Chapter Text
“Roxxie? Got an order for Roxxie!” The barista called out. “Two caramel lattes, an iced mocha, a tall espresso, and a cherry danish!”
“It’s Moxxie! Moxxie! Not Roxxie, Moxxie!” A short, freckled imp responded as they approached the counter,
“Yeah whatever. Just take your sh*t and go already.”
Moxxie grabbed the coffee order with a frustrated huff. How hard was it to spell his Satan damned name right?! It wasn’t a complicated name, an elementary schooler could write it out and yet these chain coffee places always got it wrong; Foxxie, Roxxie, one particularly stoned barista wrote his name out as Billy of all things. The nerve!
At least he finally had the beverages he had been sent out to retrieve and could now return to the studio where the others were eagerly awaiting their caffeinated pick me ups.
It had been about two weeks since Moxxie had managed to smooth things over with Verosika and their current state of affairs was…mixed to say the least.
On the one hand? They were more in love than they’ve ever been before. The passion of their relationship having been reignited tentold and their shared intimacy becoming far deeper than it has in the past. Moxxie had eaten out Verosika at least half a dozen times since their makeup and she’s repaid the favor with her fair share of blowj*bs. It was wonderful.
But on the other hand? The succubus was intent on dragging Moxxie through the mud as much as she possibly could before she was willing to fully forgive him. Verosika wasn’t needlessly cruel mind you, that wasn’t her style, but she did demote Moxxie from songwriter and co-producer to ‘glorified errand boy’. Moxxie had been stuck doing all the chores and busy work around the studio that the rest of the crew was unable or unwilling to do.
Kat needed help lugging speakers and other equipment? Moxxie had to lend a hand.
Coco needed help sorting through the latest paperwork for Verosika’s album deal? Moxxie was the imp for the job.
Milky needed someone to give her a piggyback ride for no real reason? Well…you get the idea.
At least the crew wasn’t trying to make his job harder than it had to be, some of them even helped Moxxie out with his duties from time to time, but for the most part he was on his own; bearing the weight of all the tedious tasks normally regulated to the lowest demons on the totem pole.
Moxxie never complained, never put up even an ounce of resistance. He knew perfectly well that he deserved such treatment for betraying Verosika the way he did; if this is what it took to earn her trust back, then he’d do it with a f*cking smile. Anything to prove that he valued the love he shared with his beautiful songbird.
‘Besides, she can’t stay mad forever.’ Moxxie thought to himself, pushing through the cafe doors. ‘As long as I keep showing diligence, she’ll come to forgive me eventually.’
Feeling a newfound sense of hope wash over him, Moxxie strolled through the streets of lust with a bit of pep in his step and coffees in his hands. Nothing could ruin his good mood now!
“Hey fat*ss!”
Except for that apparently.
The imp halted mid-step and swiveled his head around, trying to figure out who had uttered that rude insult.
“Are you tired of feeling like a flabby loser who chicks won’t even look at?!” The voice continued. “Are you sick of hotter and more muscular demons pushing you around, kicking your greasy butt up and down the street?!”
Moxxie turned his attention to a nearby store front and realized that it was just a pre-recorded advertisem*nt playing on a flatscreen television being displayed in the window, feeling a little silly after confusing it for a real person.
“Well then have I got the deal of a lifetime for you! The thirty day, ball busting, heart shattering, ultra supernova workout plan! Approved by Satan himself! Just 30 days of our specially designed routine will turn even the most pathetic little lumps of flesh into lean and mean machines with muscles like a Greek f*cking god! You’ll be swimming in bitches! But don’t take my word for it! Just ask these former losers who took on the challenge!”
Several muscular demons of differing shapes and definitions came across the screen with the words ‘paid actor’ beneath each of them.
“I used to be a damn beanpole before I jumped onto the program! But thanks to the ball busting, heart shattering, ultra supernova workout plan I’m f*ckin’ ripped! No more swirlies and wedgies for this guy!”
“Back then guys wouldn’t even look at me unless they wanted a laugh. But now they’re begging me to step on them!”
“My boyfriend was about to leave my sorry ass for a way hotter guy! Thankfully the ball busting, heart shattering, ultra supernova workout plan was able to make me the sort of partner he deserved! Someone who was good enough for him!”
That last line struck a sour note in Moxxie.
“So come on you fat bitch! What are you waiting for?! Call now and get started on your path to a perfect body! Just five easy payments of ninety-nine ninety-nine! Don’t waste another second of your life being an overweight f*ck!”
The infomercial came to a close soon thereafter, cutting to another commercial and Moxxie lost interest in the display; resuming his journey back to the studio.
Only now with far lower spirits than he had before.
Moxxie tried not to let that infomercial get to him, brushing it off as some fad workout meant to scam those with low intellect or self esteem out of their hard earned money, but bad memories began to work their way through his mind.
Someone who was good enough for him!
Good enough for him!
Good enough!
“You’re not good enough.” His father’s voice echoed through the imp’s head. “Look at your scrawny little ass. I could boil those weak little arms and make a spaghetti dinner!”
Another voice, this time Moxxie’s first love, popped up from his memories.
“Look at it this way Mox! If this mob sh*t doesn’t pan out, you could always become a stripper with that dump truck ass you’ve got going!”
Soon those voices were joined by several others from Moxxie’s younger days, each of them insulting a different aspect of his body. How he was too weak, too flabby, too short, and generally not good enough.
‘No! No! They’re wrong! You know they’re wrong!’ Moxxie internally screamed, dispelling such negative thoughts. ‘You’re fine, you’re perfect just the way you are…aren’t you?’
As he marched forward, Moxxie passed a chrome statue of a co*ck and instinctively glanced at his reflection coming off the surface. It may have been his mind playing tricks on him but Moxxie swore he looked a little heftier than usual, his gut pushing against the confines of his well tailored shirt.
‘Well…maybe I have gained a few pounds…but is that really such a bad thing?’
‘It is when you’re dating a bombshell like Verosika. You really think she’d wanna be seen with some fat slob in public?’ A traitorous thought interjected.
‘She’s not like that. I’m not like that.’ Moxxie snapped back.
‘Are you sure? Really?’
The thespian’s internal conflict kept up as he continued his trip back to the studio, all sorts of intrusive thoughts bouncing around in his skull that he struggled to push down every step of the way. Verosika loved him, flaws and all, Moxxie knew that; but he couldn’t escape that nagging voice at the back of his head that she deserved someone better.
The rest of his walk blew by in a veritable flash as did the elevator ride up to the top floor, Moxxie had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice he had entered Verosika’s studio until Apple’s high pitched squeal broke him out of his trance.
“Alright! The coffee crusader is back!” Apple cheered, snapping up her caramel frap from the tray.
Moxxie sighed. “Will you please stop calling me that? It was funny the first few times but now it’s starting to get old.”
“Give it some time! It’ll come back around!”
“It really won’t.” Coco said, sliding up next to her girlfriend to nab the remaining caramel flavored coffee. “Ya ask me? You’re leaning way too hard into this bit. Especially with that portrait you drew yesterday.”
Apple scoffed. “It was supposed to be flattering! What guy doesn’t wanna be drawn as a super muscular knight?”
“Wearing a coffee cup as armor? C’mon hon, we both know that thing’s an eyesore.”
“Uh Coco, Apple? Can we have this conversation some other time?” Moxxie interjected. “I’ve still got two coffees to deliver and I think Milky would prefer hers hot.”
“sh*t, sorry. I think I saw her chatting it up with Verosika and Vortex in the break room.” Coco replied.
Moxxie gave a curt nod. “Thank you Coco.”
The imp then left the couple to their squabbling, Apple arguing that her ‘Sir Moxxie, lord of coffee’ painting was a legitimate masterpiece while Coco tried explaining to her that drawing Moxxie dressed like a coffee shop mascot and giving him lots of muscles did not qualify as a masterpiece, weaving through the halls of the studio until he reached the designated break room. Milky was in the middle of sharing some passionate story to a very confused Verosika and Vortex.
“And then I said to him: tough talk for someone who’s in dick punching range!” Milky exclaimed.
Vortex raised an eyebrow. “What the hell does that have to do with horseback riding?”
“I’m getting to it! See I- oh damn, coffee boy’s back!” the stout demon said.
“Et tu Milky?” Moxxie huffed, handing over the succubi’s black coffee.
“Hey, you’ve been the office favorite since the day we started working here. Let me enjoy this.”
“Milky, lay off him.” Verosika said before grabbing her mocha and planting a soft kiss on Moxxie’s forehead in the same motion. “Thanks Mox. I’ve been feeling pretty sluggish today.”
“It’s my pleasure Verosika.” The imp nodded, feeling a sense of joy wash over him from the physical contact; temporarily easing the turmoil hanging over his mind.
As Moxxie moved to hand Milky the remaining coffee, a sudden tapping noise coming from the other end of the room caught everyone’s attention and they all looked over to see Kiki standing in the doorway, wearing an awkward smile on her face.
“H-hey Verosika? C-can I like, talk to you for a sec? It’s kinda important.” The succubus said.
“Sure. What’s up?” Verosika replied.
Kiki nervously rubbed her arm. “Actually could we talk like- like in private?” the lust demon continued. “I kinda wanna keep this between us.”
“What, are you getting your bush waxed or something?” Milky chuckled.
“It’s personal, okay?!” Kiki snapped before focusing back on Verosika. “Now can we please just step out for a bit? It won’t take that long, super swearsies.”
By this point Kiki was trying to tug Verosika out of the room by her wrist, smile having gone from awkward to desperate. Whatever she wanted to say was either really personal, really embarrassing, or both and it was something that she urgently needed to tell her boss. So what else was Verosika do to but hear what she had to say.
“Alright fine, if it’s really that big of a deal we can keep it between us.” Verosika said.
“Thanks boss.”
The two succubi then strolled out of the room, Kiki keeping a solid grip on her employer’s arm the whole way, all while Moxxie drank in the sight of Verosika’s retreating form. Practically burning every perfectly sculpted curve and muscle fiber into his brain which only served to make him feel even worse about himself; a small sigh escaped the imp as his insecurities reared their head once more.
“Huh. The f*ck you think that was all about Tex?” Milky asked.
“No idea. But whatever it is, I’m staying out of it and you should do the same.” Vortex replied. “Her life, her biz. We shouldn’t go digging into it.”
Milky snorted at the hellhound. “Boo. You’re no fun. What about you Moxxie? What do you make of all this?”
Moxxie didn’t respond to the question, for he was too busy fiddling with some of the pudge on his belly to even notice his coworker’s inquiry.
