Archive of Our Own ^beta

Ornate doors flung open, the wood slamming loudly against the walls they were attached to. Their assailants were a stiletto boot partnered up with a greyscale oxford, the owners wearing matching wicked grins. The doll-like girl between them cackled as the trio came into the restaurant, their collective eyes falling on the maître d'.

"V-Valentino, sir! We-we weren't expecting you tonight!" The small imp stammered, trembling atop a stool to reach the height of the podium he stood at. His stature was emphasized further by the three demons towering over his station.

Valentino cocked his head, eyes slitting into concentrated irritation at the remark. "What's ya fuckin' point, worm? Get me the usual table."

Fear flashed across the imp's eyes, his voice getting weaker, "I um...I can't, sir." Gaze falling to the ground, he missed the animosity cozying up on the pimp's grin.

Without a moment of hesitation, Valentino took a step closer, boot swinging out to kick the stool out from under the maître d'. Falling with a yelp of pain, he found himself sprawled on the floor.

Sneering fiercely, the moth glared down at the insubordinate creature. "I didn't fuckin' ask if ya could , shitface. I told ya to get me the usual table, so do it."

Tears of terror were collecting in the imp's eyes as he blubbered, "B-but we have guests using that table at the moment, sir. I'm so sorry!"

"Well why didn't ya just say so?" Malice eased out of the tallest overlord's expression, causing relief to wash over the minion's face. Valentino then snapped the digits of a claw, glancing down to the girl with him. "Velvet, be a good girl and go take out the trash."

Velvet lit up like he had presented her the best gift a girl could ask for, skipping eagerly ahead into the restaurant. "With pleasure~!"

Vox's crackling snort fuzzed the air, not even trying to keep the disgust from his digital eyes as he looked down on the imp. "Dumb fuck. Go follow her. Someone's gonna need to change the tablecloth when she's done."

A moment later and screams erupted from farther in the restaurant, pained wailing that was shortly cut off. Valentino chuckled low, the pimp tapping on the top of his cane. "That's a new record, isn't it Vox?"

The television demon's screen changed to a scatter plot, dozens of bright pink dots falling on Cartesian coordinates. The newest dot added itself on the end of the graph to sit on one of the lowest values. With a blur, the view changed as the graph compressed, a couple dots being highlighted.

"By 36.2 seconds, yeah. Fuck, she must be pretty eager to get dinner if she isn't dragging it out." Sinister snickering hissed from the television's speakers, the sinner's face coming back into view. 

The imp frantically rushed ahead of the two remaining demons, clearly not wanting to hinder their meal anymore than he already had. Valentino decided to be generous, letting the small minion have a head-start before they joined Velvet at the table. He turned, reaching out to drape his upper arms over the shoulders of his shorter lover. 

Vox lifted a staticy brow at the affectionate display, yet made no move to avoid the contact. "You good, baby? I know you were fucking famished." The media mogul's claws wandered to gently pull their waists closer to one another, the thumbs drawing circles on the moth's hips. Neither of them flinched, let alone acknowledged the diminutive and brief screech of horror from the direction of their table.

Valentino's lopsided smirk drew high up one side of his face, "Nah, I'm fine, Voxy. What's a little delay? Especially since Vel got her boredom outta the way now." He let out a sigh of satisfaction that bordered on a moan. " Nada nos puede parar. "

The whir of Vox's head got a fraction louder, the Spanish activating his internal translator. He barked out a laugh, his grip tightening with an utterly smug baring of his teeth. "Nothing can stop us, cause we're kings down here~"