Chapter Text
Alastor didn’t think much of it when he went home in the evening. But there were… sounds. And he had perfect hearing. At first he wondered if Angel had someone over, but it did not sound like him, plus the sounds were close, too close.
That was when he stopped right in front of it… the very first door. Choked, dragged, squeaky, breathy moans.
Vox’s room.
“Ahhh! AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Aaaaalaaaa…stooooor… MHH!... Mhh…” , the cries, muffled through the door, still came through clear enough they were unmistakable.
The TV demon almost sounded tortured, the tone of voice barely had any strength left, he sounded drained, voice slightly glitching, but yet still enjoying.
Alastor flushed, panic rising so high into his throat, he had no idea what to do with himself, other than to start wildly wagging his hands around, like he had some sort of wild seizure while trying not to make a single sound. Eventually he even started hopping around in one place, simply not able to compute that he obviously just overheard Vox pleasuring himself to him.
Why did Vox sound so weird!? Was he sure that Vox was alone!? But then it would be strange if he moaned Alastor’s name with another person in the room.
The fact alone that Vox was pleasuring himself to him wasn’t what was surprising. He just for some reason did not think he would ever hear it. He didn’t expect to ENJOY the sound of that as much as he did. He couldn’t leave… he was rooted in place, wiggling around like an idiot and trying not to die on the spot.
Oh, why did he have to come back to the hotel SO early today. WHY did he not just walk straight by the door. Why him!? Why always him!?
Taking some deep breaths only worked partially, because his mind was very much trying to picture what was going on, especially since Vox did not act particularly shy on the battlefield. Why was he SO loud!? How long had he kept this up!? Why was he so weirdly flattered hearing it, confused and terrified at the same time!? His brain was chaos, his body was shaking and yet he didn’t feel like doing anything about it. He felt like the worst pervert in the world, even though the enjoyment and fear he got out of it almost canceled out the entire experience.
That continued for a while, until Vox’s sounds suddenly stilled almost out of nowhere and made the deer freeze in his tracks. Valuable seconds to catch his breath and get his brain out of the gutter.
Only then was when he heard it.
Sobs… almost louder than the moans. Torn straight out of Vox’s soul. The pain and emotion was so evident, it shook him to his very core. One moment Vox was moaning like it was his last wank on earth and now he was bawling his eyes out!?
His hands covered his mouth, his ears dropping down in worry.
Alastor hated it! Did he misunderstand and the moans earlier weren’t from pleasure? They had sounded strained already. But then what else could it be? Vox wasn’t hurt or hurting himself, right?
… Trying to get into the room was probably not a good idea and asking him about it would also be awkward. Yet imagining breaking through the door was a very satisfying imaginary.
He could feel his heart ache, as he heard Vox hiccup and whimper non stop. His brain was feverishly trying to come up with an explanation. But it was probably easier to guess than he thought. The last time he caught Vox crying… he was crying over him. When he didn’t appreciate Vox’s attempt at flirting and was mean to him. So what did it mean that Vox was pleasuring himself with Alastor’s name on his lips just to grow upset a moment later? … The thought that his delight wasn’t mutual. … That it would never be real. That Alastor didn’t like him.
Alastor wanted to rip his hair out. He wanted to rip that freaking door off it’s hinges and kiss Vox’s tears off his screen and hold his trembling, exposed body close. Tell Vox he would never leave him again.
But he couldn’t, he shouldn’t… he wasn’t allowed! He was doomed, so doomed. He did not want to make Vox unhappy, but he had to keep his distance, otherwise he would make him even more unhappy! There was just no winning in this situation. He almost felt like crying too. He had to choose the lesser evil.
Just when he felt like he was going insane, the crying stilled and eventually stopped. One of his elongated ears was pressed against the door, but there was nothing more to hear.
He trotted back to his room, using a newspaper to waft some air into his overheated face. He wanted to bash his face against the bathroom mirror. Even splashing his face with cold water didn’t help. Well, guess he had to walk around like an idiot now. His own fault for snooping. He wished he never heard that.
Guess he had to be nicer to Vox now… without accidentally exciting him.
