In the meantime, the others back at the mansion were doing their own thing.
Charlie was one of the few people actually excited for the baby and was going out of her way to prepare in advance, pulling out her old crib from all those years ago and placing it in the spare room in the back while Vaggie helped buy new clothes.
They weren't too certain what the gender of the baby was, but Vaggie opted to go for a more gender neutral route by purchasing onesies and the like, hoping that it would fit the baby once Lilith came back after three weeks. Lilith had texted Charlie not too long ago that she would be leaving and would be back once the child was born, giving Charlie all the more time to prepare for her new sibling.
Of course, Charlie was legit raving about the baby and telling Vaggie,"I can't wait until they come! I'm gonna be a big sister soon! This is so exciting, right Vaggie?"
"Whatever you say, hon. I just hope nothing bad happens…"
"Aw relax, Vaggie. It's gonna be OK…" She assured me,"Trust me, we're in good hands. Though I do think we're missing something. I just can't put my finger on what…"
"Blankets? Toys? Food?"
"No, we got that. There's something else…" She then snapped her fingers,"Ooh! I know! We should get things to celebrate the occasion! Like a banner! And balloons! And decoration! This room needs to be spiced up when my sibling arrives, we can't have it looking all plain!"
"Fair enough," Vaggie huffed,"Just hope you know what you're doing Hun…"
"I know exactly what I'm doing! Trust me, I got this all covered!"
The moth demon rolled her eyes, she didn't see the need to unload everything but if it made Charlie happy, she figured she'd just roll with it.
This was literal child's play compared to all the other hardships they've been through, decorating a room for a baby wasn't that difficult. She honestly was more worried about Charlie going overboard if anything and was prepared to pull her back into reality if needed.
So far everything seemed to be going alright. The girls were gossiping(who could've guessed that one), Alastor was listening to music with his staff with Vincent all while Vol sat back and read a book. The other hazbins were doing their own things elsewhere in the mansion, though they were just chilling in the lobby area and doing as they pleased.
That all changed the moment Niffty walked through the door. Everyone looked up from what they were doing, Vol's eye twitching when he saw Niffty enter,'Oh goody, the perverted woman has returned from her little 'vacation' out of town. We're going to have a field day with this one..'
"Nifty darling, you're back!" Alastor said, turning off his radio upon seeing her,"We've been looking all over for you! You've been gone for quite some time, mind explaining yourself?"
"I was just out running some errands…" She admitted in a somewhat dismissive tone, not bothering to make eye-contact with him.
Alastor's eyes narrowed, noticing she had a large backpack over her back,"And what is in your bag? It looks quite heavy…."
"Just books. I got them from the library…"
The Radio Demon didn't sound convincing, raising an eyebrow at her rushed tone.
Niffty's descriptions of the books were rather vague and it seemed like she was trying to avoid going into detail about them in front of them. He already had a feeling whatever Niffty carried on her was dubious at best, but after the whole picture fiasco he wanted to be sure she wasn't carrying photos of him from the other day in some type of creepy photo album. It was bad enough they found Niffty's little deviant folder and he wanted to be sure that she wasn't making copies of it and stuffing them in her backpack for safe-keeping.
"Well in that case, why don't you show us the books you've bought? I'm certain everyone would be interested in seeing them for themselves…"
"Uh, no thanks…" She mumbled,"I'd rather not-"
"Niffty, I wasn't asking. Show us what's in your bag…"
"Alastor-" Vincent chided,"We shouldn't pry open her things… He then resisted the urge to say,'Especially after what we said last time…'
"Vincent, there's no need to be like that. I'm merely trying to check what our little darling has been purchasing, especially after she's been gone for so long…"
Volastor scowled,"Are you certain we should check? Who knows what's in that bag of her's…"
"We'll never know if we don't open it. Now come on, Niffty, show us what's inside that backpack now will you?
"Okay. If you insist…" She sighed before handing the back back over to them. Everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and dug inside. Individually, they pulled out what appeared to be a bunch of magazines, Velvet and Vanny's eyes widening with glee when they saw what the books were, though the boys didn't seem to understand what they were looking at.
"It's a magazine," Vol said, raising an eyebrow,"Though what kind is it? It looks nothing like ones I've seen…"
"Yeah, this looks fairly strange," Vincent admitted.
"And it's called...Hent-pie?" Alastor asked, looking at the cover in confusion,"What in Hell's name is Hent-pie?"
