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MATURE: - Complete Be Kind, Please Rewind. [Hazbin Hotel, Delving for Dreams: Spring 2026 One-Shot Entry]

Be Kind, Please Rewind. [Hazbin Hotel, Delving for Dreams: Spring 2026 One-Shot Entry]
Created
Status
Complete

Hazbin Hotel | Vox/Valentino | 10k Words | Reminiscing With You

What do you get for the business partner that you've been working with 45 years on the day of your work anniversary? Something Old? Something New? Something Borrowed? Something Blue?

Yeah that's right.

We're going to Voxbuster! Trust us with your video rentals. (1986-2013)
Be Kind, Please Rewind.
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
4,248
Reaction score
4,867
Pronouns
  1. He/Him
  2. They/Them
MATURE Themes
  1. Strong Suggestive Themes
  2. Strong Violence
  3. Abuse
TEEN Themes
  1. Strong Language or Profanity
  2. Substance Usage
EVERYONE Themes
  1. No EVERYONE Themes Apply
Other Content Warnings
Additional content warnings: Blood and Gore, Homophobia (Explicit and Internalized), Racial and Ethnic Discrimination, Brief descriptions of an in-universe genocide, Implicit sexual content, References to workplace abuse.
Gif featuring Vox and Valentino from Hazbin Hotel. Vox, annoyed, looks at a video tape with its tape ripped out. Valentino has his back to him, playing a Game Boy Advance SP. The poster reads: VOXTEK ENTERPRISES PRESENTS, A VOXTEK STUDIO PICTURE: BE KIND,PLEASE REWIND. STARRING: VOX, THE MEDIA OVERLORD. VALENTINO, THE FILM OVERLORD. ALSO STARRING: VELVETTE, THE SOCIAL MEDIA OVERLORD TURNER, TRAVIS, THOMAS, WHATEVER TF HIS NAME IS? PRODUCED BY VOX DIRECTED BY VALENTINO MUSIC BY MIDI TRUMPETS CIRCA 2002. CO-PRODUCED BY: VELVETTE WRITTEN BY: MEM ART AND POSTER DESIGN: ALSO MEM LOL. The logo that says BE KIND, PLEASE REWIND. looks like a Blockbuster Logo with the blue ticket. The font is styled more retro.


Be Kind, Please Rewind.


April 30th, 2026



There nothing more gratifying in this world then crumpling up a piece of paper and dunking it in the trash.

At least this is how Vox feels. It's one of the many reasons, despite the advances in technology spearheaded by himself, that he keeps a desk pad calendar in his office.

That and dates just fall out of his head if he only keeps only a digital calendar. It's better to write it down on paper and keep at the top of his mind.

"It's gonna be May~" He sings as he tears April off the pad. He rolls it into a large ball before shooting it across the room, over Velvette's head and into the wastebin.

No net.

Well, here is no net on a garbage can but the shot made it in so cleanly. And in his expert opinion, that counts as No Net.

"Really Vox?" Velvette growls at him, clutching her phone to her chest. She looks like she is going to rip his head off. Although, he encounters this expression often enough that he doesn't clock it as anything but the usual amount of hostility from her.

"What?" He whistles while dusting his hands off. "You can trust May with your three pointers."

"You can stop that too, referencing cringe old memes like that." Velvette scoffs, unlocking her phone and continuing to type whatever text she was composing before.

"Sorry my uncmaxxing is putting Buscemi to shame." He cackles, sitting back down in his seat and pulling out several felt-tip pens from his desk drawer. "Hey, did you know he was holding two skateboards in that scene?"

Vel rolls her eyes, turning slightly away from him. "No, but I'm not surprised you know that." she mutters.

"Well tune in next time to the Vox TV Trivia Time hour, where I yap about how RCA stymied the introduction of color television for years—" Vox blabbers until he notices Velvette raise her eyebrow at him.

Ok, he gets it. He places the bottom of his screen on top of the desk and he uncaps one of his pens. "How about we go to that Mexican place on the 5th and I treat you and Val to those Bulldog… drinks." He mutters, circling the date on his calendar at least four times before looking back up at Vel.

Velvette doesn't respond, but he can see the corners of her mouth peak up. Whew.

He sits up and snaps his claws together, pulling up a bunch of screens that projected his digital calendar. He starts writing out the meetings he has already booked and—

OH! May 4th is Star Wars Day? Thanks International Holiday widget! Haha, "May The Fourth be with you." Maybe he and Valentino can marathon the original trilogy. But the first version, not the CGI slop that Lucas shat out in the 2000s. He sure he has a recording somewhere.

Vox scribbles "STAR WARS WITH VAL." in caps as he moves on to the next couple of meetings in his calendar. Writing them in until he reaches May 9th.

The app tells him that it his 45th anniversary with Valentino. Cool. He begins writing that down before he fully processes what he just read.

He drops his pen and screams "45th anniversary?" shooting straight up from his desk. He feels his eyeballs jumping out of his screen as he stares at what he just wrote.

His shouting startles Velvette enough that she drops her phone in her lap. She stares up at him bewildered. She begins to say "What the f—" before he cuts her off.

"No, that can't be right." He mumbles, trying to do the math on his hands. He paces back and forth behind his desk before staring at Velvette. "1981, how long ago was that?" he asks, snapping his claws.

He already knows the answer, he just doesn't believe it.

Vel stares at him in stunned silence before furrowing her brows. "45 years ago— Vox what the fuck are you screaming about?" she asks, appearing far more concerned then angry.

No, the surprise wasn't that it had been 45 years since he and Valentino formed their working relationship. It was more about seeing the truth so plainly and mundanely spelled out by the algorithm that had indiscriminately calculated that sum from the numbers he inputted fuck knows when. It was a jumpscare. A flashbang.

He's been business partners with Val for decades, and the "s" was starting to do some heavy lifting there.

He slumps back down in his seat as Velvette scoots her seat closer to his desk.

"You keep track of that? That's so cheesy. Are you doing anything special for it?" She chuckles, leaning forward and tilting her head to the side.

Vox can feel his screen becoming warm as he takes out his phone to text his assistant, Ethan.

"I just take him out to dinner." he mumbles, typing "Need reservation for 2 at Dante's Inferno on the 9th. 8:30 PM. Private room." and tapping send.

"Hmmm." Vel purses her lips and narrows her eyebrows. "45 is kind of a big number…" she mumbles typing something on her phone.

"So is 50, maybe I'll do something special for him then." Vox grumbles as he shrugs his shoulders and puts his feet up on top of his desk, raising his arms and resting his hands on the back of his screen. He can feel the fans in the back of his head hustling to keep his core temperature at a reasonable number.

