Last Day before break
Mar. 7th, 2025 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessWhere I prove no good deed goes unpunished. I think I traumatized the poor UK soccer student with the poisonous snake case study. 'The thing that's going to kill you back home is a cow.' (he pulled up the statistics on that for the class) well yes but that doesn't work with the clotting cascade stuff you're learning so hemotoxins and snakes it is.
And then I did go to the coffee house to write (finally) and try their new drink line up. They really wanted me to try the Lucky Latte with 'cereal milk' Well I don't actually like cereal never did but I said okay. It came out with lucky charms on it. It wasn't bad but I took the last table (because the bible thumpers from the faith and fitness thing across the way were there in force. I want to scream go read Matthew 6:5-6:6 at them every week) and two 80 somethings came in and I said sit with me, it's okay.
So they see I have my computer up. 'oh but you can't work with us talking.' Sure I can. I can tune you out...but NOT when you play 20 questions with me for an hour. Sobs. I didn't want to be rude and they were so fascinated to meet a doctor who was interested in herbal medicine and IS studying it at my university (though they didn't like my vaccine answer. No, you can't replace it with herbs you old hippies, get a vaccine) They wanted to friend me on facebook. I mean they were sweet old ladies but omg can't you see I'm trying to work. Oh right that was your first words to me. You just didn't think I meant it...
So I got back way late. tried to color my hair but something went wrong (it was enough to do a root cover which was enough) and I THINK I'm packed up and ready to go tomorrow. I'm still very leery of going out of the country right now but no one else seems to be.
I am still having this travel anxiety that I don't know where it came from. I just know when it started, 2005 which I chalked it up then to money I didn't have but it's still there. Sigh. even if I'm just going home it's there. It's not bad, just this vague gnawing 'I'm not ready to go' feeling. I have a checklist thinking that would help. It has not for the anxiety but I'm still glad of it.
So here's my fannish 50, the story the ladies wouldn't let me finish plus of course all my fannish recs of the week.
Painfully Pick You Apart
Fandom: Hazbin Hotel
Character/Pairing: Angel Dust/Valentino
Summary: Anthony thinks he’s found the love of his afterlife in the hot new overlord who has branded him as the rising star, Angel Dust. Dealing with his fresh-to-hell brother Arackniss, has left Angel unsettled and he thinks Valentino will comfort him. Anthony quickly learns how little Angel Dust really means to Valentino and his heart will never be the same.
Rating: mature
Author Note - Written for the allbingo prompt of tears and for spikesgirl58’s 6 word challenge. The six words were Lacking, Ruse, Panoramic, Tacky, Magnificent & Sulky. Also written for the lyrical titles duet challenge 2025 for the prompt Different lyrics from the same song using The Beast by Concrete Blonde
Content warning: gas lighting, love bombing, domestic violence, physical abuse, mental abuse
Chapter One
Love is the killer
You thought was your friend
Love is the creature
Who lives in the dark
The Beast – Concrete Blonde
Angel loved the view from Valentino’s penthouse, especially leaning on the balcony rail as he was. He had a panoramic view of Pentagram City. Maybe the view of hell’s cityscape wasn’t magnificent, but it was the only view Angel was ever going to get.
Angel, he rolled his new name around on his tongue. He fully planned to trot it out at the next family meeting. He’d be expected there even though he usually wasn’t wanted but his father insisted he take Arackniss around, give him the lay of the land. The mixed emotions had hit Angel like a freight train when he’d first seen the small, charcoal grey and black spider with Henroin just two weeks ago. If Angel had ended up in hell, then it was no surprise Giovanni had too. He’d embraced a new name right off the bat but their first meeting had gone badly on both sides; Angel not ready to see his brother and his brother horrified at the role he’d played in landing Angel in hell in the first place.
He would have missed out on learning that his brother was here if he hadn’t gotten called in by their father. Angel had stopped hanging out in Henroin’s drug and gun empire, second only to and aligned with Carmilla Carmine’s. Ever since he’d met Valentino last year, Anthony had reinvented himself. He was now Angel Dust, the fasting rising porn star Hell had seen in forever if the rumors were to be believed and he did believe them. The camera loved him and he loved to fuck so it worked out. That his new career was driving his family nuts was the cherry on the top, the only cherry he had left.
He chuckled at that thought and lit up a cigarette. Angel leaned on the rail, staring toward the vague area his overlord father controlled. Henroin had his prized son back now. He had no need of the son he always hated and Angel had long since given up pleasing the man. He went to hell trying to please him so there was nothing more left to lose.
“Amorcito.”
At the sweet nothings purring out of Valentino’s mouth, Angel turned to see his lover back lit from the penthouse. Fuck the man was gorgeous from the long black antennae on his head that tickled Angel when they necked to the long lines of his tall body to the incredible wings sprouting from his back. He didn’t understand why Val didn’t like them much, keeping them tight like a coat around his lithe form. Those crimson wings weren’t like Angel’s stupid pink feet and his thick ankles.
“Yeah, babe?”
“What are you doing out here looking lonely?” Val strolled out and caressed Angel’s cheek.
“I’m never lonely with you.” Angel grinned. “Just thinking that’s all.”
A hint of annoyance flashed across Val’s face. Angel glanced away. He hated disappointing Val.
“About who?”
There was no doubting the jealousy in Valentino’s tone. “No one you need to worry about, babe. You know you’re the only one for me off camera.” Anthony had signed that contract for Val, hadn’t he?
It’s like a marriage contract, amorcito. You give me everything you have and I’m yours forever. I’ll protect and care for you.
Those words had sealed the deal just last month. Angel had worked for Valentino before that, dancing in the clubs at first, working his way up to the cameras. He wasn’t sure he could do that. He was a product of his time, after all, easily old enough to have been Valentino’s father as much as he hated to think about it. But once he stepped in front of the camera and hell loved him as much as Valentino had promised, Angel gave in to his new identity. He’d been ready to have what he’d always wanted in life and never got; someone to love and care for him. Molly and Mama hadn’t counted, though their love had been unconditional.
No, he had craved a lover to hold him tight every night. Sure, he had to share Valentino with Vox and whoever caught Val’s attention at the clubs that night but the clubbers meant nothing. Angel might not want to share with Vox – who did count – but he would if it meant having Val’s love.
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that,” Valentino replied, a stronger hint of irritation in his voice now.
Angel took a drag and flicked his cigarette over the balcony railing. He let a streamer of smoke out before answering. “My brother died recently and he’s here in hell now. I was thinking about him. Our father’s here too and he wants me to mentor my brother, to make adjusting a little easier. Only I don’t know if I wanna.”
Valentino hummed deep in his throat. “You have that many family members here?”
Angel snorted. “Way more than that. My family was not great. Like I said, nothing for you to worry about. If I do decide to help that stronzo, I’ll let you know, babe. I wouldn’t want you wondering where I am on my time off.”