“Moxxie? Hello? You with us short stuff?” Milky said, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
“Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Whatever you say Milky.” Moxxie half-heartedly replied.
Vortex and Milky shared a concerned glance before focusing their attention back on Moxxie.
“You doin’ okay there Mox?” Vortex asked. “You seem a little out of it today.”
“Oh it’s…it’s nothing, really. Just thinking.” the imp responded.
“Aaaabout?” Milky interjected, leaning in closer.
“Well I…” Moxxie sighed. “Be honest, do you think I’ve been putting on some weight lately?”
Vortex’s eyes widened in surprise, completely unprepared for the curveball his best friend just threw his way. But his expression of shock paled in comparison to the way Milky recoiled at the mere mention of such a question, almost as though the heavyset succubus had been struck.
“Woah! Woah! Woah! Stop right there! I know exactly where you’re going with that sh*t and I ain’t havin’ it!” Milky exclaimed.
Before Moxxie had a chance to react, the stout succubus was on him; leaping over the table, grabbing the sides of his face, and pulling him in close, forcing the two of them to look each other dead in the eye.
“Listen to me Moxxie. I don’t know what trashy ass celebrity magazine put those nasty ideas in your head but it doesn’t matter, they’re all sh*t anyways. So what if you’re a little chunky? Big is beautiful baby, big. Is. Beautiful. I mean just look at me!”
Milky released Moxxie’s face and sat back on the table, doing a sexy pose atop the cheap plastic surface.
“I’ve got fat rolls for days and I’m still a fine piece of ass that gets heads turning everywhere I go. You’re perfect the way you are Mox, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Especially not those ratf*ck models who wouldn’t know what real beauty is if it slapped them around for a night or two.” Milky stated.
“But-”
Milky pressed a finger to the imp’s lips. “No buts. Other than the sexy little caboose you’re packin’ back there, got it?”
“But-”
“I said no-”
“Milky, will you let the guy get a word in?!” Vortex exclaimed. “you’re freaking him out…”
Milky looked back at the imp who was, indeed, taken aback by her efforts to instill a sense of positive self perception within him and realized that Vortex had a point.
“Fine. But he better not start with that self deprecating crap.” the succubus said, hopping back into her seat.
“Thanks. Now Mox, what the hell brought this on? Is somebody giving you sh*t? ‘Cause I’ll-”
“No, no. Nothing like that.” Moxxie said, interrupting his hellhound pal. “I’m just worried that…that I’m not good enough.”
“What do you mean?” Vortex said.
“I mean that I’m not good enough for Verosika.”
Milky shot up from her chair once again. “OH THAT’S BULLSH-”
“Milky! Cool it!” Vortex barked.
“But Tex-”
“I said cool it!” the hellhound shouted.
Milky pouted and sank back into her seat, looking a bit more disgruntled than she did before.
“But Milky’s right, that is bullsh*t Mox. You’re kind, you can rock a guitar better than anyone I know, and kick some serious ass when you need to.” Vortex said.
“And hot! In a dorky way.” Milky interjected.
“Yeah that too. Point is, you’re a great guy Mox and a real catch for a gal like Verosika.”
“But not everyone can see that. Sure we’ve dodged the paparazzi for now, against all odds, but what would her fans think if word got out that Verosika Mayday was dating a lowly old imp like me?” Moxxie argued.
“Let em think whatever the f*ck they want Mox. Verosika won’t give a sh*t and neither should you. You guys love each other and nothing’s gonna change that.” Vortex said.
“But I want to be better.” Moxxie said. “I want to be the sort of boyfriend that Verosika could be proud of, the sort a woman like her deserves. Is a little self improvement so wrong?”
“Self improvement? f*ck Mox, if that’s all you wanted then why didn’t you say so? I know how to help with that!” Milky exclaimed.
“What do you mean?”
Milky threw an arm around Vortex’s shoulders, or at least she tried to. The height disparity between them meant she was only able to reach the center of his back.
“Me and Tex hit up the gym together all the time, exchanging pointers and spotting each other, if you wanna bulk up a little then why don’t you tag along? We could always use another workout buddy!” the succubus explained.
Moxxie did a double take then glanced at Vortex. “Since when are you two workout buddies?”
“It happened around the time you and Verosika were having that fight. You were both going through some serious sh*t and it didn’t feel like a good time to bring it up.” Vortex replied.
“You probably would have found out sooner if you just came drinking with us.” Milky added. “But anyways, what do you say? Wanna get pumped up with your friends?”
Moxxie looked down at his lap, stewing on this offer.
He was never much of a gym rat. The thought of spending hours on end in weight machines that could easily pass for torture devices, surrounded by all sorts of sweaty meatheads who would love to pick on an easy target such as himself, wasn’t one that appealed to him in his youth.
Then again, Moxxie never thought loud and chaotic club scenes or going out to bars every night would be fun either and yet Verosika had managed to change his tune to a degree. Ever since she had come into his life the imp had been trying all sorts of new things that would have been unthinkable years ago and drawing a great deal of enjoyment from all of them. Perhaps this would be more of the same, especially since he was going along with two great friends who already knew the lay of the place.
“Oh what the hell. I might as well give it a fair shot, who knows? I might end up making it part of my daily routine.” Moxxie answered.
“Yeah baby! That’s what I like to hear! I’ll text you the where and when, be sure to dress to sweat!” Milky cheered, practically hopping up and down in place.
Suddenly Moxxie got the overwhelming feeling that he had just made a grave error in judgement, but he was in too deep to back out now. It would be better to see this through until the end and besides, a little exercise never killed anyone…right?
‘I suppose I’ll have to wait and see.’ Moxxie mused. ‘Still, I hope Verosika’s conversation with Kiki is going well.’
************************
“You f*cking what?!” Verosika snapped.
“I said I can’t come into the studio for the next few days!” Kiki replied.
“Kiki, we’re literally knee deep in production for the next album and you pick NOW to go on some sh*tty vacation?” The pop star ranted. “You’re literally the only one here who knows how to use any of the damn composition and edition software! We can’t go forward on this project without you!”
“I know! I know! But this is really important! My sister’s got this…thing that she really needs help with and I’m the only one she can count on to be there for her.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister.”
Kiki shrugged. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Okay look, how long are you gonna be gone for?” Verosika asked.
“About three days.” The lanky succubus replied. “It’s a weekend long thing and I’ll be super busy the whole time.”
“Oh come on! You can’t even come in for an hour or two and do a little work?”
Kiki shook her head. “I wish I could, like I really really do. But sis needs all hands on deck for this and I like, can’t bail out on her now.”
Verosika puffed up a bit, getting red in the face as she prepared to argue the point further and Kiki braced herself for whatever was going to come out of her mouth next. But then, all at once, the pop star deflated on the spot and sighed in annoyance.
“Fine. You know what? f*ck it, fine. Vincent’s been waiting for this album for a month now, what’s a few more days?” Verosika grumbled.
“Yay! Thanks so so much Verosika! I like totally owe you one for this!” Kiki giggled, giving her boss a quick hug and skipping down the hallway. “See you in a few days!”
The famed succubus huffed to herself and straightened out some of the creases on her dress, now thoroughly annoyed by this latest development.
‘That girl is so f*cking lucky she’s irreplacable around here.’ Verosika thought to herself as she turned on her heel…
And immediately came face to face with Josh who was standing way too close for comfort.
“GAH! Josh?! What the f*ck?!!” Verosika screeched. “How long have you been standing there?!”
“Only for a little bit. I caught the parts about Kiki needing a few days off for her totally made up sister.”
“Then why were you- wait ‘made up sister’? The f*ck are you talking about?” Verosika asked.
Josh sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, next chance we get you and Mox are coming out drinking with us. You can’t keep missing these conversations because you wanna have some private makeout sessions with your boyfriend.”
“Josh, what happened?”
“So about a week or two ago I went out with Kat, Apple, and Kiki to this karaoke bar across town. We should definitely go there together some time, you’d love it; they had some sick ass zesty wings, best I’ve had in years.” Josh said.
“Get to the point.”
“Right, right.” Josh said, awkwardly running a hand through his hair. “Well Kiki and I got kinda drunk while we were there…actually I got kinda drunk and she got super drunk, like can barely walk two feet without falling over drunk. We were just talking about whatever, shooting the sh*t, and out of nowhere she goes on this long rant about how her parents threw her out when she was a kid and she had to live on the streets for awhile, doing some pretty nasty sh*t to put herself through school.”
Verosika crossed her arms. “So? I mean it sucks that happened to her but I don’t get how that’s important.”
“Because I asked why none of her siblings or cousins helped her out and Kiki tells me that she was an only child. I thought she was talking out of her ass but the way she got all serious when she laid it all out to me made it pretty clear she was being totally real.” Josh explained.
“So you think she’s lying about needing the weekend off to help her sister?” Verosika asked.
“Oh no she’s definitely lying.” Apple piped up.
Verosika jumped up in surprise for the second time in the last few minutes. “Gah! Will you guys cut that sh*t out! You’re gonna give me a f*cking heart attack!”
“Sorry Vee. But Josh is right, I went over to Kiki’s place a while back to lend her my straightening iron. She didn’t let me in but from what I could see, there wasn’t any family photos on the walls in her living room or anywhere else.” The blonde said. “And take it from someone who’s dating a demon that came from a big family. If Kiki had any siblings that she was close with, she’d have pictures of them hanging all over the place.”
“So either she doesn’t have any siblings or she does and she isn’t close enough with them to set aside a whole damn weekend to lend a hand.” Josh agreed. “Kiki’s hiding something…”
“And it’s up to detective Apple and her trusty assistant Josh to solve the case!” Apple exclaimed.
“Yeah, we- wait, assistant?” Josh snapped, turning towards the shorter demon. “If anyone’s gonna be the plucky sidekick it’s gonna be you babe. I’m clearly the more capable one.”
“Says the guy who doesn’t even have the balls to ask Ace out on a date and just drools over him in the corner.” Apple snarked.
Josh’s face twisted into a scowl. “Y-yeah, well…at least I don’t draw p*rn of my friends! I’ve seen the sh*t you put in that notebook of yours!”
“That’s a low blow Josh!” Apple gasped.
Before the argument could proceed further, Josh and Apple were simultaneously slapped across the back of their heads. Both demons yelping in pain as a stinging sensation spread across their skin.
“Nobody is spying on anybody! We already went through this sh*t when Moxxie decided to stowaway on the spring break tour. Whatever Kiki is getting up to this weekend is her f*cking business and I’m gonna respect her privacy, you idiots had better do the same or you’ll be scrubbing the floors of the studio right next to Moxxie.” Verosika snarled.