How would he survive that!?
Especially when he WANTED to be responsible for the excitement!? Oh, Alastor didn’t like this. He had gotten easier to read… maybe it was time to build up his walls again. He appreciated Vox’s attempt to help, but if it hurt Vox in the process, Alastor would rather want to solve his issues himself.
And if he had a dream of rolling around in the bedsheets with Vox all night, no one would ever find out…..
Despite the absolutely amazing evening Vox had, he would have appreciated not having lower back pain the next day. But then with how hard he had worked himself, Vox was glad he could stand up at all. He could barely walk, dragging himself through the hall with an annoyed, grumpy expression. He had gone through worse things in his life, but it was still a slight annoyance.
“Bahahahahaha. Went overboard yesterday night, eh? You slu*t.”, Angel giggled and Vox quickly shushed him with wide eyes.
Vox slightly limped over to the fridge and put a smoothie on the table in the lobby, with a very worried looking Radio Demon watching his every movement.
“Vox darling, are you alright?”
He tensed momentarily, noticing the scrutiny on him and felt very uneasy in his skin.
‘Oh sh*t, distract him! But he called me darling, AAAAHHHH.’
He looked up with a mocking sassy expression as he struck a pose, tone not unkind, but teasing: “Ha! Focus on more important things. Your presentation for example, plus didn’t you offer to spar with me?”
Alastor was not one to disarm someone, who so obviously was putting up all of his defenses at once. He had done that often enough to know when Vox was doing it. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care. So he continued in the same gentle tone.
“Are you… sure? I don’t want to hurt you. I think I already did that enough already.”
Vox incidentally noticed the rest of the inhabitants filing into the lobby and put on a brave facade, leaning forward, putting two fingers underneath Alastor’s chin and leaning in way too close.
After all, attack was the best defense.
“Hesitating… old man?” , he slowly and hotly drawled, his hypnotic eyes burning into Alastor’s, “Don’t underestimate me. I didn’t become an overlord by batting my eyelashes.”
Thank god for Alastor’s resting maniac face, otherwise he might have grimaced. If Vox wanted to keep his pride so badly, he was not one to rob him of it. He didn’t even care that the girls behind them froze in place, staring wide eyed at the scene, Angel facepalming in the background.
Alastor lifted his nose up high, lazily blinking and looking up unblinkingly at him, tone still serious, yet also mocking.
“It’s for your sake. I don’t want to have everyone piece you back together later.”
Vox finally leant back from his personal space, retreating for the next part of their little cat and mouse game. He put a hand on his chest, fake chuckling.
“Ohohoho! I will be fine. I will take it easy, maybe less running. Real battles won't have ideal circ*mstances. I just spend too much time behind the desk, this will fix me right away.”
No one believed him, and yet no one corrected him either.
“Hmmm, if you insist.”
“Oh I do. I do so much for this hotel. It’s time you made yourself useful too.”
Alastor chuckled, oddly wondering about the edge in Vox’s tone and yet finding his provocation curious.
“Without me this place would have bitten the dust already!”, he lifted his brows, his tone becoming more exuberant, “Hope you are ready to be educated. There is much for you yet to learn.”
The Radio Demon had no idea why Vox was so incredibly eager to get his ass beat by him again. Especially because he gave him multiple openings to get away with grace and he did not use any of them.
In fact Vox almost looked excited to repeat their previous shenanigans. He was reluctant to provide. Instead he came up with something truly ingenious.
“Let’s start with some warm up exercise. I will send radio waves your way and you will dodge, or just send them straight back. Since you are familiar with them.”
“Oh, I am so ready! One moment though.”, Vox muttered, dropping to the floor and doing some pushup’s to get his blood flowing again.
Everyone stared wide eyed at him. Even though Vox had advised everyone to warm up the previous sparring sessions, he and Alastor had refrained from doing so, simply going right into the heat of battle out of nowhere. Even without knowing what Vox did to himself the night prior, Angel stared wide eyed as he quickly did twenty pushup’s and stretched slightly, before moving forward.
