Chapter Text
It started just like any other tale of misadventure. On a cold, rainy, and slightly lonely evening Vox found himself drinking away his problems at one of the clubs he owned. He had just opened this club recently in a part of town he didn’t have any V properties yet. So he forced himself to come out for appearances despite much rather staying home, especially since Valentino was out of town today and Vox wasn’t in a socializing mood. Nonetheless, Vox wasn’t completely alone since Valentino’s girls were all over him, snuggling up to him and laying their heads in his lap. He was absent mindedly playing with one of the girls curls that happened to be on him at the moment before he decided he wasn’t feeling it tonight and that watching TV in his pajamas and with plenty of snacks sounded much more appealing.
“Why again don’t we serve food in here?” Vox complained as he tapped the girl to get off him.
“Because it would cost extra to have a kitchen staff and it’d sober people up too fast” The curly haired fox girl reminded him.
“Right…” Vox took his wallet out and tipped all the girls around him generously. “Well you ladies get yourself something to eat too from around here” He threw down an extra few bills on the table. Vox was always generous when he was drunk which is why the girls particularly liked him those nights. All the girls faces lit up in smiles as they grabbed to count up how much they received.
“Thanks Mr. Vox!” They all sang in unison.
“No problem ladies” Vox chuckled as he went to leave the VIP area and stumbled down the steps. “Shit!”
“Are you alright to leave Mr. Vox?” Asked one of the new kittens. She was met with glares and the fox girl nudged her in the side with her elbow.
“He’s fine!”
Vox turned around with a smile. “Yep, I’m just fine. Have a goodnight” He grabbed the railing to get down the rest of the way.
“I’ll grab a water before I leave and I’ll be fine” Vox told himself as he went to leave.
xXx
A few minutes later Vox finds himself sitting in his car, scrolling through his phone to check what restaurants near him are still open. Most still are he finds but it also shows that traffic is high so it’ll be putting up with other annoying customers. At this point in the night he just wants some peace and quiet. He could just always use his overlord authority and demand to be served first but that won’t stop people from coming up to him to try and start a conversation or snap a photo.
“Fuck it, I’m just gonna go to Taco Hell” Vox decides and throws his phone in the car console, having the GPS coordinates pulled up for the nearest restaurant. The drive thru can’t take more than a few minutes of waiting and he’ll have the sanctity of waiting in his own car the whole time. With that decided he pulls out of the garage and into the dreadful weather.
“It wasn’t this bad earlier…” Vox slowly makes his way out of the road, he got already got his car splashed by a passing car as he pulled out from the garage. Hopefully the streets will be empty with people choosing to stay in for the night by this point. Vox turns his wipers on the highest setting and his music up. However with how bad the rain is its making it hard to focus on the street he needs to find for so he turns the music down as he squints to make out the names being blurred by the rain.
“Ugh, I can’t see shit, I think it’s this one…” Vox glances down at his phone to see if it seems this is the road he should turn on. He’s taking way too long in the middle of the road to decide if he should turn or not but thankfully its clear so there’s no one to honk and curse at him in annoyance. “Yeah it’s this one” Vox confirms after staring down at the little map on his phone and goes ahead with the turn without a second thought. In those few seconds Vox was distracted he failed to notice a car coming straight at him.
“Oh shit!” He yells and tries to quickly turn before he gets hit. Vox’s sports car isn’t meant to handle the slick roads so the sudden turn causes his car to spin around while Vox attempts to regain control of the steering wheel and set the car straight while slamming on the breaks. He feels the brake thumping up against his foot as it attempts to stop the car. Vox closes his eyes as he sees his car being spun into a metal stop sign.
“Shit!”
He braces to feel the crash and hear the sound of the front of his car being crushed by the oncoming vehicle. That doesn’t come however. He only hears the long continuous honk of the other car as it passes by. His car managed to end up avoiding the other car miraculously as it was spun off the path of collision. Instead Vox’s car drifts towards the stop sign. It breaks the sign in half on impact, the red metal octagon swinging in towards his window. Vox’s eyes pop open just in time to see the octagon heading straight at his face.
Vox gasps in horror, this is how he dies tonight he figures. “Oh no, no, fucking hell no!” He panics and throws his back against his seat, his arms flying up to cover and protect his face. The metal sign smacks against the window, shattering it and spraying shards of glass at Vox. As the sign shatters the glass it directly hits the rearview mirror and breaks it off, sending it flying at Vox’s face. Instantly his vision goes black in his right eye as his screen gets shattered by the mirror. It temporarily disorients Vox out as intense pain radiates from his eye and spreads out through his head. Vox falls forwards and his foot accidentally presses on the gas pedal, sending him driving straight into a ditch.