"It's the sapphire anniversary." She adds, turning her phone towards him, showing a Voggle search of "45th wedding anniversary meaning."

He narrows his eyes at her. "Wow. That's great. But we're not married. That's an entirely different relatio- economic partnership from the one we have currently." He explains to her for the thousandth time.

"Whatever, just because you can't call it what it is doesn't mean I don't have eyes." She grumbles, leaning back in her seat and rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.

Hmph, he shakes his head and switches gears.

He takes his feet off his desk and leans forward in his seat, he gets right up in Velvette's face.

"Hey, you two like scheming behind my back… has Val mentioned this to you at all? Our work anniversary?" He asks with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Velvette pushes herself away from the desk and shakes her head. She gets up from the seat and straightens out her skirt.

"No, this is my first time hearing about this." she replies with no hesitation.

Vox sits back up as Velvette pulls out her phone and begins texting again.

"But both of us know Val likes a grand gesture. It would be nice to do something more for him this year. Considering all the work you two have done to make VoxTek the company it is today." She continues, gesturing around to his office.

He doesn't really have a response to that. He narrows his eyes at her and taps his claws on his desk.

Velvette turns around and sighs.

"I gotta go, Melissa wants me to check out some of the draft outfits for the Summer collection. Hopefully I don't have to burn it all to the ground again." she laughs as she walks towards the door. "Just think about it V. If you need any help just call." She adds with a smile, shaking her phone and closing the door behind her.

Vox sits for a moment before getting up and grabbing a bottle of whiskey and a glass from his liquor cabinet. He pours himself a finger of whiskey before he sits back down.

He downs the glass and places it quietly on the desk. He leans down and feels his screen becoming even hotter.

Fuck.

Velvette is right, as usual.


January 29th, 1981


Vox despises Overlord meetings.

These stodgy old fucks didn't understand that the digital revolution was here! That he's brought together all of these overclocked Berkeley grads to replicate the work they'd been doing on Earth before they burnt out and fell here. He was remaking Silicon Valley in his own vision, and he was doing it better.

Overlords only seem to care about land and never about the soft power that he was achieving through investment in research and development.

He storms out of the building after the meeting in a huff. Stomping out into the cool slushy mess that was Pentagram City in January.

One would imagine Hell being eternally flanked by flames and darkness at all hours. And it could certainly be flames and darkness on any given day. That said, Vox believes whoever decided that true torture would be experiencing the extremes of a temperate climate deserves a raise. Six weeks of trudging through snow is fucking exhausting.

He pulls a pack of cigarettes from his jacket and lights one by flicking his claws together. Letting the tar and the nicotine into clear the frustration from his body with a long exhale.

He leans against the wall of the brick building, watching the smoke rise from his cigarette into the maroon sky.

He knows this mattered. He knows that he'll be on top eventually. He could do this by himself. The Overlords just needed a clearer view of his vision—

Vox suddenly hears the flick of a lighter and angry squeaks. He turns his set towards the sound and observes a tall, bug-like sinner struggling to light his cigarette.

Vox recognizes him from the meeting. He's that new Overlord from the Entertainment District. He couldn't for the life of him remember his name, but he's certainly heard the rumors of a moth sinner with an atrocious temper who tore through who knows how many nightclubs.

The moth didn't have much to add during the meeting. He just sat there and played with his handgun, aiming it once or twice at him.

If this wasn't the tail end of an Overlord meeting, Vox probably would have throttled the moth with his extension cords until his neck broke.

Then again, he doesn't want to be on the other end of Mothman's unfounded anger if this jerk can't get his nicotine fill.

Call it self serving, but Vox turns around and approaches the moth.

"Need a light?" He asks, pressing his claws together to create an electric current.

The moth looks down at him and raises an eyebrow, cigarette holder dangling from his mouth. He narrows his eyes at Vox, looking all too skeptical of his intentions.

Vox had noticed that the moth was holding one of his four hands in his coat. Probably gripping the handle of his gun.

He lifts his hand closer to the moth, the bright glow of the electric current illuminating the other Overlord's face in cyan.

The moth still looks uncertain for a second, before leaning close with his cigarette and tapping the end of it on the current.

Vox steps back, he notices that the moth has taken his hand out of his coat, resting it on his hip as he blows crisp, crimson colored smoke up in the air.

He looks down at Vox with a small smile. "You didn't have to." he mutters, with a small toothy grin.

"Surely I did, your reputation proceeds you." Vox replies, flicking ash into the snow.

The moth sinner starts chuckling, he leans down closer to Vox and holds out the hand that had just been cradling a gun not even 15 seconds ago. "Name's not Shirley. It's Valentino, The Pleasure Overlord."

Vox didn't even realize he started giggling at the reference. Airplane! was a huge hit for VoxTek over the holiday season after he managed to snag a quality recording of it from one of Earth's satellites.

He keeps rolling with it: "Pleasure? What is it?" he asks with a smirk, taking Valentino's hand to shake as he introduces himself: "Vox, Media Overlord."

Valentino nods and lifts himself back up to his full height. "Sensual gratification and frivolous amusement, but that's not important right now." He replies casually, walking around Vox and towards the street.

Valentino turns his head back towards Vox, he smiles softly at him. "I'll be seeing you around." he assures, disappearing into the dazzling haze of the city's neon lights.

Vox drops his cigarette and stubs it into the snow. He shoves his hands into his pockets, leaning against the building as sinners and hellborn alike zip around him.

He feels a strange, yet familiar fluttering in his chest.


May 4th, 2026



Vox had spent most of the weekend knee deep in a storage unit all the way on the other side of the Pentagram.

One of these days he's gonna organize his movie collection better.

As technology has gotten more refined, his VHS and Beta collection were stashed away with his DVDs soon after. However, he was able to find several relevant tapes in the course of his deep dive.

He drops all the tapes on the coffee table in front of Valentino, startling the moth sinner who was filing his claws on the couch in Vox's bedroom.

Vox sits down on the floor, crossing his legs before picking up the first two tapes.

"I have this recording of A New Hope that aired on HBO in 1982. No commercial breaks and cuts because it's HBO." He explains, shaking his right hand.

"But, this is the CBS network television premiere from 1984. It has commercials but the recording quality is better, the HBO version is staticky and jumps from time to time." He adds, shaking his left hand.

Valentino stares at him before shrugging his top shoulders.

"I don't know why we can't stream it." He states, turning his attention back to his claws.

"Ugggh." Vox groans. He drops his shoulders and rolls his eyes to the top of the ceiling and back to Val.

