Alastor snorted. "I know I'm a heavy eater, but I can't eat all of this alone. It'll be set out in a few minutes for you all."
It was a damn good thing there were so many people here. When Alastor felt antsy, he had a tendency to cook. A lot. (Husk called it "stress cooking".) Feeding others meant the food wasn't wasted.
And, honestly, most people wouldn't eat the food because Alastor was the one who made it. It was a nice change to have people appreciate his cooking.
"Kay, sounds great." Angel called over his shoulder not stopping to look back as he exited the kitchen. He wasn't even listening anymore at this point. He was checked out. Just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
Only when he reached the main entrance hall did he pause, shaking like a leaf. He did it. He apologized. That's that. Fuck, what was he going to do for the rest of the day? He was too scared to venture outside after all the shit that happened. What if Val's men were out there waiting for him? Or Vox or Velvet? Silently he cursed at himself. He had no choice, he had to stay inside. Resigned to his fate he slinks back to his room where he remained for the day.
~~~~
The weeks crawled on by and the spider was getting increasingly stir crazy. Since the incident at the club, he had been hotel bound. Which meant its residence had plenty of face time with the porn starlet. Well... some of them. It wasn't that he was going out of his way to avoid a certain prong horned deer. Just... not seeking his company as much as he had done in the past. Of course he would exchange pleasantries when their paths crossed, but there was none of that flirty vulgarity that usually went along with it. Even when the opportunities to make an off handed comment came flying his way, he would artfully dodge around it. Which... was very difficult at times.
No, instead it was their resident bartender that was receiving the bulk of Angel's advances. The spider's attention was laser focused on Husker much to his own annoyance. When ever possible Angel sought him out, often loitering around the bar to pester the cat. It was like a fun new, distracting, game for him. He wanted to see how long it would take until the kitty cat crumbled.
But Husker most have spoken to Charlie about all his new found "free time" because she put him to work to decorate the hotel for the up coming holiday, Christmas. Christmas in Hell... And even though he complained, he rather liked having a task to keep his hands and his mind busy. What he was not too thrilled about was the Secret Santa she insisted on doing. Apparently she wanted to get everyone into the giving mood to try to promote the whole redemption bullshit. With his shit luck, he got Al... Merry Fucking Christmas.
Perched high up in the main foyer, Angel tried not to dwell too much on it as he strung up the twinkling lights.
It had started with Angel snubbing that breakfast. That had hurt, but Alastor had forced himself to ignore it. Probably leftovers from the drugs.
But as the weeks went on, it was as if Angel was going out of his way to avoid him as much as possible. Oh, he didn't flee at the sight of Alastor, but he clearly wanted nothing to do with him. Even gone so far as to occupy himself with Husk instead.
Which was fine. Really. Alastor was grateful for the lack of flirting in his direction. And being ignored didn't bother him at all. (His shadow, on the other hand, did everything in its power to interject itself to get Angel's attention. Apparently it didn't like someone else getting ear scratches in its presence.)
Alastor had tried to worm his way out of the Secret Santa nonsense. He didn't hate Christmas, but he didn't much care for it either. He was just sort of indifferent to it. However, Charlie was nothing if not persistent, eventually getting him to draw from her little Santa hat if only to get her to stop.
He got Angel. Clearly, the game was rigged.
Well, if he was going to be forced to do this nonsense, he'd do it right. Which meant he needed to figure out what the other wanted. Which called for some deception.
He walked to where Angel was helping decorate. "Angel, would you come down? I require your assistance!"
When Alastor entered the foyer, Angel was in the middle of playing with a sprig of mistletoe in one claw. Oh where should he put it~? Tapping it against his lips, he grins to himself imagining it hanging directly over Husker's bar just to screw with him. It had been weeks since he's gotten laid and it was slowly starting to drive him crazy. Maybe at the Christmas party, him and Husk could get totally blasted and head up to his room to- AH FUCK!
Angel nearly dropped the sprig at the sudden appearance of the radio demon, fumbling with it in his claws. But thankfully his secondary set of hands managed to catch it. Okay Angel, act natural. From his lofty perch he peered down at Al.
"Oh yeah? What cha need? I'm in the middle of decorating for Charlie." He didn't make any effort to descend.
"Even you couldn't weasel your way out of it either, eh Smiles?" Angel snorts back as he reluctantly started to climb his way down.
Quietly he pocketed the mistletoe into his plush cleavage cause you know... for safe keeping. And his outfit was lousy for pockets. It was easy work to get himself safely back onto solid ground. Angel casually leans up against the wall, crossing his arms.
