mazeofrelationships | even the baddest bitches care for each other

even the baddest bitches care for each other

To say things aren't going so well for the Vees is a bit of an understatement. Vox is just an iPad at this point, all his power and influence flushed down the drain after the shit he pulled with the Might of Lilith. Everyone who supported him is loudly voicing their regrets. Valentino took over the company and for a while everything was going his way.

Then Angel Dust found a way out of his contract and left in a blaze of song, cussing in Italian, and a shot fired just for kicks. And while Val didn't love Angel, he's in a never-ending snit at the loss of his favorite toy and highest earner. Except that's only a part of it and Velvette knows.

Velvette doesn't waste her time with true love and romance, never did in life either. She's more the hatefucks and one-night-stand type, any girl who gets too clingy gets the boot. But she's been friends with Vox and Valentino long enough to understand them, and she was the one who comforted the latter as he sang his fears about the former abandoning him if their plan succeeded.

Usually she only cares about seeing them make out and get it on because fujoshis are gonna fujoshi, but the way Val sounded that night stuck with her, and Vox is still being quite difficult. Even now he can't seem to understand what he did wrong or why they're still pissed at him.

Val doesn't feel like talking, pulling the old you know what you did angry spouse routine. So as much as Velvette loathes having to play the fucking fix-it fairy, it's the only way she can get things back to normal around here.

"Vox, we need to talk."

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Vox is frustrated. No, frustrated is too tame a term how Vox is feeling. Going from the top of the heap in hell to not being able to get around without being carried is fucking annoying to say the least.

Mostly, he's been existing in whatever space people forget him in and sometimes someone is good enough to plug him into the servers so he can scan the internet. Today, though, he's sitting on a random couch when Velvette comes over.

"Do we? What is it that we need to talk about?" He's a bit grumpy.

"It's been an age since your master plan failed. The Princess and her friends destroyed your weapon with the power of friendship, proved redemption is possible, and brought the Hazbin Hotel's reputation back from the negatives," Velvette says. "One would think all that would humble you a little, but you still haven't apologized or even admitted you fucked up."

She doesn't care about that silly hotel or redemption, but he still cut her and Val out and then tried to blow them up over Alastor. Whom Velvette does admit to bonding with a little, but he's not worth dying over.

"Why would I need to apologize? I'm not going to go in front of Hell like that stupid bitch of the Princess'. Terrible stunt, especially with that disappearing act she pulled, you know."

Vox rolls his eyes, then pauses. "I didn't fuck up. Alastor and the princess fucked everything up for me."

"I meant to us. Val and I, the squad you promised you needed and wanted by your side when we took over Heaven," Velvette snaps. "The reason we got as far as we did was that we're all best friends, on the same page, going for the same thing! Then you got so desperate to prove yourself to Alastor that you dropped us like rocks!" She crosses her arms over her chest. Usually she's the one hurting feelings, hers don't get bruised easily, but wouldn't you know it, being snubbed by a friend fucking stings.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I wasn't dropping you. You were still an important part of the plan. I couldn't have done it without you." A pause. "Besides, I wasn't trying to prove myself to Alastor. Why the fuck would you think that?"

He actually believes it.

Is this some attempt to gaslight? Because Velvette's done her share of gaslighting and she's not falling for it.

"I overheard you singing to Alastor about how you wouldn't need a squad once you got up there," she says. "And even if you hadn't, there's that teeny little part where you were willing to blow us up just to get back at Alastor and the Princess!"

She whips out her phone and opens up VoxTube, showing him a viral video of his meltdown that someone managed to grab while she and Val were busy trying to talk him down.

"Everything was falling apart! I didn't realize what I was doing!" Excuses, excuses. There are times Vox wishes he could just shut off his screen, but if there's a device with wi-fi anywhere near him, it comes into his head, and now the clip of his breakdown (including the fact that he was almost crying) is playing in his head on repeat.

"Shut that off!" A pause. "I get it! I was a shit-head. I was only thinking of myself and what I wanted." He... just wanted Alastor to see him, to understand him. But no. He never will. And never would.

"You lost the plot. You forgot what we wanted, all because of a man who was never going to love you back. Because he doesn't love anybody but himself." She sighs, turning her phone off. "Look, I've never kept friends easily, and I know it's because I've always been a self-centered bitch and never apologized for it. So when I realized you and Val were the kind of people I could truly care about it was pretty special," she says. "And...well, getting thrown under the bus over that fucking Carmilla, treated like a child, it fucking hurt."

