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hell-is-not-an-excuse · 8 months ago

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Helluva Boss versus Achillean Relationships || Chaxxie [1/3]

Let me preface this by saying that I know I'm not the first person to point this out, and I certainly won't be the last. However, it's something that's been tugging at me for a while now. That "something" of course, being the portrayal of MLM/achillean relationships within the Hellaverse, and how they're favoured over everything while bordering into the fetishistic.

I'm going to be the first to admit I have not watched the entirety of Hazbin Hotel. Hell, I made it to the first five or so minutes of the first episode before unceremoniously quitting around the "this body was made to be exploited" line. I'll have a separate post on that later, since my thoughts on that (and Angel Dust as a character, by extension) are long winded and not the focus of this particular post.

So, for today, I will be focusing on one of the three canon MLM ships within Helluva Boss specifically. For the purpose of this post series, I will only be including the ships that have two characters that are named within the series. This narrows us down to Chaxxie, Fizzozzie and Stolitz (which is not technically canon but is clearly endgame, unless the writers are waiting with bated breath to pull the rug out from underneath the audience).

This time I will be talking about Chaxxie, as it's the least touched-upon relationship in the show itself; not only because it's the only past relationship on this list, but it's also the only relationship that contains a one-off character. And yet, I found the lack of chemistry so offensively boring that I felt the need to make a whole post just about them.

So, Chaxxie. There's not a whole lot to talk about with their relationship, as all we get is just over a minute of backstory and a song that screams "unable to take no for an answer". I suppose I could also include their sham almost-wedding, but that comes off less as a shipping moment and more a plot beat, and thus will be disregarded. Even so, I apparently had way more to say about them and the implications of their relationship than I thought, so this post will be long.

Before that however, there's the obvious elephant in the room - Chaz and Millie. Despite being the ex of both Millie and Moxxie, we as the audience never get a perspective of what the relationship between Millie and Chaz even looked like. Not even a throwaway line from Millie herself. Given that Helluva Boss has suffered from a lack of precise characterising of its women up until this point, this is another glaring example to add to the long-suffering pattern.

But what about Moxxie? What do we get as the audience?

In the first of two flashback scenes, we're informed that Chaz and Moxxie meet during Moxxie's induction into the Knolastname crime family. They meet eyes, and Moxxie is charmed right off the bat.

This springboards us into four different instances of the supposed chemistry that these two share with one another, the first being a gunfight in which Moxxie and Chaz reach for the same grenade, with all the flirtation and blushing that could be fit into the few seconds allotted for this sequence.

From there, the sexual intensity ramps up in the next two shots before settling back down into a nude portrait scene reminiscent of Titanic.

In terms of learning about their relationship, we as the audience don't glean much from these scenes, other than the fact that they have an incredibly sexual dynamic. One could also infer that their relationship started as a secret given the request to not tell Crimson that Chaz was at the door in the signage scene, though this is never properly expanded on.

Now, before we venture into the second half of my Chaxxie critique, I want to make two things clear; there is nothing wrong with a couple having an incredibly active sex life. This is true for any pairing with consenting adults, be it Achillean, Sapphic or Hetero. This is something I will expand on momentarily. Second is that despite my griping of the overtly sexual nature of their relationship, I don't find these examples to be "too sexual". By all means, this is quite tame imagery, at least to me. I bring these examples up primarily to highlight that Chaxxie as a ship suffers from sacrificing chemistry for sexuality (whether that be in a manner meant to be comedic, or genuinely sexy).

Back to our flashbacks. In our second and final flashback scene, we are given the unceremonious ending to their relationship. In the midst of a heist, Moxxie is pinned and unable to escape the scene of the crime, as police sirens wail in the distance. Chaz, in a selfish move, makes a grab for the money and leaves Moxxie to the authorities, effectively ending their relationship. This is presented as a great heartbreak for Moxxie, but due to the issues highlighted above, this reveal falls flat.

Moxxie doesn't appear to struggle with feelings of self-worth in the romantic department; this is evident in the way he interacts with Millie, self-assured in his love for her and her love for him. One would think that if this relationship with Chaz was so important to him, that there would be some sort of foreshadowing or hints regarding the feelings or issues that would have been bound to have sprung up as a result of Chaz and his abandonment.