“But Verosika! This is different!” Apple whined.
“How? How is it different?!”
“Because we don’t know what Kiki’s getting up to!” The blonde succubus argued. “When we went up to earth, Moxxie knew what you were going to be doing and why he couldn’t come. But Kiki? She’s being all weird and secretive about this, don’t you think that’s kinda suspicious?”
“News flash Apple, Kiki’s always been weird. She’s been keeping to herself since the day she got hired as part of the crew.” Verosika replied.
“Doesn’t that make her more suspicious?” Josh asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You said it yourself, she’s been like this since the day you met her. That means she’s been putting up a front from the start. But why the f*ck would she need to do that unless she was up to something?” the incubus argued.
Apple nodded in agreement. “Yeah! She always leaves work earlier than the rest of us, barely talks about herself whenever we hang out, and all the weird stuff she does when she thinks no-one’s around.”
That last part really caught Verosika’s attention.
“What weird stuff?” the pop star asked.
“Mumbling to herself, playing with freaky looking dolls, scribbling stuff in a worn out notebook.” Apple answered
“Also I’m pretty sure I heard her like, rehearsing an accent or something in the bathroom one time. Sounded way different than she usually does.” Josh added.
“I bet she’s a witch.” Said Apple.
“My money’s on a spy, sent by one of Verosika’s rivals to take her down from the inside.” Josh said.
“Spies don’t play with dolls Josh.”
“Maybe they’re some kind of hidden communicator or camera or something, spies have that sort of thing!”
“...good point. But that doesn’t disprove my theory!”
Josh and Apple delved into another round of squabbling akin to a pair of siblings but Verosika had tuned them out by that point, a familiar feeling of paranoia and suspicion coming over her.
Kiki had been acting suspicious from the very start. The inconsistencies on her resume and the way she seemed to be trying too hard to come off like a ‘valley girl’ stereotype set off several red flags for Verosika from the start and her behavior on the job only made those flags more glaring, but the succubus had ultimately ignored them. Kiki did her job well and didn’t start sh*t with the rest of the crew which was all that really mattered to Verosika; if the gal wanted to keep her personal life on the down low then that was her business, Verosika had no reason to pry…until now that is.
Perhaps it was Josh and Apple’s fault for putting the idea in her head, but the possibility of Kiki posing some sort of threat to her career and her allies became disturbingly real. Why the secrecy? Why the lies? Why all the strange behaviors? This wasn’t a case of Kiki being slow to trust others, she was hiding something and hiding something big if she was going through this much effort to keep them out of it.
What if she tried to steal some of her songs and leak them publicly? Or worse, help another artist plagiarized her and Moxxie’s work? What if she was connected to those assassins at the Pazuzu bowl? A direct approach didn’t work so Kiki’s employers opted for a long con by planting a sleeper agent.
More and more paranoid theories started to spring up in Verosika’s head and with it a mounting sense of anxiety.
Eventually it all became too much to bear and the pop star knew she was left with only one choice. It may have made her somewhat of a hypocrite but she needed to find out what Kiki was keeping from everyone and deal with it if need be, if for no other reason than to put all of the concerns brewing in her mind to rest.
“Verosika? Verosika?!” Apple said, snapping her fingers in front of her bosses’ face.
It was at that moment that Verosika realized she had been spacing out for just a little too long. “Huh? What?”
“I said, can you help us settle this? Do you think Kiki is a voodoo witch or a freelance corporate spy?” Apple said.
“...how about we find out tomorrow?” The pink haired succubus said.
Josh and Apple glanced at each other in confusion before looking back at their employer.
“Look, I hate to admit it but you idiots have a point. The whole crew dynamic is built on mutual trust and if Kiki doesn’t trust us with whatever crap she’s dealing with outside of work then how can we trust her to have our backs if things get rough?” Verosika explained.
“Does this mean we can tail her tomorrow? Do a whole ‘private eye’ thing and find out what she’s up to?” Apple squealed with stars in her eyes.
Verosika nodded. “Yes Apple. But I’m coming along to make sure you two don’t do anything stupid.”
“Deal. Ooh this is gonna be so much fun! It’ll be just like one of the capers in my fanfics!” Apple said, jumping up and down in excitement.
“Let me just text Moxxie real quick so I can tell him we’re off for date night tomorrow.” The pop star said.
But as soon as she retrieved her phone from…somewhere. The device buzzed to life with a text from the imp in question:
Hello Verosika, I really hate to do this to you at the last minute but I’m going to have to cancel our date tomorrow. Vortex and Milky invited me to come with them to the local gym and I didn’t want to refuse the invitation, they made it sound like a delightful time.
I’ll make it up to you the next day, I promise. XOXOXO.
“Nevermind. That problem solved itself.” Verosika remarked.
Josh leaned over her shoulder to read the text. “The gym? I didn’t take Moxxie for the lifter type.”
“He isn’t. But hey, if he wants to try new things and work on his bod I’m not gonna stop him.” Verosika said, pocketing her phone. “Even if he is perfect just the way he is.”
“Think he’ll be okay? Some of those gym rats can be pretty f*ckin’ mean, they eat twinks like Mox for fun.”
“He’s got Vortex and Milky watching his back, he’ll be fine. Now let’s talk disguises, last thing we need is for Kiki to clock us from a distance.” Verosika replied.
******************************
The next day
“Here we are Mox! The meathead stomping grounds!” Milky exclaimed. “This is the desecrated temple where you’ll begin your journey from a dorky twink to a yoked beast! Any questions before we kick things into gear?”
“Is it too late to go home?” Moxxie squeaked, legs shaking in his loose fitting pants.
“Ha! Good one Mox! Now c’mon, your glutes aren’t gonna tighten themselves!” the stout succubus replied before grabbing Moxxie’s hand and dragging him through the doors of the pump house. The local gym that she so often frequented with her Hellhound coworker.
For all Moxxie’s talk of wanting to improve himself and be the sort of boyfriend worthy of a star like Verosika Mayday, his determination shriveled up rather fast once he was actually at the gym itself. Even with his friends by his side the thespian couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by the sight of the building and the possibilities of what lay inside; all of it was giving him second thoughts.
But Moxxie powered through that fear the best he could, reminding himself that this was all for Verosika. He would face down Lucifer himself if it meant keeping her safe and happy, he could survive a day at the gym.
‘Besides, how bad could it really be?’ Moxxie thought to himself.
Pretty bad apparently.
Upon passing through the front doors of the gym, the first thing Moxxie noticed was the smell. A pungent odor of sweat, protein shakes, and worn out rubber hit the imp like a slap across the face and he just barely managed to suppress a gag.
It wasn’t until Moxxie adjusted to the stench enough for his eyes to stop watering that he got a chance to survey the gym’s interior. Which turned out to be more or less what he expected.
The pump house seemed to be on the higher end of fitness centers, even if Moxxie didn’t have much of a baseline to compare it to apart from those he’d seen in various movies, with well maintained and quality fitness machines of all shapes and sizes scattered about; everything from standard bench presses and treadmills to contraptions that looked like they’d be more at home inside of a torture chamber. The latter of which only served to worsen Moxxie’s nerves.
But what was really notable about the place was how crowded it was. Dozens upon dozens of demons were milling about, either in the midst of a workout or taking a breather in between sets. While Moxxie could see a few imps, baphomets, and hellhounds amongst the crowds; the vast majority of the building occupants were incubi and succubi.
Not too surprising, they were in the lust ring after all and the denizens did place quite a lot of value on personal appearances. A gym would be a natural hot spot of activity for such individuals.
Moxxie was snapped out of his thoughts when Vortex gently nudged him forward, encouraging him to approach the front desk where Milky was busy conversing with the baphomet demon behind the counter.
“Twelve guys at once? Seriously?” Milky said.
“I couldn’t believe it myself but she sent me pictures and everything!” The goat demon replied. “I mean I didn’t even think it was physically possible for someone to stretch their ass that wide until now!”
“You’ll have to show me those later.” Milky chuckled before motioning towards the imp approaching them. “Mind getting my pal over here registered?”
“Ah, fresh meat looking to get their toes wet in the pump house?”
“More like someone looking to drop a few pounds for their girlfriend.” Milky replied, the back half of her sentence coming out with a bit more annoyance than was necessary.
But the baphomet just smiled. “Well he’s come to the right place. We’re doing a whole ‘free day pass’ deal where new members get to test things out around here before they decide whether or not to stay. Although by the look of your pal, I’d say he’s gonna need a lifetime membership with how much work all that flab needs.”
Moxxie instinctively flinched at the remark, feeling the insecurities from this morning start to flare up again. Luckily a certain stout succubus was there to shut that sh*t down real quick
“Hey, watch it Mamimi. Just because you’re on that new Circus fit doesn’t mean I can’t kick your ass across the street!”
“Kidding! Kidding!” Mamimi nervously replied. “I’ll just get the little guy signed up right now. Just gonna need some personal info like his name, gender identity, and whether or not he’s a virgin.”
“Wait, what was that last thing?” Moxxie asked.
“Your gender identity?”
“No I meant-” the imp shook his head. “Nevermind. Let’s just get this over with.”
The next few minutes were spent filling out a short registration form, which contained several odd and rather invasive questions amongst the more mundane ones such as how attached he was to certain internal organs and how large his dick was. But once everything was filled out, Moxxie was handed a laminated card and ushered onto the main floor of the gym by Vortex and Milky.
“Now since this is your first time here, we’re just gonna ease you into some simple stuff and get a feel for where you’re at in terms of body comp.” Vortex said.
“And after that, we can work on getting you swole.” Milky added.
“I-I just wanted to lose a few pounds and slim down.” Moxxie replied.
Milky shook her head. “Mox, do you wanna be good enough for Verosika or do you wanna be the best boyfriend you can be?!”
“T-The best?” Moxxie stammered
“Then if this the route you wanna take to make that dream happen, you gotta go all in. You gotta get that pump, work that body, and get f*ckING SWOLE!!!” the succubus boomed.
“Milky, for the last time: cool it. I get that you’re excited and all but we gotta ease Mox into all this; we ain’t gonna bulk the little guy up over night.” Vortex said.
“Sorry Tex, it’s just nice to have a new gym buddy for a change.” Milky replied.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” The hellhound nodded. “As I was sayin’, we gotta see where your baseline is at before we really start pushing you.”
“And how will we do that exactly?” Moxxie asked.