For the second time Vox attempts to stop his car in vain, it’s too muddy and steep for his brakes to properly work. There’s a moment of false hope of the car stops, it got caught on a tree root sticking out from the ground.
“Oh thank god-“ Vox gets cut off as the root gives way and the car tips forwards. The tumble down is a nasty one, the car hitting more roots and brush on the way down with Vox mercilessly being flipped upside down, the thin sharp twigs of the brush scratching at his screen and getting caught on his clothes. After a few more turn overs the car reaches the bottom and settles on its roof in the small creek that runs through the ditch.
Once the cars not in motion anymore Vox pants heavily from the ordeal and fear he jut experienced. Being upside down makes it hard to process what happened, his heads spinning from the hit in the face he took earlier, the unexpected rough flips he just took and from being thoroughly shocked still. He wants to take a second to steady himself and figure out the best way to get out but he can’t be given even that. All the alcohol he drank didn’t go well with being flipped upside down and around continuously.
“Fuck, fuck, I’m gonna puke!” Vox fumbles with the seat belt, it not wanting to let go so he opts for slashing the fabric with his claws in a hurry. That releases him instantly and he once again hits his head and he lands on the ceiling of his upturned car. He barely has enough time to brace his hands on the ceiling of his rapidly flooding car before he gets sick. After that’s done he takes a shaky breath and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He feels guilty adding that to all the damage his trusty sports car took already, but Vox realizes all its realistically good for is the scrapyard.
Wanting to get away from sitting in the murky ditch water he glances around for the easiest escape route. His front window is already broken so he crawls towards it. Vox tries his best to avoid any shards of glass that sunk to the bottom and then to avoid the sharp edges of glass remains sticking out in the hole where his window used to be. With some effort he pulls himself out and plunges his entire body into the freezing water. Not wanting to risk getting bit by any hellish creatures that live in the ditch he lets out a surge of electricity strong enough to kill off anything in the area. The ditch glows bright blue and lights up in the night.
“O-ok, you got this Vox” Vox tells himself as he goes to drag himself from under the hood that hangs over him now. Before he goes out any further he realizes this might not to be the worst spot to wait it out until he calls for help. It’s protecting him from the rain at least.
“Fuck! The phones in the car!” Vox curses and hits his fist on the ground. There’s no way he’ll find it now. Once again the ditch lights up bright blue as angry electricity shoots out from Vox. Maybe he can find his phone if he lights the area up he realizes, so he zaps away at random spots inside his car to see if he can spot it. Although it doesn’t do much with locating the phone it helps him in being found rather fast as police go to investigate the source of the light show.
Once they find its overlord Vox they scramble to drag him out of the ditch. Vox looks rather embarrassed of being found this way but he reluctantly accepts the help, it’s not easy to get out by himself when he’s in pain all over and lightheaded. He refuses medical help since he’d rather not make a scene of showing up at the hospital so he gets as comfortable as he can in the back of an ambulance, an emergency blanket and a cup of coffee to keep him warm until he’s well enough to decide what to do next.
xXx
“Well you certainly look like shit” Alastor spoke out with his staticy voice crackling through the air. Even with how heavily it was down pouring his voice cut clean through the raindrops.
Vox turned his head slowly to look at the other overlord.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Vox asked as he narrowed his eyes, or eye as the right side of his screen was cracked, causing his eye to be scattered out in some parts while there were dead pixels filling in the rest of the space.
“I was called to pick you up” Alastor takes a wide step towards Vox and leans against the ambulance.
“What? I didn’t call you?” In fact Alastor was the last person Vox wanted to see right now. He already knew he’d never hear the end of being found in this state for the next few months. Did the emergency workers even say they’d be calling someone to get him? Not like he could leave in his totaled car anymore but Vox assumed someone on the scene could drop him off at home or they’d call him a ride.
“You might not have but one of the fine medics of the city did”
Vox processed this for a while. Why the hell would they call Alastor? Everyone knew how close the Vees are and that putting Vox and Alastor together won’t end well. Clearly Alastor was the last choice of who to call to help Vox.
