A/N: Prompt by Cyberneticfire:
Might I ask for an angsty drabble? So maybe a fic of Alastor being hurt and Husk comforting him or of him struggling with his emotions? You can physically harm them in the fic or not- I'll leave that bit up to you! So hurt/comfort would be fine!

No physical hurt, but you're certainly getting emotional hurt! : D

This chapter happens about a month after chapter 10 of Afterlife and chapter 3 of Fine, jackass! So, after Husk tried to go out to see the angels ;) (And for a proper resolution to this, see chapter 2 of this fic!)

Why yes, I'm going to keep twisting this particular knife in Alastor's heart for all its worth until someone stops me~

Husk had just stuffed a spoonful of yesterday's warmed up borscht into his mouth when he heard the distinctive clip-clop of Alastor's shoes in his living room. Huh, he was early today. It was his visiting day, but he didn't usually show up until sometime after Husk had eaten his breakfast, or gotten over the worst of his hangover, whichever applied that day.

"Husker?"

"In the kitchen", he answered, not giving a damn about the fact that he was speaking with his mouth full. He made an effort to not do that when he was having a meal with Alastor, but as the prissy asshole was not currently sitting across from him, he didn't feel like putting in the effort.

He heard faint rustling, then soft footsteps, and finally Alastor walked into the kitchen. He had lost his coat, gloves, and shoes. Okay then, so they were staying in today. Fine with him.

"I require cuddles", Alastor said with no preamble whatsoever. His smile was the neutral kind, but looked a little off, and his eyes shone brighter than normally. The red shine highlighted the tired lines under Alastor's eyes; lines that weren't usually there.

Husk frowned, immediately concerned. Yes, Alastor was entitled to one cuddle session a week – he also tried to trick, bribe, and guilt-trip Husk into additional cuddles if he used his privilege early in the week and didn't want to wait until the next Monday at the earliest for more – and this week's cuddles hadn't been claimed yet. But usually he at least worked his way up to it naturally, and was more cheerful about the prospect. Now he seemed… desperate for it. Like he was barely holding back from simply taking what he wanted without waiting for Husk's approval, and not even in the usual playful way he did that – because, believe it or not, there was actually a difference there.

"...Sure, after I'm done eating", Husk answered slowly. "You could brew some coffee if you want to. You look tired."

Alastor shook his head, and took a seat across from Husk, fixing his shining eyes at him. He looked worse up close. "No thank you, I'm good."

Okay, the warning bells were loud as fuck now. Alastor was always down for coffee. Since he wasn't now, he was either dying or he had already drank as much as he could stomach.

...Nightmares and staying up all night, maybe? If that was the case, Husk had an educated guess on what they were about. Needless to say, the guilt was intense.

Husk ate his soup very damn fast, more unnerved with every moment passed in silence instead of Alastor's ceaseless babbling, and left his dishes in the sink. Alastor grabbed his paw the moment he turned around and pulled him to the living room. Husk let Alastor maneuver him as he liked, and the end result was Husk sitting on the couch with Alastor sitting sideways on his lap and holding onto him with both arms like a limpet, his face tucked into the crook of Husk's neck. Husk's arms had been arranged to loop around Alastor's back, with the quiet instructions to "hold tightly and stroke". Which Husk did. Of course he did.

This would have been guiltily enjoyable and probably would have made Husk really fucking flustered under less eerie circumstances, but as it was, Alastor was emitting a low white noise while being otherwise quiet, and he was completely still except for his breathing – no petting, no scratching, no fidgeting, no anything. It was, frankly put, creepy and worrisome as fuck. Hell, this was the second time Alastor had assumed a position like this instead of acting like Husk was a domestic cat and making him lie on his lap, and the previous occasion had been a week after Husk's... stunt with the angels. That one had been happy cuddle times, though, while this one...

Perhaps Alastor hadn't actually been joking about the therapy cuddling. Maybe the weekly cuddles really were about being comforted and not just him using the scare as an excuse to gain free access to Husk's fur. ...If two months didn't seem to be enough when the time came to stop, Husk could pretend to not realize it had been too long for another month.

Husk stroked Alastor's back quietly for who knows how fucking long, and then Alastor finally broke the silence.

"Would you really have walked out?"

Ouch. Yeah, he didn't need Alastor to elaborate to know what he was referring to, and it proved his earlier guess right. Damn it, he didn't want to talk about it at all. But with Alastor being like this...

Should he tell a white lie and claim that he probably wouldn't have? It might make Alastor feel better and help with the obvious anguish. But it would be a lie, and Alastor might catch up on it and feel worse. Damn it, he was not fit to be anyone's fucking therapist! Especially when he was the source of the damn anxiety in the first place!

"I don't know", he settled for. "I meant to, but who knows if I would have had the resolution to go through with it when I reached the door. It was in the spur of the moment decision and those are unpredictable."

At least that was actually true, while not being too alarming. Maybe.

Silence. The white noise quieted as well. At least that was usually a good sign, as he'd come to learn that the white noise was definitely a bad thing.

The silence stretched for a painfully long moment, but then Alastor begun scratching the back of Husk's neck and relaxed a little.

"Alright."

Husk didn't know if that had been the right thing to say or not, but the cuddling was less tense afterwards and Alastor started talking his usual nonsense eventually. So he tentatively assumed he at least hadn't made it worse.