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Alastor was reluctant to meet his so-called rival at the cafe Vox had picked out, but it was in the best interest of the hotel, so he went.
He'd arrived early, intending to get acquainted with the building before the meeting, but he had beat him there.
Fucker probably saw him leave the hotel.
He tried to shake off the feeling of being watched and approached the table.
He'd seen the TV demon's false confidence many times over the years, but this was something else. The genuine certainty that he had the upper hand was unsettling.
If only Charlie had been less gullible. He thought, bracing himself.
“Good morning, Alastor!”
He merely nodded as he sat down.
“Oh come on now, no need to be bitter, old pal! Surely we'll come to some kind of agreement-”
“What is it that you want, Vox?”
“Right to the chase, as always! You've never been one for small niceties.” Vox frowned slightly, before brightening, “What I want is simple. Payment for the damages incurred by the princess to our studio. It's only a few million dollars, I'm certain that you're capable of paying.”
The smile on his face said otherwise.
The hotel was painfully broke, and Charlie refused to take any more money from her father. “We need to be self-sufficient!” She had claimed.
“You are aware that our establishment is non-profit, aren't you?”
“If that's the case, it would be quite reckless to go around causing damage, wouldn't it?” His tone was innocent, but the implications weren't.
A moment of silence passed.
“There are other ways that you could pay, of course-”
“Absolutely not.”
A playful expression crossed his face, “I'm offended you would assume such a thing! You must be confusing me with my more… rakeish… associate.”
Alastor narrowed his eyes, “I am not going to pretend that you are any better than your associate in terms of your insistence.”
Vox’s smile faltered momentarily, “Nevertheless, what I ask is for either you or the princess to appear on one of my shows. The viewership someone of your status could bring in is sure to generate enough revenue to repay the debt!”
The TV demon had just handed him a loaded gun. The question was who would take the blow?
If he let Charlie appear there is no telling what damage she might do to the hotel in the process. They'd be back to square one, or worse.
If Alastor, the radio demon, appeared not just on television but on a show produced by his most vocal enemy? His reputation could be bruised.
“...I'll do it.”
“Splendid!” Vox held out his hand, “You, Alastor, agree to appear on a show of my choosing, to play by the rules with no poor behavior, and I will consider Charlie Morningstar's debt paid in full.”
Reluctantly, he shook his hand, feeling electricity pulse through his body as the contract was made.
“Well, that was a productive meeting! I look forward to your performance and I'll be in touch soon.”
With that, he vanished, zipping off into the grid.
Alastor sighed and began the long walk home.
When he agreed to appear on television, he had no idea what the TV demon had in mind.
He arrived at Vee tower on the day Vox had asked, and the man himself came to meet him at the door. His expression was eager with a hint of something mischievous underneath.
After the niceties and greetings Alastor had to ask, “What exactly is this program you're asking me to take part in?”
Vox’s eyes lit up, “It's a newer show of ours, actually! We've taken inspiration from Japanese game shows. They're really quite inventive!”
“A game show?” Alastor asked, dubiously.
“Of sorts, I know you enjoy music, so I figured that singing was something you would be most capable of. Don't want you struggling too much!” there was something in the way he winked at him before waving over an employee as they reached the film studios.
It was strangely considerate of him to play to the radio demon's strengths. It put him on edge.
“Now, just let Papermint here know what song you would like to perform, and he'll show you to the greenroom. I've got a few things to work out before the show, so just let him know if there's anything you need!”
And just like that, he was off, doing whatever it was that producers needed to do.
He gave the assistant (who was shaking like a leaf in his presence) his selection as they walked.
The greenroom was small but comfortable, with a long, plush couch along one wall.
He sat and waited alone, anxious and unnerved.
Vox was deliberately keeping something about this from him.
Something that was made glaringly clear when someone else, who was all too familiar, entered the room.
“Al? Whata’ you doin’ here?” Angel Dust asked, incredulous.
Alastor paused, wary, “I could ask the same of you. I am to appear on some sort of ‘game show’ in order to pay off our dear Charlie's debt to your employer.”
“Oh you've gotta be fuckin’ kidding me. He didn't tell ya, did he? The fucker.”
“What did he not tell me? I know he's been withholding information but-”
Angel cut him off, “How do I put this? I ain't good at ‘delicate’ but I'll try: This show's something called ‘Sing If Ya Can’. Basically you're suppose’ta try an’ sing while I, or another of Val’s… employees… pleasures ya.” The spider rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. “I'm sure Vox thought it would be funny-”
Alastor was sure he'd stopped breathing. A combination of rage and indignation flooded his body and he stood, intending to find the TV demon and tell him-
Tell him what, exactly?
The thought stopped him in his tracks. He'd agreed to appear on the show of Vox’s choice. There wasn't a loophole there.
He was going to have to do it. He had no choice.
I had no choice. rang through his head as memories he'd shoved far back into the darkest parts of his mind returned to the surface.
Memories of being pinned down, face in the dirt.
Being taken roughly, unprepared.
Begging for them to stop, tears burning in his eyes.
He tried to force the thoughts away. He tried to steady himself as his knees went weak and the lights flickered wildly.
Angel was calling to him, but his voice was too far away for him to hear.
Vox had been talking to the sound crew when the lights flickered. He almost ignored it, but then it happened again.
Something in his stomach turned sour, and he checked the video feed to the greenroom.
Without even a moment's hesitation, he jumped into the nearest light.
He appeared in a flash, startling Angel, but Alastor didn’t even seem to register his appearance.
“Oh hell nah, you ain’t touchin’ him!” The spider demon moved to stand between them.