Alastor waggled a finger. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that part, but I can tell you that it's one of the ladies. Unfortunately, gifts for women I don't know much about. You, however, are more in touch with your feminine side and might be able to assist."
Angel gave him a deadpan stare with one of his brows cocked. No hot gos? How boring.
"Just cause I like dick and like to dress up in pretty things doesn't mean- Oh wait yeah... I can see it. Nevermind." Angel shrugged his shoulders at Alastor. "If its Charlie, you could get her a stick of gum and she'd just be over the moon that you ever got her something. For Vags? Hell if I know. Sexy lingerie so her and Chars can have a good time? As for Nif... Rubber gloves for cleanin'?"
"My dear, if I'm going to be forced to do this, I'm going to do it right. Largely because I don't want to deal with Charlie hounding me for doing things halfway."
He folded his hands neatly behind his back.
"What if I sweeten the deal and offer to pick up something for you while we're out? Or perhaps treat you to lunch wherever you'd like?"
The mask Angel wore cracked, his eyes snapping open wide. Anxiety had a death grip on his rib cage making it suddenly hard to breathe. There was no hiding the fear that showed in his eyes. Did Al totally miss the last few weeks? Did he think Angel stayed inside this shitty hotel by choice?
"O-outside?" Angel took a step back, bumping flatly into the wall behind him shaking his head. "I can't. I'm sorry. Best to ask someone else to take with ya."
Angel fidgeted his his hands as he thought silently for a moment. He had a point. And he really wanted to get some fresh air, stretch his legs a bit. Oh hell, it did sound like a lot of fun. Fuck it.
"Alright fine. I'll go with you. But if we get jumped, its on you Smiles. You got it?" Angel huffed.
Huffing a long sigh, Angel nods his head and pushed himself off the wall to walk over to Alastor. The spider would be lying if he wasn't still a little bit scared to be heading outside. But at least with Al by his side, it made him feel better. Safer.
"Yeah, yeah, lets go. Where did you want to hit up first?"
Angel hummed as he thought. If Angel had a clue on who he was shopping for, it would make things easier to narrow it down. But nope, nothing was easy with Al.
"I don't know. That mall seems like a good place to start. How about we go there and walk around to see if anything catches your eye." Angel paused to stare a Al. "So... are we walking or are ya going to..." He raised his hands to wiggle his fingers in the air. "Shadows?"
"If you want less risk of getting caught by one of Valentino's minions, I can teleport us just outside the mall. I'm not familiar enough with the interior to teleport into a store with any measure of safety."
And quite frankly he wasn't in the mood to get stuck between walls or floors.
"That's probably for the best. And beside, I don't know exactly were in the mall to go anyways cause someone won't give me a hint on who I'm shopping for." Angel flashed Al a small pout.
When Alastor out stretched a hand to him, he hesitated. Ever since the morning in the kitchen where he made a fool of himself, Angel had refrained from touching the deer as per his request. Dammit, he could feel those weird feelings squeeze tightly around his stomach.
Its not weird, don't make this weird.
Swallowing the lump in his throat he finally reached out to take his hand.
With that, he took them to the cold, empty blackness Between. Alastor, being used to such a thing had no issues with it. He knew where he was going, but he held tightly to Angel's hand lest he lose the spider in the blackness. Once someone got lost here, it was almost impossible to find them again.
After about a minute or two of walking, he pulled them back into Hell right in front of the Pentagram Mall. His grin tightened with displeasure.
"Here we are!" He turned to Angel. "So, where do we start?"
It wasn't the first time he had the privilege of shadow teleportation. Still didn't make it any less enjoyable. Angel lets out a tiny little yelp as the bone chill freeze hits his fur and instinctively he reached out to pull the deer close. One, for not getting lost in the endless void and two, he was warm.
Thankfully the trip didn't last very long and they stepped back out of the vacant darkness. But now Angel was struck with a different fear, being back out in the public eye. During their travel Angel had wrapped his arms around Alastor's neck, nestling his tits perfectly onto his shoulders and he had yet to remove himself from the other demon. He stood there paralyzed.
Get a grip, man! You got Al.
Remembering who he was with eased him slightly and he slowly uncoiled himself from Alastor. Almost. His arms remained entwined with one of Alastor's holding it against his chest like some sort of security blanket.
"I guess we should start by going inside." Angel snorts a bit wryly, "Ya know those three ladies have very different tastes. Finding one that would suit any of them is going to be a challange."
"I figured that it might be a good idea to pick one out for each and then I'd come back later to actually purchase the gift. It's more convoluted but that way you have no idea what it was that I bought."
