Work Text:
Husk is going to shoot himself. He's been cleaning the same glass for about five minutes while he stares daggers at the spindly rabbit demon playing the piano. Guy had large enough ears, how the hell could he not hear how badly he was playing? He'd only been served one or two drinks, so it couldn't even be blamed on the liquor. He's about ready to kick the guy out when he hears a sudden jolt of electricity and immediately glances over to Vox's usual seat at the bar. He barely gets out a 'hello' before Vox is leaning forward and talking.
"Do you think Al will be here today? I meant to call and make plans, but I shorted the electricity in the apartment building again." Vox gives a lopsided grin at that and Husk feels suddenly grateful they aren't neighbors.
"Who knows, not like he usually calls ahead. Want a scotch?"
"Yeah. Make it a double." Vox spins on the stool to take in the rest of the bar. Not overly crowded tonight, he eyes the guy dicking around on the piano and frowns. He plays a jeering sound over his speakers and the player immediately stops to turn and glare until they see who it is, at which point they just huff and get up. He hears Husk start to laugh and spins to face him again.
"Been having to listen to that for the last hour."
"Bet you're glad I came to the rescue then," Vox replies, giving the man a quick once over.
"Like a regular knight in shining armor." Husk pushes the drink forward and Vox grins, deciding Husk is definitely the most interesting person here right now.
"Wanna shut the place down and play cards?" Vox asks, sipping at his drink. They'd played a few times before after closing and a friendly game sounded appealing right now. Especially with no guarantee his usual company was coming.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure Alastor will love that. Some of us need a paycheck for rent."
"Come on, I'll tell him I made you. Forced you. I could actually hypnotize you if you want, then you wouldn't even be lying." Vox is still smiling like it's a totally normal thing to say. Husk just shakes his head.
"Not everyone gets away with the shit you do. I can't afford to lose this job." He walks over to take another drink order and Vox almost pouts, doesn't really understand the big deal. He taps his fingers against the bar and looks around again. Still doesn't see anything else particularly interesting. He could ask that fish demon in the corner to dance or something, but he really does just want to play cards now that it's on his mind.
Then inspiration strikes and Vox suddenly jumps from the stool, walking over to the person ordering a drink and grabbing their face between his hands. He realizes quickly it's the person that was playing so badly and he snorts.
"Hope you're better at making drinks than piano."
"What-?"
Vox starts his hypnotic eye and Husk can't help but watch. It's not something Vox had ever done in front of him before. "You're the bartender tonight. I want you to fill everyone's orders until closing, can you do that for me?"
The other sinner nods dumbly.
"And be extra nice to the customers. Make sure kitty cat here gets some big tips, got it?"
Another nod and Vox releases him, watches him go behind the bar before sliding back on his stool and patting the one next to him. "You're free! Get the deck out!"
Husk just gapes at him. Then he's grinning back and making his way over to Vox, definitely not feeling some type of way about all that. "That's a pretty neat trick."
"Comes in handy."
Husk motions for the new bartender, ordering a gin and tonic before pulling out his cards and throwing some money in between them for betting. "You could have just asked someone else to play, you know. Ain't like we're friends."
"Yeah, but what if they sucked at it? I want someone that knows what they're doing." Vox throws his own bills down and takes his cards, shooting him a crooked smile. "You always come up with the best ways to cheat too."
Husk coughs but doesn't look particularly embarrassed. "How'd you know?"
"Last time you played with Al. Pretty ballsy. Probably should have told him, but I can respect the grift." He taps Husk's nose which makes it twitch a little and Vox looks positively delighted by that. "Wouldn't do it again though. Don't want to test your luck too much."
A drink slides over to Husk and he sips it with a hum. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Vox laughs and they play a few rounds, have a few more drinks. Both a little tipsy near the end. At some point Vox is leaning in a little closer than he usually does and Husk feels his face heating up slightly. It's silly, he knows it doesn't mean anything. He's never seen Vox go home with anyone that isn't Alastor. And even then he's pretty sure nothing is actually happening there. He's probably just trying to distract Husk from winning.
"You know, you're alright. Ever thought of doing something bigger?" Vox smiles and then frowns a little at his hand, pulling another card from the deck.
"Something bigger, how?"
"You know, more than bartending. You obviously aren't stupid, maybe you could work up to something else."
Husk just shrugs. He'd never been overly ambitious, mostly just got by in life, took advantage where he could. Not that he hadn't been successful exactly, but he liked an easier life. "Haven't been down here too long, only about a year now. Still getting a feel for everything."
"I started my company my first year here." Vox says it like it's easy, like he didn't spend more time working than sleeping. Like he didn't have significant help from a certain radio demon.
"Not everyone has the workaholic bug up their ass. Or help from high places."
Vox snickers and motions for another drink. "You know I'm an Overlord now. You should be nicer."
"Of course. Sorry Mr… What was it? One month Overlord?" Husk laughs. "Sure I can be nicer though." He lays out another winning hand and Vox pushes the cash towards him with a frown. "I'll start with some advice. You're too expressive. I can see every move you're about to make before you do it. Every time you pull a shitty card your left antenna sparks a little and your eye gets kinda twitchy."
The frown deepens. "Yeah, well, it's not my fault I got hit with this stupid head. Can't always control it." Could rarely control it. Part of his punishment he guessed, not being able to hide his emotions very well when a lot of his work relied on it.
"I can tell when you're fawning over someone too." Husk mutters, looking a little more unkind as he counts the money.
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"
As if on cue, Alastor walks into the bar and Vox immediately feels a spark shoot up one of his antennas. His screen brightening considerably. "Hey, Al."