I will concede here, Moxxie not wanting to talk about his past is a fine enough example of why Chaz wouldn't come up in conversation prior to this episode. However, if we as the audience are meant to believe that this relationship was that important to him, it would have been nice to add a hint of abandonment issues to Moxxie as a character.

This could also have had a possible added effect of explaining why Moxxie isn't so quick to leave Blitzø or I.M.P despite his treatment - Blitzø and Loona may be awful to Moxxie, but at least they don't abandon him. At least Blitzø throws crumbs of praise his way. At least Loona comes along with Millie to rescue him and Blitzø from the D.H.O.R.K.S.

Unfortunately, we're still not done here with the Chaxxie scenes, as the biggest and most glaring issue with this ship as a whole comes in at around the fifteen minute mark.

I'll start with the least consequential of my critiques - This scene is just not funny. The punchlines essentially amount to sex, big dick, and the mounting discomfort that Moxxie feels while he repeatedly insists that Chaz leave him alone. There are ways to comedically write a character being uncomfortable with sex or sexual implications/situations. Blatant harassment is not one of them.

Speaking of blatant harassment, this is the moment that any semblance of this ship being worth my time fell apart. The writing is done using Chaxxie as a ham-fisted attempt at giving Moxxie further backstory (at the cost of Millie once again) and is now beginning to decline into the outright uncomfortable.

Even before he begins his song, Moxxie outright tells Chaz to leave. Of course, Chaz completely disregards his demands to be left alone, insisting that he knows exactly what Moxxie wants. This is a common line used by real life sexual abusers against their victims - and yes, though Chaz never actually forces himself onto Moxxie in an explicit manner, his following song is filled with unwanted touch and crude, overtly sexual language.

Look me in the eyes and tell me that Moxxie is enjoying this experience even remotely. He looks put off, alarmed, uncomfortable. And yet this scene is played for comedy, for some reason. This is not the first instance of Moxxie being sexually abused or harassed for comedy either. Even back in Season One, this poor guy was being used for the sort of joke that should have died out years ago.

Overall thoughts on Chaxxie and their contribution to MLM representation.

Do I think Chaz and Moxxie are good queer representation? The easy, fast answer is a resounding "No". Their relationship lacks any sort of depth in canon and looks to be just another vehicle for gay sex jokes, partnered with yet another excuse to harass Moxxie for laughs.

On a slightly longer note, I find them not only to be lackluster representation, but yet another instance in the growing pattern of Vivziepop's achillean ships being either based on sex, or having a heavy emphasis on sex that isn't afforded to her sapphic or hetero pairings. This isn't to say that the other achillean ships don't have moments that are fluffier or not purely focused on sex (after all, Chaxxie is the worst offender of being a pairing based on nothing but sex from a writing standpoint), but the discrepancy between the amount of sex talk from Chaggie and Millie/Moxxie as compared to Fizzozzie, Stolitz and Chaxxie is stark.

It's hard to say exactly what goes on in the heads of the writers, and I am not here to speculate on what they may be thinking at all times. However, the writing behind Chaxxie as a pairing specifically (in the past or not) leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The inclusion of Chaz does nothing to further Moxxie's character and seems more like a segue into making his bisexuality explicit, rather than taking the time to explore his attraction to men and past relationships meaningfully. Their past relationship is shallow at best, giving me no real reason to care about its end, and does a disservice to the already limited representation in Helluva Boss by painting yet another portrait of a lustful, but ultimately loveless feeling relationship.

#helluva critical #helluva boss critical #helluva critique #vivziepop critical #vivziepop critique #hazbin critical #chaxxie critical #long post #🎶🔫#🦈 💦#🎪 critiques

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ficcrimes · 2 years ago

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White Noise

Fandom: Helluva Boss Characters: Moxxie, Chaz, Millie, Blitz; Crim mentioned Ship: past Chaz/Moxxie Summary: Some phone calls come too late. Some never come at all.

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“I couldn’t help noticing you noticing me during your induction.”