It also made sure they'd go to a wide variety of places where he might spy something Angel was legitimately interested in.
"Besides, I assumed you were planning to use me as a pack mule for your own shopping."
Angel gave Alastor a once over with a small smirk growing on his face.
"Aww Al~ For something you don't give two shits about, you sure are putting in a lot of effort. Must be a special little lady." Angel couldn't help but to needle the demon a bit.
If he was boing honest with himself, he missed spending time with him like this. Welp, he's going to take full advantage of his kind offer today. The radio demon was probably going to regret it later...
Arm in arm, Angel lead the pair of them inside the mall. It had the usual crowd and Angel was not stranger to gawking stares. But once the other demons caught sight of the man on his arm, all the color drained from their faces as they quickly scurried away. Was this... how Alastor saw the world? Seemed a bit lonely. Fuck, he was starting to feel a bit guilty about the past few weeks. H-he didn't ran away though! Er, kinda? Maybe? Fuck, focus.
Having Al on his arm was actually sort of nice. It was like the had the whole mall to themselves. He felt more relaxed with each passing moment, popping in and out of shops he thought the girls might enjoy. It was even a bit fun. He almost forgot about the looming threat of Val or his men. But unfortunately Angel was so focused on gift ideas for the girls, he didn't give away any clues on what he might like.
Coming out of a stationary store when Angel dragged them into for Charlie, Angel was still chuckling to himself. "Are you finding any of this helpful, Al?"
This was absolutely how Alastor experienced Hell. Honestly, every shop they went into, the proprietor was eager to help them find whatever they wanted just so Alastor would leave. All the while, Alastor kept up his smile though it was a bit tight from discomfort.
Honestly, he'd missed spending time with the spider. At least having someone to talk to that wasn't under contract with him had been nice.
"It's certainly given me some ideas!" He'd found out a lot of what Angel wasn't interested in. If nothing else, the latter half of the shopping trip should net him some solid ideas. "Now how about we get your portion done, hmm?"
Well, he couldn't go shopping for his Secret Santa with the one in question was standing right there. But hey! He needed to pick up a few things for himself since he couldn't venture out on his own... And Alastor sooo kindly offered to carry his bags. Remembering back through their little trip about a few shops that he wanted to check out.
"Alright! There are a few things I have been meaning to pick up but you know... someone went on a little rampage at a certain club making me a prime target sooo.." Angel shrugged giving Alastor a knowing smirk. "Come on."
Eagerly he tugged at Alastor's arm guiding him to their first destination. Nothing weird, just an artsy little body soap place. He had been running low on his personal body scrub with all his shame showers he was taking. Gathering up several of his favor scents he hurried to go pay for them, offering the bags to Alastor expectantly. But this was only the beginning. Angel processed to drag the deer all other the building, venturing into little clothing boutiques to makeup shops. Towards the end, Angel had acquired quite a bit of cutesy array of bags. Sadly for Alastor, the spider had one more stop on his list...
"Sorry, Al. I have one last stop that I need your help with." With the deer in toe, Angel took him by the hand pulling him in the direction of what was very clearly a lingerie shop.
Honestly, by the time he got to that "one last stop", Alastor was beginning to wonder if he really would need to be a pack mule. Or at least a pack stag. It wasn't necessarily that they were heavy but just so many of them to hang on to...!
"Certainly! And then I also offered to treat you to a meal!"
And, boy, was Alastor going to need some food. Some of what Angel had bought would be frozen solid if they passed through the shadows back to the hotel. No matter. Going into all the little shops, Alastor had mentally bookmarked items that Angel had paused over but ultimately not picked up, some more regretfully than others.
As they approached the lingerie shop, Alastor naively hoped they were going to one of the shops next to it. But as they got closer...
"I'm afraid I don't see why you'd need my help picking, er, undergarments..."
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It was a damn good thing there were so many people here. When Alastor felt antsy, he had a tendency to cook. A lot. (Husk called it "stress cooking".) Feeding others meant the food wasn't wasted.
And, honestly, most people wouldn't eat the food because Alastor was the one who made it. It was a nice change to have people appreciate his cooking.
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Only when he reached the main entrance hall did he pause, shaking like a leaf. He did it. He apologized. That's that. Fuck, what was he going to do for the rest of the day? He was too scared to venture outside after all the shit that happened. What if Val's men were out there waiting for him? Or Vox or Velvet? Silently he cursed at himself. He had no choice, he had to stay inside. Resigned to his fate he slinks back to his room where he remained for the day.
