Work Text:
Every so often, you decided that it was a good day to take a day off or two. You didn’t stream every day, no one had the energy for that, but it did take a lot out of you to plan and set everything up. You had burnout before when you were human, and it sucked, so you did your best to pace yourself. Making sure you weren’t overworked and stressed out from deadlines and general work stress was important, and you took the time to also build a relaxed but effective self-care routine. That was something that continued even after you had moved into the Vee Tower, and Velvette and Valentino surprisingly shared your sentiment for “self care” days where they pampered themselves, so it was nice to have someone understand the concept.
Vox, on the other hand, didn’t have the same sentiment. He had a habit of overworking himself hard, meeting quotas and making deadlines, ensuring that ratings were up and money kept rolling in. He was the face of VoxTek, and since it’s tagline was about selling perfection, that meant Vox had to work to keep it that way. It wasn’t easy, and you had witnessed some of those stress-fueled explosions that stemmed from some of those harder days. You tended to give him space on days like that, but they were starting to get more and more frequent.
He needed a break. You knew that he had a lot of important stuff to work on, but you also knew that mistakes were more easily made when frustrated and stress, and that was just going to keep cycling until he exploded. He may shout at you for it in the moment, but he was going to appreciate it in the future. You were in the particular rare spot of being Vox’s girlfriend. That meant that you were most likely to succeed in getting him to relax, maybe just a touch more than his fellow Vees, and you fully intended on taking advantage of that when the time came.
You were lounging about in your apartment when you finally realized how late it was, and how you were still alone. Normally you both tried to have dinner around the same time when you were done for the day, but this was far past the time where you would have expected Vox back.
Oh boy. He was pulling another all-nighter, wasn’t he?
You fiddled with your phone for a moment, debating on what to do, before you finally got up from the couch and started heading towards his private office.
It was crunch time around the tower, something about quarterly review or end of the year quota, blah blah blah, you didn’t pay attention when things started being referred to in a more corporate sense. It just wasn’t your style. But you did know that it meant Vox was stressed to high hell. Even being a CEO meant he had a shit-ton of stuff to do and sort out.
You didn’t bother to knock as you nudged open the door to his office, casting a glance around the room before focusing on your boyfriend, who’s eyes didn’t even leave the screen with how busy he was. You rolled your eyes a bit, closing the distance between you so you could curl your arms around his shoulder, hugging him from behind even when he jumped at the sudden touch.
“Do you know what time it is, Vox?” You hummed.
“It’s late.” He admitted. “I know, I just have to finish something.”
“And how many times have you told yourself that in the past few hours?” You quirked a brow, lightly tugging him back, which he followed along with since his chair was on wheels. “Come on. Take a break. You need to.”
“I can’t. I need to-”
“Vox.” You chided. “Don’t think I’m above shorting out your computer. Look, whatever you need to do can wait until tomorrow. You’ve been working yourself hard, and you’re starting to wear down… Please. Let me help. You need to take a break.”
Vox remained silent for awhile, and it took a moment before he sighed and the computer shut itself off, turning his head up towards you.
“Fine.”
You beamed. “I promise you won’t regret it. Now come on.”
Vox allowed you to drag him up from his chair and back to your shared apartment, and even to the bed, where he undid his tie and shrugged off his suit jacket at your insistence.
“Now, you have me where you want me. What are you going to do now?” He watched you wearily, though more out of curiosity, as you pulled him to sit while you knelt behind him.
“I intend on cuddles, but first, I’m going to help you work out the tension in your shoulders.” You informed, offering him an easy smile and you leaned in to kiss his cheek. It made him relax just the tiniest bit, but he still carried plenty of tension to work out.
“I don’t have any tension-” He felt his tongue stop working correctly as your hands gripped at his shoulders, and your thumbs pressed against a nerve that had him jolting.
“Mhm. Whatever you say, honey.” You teased good-naturedly, and you promptly set to work.
You weren’t a licensed masseuse by any means, but you knew a fair bit of techniques. You put everything you learned into massaging deep into the knotted muscles in his shoulders and neck, feeling as he practically liquified as you worked out the biggest spots. Like, seriously, he felt like he was starting to go limp, and you had a hard time keeping him propped up.
“Lay on your stomach, Vox. Come on.” You cooed, pressing a quick kiss to his neck while he laid down and rolled onto his stomach, tucking a pillow under his head.
You were quick to clamber onto him, straddling his waist as you worked your way down an equally knotted back. You were delighted to hear small noises escaping him as his tension leaked out in waves. By the time you were done a little while later, he was practically boneless, and you were very satisfied with yourself.
When he no longer felt your hands on him, Vox slowly flipped over, watching you with lidded eyes. He reached out for you, and you immediately curled up with him as he cuddled you to his chest.
“I don’t know where you learned to do that, but thank you… I didn’t realize I was that bad.” He hummed, turning to muffle a yawn in the pillows.
“Hey, what’s a girlfriend for, hm?” You squeezed your arms around him. “But in all seriousness, Vox, you need to learn to relax. I know this is a busy month for you, but you need to take it easy or you’re going to burn out.”
He sighed. “Y/N, I have a lot of important work that needs to get done.”
“I know. Just pace yourself.” You reasoned, reaching up and stroking his cheek. “Take more breaks, try to see if some of your assistants can shoulder some of the work, anything. You’re close to burning out, I can tell. I’ve been there before too.”
“You?” He quirked a brow. “How? You do streams nonstop. You’re always working.”
“But I pace myself, Vox. I take days off, I schedule when I’m doing certain work, and I make sure I’m not pushing myself past what I’m comfortable doing.” You chuckled. “Does my work suffer from me taking breaks?”
He hesitated, but then shook his head with a soft sigh. “No, it doesn’t… But our work isn’t exactly the same.”
“True.” You hummed. “But they are similar.”
He sighed. “I can’t stop now, not when the work is almost done… But, when the quarterly review is done, I’ll take a bit of time after that to relax.”
“And we’ll work on getting you regular relax days. Like me and the rest of the Vees.” You caught his eye, even when he tried to duck his gaze. “Deal?”
He cast a glance at you, weighing his options. Really, he acknowledged that you were doing this to help him out. He was stressed and tired, and frustrated, and angry… Maybe having a trial run of this idea of yours wouldn’t hurt. And if it did show promise, maybe he would keep with it.
“Deal.” He admitted, tucking you close to his body as he kissed the top of your head. “Now let’s get some shut-eye. I have an early morning.”
You playfully rolled your eyes, but merely nodded as you settled down with him, noting with a silent smile at how quickly he fell asleep.
At least you got him to relax tonight, and that counted for something.