Chapter Text
Angel had a lot of clothes. Maybe most people knew him from when he wasn't wearing any of them, but he had a whole wardrobe full, a really big one even. Everything from suits to gala gowns to cozy hoodies.
But somehow, somehow, he didn’t have any good leather jackets.
He owned leather of course, come on now, but only the skintight, sexy kind, not the heavy, punkrock kind that he had promised Cherri to wear tonight, so that they would match for her birthday bar crawl, slash ‘tear shit up’-crawl. He knew she’d say it wasn’t a gig deal if he wore something else, and it probably wasn’t, but it was his best friend’s birthday! And he had promised. He had been so busy the whole week that he didn’t have time to go buy a new one, and it was too late now, they were gonna meet up in just over two hours. Ugh!
Completely over himself, Angel dragged his legs across the hotel’s lobby, and also living room, to flop face-down into the couch. He would have to do something to make up for it to Cherri, get her some hunk-guy coated in drugs or whatever.
“Why so glum?” Angel almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice that rang out beside him. He did jump out of the couch, letting out an ‘oof!’ as his back collided with the carpeted floor. Could this day get any worse? He opened his eyes and unsurprisingly found himself face to face with the amused grin belonging to hell’s biggest fan of sneaking up on people.
“We gotta put a bell on you, you’re gonna give someone a heart attack one day.” Alastor barked a laugh at that and Angel’s world turned around once again as a creepy, shadowy tentacle wrapped around his middle to lift him back onto the couch.
“You are very welcome to give it a try.” Alastor flashed his scary-looking teeth in a wide smile as a warning, before primly sitting down in one of the armchairs opposite the couch. Yeah, anyone trying to force him into wearing something would most definitely lose an arm.
“So, why the pitiful display?” Angel chewed on the inside of his cheek. Couldn’t hurt to vent a bit, even if anything related to Alastor usually ended in some kinda disaster. He sat up on the couch, only to slouch back in it defeatedly, arms thrown out in all directions.
“It’s Cherri’s birthday and I promised to match by wearin’ a cool, punkrock leather jacket, but I only got the tight, sexy ones. Not really life-threatenin’ but still, she’s gonna be disappointed!” He groaned, starting up his sulking-session all over and threw his head back against the couch to stare up at the ceiling. Alastor hummed.
“You can borrow mine if you’d like.” What. He silently stared at the mysterious stain in the ceiling for a moment longer, before he whipped his back up and gave Alastor a bewildered look.
“You have a leather jacket? A punkrock one?” Alastor looked happy as always, but his grin even widened a bit now, so guess he was giddier than usual.
“Yes! Or well, it’s not exactly mine, it belonged to a previously contracted soul, who unfortunately found himself on fire one day.” He turned his eyes down to inspect his claws, looking very not-innocent. Angel raised an eyebrow with a snort of laughter.
“Gee, wonder how that happened?” The most definite murderer looked up at his sarcasm, red eyes wide and amused.
“Me too! Anyhoo, I took the liberty to raid his house, since I now was short of a soul and all, and found a so-called leather jacket. While it’s not my usual attire, as you can see…”, He gestured a hand to his red suit he wore almost literally every day, before throwing it out to his side, “…it was rather lovely! So I figured that it might come in handy sometime.” He threw out his other hand and made applause thunder around in the room.
“And I was right! So would you like to borrow it? It’s rather short cut, so I believe it would work even with all the extra limbs.” Angel had gotten used to Alastor’s sound effects by now, as well as his flair for dramatics, so the applause didn’t faze him. But the offer did cause some mental alarms to go off.
“Uh.“ Talk about dilemma. On one hand, fuck yeah, his problem was solved. On the other hand, the risk that this jacket was made of some kind of cannibal leather instead of the usual leather was kinda big. Angel looked up at Alastor who only smiled back.
“Can I see it first?”
“Certainly!” Alastor didn’t move a muscle, so they sat and stared at each other in silence for a while.
“So we gonna go look at it, or…?” Angel threw a thumb towards the stairway up to their rooms. Alastor tilted his head, before he brightened in understanding and leaned back into the armchair.