Valentino liked to be told where Angel was going whenever he was out alone. Angel didn’t mind telling him. Usually, he didn’t leave Valentino’s suite for long unless he was on a shopping trip, usually with Apple who loved drag even more than Angel did. Apple preferred living as a woman and ever since meeting her in the studio, they’d been fast friends. Val didn’t get jealous of Apple for some reason like he did with others. He preferred Vox and Angel didn’t talk without him, for example. Angel didn’t get that.
“You know how to treat me right.” Valentino pulled him in for a kiss. He caressed Angel’s butt. “Come inside. I got you a gift.”
Angel lit up. “A gift? That’s so sweet.”
He let Valentino steer him into the penthouse. One of Val’s servants was setting out boxes all wrapped in sparkly bows, or should he say Vox’s servant. Valentino hadn’t been in hell long but he had taken it by storm. It didn’t matter to Angel one way or the other; he just didn’t want to accidentally call them Vox’s and upset Val.
“Are these all for me?” He wanted to dance like a little kid on Christmas morning but this was bound to be better than the Erector set and Tinkertoys he had begged for back then.
“All yours.” Valentino gave his bottom a playful slap.
Angel dug into the one closest to him and in it was the long pink wig he’d been admiring in the shop window the other day. He cooed, putting it on. He turned to Val excitedly. “How do I look, babe?”
“Gorgeous as always.” He ran a hand over Angel’s face.
He turned his head to drop a kiss into Val’s palm. “I love it.”
“Open this one next.” Valentino pushed one toward him but Angel already had his hands deep in another box.
“Right after I see what….oh! Oh, this is fantastic.” The sumptuous dress he pulled from the box would go beautifully with his new wig.
“I have taste, babe.” Valentino smirked.
“Don’t I know it.”
Angel opened the box Valentino had instructed he open and his eyes popped wide. He ran a finger along the sex toy inside, his shaft already getting the message. “I can’t wait to use that.”
Valentino tipped Angel’s chin up with a solitary finger. “Why wait?”
Beaming, Angel rescued the toy from the box, jumping to his feet. “No wait needed.”
He all but flew into Valentino’s arms. How had he gotten so lucky?
Chapter Two
Love is the ghost
Haunting your head
The Beast – Concrete Blonde
“None of this is necessary,” Arackniss said, following Angel down the street.
“That’s what I said but Papi insisted. I have better things to be doing.”
Angel huffed. “Don’t know why he isn’t the one showing you the ropes.”
“He wants me to hit the ground running and…do you hate me so much you don’t want to spend any time with me? You ran off the first time you saw me.” Arackniss glanced up at him, stopping in front of the driveway to a new casino. Angel had watched it going up but hadn’t been curious about it.
Angel paused, hanging his head. He hunched up his shoulders. “It threw me, seeing you. It’s not as if I wasn’t expecting you someday but damn if it didn’t hit like a truck anyhow.” He turned to his brother. “I don’t hate you, Giovanni but my boyfriend was waiting on me. You do not keep Valentino waiting if you know what’s good for you. I’ve seen him get bitchy with people on set who displease him.”
“That’s good I guess, the not hating part.” He dug his hands in his jacket pocket and came up with cigarettes. “I missed you, Anthony. For forty years now, almost.”
“Fuck, have I been dead that long?” He glanced at the black cat marquee on the new casino, trying not to think about that fact. It hurt.
“Yes, you testa di merda” Arackniss smiled as he lit up. He offered the pack to Angel who accepted. “Molly still insists your name be on her birthday cake with hers.”
Angel dropped his cigarette from nerveless fingers. It landed in a puddle of Lucifer knew what. Arackniss shook another out of the pack. Angel lit it up. “She’s still alive then?”
“Yeah, going strong. She’s a grandma now. I’m a grandfather if you can believe it.”
Angel laughed. “Nope, can’t picture it. You’ll always be thirtyish in my head. I liked playing with my nieces and nephews. I miss them. Tell me I’m not gonna see some of them here someday.”
Arackniss wouldn’t meet his gaze and that was his only answer. It said all Angel needed to know. He sighed.
“I don’t know what you can possibly teach me down here. I’d rather just go sit somewhere and talk. Maybe that casino?” Arackniss pointed to the casino with the smirking black cat marquee.
“Nah, too loud. Ain’t never been there but I’ve never been in a quiet one. Come on, I know a place. Papi has his reasons for all this. Keep in mind I’ve been here forever now. I know how to survive without getting hacked to bits on the daily or raped in an alleyway. Hell’s full of fun surprises like that.”
“It’s less fire and brimstone than Church led me to believe. I wasn’t expecting basically Brooklyn only worse.” Arackniss snorted.
“Like you believed at all.”
Arackniss grunted. “No, I didn’t. Might have made different choices, at least for my kids if nothing else.”
“Like Papi would have allowed you any other choice. And I’m sure it made his day to finally have his favorite son at his side again. Ya know, you don’t hafta do that. You can do other things.”
“Like you?”
“I worked for Carmilla before Papi ever showed up. I’m finally off doing something new.”
“Tony, you’re fucking for a living. I can’t believe my kid brother is making stag films,” Arackniss dropped his voice to a whisper, “With other men.”
“Ah, Papi’s already filled you in on that. How long did it take?”
“About two seconds after he slapped my back and said, finally you’re here.” Arackniss rubbed his arms, shuddering a bit. “Did you know your brother was a deviant, Giovanni? Do you want to know how many times he asked me that on the very first day?”
Angel rolled his eyes. “I can take a guess. You’ve been here a week. You’ve probably heard about me being a fairy a million times. Well, fuck him. I’m not ashamed. What did you tell him?”
“That I didn’t know and I didn’t, at least not when you were alive. I asked him what he was worried about with you? You might be a gay coke head but you can keep a secret. No one in the family knew about your….tastes. You were never gonna leak family secrets.”
“Not me.” Angel cocked his head. “But you did know before you got here, didn’t you? Molly must have told you.”
He nodded, taking a drag. “One of your birthdays, after Papi was dead, we were putting flowers on your grave and she finally told me. How did she know? You told her?”
Angel grimaced, not liking to think about Molly at his grave or the idea of his body moldering in one. “I made a careless mistake, left a pack of matches out on the coffee table from the Twilight Lounge. Turns out her best friend, Letty, had a brother who’d been arrested after getting caught there. She knew it was a gay club so yeah, Molly knew.”
“I wouldn’t have known.”
“And I had no intentions of telling ya. You’d have beaten me up probably or told Papi.”
“Who’d have shot you.”
“He did shoot me here when he found out. That shit don’t take down here. Hell’s forever, big brother. You die again, you just respawn once your body pulls itself back together.” Angel walked past a drug vending machine casting an eye at it.