“Just a few bench presses. Nothing too complex.”
The trio came to a stop in front of a row of weight racks, some occupied and some not, and Vortex motioned to one of the unoccupied benches. Moxxie gave his friend a quick nod and assumed the proper position, laying down on his back with the barbell directly above his chest.
“Now I’m not sure where you’re at in terms of your max.” Vortex said as he slid a few plates onto each side of the bar. “So we’ll start you off light and go from there. I you need help just say ‘spot’ and I’ll be there to lend a hand, got it?”
Moxxie nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Do I just put my hands here or…” the imp began as he reached up to the bar, only for Milky to gently move his hands closer to the sides.
“Close, just move em a little further out.” Milky said.
Once Moxxie was properly positioned for a good old fashioned bench press, he took in a deep breath, pushed the loaded bar off of it’s rest…where it proceeded to immediately fall onto his chest with a painful sounding thwack, the smaller demon’s arms collapsing under the excessive weight.
“SPOT! SPOT! HELP ME!!!” Moxxie choked out. The metal bar weighing down on his chest squeezing every ounce of air out of his lungs.
Fortunately, once Vortex recovered from his shock at the imp’s mishap he quickly rushed in and pulled the bar off of his best friend. Moxxie taking in a desperate breath and resting a hand on his now sore chest.
“Sorry…” Moxxie wheezed.
“Nah, that was my bad Mox. Over shot how much you could have handled, let me just take a few more plates off.” The hellhound replied.
Moxxie made another attempt to do a bench press, this time with less weight, only for the bar to fall onto him yet again. The key difference being that he was able to suspend it in the air for at least a few seconds longer than he did previously.
Once again, Vortex lifted the bar off his impish friend, apologized for the inconvenience, and removed even more weight. This process repeated until the bar was left barren of any weights and even then Moxxie was struggling to do more than a few reps before he needed his friend’s assistance.
It was sad to see. Like coming home to hear that your dad accidentally ran over your cat or a young, malnourished hellhound cracking all of their ribs trying to catch a foam ball. Just sad and pathetic.
“Okay…this might be harder than we thought.” Milky remarked, cringing at the sight of Moxxie’s struggles.
“Hey, everybody’s gotta start somewhere right?” Vortex said. “Mox is just starting from a little further back than most guys.”
“True, true. By the way, do you know what Verosika’s getting up to today?”
“What do you mean?”
Milky shrugged. “I overheard Apple saying they were doing something important with her and Josh today. Was wondering if you had the skinny on that.”
“Beats me. It’s probably just some boring PR stuff.”
“Yeah you’re- OH CRAP MOXXIE!” Milky shouted as she realized the two of them had been so engrossed in their conversation that they had failed to notice the bar had slipped down onto Moxxie’s neck and was crushing his windpipe, turning the imp’s face a shade of blue that couldn’t have been healthy.
Yep, those two had their work cut out for them.
***********************
When she was younger, Verosika always imagined what her life would be like as a pop mega star. She pictured it as a fast moving life full of tv interviews, glorious concerts, and non-stop wild partying. Where she was truly living the high life in hell.
While most of that had come true, the part Verosika didn’t anticipate was having to sit in a car with two idiotic lust demons, wearing a cheap disguise that covered up her best features, as they all essentially stalked one of her employees to find out what she was getting up to outside of work.
At Apple’s suggestion, the trio had piled into some rental car for a good old fashioned stakeout. Verosika’s car was too recognizable, Apple wouldn’t be able to convince Coco to lend her the keys to their car, and Josh didn’t even have his own set of wheels. Thus they had little option but to grab some trashy sedan from a rental car place and drive it over to Kiki’s place in hopes of catching the succubus as she was leaving.
Of course they couldn’t risk being spotted by Kiki during their little caper, so Josh had taken the liberty of procuring them some disguises to ensure that there was little to no chance Kiki would catch onto what they were doing.
Gone was the emo-punk getup that Josh preferred, traded in for a trenchcoat and hat with the lamest fake mustache Verosika had ever seen slapped onto his face. It looked like the incubus had gone and glued a ferret to his face from where she sat.
Apple had literally let her hair down, pulling it free of her usual ponytail with a healthy amount of temporary black hair dye to cover up her usual sunny look and a short black sundress to give her more of a gothic appearance.
As for the pop star herself? She outright refused to dye her pink locks, Verosika took pride in her hair and it’s natural perfection and she wasn’t about to sully that with any sort of artificial product. So Josh met her half way by giving her a look more befitting of a librarian with her hair tied up in a tight bun, fake prescription glasses, and a smart business suit with a dark blue shade.
It wasn’t a look Verosika was particularly fond of but it concealed her identity well enough so she wasn’t going to complain. What she was going to complain about, however, was the fact that Josh and Apple wouldn’t shut up.
“Stop it.” Josh whined.
“Sorry.” Apple said before poking his mustache again.
“Stop it.” Josh repeated.
“Sorry.” Apple repeated and repeated the annoying action again.
“I said cut it the heaven out!” Josh exclaimed.
“I can’t help it! It’s so bushy and gross!” Apple said. “Where did you even find this thing? It’s huge!”
“Apple I swear to Satan if you don’t stop-”
Yep, Verosika was really regretting her decision to go on a stakeout with Josh and Apple. She could have just stayed home and had a little personal day to herself without Moxxie around, digging into a tub of ice cream and watching some trashy television. Maybe even paint her nails.
But no, the pop star just had to get roped into Apple’s stupid plan and ended up stuck in some smelly car with two of the most childish idiots she had in her employ. Making her question if finding out Kiki’s secret was even worth the effort they were going through.
‘I wonder if I could make their deaths look like an accident.’ Verosika thought to herself. ‘I don’t need to, a few bribes would get the cops off my ass but I don’t want Coco bitching about her girlfriend-’
The pop star’s train of thought came to an abrupt halt when a familiar thin figure emerged from the apartment complex across the street. There was nothing unusual about Kiki’s appearance, she was still wearing the same outfit she always did when she was on or off the clock, but the way she carried herself was rather odd. The succubus’ eyes were going everywhere, head daring left and right, her entire body trembling so much that Verosika could see it from here. Kiki was pretty relaxed as far as valley girls went, so seeing her this high strung easily piqued Verosika’s interest.
“Josh, Apple, shut the f*ck up.” Verosika called out. “Kiki’s on the move.”
The lust demons in the backseat immediately ceased their bickering and leaned towards the front of the car to get a better look at their target.
“Woah. What’s got her ass all shook up?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen her so nervous.” Apple added.
“Good, so I’m not the only one that sees it.” Verosika said before starting the car. “Come on, let’s see where she’s going.”
Her underlings nodded and sat back to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, while Verosika took point as the driver and kept a respectable distance from Kiki to avoid arousing suspicion.
The succubus waited on the side of the street for a few minutes before a strange purple van pulled up next to her and opened the door, unfortunately none of the occupants of the car could get a good look at the individuals within the vehicle before Kiki stepped inside and the van drove off. Forcing Verosika and company to follow after them.
“Stay on her Vee.” Apple said.
“Apple, relax. I know what I’m doing here.” Verosika snapped.
True to her word, Verosika stayed right on the van’s tail. Maintaining a respectful distance from the vehicle to avoid arousing suspicion but never once let it leave her sight as she wove through the traffic of the lust ring.
After several twists and turns, the van came to a sudden stop right in front of some street side shop. At which point Kiki stepped out of the van and hurried inside before emerging a few minutes later with a big bag of something and hopped back into the van which continued on it’s journey as soon as the succubus shut the door behind her.
Verosika tried to follow after them, only for the sound of a loud blast to rocket through the car and make its three occupants jump in their seats. The car then started drifting to the side and Verosika could only groan when she realized what had happened.
“We blew a damn tire, of f*cking course.” Verosika said, pulling off to the side of the street and slamming her head against the steering wheel. “I don’t suppose either of you knows how to change a flat?”
“Well, Ace did show me a few pointers last week so I think I can get us on the road again.” Josh said.
Apple did a double take. “Wait, Ace has been giving you car repair lessons?”
“Only some basic stuff.” Josh clarified. “Changing a flat tire, doing an oil change, that kinda sh*t.”
“Did he show you how to handle his driving stick too?”
The incubus’s face went dark red beneath his fake mustache as he realized what his companion was implying. “What?! No! Why would you- it’s not f*cking like that!”
“Uh huh. Just remember to save me a seat at your wedding, when Ace’s done giving you a ‘lube job’ that is.”
Josh’s blush only became even more prominent, the lust demon huffing and sputtering as he tried to come up with a proper response to Apple’s taunts only for a pair of perfectly manicured fingers snapping in his face to cut him off.
“Save it, both of you.” Verosika snarled. “Just get out there and fix the damn tire. The sooner we get going the sooner I can be done with all this crap and get home.”
“What are you gonna do?” Apple said as the car came to a stop.
“Check out that store Kiki just went into, see if I can get any info on where she’s headed. Now move it!”
Shooting the blonde turned raven head one last glare, Josh swiftly exited the car and got to work. Meanwhile Verosika stepped out onto the pavement and glanced up at the signage.
“‘Maggie Roberge costume emporium’? Why the heaven would she come here?” Verosika said to herself.
The pop star shook her head, she supposed she’d find out soon enough.
A little bell rang as Verosika strolled in through the front entrance and the first thing she noticed was how cluttered the place seemed to be.
The interior was packed wall to wall with clothing racks, accessory stands, and prop boxes. Verosika actually had trouble making her way through the shop and almost tripped over some stray merchandise more than once on her way to the front counter.
When the pop star reached her destination, she spied a little bell with an attached note that said ‘ring for service’ and promptly tapped on it.
“Just a sec! Gotta clean up some stuff back here, I’ll be with you soon!” A voice called from the back room.
Seeing that she had a few moments to herself, the succubus kept herself occupied by observing her surroundings. Which is when she noticed the second oddity regarding the shop.
Being a business in Lust, many of the ‘costumes’ were about what you’d expect: sexy police officer, furry outfits, sexy nurse, gimp suit, sexy bacon strips, and of course plenty of BDSM gear like handcuffs and paddles to go with them. But those only made up about half of the merch, the rest were items that you’d see in a normal costume shop. Some of which were unusually conservative given that the locals loved to show as much skin as possible, Verosika herself included.
‘What kind of succubus would even wear this?’ Verosika thought to herself, running a hand over a Victorian era dress hanging on a nearby discount rack.
“Okay! I’m back. Sorry about that but the last guy was- VEROSIKA MAYDAY?!!”
