In the morning, Angel arrives with bags under his eyes and a bag full of goodies. He gives Vax a quick pat on the head and as he’s setting out what he bought for Valentino to see, he spots the uneaten food from the night before.

“What happened to that?” he asks, frowning.

“Garbage,” Valentino replies.

Kitty, in response, sweeps it away and dumps it in the trash.

“And that?” Angel points to Velvette’s forgotten potion case that Valentino put away onto a shelf where Vax wouldn’t be able to reach it, right next to the briefcase full of drugs he has yet to distribute to his junkies. He had poked around Velvette’s case when he changed his bandages and his burns had started to itch and his muscles continued to throb – but nothing was labeled. He told himself he’d give it back once he figured out what he wanted to say to her.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Angel’s eyes linger on the case for a minute longer – or more likely the one next to it. He gives Valentino a concerned look. “Uh, Val, are you alright?”

“Peachy.” He fishes around in the bag of food Angel brought him and finds two chicken biscuit sandwiches, hashbrowns and a bag of fruit. He lets Vax lick and nibble at the hashbrowns as he swallows down the sandwiches.

He can feel Angel watching him. Judging him. Trying to gauge the mood he’s in.

Valentino isn’t sure of the mood he’s in.

He knows, distantly, that’s not a good sign.

Angel doesn’t push.

Angel has another double shift at the studio.

Angel leaves.

xoxoxox

Vox:

               Val we need to treat your burns properly.

Valentino ignores the message. They’re healing fine. He opens a jar of food for Vax’s lunch. His phone rings and he’s about to silence it until he sees Vax’s legs kicking out at his ringtone. Smiling, he lets it play and watches Vax sway and wiggle to the music.

He gives him a kiss when it’s over, then starts to feed him.

Vox:

               You can’t stay cooped up in your room. You’ll go nuts.

He doesn’t reply. He can’t find a way to tell Vox he doesn’t trust him around Vax without it blowing up in his face.

Angel Dust:

               I can stop by during my lunch. Do you need anything?

Valentino:

               Food.

Vox:

               I can bring you food, Val. What would you like?

Even though he doesn’t answer, he gets another ping on his phone alerting him of the delivery fifteen minutes later. He has Kitty throw it away immediately.

Vox:

               You’re being ridiculous.

xoxoxox

It’s been three days.

Velvette hasn’t tried texting or calling him at all.

And why would she? Just the one dose of her potion was enough to speed up his healing. His burns are barely visible now. Her job is done.

And… and if it wasn’t just a job to her, well—

She might be waiting for him to message her first but that’s not him.

If she talked to Vox, she would know that.

…If she talked to Vox, she wouldn’t give a fuck what he told her.

He wants to feel angry about it but instead all he feels is sick and empty. Like he’s thrown up all his feelings over what happened and is left staring at the mess.

Vox has continued to try sending him food through delivery apps and once more in person, though Valentino had ignored him when he knocked on the door. The texts, coming in more frequently as the days go by, go ignored. Not that Valentino isn’t completely disinterested in what the other Vees are doing. He’s turned on the TV in his room and seen Vox a couple of times – a projected duplicate of him at least. He’s intact on screen so the public wouldn’t know about his and Valentino’s fight.

From what Valentino can see, the layoffs of unowned souls were a hit on their popularity. He sees rumors online when he has time to doomscroll; most say the Vees have a secret project and would rebrand soon. Deals are being made, clearly.

Business is… Not great. Not for Valentino’s department. Their offshoot studios are still filming niche content, but Valentino’s has gone quiet and only the barest news on Angel Dust’s films is being released. Club management has been delegated to demons Valentino has never heard of.

And his whores haven’t texted him nearly as much as they used to.

Has Vox given up on him coming back to work?

It’s only been a few days.

xoxoxox

Angel finally musters up the courage to ask him.

“Have you left your room at all?”

Valentino blows out an irritated puff of heart-shaped smoke. “No.”

“Is Vox keeping you here?”

“No, idiot.” The opposite, really. Vox has been messaging him to get out for days. He’s done all but drag him out himself. “Vox can’t keep me anywhere. I’m in here because Vax likes it here.”

Angel looks uncomfortable since he knows that’s absolute bullshit. “Um, alright.”

“So,” Valentino says, searching for a different topic. Because apparently he and Angel Dust just talk now. “Sober, huh?”

Angel blinks dumbly. Finally, the words register. “Yeah, uh… going on two months.”

Two months. He’s been at that hotel for at least nine. Some fucking rehab.

But still. Two months is the longest he’s gone.

“You haven’t taken anything?” he asks, narrowing his eyes. He dares him to lie.

“No. Nothing… nothing ‘cept… you know. You. When we’re filming.”

Valentino scoffs.

Angel’s expression darkens.

“Speaking of… I need to actually, you know, stay at the hotel.”

Valentino feels his antennae twitch. “You are. You don’t live here.”

“I know. But I mean I’m supposed to be doing activities with Charlie and Vaggie. Team building. Talking about feelings. Trust falls. All that stuff.”

“I’m not stopping you,” Valentino snaps.