“Sounds like our father. Vending machines with drugs? Who knew?” Arackniss eyed him.
“I’m not getting drugs from a machine. I think they’re Papi’s machines anyhow. He gave me a big baggie to show you the ropes.” Angel laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m already high.”
“Trust me, I can tell.”
They turned a corner and Arackniss stopped staring up at a huge poster of Angel’s current movie. Angel was sitting in a giant cocktail glass wearing a beautiful multicolored wig. He was nude with an oversized martini olive between his legs that he was fingering suggestively. God, there were his stupid pink feet on full view through his fishnets. He and Val had decided after this, his feet would be covered.
Arackniss turned his eyes on Angel. His poor brother, he didn’t even end up with the attractive array of eyes like Angel had. He resembled their father with a higgly-piggly mess of ruby ones. “Honestly, Tony. That’s a little tacky. Is that color corrected? Are you really pink?”
Angel peeled the right top glove off and the left middle one to display his mirror image hands and fingers in beautiful pink and white. “And before you ask, the big pink heart on my chest in that picture isn’t painted on. That’s what I look like.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Arackniss snickered. “Oh god, how is Papi even letting me talk to you, his giant pink son?”
“Trust me, he probably didn’t really want to but he knew we made a good team.”
“We always did. And why are you so damn tall?”
“You were always a shrimp, Giovanni.”
His brother glowered at him. “I was not. I was average.”
“You were shorter than your wife.”
“Trust you to remember that.” Arackniss grumbled, eyeing the club in front of them. “We’re not going into Spank Me!”
“Would I take you to a bondage club?” Angel chuckled. “But I do love that club. Did Papi add that into his rant about me?”
“Yes! How did he find out?”
“Saw me in bondage gear coming out of a different club. Case of bad timing.” Angel shrugged.
“You’re such a freak, a too tall pinkie pie freak.”
“Please, you’re a repressed testa di minchione.” Angel snorted.
“Vaffanculo!” Arackniss laughed, shoving him lightly. “You don’t get as many babies as I did being repressed.”
“Okay I’ll give you that one.” Angel pointed to the club next to the Spank Me. Its sign read A Better Place. “In there.”
“Not a sex club?”
“It’s for drinks and music,” Angel replied. “You’ll like it, I think. You want sex, go next door, and get someone to swat that incredibly tiny bottom of yours.”
“Pass.”
Angel led the way into the bar. By the time they had their drinks and headed to a table, he heard his name being called. He whipped around trying to find who it was. He brightened when he saw Valentino in the corner with some of the other porn stars Angel worked with. Angel bounced over to him.
“Hey, babe, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“I can see that,” Valentino said, his tone dark like the one he used when someone fucked up on set. He peered around Angel to take in Arackniss who had gone into a stance Angel knew too well. His brother was ready to throw down.
“I’d never step out on you, lover.” Angel leaned in to kiss Valentino’s cheek but Val turned his face. Their lips met and Val forced Angel’s mouth open, his tongue smashing inside. He gripped Angel’s head, holding him in place so forcefully it ached.
When Valentino finally let him go, Angel wiped a streamer of red drool from his lips. His coworkers were looking everywhere but at him. His brother’s eyes were hot as Arackniss’ gaze bore into him. Angel shifted uncomfortably. “Val, you remember me telling you I had to show my brother around to make Papi happy. This is Arackniss. Nissy, this is my man, Valentino, one of hell’s newest overlords and the most handsome one.” He stroked Val’s neck ruff.
Arackniss cocked up his eyebrows at the nickname or maybe it was because Val had pulled Angel onto his lap, running his lower hand’s fingers along Angel’s thighs. “Pleasure, I’m sure.”
Arackniss’ voice conveyed the exact opposite. Valentino stiffened at the insulting tone but merely smirked. “I’m sure it is. You two look nothing alike. I could make a lot of money for you as a brother team but not with him.”
“Pretty sure Nissy isn’t interested in being on camera anyhow, babe. No worries about that. I was always the looker in the family,” Angel said and his brother curled his lip at him.
“I can see that.” Valentino nuzzled Angel’s neck giving him a proprietary nip. “Go head, amorcito. Enjoy your evening off with your brother but let’s do something about this.” He took off Angel’s tie. “Remember what I said about our brand. Angel Dust isn’t supposed to look like someone’s granddad.” He tucked the tie into Angel’s jacket pocket and started undoing buttons.
“My father expects me to dress a certain way. I didn’t want to show up to work with a black eye because Henroin decided to fight me,” Angel protested as the unbuttoning went lower and continued on to his dress shirt.
“This isn’t too revealing.” Valentino finger fluffed Angel’s chest hair through the opened shirt. “You look so much better this way.”
“Thanks, babe.” Angel kissed him again and Valentino was less forceful now that he didn’t have to prove he was a better option than the man Angel had walked in with.
Valentino gave Angel’s ass a slap as he slid off Val’s lap and started to walk off. Arackniss kept up a stony silence until they found a small table in the back.
“Let’s hear it, Giovanni. I can tell you have something to say.”
“Your boyfriend is a Figlio di puttana!”
“No, he’s not. Val is great and handsome and he loves me. He gives me gifts all the time and his penthouse is amazing. I finally have someone who loves me for me. He always tells me how wonderful I am,” Angel snapped back.
“Sei un cazzone!”
Angel glared. “See, this is why I didn’t want to take you around hell. You’re always calling me stupid.”
“Anthony, trust me. That guy’s bad news. How do you not see it?” Arackniss made hard eye contact with him and then added, “You’re lovesick.”
Angel broke the stem of his cocktail glass because he squeezed it so hard. Swearing loudly, he went to get another. This is why he hadn’t completely missed his big brother. Arackniss might have his back in a fight but he always thought Angel was foolish. What did he know? He had all of those love gifts from Valentino to prove his point. Valentino was his man and he wasn’t hearing a word to the contrary. Steeling himself, he returned to his brother, counting down the minutes he could make Arackniss their father’s problem again.
Chapter Three
Love is the beast
That will tear out your heart
Hungrily lick it
And painfully pick it apart
The Beast – Concrete Blonde
“Cut! Angel, I need to talk to you in your dressing room,” Valentino snapped.
Angel rolled out from under his costar and grabbed his robe. Tugging it on, he hurried to the dressing room. Val had been short tempered all day and he didn’t want to make Val wait. Angel jumped when Valentino slammed the door behind him.
“What is going on with you lately, Angel? You’ve been sulky and your performance is lacking. Do you think I’m going to put up with this because your star rose like a comet?” Valentino snarled, unsettling Angel. He’d never seen Valentino angry like this with him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be. It’s just…having my brother in hell brought up more bad memories than I thought it would. I didn’t realize it was showing.”