Verosika spun on her heel in surprise to see a young-ish female Hellhound standing behind the counter with stars in her eyes, tail wagging behind them and body vibrating excitement.
“Oh my f*cking gosh, I can’t believe it! THE Verosika Mayday is in my store! Oh man, oh sh*t, where’s my phone?! I gotta get a selfie!!!” The hellhound babbled.
“You…recognize me?” Verosika said.
“Of course I do! You’re the greatest pop star Lust has ever seen, your face is literally everywhere!” The canine demon exclaimed. “Although, what’s with the new look? The glasses and the suit are good but the old lady bun is not working for you.”
Verosika huffed and reached up to undo the offending hairstyle. ‘Note to self, kick Josh’s ass later.’
While the pop star was understandably pissed that her disguise had completely failed, making the entire makeover process a waste of time, her disappointment was tempered by the realization that getting the info she needed might be easier than she thought.
“Always an honor to meet a fan. Would you mind helping me with something? I’ll give you an autograph and a selfie with me, no charge.” Verosika cooed.
“Yes! Yes! Anything! Just name it!” The hellhound said as they bounced up and down like an excited pup.
“A girl came in a few minutes ago. Tall, thin, goes by Kiki. You know her?”
The hellhound nodded. “Oh yeah. Kiki’s one of our regulars! Comes in all the time with custom orders for costumes! Why?”
“Well she’s my sound mixer, helps me out in the recording studio, and last time she was there she left one of her bracelets behind. I wanted to return it but I have no f*cking idea where to find her, any idea where she’s headed now?”
“Same place she always goes: Caine palace, all the way down in Envy. She’s got a super important gig there tonight and needed my help getting her outfit just right for the whole shebang.”
That only raised more questions. What was Kiki doing in a whole different ring? And Envy no less? That place was full of uptight and arrogant snobs with serious superiority complexes. They were even worse than some of the scumbags in greed.
But at least she had an idea of where to head next: Caine palace. Whatever the heaven that was.
Giving the hellhound her promised selfie and autograph, Verosika made her way back out to the street just in time to see Josh screwing in the last bolts on the spare tire. Thank Satan that cheapo rental place put spares in the trunk.
“And done!” Josh exclaimed before taking notice of Verosika. “Oh hey boss, how’d it go?”
“Perfectly. Your sh*tty disguise didn’t work but luckily the girl behind the counter was a fan. All I had to do was give her an autograph and selfie and she told me everything we needed to know.” Verosika said.
“Cool. Where we headed next?” Josh asked.
“Envy. Apparently she’s going to some place called ‘Caine Palace’. Either of you know what that is?”
Josh and Apple shrugged, the name being just as much of a mystery to them as it was to the pop star.
“Didn’t think so.” Verosika sighed. “Well come on, let’s move out.”
The trio quickly piled into the car and headed off in search of their mysterious coworker. Each of them pondering what exactly Kiki was getting up to that required her to travel so far and pick up disguises on the regular.
‘Kiki had better have a good explanation for this.’ Verosika thought to herself.
*********************
‘Wow, just look at all those stars.’ Moxxie thought to himself.
He always did enjoy looking up at the night sky, seeing all those pretty glittering lights that Lucifer had created so long ago purely for the pleasure of his subjects. It was the only recorded act of pure kindness the King of Hell had performed for the general public and Moxxie always took time to appreciate it whenever possible. Like he was doing right now.
The imp was aware that he was lying on his back, prone against some sort of semi-firm surface, but he couldn’t seem to recall where he was exactly or how he had arrived here. But he supposed it didn’t ultimately matter when he had such a beautiful set of stars to behold, swirling and darting in front of his face in an erratic fashion…
‘Wait a minute. Stars aren’t supposed to move around like that.’ Moxxie thought to himself.
Confused, Moxxie took a slightly closer look at the moving stars and realized that many of them formed unfamiliar constellations that he had never seen in his life. One looked like some sort of stout figure standing over him, another resembled the face of a canine creature, and the last one which was moving the fastest appeared to be a large hand waving right in front of his face.
That’s about the moment the small demon became aware of the painful ringing in his ears, which was only just now clearing up and allowing him to hear an entirely different sort of auditory stimulation.
“Moxxie?” A deep voice called out.
Moxxie’s vision refocused, the stars started blurring together to form outlines of the constellations as if it was some strange connect the dots picture.
“Moxxie?!” the deep voice repeated.
More and more of his brain fog cleared up, a splash of color bleeding into the outlines with all sorts of blacks and reds.
“MOXXIE!” the deep voice shouted.
Finally, Moxxie’s mind fully rebooted himself and with it he became fully aware of his current surroundings.
He was not, in fact, lying in a blank void full of stars. Rather he was lying down on the floor of the Pump House with a very worried Milky and Vortex standing over him, the latter of the two trying to rouse him from his apparent trance.
Additionally, Moxxie became acutely aware of the painful throbbing sensation that started at the back of his head and stretched all the way down to the base of his tail. It was agonizing.
“Wha- Vortex? Milky?” Moxxie breathed, still somewhat dazed.
“Oh good, he’s still alive.” Milky said with a relieved tone.
“Mox? You with us?” Vortex asked. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Um, two?”
“What’s today?”
“Friday.”
“Who’s the hottest girl in all of Hell?”
“Verosika. Why are you asking me so many questions?” Moxxie said, sitting up from his position.
“Because he wanted to make sure ya didn’t have brain damage or somethin’.” Milky answered.
Moxxie tiled his head, wincing at the wave of pain that brought about. “Why would I have brain damage?”
“You don’t remember?” The succubus questioned.
Moxxie shook his head.
“Mox. We put you on a treadmill to get your cardio going only for that hunk of sh*t to go haywire. Launched your ass right off and you went straight into the back wall.” Milky explained.
Moxxie blinked at his coworker’s story before slowly turning around and seeing a big dent in the wall that was shaped exactly like him.
“Oh…” was all the imp could say.
“Yeah. You better hope nobody was filmin’ that, ‘cause that’s the sorta sh*t that goes viral.” Milky said. “But seriously tho, you alright? Vortex was about to start crying like a bitch when you went limp like that.”
Vortex snarled at Milky who held up her hands defensively. “Hey, I just call it how I see it.” the succubus remarked.
“I…I think so. I’m only a little sore, I’ll be fine.” Moxxie said as he shakily got to his hooves.
“You sure? That was a pretty bad spill man, I won’t blame ya if ya wanna call it quits.”
Moxxie shook his head. “No, no. I want to keep going, I-I need to see this through for Verosika. No pain, no gain right?”
Vortex and Milky shared a nervous look with each other. While they’d normally be celebrating the imp’s ‘never give up’ attitude, it was quickly turning less inspiring and more suicidal by the minute.
In the last half hour or so, Moxxie had racked up at least a dozen injuries from the various gym equipment in his failed attempts to do a proper workout: he got a bruised neck from the barbell, dropped a dumbbell on one of his hooves, gave himself a black eye with one of the resistance bands, had a pull up bar fall apart while he was on it, and now he probably had a concussion from his accident on the treadmill. Vortex knew the little guy could be accident prone but he didn’t think it could be this bad, it was like the gym itself was trying to kill him.
Before Vortex could try to talk the imp out of it and reassure him he didn’t need to land himself in the hospital because of his body issues, someone else beat him to the punch.
“More like just pain, no gain.” A snarky voice called out. “Maybe you should quit while you’re still ahead!”
Both Vortex and Milky turned their attention away from their injured friend to focus on the demon jeering at them. The best way to describe the individual would be to compare him to a certain feminine hygiene product used to clean one’s nether regions via irrigation.
In layman's terms? A douchebag.
They were a big, bulky incubus covered head to toe in thick bulging muscles lined with throbbing veins. Whereas Vortex’s muscles were clearly the result of hard work and proper diet, the lust demon seemed to be the type who put steroid pills in every meal and devote every waking moment to making himself as beefed up as possible.
Freakish build aside, everything about his outfit just screamed ‘tacky insecurity’: hot pink crop top, tight workout shorts with a white tiger pattern, a spiked up haircut that seemed to be more hair gel than hair itself, and of course a cliche tribal tattoo splattered across the entire top half of his body. He was flanked by two other equally douchey gym bros who were snickering at his remarks like a pair of hyenas.
Milky was the first to push back. “Maybe you should mind your own business, f*ck face!”
“You know what? You’re right, I’m sowwy!” the incubus said with mock sincerity. “Please, tell your friend to keep at it. Watching him f*ck up over and over again is hilarious! I could use a few more laughs while I’m working on my cut!”
Moxxie started to curl in on himself, the taunts clearly getting to him.
“Bro, seriously. Knock it off or this is gonna get real ugly, real fast.” Vortex growled.
“It already has! I mean look at that little f*ck, he’s a scrawny twerp! With that dumb hair, dorky freckles, and those arms! Oh man, they’re so bony I could probably use em as toothpicks!” The douchenozzle continued.
Moxxie hugged himself tightly, tears starting to drip down his cheeks.
“And that fat ass, don’t get me started on all the lard he’s packing back there! But hey, at least he’s not as chunky as ms.fun size bitch right over- HOLY f*ck!!!”
Several things happened in the next few seconds:
First, Milky let out an animalistic battle cry and lunged at the gym bro jerk. Tackling the poor sap to the ground and beating the everloving crap out of him while his loser friends quickly joined the fray.
Second, Moxxie stood up from his spot on the floor with a choked sob and ran off into the gym crying. His self esteem thoroughly destroyed by the heckles and insults of the other gym attendees.
Third, Vortex was stuck in the middle looking between the brawling Milky and the retreating Moxxie. After pondering who he should help first, Vortex settled on Milky as she was stuck in a three on one fight and was gonna need some backup for the situation and someone to support whatever alibi she came up with to avoid getting banned from the gym…again.
In summary, their day at the gym had completely and utterly gone off the rails.
*****************************
“Finally, we’re here.” Verosika said, pulling the car into one of the few vacant parking spaces she was able to find.
After a few hours of driving and a quick trip through one Hell’s highway border checkpoints, Verosika, Apple, and Josh had made it to their destination in Envy: Caine’s Palace.
They had been expecting a club, maybe some kind of decked out mansion, or even a mall. What none of them anticipated, however, was that Caine’s Palace was a theater. One that was on the smaller side of things as far as venues went.
‘This looks like the sort of place I’d perform at when I was just starting out.’ Verosika thought to herself. ‘It’s a step up from dives at least.’