~~~~
The weeks crawled on by and the spider was getting increasingly stir crazy. Since the incident at the club, he had been hotel bound. Which meant its residence had plenty of face time with the porn starlet. Well... some of them. It wasn't that he was going out of his way to avoid a certain prong horned deer. Just... not seeking his company as much as he had done in the past. Of course he would exchange pleasantries when their paths crossed, but there was none of that flirty vulgarity that usually went along with it. Even when the opportunities to make an off handed comment came flying his way, he would artfully dodge around it. Which... was very difficult at times.
No, instead it was their resident bartender that was receiving the bulk of Angel's advances. The spider's attention was laser focused on Husker much to his own annoyance. When ever possible Angel sought him out, often loitering around the bar to pester the cat. It was like a fun new, distracting, game for him. He wanted to see how long it would take until the kitty cat crumbled.
But Husker most have spoken to Charlie about all his new found "free time" because she put him to work to decorate the hotel for the up coming holiday, Christmas. Christmas in Hell... And even though he complained, he rather liked having a task to keep his hands and his mind busy. What he was not too thrilled about was the Secret Santa she insisted on doing. Apparently she wanted to get everyone into the giving mood to try to promote the whole redemption bullshit. With his shit luck, he got Al... Merry Fucking Christmas.
Perched high up in the main foyer, Angel tried not to dwell too much on it as he strung up the twinkling lights.
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But as the weeks went on, it was as if Angel was going out of his way to avoid him as much as possible. Oh, he didn't flee at the sight of Alastor, but he clearly wanted nothing to do with him. Even gone so far as to occupy himself with Husk instead.
Which was fine. Really. Alastor was grateful for the lack of flirting in his direction. And being ignored didn't bother him at all. (His shadow, on the other hand, did everything in its power to interject itself to get Angel's attention. Apparently it didn't like someone else getting ear scratches in its presence.)
Alastor had tried to worm his way out of the Secret Santa nonsense. He didn't hate Christmas, but he didn't much care for it either. He was just sort of indifferent to it. However, Charlie was nothing if not persistent, eventually getting him to draw from her little Santa hat if only to get her to stop.
He got Angel. Clearly, the game was rigged.
Well, if he was going to be forced to do this nonsense, he'd do it right. Which meant he needed to figure out what the other wanted. Which called for some deception.
He walked to where Angel was helping decorate. "Angel, would you come down? I require your assistance!"
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Angel nearly dropped the sprig at the sudden appearance of the radio demon, fumbling with it in his claws. But thankfully his secondary set of hands managed to catch it. Okay Angel, act natural. From his lofty perch he peered down at Al.
"Oh yeah? What cha need? I'm in the middle of decorating for Charlie." He didn't make any effort to descend.
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He kept his voice calm and easygoing, just a hint of annoyance for good measure.
"However, I'd like to not discuss it in the open where my assigned recipient could overhear."
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Quietly he pocketed the mistletoe into his plush cleavage cause you know... for safe keeping. And his outfit was lousy for pockets. It was easy work to get himself safely back onto solid ground. Angel casually leans up against the wall, crossing his arms.
"So, whose the unlucky soul you got? Dish sis."
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"Just cause I like dick and like to dress up in pretty things doesn't mean- Oh wait yeah... I can see it. Nevermind." Angel shrugged his shoulders at Alastor. "If its Charlie, you could get her a stick of gum and she'd just be over the moon that you ever got her something. For Vags? Hell if I know. Sexy lingerie so her and Chars can have a good time? As for Nif... Rubber gloves for cleanin'?"
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He folded his hands neatly behind his back.
"What if I sweeten the deal and offer to pick up something for you while we're out? Or perhaps treat you to lunch wherever you'd like?"
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"O-outside?" Angel took a step back, bumping flatly into the wall behind him shaking his head. "I can't. I'm sorry. Best to ask someone else to take with ya."
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He raised a brow.
"Or do you think I'm really that weak? Besides, this will give you the opportunity to do your own shopping, won't it?"
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"Alright fine. I'll go with you. But if we get jumped, its on you Smiles. You got it?" Angel huffed.
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Perfect. All according to plan.
"So shall we be off?"
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"Yeah, yeah, lets go. Where did you want to hit up first?"
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True, there were department stores and malls but with so many shops inside of them, even Alastor could get lost and confused.
"Where would you suggest?"
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"I don't know. That mall seems like a good place to start. How about we go there and walk around to see if anything catches your eye." Angel paused to stare a Al. "So... are we walking or are ya going to..." He raised his hands to wiggle his fingers in the air. "Shadows?"
