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[harderdaddy]

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[harderdaddy]

O-

[He barely gets out the first sylable before he hears the door close.]

...kay.

[It's fine. Val doesn't owe him an explanation, this is his space...though Angel's gaze flicks to his toothbrush still right there like he'd never left. Well at least Val taking off wasn't that uncommon then either.

Angel cleans up, dressing the wounds as best he can so he doesn't get blood anywhere, and when he goes to explore the closet it's even clearer his presence is still felt around here even if he's not. He searches for something less tight, but there's not a lot of options when it comes to that as there are in his un-curated closet at the hotel. He settles for a soft pink dress that hides his injured thigh, and doesn't irritate it, and wanders back downstairs to lounge on the sofa while he waits for Val. He puts on some show as idle background noise, and tries to make himself comfy.]

[papichulo]

[ he goes to the studio.

without all of the lights and equipment up and running, without the shuffling of crew and interns, it's almost eerily quiet. unsettlingly still in the near-dark, valentino standing motionless like a shadow in the middle of the wide open space. for a few long moments, he just stands there, his breathing the only sound in the silence, eyes emitting a soft red glow. by his sides, long fingers have curled into tight fists, shoulders almost uncomfortably tense.

it's loud, when he throws the first light. valentino moves with a purpose, boots clicking on the tiles as he stalks toward the nearest followspot, throwing it over and sending it crashing to the ground like it's made of paper and not metal and plastic and glass. the bulb shatters on impact, little shards of glass skittering over the tiles like rock skipping on water, but it's not enough.

in the span of only fifteen minutes, valentino trashes the studio. hundreds, if not thousands of dollars done in damages to setwork and equipment. broken rigs, snapped boom sticks, at least one camera cracked and split somewhere at his feet. there's new blood smeared in his hands, palms cut up from broken glass, and when there's nothing left for him to upset, he's still alone.

mildly out of breath and hot under his collar, valentino inhales slowly, closing his eyes and tilting his chin up as he tries to calm himself down.

angel could have fucking died tonight - permanently. valentino could have lost everything over the smallest oversight. when it comes to the angels and their weapons, he's always kept angel safe, but this was different. this was nothing compared to the exorcists, and he still almost got played by a bunch of shitbags he practically handed angel over to.

it cannot happen again. valentino won't let it.

when he returns just twenty minutes after he left, he's obviously a little bit disheveled. valentino opens and closes the door just as quietly as he did when he left, and he only briefly acknowledges angel as he passes behind the couch on his way to the stairs, blood-speckled hands already working to roll his sleeves down to make it easier to get out of his shirt. ]

Have you eaten? [ he sounds casual, like he didn't just trash the fuck out of his studio, tossing the question over his shoulder as he starts up the stairs. ]

[harderdaddy]

[Vox is going to pitch a fit. But Angel's blissfully unaware, at least until Val returns, and he spots that blood. Ah. He wonders how much damage was done? And where? It's not enough blood for him to have torn a sinner apart, and Angel appreciates his restraint, both in that, and in leaving to have his outburst rather than trash the penthouse.]

No?

[He switches the tv off and moves to trail up after Val whether he's wanted or not to address the more pressing matter-]

You're hurt.

[papichulo]

[ vox can - disrespectfully - suck valentino's dick. truthfully, val's probably done worse over less, but in his defense, his work generates a fuckload of money so a couple thousand dollars in damages is basically pocket change. if vox wants to get mad about it, val is just as likely to brush him off as he is to bark back.

vox, however, is the last thing on valentino's mind for once. he only vaguely hears angel's reply, the distance between them and the sound of the television drowning him out somewhat as he reaches the top of the stairs and paces across the loft. he steps into the bathroom, pushing the door open seemingly with no concern over smearing his bloody palm across the decorated wood and leaving it open, distantly aware that angel is following him.

val turns on one of the sinks, thrusting his primary hands under the faucet first, the water running pink as it starts to rinse the minimal blood away. he looks up briefly at the sound of angel's voice, catching his reflection behind him in the mirror as he wrings and twists his hands together. ]

It'll heal. [ his tone is dismissive, but he pauses for a moment to adjust, and he offers a small, tight-lipped smile toward's angel's reflection in the mirror. ] ... You should call down to the kitchens and have them bring something up for you.

[ it's late as fuck by now, but there's always at least one or two people always on staff. ]

[harderdaddy]

[He's not wrong, especially as an Overlord it won't be a problem for long, but Angel frowns a the pink water. He doesn't argue, but he does fetch the first aid kit back out and set it on the counter.]

