Valentino leaned back in his chair, watching the scene roll out in front of him, not getting the usual hard-on. He nodded at the right parts, making sure to take regular swigs of his patented cigarette, but his mind was elsewhere. And for once, not on sex.
Vox. His business partner officially, and his friend with benefits unofficially(okay, maybe a bit about sex). Val had never seen the otherwise suave host breakdown the way he had just that morning. He didn't know much about his and the radio demon's backstory, but it couldn't have been particularly heartwarming for Vox to overheat and glitch again.
Just yesterday had they celebrated the failure of Alastor and what could've been the fall of that wretched hotel, and now everything seemed to be back to normal.
"Cut!" He stood up briskly. "Let's take a five." The words felt foreign slipping off his tongue. Surprise flickered in the eyes of everyone around the room, including Angel Dust who wrapped a bathrobe around himself, looking very confused. Valentino was quite literally notorious for overworking his employees, sometimes fatally. A sudden burst of exhaustion hit Valentino and he rubbed the skin between his eyes. "Actually, that's enough for today."
"Sir?" A cameraman asked, voice meek.
"I said," Valentino said, his voice low with all the energy he could muster. "That's enough for today."
There was a slight moment of silence, and then everyone began scurrying around the room as if to finish before he changed his mind. The thought of his employees being so eager to leave would normally make Val's lips curl into a sneer, anger bursting on the tip of his tongue. And as everyone who worked for the Vees knew, Vox was the only one who could calm him down when his rage got the better of him. Velvet had called Vox over to calm Valentino countless times, to keep him from murdering half of their employees out of nowhere.
And yesterday, the roles reversed, Valentino thought to himself, unclenching the fist he didn't even know he had clenched, the fingertips having dug into the skin. He had never, never, been affectionate to anyone, even when alive. But yesterday, seeing Vox break down had opened a dam inside his heart that he hadn't even known existed. He felt concerned and had actually wanted to help and not for selfish reasons. He cared, and that scared him. Emotions were the downfall of everyone. Never had that proved to be false.
"Val?" He looked up to see Angel Dust awkwardly standing in front of him, hands quivering and bags under his eyes, the covering makeup only useful to the cameras. While usually he would've taken sadistic pleasure at the sight of obvious fear, today he felt nothing. "Did I... did I do something?"
"Take a few days off, will you," Valentino commanded harshly. "I can't stand the sight of your fucking face." The words felt biting, and he could feel them cut through the air like daggers toward the cowering porn star. He couldn't care less.
"What? Val, I-"
Valentino stood up and Angel flinched back, pulling the bathrobe tighter around himself. "I said leave." His voice rose at the last part and without looking back, he turned around and stormed out of the studio. Right before exiting the doorway, he summoned his smoke and willed himself away.
Once the smoke cleared, he slumped in a nearby armchair, surprised to find that he was in Vox's office, where the said TV head almost fell out of his own chair. Valentino hadn't meant to go there, had just desperately told his powers to bring him somewhere comforting. And it brought me to him.
"Val? What the fuck?" Vox demanded, a hand pressed to his chest. "Give a warning next time, will you? What the actual hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be shooting right now?"
Val gave a lazy grin, hiding his true emotions. "Am I not allowed to come visit whenever I want?" He purred, almost actually smiling when he saw Vox's screen brighten a bit. "I wanted to see you."
"Don't fuck around, Val." Vox sighed. "We both know that's not the reason." There was a hint of bitterness, but Valentino didn't let himself linger on that for too long.
"Fine..." Val rolled his eyes, trying to act nonchalant. "I was wondering what our next move is going to be." He traced a finger down Vox's arm. Maybe I just need some good sex. He thought to himself. Yeah, that's what this is. That's why his heart started speeding up at the touch. "What do you have in mind?"
Vox wrenched it away, turning around before Valentino could see his expression. "I was just about to call you and Velvette for that, actually," he admitted, his voice business-like and a bit thick, the only sign that he was affected by Val's touch.
"Oh," Valentino frowned, leaning back in his chair. It's now or never. "But uh, what exactly is your relationship with the Radio Demon?" He regretted bringing it up as soon as he saw Vox's fists clench over the keyboard. "Your little enemy thing going on is fun and all, but why?"
He half expected Vox to spontaneously combust or do anything to get out of the conversation, but instead, to Val's surprise, Vox exhaled, sliding down to sit in his chair. His eyes closed like he couldn't handle looking at Valentino. "We used to be friends," he admitted. "Really, really close friends. I helped that little fucker so much. If it wasn't for me, he'd still be rotting away in someone's basement. But I saved him, gave him my knowledge, and he... he left." Valentino reached forward but hesitated. By the time Vox opened his eyes, he had already pulled back. "So I want to kill that little bitch and make him suffer," Vox finished simply, his eye glitching.
Valentino stared for a second, taking a drag out of his long cigarette so the smoke could give him some time to absorb the information. It wasn't much, but it was more than he had ever gotten and that was more than enough. "Okay," he said, exhaling clouds of pink smoke. "Okay. So are you calling Velvette or should I?"
Vox gave a small tilted smile. It felt like something had broken in between them, an obstacle neither had known existed before. "I'll do it."
***
Vox set down his coffee mug(a plain one this time), and leaned back in his chair, watching Velvette closely for her reaction. Val took another swig from his cigarette.
Velvette whistled, impressed. "I've got to say, that's a stellar plan right there."
Vox grinned, but it wasn't innocent. "I know."
"So," Valentino drawled, standing up. "Let's kidnap that fucking princess."