“They said I was listed as your emergency contact” Alastor spoke up, seeing Vox was still confused. His recently acquired additional brain damage was slowing down Vox’s thinking even more.
“My emergency contact?” Vox tilted his head to the side in thought again. “Th-that was years ago. I had taken you out of any of my contacts”
Alastor chuckles and approaches closer to Vox, getting into his personal space. “Not this one it seems”
Vox scooted away backward, definitely not trusting Alastor to be near him when he’s this vulnerable. He pulls the emergency blanket tighter over himself for a false sense of protection. Alastor grins wider in satisfaction of causing discomfort to the other.
“Oh settle down, I’m not going to hurt you” Alastor chuckles “Not yet anyways. Wouldn’t be fair to kick you further down at the moment”
“Wow thanks, so generous of you” Vox says sarcastically.
“I am known for taking pity on those weaker than me” Alastor responds and looks down at Vox, poking with his finger in the center of Vox’s screen where his nose would be. That instantly works as planned and sparks start flying from the edges of Vox’s screen and fingertips.
“You-!” Vox struggles to get the blanket off himself in a frenzy, kicking and pushing it off as it catches on his limbs.
“Ah!” Alastor flips his staff and now with a bit more vigor shoves the tip of his staff in Vox’s face. “We wouldn’t want to cause a scene and draw attention now would we? What would the people say if they saw you in that state with me completely unharmed?” Alastor grins as blue electricity continues to surge from Vox and he breathes heavily, not being able to easily put his anger besides him. Usually he’s much more composed and aware of his appearance but that all flies out the window as soon as Alastor is involved.
“I’m gonna fucking kill you! Then we’ll see who’s weak you decrepit radio!” It won’t matter if they’re both in equally bad shape. A bolt of electricity shoots out of Vox’s fingertips and nearly catches Alastor’s ear on fire, luckily he bends his head to the side at an unnatural angle to avoid the blow.
“Go ahead and try” Alastor threatens in a low distorted voice while he grabs Vox by his bowtie. Vox powers down and his face drops. Seeing as Vox is no longer a threat to his own self Alastor releases his hold on him. Vox glares a look of hurt and tries to get his electricity under control, it's still live and zapping erratically from his person.
Alastor takes a deep breath of annoyance since Vox still looks like a lit fuse about to go off any second. Although tempting to throw Vox in the ditch to cool him down that would invalidate Alastor’s reason for being here in the first place, to safely bring home his stupid injured adversary.
Swallowing down his displeasure Alastor releases Vox and places his hands on Vox’s shoulders, looking him square in the eye. Vox flinches away as he’s sure he’s about to get an earful or small whopping. Instead he’s met with Alastor speaking to him in a gentle voice.
“Deep breathes” Alastor guides Vox to calm him down. Vox looks conflicted but lets out a shaky sigh. He was about to exhale anyway so it doesn’t count as accepting help.
“There you go” Alastor encourages as Vox takes a shaky breath.
Vox looks away as he tries to remain calm, knocking back the rest of his coffee to relax him. He has no choice but to breathe so he keeps doing the stupid exercise.
“Keep on going Vox, you’re doing a good job” Alastor continues in his condensing tone. Still, Vox is reminded of when Alastor used to be genuine about helping him calm down when he got worked up. Being a young and ambitious overlord with uncontrolled emotions is dangerous. After a few more breathes Vox calms down and Alastor is more likely to get struck by lightning from the sky than Vox.
The pair is enveloped in silence for a moment, only the sound of the rain and cars driving on the wet asphalt. Vox attempts to lessen the tension so he lifts to tap his feet up and down, his socks and shoes creating a squishy wet sound as they make contact with the ground. Fuck, he needs to leave before he gets sick from being soaked in ditch water in this cold.
“Soo, can you take me home?” Vox finally asks and looks up hopefully at Alastor. Having Alastor awkwardly watch him while he’s freezing isn’t the way he was hoping the spend the rest of the night.
“Will you attempt to fry me again?”
“No…” Vox says reluctantly and looks away to the side. Not that he could cause any real damage at the moment anyways.
“Hmph” Alastor scoffs and looks Vox over up and down.
Wordlessly Alastor sticks his hand out for Vox to grab onto.
Vox takes Alastor’s hand, wrapping his fingers around it. It feels warm and inviting with his own hands being freezing cold. Maybe holding on a little tighter will warm Vox up more so he squeezes Alastor’s hand tighter. If Alastor was bothered by this he’s not saying anything.
