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For whitehairedprettyboy.

[He'd spent a month not visiting Valmont at all. Not kidnapping him, not barging into his home unannounced, nothing.

Unbeknownst to Valmont, that was a month of seriously uncharacteristic self-reflection. A month where he'd had the inklings of Actual Feelings being involved and decided to squash them by not seeing Valmont for a while.

It hadn't worked. The more he avoided Valmont, the more he wanted to see him, until finally, one night-]

Valmoooooont~

[-he gave in.

Now he announces himself by draping himself over Valmont's shoulder. They're alone in his bedroom, which Valmont is probably thankful for.]

Did you miss me?

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[ Sweet, sweet freedom. Relatively speaking. ]

Finally.

[ Right, first things first. Taking a wary step out of Satanick's immediate reach (but not too far, please don't kill him yet), Valmont takes a few seconds to stretch. He hopes the clinging won't become a regular occurrence, although that's probably as much of a pipe dream as anything else he's hoped for tonight. Still, having a demon hanging off him all the time cannot be good for his back.

Ideally, this would be about the time to put his daring escape into action, but first he should probably take stock of the situation. Valmont looks around the room in which he's found himself, taking what he hopes is very casual note of any potential exits, before catching sight of the look on Satanick's face. The particularly forbidding look directed straight at him.

...Maybe his daring escape can wait a tad longer. ]

Er - how long will it be until you come to your senses, do you think? Ballpark estimate.

Oh, you'll die of old age first. Hmm, I don't like that, there must be some way to fix that...

[Staying forever young has never sounded so awful, has it.]

[ Oh god, no it has not. The worst part is that Valmont has always been one of those people who'd be quite happy to discover the secret to immortality - or rather, one that's a little more practical than carrying around a talisman with you at all times. After all, who doesn't want to live forever? But now he's picturing eternity stretching before him, an eternity with Satanick's laugh ringing in his ears -

Nope. Screw waiting for the opportune moment. In what he can only pray is a sudden enough movement to take Satanick off guard, Valmont bolts for the nearest door, trying hard not to think about what punishment might await him if he doesn't make it out. With any luck, it'll kill him. ]

[And of course, he's yanked back by Satanick's shadow arms before he can make it to the door. Because naturally.]

I told you not to run, Valmont.

[Did he? Well he's retroactively telling him that, right in his ear.]

Do you like making me mad?

[ Damn it, damn it - that was his one chance, he can't be stuck here forever, he can't! Except that it's sort of looking like he can, actually, and some part of him seems to have begun resigning itself to this. He's barely even struggling against Satanick's arms now. But the other, more conscious part of him, the one that even in the most hazardous of situations continues to be far too stubborn for his own good, hasn't noticed, and so he manages to spit out a reply: ]

I- if it'll get you to stop being in love with me, then... maybe?

[ Oddly enough, he doesn't sound at all sure. ]

Oh, no, I'm still in love. Forever. That's not in question~

[His grip tightens on Valmont, even though he isn't struggling.]

I just have to teach you a lesson, and then everything will be fine. Just fine.

...A lesson?

[ He really doesn't like the sound of that. ]

About what happens when you run away from me.

[He really shouldn't like the sound of that at all.]

Is there, er, any chance that this lesson will be a purely academic one?

[ Maybe with charts? He thinks he could probably handle charts. ]

Nope~ Hands-on.

[Satanick steers him in one direction. Valmont should probably worry about where he's headed.]

A- aren't your hands on me enough already?

[ Valmont doesn't really have a choice but to stumble in the direction he finds himself being steered. His gaze darts frantically from side to side, trying to determine if anything in his line of sight might be related to whatever torment he's surely about to be put through. Knowing Satanick, he can't rule anything out. ]

[It's mostly just hallway. They do eventually come to some stairs down... and down...]

Oh no, never enough ♥

[ Well, these stairs aren't ominous at all.

It's hard to navigate with Satanick still holding onto him, but his choices seem to be figure it out or fall down the stairs, and so Valmont does his best to figure it out. The lack of visible clues as to what's going to happen to him when they reach the bottom does not assuage his fears one bit. Sometimes, nothing is scarier. ]

[These dungeons - of course Satanick has more than one set - are nearly pitch-black with barely enough light to see where you're headed. Satanick steers Valmont into what is probably a cell - gated bars and all - and carefully cuffs him to the wall. (He can try to struggle but we all know how that turns out.)

Not much movement, nothing to see but darkness.]

Now then ♥ Since you wanted to be away from me so badly, I'll grant your wish. I'll be back when you ask very nicely for me to come back, and no sooner.

[And he leaves, shutting the cell's door behind him.]

