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1.
It was an accident. Valentino didn’t know where it was coming from, or what he even meant to say in that moment instead. All he did know was that he felt an unexpected, unwanted pang of disappointment upon his partner’s reaction.
They were lying in bed together, feet tangled up and relaxed, after having spent a rare full day together just them, no interruptions. Vox had his schedule freed and made it very clear that if anyone dared interrupting with anything , that person would wholeheartedly regret it. Seeing as it was such a rare occurrence that they had a day like this together, they could have gone all out but instead, they mostly just stayed in and enjoyed being together. Vox had a ginormous breakfast delivered, which they slowly worked through in bed, getting sidetracked only once or twice. They caught up on their favourite show and in the evening Val cooked, something he loved doing but did way too rarely. He was very good at it too, and maybe, he thought to himself, he really needed to put more effort into doing it more often if it also meant Vox would watch him with his screen propped onto his hand like that and that soft smile he really reserved only for Val.
The problem started with the one trip they took outside the tower. What was supposed to be just a little shopping trip ended up being Val’s source of agitation, a feeling that didn’t fully dissipate the whole day. At some point the moth demon wandered up ahead alone while Vox waited for the dress and shoes he had just bought him to be packed (really, Val had more than enough money of his own, but they both enjoyed Vox playing sugar daddy, so why should he spend it?), only to stop short in front of a jewelry store, eyes caught on something in the window display. Something being a ring. Just this time, it wasn’t him he imagined wearing it as it really wasn’t his style at all. No, it looked like it would be perfect for Vox. He continued peering at the piece until Vox was finished and joined him in front of the jeweler.
“Something caught your eye, baby?”
Val blinked and finally tore his gaze away from the ring.
“No, just looking…let’s go. I think you owe me a good amount of fishnets.”
“Mhm, and I want to replace that gorgeous red lace set I…accidentally ripped last week.”
“Accidental my ass. But I bet we can find something even better.” Wrapping his arms around Vox’s middle and shoulders, he pulled him to the direction of his favourite lingerie store.
Annoyingly, the thought of that stupid ring wouldn’t leave his mind afterwards. Which didn’t make sense as Vox didn’t even wear rings, what with the claws and all. Or because he thought he didn’t need accessorising, who knew.
Still, he tried to push it away as best as he could the rest of the day. Until he slipped up that evening in bed in a way he tried to deny being related to the piece of jewelry but deep down knew better. He really shouldn’t let his guard down like that, but that’s what being around Vox did to him it seemed. They spent the last hour just talking shit about everyone they knew, lazily making out, hands wandering but staying surprisingly tame for them.
Val heaved a sigh at some point. “Why can’t we just stay like this forever?”
“Because there is work to be done.”
“You’re so boring, Voxxy. You could at least pretend like you’re having a good time right now.”
“I am. You would get bored of me way quicker than I would of you, though.”
“That’s not true. I could never get bored of you.”
“Sure.”
Val bristled at the skepticism colouring his voice. “I’ll prove it.”
“And how are you gonna do that?”
“Marry me.”
Vox froze for a second, then snorted. “Be serious, Val.”
And before Val could say something stupid and confusing like “I am”, or whatever else cursed through his stupid mind, Vox pulled him into another kiss, the kind of kiss that shut any remaining thoughts off very quickly, which was probably for the best anyway.
2.
Only that proved to be a temporary solution. Over the next days, Valentino’s thoughts lingered on their conversation, accompanied by a strange sense of…disappointment? at the other’s deflection. He wanted to think about that feeling even less, because he didn’t fucking get it. It’s not like he really wanted to marry, right? The thought alone was completely laughable.
And yet.
Contemplating whether he should cancel their date night the next day, he paced the empty studio, when an even more outlandish thought hit him. Maybe, instead of avoiding Vox he should take the opportunity to talk to him about it. Now, they weren’t good at communicating about serious topics on the best of days, but maybe Val needed Vox to really laugh at him and tell him how ridiculous he was being to get over it. The way his stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought only confirmed this.