“Oh, it’s at home.” It took a minute until Angel realized that ‘home’ wasn’t his weird swamp room on the second floor that Angel had been in once, but his secret apartment. Alright, it wasn’t secret but it might as well be, no one at the hotel had ever been in it. It was a well-used gossip topic between him and Charlie. So guess no leather jacket then, Angel couldn’t help but to be a bit disappointed. He was on the verge to leave, when Alastor suddenly flew up from his seat and pulled Angel up by the hand as well.
“But you’re right, why sit here and waste time? Off we go!“ Shadows started to swirl around them, and not a fucking” chance that he was gonna use that kinda transportation system ever again. He flailed his hands around frantically.
“Hang on Al, wait, wait!” Alastor looked up at him quizzically as the shadows thankfully disappeared back into the floor. Angel let out a sigh of relief before fixing the other with an attempt at a stern look.
“Not the shadows. I know ya like your emo stuff,” Alastor rolled his eyes at that, the sassy bitch, “but I gotta be in tip-top shape for this party night, alright? Can’t go round throwin’ up everywhere.” That increased the level of sass to life-threatening levels, as Alastor gave him a look” and raised an eyebrow, continuing in a voice dry as sand.
“Isn’t that something a lot of people do at your ‘party nights’?” Angel was stunned for a second before waving his hands at him.
“Alright, fair, they do, but not from bein’ thrown around the whole city in a freaky, tentacle-y void.” Alastor kept quiet for a moment, still looking extremely unimpressed, before he let out a ‘tsk’.
“How dull. Have it your way then, but this is going to take an unnecessary amount of time.” Alastor made way for the front door with his hands clasped behind his back and Angel followed him, easily catching up with his long legs.
“I’ll take the extra minutes to spare my stomach.” Alastor sighed wearily.
“More like hours.” He couldn’t help but snort a laugh at the pure suffering in his voice.
“Alright, cool it with the dramatics.” Alastor looked up at him with an offended expression, hand on his chest.
“Me? Dramatic? Perish the thought!”
And then, he found himself in the hotel limo on his way to Alastor’s fucking apartment. He was a bit in shock, since he never thought he’d be allowed to step foot in it. The quiet between them only made him more jittery, so he just threw out the first question he thought of.
“Who’s even drivin’ this thing?” Alastor looked around a bit before settling his eyes on the dark divider window with a tilt of his head.
“I’m not sure actually. I ate the last driver, so perhaps his spirit is lingering around, completing his purpose. What a drag, being stuck as a chauffeur and not even able to crash the car.” Alright, not a great start. But maybe he had a good reason for it, like defending the hotel or something.
“Why did ya eat him?” Alastor gave him a shrug.
“I was peckish, and he was there.” Yeah, what did he expect, this was Alastor after all. He relaxed into his seat with a sigh, spreading his arms out over the back. Another question appeared suddenly, and he turned to Alastor with a smirk.
“Should I be honored to see the mystical Radio Demon’s apartment? Or wait, it’s an old, creepy castle with a moat and all, ain’t it?” The other hummed in amusement.
“No moat in sight I’m afraid, though I will be sure to pitch the idea the next time Vox chooses to listen to me. Unfortunately, those moments are rather rare.” Right, bossman was living there as well, he had forgotten about that.
“Not too sure that Mr. Sleek and Modern would jump in joy at the plan.” Alastor huffed a laugh and shook his head as he looked out of the window.
“Right you are.”
It wasn’t a long drive, Angel would guess that they were on the edge of the Entertainment District, but his sense of direction was pretty shitty so he wouldn’t bet on it. To make a point, or look cool or whatever, Alastor opted to get out of the car by shadow-teleportation instead of just opening the door. Angel stepped out on the sidewalk to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at him, who only grinned back smugly before making his way up to the building in front of them. Angel turned his eyes towards it, and didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved over how not-haunted it looked. He followed Alastor with his hands in his pockets, stepping through the front door that the other held open for him.
A silent elevator ride later and they stood outside the Radio Demon’s front door. It hit Angel then again, and he suddenly felt a bit nervous, looking both ways down the empty hall paranoidly.
Alastor didn’t notice his spiral and reached for the doorhandle. But he suddenly stopped mid-air and got a really weird look on his face, as if he just remembered something. It was unnerving to see him look anything but manically happy, so Angel’s nervousness increased tenfold. Why the fuck had he agreed to this?! But a small part of him, a really nosy part, couldn’t help but to be curious about how Alastor’s home looked, so he stayed put. For now.