Alastor nods before eyeing Husk sitting at the bar who promptly swears under his breath, quickly pocketing the money and moving to stand. "Fuck, knew this was a bad idea. If I get fired I'm coming for your ass."
"I'm shaking in my boots," Vox murmurs, eyes only on him for a second before they pin back on Alastor. And then back to the bar- Suddenly someone is shouting at the makeshift bartender, claiming he made the wrong drink and slamming it against the floor. Vox thinks it's a bit of an overreaction, clearly the man wasn't any better at making drinks though. He turns and grins at Alastor again as he hears Husk trying to talk the guy down. Offering him free drinks for the rest of the night. Vox suddenly bursts into a fit of laughter as Alastor sits down next to him.
"What were you doing with my bartender?"
"Just fuckin' around. I found a replacement." He gestures at the sinners arguing with each other, like it's proof he's done a good job. Husk's fur is standing on end as he practically hisses at his temporary replacement, but when it seems as though the situation with the customer is handled, Alastor lets out a light laugh as well.
"Vincent, I don't take kindly to people harassing my staff." He's still practically giggling as he says it, which only makes Vox laugh harder. "I don't think I've ever seen Husker that mad."
"Please, he took a bunch of money off me. He's fine." Vox realizes after a moment that the man he hypnotized is arguing with Husk now that he needs to keep working until close. Whoops. "Uh, hold on." He slides off the stool and makes his way around the bar, gives Husk a sheepish grin before grabbing the other sinner's face in his hands again. His eye swirls and the man immediately goes slack.
"You're off duty, you're free to go." A pause. "Also you've realized what a goddamn failure you are at piano and will never play again. Hell, may as well kill yourself too." Another pause. "Outside, not here. So Husk doesn't have an aneurysm."
He drops his hands and gives Husk a look like he's proud of himself as the man walks off. Husk just shakes his head. "You didn't need to do that."
"Oh come on, you said you had to listen to that for an hour."
Husk sighs, even as he looks like he might laugh a little himself. "You still could have left it at the piano bit."
"He'll come back to life eventually." Vox practically sways his hips as he walks back to his seat and Husk only realizes he's staring when he hears Alastor tap the bar. Shit.
"Are we still serving drinks here?"
"Yeah, boss, of course. Sazerac?"
Alastor nods and looks back to Vox as he sits down. "Do I want to know?"
"Probably not." Vox proceeds to tell the whole story anyway. Even zapping over to the piano to give a real rendition of the awful playing. "Sorry folks! Promise I'm being bad on purpose!" Alastor nods and agrees at least that getting rid of that sinner was more than justified. Vox does a little flourish on the piano after that, maybe to prove that he can actually play before zapping back over to his bar seat to finish catching him up.
Husk looks nervous as he waits for Alastor's reaction about his little break, but Vox places a hand on Alastor's shoulder and leans in. "I made him do it, promise. He was fighting me on it and everything."
"Well, you can be rather persuasive." Alastor responds, sipping his drink and not even looking over at Husk.
"Exactly! So you can't fire him!" He gives Husk a thumbs up and Alastor shoos him away, still without even looking at him.
"Get back to work, my good man. If you were getting fired you'd know by now." And then he's leaning closer to Vox and they're talking about something that Husk can't quite hear, something about his last radio show, both completely lost now to whatever is going on around them. Like always.
There are moments Husk stares at Vox a little too long, the soft look he gets around Alastor is…well he isn't immune to it. He's not trying to pretend like the guy isn't a little asshole, but well, he's fun when he's like that too if he's being honest. At one point Vox looks up from the conversation and makes direct eye contact, giving a little smirk before falling back into his conversation.
Another hour passes and Vox is practically failing into Alastor's lap, having already had quite a bit more to drink than the other man. Husk rolls his eyes as they start giggling about something like a couple of teenagers, Vox motioning for another drink.
"Think it's time to cut you off," Husk says gruffly.
Vox looks at him with a pout. "That's just rude, kitty. Come on, Al. Make him make me-" Something about the sequence of words makes him laugh. "Make, make, make. Make a drink!" He wags a finger at both of them and Alastor shakes his head.
"No, dear. I do believe he's right. Let's get you home."
"Boring." Vox scoffs and nearly falls down when he moves to stand. Alastor catches his arm and keeps him steady. Yeah, so he probably did need to be cut off. It didn't prevent him from being pissy about being told so. He gives Husk a shit eating grin before leaning in closer to Alastor and stage whispering in his ear. "Husk cheated you at cards, you know."
Husk almost drops the glass he's cleaning when Alastor's eyes immediately snap over to him. He's sure he's about to die until he hears a sharp laugh.
"Really? And without me noticing? Bravo, Husker. You'll really have to show me how you did it sometime." Husk doesn't think Alastor has looked at him with quite that much interest before. He's not exactly sure he likes it.
"Yeah, sure thing, boss." He lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when Alastor turns around. Vox stumbles a little and gives Husk a wink.
"Gee, Al. You could have pretended to be mad. I was holding onto that for a while." He laughs when Alastor shakes his head and says something too low for Husk to hear. Their arms fully linked now. "By the way, my power is out. Can we go back to yours?"
"Again?" Alastor tuts at him, but it's with enough fondness that it's clear he doesn't mind. "Just don't short my power tonight, I have something simmering on the stove."
"Anything good?" Vox asks, stomach suddenly growling.
"Not to your taste. But I can possibly cook something else."
Vox sparks at that and Husk doesn't hear his response as they finally exit the bar. It's quieter now and he doesn't mind it exactly, but there's a sudden awareness of a certain type of loneliness he hadn't quite clocked before. He pours himself another drink instead of dwelling on it.