"I've told you this a billion times, in the 90s—" He starts to explain before Val cuts him off.

"Oh right the CGI thing…" Valentino mutters, tapping the nail file on his lips before pointing it at Vox.

"I don't know, I mean I haven't done it because my films are flawless but George Lucas can do whatever he wants I guess." He answers, waving the nail file around in Vox's face.

"It's not that he can't do what he pleases Val, It's changing the visuals. Changing the story." He argues, setting the two tapes down on the table so he could gesticulate more. "It disrupts the entire—"

"It's not how you remember it? That's it?" Val cuts him off again with a snort.

Vox grits his teeth. He can feel the electricity pulse through his hands. He grips the table tightly trying to control the urge to toss himself at Val and rip his eyes out.

No. He's not gonna argue with Valentino about this. Despite the fact Val was not wrong: It's not how he remembers it and that sucks! Imagine watching a movie twenty times and suddenly parts of it look different? How dare they change that on him.

"But like, whatever. Star Wars is more your thing, babe— WAIT." Val shouts, sittting up slightly, his eyes going wide as if he was just hit with a realization.

"Its been so long since I've watched a movie on tape!" He squeaks, with a grin forming on his face.

He balls one set of hands into fists, bouncing them up and down while he taps his nail file on his lips again.

"Back in the day you had to go to one of your rental stores. What was it called?" He wonders aloud.

"Uh, Voxbuster?" Vox stammers slightly. He hasn't thought about those stores in years. They were made redundant once streaming became popular, so he closed them.

"Yeah that's it! You'd always take me to pick out movies every Monday night." He remembers, pointing his nail file at Vox again.

"And, you'd always check behind the beaded curtain in the back, next to the video games, to make sure my films were on display." Val chuckles, looking longingly at Vox.

"Yeah, yeah." Vox mumbles and nods along, vaguely remembering what Val was talking about.

"Annnnd if my films weren't there, you'd call the general manager out and fry his brains out! That was always so sweet of you." Valentino chuckles, reaching over the coffee table and flicking Vox's right antenna.

Vox purses his lips, trying desperately to keep his core temperature down so his face doesn't turn bright blue. He really didn't think too much about it then.

It was just business. It was to keep Valentino happy.

Right?

He shakes his head and looks at Val.

"Oh remember that time we took Mean Girls and you started bouncing off the walls because you got that weird Pokémon or something." Val notes, sitting up from his seat and shooting Vox a toothy grin.

"Shiny Carvanha. Not weird, just rare. It evolves into my favorite Pokémon from Sapphire, of course I was excited about it." Vox pouts, crossing his arms.

Val's eyes go wide for a second after Vox mentioned "Favorite Pokémon." Blinking a few times as a small smiled formed on his face.

"And then the cartridge got corrupted and I lost my shiny Sharpedo." Vox sighs wistfully. He terminated the guy who copied Nintendo cartridges thoroughly after that incident.

Vox knew Valentino had no idea what he was talking about. Val wasn't a real gamer like he was.

He's been playing video games since he got that one sinner from Atari to rig him a 2600 while Val only plays Grand Theft Auto to crash his car into NPCs.

"You ruined the movie, but your excitement over your silly fish thing was precious." Valentino recalled with a small laugh.

Vox is grits his teeth at the "precious" comment as Val changes the subject.

"How about we watch the CBS version, I know you like the commercials." He answered Vox's previous question about which version of A New Hope to watch.

Vox groans, taking the second tape and loading into the Betamax player.

Val puts down his nail file and starts making grabby hands at him, gesturing for him to come sit down in his lap.

Vox rolls his eyes and drags himself over to the couch. Collapsing into the other man as Val wraps all four of his arms around him.

He mostly pays attention to the film, but Vox finds his thoughts going back to Voxbuster.

And then it clicks for him.


March 19th, 1997


The turf war Vox engaged in with Valentino that evening was too easy.

A bunch of wannabes ambushed them, so Val rammed those spineless turds with his muscle car a few times. Their puny brains splattered all over the windshield while they stayed nice and warm inside the car.

Vox offered to pay for the car wash since it was his idea to run them over. While he found the turf available on the internet to be far more exciting these days, vehicular homicide was always a good time.

But Valentino always had to mention something out of pocket and ruin the fun. Like saying "The Wizard of Oz was the best film starring Judy Garland!" a factually incorrect opinion that had to be addressed immediately.

"Are you a fucking moron? Her best movie is Meet Me in St. Louis obviously." Vox shouts over the roaring sounds of the car wash.

He lifts his arm and mimics pulling on a trolley stop. "Clang clang clang went the trolley, Ding ding ding went the bell!!" he belts out.

Valentino shakes his head in a huff. "What? Does the shift from black and white to full color mean nothing to you?" he growls, gripping the steering wheel tightly with one set of hands as he pokes Vox's chest twice with the other two.

"St. Louis has the better music. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is a holiday classic. C'mon!" Vox snaps, leaning closer to Valentino.

"Excuse you!" Valentino barks, practically spitting on Vox's face. Somewhere Over The Rainbow is a masterpiece."

"Yeah and only a 'Friend of Dorothy' would care about 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' nowadays. Find another chick to gush over already." Vox snarls, rolling his eyes making air quotes with his claws as he said "Friend of Dorothy."

"Oh sure. I'm the 'Friend of Dorothy' while you're the one who brought up Judy in the first place, you stupid old queen." Valentino squeaks. He slumps down in his seat and starts angrily muttering some kind of island language bullshit that Vox doesn't understand.

"Hey. If you're going to insult me, do it in English you fucking cowa-" Vox begins to yell, as Val grabs his sweater and hooks his claws into the wool.

He pulls Vox over the center console and into his lips.

Vox's screen becomes incredibly hot, his glass forehead pressing on Val's fuzzy one as the car moved along the conveyor belt. The soap covering the windshield, the cacophony of machines and darkness of the building obscuring them from any prying eyes.

Valentino lets go of Vox as the car rolls out of the dimly lit building all clean and shiny. He squeaks out more island nonsense as he pulls into the parking lot adjacent to the car wash.

They sit in silence for a minute before Valentino takes a deep breath and speaks.

"I don't want anymore blood and guts on the hood of my car tonight. What we're going to do is rent both of these movies and watch them together. Then we'll decide which one is better." Val explains sternly.

"I'm right," Vox insisted. He is not pouting. He is not crossing his arms, and he is not slumping down in his seat.

"Guess we'll find out." Valentino scoffs as he begins driving to the closest Voxbuster.


