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Valentino. Fucking Valentino. The bane of Angel's afterlife.
Not like he can do much about it. That bastard owns his soul.
Angel grimaces as he limps back towards the hotel. "Fuckin' Val. Fuckin' gang bang. Fuckin' bastard." He grumbles, making his way to the front door. He pushes it open and closes it behind him, not bothering to be quiet.
The lobby is empty anyway, typical for one in the morning. Angel continues to limp towards the stairs, glaring at them like they've personally offended him.
"Rough night?" A gruff voice calls out from the direction of the bar. Angel sighs, one hand on the railing.
"You could say that." Angel groans, refusing to move any further.
There's a few minutes of awkward silence, long enough that Angel starts to wonder if he had hallucinated the whole thing.
Until,
"Wanna talk about it?"
More silence.
"Nah. It's fine." Angel moves to start his way up the stairs, but forgot about his sprained ankle, so he only succeeds in falling against the railing with a grunt.
"You sure?" The voice had gotten closer and when Angel moves to look he sees none other than Husker.
Angel growls in both pain and frustration. "I'm fine Husk."
Husker rolls his eyes, not fooled for a second. "C'mon." He says, heading the opposite way of the stairs.
"Ma room is this way." Angel says, one hand pointing up the stairs, the others keeping him steady on the railing.
"I know." Husk says, continuing to walk away.
Angel moves to follow him and immediately collapses on the floor. "Fuck." He mumbles, far too tired to get up at this point. "Gonna have to give you a rain check for that, Husky." He attempts at his usual cockiness not getting anywhere close.
Husk doesn't respond, just walks over and scoops Angel into his arms as if he weighs nothing.
Angel lets out a small squeak of surprise and blushes but doesn't do anything to stop him.
Husk walks to a room off the side of the bar and shoulders the door open. It smells like Husker, strongly . There's a small nest of blankets and pillows in the dead middle of the room that Husk carefully deposits Angel on.
Angel gets his bearings and looks around. It's a small, dark room but it feels.... comfy? Maybe it's just the fact that it's Husks room or maybe it's cause there isn't as much room for someone to be hiding... but either way. It's nice.
Angel realizes Husk has disappeared but before he can so much as wonder where he went he's back. With a first aid kit. He sits on the edge of the bed-nest and pops the kit open.
"You gonna let me take care of you?" He asks, looking up at Angel.
And by God, if him below me isn't a sight to behold. Angel thinks, biting his lip before shaking his head. No. God Angel, behave for once. He scolds himself internally.
"Yeah sure." He says finally.
"Okay." Husk rummages around in the kit and moves towards Angel before pausing. "Is it cool if I take your boot off?" He asks.
Angel blanks. Completely and utterly blanks. Because that's such an... odd question. It's certainly not one he's used to hearing. "Uh. Yes?"
Husk smirks but doesn't move. "That sounded like a question." He comments.
"Sorry." Angel says, smiling sheepishly. "Yes. It's ok."
Husk slowly takes the boot off, whispering apologies every time Angel winces. He eventually gets it all the way off and wraps up Angel's ankle. "You're gonna wanna stay off that." He says, looking around for more obvious injuries.
Angel snorts, pulling up his sleeve to show Husk a long cut. "Yeah like that's going to happen."
"It won't heal if you don't let it." Husk points out.
"There won't be enough of me left to heal if I skip out on any of Val's shoots." Angel laughs, truly trying to find the humor in the situation. But when he makes eye contact with Husk, all he sees is sadness reflected back.
Ah shit.
"B-but it's fine, y'know? It's nothin' I ain't used to." He tries to reassure Husk only to see his eyes turn to concern.
Angel closes his eyes and falls back onto the bed. "It's fine Husk." He murmurs.
Angel doesn't talk much after that, just confirming every now and then that Husk is okay to touch there or take that off. Eventually Husks soft touch falls away and Angel looks up.
"Well doc," He looks himself up and down. "Ya did pretty good."
"It's a passion." Husk shrugs, putting everything in the kit away.
Angel moves to stand up but Husk notices him out of the corner of his eye and rushes back. "What in the literal Hell do you think you're doing?"
Angel looks at him. "Going to my room?"
"Upstairs?" Husk asks, shaking his head. "Nope. Not unless you want to be carried."
While it wasn't entirely unpleasant, it did make Angel feel... small.
"No thanks." Angel says, not sitting back down.
"Stay here." Husk requests. "I'm not going to force you to stay but I am going to heavily suggest it."
Angel lays back down, suddenly far too tired to argue. Husk scrambles in to lay next to him. They both lay next to each other, staring at the ceiling.
"How're you feeling?" Husk asks slowly.
"Fine." Angel responds, starting to think that this awkward tension might be more painful than just trying to walk.
Husk seems to notice Angel's tense voice and moves to lay against him. Angel doesn't do anything to stop him, just looks down at him with an amused smirk.
Angel wraps his arms around Husk. To get comfortable. That's all.
Seriously....
Eventually Angel starts to hear something. He can't quite identify it at first but eventually he tracks it back to the chimera in his arms, who's smiling happily.
And purring.
He's fucking purring.
Angel can't help but smile as he snuggles in more with Husk, refusing to think of anything but his breathing matching Husks.
Val can fucking wait. Angel decides before drifting off.