That did not go by Alastor without being appreciated. After all Vox’s broad chest and impressive bicep did not come from nowhere. He was glad to see that despite whatever had transpired the previous day, Vox was well enough to work out. In fact, the warm up did look like it helped him move easier. He no longer strained to move since the early morning.
Alastor swung his staff, sending a radio wave flitting through the air, shining bright, flicking so fast you might miss it if you blinked. Vox jerked to the side, focused on it’s direction and snipped his fingers once, before it was sent back again. So the deer demon started sending it in more and more ridiculous angles. Forcing Vox to try to one up him and focus on the moving target going his way even better. Sometimes he pulled out a few of his huge cables to do the job for him.
It looked like such a downgrade from their last sparring sessions. Just slightly moving hands and appendages back and forth as they send radio waves around.
Angel felt like he was watching them play tennis. The vibes were definitely different, but they were having fun.
Then the TV man let the radio wave escape on purpose. Instead he conjured multiple on his own and with a snip of both his hands, he sent four Alastor’s way.
The Radio Demon’s grin widened and twirled his staff in one hand, deflecting the waves by quick, effortlessly looking spins. Vox’s cables caught the backlash, one slightly stung him in the side though, sending them back in different directions again.
“I see you aren’t rusty yet…”
“Mhh… no.”, Alastor sighed, diverting the radio waves simply by staring hard enough at them until they melted into one and changed trajectory again.
Vox spontaneously backflipped when he saw that monster charge for him. He also fell on his ass and saw stars, but he made an unforgettable impression on everyone.
“Flaunting your telekinesis back at me again? I doubt I will ever learn that skill.”
“For your first session, this wasn’t too bad. Maybe next time I’ll try something deadlier.”
“Huh!?”, Vox lifted himself, trying not to stagger when he felt his legs slightly give in, “Who said we are done!? I want the tentacles!”
“I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going…”, Angel muttered under his breath.
Niffty loudly clapped: “Yes, yes, yes, Master’s tentacles!”
“I am not sure you can handle them yet…”, Alastor innocently muttered, giving Vox a slightly bored expression.
“I think I handled much more stuff the last sessions.”
Putting an appropriate distance between them, the deer demon summoned his dark writhing appendages, taking up an impressive length and shielding him from right and left, leaving only a tiny corridor in the middle to run. Vox’s goal was to reach Alastor, before they could snatch him away. Sounded simple enough, if Alastor didn’t have such good control over them.
But alas, this was a simulated fight, so there was no way to tell how this would go. At least Vox thought so when he started running, hating how his legs were obeying him less and less the more distance he put past. Why was he doing that to himself? Some weird form of masochism? His inflated ego? Alastor’s approval? Stubbornness? Alas, he saw them approaching, but the message did not quite catch up to his struggling limbs. Not even a third of distance cleared, he was swiped off his feet, somersaulting over the floor and falling over.
“ALASTOR, STOP!”, Charlie squeaked.
Vox groaned, but lifted himself up, hating the way pain crawled up his spine and his legs felt like jello. It was all fine when he and Alastor were playing catch. But this was too much running. Yet he didn’t regret it in the least.
“I am fine! Give me a moment.”
He stretched again, noting with relief that his screen was fine. He tried some squats and hissed in pain, realizing he looked utterly ridiculous. And yet for some reason he couldn’t care less. Maybe he really did have a humiliation kink.
He slowly walked back, trying to pretend that he wouldn’t fall over if the wind only blew at him a little strangely. Angel was facepalming so hard, he would probably have an imprint on his forehead soon. Pentious was supportive as ever. Charlie was worried, Vaggie was… suspicious of Vox to say the least. And Niffty… was just Niffty.
Vox had been thrown around a couple more times, soiling his entire outfit, before he had to admit defeat, lying flat on his back, staring at the bloodred sky and wondering what the f*ck was happening and why it was all spinning. Was Alastor watching him?
“VOOOOX!? ARE YOU OKAAAAAY!?”, Charlie screamed from far away
“Mhhhmmm…”, he muttered, lifting a thumbs up in the air, willing his poor legs to stop vibrating and obey him.