“You kinda are.” Angel’s face scrunches up. “You and Vox. My work schedule is a damn mess and then I got you asking me to bring stuff to you every couple of hours. I don’t have time for the hotel. As soon as I get there, I barely have time to feed Nuggs before I pass out.”

“Then quit the hotel and come back home.” The words slip out too fast before Valentino can think about them.

“Val, I’ve been sober. I can’t throw this progress away, you know? I… I want to help Vax, I do, but I can’t do all this by myself.”

“Do you think I just sit here playing with Vax all day? I’m feeding him, changing him, bathing him, charging him, making sure he sleeps. All I’ve asked is for you to drop off food a couple of times a day. You’re hardly doing anything.”

“I do more than Vox or Velvette.”

The back of Valentino’s hand is stinging, and Angel is on the floor before he even noticed his own movement.

Valentino lowers his hands to his side and takes a step back. Heat has rushed up to his face and his heart is pounding much too quickly.

Vax makes a soft, worried, sound from the bassinet.

Calm down.

Angel glares at him from the floor, hand covering his cheek.

“That’s it,” Angel mutters. “I’m done.”

“What was that?” Valentino growls.

Angel Dust stands up.

“I said I’m done,” Angel snaps. “I’m… I’m done with you treating me like this. I don’t have to be here. I have a real home now – I have my friends. If you’re going to keep doing this then, I can’t help you. I fuckin’… I fuckin’ wanted to. I thought… Fuck. You’re still just a psychopathic asshole. I’m leaving.”

Of fucking course.

“There he is,” Valentino purrs. “There’s the Angel Dust I know.”

Angel’s shoulders hunch as he braces himself. His eyes dart from Valentino’s clenched fists to the door.

“There’s that lying, self-centered, duplicitous asshole who ensnared me years ago. I was wondering when you’d drop the sweet act.” He pushes forward. “Did you really think if you kept it up that I’d move into that shit hotel with you? Under that stupid cunt’s roof? Following her rules? I know you, bitch. You just wanted to even the playing field. It wouldn’t have worked; I still own you and she wouldn’t have been able to do shit about it.”

“Man, fuck you, Val!” Angel turns on his heel to leave.

Insolent little—

Valentino yanks him back with his chain. Angel’s body snaps back and he falls.

With a hiss, Angel pulls on the shackle around his wrist. “I’m leaving, Val!”

The shackle disappears. Because of their contract, Valentino can’t make him stay. He can’t make him do anything outside of the studio and—

An unexpected jolt of panic and adrenaline shoots through him as he realizes what would happen if Angel were to leave his room and not come back.

Shit. Shit. Shit, no.

No, he needs Angel.

“We’re not done,” Valentino says. “Angel, stay.”

Angel is up on his feet again. Valentino summons the chain. It dissipates a second after, making Angel stumble.

“Knock it off!”

“Angie, baby, hold on—”

“Fuck you!”

“Angel.”

He grabs Angel’s shoulder and forces him to turn around. He tries to cup his face—

Angel fucking bites him.

It’s a reflex when his fist connects with Angel’s cheek.

It’s not a reflex when he follows Angel to the ground. All six of Angel’s hands go up, clawing at his chest and his face and his arms. Valentino grabs at them, bending them in painful angles, trying to make it hurt as his vision turns red.

Every single muscle in his body is screaming, FINALLY.

He thinks he’s shouting something. He thinks Angel is screaming back.

Shut up shut up shut up shut up.

Why is he doing this?

One of Angel’s elbows shoots up to try and hit him. Valentino digs his claws into his shoulders and lifts, then slams him back down, pinning him over some of his arms.

Keeping Angel in his room will do nothing to help him.

Hitting him – screaming at him—

This only makes Angel hate him more.

He’ll never want to help him again.

He’s hurting him for no reason.

He wants to hurt him.

He wants to hurt someone.

Anyone.

Angel was just the easiest target.

Angel continues to struggle underneath him, breath coming out in ragged gasps intermingled with sobs.

Admittedly, the sight isn’t a strange one. The crying, the clawing at the floor. The mix of pleas and curses. Sounds that always just pissed him off more. He hates when they cry. They cry like they don’t know why he’s so angry. Why he has to punish them. They cry when—

When—

He doesn’t hear crying. Baby cries. Vax isn’t—

Vax is quiet.

Valentino’s head snaps in his direction.

Vax is in his bassinet, clutching at part of Valentino’s comforter that had slipped inside. His eyes are swimming with tears, but he doesn’t make a sound.

He’s just watching.

Valentino feels his grip on Angel loosen.

Angel wrenches his arms away from him. Valentino is almost knocked over as he drags himself out from under him and up to his feet and launches himself towards the door.

Valentino doesn’t care to watch him go because the moment he stands up to approach Vax, the baby shrinks back.

“Vax, no,” Valentino says, voice cracking. “No, no, baby, no, it’s okay.”

The door to his bedroom is slammed open so hard by Angel it bangs into the wall and swings back shut with another bang.

Vax sobs.

Valentino has him in his arms immediately.