Caine’s Palace wasn’t some rat community theater, it actually looked pretty well maintained if a bit drab from the outside. Kind of like a miniature version of some of the more grandiose theaters Lucifer owned up in Pride with the architecture to match. Nothing particularly special but then again that’s Envy for ya, imitations and knockoffs of things that other rings did far better.
What was truly noticeable was that the entire place was clearly in the middle of it’s latest opening night. A decently sized crowd was lined up front, waiting to purchase tickets for the show and muttering to each other to help pass the time. With a big banner hanging over the marquee that read: ‘THE KING IN YELLOW! A SPINDLEHOUSE PRODUCTION BY J. HUNTER!’
If Verosika wasn’t thoroughly confused before she sure as heaven was now. Why in the world would Kiki, the aloof airhead who was an utter savant when it came to sound design and editing, come to a place like this? As far as the pop star knew, Kiki wasn’t exactly the cultured type. Far from it in fact.
Were they really in the right place?
“Look! There’s the van!” Apple called out, pointing to the purple vehicle.
Okay so they were in the right place.
Josh jogged over to the van and took a quick peek inside. “Crap. No sign of her, you see her in line anywhere?”
“Nope.” Apple replied. “She’s gotta be inside! Let’s go!”
“Aw man, you mean we gotta wait in that line! But that’s gonna take forever!”
“No it won’t.” Verosika reassured him. “Just shut up and follow my lead.”
With a quick flip of her hair, Verosika summoned up her stage persona and slid into the diva roll seamlessly. Every step she took towards the theatre carried her with a sort of haughty confidence that let everyone know she was in charge and the Envy demons in front of the theatre quickly took notice.
“Is that Verosika Mayday?!” one theater fan said.
“Holy crap, it is!” Another attendee said.
“What’s she wearing?”
“Are business suits in now? Awesome!”
“What’s she even doing here?!”
Verosika smiled to herself, lapping up all the praise. While she preferred to keep a low profile when out in public, at least for Moxxie’s sake, there was just something oddly satisfying about flaunting her fame and looks in front of an eager crowd that she simply couldn’t get enough of.
The pop star walked right up to the front of the line, rudely cutting in front of the young gentleman who was about to purchase his ticket.
“Hey! The back of the line is over there! You can’t just cut in front of everyone!” The Envy demon complained.
Verosika simply turned around and shot the lesser being an unimpressed look, causing them to immediately lose their composure.
“V-Verosika M-Mayday?! I- forget what I said, you can cut in front of me any day!” the demon sputtered out.
The succubus didn’t say so much as a word to him, she just turned back towards the ticket booth and said. “Three front row seats for me and my entourage. Please.”
“Right away ma’am!” The usher said. “There were some reservations for those spots but they were probably gonna miss them anyways! Enjoy the show!”
Snatching the tickets out of the dork’s hands, Verosika snapped her fingers and walked right into the theater like she owned the whole place with Josh and Apple hot on her heels.
“That was incredible.” Apple fangirled. “The dominance, the radiance, the sheer f*cking presence you put off. It was like watching a demon goddess in action.”
“It wasn’t that impressive. She just pulled the fame card, anyone can do that sh*t.” Josh remarked.
“Not everyone who’s got it knows how to flaunt it, Josh. That’s why I’m famous and you’re not.” Verosika snarked back at him.
“Wait, so you’re saying I’ve ‘got it’?”
Verosika didn’t answer him, she just kept leading the idiotic duo deeper into the theater.
The interior of the theater was about the same level of quality as the outside: clean and well maintained, but a very obvious rip off of much more popular theaters. But that wasn’t what immediately grabbed the group’s attention, rather it was the sheer amount of people packed into the theater itself. Most of the seats had already been filled up and more attendees were pouring in by the second. By the look of it, this production was going to sell out the entire theater and yet Verosika hadn’t the slightest idea why.
‘Damn. I really should have been paying more attention to Moxxie’s cute little theater rambles instead of checking out his legs.’ Verosika thought to herself.
“So what’s the plan?” Josh asked as they made their way into their seats. “Blend in and try to find Kiki?”
“Sure, whatever.” Verosika replied, checking out the playbill she grabbed at the door. “Just don’t make a-”
The pop star abruptly went silent mid sentence, a look of surprise coming across her face as she got a look at the cast list.
“Verosika? Boss? Something wrong?” Apple asked.
Verosika slowly handed the playbill over to the dyed blonde. “Look who’s got the starring role in this thing.”
Apple raised a brow in confusion but took the pamphlet regardless and opened it up to the cast page:
Artair Glothstone…………..The Host
Mick Lauer…………Naotalba
Kiki………….The King in Yellow
And right there, right next to the cast list, was a series of headshots. One of which contained none other than Kiki’s attractive visage.
“What the f*ck?” Apple breathed out.
Suddenly, the lights went out, the curtains were drawn apart to reveal a stage set resembling a dark and decrepit castle with low lighting.
Two individuals walked on stage: a male Envy demon dressed in a long trench coat and a golden masquerade mask, while the other was a familiar succubus adorned in a simple raggedy dress.
“Greetings stranger, fortuned fellow, Tis a party for which I bellow! I invite The King In Yellow, so come all ye in Yhtil. Wear thine masks upon you to my masquerade until…” the male actor paused. “HE may come to lost Yhtil. Hope for us there may be still.”
“Shadows lengthen, dim streets darken, to the curfew thou must harken. Why so loudly does thou bark in the dimmed city of Yhtil?” Kiki hissed. “Only much attention quite unwholesome you’ll instill from the souls of poor Yhtil. Why attract so much ill will?”
Verosika tuned out the play from there. Everything made sense now: the secrecy, the disguise, the muttering to herself. It was all in preparation for this.
‘Oh my Satan, Kiki’s a thespian!’ Verosika shouted in her head.
****************************************
The sounds of Moxxie’s cries echoed throughout the locker room, the sad imp curled up into a ball against some of the unoccupied containers as tears and snot ran rivers down his face. The physical pain from earlier had subsided but the emotional pain still remained.
This was a mistake, coming here was a mistake. Why did he ever think this was a good idea in the first place? His whole journey towards self improvement was doomed from the start.
Moxxie was never gonna be the sort of boyfriend Verosika needed, the kind she deserved to have, the kind she’d happily be caught out in public with. No she was stuck with Moxxie, below average Moxxie with the scrawny arms and the chub clinging to his sides like a fungal growth.
Moxxie the screw up, Moxxie the moron, Moxxie the disappointment who could never do anything right. Those gym attendees knew it, his exes knew it, and his father knew it.
“I’m so pathetic.” Moxxie sniffled. “No matter how hard I try I always fail, I always mess things up. I’m just the worst.”
”Um, pardon me?”
Moxxie looked up through tear laden eyes and saw that an imp was peering around one of the rows of lockers, looking down at the thespian with an expression of concern…or perhaps it was pity.
”I know it may not be any of my business but are you quite alright sir?” The imp asked softly.
Moxxie sniffed and wiped away some of the tears and snot coating his face with his arm. “No. No I’m not.”
”would…would you care to talk about it? I’m a rather good listener…”
Part of Moxxie wanted to tell the demon to f*ck off and leave him to wallow in his misery. But looking up at the stranger’s soft expression, seeing nothing but kindness and sincerity behind his yellow eyes, made him reconsider that particular course of action.
”alright, sure.” Moxxie huffed.
the imp came around the lockers and allowed Moxxie to view him fully. The red skinned demon was dressed in plain clothes, nothing but a white t-shirt, black workout shorts, and a pair of worn out sneakers composed the outfit hanging off his wiry frame. The most notable thing about him, apart from the general softness of his appearance, was the numerous scars and bruises lining his arms; they had faded somewhat, at least in comparison to the fresh wounds Moxxie sported, but they were there.
Moxxie decided not to ask about them as the imp sat down next to him.
”I’m Pringles, what’s your name?” The imp said.
”Moxxie.”
“Alright Moxxie, what troubles you my friend? Did some of the larger demons here ‘jump you’ as it were? I’m well aware of how brutal some of them can be.” Pringles asked.
”No. I did this to myself…” Moxxie said, eliciting a confused look from the demon next to him. “I’m a bit clumsy.”
”I see. Is that why you were crying?”
”No. I’m…I’m frustrated.”
”With what?”
”With myself.” Moxxie explained. “I’ve…I’ve got this girlfriend and she’s….well she’s wonderful to put it lightly. Beautiful, fun, an amazing singer, and honestly she’s completely out of my league. Every day I feel lucky to have her.”
”So? That doesn’t sound like much of a problem to me.” Pringles said.
”Didn’t you hear the part about her being out of my league? She’s a goddess in Hell and I’m…I’m just Moxxie, plain Moxxie who doesn’t deserve to have someone like her. I came here to try and change that, to improve myself so I could at least feel like I’m the boyfriend she deserves to have but I failed at every turn. I tried everything and I only became painfully aware of my own inadequacies as a result…”
There was a pregnant pause shared between the two imps, the sound of the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead being the only sound in the room. Pringles opening and shutting his mouth several times as he searched his mind for the right words before it came to him.
”Perhaps she sees something in you that you don’t.” Pringles said.
”Huh?”
”If this woman truly is as wonderful as you claim and she still chooses to be in a romantic relationship with someone like you, then perhaps it isn’t about looks to her. Perhaps it runs deeper than mere superficial reasons, perhaps you connect on a far more intimate level that most of the people in Lust simply cannot fully grasp. Whatever she sees in you makes you worth far more than the supermodels you are undoubtedly attempting to be.” Pringles continued.
”You…you’re probably right.” Moxxie sighed. “But shouldn’t I at least try to be better? If not for her sake than for mine? I’m not exactly happy with the demon I see in the mirror every morning.”
“I’d tell you that there’s nothing wrong with your looks and that you’re perfect just the way you are, but I’m going to assume you’ve already heard that entire speech from those friends of yours out on the main floor?”
Moxxie quietly nodded.
“Right. Well if you’re truly determined to ‘shape up’ and refine your body, I might know of a certain group that would be better suited to your needs. Right here in this gymnasium.” Pringles said.
Moxxie looked over at his new friend. “Really? What do they do?”
“They…actually it might be better to show you, it’s rather difficult to describe to another.” Pringles said.
The soft imp then grabbed one of Moxxie’s hands and gently helped the thespian to his hooves before leading him back out into the gym, past all of the workout machines (some of which had shown clear signs of being trashed by a fight) and towards some rooms in the back area. The duo passed by several doors until Pringles came to a stop in front of one with a strange poster showing a sitting demon silhouette with the symbols of the seven deadly sins lined up vertically, staring at the top of their head and ending at their rear.