“Showing? It’s glowing from you like neon.” Valentino closed the distance between them. “Not to mention you’re out half the time with your stupid brother. How long do you expect me attend parties alone?”
“You said I could visit with him and you have Vox to go to parties with, babe. You know he likes that.”
Valentino’s hand slapped Angel in the mouth so fast he couldn’t dodge it. He stumbled back, staring at Val in shock. He tasted blood.
“Don’t you ever tell me what to do, you stupid cunt.”
“Don’t call me that,” Angel said, stunned he’d been hit but damned if he was going to be called names by anyone.
Valentino bristled, his handsome face twisting into a hateful mask. “I’ll call you anything I damn well please. You do not talk back to me. Whores need to know their place.”
Valentino swung on him again. This time Angel was ready for it, dodging. Growing up with Henroin meant Angel knew the signs. That had pissed Valentino off more. Angel stopped one blow and slammed his own fist into Valentino’s jaw before he knew what he was doing.
Valentino wiped blood away. “You are going to regret that.”
Angel held up his hands. “Val, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I was just trying to get you to stop. I don’t know why you’re so angry.”
“You don’t have to know why. It’s enough that you’ve pissed me off.” Valentino back handed him hard enough to rock Angel back. Fists followed.
Red shackles appeared from nowhere, slapping onto Angel’s wrists and neck. He couldn’t fight them. He could barely protect himself as Valentino punched and stomped him until he was a whimpering bloody mess on the floor. Panting, sweat dripping onto Angel’s face, Valentino finally stopped. He hauled Angel up by the chain around his neck and shoved the glowing contract Anthony had signed with hearts all around right into Angel’s face.
“This says I own you, Angel. You are mine! If I’m unhappy you’re spending time with your brother, you fix it. If I say jump, you jump and if you ever raise a hand to me again, I will hang you by your neck in the studio as a warning, do you understand me?”
“B-b-but you said the contract was a bond of love,” he slurred through swelling lips. One of his teeth was gone, filling his mouth with blood. “That it meant you’d protect and love me.”
Valentino let him drop, sprawling at his feet. He laughed so hard Angel felt the sound of it shredding his heart. “You actually believed that shit? How fucking stupid are you? Babe, you’re gorgeous and you fuck like no one I’ve ever met before. I had to have you in front of the cameras but you wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t get you to sign the contract. I told you all that lovey dovey bullshit after talking to Vox about what life was like in my Papito’s day. You assholes were all so high and mighty and repressed. No wonder my generation went all free love. I knew if I told you I loved you, I’d get what I wanted.”
Angel sobbed loudly, unable to make words form.
“Ugh, stop crying like a little bitch.” He kicked Angel in the chest, bowling him over. “You bought it though, hook line and sinker. You’re mine until the end of time. Now be a good little whore and get your ass to makeup to clean you up once you’re done sobbing your stupid little heart out. And tonight, you better be in the penthouse wearing something cute if you know what is good for you. Daddy’s in the mood to play.”
Valentino left him there, destroyed on the floor. How could it all have been a ruse to get his soul? He was nothing but a commodity, Val’s pet porn star. He made him so much money and Angel hadn’t even protested how little his share was because Valentino had taken such good care of him.
Crying into the carpet, Angel recognized himself. He was his mother, lying at his father’s feet, beaten bloody, telling him how much she loved him trying to get him to stop. Once he and Giovanni had been old enough to stop him, Mom had been free. Who would stop Valentino from beating him? No one. Vox sure as hell wouldn’t. Arackniss had called it after thirty seconds. Love sick, love blind.
How was he going to get his soul back?
You aren’t.
There was no doubt in Angel’s mind. He’d been tricked. He was fucked. He’d fallen for all of Valentino’s bullshit. Pulling himself into the seated position, he caught sight of himself in the mirror, eyes swelling to the point they’d be shuttered entirely. Bruises like duck eggs on his cheeks, blood running past fat lips. Makeup wasn’t going to make this better. Angel collapsed back to the floor, weeping harder. He wanted his guns. He wanted to cut Valentino to ribbons but death didn’t stick down here. Shooting him wouldn’t free Angel. It would make things worse. He’d have to pluck a page from his mother’s book; do his best to please Valentino and hope not to get beaten.
Hollowed out by the realization, Angel sprawled on the floor. He’d have to get up soon. If Valentino had to come back for him, he’d get beaten harder: another thing he’d learned from his parents. He’d have to piece his heart back together just enough to function. Why had he ever thought a man in hell would be good to him? Jesus, his brother was right. He was an idiot.
Wiping blood and snot into the carpet, Angel levered himself up. He splashed water on his face to rinse the blood out of his fur and put on a different robe before going for makeup. He doubted there was magic enough to fix his face enough to work in front of the camera. Nothing would mend the heart Valentino had just picked apart. How did he live with that?
He didn’t know but he was about to find out. He’d be damned if Valentino defeated him. Anthony might be a fool but he was a dangerous one. One day Valentino would learn that. Angel had forever after all, more than enough time to learn how to free himself.
Someday, he thought and strode out of his dressing room. He might be lost in this moment but someday Valentino would need to fear him. Angel made himself that promise. It was one he intended to keep.
Italian translations:
stronzo- asshole
testa di merda – shithead
testa di minchione – dickhead
Vaffanculo – fuck off
Figlio di puttana – son of a whore
Sei un cazzone – you’re an idiot
Black Widow - Hazbin Hotel Fan Comic This is an ongoing fan comic
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by the grace of the fire and the flames 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
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at least i know you were mine
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untitled The Owl House ficlet
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Our Hero Academia: Embers, Embers, Burning Bright My Hero Academia
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And then I did go to the coffee house to write (finally) and try their new drink line up. They really wanted me to try the Lucky Latte with 'cereal milk' Well I don't actually like cereal never did but I said okay. It came out with lucky charms on it. It wasn't bad but I took the last table (because the bible thumpers from the faith and fitness thing across the way were there in force. I want to scream go read Matthew 6:5-6:6 at them every week) and two 80 somethings came in and I said sit with me, it's okay.
So they see I have my computer up. 'oh but you can't work with us talking.' Sure I can. I can tune you out...but NOT when you play 20 questions with me for an hour. Sobs. I didn't want to be rude and they were so fascinated to meet a doctor who was interested in herbal medicine and IS studying it at my university (though they didn't like my vaccine answer. No, you can't replace it with herbs you old hippies, get a vaccine) They wanted to friend me on facebook. I mean they were sweet old ladies but omg can't you see I'm trying to work. Oh right that was your first words to me. You just didn't think I meant it...
So I got back way late. tried to color my hair but something went wrong (it was enough to do a root cover which was enough) and I THINK I'm packed up and ready to go tomorrow. I'm still very leery of going out of the country right now but no one else seems to be.