He started to rethink that decision as Alastor suddenly unfroze and turned to him, still smiling but eyebrows furrowed.
“You might want to avert your eyes. I’m not completely sure what will greet us on the other side of the door.” Horrible, gory images flooded his brain and he was about to turn on his heel and leave, Cherri would understand. But before he could run away Alastor continued under his breath, in what could only be described as an exasperatedly fond sigh.
“Or in what state of dress it will be in.” Wait, what?
“Huh?” Like a switch flipped, the weird look was gone from Alastor’s eyes and his grin was back in full force.
“On the other hand, you’ve most likely seen worse!” With that he reached for the handle again and threw the door open before Angel could so much as breathe, not to talk about mentally preparing himself for whatever he was about to see.
He expected corpses, severed limbs and blood staining every inch of the apartment. What he did not expect, was the sound of sultry music and Marvin Gaye’s smooth voice to meet them.
He felt like he just took a punch to the stomach from the overwhelming smell of flowers. And then his eyes took a hit as well. They were all over the place, everywhere he looked there were blood-colored roses covering the room from floor to ceiling.
Something else that he did not expect to see, ever, was for Vox to stand in the middle of the whole greenhouse, studying his claws as he leant on the back of a rose-covered couch, completely fucking shirtless.
“Heya A-“ That was as far as he got before he looked up with a very DTF leer, noticed Angel’s presence and promptly let out a loud, surprisingly high-pitched, shriek.
The music cut off with a record scratch, even though it was playing from what looked like a very expensive speaker. Gotta be Vox’s doing then, jesus, these two were like walking soundboards. But Angel was too stunned by the scene before him to give that a second thought, because what the actual fuck was going on? He could see Alastor in the corner of his eye but the guy didn’t even look fazed, his grin had widened if anything while he looked at Vox with amused eyes, one eyebrow raised.
“Angel!” Vox’s eyes flickered down to his own bare chest, before they shot back up to Angel’s baffled expression and he quickly crossed his arms to try and cover himself, screen glowing from his digital blush. His nonna would’ve smacked him upside the head and told him it was rude to stare, but jeez, since when did Vox have such good-looking arms? His confused gawking was interrupted as Alastor suddenly threw his hands out theatrically and let a trumpet fanfare ring out into the dead silent room.
“I’m home! And Angel is here as well.” Another beat of silence, before Vox’s shocked expression turned into a scowl, though he was still blushing a whole lot.
“Yeah, I can see that, you couldn’t have warned me through the signals or something?” Alastor magically removed and hung up his coat with a flick of his wrist before he walked up to Vox, hands behind his back.
“I could have! But then I would’ve missed out on your darling little reactions, now wouldn’t I?” Vox’s scowl deepened at that, but he leaned his head so that Alastor could kiss his… cheek? Side part of his screen? Whatever, he had thought enough about Vox’s weirdly hot anatomy during the last minute to last him a lifetime.
Alastor drew back to look around the rose-covered room with a relaxed smile, humming in thought before he patted Vox’s shoulder twice.
“At least you didn’t overdo it.” Angel searched his voice after a single little trace of sarcasm, but came back empty-handed. Which meant that he was fucking serious. That snapped him out of his shock, he took a step into the room and let out his third pair of arms to gesture with all six hands towards, fuck, everything, because in what kinda world was this a normal level of doing something?
“How is this not overdoin’ it?” The media demons turned to him as one, Alastor with the same kind of exasperation from earlier and Vox with genuine confusion.
“What, this?” Vox waved a hand around the room, while very smoothly snaking the other around Alastor’s waist to pull him a bit closer to his side. Angel was in the middle of mentally applauding his moves when Vox gave him an unimpressed look.
”Haven’t you ever heard about giving your lover flowers? Where’s your sense of romance, Webs?” Alastor snorted a laugh as Angel sent Vox a matching unimpressed look back while resting the lower set of hands on his hips.
“Course I have, but not a whole fucking garden!” Vox opened his mouth to somehow argue about his correct opinion, but Alastor cut him off and sent Angel a weary look.