May 5th, 2026



"The Wizard of Oz, Midnight Cowboy, Pink Flamingos, Belly and Legally Blonde. Those are the movies Val would pick from the Criterion Closet, if they were all in the collection." Vox explained to Velvette as he played with the straw of his bulldog margarita.

Val was running late to the restaurant, something about needing to reshoot a scene for his latest film. Which, translated from Val speak, meant he got distracted by at least five or ten different things.

He and Velvette went ahead and ordered without him. Val probably would end up picking at whatever they didn't eat later.

"What does this have to do with your anniversary gift?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at him before taking a sip of her own margarita.

"Great question Velvette!" Vox perks up, pressing his claws together creating small sparks between them.

"I'm gonna create a mini Voxbuster for him in the penthouse." he begins to explain, snapping his fingers to create a projection with a blueprint of V Tower's penthouse.

Velvette leans closer to the projection, bringing her drink with her. She continues to sip her margarita as Vox goes into detail.

"There's an empty room next to his art studio. It's small and he's always offered it to me as a walk-in closet, storage space or something. I don't have that much use for it." Vox notes as Velvette cuts him off.

"Yeah, you're pretty comfortable doing the walk of shame from his room" She cackles, smirking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Vox ignores that comment with a groan and continues his explanation.

"I have a bunch of old videos sitting in storage, why not bring some of his favorites to the tower?" He notes, pointing to a little alcove on the blueprint.

"And here I'm gonna put a beaded curtain with all of his movies on display… well at least the award-winning ones!" He grins, circling the alcove on the blueprint a couple of times.

"What do you think?" he concludes his proposal, he leans back in his chair and starts drinking his bulldog margarita.

Velvette takes large sip of her drink. She folds her hands together and looks straight at Vox.

"Don't you think his movies should be out front?" She inquires, raising one of her eyebrows.

Vox clicks his tongue and wags his claw. "It's about vibes, and you could always find his movies in the back of the store."

"Mhmmm…" Vel nods, taking another sip of her drink before continuing her dissection of Vox's plan.

"Who's gonna build it? Do you even know what a bandsaw is?" she interrogates, tapping the table with her nails.

"Why do we have all of these set designers under contract then?" Vox retorts, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

Velvette scoffs, turning her face away for a second before setting her eyes back on Vox. She starts swirling the straw in her glass.

"When are you going to find the time to build it? That is where our sweet prince lays his head in the evenings." she attests, tilting her head at an unnatural angle that only her doll-like anatomy could pull off without it being painful for her.

"He's going to be in post-production for the rest of the week, he'll be preoccupied in the editing bay of his studio." Vox counters, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at her.

Velvette chuckles, a wide grin forming on her face.

"And you have the key to his apartment so getting in would be easy—" she begins to say as Vox interjects:

"Hey, you do too. Don't make it seem like it's something it isn't." Vox snaps at her, slamming his fists down on the table.

But that show of force was not very effective, she whips her head back and begins laughing loudly.

Velvette is in tears as she holds her sides. Vox could feel the eyes of the restaurant workers and patrons looking straight at them.

Vox grips his fists tighter, he's ready to blow this joint up so nobody saw this.

He knew it was a mistake, trying to do something nice for Valentino. How embarrassing—

Velvette sits back up, she wipes tears away from her eyes as she swings one of her arms over the back of the chair all while continuing to laugh.

"Its so sweet, it makes me gag. Val will love it." she announces, a wide grin forming on her face as she picks up the test tube shot embedded in the margarita and pours it into her glass.

"You don't think its stupid?" He asks, leaning in and whispering to her. His leg starts to bounce.

Velvette shakes her head and continues to smile.

"You don't need my approval to be a sentimental dork." she giggles, slapping Vox on the shoulder.

Vox narrows his eyes and sits up, he swirls around the straw in his drink feeling his screen get bright and hot.

"And you're a lightweight." he mutters, avoiding eye contact with her. He stares at his drink instead.

"Both these things are true, V." she sings, drinking more of her margarita.

"Fine, I'll ask when you're sobe—" He starts to reply as the bell on the door of the restaurant rings loudly.

"Hiiii I'm here it's meeeee!!" Valentino announces to the entire eating area.

Vox's heart skips a beat and he quickly swipes away the blueprint from view. Velvette waves to their fellow Vee, gesturing for him to come sit down with them.

Most of the sinners and hellborn dining at the restaurant stare as Val makes his way over to the table. His heels clacking on the clay tiles as a few of the patrons snap photos of him walking by.

He sits down and crosses his legs, his eyes darting between Velvette and Vox.

"You all ordered without me? Rude!" He squeaks, narrowing his eyes at Vox.

"We didn't know how late you were gonna be." Velvette giggles as Val rolls his eyes.

"Fineeeee but I'm stealing your drink, Voxxy" he whines, grabbing Vox's margarita off the table.

Vox sighs and snaps his fingers, catching a waiter walking past their table off guard.

"Another round of drinks, Now." he snarls, without even looking up from Velvette or Valentino. The small, feeble hellhound stops in their tracks and scurries over to the bar.

"Thanks babe." Val whispers, winking at him while taking another sip of the drink he just stole.

Vox clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

Val's a selfish brat, but who is Vox to say no?


October 21st, 2019


They couldn't even give Valentino, an Overlord, his own private room. What kind of shitty hospital was this?

The sinner closest to the door of the room Val was assigned to must have flatlined a while ago. There were no nurses available to check up on them, too many wounded and not enough able bodies in the building to handle them all.

Vox pulls cord of the EKG machine out of the wall socket to silence the awful noise that was bleating from it. He throws the cord against the wall and began walking further into the room.

Several green curtains divided the patients in the long, sterile room. The dim flickering lights, punctuated with incessant moaning and screaming was the third physical reminder in the last 48 hours that he was in definitely in Hell.

Vox shakes his head and tightens his grip on the duffel bag he brought. He scoured the clipboards attached to the curtains, looking for Val's number.

"19780314.213… " he repeats to himself quietly. He swings his head from side to side until he finds the bed labeled as such at the far end of the room, next to a large window.

Well, at least Val got a room with a view. Despite that view looking absolutely catastrophic right now.

Vox takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and carefully pulls back the curtain.

"Val?" He croaks, as he sees Valentino, laid up in bed, staring at the popcorn ceiling of the room.

"Voxxy you're here!!" he exclaims, He sits straight up in his bed and claps his hands together.

"Well yeah… of course." Vox stammers, shifting his gaze to the window and the wrecked skyline of Pentagram City.

He found Valentino hard to look at. The whole left side of his head was bandaged up, including his eye.