“No, no, Vax, I’m sorry. Mami’s sorry. Mami won’t hurt you. Please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Vax cries harder.

“Lo siento, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He curls up into bed with him, shushing him desperately, kissing his face and his hands. “Vax, please, please, forgive mami. I won’t hurt you. Never you. Never. I’m sorry for scaring you. I’m so sorry.”

Vax turns himself in his arms to clutch at his front, still crying as he buries his face into Valentino’s chest.

“Yes, baby, I know, I’m sorry,” Valentino whimpers. He keeps his touches gentle as he strokes the back of Vax’s head. “I’m sorry I’m so scary. You’re okay, alright? You’re okay. You’re safe. Mami won’t hurt you.”

Mercifully, Vax stops crying. He’s sniffling against him for a while, trembling, but eventually his hands start squeezing at Valentino’s fur. Valentino gently prods at Vax’s hand and the baby grips his finger and peeks up at him. He voices out a soft string of babbles and Valentino kisses him again.

“You’re okay,” Valentino repeats. “We’ll be okay. We don’t need Angel Dust.”

He settles Vax back into the bassinet once they’ve both calmed down some more. It’s only after that that he notices the text Vox had sent just a moment after Angel fled.

Vox:

               This is why you should have eaten my damn breakfast.

Valentino crushes the phone in his hand.

Notes:

If it's any consolation, the increased chapter count is due to all the fluff in the future.

Chapter 24

Valentino’s ripped a fourth camera out from its corner of his room when he realizes what he’s doing. His body had been moving on its own in quiet anger, pushing Vox away in the only way it could. Once his brain catches up to his body’s actions, he continues. He searches for every single damn camera in his room and either rips it out of the wall or stabs at the hidden lenses Vox thought he didn’t know about.

There’s a total of twenty-one cameras in his bedroom, four in his closet and twelve in his bathroom. All of the remains he has been able to collect have been dumped on his vanity.

Well, fuck.

Out of habit, he looks up at the corner where one of the cameras usually rests. Nothing is there but torn wires now.

Vox is going to lose his shit. He’d come and…

Valentino blinks and looks up at the lights.

Not even a flicker.

Did… Did Vox not notice? No. He had to have seen – he had just text him. He’d be checking on him and making sure he didn’t do anything crazy like rip out all the cameras in his room. Vox wanted eyes on him at all times. He needed to see Valentino. He’d freak out if he was away from his cameras for too long. That’s always been the case since their partnership began – before, even.

Unless he stopped caring.

Valentino’s heart sinks.

That had to be it. This had been the last straw. Look at him. Locking himself away like some psych ward patient. Paranoid. Angry. Violent. Unstable. Of course Vox would get sick of him. He doesn’t need him, he has Velvette. The two of them would take the company into the future and leave his imperfect ass behind. They’re already on their way to replacing him. They’ll do great without him. They don’t need him. Did they ever?

Valentino can feel his face heating up and he quickly shuts his eyes to try and stop any tears from falling.

What the fuck is wrong with him?

He wants to throw things again. Hit someone. Anything to just not fucking feel like this anymore.

But Vax is here.

He can’t get angry. He needs to do something else. Needs to—to…

Valentino lets himself cry. It’s not as hard as it had been the night he and Vox had fought, but it’s still more than he’s used to. He curls up in his bed and sobs, trying to get it out. He just needs to remind himself that this is better than the alternative. At least if he’s curled up in a pathetic ball under the blankets, there’s no chance of him hurting Vax.

It must have only been five or so minutes when he hears movement. Reluctantly, Valentino looks up and to the side where the bassinet rests.

Vax’s hands push against the side of it, trying to push it down and reach him.

Valentino hiccups. “Shh, baby, no.”

Vax murmurs softly, looking at him in confusion. He doesn’t understand.

Valentino looks away.

Vax whimpers.

“Vax, please. Mami needs another minute.”

Another whimper.

Valentino chokes back on his own and wipes his eyes. Vax is just a baby. He doesn’t know. “Fine. Fine, okay.” He gives him a weak smile. “Maybe cuddles will help.”

Vax lights up when he reaches for him. Valentino doesn’t get the chance to position him in his arms properly because Vax is tugging at his fur and pulling himself up, making soft grunting noises as he does so. Any fear from before is completely absent.

“You forgive me, baby?” Valentino asks him, lifting him towards his face. “You forgive mami for scaring you?”

Vax nuzzles his tear-streaked face, murmuring soft nonsense. When he ends it with a kiss, Valentino wants to cry for an entirely different reason.

“Sweet boy. I don’t know where you get that from.”

Considering all the absolute shit this baby has gone through, he really doesn’t know. That’s not even including the trauma he’s only theorized Vax has gone through. Despite it all, Vax is a good and very sweet baby. He doesn’t deserve to get stuck with Valentino as his guardian.

“I’ll try and be good for you too, yeah?” He gives Vax a kiss. “Who cares what the Vees say? It’s just me and you. How about we have some playtime?”

xoxoxox

“—up, Valentino!”

Valentino jerks awake. What time is it? What day?