You're not hungry? [Honestly, Angel's not feeling that hungry after everything, but he can tell if he at least orders something and grazes a bit, it will help ease Valentino's worry at least a little.]

He doesn't leave to make the call just yet though, bringing over a hand towel.]

...Let me get the glass out?

[papichulo]

[ valentino honestly can't remember the last time he ate something today, but he also doesn't really care. he eats like a bird, and the last couple of hours have killed any appetite he might have had anyway. val doesn't bother answering angel's initial question though, and very nearly doesn't acknowledge him at all.

he stares down at his hands in the sink for a second or two, eyes unblinking, lips pressed into a thin line. and then finally, he takes his hands out from under the water and turns off the faucet, shifting his weight on his feet and turning to lean his hip against the edge of the sink, facing angel.

he puts only one of his hands out for now, palm up, and lets the other one drip on the marble floors. the remaining two are less damaged, but still a little spattered, his secondary arms crossed loosely over his lower torso. ]

[harderdaddy]

[Watching him closely, Angel gives a soft hum, concerned but doing his best to be a source of calm. He catches the hand lightly in the towel, lower hands working open the kit and passing himself a pair of tweezers. He starts picking out the shards as gently as he can, thumb stroking absently over the unmarred skin as he holds the hand still.

It's not the first time he's played nurse after one of Val's tantrums, but it's been a while, and this anger came from what feels like a very different place.]

[papichulo]

[ gentle or not, glass being plucked from flesh still stings something fierce, but valentino bears it easily. as far as injuries go, it's nothing, and the level of pain is so far from the worst he's ever dealt with that it's almost laughable. still, his eyes squint a little as a particularly jagged splinter of glass is tugged free, fingers curling reflexively before they relax again.

in hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have destroyed the studio, but he'd had to unleash his simmering anger somehow, and tearing someone limb from limb would have been far messier, in his opinion. broken glass and cracked plastic is easy to sweep up, but in large amounts, blood stains pretty easily. with shoots already canceled for the following day, raging in the studio might actually have been his best option. and, at least, he very pointedly didn't take his upset out on angel for once.

speaking of -

val lifts his gaze from where his and angel's hands are joined - he doesn't often forget how soft angel's hands are, but it's nice to be reminded even in heavier circumstances - and looks at his face instead. after a beat, he lifts his uncaptured primary hand and starts to reach for angel's head, but a quick glimpse of the blood smeared across his palm and the subtle glint of light catching on the splinters makes him pause instead of touching him.

angel's clean. there's no sense in tainting him over again tonight. val's fingers curl slightly, hand still hovering, and he tilts his head. when he speaks, his voice is a low murmur, something the cameras likely wouldn't even pick up very clearly, if they were on. ]

... How's your head?

[ not an incriminating question or anything requiring any sort of privacy - it's likely the remaining vees were at least vaguely briefed on angel's situation before valentino left to help him - but the intimacy is saved for angel anyway. ]

[harderdaddy]

[There's a sympathetic wince from Angel, his brow furrowed softly as he works. He doesn't notice Val's gaze shift at first, not until he speaks and those eyes lift in question.]

Eh, had worse...It's still a bit tender.

[He tacks on a bit of real vulnerability after a short pause. They both know he's had worse. He'll be fine. But of course it still hurts.

He dampens a corner of the towel to wipe off Val's palm and motions for the next one.]

I'll be more careful out there.

[papichulo]

[ of course angel's had worse, likely at the hands of valentino, but - there's a difference there. valentino can rationalize every mark and every bruise he leaves on angel, but when someone else puts their hands on him in ways they didn't exclusively pay for, in ways valentino doesn't approve of? it's unacceptable. it's infuriating. getting a little rough in the throes of pleasure is understandable to a fault, and maybe valentino could have waved the whole thing off, but this went far beyond a little manhandling.

angel's marked now in a way that won't fade by morning. the head wound is one thing, but the lettering carved into the inside of his thigh is permanent, and though his fur will likely cover the scarring with time, valentino is always going to know what's there. they both will.

when angel gestures for his other hand, valentino holds it out for him, uncurling his fingers and exposing his palm. he looks down at the little shards of glass embedded in his flesh, blood nothing but a sheen against his dark hands. he seems unfazed. ]

... No more new clients. [ sure, angel should be more careful. he should always be careful, as one of valentino's greatest assets, but some fault lies in val's hands tonight as well, even if he's too prideful to admit as much out loud. the admission is still there, though, hidden in this vague declaration.

angel will still have clients - regulars who have proven to pay well and not cause any fucking problems - but as of right now, the list is closed to interested parties until valentino decides otherwise. ]

[harderdaddy]

[There's a half beat before Angel nods, a flash of guilt in his mind as he wonders if that applies to the occasional off the books work he's been doing to pad his pockets. It's not like Travis is going to fucking hurt him, but he isn't always picky when he needs a fix.]