“Ready?” Alastor asks.
“Yeah” Vox nods, beyond ready to be teleported home already. With a bright flash of light the two overlords disappear from the scene.
xXx
Once they land Vox takes a look where he’s at. All the walls are red, along with the furniture. A large desk with broadcasting equipment sits in the middle of the room. Along with a bunch of reeds and weeds growing out from every corner? Odd design choice. It seems to be an unfamiliar studio of Alastor’s judging by the setup.
“This isn’t my house or the studio!” Vox protests as he lets go of Alastor’s hand.
“Certainly not! I’m not stepping foot near there!” It’s true, whenever Alastor’s forced to walk near the V tower he does so by crossing the street, or two preferably so he wouldn’t have to look at that tacky building and it’s foul inhabitants.
“Where am I? Did you try to kidnap me again?!” Vox demands and he runs over to the window to try to figure out where he is. A great view of the city in beneath him and he can see the V Studios a bit away. “Vals gonna come bail me out you fucker!”
“Don’t flatter yourself, I have no need for any of your filthy money. And you’re in the Hazbin Hotel in case you haven’t figured it out yet” Alastor goes to lean back against his desk as he watches Vox run around anxiously by the windows and spark. He might as well enjoy this more so he makes a glass of wine appear that he proceeds to take a sip of.
Vox puts his hands against the glass and stares out below him. He can see the rest of the building and the sign for the hotel. It does seem he really is inside the Hazbin Hotel, not a place he imagined he’d end up anytime soon.
“Shit, how can I get outta here?” Vox mumbles as he realizes how far away his home is. Definitely not a place he can just walk easily, even less so in the state he’s in.
“Please don’t get your hand prints all over the glass, I just cleaned it this morning. If you want to leave go right ahead, I’m not stopping you. However, you’re on your own because I’m not leaving this building tonight”
“Why can’t you just take me home? Teleporting will take two fucking seconds”
“No can do I’m afraid. I’ve already been drinking” Alastor grins and holds up his wine glass. “Wouldn’t want to cause another accident” He laughs and takes another sip. Vox’s eye twitches to Alastor’s delight. “Now if you want me to teleport you outside the hotel so you can walk home I can do that’
Vox seems to be weighing his options but eventually he looks defeated. It’s raining way too hard for anyone to be out and he can’t order a ride with no phone.
“I’ll stay the night” Vox sighs, his breath fogging the window, he still didn’t stop dirtying the windows by pressing against them.
“Rest up and be out of here in the morning. Don’t touch anything and you may sleep on the floor”
“You can’t just dump me in a shitty studio and tell me to sleep on the floor!” A draft comes in through one of the windows and Vox shivers. Alastor felt it as well so he snapped his fingers and made one of the cattails growing by the window be stuffed inside the crack. It pops open and its fluffy insides fill the gap between the window and the windowsill.
“It’s better than still sitting freezing in the back of the ambulance isn’t it?”
“I guess” The accident scene was getting a lot of attention from demons driving by and trying to see Vox’s wrecked car and who was inside the ambulance. “But I still wanna be comfortable! I want you to care a little about me tonight!”
Vox realizes what he said and feels a light blush light up on his screen. “Uh, I meant I want you to give me some basic stuff to spend the night” He gestures at his ruined suit.
“Did you really expect me to find you a new set of clothes, clean you up and keep you company all night?”
Vox takes a breath and thinks. “Well-“ He definitely wasn’t expecting Alastor to stay with him, and as much as Alastor would complain and poke fun at him he’d like some company in this creepy tower tonight. Maybe he could convince Alasttor to move him into an actual room since there’s an entire empty hotel available.
Vox’s stomach growls and interrupts his thoughts.
“And now I have to feed you too on top of that?” Alastor asks annoyed.
“I thought you pride yourself in keeping your guests satisfied” Truth be told if he got Alastor to cook something for him tonight it might have just made it worth it to flip his car. The cannibal knew his way around the kitchen and there wasn’t a single meal that he didn’t love that Alastor made, he even turned his eye on the questionable meat dishes and took whatever Alastor claimed they were.
“I wouldn’t really consider you a guest, more so someone I picked off the street that needed help” Alastor replies with a carefree wave of his hand.
Vox huffs and glares at Alastor.