He’s on the floor? He must have dozed off—

Vax!

He scrambles up to his knees and feels a hand grip his shoulder firmly. He almost falls over from surprise. He lurches away and bares his teeth at—

Velvette?

“Get a grip,” Velvette snaps. “It’s just me, you big pissbaby.”

The fuck was she doing in his room? Clearly, she magicked her way in, but why?

Vax.

He stumbles up. “Vax? Where’s Vax? Fuck, I wasn’t… Vax? Baby?”

“He’s over there,” Velvette says.

Valentino whirls around and sees her pointing at his bed. The baby himself is behind it, quiet, and staring at Velvette with large eyes and trembling. Valentino goes to him and scoops him up, softly muttering apologies for not staying awake. He sits on the bed once he’s sure Vax is fine and narrows his eyes at Velvette, stomach twisting uncomfortably.

Velvette is here.

“What do you want?” he asks.

“Oh, well, fuck you too,” she snaps. “I came to check on you, asshole. Good thing I did – the hell were you passed out for?”

“I fell asleep,” Valentino mutters.

“On the floor?”

“Obviously.”

“Fucking christ, Valentino. Have you not slept properly since you holed up in here?”

Valentino sneers. “What’s it to you?”

“It’s been days. You haven’t left your room to even eat! When’s the last time you did that, by the way?”

He ignores the question. He’s had Kitty bring him snacks from random vending machines. He’s fine. The biggest problem is getting food and diapers for Vax. He’ll be running out soon.

“You look like shit, Vee.”

Velvette steps closer. When Vax notices, he shies away from her. It’s been a few days since he’s seen anyone outside of Angel Dust and Valentino himself. When Velvette cranes her neck to get a better look, he kneads Valentino’s fur and makes a soft, uncertain, sound.

“Huh,” Velvette says.

Valentino glares. “What?”

Her lips purse. “Just… you know. He didn’t really act like that before.”

“He’s scared,” Valentino says. He scowls at her, because why does she care now? “Vox sent you, didn’t he?”

“I’m not Vox’s fucking dog,” Velvette says, offended.

Then he notices the case by the door. Her potion case. Of course.

She didn’t come to check on him – just like she hadn’t really wanted to take his measurements for a new outfit. She came to get her case and just happened to see him passed out.

Velvette jumps back when he stands up and stomps towards the case. He grabs it—

“The hell are you doing?”

He opens the door and throws it out of his bedroom.

Velvette lets out an angry cry and runs after it.

He slams the door shut and walks back towards his bed. Vax’s eyes are wide. He’s confused but not quite ready to cry yet.

The door is slammed back open.

“The fuck’s wrong with you?” Velvette screeches.

Valentino doesn’t bother turning around to look at her. Upon hearing the door bounce against the wall, Vax started crying. He wants nothing more than to yell back at Velvette but that would make everything worse. He doesn’t want to keep making Vax cry.

“Valentino!” Velvette yells again.

He hears her stomp towards him. He cuddles Vax closer and flares his wings out with a snap to stop her in her tracks. Surprise makes Velvette stumble back.

“Shh, baby. Lo siento, I’m sorry, pobrecito, I know, I know, that was scary and loud.”

When he feels Velvette shove his wings aside and her manicured nails dig into his arm to force him to face her, his vision goes red. He turns and his other arms snaps out, gripping Velvette by the throat and pinning her against the bed post.

“Babydoll, this is a warning. Don’t fuck with me right now.” He doesn’t squeeze her throat. Doesn’t tighten his grip. But he does lean closer. Two of his other arms grab her wrists so she doesn’t get any ideas to try and grab Vax or knock him from his hold. He fights against the red threatening to blind him again. “I am at my fucking limit. I can’t handle bullshit. You stay in this room, you keep fucking around, and you’ll get hurt, get me?”

She looks livid.

She looks ready to fight.

Frustration wells up in his chest.

Why doesn’t she take the warning? Why doesn’t anyone fucking listen?

Do they think he’s joking? Do they think he wants to hurt them?

He doesn’t. For fuck’s sake he doesn’t want to hurt any of them!

Not Velvette. Not Vox, either.

He catches the movement of her leg kicking out towards him (too close to Vax) and quickly lifts her up higher so that she knocks him in the chin instead. He throws her on the bed and she bounces off of it and onto the floor with an offended shriek.

By the time she gets her bearings, he’s already locked himself in the bathroom.

Vax is still crying.

Valentino coos at him softly. “Oh, baby, no, you’re alright. It was just noise, yeah? It can’t hurt you.”

Vax continues to cry, face pushed against Valentino’s chest. His body shakes and jerks with sobs. Carefully, Valentino goes to his tub and settles himself down inside of it. Not exactly a bed, but it’s his size and built to his comfort. He rocks Vax in his arms and continues to speak softly to him until finally, finally, the cries stop.

“Good boy,” Valentino sighs, kissing him on top of his head.

Too soon, he hears the lock click, because Velvette is a damn cheat.

The door swings open surprisingly slowly.

Vax whimpers.

Valentino shushes him with another kiss.