When Alastor opened the book, he immediately regretted his decision to explore the contents of Niffty backpack because what he saw inside was far from pleasing to the eye. Niffty had purchased...rather suggestive books to put it mildly. People in said books were having very graphic sex in exaggerated situations that Alastor would prefer not going into detail about.
"Oh…so that's what it is…" Alastor then looked at Niffty wearily,"Darling, no offense to you and your...interests but why are you carrying these in your bag?"
"Research purposes!"
"Research!?" Vol balked,"Why in all nine circles would you use a porn magazine for research!? Don't tell me you're planning to write more morbid fanfiction are you?"
Niffty blanked,"Wait, you know about my fanfiction?"
Vol scowled,"Unfortunately I do. I had the misfortune of not only seeing your...art of me but I even read one of your...ahem...stories.."
"Misfortune? Hey, there's nothing wrong with my work!" She huffed.
"That's a rather subjective opinion, one that I and a few others don't agree with. Right Alastor?"
"Indeed. Which is precisely why I wanted to talk with you, Niffty. It's not only about your 'artwork' but about the photo that you shared online that prompted us to go into your room. To be frank,we were only there to confront you about the invasion of privacy but when we saw you weren't there, we were about to leave until I noticed your laptop lying around. I know I shouldn't have opened it, but I felt like something wasn't right about it. In hindsight, I should've never opened that damn thing but alas, it's a bit late to start regretting the past…"
"Oh, so you're mad about the photo?"
"That's one way of putting it," He said,"Honestly Niffty, I expect better out of you. It's one thing to take a picture but to share it online and allowing hundreds of thousands if not millions of people to see it is just a blatant breach of trust. I don't understand why you would do such a thing, at the very least you could've asked us when we came around if you were allowed to share that photo. It's rather disrespectful to take a picture of someone without their consent and upload it onto social media. I'm very disappointed in you…"
"Aw man, but I just wanted to show it online to my friends…" She mumbled,"They told me if I got a trending post on Vox-stagram that they'd help me make more friends!"
"By friends you mean the people you talk to on that cellular device, right?"
"Well...yeah…"
Alastor sighed,"Niffty, those people aren't your friends, they're just random people who want something out of you. You should know better than to listen to strangers at this age, especially in an environment like this…"
"But they're really my friends!" She whined,"They've been there for me while you were away! I can't just get rid of them just because I can't see them!"
"Wait, are you saying that the entire reason you did this was because Alastor was away and you got desperate enough to befriend strangers online?" Vol asked irritably,"Seriously? You should really know better by now than to trust people you've never even seen before…"
"Vol, don't be so harsh," Vincent said,"I get what she did was wrong, but we can't be too overly judgmental. I'm certain everyone here has done things they aren't proud of. Besides, I don't think Niffty meant any harm, she just wanted to impress those weird friend's of hers…"
"That's hardly an excuse. You do not share or create pictures of people you know in sexual situations. That's just distributing," Vol growled,"Besides, why are you defending her again? You know she drew the art of you two, right?"
"I mean, it hardly matters now. You already broke the damn computer anyway in a fit of rage so it's like she can access it again. Besides, the pictures of Al, I and Vanny are already online. Even if Niffty doesn't have access to them anymore, the other demons do…"
"Still, she probably has it on her phone. Which is why I'd appreciate it Niffty if you handed your phone over so I can personally delete the picture from your account…"
Niffty sighed before handing her phone over to Al. Alastor struggled a bit, having never held a cellular device before.'Great, now how do I use it?' A part of him was starting to wish he had kept up with trends to an extent as he had no clue how to use a phone whatsoever.
Vanny leaned over his side before saying,"Need a hand?"
"I'd appreciate it…"
She quickly tapped the Vox-stagram app and after motoring his finger a few times, managed to help him delete the photo from Niffty's account. It was one of her most popular pictures and appeared rather dismayed when she saw it had been deleted from her account.
"It's gone…" Alastor sighed in relief. The damage was already done, but he felt satisfied knowing that at least Niffty wouldn't have it uploaded on her account and her deranged follower friends wouldn't be able to see it there.