Val's left antenna had been butchered when they were ambushed by exorcists from Heaven's army.

It hadn't regenerated.

Whatever the surgeons were able to salvage limped over his face pathetically.

Vox closed the curtain and let himself into the small, narrow space. There wasn't anywhere to sit so he leaned against the windowsill awkwardly.

"Uh… so… how's it been?" He asks Val sheepishly. He didn't really know where to begin.

"Ughhhhhhh you have no idea." Valentino whines, rolling his un-bandaged eye towards the ceiling.

"It's so loud and noisy, I can't get sleep. And I lost my phone so I haven't had anything to do but stare out the window! This hospital fucking sucks!!" He kvetches as he crosses his bottom set of arms, gesturing to the ceiling with the top set.

Vox nods as he takes off his duffel bag and sets it on the side of Val's bed.

"Well, I might have something to fix that." He states, unzipping the bag and tossing Val a pair of red VoxBeat headphones.

Val holds out all four of his hands to catch the headphones, but he misses and they land on his lap. He squeaks in frustration as he looks up at Vox.

"How did you get your bag in here?" Val inquires, raising an eyebrow. He places his headphones on the bedside table.

"I bribed the charge nurse." Vox notes, handing Val a pair of heart-shaped glasses.

"Yaaaay!" Val cheers as he throws the ugly glasses the hospital had prescribed to him on the floor and places the heart-shaped ones on his face.

"Velvette also sends her love." He adds, handing Val a sketchbook and a pencil case.

"Awwww," he hugs the sketchbook before placing it down on his bedside table with the case next to the headphones. "Tell her thanks when you can."

He nods before handing Val a laptop, a new phone and a carton of cigarettes.

"Oh thank fuck," Val exclaims in relief. He immediately rips open the carton of cigarettes, pulling out a pack and dumping the individual cigs on his lap.

He picks two out and shoves them between his teeth. "Do you have a light?" He chirps, his big wide eyes staring at Vox.

Vox had placed the lighter he'd brought for Val on the bedside table when the moth sinner attacked the carton. He sighs and leans over, creating an electrical current with his claws.

Val places the tips of the cigarettes between the current, lighting them both. He lets out a deep breath, exhaling crimson smoke that rose towards the ceiling.

He starts putting away the cigarettes he dumped out, handing the last one to Vox.

"No thanks," Vox awkwardly declines. He bats away Val's hand.

"What? Are you afraid of getting Hell cancer?" he teases, shoving the pack and the carton behind his pillow.

"I don't think that's possible Val." Vox answers quietly, gazing at the other curtains in the room. Nobody else in the room seemed to have visitors, but he could hear all their moans. Their gasping cries.

It was starting to get on his fucking nerves.

"Whatever, your loss." Valentino replies nonchalantly, placing his new phone on the bedside table and opening the laptop.

"The laptop has a bunch of movies and shows downloaded already so you don't have to deal with the shitty hospital wi-fi." Vox explains, circling the bed so he is standing over Valentino's right shoulder. "So you can watch that one show that you and Velvette like… what is it… RuPoo or something?" he mumbles.

"Naw, I'll wait for Vel… Maybe." he cackles as he scrolls through folders of movies Vox torrented off the Earth internet.

"Ooooh you have Once Upon A Time in Hollywood on here!!" Val gasps, bouncing up and down, cigarette ash falling into the keyboard.

"I thought you might want to watch the new Tarantino movie." Vox mumbled, reaching over to dust the ash off the brand new laptop.

Val's face lights up as he looks up at Vox. "We should watch it together!" he proclaimed, clicking on the folder containing the file.

"No thanks" Vox mumbles, grabbing his bag. "I should really get back to the tower—"

Valentino squeaks angrily, he grabs Vox's collar and pulls him down to his face.

"We should watch it to-get-her." he insists, holding Vox's head against his forehead, the cigarettes in his mouth inches away from his screen.

Vox grits his teeth before groaning audibly. "Fine. Whatever." he relents.

Val lets go of his shirt and claps his hands together again.

"Great!" he squeals, as he shifts to the side and makes room for Vox to lay down on the bed with him.

Vox stares at the bed for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I can just stand and watch—" he mumbles before Val cuts him off.

"No!" Val pouts, and points to the empty space on the bed.

Vox drops his shoulders and rolls his eyes. Valentino was being difficult, as usual.

He shakes his head and sets his bag down on the floor. He begrudgingly climbs over the sides of the bed and next to Val.

It was a tight squeeze, Vox lays his head down on Val's chest fluff as Val wraps his right arms around his waist.

Val puts out his cigarettes out on the loose side of his gown and snuggled closer to Vox.

"I'll tell you what Hollywood was really like at the time." He whispers excitedly, pulling the laptop closer to their faces an clicking on the .mp4 file.

Vox looks up and sees Val's stubby left antenna hovering over him, touching his own broken antenna that now stood stiff and unmoving.

He swallows the lump that was forming in his throat and pressed himself closer to Val's body.

He never wanted to be that helpless again.


May 7th, 2026



Vox drags a tub of DVDs and tapes that he brought out of storage into Val's apartment.

The worse part about going through his storage unit is dealing with the media that had rotted over time. Sticky-shed from improperly stored tapes, DVDs with small white dots on the edges of the disc permeated his disorganized archive of things that he has accumulated over the decades.

VoxTek is a move fast, break things company. This is how they can keep innovating quickly and keep making him money.

Getting his researchers to figure out how to create sustainable storage formats and humidity controls that suited the ever shifting climate of the Pentagram has never been the main priority.

Until it started to affect him personally of course.

Nevertheless, he'd been able to salvage some movies from the garbage pile he owned.

Vox was straining his back pulling the tub into the apartment, he carefully puts the tub down and stretches his back out before grabbing his shoulder rotating his neck.

He's about to plop down on one of Val's chairs and take a break as the loud booming of familiar MIDI trumpets catch him off guard.

Someone else was here in the apartment.

Vox whips around and sees one of Valentino's boytoys laid out on his couch playing a game on an old, scratched up Vox Boy Advance.

Vox recognizes that this weird looking owl sinner is one of Val's favorite pets, but he cannot recall his name. He also can't maim this dumbass to keep from talking, or else Val might get pissy at him. He didn't want to deal with that so close to their work anniversary.

They stare at each other awkwardly for a beat as they both speak up at the same time.

"I-uh—" Vox sputters out.

"—You go first." The owl sinner implores. He sets the VoxBoy down on his chest.

"Your name?" He asks sheepishly.

"T-Travis" the owl sinner stammers.

"Right, right." Vox mutters, putting his hands on his hips. "You're here because…?"