He was just about to start angling himself up, when everything suddenly started moving. With two legs firmly standing upright and fixed on the spot, he eventually realized that Alastor had pulled him upwards by his armpits and made sure he was standing.
"Impressive. You’ve lasted longer than 70% of my opponents, yet I hope next time you will listen to my concerns. I think you could do much better if your energy levels were normal.”
“Oh yeah? Show off… ”, Vox mumbled, yet made no incentive to move. Even though he was fairly dizzy, the distant feeling of Alastor’s body against him felt comforting and grounding.
The others slowly approached, keeping an eye for any changes. The outcome was definitely better than the last two times, but Vox had literally been dragged through the mud and didn’t look completely lucid either.
“Vox, let me bring you to your room.”, Alastor sighed.
“Nah, I can walk myself. Plus, I am fairly sure I am soiling your suit right now.”
The deer demon chuckled in a cute way, turning Vox around and gently hugging him, proving his point: “Isn’t that what friends are for?”
Vaggie gave Charlie a hopeful expression, as they both beamed at each other. Barely a week had passed since the last time they sparred and the two of them had made so much progress! Not just in a hostile situation, but ever since that fateful long hug their relationship in general had seemingly improved.
“Mister Vox is truly determined! Pushing forward with ‘orrible backpain! I have some Ibuprofen.”, Pentious exclaimed.
“Oh yeeaaah… ‘backpain’. ..”, Vaggie coughed and Husk almost choked on his spit, wondering if he missed something important.
“Now, now. I can handle it.”, Alastor chuckled absently, “Don’t you know it’s rude to stare? I’ll bring him back. Thank you all for your attention.”
And with that Alastor summoned a portal, dissolving the both of them in it’s green shadowy depths. As if seeing Vox in such a vulnerable state was for his eyes alone, as if he was aware how intimate this between the two of them looked just now.
Charlie whispered into Vaggie’s ear with a wide eyed expression: “Do you think they…?”
Vaggie shrugged.
“No, they sure didn’t!”, Angel groaned.
“THEN IT’S TIME THEY DO!”, Niftty pulled out her notebook again and started drawing Vox being whipped by shadow tentacles.
“What the f*ck are y’all talking about!?”, Husk cursed, staring from one to the other like he was in a lunatic asylum.
In front of the door in Vox’s room, he was gently leant against it for stability, yet Alastor also had a firm grin on his shoulder to make sure accidents would absolutely not happen.
“Voooox.”, his tone was still teasing, but it had something strangely insinuating, “Why exactly are you trying to impress everyone? I told you not to overwork yourself. You did not let me get you out of your self imposed corner.”
“Glad you care soooo much for my image!” , Vox purred, slowly feeling his dizziness slipping away, enjoying the close proximity.
“And look how it ended. You are an outright mess! Haha.”
“Progress is still progress! I’ve been meaning to sparr with you again for days. I wasn’t gonna let that opportunity just slip by.”
“Oh, really? … Is there a way I can help? … You seem a bit under the weather today. Anyway I offended or hurt you?”
Vox chuckled softly, batting his eyelashes softly: “As you said yourself. You don’t want to hurt me. You did well… And I want you to know. That if you need my help, I will also always be there.”
Alastor stilled for a moment, wondering what Vox was implying, when he himself tried to find out if the other was alright.
What kind of four dimensional chess were they playing!?
“I appreciate it. Please take it easy today, otherwise I would hate to leave you alone.”
“Understood, boss.”, Vox grinned and disentangled from Alastor’s sweet, but utterly maddening embrace, “Maybe we can hang out sometime again, talk about old times. … Just you and me. Just talk… see what changed. This is how we move forward from past grievances. Together.”
The deer demon raised a brow, almost reluctant, but Vox had pushed the handle by now and was backing away, with a strangely mysterious and alluring expression on his face.
“I- … sure? See you later?”
“Looking forward, Al.”
And then he was left staring at a closed door again, this time with even more questions than before. What grievances was Vox talking about? Didn’t they already move past their argument from 7 years ago?
When Vox came into the lobby in the late afternoon of the very same day, he wasn’t sure if he was seeing things correctly. The first time he saw Alastor in front of a laptop surrounded by the hotel inhabitants was already weird enough, but this scene topped that by far.