Moxxie cleared his throat, looking up at the shark demon now looming over him. He knew he shouldn’t have allowed himself to be cornered so easily, and especially not in a place where his father could potentially see them, but it was growing increasingly difficult to care the longer he allowed Chaz into his personal space. He’d never had someone look at him the way Chaz was looking at him now, and it made his heart flutter inside his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Moxxie said, and there was already a heat creeping up the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t have stared like that. It was rude of me.”

Chaz snorted, brushing the apology away with the flick of a wrist. “I’m hot and hard to miss, I totally get it.” He winked, and Moxxie feared he may have fainted right then and there for a moment.

“Besiiiides, I wouldn’t have bothered coming all the way over here if I hadn’t been staring back.”

He made it sound like it had been such a chore and a trek to cross the foyer. The humor wasn’t lost on Moxxie, but he was far too caught up on the fact this handsome creature was seemingly returning his attention. A shiver raced down his spine and settled in the very tip of his tail as his mind raced to process this information and do something appropriate with it. He cleared his throat before attempting to speak, but the imaginary obstruction didn’t seem to want to budge.

“O-oh,” was all Moxxie could muster, breathless and higher pitched than he would have liked. He would have liked nothing more than to be able to slink away and hide for a few hours.

Chaz’s grin was wide and sharp, and Moxxie felt so much smaller compared to him than he truly was as he basked obviously in his fluster.

As Chaz silently dug a hand into one of his pockets, Moxie was glad for the distraction, allowing his eyes to wander away from the shark’s face. He watched as he fished a crumpled piece of paper out, then held it out toward him between two fingers. Despite his nerve-wracked state, it made Moxxie grin just a little. He could tell what Chaz was going for, and he may have been able to pull it off if the note wasn’t so completely disheveled.

“I know we’re gonna be working together, buuuut if you ever wanna take more than just a sneaky peek,” Chaz continued while allowing Moxxie to take the paper from him.

Moxxie took more care than Chaz felt was necessary to open the note, but the way hot blush rushed to and bruised the imp’s cheeks once he read it was worth it.

The ink was smeared and smudged, and there were questionable stains on the paper, but there along with Chaz’s full name and some crude doodles of ejaculating penises was his phone number.

---

It feels as though he’s been staring down at his phone for hours, thumb stiff and hovering uneasily over Chaz’s name. He doesn’t really want to talk to him, but some part of Moxxie feels like they should. There’s something in the air that needs to be cleared. A lot of things, really. At the very least, he wants to scream at him, cuss him out, and demand to know what could have possibly possessed him to even consider going through with such a ridiculous plan. Even in dire straights, Chaz should have known better than to get directly involved with Crimson, and he definitely should have known better than to drag Moxxie into it. Surely he had to have known that if he had gotten away with marrying his way into the family, it wouldn’t have led to whatever life he had been envisioning.

Moxxie had thought he’d seen Chaz at his lowest and his worst, but this…

How could he have possibly been so stupid and selfish?

And differences and their history aside, Chaz should have known if he needed help, he could have just asked. Moxxie may have still harbored a grudge and a sore spot in his heart, but he would have at least tried to help if he could have.

And yet, now Chaz is most likely stuck dealing with his father and that fallout, and that makes Moxxie’s stomach churn sickly. Amid all of his immediate anger and hurt, he can acknowledge that some part of him just wants to make sure Chaz is okay.

However, it’s unfortunate that part is also minuscule in comparison to everything else.

Millie is by his side, and her hand finds his forearm and squeezes gently. It’s a surprisingly soothing gesture, considering he knows how angry she is and has been.

“I know ya wanna figure out what was goin’ on inside that thick skull o’ his,” she says, “but maybe ya shouldn’t bother wastin’ anymore of your time on him.”

There’s a pause, another squeeze.

“Besides, I doubt he’d tell ya the truth, anyway.”

Moxxie sighs and leans back against the couch. “You’re probably right,” he agrees, but his eyes are still trained on Chaz’s name. Plain black text on a white background; long gone are the green and blue hearts and the shark emojis. Something inside of him aches, the same thing that sometimes wishes something could have gone even just a little differently all those years ago.

“But still…” Moxxie continues quietly, brow furrowed. He clicks on Chaz’s name, opening up the profile. Like the emojis that used to accompany his name, his photo’s been deleted long ago, leaving the contact stripped and sterile, completely lifeless.