“What the fuck,” Velvette says.

Her voice has lowered but he doesn’t trust it. He can imagine what she’s thinking – seeing him curled up in a damn bathtub. Hiding from her. This obvious show of weakness. The surrender of his bedroom – his territory, to her the moment he had run away into the bathroom.

Fuck. She probably thinks he’s just as insane as Vox likely told her.

Valentino bares his teeth at her, though he knows he’s lost. He’s lost to her just like he lost to Vox. “Get out.”

Velvette shifts in place. “You’ve really lost it. Holy shit.” Her fingers push against her temple as she stares at him with wide, uncertain eyes. “Valentino… Put it down.”

Why wouldn’t she listen?

Heat builds up in his face and to his horror he can feel the hot tears starting to fall.

“This isn’t good for you. Put down – Put the baby down, okay? Just for a little while.” She lowers her hand and crosses her arms tightly. “He’s got a crib, doesn’t he?”

What if she takes him?

He wants to shout that at her. Tell her he knows that’s what she’s planning to do. The words are ready to come out.

He swallows them back.

Because what if she isn’t planning to steal Vax away?

He doesn’t want to give her ideas.

“Shut up and go away.”

She doesn’t leave.

Vax whimpers again.

Valentino shifts in the tub and raises his wings to curl up and over himself, shielding Vax and himself from her view.

He can hear Velvette’s phone vibrating and the very soft tapping of her fingers on its screen.

An urgent voice bursts from her phone.

“What’s going on?”

Vox.

Valentino’s heart aches.

“He’s in his bathtub having some sort of psychotic episode!”

“And you’re in there with him?”

“How the hell do you think I know about it?”

“For fuck’s sake, Velvette, you can’t say he’s having a psychotic episode in front of him!”

“…I’ve got you on speaker.”

Vox swears, loudly. “Take me off speaker!”

“I think that would make this worse, Vee.”

He wishes she would take Vox off speaker. Hearing his voice hurts too much. He doesn’t want to hear either of them.

Valentino hugs Vax a little tighter and closes his eyes. He can feel Vax’s tiny hands squeezing him back. He folds his wings more securely around the two of them. Vax makes a confused sound and Valentino whispers to him comfortingly until he quiets.

Someone is repeating his name. Not Velvette. Vox – from the phone’s speaker. It’s closer, somehow. On the tub’s edge. When did that happen?

“Val? Val? Babe?”

“Go away,” Valentino says.

When there’s no immediate response, Valentino’s heart sinks. Which is… stupid. He doesn’t want Velvette or Vox here at all. He doesn’t want to deal with them or hear them. Not when they think he’s fucking crazy. Not when he’s so damn wired that they could take advantage of his state and take Vax. They think that will help but it won’t. He’d fucking lose it. Far more than he already has.

“Val, come on,” Vox says, gentle. “Velvette’s gone. You won’t hurt her.”

Valentino winces.

“You can get out of the tub,” Vox continues. His voice turns a bit teasing. “I sent her to her room.”

Valentino scoffs.

“No, really. I had Kitty plant a new phone for her there so that’s the only way she’ll get it.”

Kitty.

He forgot about Vox’s direct line to Kitty. Her camera.

Vox only loses sight of him when he sends Kitty away.

Vox is still talking. Asking questions and trying to get him to talk back. Only one registers.

“Do you want me to come over? I’ll make the jump.”

“No,” Valentino snaps. He doesn’t want Vox anywhere near Vax.

“…Alright. I won’t. Will you… will you come out, then? Please? We miss you and we’re worried.”

He can’t let himself believe it. He’s fucking tired of hoping things will change.

Valentino reaches past his wings and grips the phone, then pulls his arm back to throw it.

“Wait—wait!”

He hesitates.

“I’m sorry, Val,” Vox says.

Maybe he is having a psychotic episode because Valentino knows he did not actually hear that. That almost sounded sincere. Vox hasn’t said a sincere verbal apology in seven years and at that time he’d been suffering from severe blood loss and head trauma.

“I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know you need to get out of that room for us to help you. I’m not going to take Vax away, I promise. Trust me—”

Valentino lowers his arm and brings the phone closer to his mouth.

“No.”

Vox’s silence is loud.

Valentino swallows. “I don’t trust you. Not with this.”

“…Val, be serious. You – you trust me.”

“Not with this.”

“Okay! …Okay, not with this. We can…” Vox trails off, at a loss for words. “I…”

Yeah, he doesn’t know where to go from here, either.

Vox speaks again. “What about your contracts? The girls and – and Angel Dust? Do you trust them?”

With Vax? More than he did Vox, yes. Angel Dust, he didn’t trust alone with him but…

“The temporary contract should still be in effect even if the long-term version is null,” Vox muses out loud. “Will you let them in your room to help you?”

Had they revived already? But – no. No, Vax had killed them. It wouldn’t be the same. They’d be scared. And Angel…

“I hurt Angel,” he says.

He blinks, tossing the words he just said in his head over and over.

Vox is quiet for a moment. “…Okay…” He gives Valentino time to respond but he doesn’t know what to say either. “Okay. So you… Okay. So you hit him and that’s bad. Is that right?”