"Wouldn't get your hopes up, Al," Vanny said,"It's likely those people who follow her already have the photos downloading in a personal file. Even if she doesn't have it, someone else does…"
"I know," He said flatly,"But it's at least something…And NIffty? Do you understand what you did was wrong? I want to be on the same page with you from now on and I'd greatly appreciate it if you cooperated with me as much as possible. Tell me, do you understand why I had to delete that photo?"
"Because I took it without permission and invading your privacy?"
"Exactly. And do you know why it was a bad thing to listen to your online 'friends' advice?"
"Because I ended up breaking your trust?"
"Yes. You're following along perfectly. Now suppose if a situation like this ever happens again, you will know not to spread the news and cause an entire controversy."
Velvet rolled her eyes,"Al, I think she gets the point. There's no need to talk to her like she's a child. I'm pretty sure she's at least 18, she's probably gotten scolded enough by her parents to know what you're getting at."
"Um, Velvet, I'm like 22…"
"Shit, you're older than me! I thought you were my age honestly given how small you are…"
Niffty shrugged,"I get that a lot honestly. People tend to think someone being short means they are a child. Unfortunately not every demon gets a height increase when they die and I just so happened to fall into the category where my height remained stagnant."
No seriously, Niffty legit couldn't walk outside without someone thinking she was a kid. Some creepy people tried approaching her from time to time but Niffty usually dispatched them before nonchalantly informing them she was a grown woman while they bled out.
Other times people didn't think she was old enough to drink and said she wasn't allowed in certain areas. The downsides were there, but she still considered being able to fit in small spaces worth the trouble.
"Regardless, I'm just trying to hammer in the lesson for today. I'm certain now Niffty understands that her actions were wrong and that there won't be a repeat of this ever again…."
"It won't...I'm sorry…"
"That's quite alright darling, but you probably owe everyone else an apology as well. I'm certain Vol especially would want one given how he reacted to seeing your..content…"
"Oh ok. Sorry everyone...Sorry Volastor. I didn't mean for you to see that or have it affect you.."
He rolled his eyes,"Whatever. Just don't do it again. I'd really appreciate it if you stopped writing that stuff about me for the matter. The mental image has done my nightmares no favors and I doubt I'll be forgetting what I saw for a very long time…"
"I won't…" She replied before pulling out something from her bag,"I know you're still upset about it but maybe I can at least make you feel a bit better."
Vol scoffed,"Oh gee, how? Don't tell me you're going to show me one of your weird porn drawings, are you? Because that's really not what I need at the moment…"
Niffty pulled out a sketchbook and showed it to them with a proud smile,"Tada!"
Velvet's draw dropped,"Oh my…"
Afterwards, Vanny sounded almost excited when she said,"Holy shit…"
Vol screeched,"What the fuck!?"
"Uhhhh…." Vincent trailed off, uncertain what to say as his face heated up with a bright red.
Alastor was speechless, his face had fallen completely at the sight.
Before them was a rather detailed and lewdly drawn 'sketch' of him...doing things to Vincent and Vanny. And by things, I mean, straight up tentacle porn penetration/bondage. At that point, Alastor wanted a hole to open up from Hell and swallow him because the looks he, Vincent and Vanny were giving each other was enough to bring an entire ocean of shame.
Niffty must've noticed their reactions as she quickly looked at her notebook before sheepishly saying,"Whoops! Wrong picture! You weren't supposed to see that one!" She quickly flipped the page,"Aw, there we go! Here's the photo!"
She then switched to a fully colored picture of Vol, Vincent and Alastor together. At the bottom of the page it was labelled, 'Vol and his dads'.
"Dad's?" Vincent asked,"Why is it called that? We're not his parents...right?"
"Technically yes but no…" Alastor admitted,"I mean, we didn't exactly have a child the conventional way but Vox and I created Vol on accident so I suppose he's technically our child. And in your case, step-child. Truthfully I never thought of having a child but I must say, Vol is probably the best 'son' I could ever ask for! Isn't that right, son?" He said while wrapping his arm around Vol's shoulder, pulling him close.
"You're really pushing your luck, Al…"
"Oh don't be like that, Vol, you know you love us. It's about time we upgraded our relationship in terms of nicknames, why don't you start with calling Vincent and I 'Dada'? That's often a child's first word when it comes to their parental figures, so how about it?" Al asked smugly.
"First off, I'm not a child,"Vol said flatly,"Second of all,you're insane if you think I'm going to call you that. I may technically be no more than a few years old but I have the mental capacity of a grown man. I'm not saying 'dada' to someone who literally died in his early thirties and another person whose a reincarnation of another man who also died in his thirties…"
"Can you at least say Dad? Or father?"