Alastor was sitting at the couch, stiff like a board, unmoving and looking utterly disturbed, with his right eye twitching every few seconds. Even his grin looked lopsided… all while the other hotel inhabitants (except Charlie and Vaggie) were sitting with him on the couch and discussing something.
“Hello guys! Alastor, are you okay?”
Alastor huffed, absently staring into space, gripping his staff way too tight. His shadow squeaked and flitted around in confusion.
Vox turned back to the others in alarm, not used to seeing the redhead so out of it.
“What did you do to him!?”
The spider demon absently scratched over his head: “Eh, well. We started talking about queerphobia and I found a documentary about the AIDS crisis with an LGBT focus and now he is kinda disturbed…”
That was quite heavy material and even though Vox didn’t even live to acceptance he heard about the horrible fact that an entire generation of queer people was left to die due to government negligence. For someone like Alastor who was so driven by justice and wasn’t even sure about his sexuality plus being a virgin, this was probably a bit triggering.
“Oh dear. That might have been a bit too much all at once. Uhm… what aaaaabout doing something fun and forgetting it all, eh!?”
Vox flicked his fingers and suddenly a huge TV, a gaming console and four controllers appeared out of nowhere.
“MARIO KART! What better way to forge and destroy friendships at the same time! Hah… what a brilliant game.”
The couch was crowded and Vox still made some space, sitting next to Alastor, both squished against each other, while the others cheered and grabbed for the controllers.
Under normal circ*mstances the Radio Demon would have probably thrown the application out of the window, but he was sitting there, like the entire world just passed him by. Like some sort of doll. Vox wrapped a caring arm around him, gently patting his shoulder.
“There, there, Alastor. It’s gonna be okay. We have pride parade’s now and communities. Oh and modern medicine and condoms!”
Alastor closed his eyes and took a long and deep shuddering breath, slightly slumping against Vox and making a short, distorted radio screech.
Vox purred and made a cutesy voice, as he gently stroked over his ears: “Oh yeah, that’s a goooood Radio Demon. Let’s just ignore that weird outside world, mhh?”
Angel Dust meanwhile chose Princess Peach, Husk went for Dry Bones, Niffty chose Bowser and Pentious went for Luigi.
“He may be numba’ two, but he iz’ still a ‘ztar! “
“That’s not gonna save your ass from me, nerd.”, Angel muttered.
“Who let YOU close to my precious behind, eh? Did I ask you to!?”
“We are sitting right next to each otha’. Plus I bet you would if you knew what marvels I can dooo!”
“You two flirt and I will go and take the cup…”, Husk absently muttered, like he played in his sleep.
“Don’t worry Husk, I have enough stamina for your ass as well.”
Angel picked the best items right from the start and kept throwing stuff at everyone and anyone he drove by. Pentious was drifting like a formula one driver, Husk was trying to push Angel off the tracks at every curve and Niffty was seemingly still learning. She kept finding all the shortcuts apparently.
Alastor wasn’t sure how well he was tuning out all the strange, annoying sounds. But Vox’s shoulder was surprisingly comfortable and grounding. His grip around his staff became a little less iron. He muttered under his breath, with furrowed brows.
“What the f*ck, did I just see…”
“I know right?”, Vox muttered quietly back, absently watching the progress of the game, “That’s why pride is so important. We are a close knit community and will never let anyone treat us like this again. It’s all about acceptance, finding identity and security.”
When the others were distracted, they were too busy disturbing Alastor at least. If they weren’t too loud. But it gave Vox an excuse to cuddle him, so he had to be thankful for it at least.
“I don’t pretend to understand a lot… but what I understand is honestly depressing. Why does ANYONE care who one likes or doesn’t!? What if I just want to sit home and read all day? Does that make me weird?”
“Oh, no, no that is totally valid….”, Vox muttered, yawning slightly, instead slipping his arm around Alastor’s waist and drawing slight circles on it.
It wasn’t a lot, but it were SOME sort of moves at least.
Pentious won the first round, because his speed was through the roof.
