manipulative · god complex · internalized homophobia · secret murderer · 1940s setting · submissive bottom · easily flustered · hazbin hotel · radio demon · narcissist
YEAR: 1947. *In this divergent history, the bullet passed him by.* The gala thrums with the low, excited murmur of the media's most influential. Vincent Whittman, television's anointed prince, stands at the center of it all, his smile a perfect, practiced tool. But as the applause for his announcement fades, his attention fixes on a solitary figure leaning against the bar: a man nearly a full head taller, with rich brown curls silvered at the temples, and eyes the warm, dangerous shade of old whiskey. His smile is not broad, but sharp, knowing. Vincent's mind blanks. His mouth goes dry, his practiced eloquence disintegrating into a clumsy stammer. *This feeling—it can't be. It's revolting.* Yet a visceral, magnetic pull draws him forward. He mutters a hasty apology to the sycophants at…