On the following evening when they went to one of their favourite restaurants, Val felt on edge the whole way there, barely reacting whenever Vox talked to him. When they arrived and were seated at their usual table, the TV demon took his hand.
“Alright sweetheart, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on, since when don't you use an opportunity to rant?”
Despite knowing that Vox was right, Val felt a flicker of annoyance, which was probably his brain translating his unease in a feeling more familiar to him, justified or not.
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been acting strange the whole week.”
“Well nobody forces you to watch! It’s not my fault you have a stalking problem.”
“Val.”
The moth snatched his hand away, crossing his arms and lighting his cigarette.
“Does it have to do with the other night, with, you know…what you said…?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do. You…you didn’t mean it, did you…?”
“Oh now you wanna talk about it?”
“Did you?”
Val scoffed. “Of course not. Don’t be fucking ridiculous. Do you know who you’re talking to?”
It sounded fake even in his own ears and…what was Vox’s weird expression about? He almost looked hurt, as if that fucker had any right to be. It all started to overwhelm him and he quickly stood up, chair scratching loudly.
“Val…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. ‘Val, don’t make a fucking scene in public’.”
“Wait, what…”
Before the other overlord could say anything else Val stomped out of the restaurant. Distinctly, he registered Vox following him out and getting into the limo with him. Heard him talk to their driver and then try to talk to him. He ignored him. What could he say? What could he explain? He didn’t know what the hell he’d even been thinking. Talking about it. Fucking ridiculous. About what, exactly, anyways?
3.
So, that didn’t really go as planned. After they got home that evening, Val didn’t speak to Vox again, instead shutting himself in his room. The next morning, he felt a vague sense of regret. Possibly he’d been a bit unfair to his partner, but then that wasn’t exactly a novelty. Normally he’d just apologize by way of sex, just as Vox apologized by way of spoiling him with gifts when it was the other way around. He didn’t feel like it this time.
When he first saw Vox that day, he could feel that his bewilderment over Val’s behaviour won over the anger he might have felt otherwise. It wasn’t like him to just shut himself in and sulk in silence. But he didn’t say anything. Val could see he didn’t know what to. Well, that made two of them.
His mind wandered back to the past few days. To the stupid ring, to their conversations, to Vox’s reactions. For the first time, he wondered if maybe he interpreted them wrong. The way he froze for a second after he said to marry him, barely noticeable but Val knew him. The way he pulled their focus from it after, until he didn’t and asked him about his weird behaviour, with…could it be well disguised hope? Then the hurt when Val gaslighted him about it. But then, why didn’t he ask him himself?
Val blinked.
Do you know who you’re talking to?
Yeah, even if that was something Vox wanted, there was no reason he should ever think that the feeling was mutual. Now he allowed himself to admit the truth, though. It still didn’t make sense, not in the slightest, when they never even labeled what they had now. Boyfriends, partners, lovers. It didn’t matter. It was all true and simultaneously didn’t begin to describe what they had, the way they belonged to each other completely.
For better or worse.
He couldn’t deny the little flip his stomach did when he thought about Vox calling him his husband . Whether it made sense or not, he wanted . Maybe they knew they were in this together, and maybe he wanted that to be not just between only them anymore. To make it official, for everyone to know. Once, he would have shuddered to think about binding himself to a person like that. Now, it only brought a warm, gooey feeling that he long since associated with Vox. In the end, he already did it anyway, didn’t he?
Thinking back to the ring again, he decided he was gonna get it. The question was, how, without Vox noticing? Due to Val’s unusual behaviour he probably monitored him even more closely than usual and he wanted to get it himself rather than send one of their employees. The ring also would need to be modified so it would work with Vox’s clawed fingers. Before he could think about it further, he made his way to Velvette’s penthouse. Stepping in, he let his gaze wander around the spacious living room area which looked like an exploded fabric store, meaning she probably was hard at work on something new right now which didn’t exactly heighten his chances of her helping him.