”Fabian! I believe I’ve found a new disciple!” Pringles called out, pulling Moxxie into the room.
It took Moxxie all of about five seconds to realize he had just walked into a yoga class. Several plastic mats had been laid out with various lust demons, imps, and even a few hellhounds resting upon them in various contortions. The most ridiculous of which being the Baphomet at the far end of the room who’s body had been twisted into a pretzel shape.
Literally.
“Wonderful!” The baphomet exclaimed, slowly untangling himself from the unusual position until he was standing up straight. “Hello brother, my name is Fabian. I’m the lead yoga instructor here at the pump house, what might your name be?”
They were tall, even for a baphomet demon, with a slim green and black body that resembled a boa constrictor in terms of shape hidden beneath a black tank top with some sort of unknown symbol stamped onto the front and a pair of short shorts that left almost every last inch of his legs exposed with a tacky man bun sitting atop his head like a cherry atop a sundae.
For a moment, Moxxie felt his tongue catch in his throat. While the goat demon was giving off a friendly aura, his sheer size and serpent like appearance left Moxxie feeling more than a little intimidated. Never mind the fact that he saw the big bastard’s spine curled into a spiral seconds ago.
”Um, brother? Are you there?” Fabian asked.
“Oh! Sorry. Moxxie, my name is Moxxie.”
“What a wonderful name that is! Moxxie. Are you perhaps familiar with the art of yoga?”
”I’ve heard of it. B-But I’ve never participated in it myself.” Moxxie nervously stammered out.
Fabian chuckled. “Well I suppose we’ll have to rectify that situation! I’ll grab you a mat, feel free to take a moment to warm yourself up before we get started!”
With that Fabian slithered off and Moxxie looked over at Pringles incredulously.
”yes, I’m well aware he’s a bit odd. But I assure you Fabian is a wonderful teacher. You could at the very least give him a chance.” Pringles said.
Moxxie sighed in defeat. “Better than crying to myself in the locker room I suppose.”
”That’s the spirit!”
Soon enough, Moxxie was standing on his yoga mat alongside everyone else in rank and file. Frankly he felt a little out of place among all the scantily clad demons dressed in skin tight leotards and workout gear.
“And that’s it for the warm up! Let me say that all my brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings look wonderful this fine afternoon! Now since we’ve got a new demon in attendance today, everyone say hi to Moxxie, we’re gonna do some nice and easy positions to get him introduced to our little family! Let’s start with the downward doggy style.” Fabian said.
“Don’t you mean the downward dog, sir?” Moxxie asked.
“Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous! Now follow my movements and make sure to focus your core energy into your crotch.” the baphomet replied as he bent over onto all fours.
It quickly became apparent that the entirety of this yoga class revolved around sex or sexually charged positions. The shaft pose, the reverse mating press, the oral plate, and many more that had lewd connotations. In retrospect Moxxie should have seen this coming; it was a yoga class in lust, sex was bound to play some sort of role in the teachings.
But despite that, Moxxie actually found himself having a good time with this. Yes his muscles started to burn midway through but in a way that they were supposed to and before long he actually cracked a smile for the first time since he had arrived here!
‘Pringles was right. This is the perfect workout routine for me!’ Moxxie thought to himself.
“And one more breath in…” Fabian said, doing a magic mountain pose with the rest of his class. “And out! Alright, great job so far everyone! Let’s take a quick break and jump right back into it! We’ve still got plenty of sensual positions to get through today!”
Moxxie took what little free time he currently had to plop down on his yoga mat and take in a few tired breaths. He never anticipated such a relaxing activity could be so physically taxing on the body, the imp now had a whole new sense of respect for yoga instructors.
“Well? Are you enjoying the class so far?” Pringles said, walking up to Moxxie with a water bottle in hand.
“I love it! The relaxed and calm environment you have here is so welcoming and I’m actually ‘feeling the burn’. I should have come in here from the start, it probably would have saved me a lot of trouble.” Moxxie replied.
“Speaking of, what exactly happened to those friends you arrived with? I was rather taken by that shorter girl who decided to brutalize that barbarian Chai.” Pringles said.
The door behind them to the studio abruptly creaked open behind them, followed by a gasp which was in turn followed by a chubby body impacting against Moxxie’s back and two strong arms wrapping around his torso.
“There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for ya hon! You had me and Tex worried sick after ya ran off crying like that.” Milky said, hoisting Moxxie up off the ground in a bear hug. “I’m so, so, SO sorry things have been so sh*tty for you here. Satan I feel so bad, this was supposed to be a cool bonding session and then those dicks f*cked it up for us and-”
“Milky, it’s alright. I’m fine.” Moxxie reassured her.
“But-”
“No really, I am. I was just in the middle of a yoga class and it’s been working wonders on my mood. And my body!” Moxxie said.
Milky scoffed. “Yoga? You mean all that lame spiritual crap where demons twist themselves around like pretzels and call it a workout. Don’t tell me you actually buy into-” the succubus stopped herself when she caught a glimpse of Pringles out of the corner of her eye and focused all of her attention onto him.
“Well helloooo handsome. Mox, ya gonna introduce me to your new friend?” Milky said with a slight twinkle in her eye.
“Oh right, Milky this is Pringles. He’s the one who showed me this class.” Moxxie said.
Pringles extended out an arm for a handshake. “Pleased to make your acquaintance ma’am.”
Milky grabbed his hand and pulled him in close so that their bodies were pressed right up against each other. “The pleasure’s all mine hon.” she huskily said.
“Ah-ha. W-well now, y-you’re certainly a friendly one aren’t you?” Pringles said, blushing up a storm.
“Milky? Where did you- Mox!” Vortex exclaimed, rushing into the room the moment his impish best friend entered his field of vision. “You okay man? Anything-”
“Vortex, let me stop you right there: I’m fine. I may have gotten a little upset over my repeated failures, but I feel much better now. Yoga does a lot for one’s mood.”
“Yoga? You’re doing yoga?” Vortex said only to shrug. “Well, whatever works for you I guess. But you’re sure you’re okay?”
“Positive. In fact I might actually start coming to these classes regularly, they’re quite enjoyable….Hey why don’t you join us for the rest of class?”
“I dunno, not sure yoga’s really our thing. Right Milky?” Vortex said.
“Aw c’mon Vortex, I think we should at least give it a try.” Milky said, still holding Pringles close and running a hand down his back. “Could be fun.”
Vortex glared at his gym buddy’s blatant flirtation, bordering on sexual harassment, but decided to just let it go. He knew how lust demons could get, no sense in wasting his breath when Milky wasn’t gonna listen anyways.
“Oh what the heaven. Sure, I can give it a shot. It can’t be that hard right?” Vortex said, retrieving a pair of yoga mats for himself and Milky.
******************************
“Hohohoho! Why so livid? It’s your actions that permitted this result truly befitted to a hunger such as thine! Know your greed is grave and tomb and crypt in which you die! It’s within you grease you fry! Dearest host, the end is nigh!” Kiki bellowed.
“Wretched guest, you’ve come to mock me? For bemusem*nt thou wast hawking and so in the town you stalked me to watch my schemes fall apart!” The actor playing host snapped back. “Strip thy mask! Apologize! Then hastily depart! Leave thee just my broken heart! Leave naught else in whole or part!”
The spotlight shining on Kiki briefly shut off and when it illuminated her again, she had discarded her previously ragged dress for a well tailored and refined gown that pooled around her body in an almost ethereal fashion.
“How the heaven did she do that?!” Apple exclaimed only for Josh to shush her.
“Shut it. This is really getting good!”
“I wear no mask, now witness, for it was thee who hast permitted this golden guest to own the dimness of the city of Yhtil!” Kiki shouted
The succubus then pulled out a long pike from beneath her dress and leveled it at the host.
“Lo, for I’m the King in Yellow whose long shadow’s on Yhtil! And whose shadow you’re in still! Dark as death is now Yhtil!” Kiki said, driving the pike into the actor’s chest.
Or at least making it look like she was, Verosika had seen an impalement before and she could tell that this one was fake.
“Urk!” the actor cried out and performed a pratfall. “Draw thy blade from mine contusion! My life reaches it’s conclusion, cruelty matched by your delusion that you truly are the King! Yes! You would have granted all my wishes, not forsaken me! If indeed you were the king, why would you have murdered me?!”
Kiki knelt down to the ‘dying’ man. “But I’ve granted all your wishes, I’m afraid I disagree: all alone, you are with all of your remaining family. And as vision turns to darkness, you’ll have claim to all you see! And you’ll wear that mask and robe the rest of all your life indeed! And the strong will fall to illness! Haunt Yhtil with crypt like stillness! And none left alive to witness, my ascension to Yhtil! And from catacombs shall spill thee cries of innocent laid still-ly, heard from lady and from smithy, and from throne to peasant mill! Cries unprecedented in the history of Yhtil! Wails unlike there’ll ever be again in dark Yhtil! That your invitation’s quill brought the king to black Yhtil…”
And with that, the host ‘died’, the curtains drew, and the story came to a dark and miserable end for all those involved.
The crowd absolutely loved it, bursting into a roaring applause the moment the final line was read and Verosika herself joined in on the gesture of praise.
She couldn’t help herself. Kiki had put on a damn good show tonight and truly showed just how well she took to the stage. The only question remaining now? Why did she try so hard to hide all of this from them?
The pop star fully intended to find out…in a few minutes once she was done showing her appreciation for the theater production that is.
Once the applause died down and the actors took one last bow, Verosika and her crew moved through the departing crowds towards the backstage. The guard blocking the door stepped aside almost immediately when he saw that he was standing in the presence of showbiz royalty and granted the trio of demons VIP access to the show.
The backstage was buzzing with activity, as it does in the aftermath of any show such as this one, with cast and crew alike milling around in excitement from a spectacular job. It took a bit of effort to pick Kiki out from the crowd but once the lanky succubus was spotted, the group beelined straight for her.
As they drew closer, they began to pick up pieces of the conversation she was engrossed in.
“Awesome job tonight Kiki, I’m so glad we decided to cast you as the king.” the hellhound crew member said.
Kiki shrugged. “Thanks. It was a bit tricky to pull off the outfit swap right at the end, that gimmick malfunctioned so many times during dress rehearsal, I’m glad we managed to work out all the kinks before opening night.”
“You gonna come to the afterparty?”
“Sadly no, I’m exhausted from the whole show. I think I’m gonna head home and curl up with a warm cup of camomile and a nice fantasy novel and just take some time to decompress.” the succubus replied.