“You should have heard about the original plan.” Angel couldn’t help but to be a bit curious. Vox eagerly grinned with all his teeth as he whipped his head to Alastor, who looked back with an even wearier expression than before.
“I can still set it up, if you’ve changed yo-
“No.”, Vox deflated, “And we would have been in a frightfully more compromising situation here if you had gone through with it.” Vox’s eyes flickered over to him and his screen flushed a bit again. He looked back to Alastor as the other tapped a claw against his forehead with an affectionate smile.
“Luckily for everyone, you used that brain of yours and listened to me this time.” A matching smile, if even sappier, split Vox’s screen and he leaned forward a bit while rubbing his thumb back and forth at Alastor’s waist.
“I always listen to you.” Alastor raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.
“Only when I’m right.” Vox gently grabbed ahold of Alastor’s hand with his free one, grin crooked.
“Which is always.” Jesus Vox, you already married the guy, no need to charm his pants off. Oh, wait.
Alastor kept his pants on but looked majorly pleased as Vox kissed his hand, and then kept going, pressing smooches up Alastor’s arm like goddamn Casanova. Jesus, no wonder he had such an ego.
Angel wasn’t too sure on how he would react if these two were gonna fuck right in front of him. He toyed with the thought of just keeping quiet to be able to film the thing and send it to Val for a fat bonus, the moth was a bit too interested in these guys’ sex life. But, Al’s freaky camera-thing would make it unwatchable, and even if it wouldn’t he’d most likely get Vox’s possessive rage after him and he didn’t plan on getting electrocuted anytime soon. His fur would get all messed up. That settled it, so he waved a hand towards the pair while gesturing with two thumbs at the front door.
“If you two lovebirds are ’bout to get more freaky than usual I can leave y’know. I may be a pornstar but I ain’t no peeper!” Alastor looked up with a casual grin, like this was an everyday-situation. Angel was starting to suspect that this was an everyday-situation for him. Vox didn’t even react to his voice and kept on kissing, almost up at Al’s neck now, until he was pushed away with a red claw to the middle of his screen.
“No need! Do put a shirt on dear, it’s rather rude walking around in the bare with a guest and all.” The pair shared a look, most likely having a silent conversation through their little signal-system, before Vox made an annoyed sound. With dragging feet, he made his way down the hall and muttered a bit under his breath, making Alastor roll his eyes with a shake of his head. Angel snorted, looking after the sulking overlord before meeting Alastor’s amused eyes.
“Apologies, though as I said, I believe you have seen worse.” True, but this was definitely one of the more wild things he’s walked in on. He flashed him a grin anyway, waving off the concern.
“Right on the money, Smiles, though my films usually ain’t this sappy.” Alastor snorted before turning on his heel to walk down the hall as well.
“Come along now! It’s just down this way.” Now alone, Angel took the opportunity to have a better look around the room. It was a nice apartment, a really nice one, even when covered in flowers. Very open-spacey, the hallway was connected right into a big room with windows viewing over the city on the other side. There was a comfortable looking couch and some armchairs as well, and Angel was a bit surprised at how cozy, and ordinary, it looked. He had expected Vox to live in the peak of minimalism, all white walls and weird art, but apparently not. He trailed after Alastor into another room with a desk standing against the wall. Had to be Vox’s, since he had seen the one Alastor kept at the hotel and the overflowing chaos on this one did not match the pedantically ordered one he’d seen. After walking past a closed door, as well as an open one where he spotted a kitchen, they reached a third door at the end of the hall. Alastor opened it and stepped inside, Angel on his heel.
This room was smaller, and emptier, pretty much only a bookshelf and another desk standing against the right wall. Alastor’s from the look of it, all heavy, dark wood and neatly arranged pens. But no clothes from what he could tell. He cast a sideway glance at Alastor.
“Eh- not tryna tell you where your own stuff is, Al, but ain’t clothes usually kept in the bedroom? Not the…uh-“ He looked around the room to find a fitting name for it.
“Office?” Alastor huffed a laugh as he took a step further into the room and Angel followed beside him.
“Correct, I do keep my clothes in the bedroom, but I store the things I don’t use in here to keep it a bit more tidy.” Angel made an understanding sound, and then almost stumbled over his own feet in surprise as a faint blush bloomed over Alastor’s cheeks.