I am still having this travel anxiety that I don't know where it came from. I just know when it started, 2005 which I chalked it up then to money I didn't have but it's still there. Sigh. even if I'm just going home it's there. It's not bad, just this vague gnawing 'I'm not ready to go' feeling. I have a checklist thinking that would help. It has not for the anxiety but I'm still glad of it.
So here's my fannish 50, the story the ladies wouldn't let me finish plus of course all my fannish recs of the week.
Painfully Pick You Apart
Fandom: Hazbin Hotel
Character/Pairing: Angel Dust/Valentino
Summary: Anthony thinks he’s found the love of his afterlife in the hot new overlord who has branded him as the rising star, Angel Dust. Dealing with his fresh-to-hell brother Arackniss, has left Angel unsettled and he thinks Valentino will comfort him. Anthony quickly learns how little Angel Dust really means to Valentino and his heart will never be the same.
Rating: mature
Author Note - Written for the allbingo prompt of tears and for spikesgirl58’s 6 word challenge. The six words were Lacking, Ruse, Panoramic, Tacky, Magnificent & Sulky. Also written for the lyrical titles duet challenge 2025 for the prompt Different lyrics from the same song using The Beast by Concrete Blonde
Content warning: gas lighting, love bombing, domestic violence, physical abuse, mental abuse
Chapter One
Love is the killer
You thought was your friend
Love is the creature
Who lives in the dark
The Beast – Concrete Blonde
Angel loved the view from Valentino’s penthouse, especially leaning on the balcony rail as he was. He had a panoramic view of Pentagram City. Maybe the view of hell’s cityscape wasn’t magnificent, but it was the only view Angel was ever going to get.
Angel, he rolled his new name around on his tongue. He fully planned to trot it out at the next family meeting. He’d be expected there even though he usually wasn’t wanted but his father insisted he take Arackniss around, give him the lay of the land. The mixed emotions had hit Angel like a freight train when he’d first seen the small, charcoal grey and black spider with Henroin just two weeks ago. If Angel had ended up in hell, then it was no surprise Giovanni had too. He’d embraced a new name right off the bat but their first meeting had gone badly on both sides; Angel not ready to see his brother and his brother horrified at the role he’d played in landing Angel in hell in the first place.
He would have missed out on learning that his brother was here if he hadn’t gotten called in by their father. Angel had stopped hanging out in Henroin’s drug and gun empire, second only to and aligned with Carmilla Carmine’s. Ever since he’d met Valentino last year, Anthony had reinvented himself. He was now Angel Dust, the fasting rising porn star Hell had seen in forever if the rumors were to be believed and he did believe them. The camera loved him and he loved to fuck so it worked out. That his new career was driving his family nuts was the cherry on the top, the only cherry he had left.
He chuckled at that thought and lit up a cigarette. Angel leaned on the rail, staring toward the vague area his overlord father controlled. Henroin had his prized son back now. He had no need of the son he always hated and Angel had long since given up pleasing the man. He went to hell trying to please him so there was nothing more left to lose.
“Amorcito.”
At the sweet nothings purring out of Valentino’s mouth, Angel turned to see his lover back lit from the penthouse. Fuck the man was gorgeous from the long black antennae on his head that tickled Angel when they necked to the long lines of his tall body to the incredible wings sprouting from his back. He didn’t understand why Val didn’t like them much, keeping them tight like a coat around his lithe form. Those crimson wings weren’t like Angel’s stupid pink feet and his thick ankles.
“Yeah, babe?”
“What are you doing out here looking lonely?” Val strolled out and caressed Angel’s cheek.
“I’m never lonely with you.” Angel grinned. “Just thinking that’s all.”
A hint of annoyance flashed across Val’s face. Angel glanced away. He hated disappointing Val.
“About who?”
There was no doubting the jealousy in Valentino’s tone. “No one you need to worry about, babe. You know you’re the only one for me off camera.” Anthony had signed that contract for Val, hadn’t he?
It’s like a marriage contract, amorcito. You give me everything you have and I’m yours forever. I’ll protect and care for you.
Those words had sealed the deal just last month. Angel had worked for Valentino before that, dancing in the clubs at first, working his way up to the cameras. He wasn’t sure he could do that. He was a product of his time, after all, easily old enough to have been Valentino’s father as much as he hated to think about it. But once he stepped in front of the camera and hell loved him as much as Valentino had promised, Angel gave in to his new identity. He’d been ready to have what he’d always wanted in life and never got; someone to love and care for him. Molly and Mama hadn’t counted, though their love had been unconditional.
No, he had craved a lover to hold him tight every night. Sure, he had to share Valentino with Vox and whoever caught Val’s attention at the clubs that night but the clubbers meant nothing. Angel might not want to share with Vox – who did count – but he would if it meant having Val’s love.
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that,” Valentino replied, a stronger hint of irritation in his voice now.
Angel took a drag and flicked his cigarette over the balcony railing. He let a streamer of smoke out before answering. “My brother died recently and he’s here in hell now. I was thinking about him. Our father’s here too and he wants me to mentor my brother, to make adjusting a little easier. Only I don’t know if I wanna.”
Valentino hummed deep in his throat. “You have that many family members here?”
Angel snorted. “Way more than that. My family was not great. Like I said, nothing for you to worry about. If I do decide to help that stronzo, I’ll let you know, babe. I wouldn’t want you wondering where I am on my time off.”
Valentino liked to be told where Angel was going whenever he was out alone. Angel didn’t mind telling him. Usually, he didn’t leave Valentino’s suite for long unless he was on a shopping trip, usually with Apple who loved drag even more than Angel did. Apple preferred living as a woman and ever since meeting her in the studio, they’d been fast friends. Val didn’t get jealous of Apple for some reason like he did with others. He preferred Vox and Angel didn’t talk without him, for example. Angel didn’t get that.
“You know how to treat me right.” Valentino pulled him in for a kiss. He caressed Angel’s butt. “Come inside. I got you a gift.”
Angel lit up. “A gift? That’s so sweet.”
He let Valentino steer him into the penthouse. One of Val’s servants was setting out boxes all wrapped in sparkly bows, or should he say Vox’s servant. Valentino hadn’t been in hell long but he had taken it by storm. It didn’t matter to Angel one way or the other; he just didn’t want to accidentally call them Vox’s and upset Val.
“Are these all for me?” He wanted to dance like a little kid on Christmas morning but this was bound to be better than the Erector set and Tinkertoys he had begged for back then.
“All yours.” Valentino gave his bottom a playful slap.
Angel dug into the one closest to him and in it was the long pink wig he’d been admiring in the shop window the other day. He cooed, putting it on. He turned to Val excitedly. “How do I look, babe?”
“Gorgeous as always.” He ran a hand over Angel’s face.
He turned his head to drop a kiss into Val’s palm. “I love it.”