“Hey Kiki.” Verosika said.
“Hey Verosika, Josh, Apple.” Kiki dismissively said. “Now as I was saying, I’ve been meaning to catch up on….”
Kiki jumped back in surprise when it registered who was standing a few feet behind her, her eyes going wide with fear and face turning a shade of pale.
“VEROSIKA?! JOSH?! APPLE?! LIKE UH- WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?! THIS IS LIKE A TOTAL NERD FEST! IT’S TOTALLY LAME AND STUFF!” Kiki shouted.
“Kiki?!” The hellhound said, shocked by her words.
“Gabe! Shut up!” Kiki snapped.
“Oh nothing, we were just in the neighborhood and decided to go and see a show.” Verosika smugly replied. “Never took you for the thespian type.”
“Well I- I like- I mean I’m totally- oh Satan f*cking damn it. Fine, you caught me! Kiki’s got an affinity for the performing arts and is quite proficient at it! You’ve unraveled the enigma that is my life!
Apple did a double take at that. “Wait, since when do you talk like that?”
“I always talk like this you blonde twit.” Kiki snarled. “I’m not some airheaded bimbo. I’ve got a doctorate in technical engineering and theatrical studies. I’m the most well educated member of Verosika’s entourage by a long shot.”
“Seriously? Then why put on that fake ass, valley girl act at all?” Josh asked.
“Because otherwise you wouldn’t have hired me. I’m smart but people in lust don’t get hired for their brains, they get hired to be eye candy, to be bed warmers, to be party animals. So yeah, I hated that I had to put on that mask and play the role of the idiot because otherwise I wouldn’t have fit in!”
Verosika snorted. “Uh-uh, I’m calling bullsh*t on that. You honestly think we wouldn’t have accepted you just because you’re some kind of dork? Have you seen my boyfriend?”
“Your boyfriend isn’t a demisexual freak.” Kiki muttered.
The air around them seemed to take on a chilly quality at that declaration, the room dropping several degrees all at once.
“I’m sorry…” Verosika began. “You mind running that past me again?”
“I’m demisexual.” Kiki repeated, face taking on a more depressed quality. “I’m not interested in casual sex or ‘friends with benefits’ like the rest of you are. I want a deep, meaningful relationship, I want the sex to actually mean something instead of being treated as a glorified sex doll. The fact that you treat intimacy with such a blase attitude makes me wanna puke.”
“Wait, what about all the stuff we did top side? You didn’t have a problem batting around humans.” Josh said.
Kiki shrugged. “That was work, I hated every moment of it but I couldn’t exactly have sat it out now could I? Asmodeus needed us to harvest lustful energy, which meant we all had to pull our own weight. Myself included. Even if I didn’t want to.”
“You could have told me. I would have let you sit the tour out.” Verosika mumbled.
“Don’t patronize me. You know just as well as I do that succubi and incubi like me are an outliner around here and you know what happens to those.”
“Oh yeah, I remember reading up on a story about an asexual succubus way back when. Nicole or something. When her parents got involved…let’s just say things didn’t go so well for her.” Apple said.
“Yeah, my parents weren’t much better. They threw me out onto the streets, called me an abomination, and left me to die the second they found out their dear sweet daughter wasn’t interested in sex. I fought like heaven to get where I now, all the sleepless nights spent earning my degrees, trying to figure out how to blend in with the crowds enough to hide who I really was. And then you three come along to ruin all that, to rip the mask off my face and show the whole damn world who I really am!” Kiki screeched, frustrated tears threatening to spill out of her flushed face. “So go ahead, get your jokes in, have your laughs at the sex repulsed succubus! I’M WAITING YOU f*ckING-”
Kiki’s rant was stopped dead in it’s tracks when Verosika stepped forwards and brought the girl into a tight hug, squeezing her in a comforting fashion.
“I’m sorry.” Verosika whispered. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
“Wait, I- what is happening right now?” Kiki sputtered.
“Look Kiki, I won’t say I get what you’re going through right now and I don’t think I ever will. None of us will.” Verosika said. “But I really don’t give a sh*t about that demisexual stuff, you know why? Because you’re part of the crew, my crew. It doesn’t matter who you really are or what you’re into, you’re still a f*cking wiz in the studio and a great friend. We’ll always have your back just as much as you have ours. Right guys?”
“Yeah! Mayday crew for life!” Apple shouted.
“You’re a weirdo Kiki.” Josh said. “But then again so am I, heaven we’re all f*cking weirdos but that’s what makes us great.”
“See? You don’t need to put on some act to impress us, you’re part of the crew and nothing’s gonna change that. You’re stuck with us Kiki.” The pop star said.
Kiki said nothing. She just stood there, stock still, face frozen in stupor. She had been expecting the same sort of rejection dealt out to her from countless demons over the years, to be thrown out and cast aside. But this? Acceptance? She had no clue how to respond to this.
Her body started to tremble, legs feeling like jello beneath her as she lost her footing only for Verosika to catch her mid fall and hold her up. From there Kiki started to tear up, light sobs escaping from her throat, before latching onto the pop star’s body crying into her shoulder.
“That’s it, get it all out Kiki. Vee’s here for you.” Verosika said, patting the succubus on the back.
Apple wordlessly strolled up and joined in the hug, providing a comforting warmth to Kiki’s side while motioning for Josh to do the same.
“No way, I ain’t getting involved in this fruity-”
“JOSH.” Verosika growled.
“Okay! Fine, sheesh.” Josh said, reluctantly sliding into the group hug and surrounding Kiki with warmth.
Eventually the lanky succubus’ sobs tapered off and she was able to compose herself once more. Wiping away her tears and the ruined makeup from her face.
“Better?” Verosika asked.
“Yeah, better.” Kiki sniffed.
“You gonna start being real with us now?”
“I guess so…Apple and Josh would probably tell the rest of the crew about me anyways, so there’s no point in keeping secrets anymore.” Kiki said.
“No we wouldn’t!” Josh protested.
“Josh, baby. You know neither of us can keep a secret.” Apple said.
Josh sighed, knowing damn well that he couldn’t argue against that particular point.
“Well…” Gabe the hellhound cleared his throat. “I should probably get going, don’t wanna ruin the moment. Oh that reminds me, are you still gonna make it to the T&T game next week Kiki?”
“Ix-nay!!!” Kiki hissed.
“Wait, T&T? Trolls and Temples? That nerdy game for nerdy nerds?” Josh snickered.
“Josh, don’t you f*cking start. I swear to Satan.” Verosika said through gritted teeth.
“Alright, alright. I’ll bust her ass for it later.” Josh chuckled.
Right then Verosika felt her phone begin to vibrate and pulled it out of its usual spot between her breasts to see that Moxxie was giving her a call.
“Moxxie! Hey sugar, what’s up?” Verosika cooed into the phone.
“Hi honey. Listen, would you mind swinging by ‘the pump house’ and giving everyone a ride home? It’s a gym in lust.” Moxxie replied, sounding largely out of breath.
“Mind if I ask why?” Verosika said.
“Milky and Vortex can’t even stand right now, I don’t think either of them can get home by themselves…” the imp responded.
Verosika blinked in bewilderment. “Wha- Moxxie what the hell happened?!”
“Long story, I’ll explain when you get here.”
***************************
Unfortunately, upon their departure from Caine Palace. Kiki learned that some creep had snuck backstage and stolen all of her clothes while she was onstage, leaving the succubus with little choice but to wear her King in Yellow costume all the way home. The lust demon got her fair share of strange looks during the drive but she didn’t care that much.
In fact, for the first time in as long as she could remember, Kiki didn’t care at all what people thought of her right now. She felt a sense of security she had never been able to enjoy until now.
Of course that feeling of peace was immediately pushed down when Verosika’s rental car pulled in front of ‘The pump house’ and allowed Kiki to take a look at some of her other co-workers.
Moxxie was fine-ish. His adorable little workout clothes were drenched in sweat and he was clearly exhausted, but the imp kept a confident and perhaps even victorious smile on his face beneath the sheen of bodily fluids.
Vortex and Milky however? They were not fine.
The hellhound and succubus were collapsed in a heap on the sidewalk. The former hunched over on all fours, fur matted and sticking up all over the place, desperately panting with his large tongue flapping out of his mouth and creating a puddle of drool beneath him. While the latter lay prone on her back, sweating even more than Moxxie was, and chest rising and falling in rapid motions as she struggled to catch her breath.
The whole scene was a bit surreal. One would think that the roles would have been reversed given they were standing outside of a gym.
“Woah, what the heaven happened to you guys?” Josh asked, sticking his head out of the car window.
“Yoga.” Was the only word Vortex could spit out.
“Never. Again.” Milky panted. “Don’t care. How cute. The guys are there!”
“Moxxie?” Verosika asked her boyfriend.
“So it turns out that while Milky and Vortex are good at weightlifting, their flexibility leaves something to be desired.” Moxxie remarked.
“Need a hand getting them into the car?”
“Yes please.”
It wasn’t easy pulling either of the bulky demons off the sidewalk, between the sweat against their skin and their general mass it took a group effort to stuff them into the back seat but eventually they pulled it off.
“Oh and Milky? I made sure to get Pringles’ phone number for you.” Moxxie said, holding out a piece of paper that the stout succubus lethargically accepted.
“Thanks. You’re the. Best.” Milky huffed.
“Well at least one of you had a good day.” Verosika remarked as her imp lover hopped into the front seat.
“Yep. It didn’t start off that well but after I met this wonderful yoga instructor things really started to- IS THAT A KING IN YELLOW COSTUME?!” Moxxie shouted, head snapping towards the lanky succubus crammed into the backseat.
“You recognize it?” Kiki gasped.
“Of course! The King in Yellow is only one of the greatest theater productions hell has ever seen! The melancholy tone of the plot is perfectly contrasted with-”
“The bright and glamorous setting! One that gets progressively darker and more unwelcoming as the situation deteriorates!” Kiki chimed, finishing his sentence.
“I didn’t know you were interested in theater!” The thespian said.
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Moxxie…” Kiki teased.
“Ooh! Are there any other plays you’re interested in? Personally I’m a fan of Phantom of the opera. I know, it’s a tad cliche but….”
“But nothing, a classic is a classic for a reason after all. It takes true mastery of stagecraft to create a show that’s stood the test of time.”
Soon the duo devolved into a comfortable back and forth, both parties gushing about their shared special interest, all while Verosika could only roll her eyes and smile at their antics.
They were dorks, but by Satan they were HER dorks.