“Then why the hell you’d pick me up? You didn’t need to”
“I received the phone call that you needed me to get you”
“They would’ve called someone else, I got a ton of contacts”
“Yes I’m sure you do, yet somehow I was the first one”
Vox growls in annoyance. “Ya know what? Not anymore, I’m gonna change that right now” Out of instinct he goes to pull out his phone to plug into the hospital's records. “Shit, I forgot it fell out in the ditch somewhere” Vox curses as he pats at his empty pockets.
“Can I use yours for a second?” Vox holds his hand out to get Alastor’s phone.
“Not going to happen” Alastor folds back Vox’s fingers so he’s left empty handed. “You can hack into your own devices once you leave”
Vox should have figured as much.
“Speaking of leaving can we leave this place and go to an actual room? It’s fucking cold in here” Vox rubs his hands over his arms in an attempt to warm up.
“I suppose we can. Your clothes are leaving quite the odor in here”
Vox finds himself relaxing a little, finally he can get out of the mucky water covered clothes and shoes. He’s going to need a good scrub too, he can feel grit in places it shouldn’t be.
Vox scoffs. “Yeah, I’m the one that smells”
“I’m glad you agree!”
Vox’s face glitches but he decides not to fight Alastor for now, he can do that after he’s cleaned up and comfortable.
“So where’s your room at? Can we just walk to it?” Vox spots a door and heads for it, he figures its the way out since he doesn’t see any other ones.
“No!” Alastor screeches and uses his shadow to transport and materialize in front of the door, pushing Vox away from it and pushing his staff into Vox’s chest. “You can not be seen walking around the hotel! The only places you’re allowed be in is in this studio and my hotel room!” God forbid Vox got spotted by any of the other residents, it’d immediately get back to Charlie and the dippy girl might actually consider asking Vox to stay. Vox is to stay the hell away from his new safe haven and source of entertainment!
“Al! What the fuck?” Vox scolds him as he gets knocked back and falls on the ground.
“Don’t even think about opening any doors without me!”
“Geez, fine I won’t!”
Alastor holds his hand out for Vox to take and he figures he’s going to help him off the ground. Vox grips his hand tightly around Alastor’s and pulls on it. However instead of being helped up he sees Alastor losing his balance and tumbling down toward him.
“Shit!” Vox’s arm shoots up so he can save his face from being hit as Alastor puts his hands out to prevent from falling. It works as Alastor catches himself with his knees as he hits the ground, Alastor’s left hand makes contact with Vox’s thigh.
Static crackles from Alastor and he shoots Vox an angry scowl. “Why in the hell did you do that? Did you really need to get even with me in such a childish manner?”
“What? I thought you were gonna help me up! I wasn’t trying to make you fall on me!”
“No I wasn’t” Alastor shakes his head in disagreement. “I extended my hand to you so we could teleport to my room”
“Ohhh…” Realization hits Vox as to why Alastor went down so easily. He wasn’t expecting any pulling to come from Vox. “Well, you still should have helped me out after knocking me over for no reason”
“You can get up just fine on your own, it’s your head that’s damaged not your legs. Although I suppose we already all knew that” Alastor laughs with a laughter soundtrack behind him. Vox narrows his eyes at Alastor and picks up his staff that fell over next to them, hitting Alastor in the knee for it with the mic part. Immediately after that Alastor stops his laughing and narrows his own eyes back while smiling a bit too widely for comfort.
“You know better than to touch my staff” Alastor says darkly as he jumps on Vox, knocking him back and grabbing his wrists. He towers over Vox with a menacing grin and tilts his head to the side, his antlers elongating a bit and teeth getting sharper than usual.
Vox doesn’t know if he should be scared or turned on, he simply blinks up at Alastor and tries to wiggle himself free.
“Ugh, let go of me!!” The pressure Alastor’s applying combined with Vox fighting to get free makes for his shoulders ache from the hit they took earlier as he got knocked around in the car.
“Then you shouldn’t have tried to hit me!” Alastor summons his shadowy tentacles and they shoot up from the ground, wrapping around Vox’s chest and pulling him tight against the floor so he stops moving. That only panics Vox further and he tries to arch his back and free his body.
“Ah! Al seriously! Stop it! You’re hurting me!”
Hearing Vox is in pain fuels Alastor and he tightness his hold on Vox’s wrists and make the tentacles crush his chest “Oh nonsense, you can take a little more!” Vox has the air knocked out of him and he gasps. The tentacles slither over Vox and press over his sternum, making Vox gasp. A trail of blood appears on Vox’s white shirt, the friction having opened up a small graze Vox had gotten.