“Babydoll? You here?”
There was silence for a few moments, then the doll came stomping out her bedroom, an annoyed expression on her face.
“What do you want? Whatever drama you two bitches have got going on this time, leave me out of it.”
Val pouted. “But I need your help fixing it.”
“Fuck you, fix your own mess! I’m not your babysitter.”
“Please, babydoll. I can’t do it without you. I need to make a purchase without him knowing.”
“Ew.”
“It’s not what you think, I promise.”
“Will you leave me alone for at least a week if I help you?”
“Yes, I promise. I’ll be way too occupied with Voxxy anyways.”
“UGH.”
—------
In the end, with Vel’s help he managed to get the ring a few days later with Vox hopefully none the wiser and owing multiple favors to the social media overlord. That was fine, he hoped it would be worth it.
If he actually made it to asking the damn question this time and got the desired reaction. Doubt was still clouding his mind, but he was really determined to get the issue out of the way this time before he lost his shit.
Ring box in his pocket, he waited for Vox to arrive. He asked him to have dinner together, and Vox, probably suspecting their usual reconciliation after days of tense silence, warily agreed. Val could tell he was still thrown off by his weird behaviour but he knew he was probably just as ready as him to make up. A familiar crackle of static around one of the cameras announced the other’s arrival before he appeared in the room a second later. Feeling Vox eye him warily, he sauntered over to him and pressed a kiss to the part of his screen that passed as his cheek.
“Hello mi luz, you hungry?”
The hum coming from Vox could probably be counted as agreement. Making his way to the table, he pulled out the chair for his partner, noticing his digital frown deepen in confusion before sitting down. Seriously, Val knew he wasn’t the gentleman in this relationship, but Vox could act at least a little less like he expected him to pull out a gun at him with the next movement. He sat down himself, the table already decked out with all the food he ordered.
“Wine?”
Upon Vox’s nod of agreement he filled his glass before topping up his own.
“What’s this about, Val?”
Valentino sighed. It was always straight to business with this ridiculous man. He took the media demon’s hand in his own, softly squeezing.
“I want to have dinner with you, is that so bad?”
“Forgive me if I’m skeptical considering how the last one went.”
“Yeah well I…that’s not gonna happen this time, I promise.”
Vox still looked somewhat unconvinced (seriously, he was going to resort back to destroying things next time instead of going silent, at least then he knew how to handle him better), but he also didn’t let go of Val’s hand as he began piling up food on their plates. The moth demon fingered the ring box in his pocket nervously, but decided to wait until after they’d had dinner to spring this on his partner.
“Will you tell me what it was about?”
“Yes, Voxxy, but let’s eat first, okay? You can tell me what you’ve been doing the past few days. Been holed up in your mancave?”
Before he had a chance to answer, Val’s phone rang and a quick glance at it showed it was one of his directors who were supposed to be busy with filming right now, instead of interrupting him. He’d warned them not to bother him this evening, which was the only reason he picked up since they by now knew better than to disregard his orders when there wasn’t something seriously wrong.
“What? I thought I told you not to interrupt!”
“I-I know Sir, and I’m sorry, it’s just that there…there is a fire…”
A beat of silence. Valentino got up, tone dangerously calm. “A fire.”
“”Y-yes, it uhm- got a bit out of hand, we’re trying to-”
“YOU FUCKING IMBECILES! I’M NOT THERE ONE TIME AND YOU BURN DOWN THE FUCKING STUDIO?”
Enraged, he hung up and went to the elevator.
“Sorry papi, I’ve got to take care of this. We are surrounded by complete fuckwits.”
“I’ve told you a hundred times that the way you’re handling the tech in the studio is a fire hazard”, the traitor responded drily.
With one last glare back at him, Val made his way down.
Someone was going to burn for ruining this evening.
+1
Finally, some time together. Val slid into a bright red booth, casting his gaze around the tacky diner, not exactly their usual haunt but they’d been here more frequently back in the days of their earlier partnership and he knew Vox had a fondness for the place, so sometimes they’d end up coming back. Like now, they just attended an overlord meeting and for once neither of them had anything on their agendas for the next 3 hours or so.