“Also, I don’t know how wise it is to go in there at the moment.” Angel was a bit stunned. What the hell could make the Radio Demon blush? While he was lost in thoughts, Alastor pressed a palm against the empty wall, muttering something under his breath. Thin threads of glowing green magic came to life, spreading from the tips of Alastor’s claws out over the wall. Angel leaned forward a bit to get a better look as the lines created swirly, complicated patterns, before taking the shape of a wooden door. Neat trick. He leaned back again as Alastor removed his hand from the hidden door, resting his lower hands on his cocked out hip.
“What’s the occasion for all the romance anyway? Coulda sworn your anniversary was in the spring.” Alastor sighed as he opened the door to what seemed to be some kind of attic, turned into a makeshift closet and just storage for all kinds of stuff.
“It is, but I’ve been informed that as of last week it’s expected to celebrate it every month. Legally expected even, if you’d believe it.” Angel barked a laugh at the dry look Alastor sent him over his shoulder.
“It is!” Vox’s voice rang through from the other room and he laughed again at the outrage. Alastor’s smile twitched as he rolled his eyes and disappeared into the closet. Not wanting to give his curiosity away too much, Angel stayed outside, leaning against the wall beside the desk.
“Guess we oughta expect a shortage in roses.” This time Vox’s answering voice came from the doorway as he walked into the room.
”Nah, don’t worry, can’t go around and make the same romantic gesture twice, can I?” His shirt was on this time, thankfully. A Voxtek-shirt, he couldn’t help but notice with a mental roll of his eyes. He strolled into the closet as well, to complete his trail of kisses judging from the loud ‘smack’ that rang out, only to be pushed back out by a red-clawed hand a second later.
“Behave, would you?” Vox walked over to the desk beside Angel with a grin, crossing his arms and leaning back against the edge of it. They stood in silence for a moment before Vox turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“Not to be rude, but why are you here? Think you’re the first guest we’ve ever had.” He suddenly furrowed his brows into a scowl, continuing under his breath before Angel had time to answer.
“First alive one that is.” Alastor’s head appeared from behind the door to send him an unimpressed look.
“Are you ever going to let that go?” Vox threw his hands up.
“No!”
“It’s been almost twenty years, I feel like you’re dragging it by now. It was a minor miscalculation.” He waved a hand in the air, looking up at the ceiling nonchalantly as Vox’s scowl deepened.
“Finding out that what I’ve been spooning, and kissing, in my sleep for half an hour isn’t my husband but actually a corpse, is not a ‘minor miscalculation’, Alastor.” Angel made a face, because eugh! In a lack of judgment he decided to back Vox up on this.
“Yeah, sorry Smiles, gotta agree with him on that one.” Vox waved his hands towards him in a ‘see!’-gesture. Alastor clicked his tongue before disappearing from view again.
“And you two call me dramatic.” Angel snorted at the ‘can you fucking believe this guy’-look Vox sent him, before Alastor’s voice rang out again from the closet.
“Dear Angel needs a leather jacket for the night, so I offered to lend him the one I acquired a couple of years ago from that long-legged fellow.” Vox furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
“Who?” It was quiet for a second before Alastor answered him.
“The one you set on fire.”
“Ah.” Huh, so apparently Alastor had been innocent. Or at least, innocent-er, Angel really doubted that he hadn’t been there to hand Vox the gasoline. In the corner of his eye he saw how Vox’s relaxed expression suddenly morphed into a wide, teasing, grin and he wiggled his eyebrows as he turned to him.
“Husk finally ask you out?” These two were such fucking gossips.
“What, no! Why would he-, no!” He flailed his hands around a bit and felt his face grow warmer. Smooth. He probably couldn’t have reacted less casually, and it only made Vox grin wider. How did he even know about his crush on Husk?! Angel hadn’t even known about it until two weeks ago after a sleepless night lost in thoughts. That fucking grin was gonna make him explode, he was here to borrow a jacket not get interrogated! He scrambled his brain after a way to change the subject, crossing his arms while narrowing his eyes.
“And what do you take me for, who wears a leather jacket on a date?” Vox’s grin immediately disappeared as a loud bark of laughter came from the closet.
“Who does, indeed.” Now Angel was the grinning one, raising his eyebrows at Vox who was scowling, screen glowing a bit brighter than before. He avoided Angel’s eyes before looking up with an annoyed groan.