"I'm plantsittin' the fly traps." He answers, nervously gesturing to Val's greenhouse on the loft.

"Mhmhm." Vox mumbles, he nods his head and narrows his eyes at Travis.

They continued to stare at each other for another uneasy few seconds before Vox clears his throat.

"We never saw each other, and we will never speak of this again." Vox advises, as Travis swallows anxiously and nods.

"Good." Vox states, as a large, unsettling grin grows on his face as he starts to drag the heavy tub of videos over and into to Val's art studio.

He stands behind the doorway for a second before sighing, putting down the tub and peeking out from the room.

"Fly to Dewford Town and change the trendy phrase. That resets the tiles on Route 119." he yells over Travis.

He turns around, about to pick up the tub again before rolling his eyes dipping his head out one more time.

"You can get the Super Rod in Mossdeep City, you won't get any Magikarp that way." he adds before ducking back in.

Vox picks up the large tub and then slams it down on the linoleum floor of the studio. He turns around and stands right in the doorframe, balling his hands into fists after hearing those trumpets again.

"For fucks sake— Use Surf! You have Surf. You had to know Surf to cross Route 118 from Mauville. You'll cover more territory!" He screams before slamming the door.

Look, he didn't want to be backseat driving Turner, Thomas, Tony… or whatever the fuck that dudes name was. But he would get nothing accomplished just fishing for Feebas on the side of the river all willy-nilly.

That isn't his business either. His business right now was putting together the Mini Voxbuster store for Val.

And it was finally time to set up shop.


May 9th, 1981


Vox learned very early on in his career as an Overlord of Hell that no Overlord is your friend.

It didn't really matter that you got along, didn't matter that you had the same interests, the same taste in drinks and music, got along with one another.

All other Overlords are your enemies and should be treated with suspicion.

And this is the philosophy that Vox carried as he ascended the ranks in Hell. They were just as bloodthirsty and ambitious as he was. They only wanted him to fail.

This is why Valentino makes him uneasy.

In the few months Vox has known the Pleasure Overlord, he's seen Valentino commit arson for insurance fraud, break the kneecaps of his debtors and tear off the wings of another Overlord for spitting on his shoe. Among other things.

But Valentino wants to hang out with him for whatever reason.

It started with Valentino asking if he wanted to get drinks after an Overlord meeting, and the conversation turned to some of the movies Vox had recently "acquired" for distribution.

Shortly after that, he invited Valentino to see Superman II with him. Which led to Valentino asking him to see The Shining, which led to him asking Valentino if he wanted to see Raging Bull.

And this became a routine. They get drinks then a movie, then drinks again. With the occasional turf war thrown in there for fun.

But Valentino wasn't his friend. He's only an interesting co-worker who always knew where best place was to get shitfaced.

They are sitting at the bar after watching Pink Flamingos, which fascinated and horrified Vox at the same time. There was real money to be made off this film, and certainly his pockets were lined.

Valentino watched the movie in awe. Laughing at almost everything. He quoted the entire interview scene back at Vox on their way to the bar.

He couldn't stop talking about it.

"Man, bitches really live like that huh?" Valentino sneers before sipping his martini.

"I'm from Baltimore I've never met anyone like that." Vox mutters, staring at the whiskey he ordered. He was trying not to think about film he just experienced.

"Well in Florida you meet trailer trash like that all time, it's so hilarious that they live like that." Valentino laughs, slamming the empty martini glass down on the bar as he calling the bartender over for another one.

Vox is nodding along absent-mindedly to what Valentino is saying, as he picks up his glass and drinks some of the warm liquor.

"That's the kind of movie I wanna make, but with gorgeous people." Valentino sighs. He leans his arm against the bar, resting his cheek in his palm. He stares at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar.

Vox quietly puts down his glass as Valentino leans over.

"Hey, if you were to direct a movie, what would it be about?" Valentino squeaks directly in his face, catching him off guard slightly.

Vox takes a second to chew on this question. It's tough. He likes musicals, westerns and even the occasional romcom. But if he has to choose…

"Monster movies, like Jaws and King Kong." He answers, sliding the empty cup away from him.

Valentino nods. He rolls one of his hands gesturing for him to continue.

"Those movies are really good, but I think they could be improved by letting the monster win. Don't you think?" Vox elaborates, as the bartender approaches them and fills both of their glasses.

"Duh, humans are the worst. And that shark deserves a treat." Valentino agrees with a wink.

Vox nods with a small laugh. His screen feels little warm, but he shakes it off and drinks his second glass of whiskey.

"So, what's stopping you from directing?" Valentino asks, swirling his martini around before taking a sip of it.

"Time? I own a TV station, newspaper, a tech company. That takes a lot of my bandwidth." He admits with a shrug.

Valentino blinks at him wordlessly, as if that wasn't a particularly strong enough answer for him. Or maybe he didn't understand what he was saying.

"It's just easier to record Earth media and distribute it around the rings" he sighs, tapping on top of the bar while avoiding eye contact with Valentino.

"You just need someone else to direct the films for you?" Valentino clarifies.

He folds his bottom set of hands together and stares straight into the mirror behind the bar for a few seconds before quickly turning back to Vox.

"Could that be me?" He asks, his eyes growing wider. He holds his chest and sits up straight with a smile.

Vox is in the middle of drinking his whiskey when Valentino drops that question. He spits out what was in his mouth, some of it going down his windpipe. He pounds his chest to stop the choking.

He takes several shallow breaths before looking up at Valentino, feeling extremely shaky all of a sudden.

"What?" He gasps, his eyes feeling as though they were about to pop right out of his screen.

"Yeah, if you don't have the time then let me direct movies for you." Valentino explains, nodding his head up and down.

Vox bites his lip, he looks Valentino up and down trying to find what the catch here was. He couldn't just be offering himself up like this, he's an Overlord. An amateur move if he ever saw one.

Why is Valentino making the same mistake he did?

"Don't you have your nightclubs and other… business ventures going on?" Vox laughs anxiously, stretching his arms out from the bar.

"Those are just side hustles, y'know" Valentino laughs with a shrug.

"And what could working with me do for you?" Vox inquires, rolling his hand in air.

"Well duh!! You have the equipment, the sets and the studio space. I'll bring my own actors! I already have quite a few under contract, don't worry about that." Valentino explains, gesturing his top set of hands in the air.

Vox takes a deep breath and shakes his head.

He's just gonna Valentino ask outright.

"What's the catch?" he blurts out, feeling his screen turn staticky.