Gonna drive the prices up.

[He teases lightly. Supply and demand. Make Angel even harder to get and demons'll start offering more. He wonders if he'll see any of that increase.

Picking the glass free, Angel wipes the second hand down too.]

How are the others?

[papichulo]

[ what valentino doesn't know doesn't hurt them - except there's probably not a lot valentinp doesn't know, especially when it comes to angel. if he has any idea about travis and angel's little rendezvous, he hasn't said a damn thing about it to either one of them. it's possible he just doesn't know - but it's equally as likely that he does know, and he's just sitting on the information and waiting for the perfect moment to weaponize it.

valentino only seems half amused by angel's gentle teasing, because angel's not wrong. the harder it is to get on angel's client list, the easier it'll be to drive up the prices, and the easier it'll be to threaten to remove anyone who has anything negative to say about it. no one has to know that the intent behind limiting clients is to keep angel safer - that can stay between valentino and angel, along with the rest of the details surrounding this entire night.

flexing his fingers slightly, valentino glances down and lifts his other hands enough to turn them over and look at them, unsure of the damage. when he'd been trashing the studio, he hadn't been paying much attention, if any at all, to his own well-being, but they seem relatively unharmed. dotted here and there with blood from his primary hands, but otherwise unscathed.

valentino uses one of them to take the soiled cloth from angel's hands so he can drop it in the sink, to be taken care of by someone else later. ]

Fine, [ he says, a little abrupt, maybe a little more snappy than he intends to. valentino's phone starts to vibrate in his pocket, long buzzes suggesting it's a phone call and not a text. he clenches his jaw slightly, like someone calling him this late in the night is expected and not absurd, and when he fishes his phone out of his pocket he barely even glances at the screen for more than a second or two - VOXXY⚡📺💙 - before he declines the call and tosses his phone onto the bathroom counter with a quiet clatter.

valentino turns his attention back to angel, secondary hands touching the hem of the soft pink dress down to his thighs. ]

C'mere. [ but he doesn't give angel much of a choice, and lifts him - more carefully than usual - by his waist with his uninjured hands, and seats him gently on the edge of the counter. ]

[harderdaddy]

[Angel's sure it's Vox even before he catches a glance at the screen, and he does his best to hide his surprise at Val declining. It's not often lately than Angel takes priority over Vox, and he feels a unfair sense of jealousy born pride. It makes him all the more receptive to Val's affection.

His legs dangle off the edge of the counter, and Val towers over him, letting him feel small and cared for, thighs spreading to invite Val closer.

How long do they have before the phone starts off again? Or worse, before Vox is there in the flesh trying to tear Val's attention away?]

M'fine, Daddy.

[papichulo]

[ val wastes little time in filling the space between angel's legs, but instead of standing between them - he crouches. he sinks between his knees, and if it weren't for the fact that valentino very rarely gets on his knees for anyone he views as below him, it might seem suggestive. ]

I want to be sure.

[ again, his tone is a little sharper than it needs to be, the lingering dregs of his anger over the entire night roughing up the edges, but it doesn't seem personal, at least. valentino pushes angel's legs apart just a little more with surprisingly gentle hands - for someone known to be so cruel, he can be just as kind when he wants to be - and carefully examines the damage now that it's all been properly cleaned up.

he hates it. he fucking loathes it, but what he hates more is that there's not a fucking thing he can do about it. when it all scars over, when the fur has grown back enough to hide it, it won't be enough to erase it from his mind.

valentino grinds his teeth, long fingers gingerly touching underneath the 'o' when his phone starts to vibrate again, buzzing loudly against the countertop. red eyes snap upward, narrowed and dangerous, and he doesn't have to be able to see the screen to know that it's vox. ]

Fucking— [ a venomous murmur under his breath. his eyes shift, finding the single camera in the bathroom and staring for a solid three seconds while the phone continues to ring. valentino has no idea if vox is actually watching - for the most part, the cameras in his penthouse stay off unless valentino requests otherwise - but he wouldn't put it past vox to peek in without permission. especially when he's being so blatantly and deliberately ignored.

valentino looks up at angel next, and his words are still somewhat tight, but he makes a point of softening them. ] Turn that shit off for me, baby.