He hit Vox. He threw Velvette. He hurt Angel.

Yes. It’s bad.

“He won’t want to come back. Neither will the girls. We hurt them.”

“You own them, so regardless of whether or not they want to, they have to come back. They work here.”

“It’s not the same. It won’t be right.”

“We’ve hardly ever cared if something is right, babe.”

“This needs to be right. I keep fucking everything up. I’m hurting everyone and I keep making Vax cry.”

He’s not sure where that came from. It slipped out.

There’s a long stretch of silence from Vox. Then he speaks slowly. “Val, babies… cry. That’s what they’re known for. He can’t talk.”

Apparently, there’s still enough room in him for anger. He knows Vox doesn’t think Vax is a baby. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I don’t know why you want a baby,” Vox continues. His voice is still soft and slow as he thinks through his words carefully. “But I… understand this isn’t something you’ll just give up. I don’t want you to keep hurting yourself like this. Val, you don’t trust me with Vax but please trust me when I say I’m looking out for you. I need you to tell me what you need from me. I’m trying to make this work, but I can’t do that if we don’t talk about it. We said we would, remember?”

“You’ll say one thing and do another. Or… or do something and say you didn’t.”

“I won’t do that, I promise.”

“You’re a fucking liar.”

“How can you expect to move forward at all if we don’t at least talk? I swear I’ll listen this time, okay? Tell me what you need me to do to make this work.”

Bullshit. Vox is lying. He always lies. Valentino never has to leave his room if he doesn’t want to. He can stay here forever. Fuck Vox. Fuck Velvette. Fuck the Vees. They don’t need him and he doesn’t need them.

…

…Fuck.

He really might be crazy.

Because those thoughts were absolutely insane.

“Vox?”

“Yes?”

“I need you here.”

Chapter 25

Valentino regrets it the moment he says it. He doesn’t want Vox here – he doesn’t want him to see him. Not like this. Fuck, not like this.

He’s back under his wings, making them squeeze tightly around himself and Vax.

He feels it when Vox arrives and is stabbed with fear and shame.

What will Vox do now that he’s seen him like this?

Horror and disgust with himself quickly overtake the feeling. Him? Scared of Vox? Ashamed? What the fuck—No, no, he’s supposed to be angry or, fuck, literally anything else.

Not fucking scared.

Vox hovers while Valentino’s brain screams at him to kick him out of his bathroom.

“Val?”

He gives himself credit for not flinching. The same couldn’t be said for Vax, who has no idea what’s going on. Valentino wonders if he remembers Vox’s voice and the violence from that night. He opens his eyes into the small dark space barely lit up by Vax’s screen. Vax’s eyes stare back, wide and apprehensive. He’s not crying.

Valentino pets the top of Vax’s head soothingly until the baby blinks and snuggles up against him, still quiet, but more relaxed. He wonders what he’s thinking. What Vox is thinking.

He doesn’t know how long it’s been by the time he peeks past his wings to look at Vox, but it’s long enough the demon had stopped hovering.

Vox sits on the tile floor against the wall, knees up to his chest and staring at the ground at the base of the tub. His arms are folded above his knees as the claws of one hand fiddle with his coat sleeve.

Valentino’s heart clenches when he sees there’s still a bandage on a part of his face. A thick piece of gauze strapped up by them, likely covering up a half-healed hole. His mouth appears to have fully reformed and his eye on the damaged side of his face occasionally flickers and glitches, though its barely noticeable.

He looks… bereft. He didn’t have another word for it. This sours Valentino’s mood since the asshole has nothing to feel negative about.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Vox startles.

“It, uh…” His eyes dart around. “It smells.”

What the fuck? Fucking dickhead. When Valentino curls his lip, Vox quickly speaks again.

“Not bad! Not bad, Val, just…” He straightens and grips the top of his knees. “Like a baby.”

Valentino isn’t sure what he means by that. “You mean like shit?” he asks venomously.

“No, like…” Vox clears his throat. “Like a nursery.”

Valentino stares.

Vox’s eyes have drifted to the ground again, lost in thought, and Valentino wonders if he just made that up to avoid telling him what was really wrong. Who the fuck would be sad about a room’s smell?

Like a baby? Like a nursery? Yeah, right. Did Vox think using, what – keywords? – would help Valentino do whatever he’d like?

“You wanted to talk,” Valentino reminds him. “So fucking talk.”

“I was thinking maybe we can get you out of the bathtub, first,” Vox suggests, looking back up at him. “It’d be more comfortable.”

“No.” He feels stupid for saying it.

“…Okay.” The look Vox gives him is pained. “Then, do you mind if I come closer?”

Valentino stiffens. “Why do you need to come closer?”

Vox doesn’t answer. Valentino’s stomach turns. Vox must notice the shift because he speaks up, quickly.

“I haven’t seen you in person in almost a week, I want a closer look.” He adjusts his position on the floor a little, a pout almost forming on his face. “I really did miss you, Val.”