“Oh…” Alastor releases his hold on Vox and moves off him “I apologize. You’re hurt worse than I thought” He quickly makes the blood disappear from Vox’s shirt and cleans up the small wound so Vox won’t freak out about it.
With a grunt Vox attempts to get up, his sore body not wanting to move. Alastor feels pity for Vox and puts his arms around his waist to pull him upright.
“We don’t have all day to wait for you to get up” Alastor quickly says before Vox can thank him for the help. He teleports them to his room as soon as Vox is on his feet.
xXx
Alastor hears a knock on his door. He releases his hold on Vox’s waist and jumps away. Another knock comes.
“Get in the closet now!” Alastor swings his closet door open and shoves Vox inside it. For the second time within minutes Vox is back on his ass, at least this time he landed on top of some clothes instead the hard ground.
“Damn it Alastor! You’re gonna fuck me up even worse!” Vox yells as he rubs his back, something poked it as he fell back.
“You’ll be fine soon enough” Alastor replies with no concern for the other, as powerful overloads they regenerate and heal much faster than the average sinner. “Now shut up until I open the door back up” He shoots Vox a glare and slams the closet door shut.
“Good evening dear, is there something I can help you with?” Alastor asks as he opens the door to reveal Vaggie being the one behind the knocking.
“Yeah, we wanted to go over some stuff with you. Charlie made us supper while we talk” Vaggie tries to tempt Alastor to agree easily with some food.
“As much as I would love to join you ladies this evening, I unfortunately already have a busy evening. Let’s do tomorrow, yes?”
“Oh, uhh…” As Vaggie thinks if they can just reschedule for tomorrow she hears a noise come from the closet. Her attention turns to it and she glares at Alastor.
“What was that?”
“Oh nothing to worry about” Alastor dismisses Vaggie and goes to attempt to close the door.
Vox tries to remove whatever it is he’s sitting on to stop digging into him. “What the fuck am I sitting on…” He whispers as he tries punching the lumps back behind him.
“Did I just hear someone talk?”
“Oh nonsense, that’s just the pipes in this old place. I’m preparing myself a bath” Alastor snaps his fingers and the pipes rattle as the water begins to run in his tub.
“Oookayy…I’m glad you’re finally getting around to cleaning yourself” Vaggie chuckles. “I’ll let Charlie know she can stop lighting scented candles everywhere, that should help our budget too” Vaggie smirks at Alastor from under her bangs.
Alastor’s grin drops and he looks very much unimpressed. “Yes, I am. Now shoo since I have much to do” He waves at Vaggie to leave so he can shut the door.
“Take your time and don’t worry about coming out tonight. You taking a bath is more important than anything we’ll talk about. Can’t get more guests if they can’t bear to stomach the smell” Vaggie adds with another smirk, her lips turning upwards a bit more this time.
Static buzzes from Alastor as he grows annoyed at Vaggie, she’s one of the few sinners who has no fear in the way she speaks to him.
“Have a good night” Alastor manages out, each word crackling as he speaks. He begins shutting the door on her.
“You too Alastor” Vaggie says before she rounds the corner and disappears. Alastor slams the door shut and turns his attention to his noisy closet.
He glares in its direction yet that does nothing to stop the ruckus coming from the closet as Vox moves around in there, it sounds as if he’s rearranging the whole thing!
“What did I say about keeping quiet!?” Alastor yells at Vox as he swings the door open.
“I landed on something lumpy and then it started leaking on me! What the fuck are you keeping in there?!” Vox scurries out of the closet and looks down on his hands, they’re covered in a dark red viscous liquid. He brings it up to his face and sniffs it. Blood. He groans and rolls his eyes, already knowing its probable source.
“…Personal belongings” Alastor replies after a second.
Vox goes to drag the canvas bag out that he landed on. It’s filled with bulky items that are sticking out in every direction, it's obvious now why he felt he was being poked. A longer item than the rest is pressing and leaving a dark wet spot. Suspicious. The bag left behind a dark red trail of liquid behind it and Vox sighed, already knowing what was keeping him company in the closet.
“Are you keeping your killings in the closet and not the fridge?”
“Well…” Alastor says sheepishly. “I don’t have a fridge just yet”
“Didn’t have a fridge? Just make one fucking appear! Damn!” Vox shouts with his arms out. “I don’t want to stay in a room with rotting meat!”