“Open this one next.” Valentino pushed one toward him but Angel already had his hands deep in another box.
“Right after I see what….oh! Oh, this is fantastic.” The sumptuous dress he pulled from the box would go beautifully with his new wig.
“I have taste, babe.” Valentino smirked.
“Don’t I know it.”
Angel opened the box Valentino had instructed he open and his eyes popped wide. He ran a finger along the sex toy inside, his shaft already getting the message. “I can’t wait to use that.”
Valentino tipped Angel’s chin up with a solitary finger. “Why wait?”
Beaming, Angel rescued the toy from the box, jumping to his feet. “No wait needed.”
He all but flew into Valentino’s arms. How had he gotten so lucky?
Chapter Two
Love is the ghost
Haunting your head
The Beast – Concrete Blonde
“None of this is necessary,” Arackniss said, following Angel down the street.
“That’s what I said but Papi insisted. I have better things to be doing.”
Angel huffed. “Don’t know why he isn’t the one showing you the ropes.”
“He wants me to hit the ground running and…do you hate me so much you don’t want to spend any time with me? You ran off the first time you saw me.” Arackniss glanced up at him, stopping in front of the driveway to a new casino. Angel had watched it going up but hadn’t been curious about it.
Angel paused, hanging his head. He hunched up his shoulders. “It threw me, seeing you. It’s not as if I wasn’t expecting you someday but damn if it didn’t hit like a truck anyhow.” He turned to his brother. “I don’t hate you, Giovanni but my boyfriend was waiting on me. You do not keep Valentino waiting if you know what’s good for you. I’ve seen him get bitchy with people on set who displease him.”
“That’s good I guess, the not hating part.” He dug his hands in his jacket pocket and came up with cigarettes. “I missed you, Anthony. For forty years now, almost.”
“Fuck, have I been dead that long?” He glanced at the black cat marquee on the new casino, trying not to think about that fact. It hurt.
“Yes, you testa di merda” Arackniss smiled as he lit up. He offered the pack to Angel who accepted. “Molly still insists your name be on her birthday cake with hers.”
Angel dropped his cigarette from nerveless fingers. It landed in a puddle of Lucifer knew what. Arackniss shook another out of the pack. Angel lit it up. “She’s still alive then?”
“Yeah, going strong. She’s a grandma now. I’m a grandfather if you can believe it.”
Angel laughed. “Nope, can’t picture it. You’ll always be thirtyish in my head. I liked playing with my nieces and nephews. I miss them. Tell me I’m not gonna see some of them here someday.”
Arackniss wouldn’t meet his gaze and that was his only answer. It said all Angel needed to know. He sighed.
“I don’t know what you can possibly teach me down here. I’d rather just go sit somewhere and talk. Maybe that casino?” Arackniss pointed to the casino with the smirking black cat marquee.
“Nah, too loud. Ain’t never been there but I’ve never been in a quiet one. Come on, I know a place. Papi has his reasons for all this. Keep in mind I’ve been here forever now. I know how to survive without getting hacked to bits on the daily or raped in an alleyway. Hell’s full of fun surprises like that.”
“It’s less fire and brimstone than Church led me to believe. I wasn’t expecting basically Brooklyn only worse.” Arackniss snorted.
“Like you believed at all.”
Arackniss grunted. “No, I didn’t. Might have made different choices, at least for my kids if nothing else.”
“Like Papi would have allowed you any other choice. And I’m sure it made his day to finally have his favorite son at his side again. Ya know, you don’t hafta do that. You can do other things.”
“Like you?”
“I worked for Carmilla before Papi ever showed up. I’m finally off doing something new.”
“Tony, you’re fucking for a living. I can’t believe my kid brother is making stag films,” Arackniss dropped his voice to a whisper, “With other men.”
“Ah, Papi’s already filled you in on that. How long did it take?”
“About two seconds after he slapped my back and said, finally you’re here.” Arackniss rubbed his arms, shuddering a bit. “Did you know your brother was a deviant, Giovanni? Do you want to know how many times he asked me that on the very first day?”
Angel rolled his eyes. “I can take a guess. You’ve been here a week. You’ve probably heard about me being a fairy a million times. Well, fuck him. I’m not ashamed. What did you tell him?”
“That I didn’t know and I didn’t, at least not when you were alive. I asked him what he was worried about with you? You might be a gay coke head but you can keep a secret. No one in the family knew about your….tastes. You were never gonna leak family secrets.”
“Not me.” Angel cocked his head. “But you did know before you got here, didn’t you? Molly must have told you.”
He nodded, taking a drag. “One of your birthdays, after Papi was dead, we were putting flowers on your grave and she finally told me. How did she know? You told her?”
Angel grimaced, not liking to think about Molly at his grave or the idea of his body moldering in one. “I made a careless mistake, left a pack of matches out on the coffee table from the Twilight Lounge. Turns out her best friend, Letty, had a brother who’d been arrested after getting caught there. She knew it was a gay club so yeah, Molly knew.”
“I wouldn’t have known.”
“And I had no intentions of telling ya. You’d have beaten me up probably or told Papi.”
“Who’d have shot you.”
“He did shoot me here when he found out. That shit don’t take down here. Hell’s forever, big brother. You die again, you just respawn once your body pulls itself back together.” Angel walked past a drug vending machine casting an eye at it.
“Sounds like our father. Vending machines with drugs? Who knew?” Arackniss eyed him.
“I’m not getting drugs from a machine. I think they’re Papi’s machines anyhow. He gave me a big baggie to show you the ropes.” Angel laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m already high.”
“Trust me, I can tell.”
They turned a corner and Arackniss stopped staring up at a huge poster of Angel’s current movie. Angel was sitting in a giant cocktail glass wearing a beautiful multicolored wig. He was nude with an oversized martini olive between his legs that he was fingering suggestively. God, there were his stupid pink feet on full view through his fishnets. He and Val had decided after this, his feet would be covered.
Arackniss turned his eyes on Angel. His poor brother, he didn’t even end up with the attractive array of eyes like Angel had. He resembled their father with a higgly-piggly mess of ruby ones. “Honestly, Tony. That’s a little tacky. Is that color corrected? Are you really pink?”
Angel peeled the right top glove off and the left middle one to display his mirror image hands and fingers in beautiful pink and white. “And before you ask, the big pink heart on my chest in that picture isn’t painted on. That’s what I look like.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” Arackniss snickered. “Oh god, how is Papi even letting me talk to you, his giant pink son?”
“Trust me, he probably didn’t really want to but he knew we made a good team.”
“We always did. And why are you so damn tall?”
“You were always a shrimp, Giovanni.”
His brother glowered at him. “I was not. I was average.”
“You were shorter than your wife.”
“Trust you to remember that.” Arackniss grumbled, eyeing the club in front of them. “We’re not going into Spank Me!”