Friends. Is that what they are? There are no friends in Hell, Vincent. Vox is quiet for a moment, then his face gets really small. Maybe Alastor was wrong. Maybe there are friends in Hell, and perhaps he was pushing away the only ones he ever had.

His face gets very small. "You think we're friends?" He sounds almost.. hopeful.

"Of course we are! Otherwise we'd have just left you to get kicked and stomped on! Even after all the shit you pulled on us, we could never stop caring about you!"

A pause.

"And I'm not even the one you hurt the most, either. I'll get over it, but you really broke Val's heart."

"Oh. I wondered why Val bothered bringing me with him." Vox just stares for a moment. "What do you mean I broke Val's heart?" He thought that was the stupid spider leaving, but he's not going to bring that up.

"Look, I know Val's a slut and you two have sort of an open relationship, but have you ever considered why he behaves differently around you than he does others?" More needy, more clingy, more easily hurt when he realizes his partner of four decades hasn't gotten over a crush from seven decades ago.

"I don't know if I ever noticed." Vox is many things, observant of people's emotions is not always one of them. Especially when it comes to something other than adoring him.

"But... Val has so many people he can just... go fuck." Vox is trying to be huffy, but it's not entirely working. He's been doing a lot of thinking in his days as a vPad.

"But they don't mean anything to him." Velvette sighs. "Vox, that man loves you. He was terrified that you'd forget about him and leave him once we got up there, and seeing the way you obsessed over Alastor didn't help."

There's a part of Vox, the part that's still Vincent that hates this. He's not some sort of queer. He's a respectable man, damnit!

But that's the problem. He's damned. Even Charlie couldn't say that there's any chance he could be redeemed. The only way this TV is broadcasting in Heaven is if he gets a chance to take it over, which is probably no longer going to happen.

For a moment, there's a wistful smile on his face as he's reminded of all of the little things about Val that drew them together in the first place. He wants to just brush it off, but he can't. Even he has a heart under all the ego, and here, with Velvette, he might actually be able to show his softer side.

"I... didn't realize. Um. Maybe I should talk to him."

"That would be a start. And try not to deflect, either, just own being an idiot," Velvette advises. "Also, don't be racist. You tend to do shit like that sometimes and I don't think you want another drink thrown at you."

"What? I'm not racist! Where'd you get that idea? I have lots of black friends!"

Vox is literally a stereotype sometimes.

Velvette facepalms. In her era, saying shit like that was the quickest way to get shredded. Depending on the situation it was either white idiots seeking clout by white knighting people of color, or actual people of color recognizing boomer racism when they heard it.

In Vox's case it's the latter.

"Just go talk to him. Be honest about your feelings, too, because deep down I know you care for him as much as he cares for you."

"I..." He's about to brush it off, but he can't. For once, he can't brush it away. His voice is quiet, face small again.

"I do. Can you get him in here? I'm lacking feet at the moment." A long pause. "And Velvette? I'm sorry."

She smiles a little.

"Thank you. I needed to hear that." Maybe this will be what gets him his body back. She finds Val sulking and staring into a glass of brandy, and after a bit of convincing she manages to get him to come with her.

These idiots are lucky she loves them so much.

Vox hasn't gone anywhere. He's just on the chair, staring at the same wall he's been staring at all day.

"Hey, Val." For once, his voice isn't cocky, just thoughtful. "Velvette thought we should talk."

"We should, yes," Valentino says, a bit coldly to mask the lingering hurt. The loss of his control over Angel isn't as cut and dried as losing power, there's a lot to unpack that even he doesn't want to think about.

"I got an apology out of him, and he meant it," Velvette explains. "We took him with us after that disaster because we care for him. We still have his body. And despite everything, we are still the Vees."

She was on Val's side, but she won't pretend the man isn't prone to melodramatics or that it doesn't get tiring.

"Val, I... I went too far. I'm sorry." He's terribly bad about this. Give him a break. "You and Velvette are important to me. You're..." A pause, and a small, actually genuine smile. "my friends."

Val is about to complain because how dare Vox yet again pretend they're not more, but Velvette gives him a look. Alastor's not here, and Vox is a boomer who needs to come to terms with feeling things.

"I'm...glad to know that." He's trying not to be melodramatic, as if afraid that might piss Vox off or make him roll his eyes and kick him out. "Honestly, I never cared about ruling over Heaven. I was always happy enough with things the way they were. With us."

"Well... it would be a bit much, I guess." Vox would shrug if he had shoulders. "But, Val... I've been ignoring you, especially. I... want things to go back to how they were. With us."

It's the closest Vox has ever come to admitting that he wants to be with Val.