“HUSK, IF YOU PUSH ME OFF THE ROAD ONE MORE TIME, I WILL SHOOT YOU. SHOOT YOU!”
Husk rolled his eyes, muttering in a provocative tone: “And here I thought you packed no punch. Who would have imagined the mafia comes out of you during an innocent video game…”
“At least ya’ ain’t completely useless in a video game.”, the spider picked up red turtle shells, “YOU MAKE A GREAT TARGET!”
Niffty was busy finding eastereggs and overtaking Husk and Angel. At first the two were great players… before they started sabotaging each other.
“Wow, Miss. You have great skills! Congraz’ on ya’ flawlez’ victoooory!”, the snake man so enthusiastically high fived Niffty that she fell off the couch and started manically giggling.
She then stood up like nothing was and got herself comfy on Alastor’s nap. The deer demon absently opened one eye, half napping by now as he stared at the little cyclops.
“Enjoying yourself, Niffty?”
“Yes! I just won.”
“Good girl. Crush your enemies.”, Alastor muttered, resting one of his hands on top of her head.
It worked like a charm, because Niffty kept winning.
“I SWEAR LET ME WIN ONCE! Once… I’ll suck you off.”, Angel cursed.
“Sucks to suck is all I can say.”, Husk muttered.
“Yeah you are right… you are literally a bonehead. DRY-BONED, boner. There is nothing to suck.”
“A skeleton joke, how original!”
“If you were a sexy skeleton at least… like Sans from Understale. I’d let him bone ME if ya’ know what I’m saying.”
Vox quietly cackled.
“HOW!?”
“I dunno’, magic? IF THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY. I am bone’ to be wild!”
Alastor cleared his throat, not even sure why he was listening to the conversation. Perhaps because Vox found it funny: “Why should you never break someone’s heart?”
Sir Pentious curiously looked back at the two of them… looking more like a couple than any of the two would likely admit: “Because it’s bad manners?”
“No. They only have one. Break their bones instead. All 206 of them.”
Vox started cackling so much, that it made Alastor shake as well.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHA.”, Niffty giggled in delight, “That sounds fun.”
Husk shuddered and Angel shuffled a little closer to him, not sure if he wanted to hear any more jokes from Alastor. What was worse… dad jokes or f*cked up ones? And the fact that Alastor’s strange patchwork family all had the same sense of humor as him.
Angel huffed, trying to steer the conversation to safer waters: “Eh… I like mine more. Just a personal preference. Why don’t skeletons ever go trick-or-treating? Because they have no- body to go with.”
“Absolutely bone-chilling!”, Alastor exclaimed.
“Those jokes ain’t very humerus. ”, Husk added.
Vox was rubbing his screen, gently chuckling: “This was a great idea…”
Angel was very close to winning when Husk’s blue shell destroyed him and Niffty drove by again. The spider demon straddled the cat demon’s lap, shaking his collar in anger: “Figlio di puttana! Da bambino sei caduto di testa?”
“I have no f*cking idea what you just said. BUT SOMEONE’S BEING A SORE f*ckING LOSER!”
“Angel!”, Alastor gasped and opened his eyes, “You should not say that about someone’s mother!”
“Oh, Husk can be glad if I leave one family member of his unf*cked after I am goddamn finished with him.”
Pentious tried to get him to sit down again, tugging at his arms: “Angel! Pleaze… calm down… What if we do teamgames? Or two versus’ two with someone elze?”
“Hello guys! Are you having fu- …”
Charlie stared at the scene with wide eyes. Angel Dust draped over Husk’s lap on the couch, Pentious right behind Angel, securing him by holding two of his arms behind his back… and cuddled up Alastor and Vox seemingly watching in enjoyment… while Niffty was clapping. It looked a bit like the beginning scene from one of the adult movies Angel was playing at.
Husk blinked, managing to look bored despite everything: “It’s not what it looks like…”
“It’s EXACTLY what it looks like!”, Vox deadpanned, “We were all playing Mario Kart.”
“Ahh… OH… that uhm. Sounds fun.”, Charlie huffed in relief, “Can I join?”