“It was the eighties, alright, everyone looked ridiculous.” They really did, at least from the small pieces he could remember. Those years were a bit of a druggy blur to Angel, so he unfortunately missed any of past-Vox’s horrible fashion choices. He turned his head to the open door.
“Got a pic?” What was originally just a distraction from his own relationship status had turned into a prime blackmail-opportunity. Alastor’s head appeared from the doorway again, eyes sparkling in amusement.
“I do! You wouldn’t believe what terrible things he used to wea-“ He was in the middle of speeding out of the room when Vox flew up to grab onto the back of his shirt and drag him back inside, screen ablaze.
“No, we are not doing that! And the only reason I allowed you to save those was because you promised that they were for your eyes only!” He swirled them around and steered a snickering Alastor back into the closet. He went back to leaning against the desk with a shake of his head. The sound of Alastor rummaging around in the closet filled the silence, before Vox slowly turned to him again, grin just as teasing as before.
“Sooo are you gonna ask him out then?” He didn’t have any good distraction this time, but thankfully he didn’t need one, since Alastor’s shadow slithered out the door to throw a shirt over Vox’s head.
“Don’t be nosy.” Vox tugged the shirt off with a sound of disbelief, throwing it back at the shadow. It cackled silently as the shirt went right through it, before sneaking back inside to its host.
“Says the guy who spied on them last wee-“ Angel whipped his head around to Vox who cut himself off, eyes big as he realized his slip-up. He knew he spotted some weird shadow in the corner of his eye when Husk had him try out a new drink for him. Alastor appeared with a thick leather jacket in his hands, closing the closet door as he gave Vox a deadpan look.
“Yes, because you begged me to do so, and that was the last time I did anything for you, so I hope it was worth it.” Trying to act indifferent, Vox sniffed before crossing his arms again and muttered.
“Not like it was needed, I just wanted to confirm my theories.” Angel stared at him and was on the verge to ask him what the hell his ’theories’ were about, when the jacket was shoved into his hands. He’d have to interrogate Vox later. The leather jacket really was a ’heavy punkrock’ one and he held it up in front of him to get a better look. The black leather was thick, with silver zippers and studs along the collar. Alastor had been right, it would definitely work with his arms if he retracted his middle pair. He looked away from the jacket to send Alastor a bright smile.
”This looks fucking perfect! You sure I can borrow it?” Alastor gave him a nod, hands behind his back.
”Certainly, I wouldn’t have offered otherwise. As a matter of fact, keep it, I don’t have any use for it.” He was about to refuse, because this thing looked expensive, but Alastor had already brushed past him to saunter down the hall. Vox snorted at his baffled expression, before he straightened up and sent him a grin.
”There’s no arguing with that tone, so it’s yours whether you like it or not, Webs.” The TV-demon patted his shoulder before walking after his husband with his hands in his pocket. Left alone, Angel turned his eyes to the jacket again to have another look. His jacket, apparently. A small smile appeared on his face at the thought. Carefully folding it over his arm, he followed the other two back back to the hallway, somehow resisting the urge to have a peek inside their bedroom.
He stood by the front door a minute later and was on the verge to say goodbye to them both, when Alastor interrupted him.
“I’m coming with you.” Vox whipped his head to Alastor with a crestfallen expression as Angel raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
“I need to retrieve my things at the hotel anyway and it would be quite rude to teleport ahead. If you haven’t had a change of heart, that is?” Shadows crawled towards them as Alastor’s smile turned sharp. Like hell that he had. Angel glared a bit and Alastor chuckled before waving a hand to make the shadows disappear.
Vox looked physically hurt as Alastor magically put on his coat again. He noticed his husband’s state then and huffed a laugh.
”Don’t look so blue, cher, I’ll be back in a flash.” The (terrible) double-pun made Vox snort and Angel sigh. Alastor walked up to Vox with a teasing grin, flicking the bottom of his screen with a claw as Vox rested his hands on his waist.
“I’ll even pretend to be surprised this time.” Vox rolled his eyes with a smile as Alastor leaned forward to give him a peck goodbye. He patted Vox’s chest twice, before stepping out of the embrace and making way towards the door.