[ if vox wants to rip into valentino for throwing a shitfit in the studio, he can do it tomorrow. valentino doesn't have the patience to listen to it tonight. ]

[harderdaddy]

[Angel movies easily for Val, watching his face to avoid looking at the marks again himself. He doesn't want to admit that it's gotten to him. That word etched there for the rest of time. It shouldn't matter, all of Hell knows what he is even without seeing it.

He fidgets with the hem of his dress, keeping it out of the way, and that buzzing vibrates right through him, Angel frowning until he once again wins that unspoken contest playing out in his head.]

I got it, Daddy. [He scoops it up, eyes flicking to that camera with a smirk as he declines the call and shuts it off. Val is his tonight.

Setting it down again, he ghosts the backs of his fingers along Val's antenna, trying to soothe that tension.]

No more interruptions.

[papichulo]

[ it's one thing for valentino to call angel a whore, because for the most part, that's exactly what he is. valentino almost couldn't care less what other people say or think about angel, especially when they're paying, but to mark him so fucking permanently is an entirely different story. it's disrespect to the highest degree, damaging his property in a way he can do nothing about. in a way that should have never happened, because someone failed somewhere. it's a permanent reminder, carved into angel's skin and burrowed under valentino's like a jagged thorn.

speaking of fucking thorns - that's one less in his side, now that his phone is shut off. normally, valentino would be pleased to chat with vox about - well, damn near anything, but his patience is thin-to-fraying and the last thing he needs is to have yet another error of his pointed out to him. the studio will be fine - it's not as if the vees aren't fucking loaded, and there's plenty of equipment on standby ready to be rigged up once everything's cleaned and sorted, so really, it's not that big of a deal.

valentino smiles, but it's thin and forced, and he only relaxes once angel starts smoothing his fingers down the length of one of his antennae. he breathes in deep, then out slowly, fingers still lightly touching the edges of jagged letters along the inside of angel's thigh. now that it's properly cleaned, it doesn't look nearly as bad as he expected, but the fact that it's there at all is bad enough. val clenches his teeth lightly, and his hand ghosts past angel's knee and down to his ankle, squeezing lightly.

after a beat, he leans in, and brushes a kiss against the inside of angel's thigh, where the skin is soft and undamaged. ]

You should have let me kill them all.

[ permanently, he means. ]

[harderdaddy]

Would it make things any better?

[Just more dead fucks, and a still angry Val. It wouldn't stop the sting of the damage done. Besides-]

You killed the ones that did it.

[He knows Val's ego's bruised. And that it's more that Angel's his, and therefore it's insulting, rather than anything deeper. But after so long of being Val's, that ownership is like a form of love.]

They aren't worth the bullets, Val.

[papichulo]

[ would it make things any better? probably not. would it mean none of them would ever have a chance to come back and fuck with him or his things again? certainly. but valentino knows there's no point in arguing this even though he wants to. what's done is done, and no amount of angelic bullets will reverse the damage.

but it would have felt good. it'd felt fucking great ripping out one of their throats with his bare hands, even better sinking a fancy little bullet into two skulls. violence in the face of blatant disrespect always manages to settle something feral within him.

angel's right, though. as pissed as valentino is, those assholes don't really deserve any more of his time or his energy. they're not worth wasting the bullets he already has very few of left, and if he nailed the fucker who thought it was a good idea to carve a label into angel's flesh because he saw something like it in a movie once, good. he deserves to rot somewhere deeper and darker than hell.

his hand still circled around angel's ankle, valentino gives it another light squeeze, then runs his fingers up the back of angel's leg as he stands back up to his full height. he offers the same hand to him to help him down, even though he's probably more than capable of doing it himself. ]

Come. Call down to the kitchen and have them bring something up.

[harderdaddy]

[Capable or not, Angel enjoys being doted on by Val, babied a little when the occasion calls for it. He accepts the hand down with a grateful smile.]

Yes, Val. [Honestly, he's still not all that hungry, but if it will make Val happy he can order something. And he'll order something extra for Val to pick at when that anger wears off enough for the Overlord to notice his hunger.]