What the fuck was there to miss? He already had all of Valentino’s whores. And besides, a week is nothing. Vox has disappeared for much longer than that without even a see-you-later and never claimed to miss Valentino. Last time he hadn’t even acknowledged he’d been gone.

He’s such a goddamned liar.

When Valentino doesn’t reply, Vox speaks again.

“I’m not going to take Vax,” he says. “I swear. I want to help you, and I know trying anything with him will make this… whatever this is, worse.”

“But you want me to leave him.”

Vox grimaces. “Because ‘he’s’ a tablet, Val! Look, I get it now, that you really believe he’s alive, but I don’t! I believe if you’d just turn him off and put him in the basement then you wouldn’t have to worry about him. Hell, just turn him off and leave him in your room until you get back.”

“He doesn’t turn off!”

“Of course he does, he has a power button. He’ll shut down when he loses charge. We saw it happen the day you brought him out.”

“That was just his head,” Valentino says, straightening a little. Maybe Vox hadn’t noticed that. It had been subtle and lasted only a minute before Valentino had plugged him back in. “He was still moving. His head was powered off, but his body was… he was looking for me. He held my hand. He was scared.”

“…I know you want that to be true but it’s very unlikely that really happened.”

“It did!” Valentino snaps, loudly. Vax flinches and whimpers in his arms. Valentino chokes back a sound of despair and sinks lower into the tub. “I’m sorry, mijo…”

“You don’t need to give me a list on how Vax is real. I don’t need that. I—”

“You said you’d listen!”

Vox throws his hands up. “You said to talk!”

Obviously he didn’t want him to talk now! Vox was just fucking with him again. Using his words against him—

“You’re driving me insane!” Vox says. “What do you want?!”

“I want you to take this seriously.”

“Val, this is the most serious I’ve taken anything in the past decade.”

“You didn’t take this seriously when Vax was alone!”

“I… what?”

“He was in danger during the meeting and you wanted me to ignore him. He was alone for hours!”

Frustration flickers across Vox’s face at that. “I had you send Angel Dust.”

“And then Angel didn’t answer. He was crying for help and no one could hear it. He needs me but you just want him gone.”

“That meeting was important. You know that one-on-one meetings between reputable Overlords to negotiate alliances and collaborations is incredibly rare. We’ll likely never have that chance with her again.”

“Vax is important.”

“Val, come on—"

“Would you have left me or Velvette if we were in danger during a meeting?”

Vox looks offended. “No.”

“I wouldn’t either. And I couldn’t leave Vax.”

Vox stares at him and then sighs and rubs the side of his screen.

“Okay. Okay, fine. So you think – So Vax is part of the team. Fine. Fuck. Okay, that’s… that’s our reality now.” Vox takes another deep breath. “That means, by our own standards that I wasn’t aware we were applying to a tablet, I wasn’t the best partner at the time, but I wasn’t… conspiring to get you to get rid of him,” he says. “I hadn’t realized how much you cared for him. I hadn’t seen how serious this was until it was too late. You felt pressured by my inaction and uncooperativeness… so you came to the conclusion that I’m working against you. Is that right?”

…Yes? Maybe – basically.

“You wouldn’t listen. I tried telling you. Showing you. You didn’t try. You weren’t being fair—"

Vox sneers and lowers his hand into a clenched fist. “You haven’t exactly been fair either, babe.”

Valentino is outraged. How fucking dare he—

Vox speaks again before he can yell.

“For one, that night when we fought, I said I wouldn’t mess with him. I said we’d work something out. I meant it and then you didn’t even give me a chance to prove that.” His voice is calm and controlled – but Valentino can hear the hurt in his words. That wasn’t right. Vox had…

“Why would I? Just because you said so? Why would I believe you? You’ve been a damn ass about this the entire time! You said it yourself!”

“Even when I played along you were still being a damn bitch about it,” Vox continues. “Everything I did was wrong.”

Because it was!

“You hit me!”

“You hit me! We talked about this! We both fucked up!”

“Don’t yell!”

Vox’s mouth is open to snap back, then closes when his eyes flicker down to Valentino’s wings that still cover Vax. He deflates a little.

“That night,” Vox says, voice quieter now, to Valentino’s surprise. “Not when we fought. The night before Carmilla’s meeting… You left.”

“You were being a dick.”

“Not before you left the bed. You got pissed at me for no reason. I knew you were upset but you started trying to punish me for nothing.”

Valentino scowls. He recalls that night now. He’d just given Vax away and went to Vox’s bed and… and it had all been Vox’s fault! Sure, he hadn’t done anything in the moment, but all of it had been his fault. Valentino was allowed to be pissed at him for that.

“It wasn’t nothing.”

“You keep making up rules. I can’t keep up with it! I thought I’d leave you to have some time with the thing – how was I supposed to know you didn’t want me sleeping? It’s ridiculous.”

“That’s not why I was mad.”

“Then why—”

“You were acting all wrong. If you believed Vax was a real baby and I brought him in from outside of V Tower, what the fuck would you have done?”

Vox stares, then says, slowly. “That… isn’t what happened.”