Angel was about to send Vox a goodbye as well, when the TV-Demon’s eyes flashed with something dangerous and a sharp grin split his screen. A second later he reached out and grabbed onto Alastor’s wrist to yank him backwards. Alastor made a sound of surprise, which was quickly muffled as Vox spun him into a dramatic dip and gave him what looked like a very passionate kiss, literal sparks flying around them.
Angel walked out the door and closed it behind him with an amused roll of his eyes, leaning on the wall beside it to scroll on his phone until that was done with.
Ten minutes later the door opened and Alastor joined him out in the hallway, looking proper and smiley as always. Except there was a bite mark peeking out from under his collar and his hair was a bit staticky, ears looking fluffier than usual. Angel gave him a smirk, which expectedly went ignored as Alastor started to trail down the hallway, microphone clutched behind his back while whistling a cheery little tune through his teeth.
The limo stood right where they had left it, untouched. Angel started to believe the theory that a ghost or whatever was driving, because they had barely closed the door before it pulled away from the side of the road and made way towards the hotel. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Alastor looking out the window while Angel carefully traced his fingers over the seams of the jacket in his lap. Never one to miss an opportunity for some teasing, he looked up at the other with a grin.
“Got any tips on how to keep the flame of passion alive after almost fifty years of marriage?” Alastor turned to him, with a matching teasing grin.
“Why, are you planning on getting married anytime soon? Anyone I know?” So that backfired. He really should stop challenging Alastor to sass-off’s, he didn’t have a chance.
“Oh, fuck you.” The other hummed before resting tilting his head.
“I’d rather prefer it if you didn’t! Vox is quite possessive, as you might be aware of.” Yeah, it was kinda hard to miss. Although…
“What, so you’d be interested if he wasn’t in the picture?” Alastor huffed a laugh at the over-the-top flirty voice he plastered on jokingly.
”Afraid I have to disappoint. I seem to like my men a bit more… square-headed.” Angel dropped the theatrics and relaxed in his seat, leaning his cheek against his propped up hand.
“Well, I like mine grumpy and a lot more furry, so we’re probably best off as friends.” A small cheering sound filled the car as Alastor grinned with amused eyes.
“Couldn’t agree more! And I’ll be sure not to tell any nosy televisions that first part.” Angel didn’t believe that for a second, you told one media demon something and the other knew it by the next hour, but it was kinda nice of him to say it. Alastor turned his head to gaze out the window again, looking less manic than usual.
“To answer your earlier question, no, not really. I don’t know the slightest thing about relationships.” Angel frowned in confusion.
“But you’ve been in one for almost half a century, isn’t that-” Alastor had turned back to him as he spoke and held up a hand to cut him off. Angel snapped his mouth shut and silently waited for the other to continue. Alastor’s smile twitched a bit.
“I know a whole lot about Vox, as well as my relationship with him, but I really don’t think that our way of doing things would be beneficial for you. Or any other person for that matter.” Huh. Alastor trailed his fingers over his microphone, following the motion with his eyes.
“I love him and he loves me, that’s it really, if you need something for the record.” Angel smiled softly down at the jacket in his lap. That was weirdly sweet.
“And his blood tastes exquisite, so there’s that as well.” And now it was less sweet. Alastor cackled as Angel threw a plastic champagne glass at him.
The jacket fitted great, Cherri was going to love it. He turned from side to side in front of the mirror in the hotel lobby, grinning to himself.
“It suits you!”
“Jesus-“ He clutched at his chest, swirling around towards the sudden voice. His wide eyed expression turned into a scowl as he was once again met by Alastor’s grin, and he let his arms fall to his sides.
“Fuck, Al seriously, you gotta stop that, or I’ll force Vox to put a bell on you, in hope that you like his hands too much to eat them.” The other rolled his eyes with a snicker, trailing off towards the couch to lean against the back of it. Angel followed him and put his hands in his pockets, sending Alastor a sharp grin.
“You’re welcome to join if ya want, Cherri would be over the fucking moon at havin’ the Radio Demon at her birthday night.” Alastor chuckled before shaking his head.
“Tempting, but perhaps another time. I have a…”, He looked up at the ceiling in thought for a second, before meeting Angel’s eyes again with an amused grin, “…five hundred twenty third-monthly anniversary to get back to.” His amusement suddenly disappeared and he furrowed his eyebrows with a sigh.
