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Angel fumbled with his key as he swiped it to unlock the door to his room, so exhausted that he flopped down immediately onto his bed upon reaching it. Today had been another one for the books at work, long shoots, and an even longer line of co-stars to film with. They were a blur of faces and Angel just couldn’t give enough of a shit to care about their names or anything, especially not when he was this tired.
He * had managed to make time to stop and see his favorite bartender, though. Husker always did manage to make a shitty day better, even without serving Angel alcohol (although the drinks helped).
Husk had made some remarks about him overworking himself, but Angel had waved his words away. It was just part of the job in his industry. He couldn’t very well have climbed to the top of pornstar fame if he hadn’t been willing to get on top of as many people as possible. And under, and behind, and any other position he could think of. Husk hadn’t nagged him about it after that, but Angel— he appreciated his concern. He was beginning to be able to read Husk’s facial expressions better the more he stuck around him. He could see pretty well through that perpetual frown of his and his gruff demeanor. The grumpy cat did have a heart down in his depths, and Angel couldn’t help but see it coming through the longer he looked.
But looking had turned into staring, and staring for too long was a no-go. Angel couldn’t risk Husk noticing and catching on. He had to be more covert about things. Try to play it off like a joke because that was what he always had done with Husk. That way Angel could tell him in his own time, in his own way how much Husk was starting to mean to him.
Letting out a groan, he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, standing and stripping off his clothes from the day and throwing them into the bathroom, almost landing them in the basket but not quite. He’d deal with that later.
Angel then made sure to find the perfect sleepwear for tonight in his drawer, clutching the garments in one of his sets of hands and making his way over to his makeup table to sit before it.
Now was when Angel typically began to remove his makeup for bed, part of his comforting nightly process. However, tonight was another one in his new plan to get that damn bartender to come up here for some alone time.
Angel had thought it was foolproof. All he had to do was ‘forget’ something downstairs at the bar and Husk would have to bring it back up to his room. Then, when he knocked on the door, Angel could ‘just so happen’ to be in the middle of going to bed, and Husk could ‘coincidentally’ get a peek at Angel in his most risque sleepwear. He’d play coy and dumb about losing his item (“good thing my head’s attached * soft sultry chuckle *”) and then invite Husk inside for a nightcap or just a chat.
That is… he had * thought it was foolproof, but the dumbass wasn’t taking the bait, and Angel would be re-damned if he wasn’t using all of his best bait. Tonight was his third attempt, so he had to pull out all the stops. Sheer silver and white negligee, check. * Just enough makeup to look like he was in the middle of taking it off but still looked on-point, check. Pink glitter silk robe he could throw on and have it artfully slip down just as he answered the door, check. It had better work this time.
Fat Nuggets snorted curiously around his feet as he sat before his mirror and Angel absentmindedly scratched the pig’s ears and between his horns. Thinking about the last time he’d tried to get that feline friend of his alone this way. Angel had been all dolled up and ready to give Husk his best ‘Oh I’m so grateful, won’t you come in?’ act only for him to open the door and for Husk to just drop Angel’s bag into his hand and walk away without comment.
Angel frowned at the memory, it had happened similarly the first time he’d attempted this whole thing.
“Okay Nuggz,” he spoke in part to his pig but mostly to himself. “If it don’t work this time I’ll just have to think about trying something else.”
He heard Fat Nuggets make a small squeak, now chewing on a makeup sponge that Angel had to take away from him in case the pig ate it. Once Angel had wrestled it away from him he sat back down on the edge of his bed, letting out a frustrated sigh.
“I don’t know what, but I must be doing something wrong,” he said out loud. “Charlie had that whole talk about ‘boundaries’ with us and I * thought I was doing pretty good, ya know?”
Nuggz was now sniffing around his food bowl for any crumbs left of his dinner.
“I’ve laid off on the gettin’ handsy with Husk. I’ve tried to cool it with the ‘inappropriate’ jokes. But what else can I do? I feel like I’m practically throwing myself at the guy and he’s just dodging me every time.”
Nuggz snorted again, coming over to lick Angel’s foot.
“Yeah, you’re right, maybe he’s just not interested. Maybe I’m making myself look like an idiot even trying.”
He bit his lip, heart sinking at the thought that he just might be trying for something Husk didn’t want. And if anyone knew about unwanted advances, it was Angel. He couldn’t handle the idea of being * that guy… not to Husker.
Sighing again, he glanced up at his reflection in the mirror at his makeup table. He looked gorgeous, per usual, but inside Angel just wasn’t feeling it. He felt like he really was making an idiot out of himself. Look at him, all dolled up again for a man who would most likely just knock and leave tonight’s ‘lost’ item at the door, not even stopping to see him open it this time.
Wait , he thought, did I even leave anything this time?
He wracked his brain but couldn’t remember purposefully hiding anything conspicuously for Husk to find later tonight. Maybe he * hadn’t remembered to do it this time, and Husk wasn’t gonna be coming by at all. That made him frown even deeper because… then he was all gussied up for no damn reason.
“Oh, fuck this,” he muttered and stormed over to his makeup chair to slam himself down on it, beginning to wipe off the makeup with fervor. No soft wipes and easygoing tonight, he had to get this shit off before he started to feel even worse. His face was heating up and he could even feel hot, angry tears forming in his eyes, but he wiped them away before they had a chance to fall.
“I’m just going to go to bed, I give up,” he announced as Nuggz - upon hearing the word ‘bed’ - waddled up to it and climbed up to its foot.
Angel threw off the silk robe and pulled the negligee over his head, now rising to rummage through his drawers for his * real sleep attire. Tonight, he had wanted Husker’s comfort, but failing that, he was gonna make himself as comfy as possible himself.