“You’re not staying in the closet so I don’t see why it matters” Alastor takes the bag back and drags it back in. He snaps to clean up the mess of liquids left behind on the floor so Vaggie or Nifty don’t question him about it. The less the women of the hotel know what happens in Alastor’s room the better.
“You’re disgusting” Vox scoffs and shakes his head.
“Thank you~” Alastor croons.
“Since I actually value being clean I’m gonna make the most out of that bath” Vox points to the direction of the sound of the tub filling. He’s really hoping Alastor put on the hot water so he can soaks away his troubles from the cold, murky water, and now blood that’s clinging to his skin. Most likely some other sinners blood, but Vox tries his best not to think about that.
“Go ahead, might as well not have the water go to waste” Alastor already showered the other day so he’s still perfectly fine for a few more. Alastor grins and follows after Vox as he walks through the room.
“Can I help you?” Vox asks growing annoyed by having Alastor on his tail.
“Just making sure you’re heading the right way”
“There’s like three whole doors in this place, I’m pretty sure I’m fine”
Alastor chuckles. “I wouldn’t put it past you since as you remember you locked yourself out in the middle of the night with no clothes on during the Overlord’s Ball. Thought the front door of the hotel room was the bathroom. What a hoot!” Alastor slaps Vox’s back and laughs loudly. Vox turns his head to glower and his cheeks redden at the repressed memory. At least back then Alastor had the decency to quickly let him back into their room.
“Well even if that does happen your hotel has no guests so it wouldn’t be a problem” Vox brushes Alastor’s hand off him and shuts the door in Alastor’s face this time around. Until he realizes he might need his help with something first. Quickly Vox figures he should test if he can get his jacket off himself. With how much pain his shoulder is in he’s not sure he can manage to move his arm back to get the sleeve off.
“Ah shit” He hisses as pain spreads out from his shoulder and travels down his arm. Looks like he’s going to need to ask Alastor for a small favor.
He cracks the door open before Alastor has the chance to disappear off to somewhere.
“Alastor? Can I get some help?” Vox calls out.
“Yes?” Alastor pops up in front of Vox way too fast, peeking into through the small crack of the door.
“Al! For fucks sake you're gonna give me a fucking heart attack!” Vox screams in surprise.
“Ah one can hope. If you do I’ll have worrying about you this evening off my mind”
“Yeah, yeah I know you wish I had died in that accident instead of needing to bring me back. I need help getting my jacket off. It hurts really bad to move my arm back to try and take it off” Vox rubs the pained area with a look of discomfort.
Alastor snaps his fingers and Vox is left standing in nothing but his underwear. If you can call it that even for Alastor. It’s a bright blue thong with Vox’s logo on the front. They’re a rather popular item among Vox’s branded giveaway items.
“Hey! Warn me next time you wanna strip me that fast!”
“Oh goodness!” Alastor gasps as his eyes go wide and he looks away. “You need something more decent!” Alastor snaps his fingers again and now Vox is now dressed in a pair of blue loose boxers. At least Alastor thought they were still loose. When he turns around he sees they’re much tighter than expected, the waistband is pressing into Vox’s skin and the fabric is stretched tight around Vox’s legs.
“You still held onto these all this time?!” Vox glances down in shock at his long lost clothing appearing out of nowhere.
“…I thought it might come in useful one day again” Alastor hates getting rid of things that might come in handy one day.
“Still, I thought you would have burned all my stuff” He pinches at the fabric to make sure it’s actually real. “Fond memories?” Vox teases.
“Shut it before I do decide to burn it with you in it” Alastor snaps and discreetly steals a glance at Vox. It appears he gained some weight over the years but in a good way. His entire body is bigger and more muscular. He can’t let him know that of course.
“Seems someone got comfortable” Alastor smirks and pokes at Vox’s side with his staff.
“Not my fault Val likes to take me out to eat” Vox crosses his arms across his chest but “And not like you’d know how it is to have someone wanting to treat you everyday” Vox says smugly.
“I can treat myself just fine. In fact, I love going to dinner by myself”
“Sure Al. You just keep on telling yourself that” Vox reaches up with his good arm to pat Alastor’s head. “Whatever helps keep the loneliness away buddy”
Alastor growls and smacks Vox’s arm away. “Test me and you’ll have one hand less”
“Why? You wanna take it with you to help with your ‘loneliness’?” Vox smirks and prepares himself to get smacked on the arm harder this time.