"Fuck off."
Ouch…
"Er...well that sort of close I suppose...You at least said something with an 'F' but perhaps we should work on it being less vulgar…"
Vol rolled his eyes before calmly turning to Niffty and saying,"I'll be taking that photo…'' He wasn't even asking at that point and he straight up tore the page out of her notebook while somehow not damaging the paper in the slightest.
"Hey Vol!" Velvet asked,"Where are you going with that paper?"
"I'm...putting it somewhere…" He mumbled.
"You're not gonna throw it out are you?"
"Course not. I'm just...putting it away for safekeeping…"
Intrigued, Velvet was about to ask her boyfriend what he meant by that, but was unable to when he teleported away.
"What the!? Vol! You can't just run away from the question! Ugh! I hate that he teleports and I can't! He always does this when he gets moody about something! I don't even get why he ran away, I was just asking a question…"
"I doubt it's because of that. Though I wouldn't worry about what he's going to do with that photo. He wouldn't dare tear it up and if he wanted it shredded he would have done so in front of us instead of teleporting away," Vicnent admitted,"Wherever he's putting it, it's probably somewhere only he knows about."
"Hey Al?" Vanny asked after a moment of silence passed.
"Yes?"
"Can you actually do the stuff in the drawings in real life?"
Alastor stiffened up,"Why are you asking me that!? I wouldn't know, I haven't done that to someone!" Seriously, those tentacles were strictly for combat purposes, not sexual ones and he most certainly hadn't thought of using them on another person in that fashion.
"Well can you? I'm kind of curious cuz I doubt Niffty would just draw that if she didn't think you could do it…"
"It's less of a matter of if I can do it and more, if I want to do it and we all know what that answer is…"
"Aw…" She pouted,"And to think I was gonna ask Vincent if he was cool with reenacting the scene privately. I'm sure it would've been fun…"
Alastor scoffed,"To you perhaps. Anyhow, I'd like to go on about my day right now. I'll be going out for a walk if you don't mind and I'll see you all later…"
"You sure you don't want anyone to come with you?" Vincent inquired, offering a hand on his shoulder.
Alastor moved away, brushing him off. Usually he'd be more hostile towards someone invading his space, but he didn't feel the need around Vincent and opted just to gently push him away,"I'll be fine. As kind as your offer is, I'm perfectly fine walking by myself. I'd like to be alone for the time being personally…"
Without another word, Alastor left and Vincent merely sighed in response,"Yup, now I know where Vol got his 'run away from the problem' attitude from. Can't say I didn't see that coming."
"So what now? You gonna run off too? Vanny asked, tugging on his sleeve,"I mean, we could always have some one v one time just for ourselves since Al is...not cooperating with the program."
"Another time," He said,"Not in the mood right now. I'm going to go head off and think…"
"About what?"
"Nothing…" He lied, refusing to meet her in the eyes,"I just need some space, that's all…"
Vincent then took his leave, leaving Nifty, Vanny and Velvet behind. Vanny huffed,"Ugh! Course everyone just leaves the moment their feelings come up! So annoying! I know there's something going on but Al and Vincent are being stubborn assholes and won't tell me!"
"Eh, it's a thing with them. They like bottling up their feelings instead of talking about them. Vol's the exact same way so I guess that's what they all have in common. As the saying goes, like father like son...Or step son in Vincent's case." Velvet shrugged,"Say Niffty, you've been rather quiet. I'd think you'd be upset…"
"Upset? Over what?"
"You know my boyfriend wrecked your laptop right? He got really pissed about what he saw in your stories and destroyed it like it was nothing."
"Oh that? Don't worry, I always have a feeling someone would find my stories and get a bit worked up, which is precisely why I have this!" Niffty pulled out a hard drive,"It has all my files on it so nothing of value was really lost when Vol destroyed my laptop...Well everything except the laptop that is…"
"You want me to make you another one?" Velvet asked,"I can summon a laptop in existence for you…"
"Course!"
Velvet did just that, summoning a laptop that didn't appear too different from the one that Niffty originally owned. Niffty quickly shoved the hard drive into her new device and after a few seconds, she was excited to say that it worked like a charm.
"See? I told you it would work out!"
"Wait, you mean to say everything you had on your computer is still there right?"