"No catch. You make money, I make money. You get to distribute and support domestic filmmaking here in the Pride ring and I get full monetary support for my endeavors as the new Overlord of Film!" Valentino explains, a big toothy grin forming on his face.

He then clears his throat, looks back into the mirror behind the bar.

"And I like you. You're funny." he adds quietly with a shrug.

Vox feels his screen become hot, his antennas stick up and electricity pulses through them.

He shakes his head and tries to ignore the strange feeling in his chest.

"Why not team up? Make some cash and have some fun. Let's be partners." Valentino proposes, holding his hand out for Vox to shake.

The moment Valentino says "partners" Vox feels his heart sink to the floor.

There were no friends in hell. Definitely no "partners." Valentino is delusional.

Vox can hear that wretched deer's voice in his head. Mocking him for his idealism, for wanting to rule Hell together.

It's been nearly three decades, but Alastor continued to haunt him and every choice he has made since.

But he looks at Valentino, he sees the moth's soft smile and wide eyes. Holding his hand out just waiting for him to say yes.

Is that what Al saw back then?

Vox averts his gaze from Valentino. He looks down at the floor as he sinks his claws into his pant legs, breaking the skin on his legs.

He has the chance to do this differently, it was staring him right in the face.

"Ok, I'm interested in being business partners. Let's do this." he agrees, looking up at Valentino and swallowing the nervous lump in his throat.

He takes Valentino's hand and shakes on it, the new Film Overlord's hand feeling warm and soft in his.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Vox." Valentino replies with a cackle, he sticks out his long tongue and licks his lips.

Vox feels that strange fluttering in his chest again. The same as when he first met Valentino. He finally realizes why it felt so familiar then.

It was the same feeling that he had with Alastor all of those years ago.

He grips Valentino's hand tighter and hopes he never has to let go.


May 9th, 2026



Dinner at Dante's was normal. He and Val discussed projected profits of the coming Summer blockbuster season. What movies they should really be pushing and advertising for. Normal subjects you would talk about with your normal business partner on your normal business anniversary. Completely Normal.

Vox refreshes his screen, wiping his face of Val's saliva as they meet Velvette back at the penthouse. She takes out her phone as Vox unlocks Val's apartment.

"You're filming this?" Vox asks with a grumble, narrowing his eyes at her.

"And you're not, V?" Velvette retorts, pointing to the many security cameras that lines the hallway.

He looks up at the one camera facing the door, then back down to Vel. He groans.

"This is not to be posted on socials, understood?" Vox insists to Velvette as he leads Valentino into the penthouse.

"Oooh my anniversary gift, right?" Valentino chirps as Vox tugs him forward.

"Hey, its supposed to be a surprise." Velvette pouts, stopping the recording.

Vox and Valentino turn around and stare at her for a beat.

"Oh babygirl…" Val mumbles as Vox rubs the top of his screen with his claws.

"You've been playing with us like dolls for the last week and a half and you didn't think we'd catch on?" Vox states, gritting his teeth and pointing at her.

"Oiiii don'tcha think Vox would want something noice for your anniversary, love? He neva asks for anythiiiiing like that." Valentino mimics Velvette's English accent poorly, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling.

"My mistake, Am I not allowed to manipulate your emotions to get something both you and I want?" Velvette argues, grinding her teeth together.

Vox and Valentino look at themselves silently before staring back at her.

"I'm still playing house, so keep acting." She commands, holding her phone back up and pressing record.

"Fine." Vox growls, grabbing Val's hand and dragging him towards his studio.

He's put a decent amount of effort into this gift so he's not going to let it fall to the wayside.

He pulls Val across the room and to the closet, shoving him in there as he hits the lightswitch.

The Voxbuster logo, a light box, flicks on first. Followed by wavy lines of red and blue neon that bathes the room in a purplish hue, illuminating the video filled shelves that circled the room.

Mounted in the top-right corner of the room, an old CRT television turns on. Vox rigged it so it would shuffle through some of Valentino's best films and scenes.

Velvette was right about needing to put some of Val's work out front, it is supposed to be a celebration of him after all.

And of course, if he were to walk further into the room, Valentino would find that the smaller alcove would have several of his movies on display behind a blue beaded curtain. Just like it had been in the 90s, just smaller.

In the middle of the walk-in closet was an octagon display. Valentino could switch out what was on display whenever he pleases, but Vox threw some movies on there with a couple of balloons and called it a day.

Val squeaks loudly and holds his face, he pushes Vox and Velvette aside and begins touring the room.

"Ohhhh this has everything!!" He squeals, running his hands over the tapes, on the shelves. Opening the beaded curtain. Admiring the movie posters of his films displayed near the front of the room.

Velvette is filming all of this while giggling like a madwoman. She follows Val around, taking glamor shots of him next to the displays, the shelves, the lights.

Vox isn't too surprised by the reaction. Of course he would give the best and most thoughtful gift. He leans on the doorway, impressed with what he's put together.

But he is caught off guard by Valentino sprinting over, scooping him up and pulling him into a tight hug.

"I LOVE it Voxxy!! Val exclaims, rocking him back and forth in his arms.

"The movies, the vibes, everything. OH and—" he drops Vox on the floor and walks over to the octagon display.

He pulls The Wizard of Oz off the display, showing Velvette and her phone.

"This is the best movie of all time! And Judy's best of course" He explains before setting the tape back down on the display.

Vox is not going to correct him about that second point, it is taking everything in his power not to.

Val picks up the next film, Pink Flamingos. "Vox and I watched this one in theaters the day I asked him to be my partner" he chuckles, looking at Vox who has gotten himself off the floor.

"This one has grown on you." Val adds, shaking the tape.

Vox clicks his tongue and dusts off his jacket.

"Hairspray is better." he mutters, readjusting his tie.

"Debatable." Val retorts, nipping that argument in the bud as he sets the tape back on display and picks up Airplane!

"Velvette, have you ever watched this one?" Valentino asks, showing her phone camera the tape.

"No, I'm not an old coot like you lot." Velvette huffs, rolling her eyes.

"Well surely you've heard us quote it before?" Vox chimes in, walking over to them and holding his hands behind his back.

"Name's not Shirley." Valentino replies with a smirk as he puts the movie back down on the display as Velvette sticks out her tongue at them.

Val glosses over the other movies on the display before picking out the Blu-ray of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He looks at Velvette for a second, gesturing to her cut the camera with a swipe of the hand to his neck.

Velvette nods and stops recording.

Val takes a deep breath.

"Vox and I watched this one together right after the first extermination." He disclosed, tapping the case before looking up at Vox.

"I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but that really cheered me up." Val continues, looking almost teary eyed as he wipes the corner of one of them before setting the case back down.