Vox opened his mouth, “What happen-”, but Angel continued, talking over him. “What in Lucifer’s name is fuckin’ wrong with y-”
“Shut up for a second- What happened to him? What did you do?”
“What did I do? All I did was tell him what your perverted plans were! I don’t know what you expected to happen-”
“That’s it?” He looked past the pornstar at Alastor. He’d sunk fully to his knees, his eyes dials, and he gripped his hair tightly. “He reacted like that?”
“Well, yah, you violated his consent?”
“Listen, it was never the plan for Al to actually appear on the show, I just wanted to see how long he’d go along with it before he protested! I didn’t think he’d… anyway, it doesn’t matter, I have to help-”
“Ya have done enough-”
Something between a whimper and a scream echoed from the cervid.
“Please just let me help him.” Vox avoided being genuine with people, he hated showing his hand or heart to others, as it always led to heartbreak or suffering, but he had no choice. He let his fear, his regret bleed into his voice, and he saw surprise play across the pornstar’s face.
With one last look at his friend, Angel nodded, and left.
Vox sat on the floor across from his old friend, his enemy, and played soft music from his speakers.
If one thing could bring him back, it would be this.
“I’ve got you under my skin,
I have got you, deep in the heart of me-”
He sang, fighting back memories of a time when he had sung this to a friend, to someone he’d loved, as he listened to the hushed, aching voice of the radio demon as he relived memories of his own. Memories that became increasingly clear to Vox as he made out the words.
“Please, no, stop-”
He continued to sing until he stopped shaking.
Alastor wasn’t sure how long he’d been out for, he just knew he’d been trapped in a painful loop of memories, and waking up from them was like coming back from death.
He was left tired, disoriented, and mentally bruised.
He looked around, trying to register his surroundings as he shook off the last of the afterimages of the nightmares.
He stiffened when he noticed Vox leaning up against the wall, watching him carefully. He spoke slowly, his expression carefully controlled, “Are you all right now?”
Alastor frowned, Vox wasn’t really asking, he knew, but why would he pretend to care-
The contract, he thought, panicked, I haven’t-
The tv demon’s careful expression broke, “Al, forget about the contract, are you okay?”
Alastor blinked, did I…
“Say that out loud, yes, you did.” The tv demon leaned closer, and Alastor flinched away reflexively. He pressed a hand to his mouth, both because he was feeling queasy and because he didn’t trust himself to hold his tongue.
Vox searched his face, still waiting for his answer, and he found himself shaking his head.
It had been a long time since he’d broken like that before, and he felt like he was made of eggshells, cracked and delicate.
Vox looked… sad, strangely.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t- no, there's no excuse. I shouldn’t have put you in a situation where you couldn’t say no. Regardless of my intention of following through.” He tried again, leaning forward to emphasize his words. “I’ve destroyed the contract. You and the hotel owe us nothing.”
Alastor furrowed his brow, why would he do that? Why would his very vocal and enthusiastic enemy choose to destroy a powerful contract? Simply because he’d caused him distress? He’d never seemed to care before.
Well, that wasn’t true, but he hadn’t appeared to care since that night.
He tried to read his expression, and he didn’t see any evidence that Vox was lying.
“Listen, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m going to be sincere for once: I have hurt you in the name of a joke, and that wasn’t right. It wasn't fair of me to put you in that position. I’ll… I’ll leave you alone from now on, alright?”
“You're… serious.”
“No shit, you think I wouldn't be after finding out that the man I've been in love with for the better part of a century was raped?”
Alastor flinched at the word, but Vox continued, “And after I triggered his ptsd? Of course I'm being fucking serious! I've been a gaping huge asshole! No fucking wonder you up and left 7 years ago! I wasn't taking no for an answer!” He closed his eyes, pained and added quietly, under his breath, “And I haven’t changed a bit, have I?”
Alastor processed all this sudden information, head still foggy. One thing stood out to him in particular.
“Love?” He raised an eyebrow, looking at him dubiously.
Vox’s screen glitched slightly. “Ah… fuck. I- I didn't mean to tell you that, but. Since I'm being sincere. Yeah.”
Now it was Alastor's turn to feel like an asshole. “I never thought that you were serious. I couldn't believe, no, I didn't want to believe, that you meant any of it. I felt that you were too eager, but really you were just young, naive.” He hesitated, guilty, “I must have broken your heart, didn't I?”
“Shattered, really.” He tried to sound humorous, but the hurt still bled through.
Alastor realized something, “It's no wonder you turned to the Vees, they made you feel like they wanted you around. Like someone cared about you.”
He huffed, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah. Before that, you were the only one who treated me like I mattered. After you rejected me, I looked for attention everywhere, anywhere. It landed me in quite the place, huh?
“All I ever wanted was to be close to you, Al. I was a damn idiot the way I went about it, sure, but Al, I'd never been in a relationship before, how was I supposed to know what to do?”
Alastor was silent. He didn’t know what to say.
“We're both quite the fool, aren't we?”
Vox chuckled, “Yeah, well, I'm a fucking mess, always have been. You turned out fine, though. Don't let me fuck that up for you.” After a pained moment of silence, he added, “I've accepted that you'll never love me, and I'll leave you alone now.”
Before he could speak, he was gone.
Alastor wasn't sure he would have argued with him. He didn't love him, that was true. But he would be lying if he said he didn't miss having him around.
Ah, not much to be done about that.
At the very least, the hotel’s debt (and the contract involved) was voided, and he would never have to see the Tv Demon again.
Something about that made his chest hurt.
Oh well, he thought. I guess that’s it.