“What would you have done if I wanted to keep what you know is a real baby?”

“I…” Vox’s claws stab at the tiled floor. “I’d call you insane. I’d give you a mile long list on why that’s a horrible idea.”

“And then if I kept it anyway?”

Vox looks away.

“Vox.”

“I’d have a place set up for the wailing thing so it’d be out of the way.” His claws crack through the tile. “I’d assume you are Hell’s most incompetent parent and want to use a baby as some kind of accessory. I’d have a crew to actually tend to its needs because I know you’d be upset if it got sick or hurt and I sure as fuck am not raising some random street brat.”

Wrong.

“And if he were my brat?”

“For fuck’s sake!”

“Answer the damn question! If it was my brat and I wanted to raise it? Then what would you do?”

Vox’s teeth clench into a harsh jagged line and the cold glare he gives him is at a complete contrast to what comes out of his mouth. “I’d help you, you spoiled dickhead, is that what you want to hear? That I’d help you raise your babies? You know I’d help. You know I’d be that goddamned stupid. Why the fuck are you asking?”

“Because you didn’t.” He squeezes Vax tighter as Vox flinches. “I had to do it alone and get rid of him. I didn’t want to, but I tried to for the Vees because I’m the only one who apparently remembers we’re supposed to be partners. A team.”

“How was I—It’s not… Damn it, Val!” Vox’s hands go up to squeeze his frame. He shuts his eyes and kicks his heels out against the floor as he struggles to keep his own temper in check.

The lights flicker.

Vax flinches.

Then Vox sighs and his entire body slumps down.

“This is so fucking stupid,” he grumbles.

Valentino’s chest tightens and when he tries to suck in a breath he hiccups.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

As soon as the thought ‘don’t you dare cry now’ pops into his head, he breaks.

Vox makes a choked, startled sound when a sob slips out. “Val?!”

Why the hell is Vox surprised? He must have seen him cry before in all their years together. Valentino knows he has.

“Fuck, Val, don’t—” Vox sputters. “I… shit, no, I didn’t mean—” He’s scrambled up to his feet and towards the bathtub.

A part of him wants to let Vox come to him. To hold him, undoubtedly, because now Valentino realizes that Vox has never seen him cry because of something he did or said. Not in person. Valentino always kept those moments private, though he doesn’t think he’d meant for it to be hidden from him. It just happened that way.

The other part of him…

“Get away!” Valentino snarls. He twists in the tub so that his leg can kick out at Vox, forcing himself to curl up even tighter around Vax.

Vox barely manages to sidestep it and then goes forward, using one arm to pin the leg down so that it’s bent over the edge of the tub. Valentino is unable to twist himself back around to kick him with his other leg without crushing Vax.

He unfolds his wings from around himself and Vax and raises an arm to try and throw Vox off of him and—

Vox flinches, pressing himself onto Valentino’s leg even more to brace himself.

Fuck.

Valentino pulls his arm back to hold onto Vax instead as the baby wails.

He sees the surprise and confusion on Vox’s face and that just makes him mad all over again. Vox’s eyes flicker down to Vax who is easily within reach. If Vox touches him, Valentino doesn’t know what he’d do.

“Get away!” he shouts. Vox’s eyes dart back up to his own. “Get out! Get out! Leave me alone!”

“Val,” Vox says, begging. “You don’t want that.”

“Stop touching me and get out!”

His shouting makes Vax cry louder. Louder than him. It’s not a damn competition! Valentino yanks him up to face him.

“SHUT UP!”

Vax shuts up with a weak, watery, squeak.

Valentino loosens his grip on him instantly. No, no, fuck, he hadn’t realized how hard his fingers had been squeezing.

Again. He almost did it again.

No, no, no. Why did he do that? Vax hadn’t even been crying that long!

And he yelled at his baby. Screamed at him.

The silence is loud.

Two sets of wide, hurt, eyes stare at him.

His throat burns.

He can’t get himself to apologize. What was the fucking point? He’d just do it again. He knows he will. He’d yell, scream and hurt them. It’s all he knows how to do.

Vax has started whimpering and Valentino can’t get himself to even try and comfort him as his own tears well up again. Vax is crying because of him after all. He’d just make this worse. What was he thinking? He really is Hell’s most incompetent parent.

His hand goes up to his mouth. He doesn’t know if it’s to stifle another sob or vomit. He feels sick.

He can feel Vox squeezing his knee, trying to talk to him.

“Val, shh, hey. Babe, it’s okay. It happens.”

It shouldn’t.

“No more crying. It’s all over, alright? We’re done yelling,” Vox says, tone shifting to something softer than his usual placating tone when dealing with Valentino. “He didn’t mean it.”

Valentino opens his eyes because what the fuck is Vox talking about?

Vox is closer than before, leaning over the side of the tub and talking to Vax.

Vax stares back, sniffling, appearing too bewildered by Vox’s attention to continue crying. Instead, he lets out a murmured babble, squeezing Valentino’s fur uncertainly. When it was clear that the tears had stopped – from both of them. Vox lets himself slump over the edge of the tub in relief.

“Good boy.”