Hazbin Hotel One Shots

Bad Taste | Angst, Toxic Voxval

Author's notes

i am actually excited to write this??? i like to write about manipulative characters but I've never actually wrote them BEING manipulative or saying manipulative shit. I'm excited to look up some tactics and stuff too!!! education is fun

Anyway, this was requested by Diarrhoea2and3. Thanks so much for the request, and thank you all for checking out this chapter!

yall can we talk about how the hazbin merch was lacking?? Why didn't the old men (amazon) capitalize???

⚠️ WARNINGS ⚠️

- mild verbal abuse?
- manipulative behavior
- invalidation
- Valentino 🫵

Okay I'll stfu now! Let's get started!!

Neutral POV (centered around Vox)

Vox sat alone in his office. It might as well just be his room. It was clear that something had been itching at him. He was isolating himself and he was drowning himself in his work. To his assistant, it was obvious that he was having some kind of depressive episode. However, his assistant wouldn't dare try to talk to Vox about it. Really, it wasn't his assistant's place to, and his assistant was worried that Vox would take out the emotions that were building up on him. In addition to that, Vox was even more productive.

Despite this, it still saddened Vox's assistant. The two people closest to him, his 'boyfriend', Valentino, and his 'best friend', Velvette didn't care enough about Vox to check up on him. It just shows how lonely it is at the top.

Vox didn't have episodes often. But, like anyone, he did have them, and when he did, they weren't pleasant. The current episode was caused by a mix of body dysphoria and Val.

Body dysphoria was normal for Vox. He was obsessed with his appearance in life. He even had a few surgeries, which may have caused his appearance in Hell. It was far from natural. His obsession with technology also affected it, of course. Hell was a punishment, not something to be enjoyed, and the system knew exactly how to get to you and where to jab.

Vox struggled to feel alive. Well, he was in an Afterlife, so maybe sentiment is a better word. But now it sounds like you're describing an inanimate object. Either way, being composed of machinery and cold metal couldn't make you feel human. It couldn't make you feel normal. While it had its perks, Vox believed that the cons outweigh the pros. He couldn't breathe, he didn't have a heartbeat, fuck, he couldn't even bleed actual blood. He 'bled' oil. He was cold all of the time. He didn't sleep, because he couldn't feel exhausted. On occasion, he did have to charge himself. But that just made him feel more machine-like. Vox hates it all.

Valentino, on the other hand, loved all this. Not only was it something Valentino could use against Vox, but it was something he could abuse. Vox's parts were interchangeable, which made him a wild sex partner, and that meant Valentino could make him submit without doing too much damage. Val could also push Vox to take on some of his own work.

That was Vox's issue with Val. They were supposed to be partners. But Vox felt used and it was time to tell Valentino that.

Vox took a deep breath, then stood up from his desk and left his building. He had his 'stupid' assistant cancel his appointments for the day, and took the rest of it off. Vox made his way to Valentino's tower. It was Valentino's lunch break, luckily, so Vox could easily locate him and knew that he wouldn't be busy. He approached a camera and slipped into it, leaving a trail of blue electricity behind for a split second.

He entered Valentino's tower. In his opinion, everything was too bright. But, Val is a moth, and he does run a club, so that is to be expected. Vox made his way to Valentino's room-office-apartment, which was at the top of his building. Once arriving, the women who stood by doors opened them, allowing Vox to enter.

Vox's timing was very convient. Valentino had just finished his lunch and still had fifteen minutes left of his break.

"Hey, Val," Vox began, staring at Valentino, who laid upon his sofa. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Hmm." Valentino hummed, taking a puff of his cigarette. "What is it? It better not be business related. I'm on my break for a reason."

Vox blinked twice. "Uhm, no, it's not business related. It's about our relationship. Our.. situationship."

With a displeased expression, Valentino sat up, took a final puff, and then put out his cigarette. "Oh, Babe, what's wrong?" Valentino asked tenderly.

"Sometimes, I feel used." Vox stated, keeping eye-contact with Valentino despite being nervous. "Sometimes I feel controlled, too."

Valentino rolled his eyes. "Voxxy, if anyone is being used or controlled, it's me." Valentino suggested, crossing his arms. "I work long hours to help keep your streaming services afloat, you know."

Vox narrowed his eyes. He wasn't the manipulator, was he? Did he make their relationship toxic? Vox shook himself out of the thought. "Val, I work longer hours than you do, in part to air your movies. I feel like you push me to do so because I don't need to sleep or anything." Vox retorted, in a polite way.

"I don't make you do anything. Working long hours is your choice." Valentino scoffed. "You're just like the rest of those sluts, you all never appreciate me."

Vox sighed. He tried to stop second-guessing himself, based on what Valentino was saying. If he wanted to mend his relationship with Val, allowing his manipulative tendencies to make him submit wouldn't help. "Val, the deadlines you have been giving me to get your shit done, on top of my other work, cause me to work extra hours. I've been pulling all nighters like a college student to get it all done."

"You're a machine, Vox. It's fine. You're meant to work like that." Valentino reminded Vox, a smile creeping onto his face. "Besides, you asked to help me out. You wanted this."

"Val I-" Vox stammered. "Look, I don't mind helping you out, but it's starting to take up my free time."

"Awww, baby can't handle some overtime? Are you just that weak?" Valentino countered.

"Val, please, that's not it. I can handle it, I just.. don't want to." Vox said. Valentino's words were starting to get the better of him.

Valentino stood up, over the conversation. "Are you sure you can handle it? Maybe you should continue to prove it, mi Amor. You see, there's a new project I want to try out. These accusations, this whole discussion, have made me very sad. Helping me with this project will make me feel better." His smile began to fade into a more stern expression.

"Oh okay. I'm sorry, Val. I can help you with that project." Vox said, finally giving in without realizing it.

"Thank you, Chispeante," Val grinned. "I'm sorry that you felt that way. How about we talk about this later today? Over dinner, at a nice restaurant, my treat."

Vox nodded in agreement. "Thanks. You're forgiven." And with that, Vox left Valentino's tower to get ready for his date.

The date itself went well. Valentino explained his idea, which Vox agreed to, then pushed most of the work onto Vox. Vox didn't realize this, or the dismissiveness of their earlier conversation until later that night, when the weight of the things Val said hit him.

Vox stayed up all night critiquing himself for letting Valentino walk over him, he thought about Valentino saying he was a machine, until that caused more body dysphoria to kick in. Worst of all, Vox was too caught up in it all to get any work done.

End notes

Wow. Just wow 😨
I'm? Proud of this I guess? What do you all think?

Looking at all the little tactics I implemented into Valentino's side of the conversation, they're shockingly subtle. If I hadn't looked into those tactics I would've thought Val was just being a brainless asshole.

Anyway! I hope you all enjoyed this! Thank you so much for reading this and I'm so sorry it took a while to make. I'm going to try to catch up on my requests this weekend!

Source for some of the tactics I used: https://www.choosingtherapy.com/manipulation-tactics/

Can you find them all??? I used 11 of the ones listed :3

Word count: 1419