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Their friendship started with a story.
Angel had claimed one of the high back chairs by the fire winter in hell was always his least favorite season, just like when he was alive the cold never agreed with him. Adjusting the blanket on his lap he leaned back and closed his eyes.
“Well, my effeminate fellow it is a surprise to see you here I had assumed you would have been at work.” The low hum of static that filled the room signaled Alastor’s arrival so his speaking did not frighten Angel. They had managed to reach the point where they could be in a room together for almost an hour before one of them said something driving the other away.
“Nope I’m guaranteed one day off a week now thanks to the princess and today's the day. Why don’t you sit down.” Angel kicked the other leg of the chair. Alastor’s eyes moved from Angel to the chair and back again, his usual grin never wavering.
“Come on I’ve got a story you might like.” Feedback filled the room. “Ah!” Angel flicked his hand at the Radio Demon in annoyance, like his grandmother had done when he was young. “It’s about killing people you prude.” As quickly as the feedback had started it ended and with a nod Alastor sat in the opposite chair.
Angel filled him in on some of the background information first about how both of his parents came from Mob families and that neither of them were afraid to get their hands dirty.
“There was this rival family because of how territory was divided in the city they were just a few blocks over. They had five children, not a great idea because more children cause a lot of infighting as they get older. Anyway. they wanted our families to become connected through marriage. They wanted their oldest son to marry Molly, my sister. That’s all well and good but this guy didn’t want to marry her.”
“Now a Mob marriage you can’t really say no so he came up with a plan he was going to hire some outside thugs to assault my sister.” Static filled the room. “They tried to jump her one night thinking she would be an easy target because the guy who paid them hadn’t told them that she was a Mod daughter. She killed two of the three guys and wounded the third.” Alastor snorted.
“Yeah well she comes home and tells my ma what happened and my ma wasn’t going to let this stand. She told my father to go to the bar the would-be groom frequented and bring the guy home. Now my pa just wanted to kill him, he was never the creative type you know. So he brings the guy back and my ma has them slit his throat.”
“Doesn’t seem that creative,” Alastor interjected but Angel ignored him.
“So they slit his throat then had them take out the guy's organs. She takes those pieces up to the kitchen, now my ma has a mean biroldo recipe and what do you know mix some man with some pork fat and you can’t tell looking at it that what you’ve actually made is people sausage.” Amused and intrigued, Alastor watched Angel intently. The other demon’s hands moved as he spoke which made it almost impossible not to watch him.
“So when the sausage was done my ma hosted a dinner party and had the entire rival family there and she served them the biroldo. Now they had been told that their son would be there so in the middle of dinner the father asks where his son is and my ma goes "Well you’ve eaten almost all that’s left of him” The father had a heart attack and died at the dinner table and the mother lost her mind they had to send her upstate after that.” The pair busted out into laughter.
“My, what a crafty woman your mother is. I applaud her thinking.”
It became routine for them to meet on Angel’s night off in the sitting room in front of the fireplace in their high-back chairs. Sometimes they would chat about their time in hell or they would reminisce about their time alive. Those were their favorite conversations.
“I am surprised you don’t see your family more often as they are all in hell.” Angel sighed. The topic of family was one that they both approached consciously as neither of them had a good relationships with their father in life or in death. At least Alastor got to send his father to the permanent grave.
“They well they all live under the old man’s roof and the old man still hates his fag of a son even if it’s been almost a hundred years since I’ve seen him.”
“What was the final nail in the coffin for you and him?”
“Fuck it was something small you know. But as we both know it’s those little daily things that really fucking get to ya. It was the winter before I died. I had worked for a year to save up for this coat, it was a woman’s coat. It was a beautiful wool coat with a real fur collar and muff. I had been drooling over it for a year, it was built to fit over this dress that I had my heart set on but a coat was much easier to hide than a dress so I bought the coat.” Tears filled Angel’s eyes as he spoke, his voice wobbled.
“Once I wore it once, in my own room mind you, before my father found it and burned it. Now in the grand scheme of everything he had ever done to me that was mild but it broke something in me. It made me realize that my old man would never love me let alone respect me.”
Alastor tipped his head to the side, his mind buzzing. He had been surprised at first when he began to enjoy spending time with Angel. The other was so different from him but he found himself looking forward to spending any length of time with Angel. It was something the others had noticed as well. Vaggie threatened him assuming he was trying to make some kind of deal with Angel, Charlie was absolutely delighted they were spending time together. Husk and Niffy were often seen with their heads bent together whispering.
Alastor found himself scheduling a meeting with Rosie the next day. If the demoness was surprised by his sudden need to meet with her she did not show it.
“Alastor my dear, to what do I owe the pleasure?” She asked as one of her girls set out their lunch spread in the garden.
“A commission actually.” Rosie hummed looking him up and down. Rosie was his oldest and closest friend; she was almost one of the more observant demons he had met in hell.