Vox looks away from Val, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. He stares at the blue carpet of the mini Voxbuster instead.

Valentino gestures to Velvette to being filming again, he takes another deep breath.

"But do you know what this place is missing?" He asks the both of them, wagging his finger in the air.

Vox shoots back up straight and starts looking around. What? What is it missing? Is he going to need to strangle a set designer later? Fuck if this isn't perfect—

Velvette starts grinning, she turns her head towards Vox with the most mischievous look on her face.

"The video game section!" Valentino proclaims. He digs into his pockets and tosses Vox a square shaped object.

Vox barely catches it in his hands, he stumbles with it slightly. He starts examining the object under the dim lights of the mini Voxbuster.

Valentino had thrown him a Vox Boy Advance SP, a blue one. It looks like it was refurbished, Vox doubts it was new. They discontinued it ages ago.

In the VoxBoy was a blue, translucent colored cartridge. He turns on the console and the familiar chime of the BIOS played as it loaded the game.

Vox looks up at Valentino and tilts his head. "You got me… Pokémon Sapphire?" he mutters, feeling more confused then anything.

"Not just that. Look at the team!!" Val explains, gesturing for him to open the save file.

Vox narrows his eyes at Val. He reluctantly clicks open the file and finds the female player character standing in Sootopolis City.

He opens the Pokémon menu and sees the team, consisting of three Pokémon: Dustox, Banette and Sharpedo.

Vox looks up at Valentino and Velvette. "Are they supposed to be us?" he asks, pointing at them before pointing to himself.

"There's more! Click on the shark thing." Val insists, pointing to the screen of the VoxBoy.

Vox clicks to view the summary of the Sharpedo, and his heart skips a beat.

It is a shiny Sharpedo, all cool and purple. Just like the one he had back in 2004.

"Not just that, all three of 'em are shiny." Valentino squeaks, clapping his hands with a wide grin.

Vox clicks through the menu, and indeed: both the Dustox and Banette were shiny.

"I had Travis do most of the work. 'Cause he said he's like 'the Pokémon master' or whatever. But look at us!! We're all cute together!!" Valentino grins, waving his hands in the air.

"And you said you broke the old one you stole, so like. It's perfect for our sapphire anniversary!" Valentino added, holding his arms out.

"Val, if its from my store I didn't steal it, and we're not m—" Vox starts to correct him as Valentino picks him up and begins hugging him again.

"This has been the most wonderful anniversary babe." he proclaims cheerfully, swinging Vox from side to side.

Vox cranes his head over Val's shoulder to see Velvette, who had finished recording them grabbing Airplane! off the display.

He raises an eyebrow that silently asked her: "Are you happy?"

She smirks at him as she walks out of the closet with the tape.

Valentino picks him up bridal style with one set of arms and pulls the Vox Boy out of his hands.

"Hey—" He starts to say as Val places a finger on his mouth.

"I'm not done playing yet. I gotta go fight that whale bitch because that pirate guy tried to flood the world." he explains, before pressing a kiss on Vox's screen.

"If you don't catch Kyogre I'll kill you." Vox threatens him, his screen turning a bright blue as he sticks a electrified claw in Val's face.

"Ok, fine. Whatever babe." Val rolls his eyes and flicks Vox's left antenna.

"Hey! Are you two coming? The film's starting." Velvette yells from the penthouse living room.

"We're coming Vel!!" Val screams back. Carrying Vox out of the closet to join Velvette on the couch.

Valentino drops him on the couch and takes a seat between him and Velvette. They spend the rest of the night watching Airplane! while Val attempts to catch Kyogre.

Valentino freaks out when he accidentally knocks out Kyogre the first time around. He presses the wrong move constantly, he squeaks angrily when an Ultra Ball he threw breaks open.

Vox tries his best to explain to Val what he needs to do, but Val mostly ignores him. Much to his frustration.

Nevertheless, Vox has that familiar, fluttering feeling in his chest. The same one he's had for decades. The one that he refuses to label or name.

Valentino could be angry, difficult and violent. He could be loud, jealous and incredibly high-strung.

And yet, Val fits so perfectly. On his team, in his grand scheme to rule Hell. In his hands, his arms and his warm embrace.

In the same way his big ol' head rests comfortably on Val's shoulder whenever they sit the front row of a theater, as the lights dim and the projector starts to roll.

Vox only hopes that there would be another 45 years of this, he doesn't want to see the credits. Not yet.
 
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Author Notes
howdy! thanks for reading!! i realize that this isn't exactly the place you'd find a hazbin hotel fic but i'm glad u took the time to read about the terrible men that have been plaguing my brain since november.

kint was like "mem i wanna see u write more fanfic even if its hazbin" so i took that as a challenge.

a lot of this fic is based on a throwaway line from season 2 episode 7 where baxter says "vox is a cinephile" and that he pirates earth media with the help of the souls he's "hired". i'm workin with a lot of headcanon here that will eventually be superseceded by the canon but brrrr brain wants to think abt why movies are so foundational to vox and valentino's relationship.

i have a few notes here. they are not required to read but i hope its helpful!

does this timeline actually work? how did they watch airplane! right after it was released in theaters on eart — vox has a really good satellite lmao shhhhhhhh

star wars — fyi i don't rly go here. so i did some quick googling around to see what the broadcast history of a new hope was in the US. it was shown premium cable first (hbo) to poor ratings and then it was shown on network tv less then a year later. (cbs) also to poor ratings. damn.

vox,,, an og gamer,,, — the history of video games is tied to television greatly so i don't see how vox wouldn't try to get in on the ground floor.

my personal headcanon is that he usually plays game boy games on the super game boy or the game boy player lol. bet his favorite is tetris yet.

why does vox have tapes with the commericals on them? — great question bc in television land, it was pretty common practice to tape over old material as a cost cutting measure, especially during the time vox was alive.

i bet he has a marion stokes streak to him (he films everything anyway.)

"friend of dorothy"— kind of low key way to communicate to gay men that you were one in the same. judy garland is the gay icon of the silent/boomer generation in the same way carly rae jepsen, lady gaga and sabrina carpenter are to milennials/gen z.

sticky-shed syndrome/disc rot — hey did u know that your tapes and cds are not immune to the passage of time? many reasons why ur videos would deteriorate overtime. it has to do a lot with the material and how well it was manufactured (especially with disc rot) but a lot of time it has to do with how it was stored and the humidity.

anyway, at least its not as scary as storing things on the cloud and having it be deleted because you forgor to log in after some time.

if you got more questions abt specifics lmk! tysm again for reading!
 
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