The moth demon heaved a sigh and turned his eyes to his partner.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, I’m just glad we finally got a moment together. I feel like I haven’t really seen you in weeks, our schedules suck.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I missed you.”
“Careful or I might be inclined to think you’re going soft.”
“For you, mi luz? Never.”
Vox rolled his eyes at him. “I missed you too.”
“Who’s going soft now?”
Vox took his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. Val smiled and ordered fries and a milkshake for both of them to share. While they waited for their order to arrive, Val’s hand went to his pocket almost automatically, tracing over the little box inside as he’d taken to doing recently. He always had the ring with him now, although he didn’t really know why. Once their schedules were a bit less crazy again, he was going to set up a really nice date, no distractions or backing out this time. Hopefully soon, because the waiting didn’t exactly do anything to lessen the nervousness, instead conjuring up a multitude of scenarios in his mind on how it could go wrong.
Feeling Vox’s curious glance on him, he quickly focused on the other overlord again, shooting him a flirty smile.
“Did I tell you how sexy you were at the meeting today, papi?”
“You did. In fact, I think everyone heard.”
Val shrugged, unconcerned. “Well, you deserve to hear it again. You really stuck it to that Carmine bitch today.”
“Ugh, I can’t stand that self-righteous cunt.”
Humming in agreement, the moth was momentarily distracted by the arrival of their food, immediately shoving a handful of fries into his mouth.
“Jeez Val, slow down. I’m not gonna take them from you.”
“I’m starving . Besides, the faster we finish here the faster we can get to the limo.”
Vox quirks an eyebrow at him.
“I missed you, Voxxy. We barely had any time to fuck and I intend to use the next three hours.”
The TV demon snorted. “A wonder you didn’t immediately drag me to the bathroom when we arrived.”
“My self-restraint is spectacular…are you offering?”
“No.”
Val pouted. “Aw.”
Suddenly, a commotion broke out at the next table as a few people started arguing, almost immediately followed by thrown drinks and flying fists. As this was hell, instead of someone trying to calm the fight down or just get the fuck away, it took less than a minute until at least half the diner joyned instead. Some unlucky asshole had one of their arms ripped off, the spray of blood going as far as Val’s fries and while he still frowned down at them unhappily, a bullet flew past him, almost hitting him in the head before it buried itself in the wall behind him instead.
Before Val could even react, Vox was already on his feet, electricity crackling around him as he turned to the demon who shot the bullet.
“Mind who the fuck you’re shooting at.”
The sinner’s eyes widened when they realized their fuck-up, but before they could stammer out some pathetic plea, Vox had already fried the fucker to a crisp. He didn’t stop afterwards, instead turning to the next person in an apparent fit of bloodlust. Valentino’s lips stretched into a grin, his upper hands reaching for his guns as he joined the fun. With the two overlords thrown into the mix, the matter was resolved pretty quickly and soon enough Vox shot down one last idiot trying to escape for good measure, before also frying the only security camera in the room. As they stood in midst of the carnage, Val went to Vox and looked him up and down hungrily.
“Did my baby need to defend me?”
His partner scoffed, but Val saw the small smile playing on his lips and he wrapped both sets of arms around him and kissed the top of his screen affectionately.
“That was so hot. My big strong man. Been a while since you got steam off that way, hm?”
Vox chuckled. “Yeah, guess it was.”
“Did you have fun?”
“I’m not you, baby.”
“Hmh, but did you?”
Vox rolled his eyes. “Yes, I did. Another mess to clean up, tho.”
“Naw, you’ll get it done in no time. Don’t be mad, it was for me .”
Nevermind he didn’t have to kill the whole place for that, Val loved when Vox’s collected public persona crumbled and he got like this . Stroking a hand over his cheek fondly, he admired his slightly more disheveled than usual state. He was so beautiful. Valentino felt his heart ache with such a sudden rush of love he almost pulled back. Instead, he remembered the box in his pocket. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he was down on one knee, his partner’s hand in his.