[ This part is almost reassuringly familiar, really. Dungeons, walls, handcuffs - he doesn't know how many times his interactions with Satanick have involved these elements in one capacity or another. The near-total darkness is new, though, and even once his eyes adjust to it there's not much to see. So he waits, tensing in preparation for whatever the demon might do to him next.

He isn't prepared for that to be nothing. ]

Wait, you can't - you can't just leave me here! Come back!

[ Apparently that doesn't count as "nicely" enough for Satanick's tastes, however. The door clicks shut behind him, and there's nothing but Valmont yelling himself hoarse for a long time afterwards. ]

[ Time passes very, very slowly. Not that Valmont has any way to measure its speed, or anything to measure it against but the sensations of his own body. His mouth is drier than he'd previously thought possible, hunger gnaws at his stomach, and there's a strand of hair caught in the back of his collar that he's maddeningly unable to do anything about. So he's pretty sure he's still alive, as much good as that's done for him lately.

Everything beyond that, by this point, has all sort of blended together. He doesn't know how long he spent hearing his screams echoed back at him off the walls, only that his stock of curses and insults had run out shortly before his voice had. He knows he'd tried to fall asleep at one point just so he could have something to do, but whether he'd actually succeeded in doing so, even for a few minutes, he couldn't tell. He's spent a not-insignificant amount of time counting the minutes and seconds themselves, but he keeps losing his place somewhere between the 30s and 40s, and there's nothing to count to anyway. Time's going to continue creeping by whether he's keeping track of it or not, and there's nothing he can do, there's no way out -

Ask very nicely, singsongs Satanick's voice in his mind, and Valmont doesn't know how to make it stop. His wrists hurt. Seconds pass. That stray hair tickles at the back of his neck.

He's barely aware of opening his mouth. ]

...please...

[And right away there's an answer, though Satanick isn't yet visible in the darkness. Whether that means he's just too far away to see or he's somewhere else entirely is anyone's guess, but at least he's prompt.]

You can try harder than that, can't you~?

[ Oh, thank god. Valmont hadn't thought he'd ever be grateful to hear that voice, but he very nearly sobs in relief when Satanick's answer greets him. He hasn't been forgotten down here. He's finally -

Wait, what? "Try harder"? He said please, didn't he? What else does the demon want from him - full sentences? ]

...please let me out?

[ He'd thought that was implied the first time, but there you go. ]

Keep going~

[That's not proper begging yet, Valmont. Try harder.]

[ ...Oh. This isn't regular asking nicely we're talking about here, is it. Damn him - Valmont's face burns in the darkness, but he's already started giving in, no point holding back now, and some previously untapped wellspring of abasement overflows and spills out of him. ]

Please, I didn't mean - I shouldn't have tried to run away, I won't do it again, I'm - I'm sorry -

[ One would have been forgiven before now for wondering if Valmont even knew that word. But apparently he does, and there it is, and he wants to die. ]

That's more like it~ All you had to do was ask.

[And there Satanick is, right in front of him. He unlocks Valmont's bonds, and offers him a (normal) hand.]

I'll take you back upstairs. Wouldn't want you getting lost down here!

[ Valmont rubs his wrists and stares hazily at the proffered hand. He feels like he should be saying something at this point, cursing at Satanick or refusing to touch him or anything he'd say under normal circumstances, but for once, there don't seem to be any words left in him. Even if there were, he doesn't think he could summon up an actual will to argue, or to do much of anything else, really. He's just tired. He's so, so tired.

So he takes Satanick's hand and lets the demon lead him where he will. ]

[The only nice thing about the stairs being so long is that it gives Valmont's eyes time to adjust to light being a thing again.]

Here we are~ You must be hungry, aren't you? Would you like to be wined and dined~?

[He'll spoil Valmont. He will! This doesn't count.]

[ Valmont shades his eyes with his free hand as they make their way up the stairs. Ugh, yes. Light. Whose stupid idea was that stuff, anyway?

The other good thing about the length of the stairs is that it gives Valmont some more time to put his thoughts in order, and so he's a little more coherent once they reach the top. What he'd really like to do is lie down somewhere and sleep until he can forget any of this ever happened, but... on the other hand, he is in fact starving, and one of Satanick's words penetrates the lingering haze in his brain. Wine. That's as good a method of forgetting things as any. ]

...If you like.

[ Besides, he's not sure right now he's prepared to face the consequences of refusing anything else. ]

[That works, and Satanick won't even press Valmont for a proper answer.

He leads Valmont into a lavish dining room - the chairs are probably the most comfortable Valmont's ever sat on, the centerpieces are crystal, the works - and disappears briefly into the kitchen to talk to some servants, before returning.]

It'll just take a moment~ Make yourself comfortable, darling.

For whitehairedprettyboy.

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