It’s nothing short of a small miracle in and of itself that the number has managed to remain in the phone this long.

Despite her own feelings, Millie finds it in herself to smile at her husband. “Well, if it’ll make ya feel any better…”

Moxxie doesn’t know for sure if it will make him feel better, but he’s come too far to back down now. His smile is weak at best before he takes what feels like a necessary deep breath, finally hitting dial.

The line rings, and rings, and rings, and Moxxie waits impatiently and with bated breath for Chaz to answer.

After a solid minute and a half, the ringing stops and Chaz speaks.

“Yello?”

The sound of his voice makes Moxxie’s anger flare irrationally, and for a moment he quietly contemplates just hanging up.

“Hello?” Chaz persists on the other end of the line. “Heeeeeello? Anybody there?”

Moxxie sighs, brows knitting together. “Yeah, Chaz. It’s me and—”

There’s a heartbeat of silence, and then laughter. “Psych. I’m busy or some shit and can’t answer the phone. Y’know what to do.”

Beep.

Moxxie rolls his eyes as he slumps a little further into the couch, sighing again but quieter. He’s upset and annoyed, but there’s no need to be rude in a voicemail.

“...just call me whenever you get this.”

---

The gentle crinkling of plastic as Moxxie pressed a bag of frozen vegetables to his cheek and eye seemed much louder than it really was.

“Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

Moxxie didn’t think he had ever heard Chaz sound so genuinely concerned before, and it made him want to shrink away even more. He hadn’t wanted pity when he arrived at his doorstep, just a place to go and a distraction. But, he supposed, he would have reacted the same if Chaz had been the one to show up at his door with a black eye. Thinking about it from that perspective eased some of the weight from his shoulders, but he still felt fairly awful.

He shrugged one shoulder, readjusting the bag against his eye. The cold seeped into his inflamed and bruised skin, making him hiss and curse under his breath.

“I didn’t want to bother you with something like this,” he said, and though he wanted to look up at Chaz’s face, he couldn’t quite bring himself to lift his gaze beyond the shark’s chest.

“Something like this, he says,” Chaz huffed, and even if Moxxie wasn’t looking at him, he could tell he had rolled his eyes. “C’mon, Moxx. Crim’s got goons he can go beat the shit out of, he doesn’t need to be taking it out on you.”

Despite himself, Moxxie smiled and finally met Chaz’s eyes. “Wrong place, wrong time, I guess.”

“My ass,” Chaz muttered, and reached for the bag of vegetables. “Lemme see the damage.”

Reluctantly, Moxxie allowed Chaz to take his makeshift icepack away and inspect the harm caused by his father’s hand. The bruise was fresh, still in bloom, and had crept its way from his cheekbone to the majority of his eye socket. The eye itself hadn’t sustained any injury, though it was bloodshot.

“I know this is, like, a stupid question, but are you okay?” Chaz asked, reaching for the untouched side of Moxxie’s face. He palmed his cheek, then slid his hand down the side of his neck and to his shoulder.

“I will be,” Moxxie replied, absently scooting himself just a little closer to the demon. Chaz’s single bed didn’t offer much room to begin with, so it didn’t take much effort to get close enough to be able to lean forward and press his forehead into Chaz’s chest.

The hand on his shoulder moved to his back, and Moxxied sighed again.

“I mean it, y’know,” Chaz continued, rubbing idle patterns into Moxxie’s back. “Call me whenever you want or need me.”

---

It’s been a few days, and Moxxie’s phone weighs heavy in his hand. It is both like and unlike Chaz to go this long without returning a phone call, and it frustrates Moxxie that he can’t read the situation properly. When he made the first call, he would have thought that Chaz would have jumped at the chance to talk to him again. But maybe he was right, and he has matured, and he’s off somewhere licking his wounds and knowing the less Moxxie hears or sees of him right now is for the better.

As much as Moxxie wishes that to be true, it’s more likely Chaz lost or broke his phone. It makes him sigh and frustration claws at him as he pulls up Chaz’s number again to glare at it.

“Just answer the goddamn phone,” he mumbles before hitting dial.

He paces the hallway outside of I.M.P.’s office as the line rings.