“Would I take you to a bondage club?” Angel chuckled. “But I do love that club. Did Papi add that into his rant about me?”
“Yes! How did he find out?”
“Saw me in bondage gear coming out of a different club. Case of bad timing.” Angel shrugged.
“You’re such a freak, a too tall pinkie pie freak.”
“Please, you’re a repressed testa di minchione.” Angel snorted.
“Vaffanculo!” Arackniss laughed, shoving him lightly. “You don’t get as many babies as I did being repressed.”
“Okay I’ll give you that one.” Angel pointed to the club next to the Spank Me. Its sign read A Better Place. “In there.”
“Not a sex club?”
“It’s for drinks and music,” Angel replied. “You’ll like it, I think. You want sex, go next door, and get someone to swat that incredibly tiny bottom of yours.”
“Pass.”
Angel led the way into the bar. By the time they had their drinks and headed to a table, he heard his name being called. He whipped around trying to find who it was. He brightened when he saw Valentino in the corner with some of the other porn stars Angel worked with. Angel bounced over to him.
“Hey, babe, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“I can see that,” Valentino said, his tone dark like the one he used when someone fucked up on set. He peered around Angel to take in Arackniss who had gone into a stance Angel knew too well. His brother was ready to throw down.
“I’d never step out on you, lover.” Angel leaned in to kiss Valentino’s cheek but Val turned his face. Their lips met and Val forced Angel’s mouth open, his tongue smashing inside. He gripped Angel’s head, holding him in place so forcefully it ached.
When Valentino finally let him go, Angel wiped a streamer of red drool from his lips. His coworkers were looking everywhere but at him. His brother’s eyes were hot as Arackniss’ gaze bore into him. Angel shifted uncomfortably. “Val, you remember me telling you I had to show my brother around to make Papi happy. This is Arackniss. Nissy, this is my man, Valentino, one of hell’s newest overlords and the most handsome one.” He stroked Val’s neck ruff.
Arackniss cocked up his eyebrows at the nickname or maybe it was because Val had pulled Angel onto his lap, running his lower hand’s fingers along Angel’s thighs. “Pleasure, I’m sure.”
Arackniss’ voice conveyed the exact opposite. Valentino stiffened at the insulting tone but merely smirked. “I’m sure it is. You two look nothing alike. I could make a lot of money for you as a brother team but not with him.”
“Pretty sure Nissy isn’t interested in being on camera anyhow, babe. No worries about that. I was always the looker in the family,” Angel said and his brother curled his lip at him.
“I can see that.” Valentino nuzzled Angel’s neck giving him a proprietary nip. “Go head, amorcito. Enjoy your evening off with your brother but let’s do something about this.” He took off Angel’s tie. “Remember what I said about our brand. Angel Dust isn’t supposed to look like someone’s granddad.” He tucked the tie into Angel’s jacket pocket and started undoing buttons.
“My father expects me to dress a certain way. I didn’t want to show up to work with a black eye because Henroin decided to fight me,” Angel protested as the unbuttoning went lower and continued on to his dress shirt.
“This isn’t too revealing.” Valentino finger fluffed Angel’s chest hair through the opened shirt. “You look so much better this way.”
“Thanks, babe.” Angel kissed him again and Valentino was less forceful now that he didn’t have to prove he was a better option than the man Angel had walked in with.
Valentino gave Angel’s ass a slap as he slid off Val’s lap and started to walk off. Arackniss kept up a stony silence until they found a small table in the back.
“Let’s hear it, Giovanni. I can tell you have something to say.”
“Your boyfriend is a Figlio di puttana!”
“No, he’s not. Val is great and handsome and he loves me. He gives me gifts all the time and his penthouse is amazing. I finally have someone who loves me for me. He always tells me how wonderful I am,” Angel snapped back.
“Sei un cazzone!”
Angel glared. “See, this is why I didn’t want to take you around hell. You’re always calling me stupid.”
“Anthony, trust me. That guy’s bad news. How do you not see it?” Arackniss made hard eye contact with him and then added, “You’re lovesick.”
Angel broke the stem of his cocktail glass because he squeezed it so hard. Swearing loudly, he went to get another. This is why he hadn’t completely missed his big brother. Arackniss might have his back in a fight but he always thought Angel was foolish. What did he know? He had all of those love gifts from Valentino to prove his point. Valentino was his man and he wasn’t hearing a word to the contrary. Steeling himself, he returned to his brother, counting down the minutes he could make Arackniss their father’s problem again.
Chapter Three
Love is the beast
That will tear out your heart
Hungrily lick it
And painfully pick it apart
The Beast – Concrete Blonde
“Cut! Angel, I need to talk to you in your dressing room,” Valentino snapped.
Angel rolled out from under his costar and grabbed his robe. Tugging it on, he hurried to the dressing room. Val had been short tempered all day and he didn’t want to make Val wait. Angel jumped when Valentino slammed the door behind him.
“What is going on with you lately, Angel? You’ve been sulky and your performance is lacking. Do you think I’m going to put up with this because your star rose like a comet?” Valentino snarled, unsettling Angel. He’d never seen Valentino angry like this with him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be. It’s just…having my brother in hell brought up more bad memories than I thought it would. I didn’t realize it was showing.”
“Showing? It’s glowing from you like neon.” Valentino closed the distance between them. “Not to mention you’re out half the time with your stupid brother. How long do you expect me attend parties alone?”
“You said I could visit with him and you have Vox to go to parties with, babe. You know he likes that.”
Valentino’s hand slapped Angel in the mouth so fast he couldn’t dodge it. He stumbled back, staring at Val in shock. He tasted blood.
“Don’t you ever tell me what to do, you stupid cunt.”
“Don’t call me that,” Angel said, stunned he’d been hit but damned if he was going to be called names by anyone.
Valentino bristled, his handsome face twisting into a hateful mask. “I’ll call you anything I damn well please. You do not talk back to me. Whores need to know their place.”
Valentino swung on him again. This time Angel was ready for it, dodging. Growing up with Henroin meant Angel knew the signs. That had pissed Valentino off more. Angel stopped one blow and slammed his own fist into Valentino’s jaw before he knew what he was doing.
Valentino wiped blood away. “You are going to regret that.”
Angel held up his hands. “Val, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I was just trying to get you to stop. I don’t know why you’re so angry.”
“You don’t have to know why. It’s enough that you’ve pissed me off.” Valentino back handed him hard enough to rock Angel back. Fists followed.
Red shackles appeared from nowhere, slapping onto Angel’s wrists and neck. He couldn’t fight them. He could barely protect himself as Valentino punched and stomped him until he was a whimpering bloody mess on the floor. Panting, sweat dripping onto Angel’s face, Valentino finally stopped. He hauled Angel up by the chain around his neck and shoved the glowing contract Anthony had signed with hearts all around right into Angel’s face.