“And I’m dreading that the longer I leave dear Vox by himself, the higher the risk gets that he goes through with his original idea. Or that he comes up with something even more ridiculous.” The mix of overwhelming curiosity and having warmed up to the other, Angel decided to risk asking.
“What was it?”
“Hm?”
“The original plan.” For the second time that night, and ever, he saw the Radio Demon blush a bit, even if he tried to hide it by looking down to inspect his claws.
“I really don’t think that’s suitable for your impressionable ears.” Angel snorted a laugh, because that wasn’t something he heard often. Alastor sniffed before straightening up and brushing off his coat, grin in place.
“Send Miss Cherri my birthday wishes, I have no doubt that it will be a blast!” Canned laughter filled the lobby as Angel gave him a smile and a mock-salute.
“You got it, Smiles. And thanks again, for the jacket. And a very entertainin’ home visit.” Alastor waved a dismissive hand at him.
“The door’s open for you, would you need something. Although, perhaps not tonight, I can only stall for so long until Vox blows a fuse. Patience isn’t his biggest strength.” He barked a laugh at that as Alastor took a step towards the door, shadows swirling around his shoes to teleport him back home. Angel waved him off.
“Hope ya keep the neighbors up!” Alastor turned back around to send him a bright grin.
“Ha! They fled the scene thirty years ago, so unfortunately not an option. Good night, Angel!” With that he melted into his shadows, glowing grin remaining visible for a moment longer until he vanished completely and left Angel standing in the lobby with a grin of his own. Dramatic fucker.
The bar was packed, smelling of smoke and alcohol as Angel pushed his way through the crowd of chattering demons. He spotted Cherri sitting at the bar, hair spiky and in a leather jacket of her own. With a smirk he sneaked up beside her, leaning against the bardisk on his elbow.
“Heya birthday girl, heard someone was lookin’ for a good time?” She whipped her head around at the sound of his voice, a happy grin spreading across her face.
“Angie! Was just wondering were you-“ She cut herself off as she got a better look at his outfit.
“Woah-ho, nice leather there cool-guy!” She reached out to tug a bit on the jacket, eye sparkling. He stepped back to do a proud little spin before leaning back on the bar.
“Thanks! It’s Alastor’s. He sends a ‘happy birthday’ by the way.” His grin grew as her eye widened in shock, and she leaned forward herself to fix him with a look.
“Hang on, what?! You’re wearing the Radio Demon’s leather jacket? I didn’t know he had more than two outfits.” He barked a laugh as he shook his head.
“Me neither, but he’s got a whole bunch. He stole it from someone he killed. Or that Vox killed, it was kinda vague.” She ran a finger along the studded collar and let out an impressed whistle.
“That’s so fucking cool, ya think he’s got any other murder-loot to share?” He didn’t have time to respond before she furrowed her brow in confusion and continued.
“Hang on, if it ain’t his, how d’ya know he’s got more than two outfits then?” This was gonna be good. He leaned forward even closer to stage whisper to her.
“I saw his closet.” One of them at least. Cherri slammed her hand down on the bar, eye widening further.
“No.”
“At his apartment.”
“No!”
“And Vox shirtless.”
“What?!”
“They fucked in front of me.” Cherri let out a loud screech which made the closest people around give them weird looks. Angel leaned back and waved a hand at her with a laugh.
“Nah, that one was a lie, but I thought they would for a sec!” Cherri was almost vibrating in excitement, desperate to hear the whole story.
“And I’ll tell ya aaall about it, think of it as an extra birthday present. But first I really need a shot. Or five. In one giant glass.”
“Comin’ right up!” Cherri leaned forward to order their drinks and Angel sat down in the barstool beside her. He fingered a bit with his sleeves, happy over how the night turned out. Maybe he would take Alastor up on that invite, it had been surprisingly fun. In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a weirdly shaped shadow, but when he turned his head to get a better look it was gone. He stared at the wall a bit longer, until Cherri slammed an overflowing drink down in front of him, almost spilling over the rim. He turned back to her with a grin, launching right into telling her about his weirdly fun, and fucking crazy night, fingers rubbing along the seams of his new leather jacket the whole time.