It was getting late, and Husk was closing up the bar as he always did, making a final scan for anything that needed restocking and wiping down the bar one last time.
He was nearly done when he heard the musical chime of someone’s text notification. He knew it couldn’t be his own phone (he always kept it on silent) but he could take a wild guess since he knew exactly who the last person at the bar had been.
Sure enough - there on the stool next to the one he’d been sitting on - was Angel’s phone.
Husk rolled his eyes, “Here we go again,” he grumbled. This had to be the third time in the last couple of days that Angel had ‘forgotten’ something at the bar. First, it’d been his sunglasses, not a big deal, then the next time his whole bag. Still not suspicious exactly. But tonight, it was his phone. Now this time that * had to be intentional.
Husk could see through both of Angel’s last attempts, when he’d been nice enough to return the lost items Angel had been ‘on his way to bed’ and opened up the door in some form of gaudy lingerie that didn’t leave much to the imagination. Seeing the blatantness for what it was, Husk had merely given Angel back what he’d left and gone with only a muttered ‘Night’.
To Angel’s credit, Husk thought he appeared to have taken Charlie’s latest lesson to heart, with emphasis on the word ‘appeared’. Sure, the guy wasn’t making quite as many flirty innuendos aimed Husk’s way, and he was keeping all of his hands to himself these days. But it was shit like this where Angel thought he was being oh-so-subtle that clued Husk in that he wasn’t done playing with him.
He didn’t like being toyed with, he got enough of that from that fucker the radio demon. If Angel genuinely wanted to make a connection with him, Husk was all for it, but this brazen display to get his attention just felt like more of his charade. It didn’t feel like he was being real with him.
The Angel who looked out for his friends, who was kind even when he wasn’t thinking about it— and who looked at him like Husk was something special when he didn’t think anybody was watching (because Husk was always watching)--- that was the Angel he wanted to see more often.
He had to say something, or this whole game of Angel’s might just keep going on. This was going to be the last time Husk would march upstairs to return something for him only for Angel to do his sexy little honeypot trap. He grabbed the phone over the counter and left the bar, heading out of the lobby for the stairs. He could have used the elevator, or even his wings, but Husker needed a little more time to think about exactly what he was going to say when Angel opened the door this time.
As he marched up the stairs, Angel’s small pink phone in his claws, he went over how he could word his frustrations that didn’t involve using the term ‘sexy-ass bullshit’ or anything like it. The more he mulled it over, the more he assumed that Angel thought Husk should be flattered. And he was— in a way. Because if this * wasn’t some game of his, this might be Angel’s way of telling Husk how he felt without actually saying it.
Well, then why the fuck didn’t he just say it? Why play games with him? It didn’t make him look alluring to Husk in the least. It made him look— he didn’t even want to think it, but there it was - it made him look like the disingenuous, loose flirt Angel portrayed in his movies. And Husk knew better, he’d seen past Angel’s mask and he knew the man he really was underneath. Maybe that was why Angel seemed to be doubling down on the fake shit… it was easier than being real and vulnerable with another person.
And Husk was going to say exactly that, to his face. The moment Angel opened his door Husk would plant his feet and just let him have it. He wouldn’t tiptoe around to spare his feelings this time, Angel was going to be real with him or he was going to stop this, either way Husk would return his phone and they’d part ways in the hallway.
It didn’t matter to him just how long Angel had taken to get himself all done up just for him, that wasn’t why he was there, and he could ignore all of that.
He reached Angel’s door and pounded on it with his free hand curled into a fist. He was riling himself up and he didn’t care what Angel had to say because that flirt was going to listen this time. He took a breath when he heard Angel unlocking the door and taking off the chain. He was ready to just start in on him as Angel opened the door—
But the room was dim from the inside, the only light was a small lamp on Angel’s nightstand, and the Angel Dust before Husk wasn’t at all what he’d expected. He found all the frustration inside him dissipating in an instant.
Angel looked still half asleep, eyes half closed and with absolutely no makeup to hide the eye bags from his long, stressful day. His hair was uncombed, sticking out in all directions, wearing a sweatshirt much too oversized for his slender frame and long socks that were falling down his legs. He recognized the sweatshirt as one Charlie had had specially made for him to accommodate all of his arms, with a pink outline of a pig on the front.
“Fuck, Husk… what?” Angel asked, his voice raspy and full of sleep.
Husk’s words got caught in his throat, choking him into speechlessness at the sight of him. His eyes looked Angel from messy hair to droopy-socked feet. He finally let out a breath but still found no words to go with it. This was the least put-together he had ever seen Angel the entire time he’d known him.
And it was taking his breath away.
He found himself staring, giving Angel a moment to open his eyes further and frown at him standing at his door.
“What?” Angel asked, more confused than annoyed now. Husk blinked and his ears drooped slightly, he quickly shoved the phone out in front of him wordlessly to Angel.
Angel glanced down at the phone, taking it gently from him.
“Oh, wow, thanks,” he said, looking down at the phone with a smile and turning to go back inside.
Angel was about to close the door when Husk thrust his arm out to block him from doing so. He’d done that without thinking, but at least he found he could speak again.
“Uh— mind if I come in for a minute?”
Angel turned back to face him, gazing into his eyes with some suspicion. He seemed to ponder the question for a moment, one eyebrow raising.
“Seriously?” he asked. “You really wanna come inside?”
“Only if you want me to,” Husk said, a coyness he had not expected seeping into his tone.
He appeared to consider Husk’s response, looking into his eyes again to be sure he was serious. Angel then chuckled as a sleepy smile crept up his face.
Angel answered him by opening the door wide and stepping aside, holding one of his hands out for Husk to come in.