Work Text:
Three days had passed since Vox’s defeat. Since Angel had left.
The Hotel had been buzzing with new guests checking in. And yet Husk had cooped himself up in his bedroom.
A knock on Husk’s door startles the man. He had been drinking himself half to death in his bedroom since then. Charlie had tried to check in on him and he had blown up at her and told her to fuck off. To leave him alone. To let him drown in his sorrows. She didn’t argue, she knew the two had grown close.
He was sitting on the floor, his back against his bed. He was hugging his legs.. his face burrowed into them. “Go away!” Husk gruffed, grabbing a nearby beer bottle and chugging it.
His ear twitches towards the door when he hears the doorknob twist. Hearing a muffled curse when they realized Husk had locked himself in.
“I'M COMING IN ASSHOLE!”
Then an explosion.
Husk coughed, waving his arm around at the sudden smoke. “What the Shit, Cherri!?”
She blew a hole right through his wall, great. Just peachy, who wouldn’t want guests walking by and seeing him in shambles.
Cherri walked up to the man, holding a familiar pet pig on her left arm. “You can’t just hide yourself away, old man”
“Fuck off!” Husk frowned.
Cherri ignored his words, sitting next to him. She placed Fat Nuggs on his arms. He didn’t complain, just sighed. She wasn’t going to leave. “Look— you miss him. I get it, trust me.” Cherri smiled sadly.
“Has he messaged you yet?” Husk questioned. Cherri shook her head.
It was terrifying not hearing a single word from Angel.
Husk pets Fat Nuggets, scratching his little head. “Do you think he’ll come back home?”
Home.
Their home. His home. Angel belonged here with them. In this Hotel. Not with the Vees, Not with Val—the new head of Voxtek.
Cherri nods, “He’ll be back. I’ve been through this before.”
Husk mumbles “..Does it get easier?”
Cherri shakes her head, “No. It never does.” She rests her head on Husk’s shoulder. “But I’m always there for him when he comes back— uglier sides and all.”
“I just wish I could do more.” Husk continues to caress Fat Nuggs, a sad expression on his face.
“I know.” Cherri agrees.
Husk leans his own head against Cherri’s. He wasn’t sure what to make of her when they had first met months ago. She had tried to get Angel to indulge in drugs and bad habits. But he understood now. She was helping him, in her weird way.
She had known Angel for ages. While Husk had only known him for about a year now. He really didn’t know anything when it came to Angel’s struggles with Val. And when Angel did speak about it, he always watered it down, claiming it was his own fault.
It always saddened Husk when he spoke badly about himself. When he blamed himself for the abuse that came from Val.
Cherri however, had seen it all. The panic attacks, the insomnia, the tears and bruises. There were times Angel would return to Cherri’s flat and lie on her mattress, soulless. Stiff as a statue.. when he returned like that she knew better than to touch him. It would trigger him into fight or flight mode. She had learned when it was okay to hold and comfort her best friend and when not to.
The two unlikely friends remained in each other's presence. A silent understanding between the two.
They both were hurting and missing Angel. They had become a trio just a month ago.
It felt lonely without his witty comments and sex jokes. Husk had hated them before, but now? He missed them. He missed Angel and all of his antics. He missed seeing how Cherri and Angel would joke and tease each other.
“Husk, do you love him?” Cherri spoke up after several minutes in silence.
Husk sniffled, “More than anything.”
He hears as Cherri fights back tears from escaping her eye. “..good, I’d hate to let another man hurt him”
Husk chuckles sadly, “Trust me. I would never want harm to come to him.”
“Yknow.. I wasn’t angry when he was choking me. I think I felt relieved, actually." Cherri sighed.
Husk feels his eyes widened. “What?” He grumbled.
“When my vision got blurry I thought.. Maybe, somehow I could see Pentious again. It was stupid, really.”
Husk wrapped his wings around the cyclops, enclosing her into a hug. “When you get redeemed, I’ll be cheering you on from down here.”
Cherri felt herself smile. When she gets redeemed.. not if. It was a simple statement but it gave her hope.
“You’ve gotten soft, pussy cat” Cherri teased.
“Yeah. Yeah fuck you too.”
They shared a hollow laugh.
Angel will be back— When he’s ready. He might be broken or quiet, something Husk wouldn’t know how to handle but Cherri was an expert. She knew how to care for her best friend. What to say and do. What his safe foods and drinks were. How to deal with him when he was high off Val’s smoke or coked up.
They just had to wait.