With every pause between, anxiety grows bigger and heavier in his chest. In those few passing seconds, he almost always somehow manages to convince himself Chaz will pick up before the next ring.

He doesn’t pick up.

It goes to voicemail, again.

After pre-recorded Chaz does his bit and the beep sounds in his ear, a new voice speaks.

This mailbox is full and cannot accept any new messages.

And then, just like that, the line disconnects and the sound that leaves Moxxie is a stressed and strangled combination of a groan and a growl. The urge to throw his phone down the elevator shaft is strong, but he resists, shoving it into his pocket instead.

He can only hope that whenever Chaz gets to his voicemail, he’ll return his calls.

---

His phone had been aggressively reminding him he had a voicemail for the last day and a half. Before he had even looked at the notification when he first received it, he had known it was from Chaz. Who else could it have possibly been?

Though he wondered why Chaz would be calling him, he never questioned how he had come to know he was out of prison. The mob had their ways, and even if Chaz wasn’t part of the family, Moxxie could safely assume he was still kept within some of the know.

Some part of him felt childishly hopeful that finally listening to the message would absolve Chaz of any guilt or blame. There could be an apology waiting, an explanation of his true intentions.

The part of him that had been hardened during this whole ordeal, however, argued otherwise. He had trusted Chaz with everything he was and had, and for what? To be abandoned and betrayed, and made worthless in the face of monetary gain.

It’s what he got, he supposed, for becoming so closely entangled with someone from Greed. People from this ring only ever truly cared about themselves.

There was only some solace in knowing that if the shoe had been on the other foot, he never would have left Chaz behind.

He stared down at the offensive reminder and growled to himself. Maybe it would be best to just get it over with sooner rather than later at this rate. Putting it off for as long as he had already had kept him on edge and anxious.

Before he could second-guess himself again, he begrudgingly opened the waiting message.

“Heeeey, you,” Chaz’s voice came through the phone loud and clear, crisp enough to cut. “Heard you got out. We should totally catch up. Me and the boys have been missing you—”

Moxxie hated that he was blushing, but he hated the message even more at the moment. It was a brash decision, but he ended the call before the rest could play, deleting it entirely seconds later. He doubted he would be missing anything, assuming fairly confidently the remainder of the message to be a slew of crude babbling with no remorse to be found.

He’d never return the call.

---

“Are you seriously gonna try calling that asshole again?”

Blitz means well, but that doesn’t soften the blow of his question any. Moxxie feels a rush of guilt and shame at being caught staring at his phone and at Chaz’s name again, but he can’t and hasn’t been able to help himself. He wishes he could say it’s not like Chaz to go days without answering his phone, as though that would provide some sort of a better reason for his persistence, but it is.

So all Moxxie has left to blame is himself. Again. At Chaz’s expense.

“I know, I know,” he sighs, looking away from the phone and over to Blitz. Blitz’s expression is surprisingly soft, if not a little concerned. “I just… wish I could get through to him.”

Blitz snorts. “I think that ship sailed, and sank, years ago.”

Moxxie glowers at him weakly, but Blitz grins back, shrugging one shoulder.

“I’m just saying… Well, the same thing Millie’s been saying. It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it. Probably.”

Moxxie’s features soften despite his mild aggravation. “I know,” he agrees, “but I… have to try. At least one more time.” His brow furrows as a wave of determination comes over him. “And if he doesn’t answer, then… I guess that’s it.”

“Just send him a wall of text like a normal person and call it a day,” Blitz says, only half kidding as he walks on by Moxxie. He spares a quick hair ruffle before disappearing into his office.

Of course, Blitz wouldn’t know Moxxie’s already tried to text him. None of them have been read. And though he’s tried to ignore it, there’s been something small and awful gnawing away at his heart that makes him feel as though they never will be.

He glances in Loona’s direction, for once grateful to see she’s immersed in her phone.

He clicks on Chaz’s name, hits dial, and waits.

It rings one and a half times before there’s a beep sound and then a robotic voice speaks.

We’re sorry. The number you are calling has been disconnected or is no longer in service.

#helluva boss #helluva boss chaz #chaz thurman #chazwick thurman #moxxie #chaxxie #fanfic

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