Oh...Valentino doesn't melt instantly, but considering the way things have been it's enough to thin out the wall of hurt and self-pity and anger he's been clutching like that kid from the comics and his security blanket.

"I would like that. I've...missed you, Vox."

Velvette sighs with relief. They're talking, they're working it out, and hopefully this means things will go back to normal soon.

(And she can get her free yaoi supply back.)

"I've missed you too, Valentino." Vox smiles, a smile that hasn't been seen since Alastor crushed his hope so many years ago.

Maybe this isn't so bad. Maybe he can find himself again with the people who care about him. And maybe, just maybe, he can forget about grand plans and stupid deer.

Between that smile and his full name, it's a wonder Valentino doesn't get all teary-eyed.

"Honestly, I don't know what you saw in a guy who eats people," Velvette snorts. "Imagine if he'd been into that, him kissing you with that mouth." Val snickers.

"I don't even like being kissed with garlic-breath. That sounds like a nightmare!"

"Oh, come on." Vox rolls his eyes. "I'm sure he's aware of mouthwash." A beat. "You're right, though. Don't think I want second-hand people mouth."

Besides, trying to kiss someone with a TV for a head is... awkward at best. People breath is the least of his worries.

Valentino has never minded, screen or not Vox is sexy and charismatic and everything he's always wanted in a man ever since he realized he was pansexual.

Everything that led him into trouble in life. The 70s were still not the best time to be anything other than straight.

"See? And he's obsessed with his own era," Velvette snorted. "I mean, so are we, but at least our eras were when the good stuff was being invented." Platform boots and rock & roll are Aesthetics.

Vox smirks. "And the rise of televison!" A pause. "I had the idea for 24 hour news way before anyone else thought of it. The amount of media that could have been made..." But then a TV fell on his head.

"I'm sure yours would have been way more entertaining than what we got," Velvette snorts.

"You missed out on color TV," Val says. "Shocking news media is more fun when you can see the red of the blood."

"Oh, I'm sure." Vox has never liked the news reporting that he's seen that blurs all the good bits. Where's the shock value in that?

He pauses, with a bit of a shoulderless shrug. "That's why we have what we've built here, though. We can broadcast whatever the fuck we want." Oh, look. The 'we' is back, without any hesitation.

At that we, Velvette grins and Valentino's look is softer than even Vox has probably ever seen.

"I think this calls for a little reward," he says. Velvette grins, runs off for a moment, and returns with Vox's body which they've been keeping in pristine condition.

"Oh, look. It's me." Vox's sarcasm is light, but there's a vulnerability behind it. Even after everything, they took care of his body. They weren't just going to toss him out in a used electronics box.

Maybe there is more to be said to this teamwork thing after all.

He's definitely going to get rid of that suit, though. The memories are not so good.

Of course they were. They turned against him to save themselves but they were going to save him because like the song said, maybe he'd chill again and realize who he missed. And it's taken a while, but he did.

Together, Val and Velvette get his head situated back on the body and the wires reconnected. Velvette has some of his older suits pressed and clean, because she and Val weren't too crazy about the one he has on right now either.

Vox's screen goes off for a moment as all the wires reconnect and his body goes limp.

And then after what might be a slightly-worrying pause, the screen comes on and Vox's grin is back. He stretches, moving his fingers, and standing up. "Fuck, yes, I'm back!"

"Although, I need a clean suit." And a hug. But he's not yet comfortable enough to say that part out loud.

"You sure are!" Valentino's eyes light up, even with his shitty vision he can see the man he loves clearly. "And...yeah, Velvette's taken care of that." Velvette finds one of his other suits and hands it over, not giving a damn if he changes clothes in front of her. The lines of their relationship are clear, even if she did like men he's so not her type and a bit old for her.

Vox smiles, taking the suit and draping it over his arm. "I'll be right back." He goes to the nearest bathroom changing clothes and leaving the old suit in the trash before coming back and flopping on a couch with his feet on the table. "Now that's better. Thanks, Velvette."

Velvette snorts. "Typical old man." Val, though, is secretly relieved, even though he's seen Vox naked so many times he'd...probably act like a horny loser about it right now.

"Now you look like you again. Like our best friend." And more, she thinks, looking at Valentino. And...then they hug him. Because they need it too.

Vox hugs them both for a moment, eventually turning to just wrap his arms around Valentino. It's as close to clingy as Vox ever gets.

Velvette grins. She's done her job, and more importantly she has her friend group back to normal.

Val, meanwhile, seems surprised at being embraced before hugging back.

The Vees are back. Maybe not to take over anything or smear any hotels, but they'll find another way to be the baddest bitches they can.

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even the baddest bitches care for each other

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