Vox looked at him warily. “What are you doing?”
Probably thought he was going for a blowjob. Boy did he have news for him.
“I’m being serious , Vox.”
He just stared at him for a moment before his eyes widened a fraction. “What…”
“I didn’t think about it the first time I said it. But I did, since then. About very little else, honestly and…marry me, Voxxy?”
It took a lot to render Vox speechless, but now Val seemed to have done it. After what felt like hours he finally seemed to come back to himself and realize that Val in fact was still in front of him, ring in hand and at this point starting to fidget nervously. The nervousness of all things seemed to make him realize his partner was serious.
“We are standing in the middle of…corpses and spilled food and that’s when you ask that?!”
The look he received in return could almost be described as sheepish if it wasn’t Val they were talking about. “Yeah, well…that wasn’t exactly what I planned, I just…it felt right?”
Vox barked an incredulous laugh. “You are insane.”
“You love it.”
He looked at him with fond exasperation. “I do."
Val smiled until he remembered he still didn’t get an answer. “Uh, Voxxy, I’m dying here. Can you…you know, rip the band-aid off or whatever? Was that a yes?” He couldn’t keep the hope out of his voice.
“Right…yeah. Of course I’ll marry you, Tino.”
“Really?”
Vox snorted. “Yes, really, you big stupid bug.”
Val’s eyes lit up and he picked the TV demon up, swirling him around happily and kissing all over his screen. “Fuck yes!”
The latter laughed and struggled weakly against his grip. “Val, put me down.”
In a rare show of compliance, Val sat him down at the booth they formerly occupied and slid next to him, took Vox’s hand in his and slid the ring on his finger. It fit him perfectly.
“You like it?”
“I love it.”
Val noticed how his voice cracked slightly with emotion and could almost swear he saw digital tears well up in his partners - fiancées - eyes, but right now he didn’t tease him about it and instead nuzzled his screen, feeling strangely emotional himself.
They ended up sharing the milkshake after all as it was miraculously spared from any blood or brain splatter, unable from grinning like idiots and from keeping their hands off each other.
—------
Late that day, meetings and shoots done or postponed, they were cuddled up together in the Vee’s shared lounge, Vox resting in Val’s lap, as the elevator opened and Velvette came busting in, looking pissed.
“Vox, you wanker! Why did you promise your departments a fucking bonus ? What the hell? And of course my people heard about it so how long do you think it will be until they want the same?!”
Val continued caressing Vox’s chest, unperturbed by her outburst.
“Aw babydoll, leave him alone. "He's so happy .”
Vel scowled as she took in their cuddled up position and dopey grins. “Yeah? And what the fuck does he have to be so happy about?”
“We’re celebrating.”
“Celebrating what ?”
Val took Vox’s hand and extended it towards her. “He said yes!”
“The hell ? You… proposed to him?!”
“Sure did.”
“Wait, is that the ‘purchase’ you needed to make??”
“Yep.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, you asshole?”
“You didn’t ask , chiquita.”
“Because I thought…nevermind, fuck you.” She turned her eyes to Vox, glare turning incredulous. “And you said yes ?!”
“Now that’s just uncalled for. Why wouldn’t he say yes?”
“Stop being annoying, both of you. Yes, I did. I don’t regret it yet, but we’ll see.”
Val gave an offended gasp. “ Voxxy .”
Vox gave him a smile and an apologetic peck on the lips. “Kidding, of course. Vel, come on, grab a glass of wine and sit down too.”
“Fine, but only if you stop being so disgusting.”
In answer to that, Val smacked a loud kiss on Vox's screen and groped his butt, earning a yelp that turned into a breathless giggle from his partner. Velvette rolled her eyes, but both of them could see the small smile on her face.
And after all, all three of them knew she would be the biggest menace in ensuring the wedding would turn out perfect for her boys, not that any of them would say it out loud.