“I know you would not dream of changing your look so who is it for?”
“A patron of the hotel.” Rosie set her teacup down sharply.
“Do you think I am a fool? Honestly, you would not care if that hotel burns to the ground so I simply cannot imagine you simply giving a piece of clothing as a gift. Besides, you are not a gift giver.”
“You have always been sharp darling. The gift is for Angel.” This got Rosie’s attention Alastor had bemoaned Angel Dust and his more grating personality traits more than once and now he wanted a gift.
“So, I was correct there is more to Angel Dust than being a whore?” Static shrieked at the word. “But this is not some bid for his soul, you never gave Niftfy or Husk anything before you procured their souls.”
“I do not need his soul.”
“No, you need his heart and not even to eat. My my my how interesting.” Alastor gritted his teeth as he tried to fight off the heat in his cheeks.
“Will you take the commission or not?” He hissed. He did not want to talk about how he had quickly managed to fall head over heels for the spider after so many nights of them talking about their pasts. Angel was never put off by the murder or even by the cannibalism.
“Of course dear. Now tell me what you need.” The order was simple enough: a coat, with genuine fur, and a dress. Rosie had to admit it was some of her best work even if it was a rather simple design.
Alastor looked up from his paperwork at a knock on his door. Shadows pulled the door open revealing Husk with a pair of garment boxes.
“One of Rosie’s girls dropped these off and then tried to take a bit out of me.” Alastor’s smile brightened at the sight of the boxes.
“Sounds like Nancy was not on her best behavior today.” He said absentmindedly as he took the boxes running his fingers across the blood-red velvet bow. Husk opened his mouth to speak again but in the end, he said nothing before he left the room.
With the boxes clutched to his chest, Alastor made his way down to the living room he and Angel had claimed all those months ago. Taking his usual spot he hid the boxes and summoned a book to read while he waited.
“Hope I didn’t make you wait too long.” Alastor’s grin softened.
“Not at all Angel dear.” Angel beamed as he settled into his own chair. “In fact, I have something for you.” Angel made a confused sound as the boxes dropped into his lap.
“You didn’t have-“
“I know I didn’t but I wanted to get you these.” Angel’s face flushed a delicate pink as he undid the bow on the top box. Peeling off the top layer of tissue paper he gasped. In the box was the coat his father had burned almost a century ago. It was a beautiful gray wool with black fur around the collar. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he pulled it from the box.
Fearing he had put his foot in it Alastor said, “If you don’t like it-“ Angel interrupted him before he could finish.
“Like it, I love it. Oh, Al, you don’t know what this means to me.” Angel felt ridiculous crying over a coat he had lost so long ago.
“There’s more in the other box.” Angel tore into the other box. In that one lay the dress that the shop had sold along with the coat. It was a tea-length gray silk dress with an underskirt that made it puff out at the hips. Where was he ever going to wear something this nice? As if sensing the question Alastor cleared his throat.
“If you would be interested I would like to take you out to dinner tonight.” Angel stared at the demon wide-eyed.
“As friends or as a proper date?”
“A proper date if it is acceptable to you.” Angel’s heart beat like a drum he had never been on a proper date not in his time in hell and certainly not while he was alive.
“That would be more than acceptable. I’ll go get dressed.” Angel bounded up the stairs taking them two by two in his excitement.
In his room, he found his best black heels and fixed up his makeup before pulling on the dress. For the first time in a long time, he stared at his reflection and smiled, running his hands across the silk. Indulging himself Angel twirled laughing with delight as the dress flowed around him.
Digging through his jewelry he frowned. Most of the jewelry he owned was cheap, if he bought it himself, or from Val, that was the three nice pieces he owned and needed to pawn. Frowning he grabbed the set of plastic pearls he owned before grabbing his clutch and coat.
Downstairs Alastor had also changed and was waiting for him by the door. Alastor scanned Angel but his smile faltered.
“Something the matter?” He asked even if something was obviously wrong. Angel twitched.
“It’s something silly.”
“Regardless of how silly you think it is, if it is bothering you, please tell me I might be able to do something about it.” Angel fidgeting his hand kept drifting towards his necklace.
“It’s just that I wish I had nice jewelry because the dress is so nice. But anything I have that is halfway decent was given to me by Val and I don’t like wearing it.”
“And the necklace you’re wearing?” Angel rolled the plastic pearls between his fingers.
“Nothing but plastic.” Humming Alastor removed a glove from one hand placing his claw between the sting and Angel’s soft neck. He paused for a moment allowing Angel to stop him if he wished but when no resistance came he sliced through the necklace sending plastic pearls cascading down onto the floor. Angel could feel the cold metal resting against his fur.
In one of the large mirrors in the entryway, he caught his reflection. A gold and diamond necklace sat flush against his neck. Angel giggled at the dramatics of it all.
“Now, my dear, I believe you are ready to go.” Alastor offered his elbow and led Angel out to the waiting car. Angel for his part couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.