“This says I own you, Angel. You are mine! If I’m unhappy you’re spending time with your brother, you fix it. If I say jump, you jump and if you ever raise a hand to me again, I will hang you by your neck in the studio as a warning, do you understand me?”
“B-b-but you said the contract was a bond of love,” he slurred through swelling lips. One of his teeth was gone, filling his mouth with blood. “That it meant you’d protect and love me.”
Valentino let him drop, sprawling at his feet. He laughed so hard Angel felt the sound of it shredding his heart. “You actually believed that shit? How fucking stupid are you? Babe, you’re gorgeous and you fuck like no one I’ve ever met before. I had to have you in front of the cameras but you wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t get you to sign the contract. I told you all that lovey dovey bullshit after talking to Vox about what life was like in my Papito’s day. You assholes were all so high and mighty and repressed. No wonder my generation went all free love. I knew if I told you I loved you, I’d get what I wanted.”
Angel sobbed loudly, unable to make words form.
“Ugh, stop crying like a little bitch.” He kicked Angel in the chest, bowling him over. “You bought it though, hook line and sinker. You’re mine until the end of time. Now be a good little whore and get your ass to makeup to clean you up once you’re done sobbing your stupid little heart out. And tonight, you better be in the penthouse wearing something cute if you know what is good for you. Daddy’s in the mood to play.”
Valentino left him there, destroyed on the floor. How could it all have been a ruse to get his soul? He was nothing but a commodity, Val’s pet porn star. He made him so much money and Angel hadn’t even protested how little his share was because Valentino had taken such good care of him.
Crying into the carpet, Angel recognized himself. He was his mother, lying at his father’s feet, beaten bloody, telling him how much she loved him trying to get him to stop. Once he and Giovanni had been old enough to stop him, Mom had been free. Who would stop Valentino from beating him? No one. Vox sure as hell wouldn’t. Arackniss had called it after thirty seconds. Love sick, love blind.
How was he going to get his soul back?
You aren’t.
There was no doubt in Angel’s mind. He’d been tricked. He was fucked. He’d fallen for all of Valentino’s bullshit. Pulling himself into the seated position, he caught sight of himself in the mirror, eyes swelling to the point they’d be shuttered entirely. Bruises like duck eggs on his cheeks, blood running past fat lips. Makeup wasn’t going to make this better. Angel collapsed back to the floor, weeping harder. He wanted his guns. He wanted to cut Valentino to ribbons but death didn’t stick down here. Shooting him wouldn’t free Angel. It would make things worse. He’d have to pluck a page from his mother’s book; do his best to please Valentino and hope not to get beaten.
Hollowed out by the realization, Angel sprawled on the floor. He’d have to get up soon. If Valentino had to come back for him, he’d get beaten harder: another thing he’d learned from his parents. He’d have to piece his heart back together just enough to function. Why had he ever thought a man in hell would be good to him? Jesus, his brother was right. He was an idiot.
Wiping blood and snot into the carpet, Angel levered himself up. He splashed water on his face to rinse the blood out of his fur and put on a different robe before going for makeup. He doubted there was magic enough to fix his face enough to work in front of the camera. Nothing would mend the heart Valentino had just picked apart. How did he live with that?
He didn’t know but he was about to find out. He’d be damned if Valentino defeated him. Anthony might be a fool but he was a dangerous one. One day Valentino would learn that. Angel had forever after all, more than enough time to learn how to free himself.
Someday, he thought and strode out of his dressing room. He might be lost in this moment but someday Valentino would need to fear him. Angel made himself that promise. It was one he intended to keep.
Italian translations:
stronzo- asshole
testa di merda – shithead
testa di minchione – dickhead
Vaffanculo – fuck off
Figlio di puttana – son of a whore
Sei un cazzone – you’re an idiot
Black Widow - Hazbin Hotel Fan Comic This is an ongoing fan comic
A Good Father FAKE
Self-Reflection Torchwood
by the grace of the fire and the flames 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
One Sunny Morning Torchwood
Always Be My Loser ch 4 Hazbin Hotel wip
Dispensation The Owl House
at least i know you were mine
Arcane: League of Legends
A Stupid Crush Torchwood
untitled The Owl House ficlet
Orphan’s Club Batman
Matter of Trust Batman
Our Hero Academia: Embers, Embers, Burning Bright My Hero Academia
Random Act Of Pleasure Venom
The Radiance Of Love 9-1-1
Catwoman icons
Vices and Virtues Hazbin Hotel wip
Implementing Rule 5
Stargate Atlantis/Stargate SG-1
Reflected Hazbin Hotel
Waves of Magic Teen Wolf
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no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 07:35 am (UTC)I hope that your anxiety settles down once you're out and about, at least and I hope you'll have a really lovely trip. You so deserve to destress a little after everything you've had going lately.
Enjoy! *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 03:48 pm (UTC)thanks. Sadly not even sure we're going now. Got the call this morning. My uncle will probably pass today (my dad wants us to still go without him and mom and we might as there won't be a funeral and we've already said goodbye knowing this was coming)
no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 04:03 pm (UTC)I'm with your dad in that it does sound like a good idea to still go if you can't do anything to help and there won't be a funeral & he and your mom don't need you to come see them instead. I feel that it helps to be with family when these things happen, even if they were expected and likely a blessing to the person passing on. They'll still be missed, after all.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 04:31 pm (UTC)My brother and I are planning to go (and his wife) There isn't much we can do other than sit there doing nothing so Dad wants us to go have a celebration of life on our own which isn't the worst idea
no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 04:45 pm (UTC)That's likely for the best! My best wishes accompany you, try to have a good time nonetheless. :)
no subject
Date: 2025-03-09 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-09 06:46 am (UTC)Have a safe trip!
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Date: 2025-03-09 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 03:47 pm (UTC)yeah I hear you. I have no desire to friend these old ladies. And ugh to the one you've run into. Yeah that would be awkward
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Date: 2025-03-12 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-13 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-13 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 12:36 pm (UTC)I HATE when people talk to me even though they can see I'm doing something on the computer or writing. I don't mind the polite greeting, but stop talking after that.
Though I did LOL at the No, you can't replace it with herbs you old hippies, get a vaccine. *g*
Sending out positive vibes for a safe and uneventful trip!
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Date: 2025-03-08 03:18 pm (UTC)Yeah, seriously. No doubt someone will do it to me on the plane. Probably my sister in law. Seez my book?
I still kept on typing but they were insisting on conversation with me.
thanks sadly not going to happen. My uncle is passing today most likely. Dad wants us to still go (without him and mom) because there's not going to be a funeral.s igh
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Date: 2025-03-08 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-08 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-09 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-09 02:51 pm (UTC)