"Yup."
"Including that picture of me, Al and Vincent?"
"Uh-huh."
"Can't say I'm too surprised, you were way too chill about losing all your work earlier, I just knew something was up. Gotta hand it to you for thinking ahead, though you should probably hide that shit in case Al or Vol ever get curious…"
Niffty giggled,"Don't worry, I got that covered too. I'm gonna be extra sneaky this time around and will put everything in a specific file that they can't get to without a code."
Velvet snickered,"Damn, you're bad, going behind Al's back isn't something I'd expect for someone like you…."
"Oh don't exaggerate, I'm not going behind his back. I'm just...keeping my files while not sharing them, at least not with the people online that is. Al said I couldn't share photos, he didn't say anything about my laptop's contents…"
"So what's your next game plan?"
"Oh nothing, continue my fanfiction, draw more art, the usual…"
Vanny grinned,"Sweet, can we help? Ain't got anything better to do and the boys kind of bailed on us…."
"Sure, I don't see why not. I could always use a extra hand in collaboration. The more people the better. I could always use advice when it comes to my work. I'm having a bit of trouble writing a tentacle scene and I'd really appreciate some criticism since I want it to be somewhat accurate. It's why I bought these books in the first place…"
"We got you covered, Niffty! Vanny said,''Trust us, we've written enough lewd shit to know what we're doing. We'll gladly help you out with this one!"
"Fanfiction pals, assemble!"
The girls immediately grabbed each other's hands as they joined together for a common goal.
Three woman with distinct backgrounds and personalities had unionized in order to expand their imagination, to become the best smut writers around, linking up their accounts and sharing documents for proofreading, not to mention Vanny and Velvet taking the time out of their day to file away stories that they had a personal investment in without anyone to stop them.
Vol swore he felt a disturbance in the force right about now. ...
Something was just bothering him, like an itch that wouldn't go away. He didn't know why he felt this way, but he felt that whatever everyone else was doing back then wasn't something he desired to get involved in…
Vol then pulled out the picture from his sleeve, staring at the drawing as he entered his room. He knew he couldn't leave it out, but he had to put it somewhere, somewhere where it wouldn't get damaged. It was too valuable to leave out in the open and Vol didn't want to risk the Vark's turning it into shredded paper.
He then noticed a picture frame lying around on the ground, picking it up before placing the picture inside. To his surprise, it was a perfect fit….
He sighed,"Dads, eh? Niffty's got quite the imagination, I'll give her that. The concept of having an actual family is rather foreign to me…"
Sure, it wasn't like he didn't love them, he really did. It's just that the concept of love was almost alien-like.
He knew he was capable of feeling love for another person(like Velvet) but loving someone as a parent was different. The issue was Vol never really had actual parents and the closest thing he had was the other Al and Vox and considering how that story ended, he was rather uncertain how to open up to the concept of them being parents to him. He didn't want a repeat and even if it was unlikely they would die, he still didn't want to take a risk by opening himself up again.
Still, now that all the tension in his life had cooled down the conflict had passed...perhaps it was time to move on. No matter how much he missed them, there was nothing he could do at that point. They made the choice to sacrifice themselves and ultimately, they did what they promised by always being there for him.
Not physically of course, but as a literal piece of his existence. They had erased themselves just to save him, even after he attempted to kill them. He didn't understand why their love for him overpowered their self preservation, but then he remembered love made people do things they normally wouldn't do.
Hell, that was the whole reason he attacked them in the first place, all because he thought Velvet had died. A part of him sort of resented the fact that Velvet stayed hidden the whole time as he had the feeling that if she just showed herself before...they'd still be there.
'Can't get too ahead of myself. No use in blaming my girlfriend...It's not like she knew what would happen either…'
It pained him greatly but it wasn't like he could change the past. Best to move one thing at a time in a situation like this…
Would they be some big happy family someday? Maybe. Would that be today?
Not a fucking chance.
But hey, Vol was willing to take it slow, he had all the time in the world and it wasn't like the others had to worry about aging either. In the distant future, he was certain he'd reach that point, but he'd rather not think about that today. He already had a lot on his mind.
Thanks for 12,099 views, tell me what you think below!
Also yeah, Niffty learned jack squat from the lecture, all she 'learned' was to hide her shit better so yeah, everything went in one ear out the other lol. That's legit the only thing that stuck with her.