“Oh please like I’d ever let your hand touch my body. Again” Alastor quickly adds before Vox can make any snarky comments. “Now go take your bath already, I’m tired of being around you for this long” Alastor spins around and his shadow closes the door behind him.
xXx
Being left alone Vox glances around the bathroom, it looks almost too clean so he takes the girls’ at the door word of Alastor rarely washing himself. Better for Vox this way, it’s free from any cannibal cooties. He finds a fresh looking stack of towels sitting on a shelf so he grabs two, one for his body and one to place on the floor like a bathmat. He’s not risking slipping and cracking his screen further. Sliding his boxers off he places them on top of his towel. Vox then realizes he doesn’t have a fresh set of clothes but it seems Alastor can pull out some old set of sweatpants and a t-shirt of Vox’s he’s been hoarding.
As Vox is getting into the tub he catches his reflection of his backside in the large mirror and pauses. Clearly, Alastor doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Vox looks great. His back is nice and toned, he’s got that low percent body fat, mostly, and he can’t help but do a double take at his ass. Daring to fully turn his head towards the mirror he regrets it. Body, great. Face, not so good. Unfortunately, his screen took the worst hit in the accident. It’s a good thing he didn’t try to leave the hotel and be seen in public by anyone in this state. Knowing he’ll be looking much better in the morning he throws an extra towel over the mirror so he won’t accidentally catch himself in it again.
He slips into the hot water carefully, not knowing if sitting down will cause any pain. It appears all is well so for the first time in a while tonight Vox smiles to himself and eases into the tub.
“Oh yeah, this is just what I needed” Vox sighs in relief as the warm water feels quite welcoming. Alastor had upgraded from what would have been the standard bathtub into a much larger one so Vox can easily stretch out his entire body comfortably and lay down. No use in having his neck straining against the back of the tub, Vox slips all the way in, closing his eyes and getting his head under water as well.
He lays there for a solid few seconds, hearing nothing but his claws lightly scraping against the ceramic bottom. His head clears and he powers down his screen so he can space out. Perfect. Being like this will allow him to stay under water longer without needing any air.
“…Vox…Vox….” Vox eventually hears his name being said in a muffled voice. He opens his eyes and sees a red blurry figure standing over him.
‘Alastor? What the hell is he doing here?’ Vox thinks as he remains underwater, it must be his imagination. There’s no reason for Alastor to sneak in and watch him take a bath.
“Hello? Are you deaf now Vox?” Alastor continues blabbering. Seeing as Vox isn’t coming up Alastor conjures up small rose shaped soaps that he tosses at Vox. Seems it really is Alastor in the flesh standing over him, only Alastor would attack someone who’s currently nude. With an internal sigh Vox pulls himself back up, wiping the water off his screen so he can see clearly.
“Oh my fucking god what? I just got in!” Vox snaps at Alastor as water splashes off around him as he emerges.
“Oh good you haven’t drowned just yet” Alastor confirms as Vox emerges.
“No I can hold my breath underwater just like anyone else”
“I didn’t see you moving either so I couldn’t be too sure”
“Yeah cuz I was trying to relax. Also you freak out over me in my underwear but you bust in while I’m taking a bath?”
Alastor glances up and down at Vox’s body. “I’ve grown used to the idea of your nude body again since a few minutes ago” He shrugs. “Doesn’t appear to have changed much so I’m already comfortable with it. If you value your modesty I can help” He points down at Vox and foam bubbles appear on top of the water.
“Anyways why the fuck are you in here again…?” Vox squints his good at eye Alastor.
“Oh! I was going to get us something to eat. And since you’re my guest for the evening I wanted to ask you if you’d rather have burgers or Tex Mex?”
Vox’s eye squints even more, even a few sparks flying out of the bad side of his screen as he attempts to use his other eye. Has he emerged in a new flipped reality since he came out of under the water? Why was Alastor suddenly acting nice towards him and asking to choose between two of his favorite types of food. This was highly suspicious. Vox needed to test this right away.
“Can we have both?” Vox tries “I’m really hungry”
“Yes! Of course!” Alastor says a little too enthusiastically and clasps his hands together. “Enjoy your bath dear~” Alastor goes to take his leave but pauses at the door. “You can use this to stay warm while I find you something to wear”
Vox’s old bathrobe appears on the hanger of the door.