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And quite frankly he wasn't in the mood to get stuck between walls or floors.
He held out his hand to Angel.
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When Alastor out stretched a hand to him, he hesitated. Ever since the morning in the kitchen where he made a fool of himself, Angel had refrained from touching the deer as per his request. Dammit, he could feel those weird feelings squeeze tightly around his stomach.
Its not weird, don't make this weird.
Swallowing the lump in his throat he finally reached out to take his hand.
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With that, he took them to the cold, empty blackness Between. Alastor, being used to such a thing had no issues with it. He knew where he was going, but he held tightly to Angel's hand lest he lose the spider in the blackness. Once someone got lost here, it was almost impossible to find them again.
After about a minute or two of walking, he pulled them back into Hell right in front of the Pentagram Mall. His grin tightened with displeasure.
"Here we are!" He turned to Angel. "So, where do we start?"
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Thankfully the trip didn't last very long and they stepped back out of the vacant darkness. But now Angel was struck with a different fear, being back out in the public eye. During their travel Angel had wrapped his arms around Alastor's neck, nestling his tits perfectly onto his shoulders and he had yet to remove himself from the other demon. He stood there paralyzed.
Get a grip, man! You got Al.
Remembering who he was with eased him slightly and he slowly uncoiled himself from Alastor. Almost. His arms remained entwined with one of Alastor's holding it against his chest like some sort of security blanket.
"I guess we should start by going inside." Angel snorts a bit wryly, "Ya know those three ladies have very different tastes. Finding one that would suit any of them is going to be a challange."
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It also made sure they'd go to a wide variety of places where he might spy something Angel was legitimately interested in.
"Besides, I assumed you were planning to use me as a pack mule for your own shopping."
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"Aww Al~ For something you don't give two shits about, you sure are putting in a lot of effort. Must be a special little lady." Angel couldn't help but to needle the demon a bit.
If he was boing honest with himself, he missed spending time with him like this. Welp, he's going to take full advantage of his kind offer today. The radio demon was probably going to regret it later...
Arm in arm, Angel lead the pair of them inside the mall. It had the usual crowd and Angel was not stranger to gawking stares. But once the other demons caught sight of the man on his arm, all the color drained from their faces as they quickly scurried away. Was this... how Alastor saw the world? Seemed a bit lonely. Fuck, he was starting to feel a bit guilty about the past few weeks. H-he didn't ran away though! Er, kinda? Maybe? Fuck, focus.
Having Al on his arm was actually sort of nice. It was like the had the whole mall to themselves. He felt more relaxed with each passing moment, popping in and out of shops he thought the girls might enjoy. It was even a bit fun. He almost forgot about the looming threat of Val or his men. But unfortunately Angel was so focused on gift ideas for the girls, he didn't give away any clues on what he might like.
Coming out of a stationary store when Angel dragged them into for Charlie, Angel was still chuckling to himself. "Are you finding any of this helpful, Al?"
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Honestly, he'd missed spending time with the spider. At least having someone to talk to that wasn't under contract with him had been nice.
"It's certainly given me some ideas!" He'd found out a lot of what Angel wasn't interested in. If nothing else, the latter half of the shopping trip should net him some solid ideas. "Now how about we get your portion done, hmm?"
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"Alright! There are a few things I have been meaning to pick up but you know... someone went on a little rampage at a certain club making me a prime target sooo.." Angel shrugged giving Alastor a knowing smirk. "Come on."
Eagerly he tugged at Alastor's arm guiding him to their first destination. Nothing weird, just an artsy little body soap place. He had been running low on his personal body scrub with all his shame showers he was taking. Gathering up several of his favor scents he hurried to go pay for them, offering the bags to Alastor expectantly. But this was only the beginning. Angel processed to drag the deer all other the building, venturing into little clothing boutiques to makeup shops. Towards the end, Angel had acquired quite a bit of cutesy array of bags. Sadly for Alastor, the spider had one more stop on his list...
"Sorry, Al. I have one last stop that I need your help with." With the deer in toe, Angel took him by the hand pulling him in the direction of what was very clearly a lingerie shop.
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"Certainly! And then I also offered to treat you to a meal!"
And, boy, was Alastor going to need some food. Some of what Angel had bought would be frozen solid if they passed through the shadows back to the hotel. No matter. Going into all the little shops, Alastor had mentally bookmarked items that Angel had paused over but ultimately not picked up, some more regretfully than others.
As they approached the lingerie shop, Alastor naively hoped they were going to one of the shops next to it. But as they got closer...
"I'm afraid I don't see why you'd need my help picking, er, undergarments..."
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