AN/: Prompt by Memento_M0ri:
Alastor and husk drinking, taking a bit of time for themselves to relax and unwind, be comfortable around each other for a while, tho neither will admit it, with husk doing magic tricks for Al. Alastor is completely hooked and amazed with Husk's sleight of hand and how well he can pull his tricks without giving anything away. Card tricks, coin tricks, things "disappearing and reappearing", Alastor can't figure out how he's doing it, and Husk is loving it. Maybe Al tries to impress husk back with some ACTUAL magic, doing a trick or two, trying to wow him and show off back, like how Husk is showing off. Husk is either not impressed, or pretends he isn't, to get a rise out of Al. I don't care how it would end or what all you'd do to it, I am not picky at all, lol.

Well, not all of that is in, but I'm sure this will be satisfying nonetheless ;)

This chapter happens not too long after they got together, sometime before the jealousy chapter.

The bar they were at was mostly quiet tonight. Alastor took a sip from his glass of passably decent whiskey while listening to Husker's tale of how Niffty almost killed Angel Dust with a chandelier earlier this week. He hummed and chuckled at the appropriate parts, with zero intention of letting Husker know that he had already heard this story from both a stressed Charlie and an unapologetic Niffty. Husker was more of a listener most of the time, so hearing him talk so animatedly about something was a rare treat Alastor wouldn't turn down lightly.

Husker had been in a particularly good mood for a couple of days now. Alastor wondered what had caused it, but the only thing out of the norm that matched with the timing of Husker's good mood was the silly chocolate box. Alastor had witnessed Vaggie leaving a box of chocolates with a note attached to it on Charlie's office desk. The note had informed Charlie that Vaggie would be waiting for her at a certain time at a nearby restaurant, and she hoped Charlie would be there. Since Alastor had planned on taking a day off this week and had wanted to spend it with Husker, he had decided to mimic the gesture and had left a box of chocolates on the bar counter for him, with a note asking him to meet up at their regular bar at a specific time. It had been a convenient way to relay the message, as Alastor had been rather busy making sure he was caught up with his paperwork and other things in order to not leave anything hanging when his day off arrived. The next day when he had gone to wish Husker a good morning, his sheik had been in an excellent mood. The connection between the two events was shaky at best, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Well, it didn't really matter. What mattered was that Husker was in a good mood, had dressed sharply for once, and they were having a good time.

"Hey Al?" Husker asked, which made Alastor realize that he hadn't been paying quite as much attention to their conversation as he ought to have. He was pretty sure he had caught the end of the story, but it seemed that he might have missed a beat afterwards.

"Yes, darling?" he asked, and focused completely on the here and now. Husker was giving him a mischievous smile – quite a lovely look on him – and was holding two coasters in his paws.

Alastor tilted his head and eyed the items. One was slightly damp, and Husker's beer glass had been moved to rest on the bare table, but otherwise they were simply identical pieces of cardboard with one white side and one side with the bar's logo on it. Husker was holding them on his claws with the whites sides facing his palms.

"Watch this", Husker said. He held them close together, tapped them rapidly against the table a few times, and then pulled his hands apart… And the coasters now had the white sides out.

Alastor blinked rapidly. ...What just happened?

Husker's grin widened and he brought the coasters close again. Alastor kept his eyes peeled.

Tap tap tap! And the whites sides were in again.

"How do you do that?" Alastor asked incredulously. He knew Husker didn't have magic like he did, but he had completely failed to see when the coasters had gotten flipped. Yet somehow they had been.

"A magician never reveals his tricks", Husker said, sounding unbearably smug and spinning one of the coasters with his claws. "Do you want to see more?"

"Yes!" Alastor answered immediately, smile reaching his ears in his enthusiasm. Husker was always at his happiest when he was performing – he needed to be happy in order to want to do it in the first place, and the activity itself brought him more happiness – so there were no circumstances where Alastor would tell him no.

For the next however long a while Alastor was treated to a private magic show. Husker poured beer into his own ear with a straw and had it dribble out of his mouth. He stuck the same straw all the way inside of his nostril only to pull it out of his mouth right after. Finally he thoroughly tangled the straw together with another one and pulled them apart with a single move without either of them breaking. Alastor didn't understand how Husker's ear, nose and mouth could be connected like that, much less how the straw could survive all but the last trick unbent. Husker just laughed at his questions with a proud look plastered all over his face. It was a rare sight and Alastor absolutely loved seeing it.

Next Husker pulled out a coin and made it dance on his knuckles, which was less magical and more just showing off, but impressive and entertaining nonetheless. Then the coin started disappearing and reappearing in various places. It was in Husker's left paw but then appeared in his right, then back on his left, and back on his right. It was slapped on the table with one paw, only to appear under the other one. Then it was rubbed against the tablecloth until it vanished, and right afterwards it was pulled out of Alastor's ear. Alastor hadn't even felt it in his ear until Husker pulled it out! There weren't enough words in the dictionary to describe Alastor's sheer bafflement. Now this was entertainment!

And then Husker's magic went even further. He ripped apart a paper napkin and dropped it back on the table completely whole. He rolled a spoon into a cloth napkin, but what came out when unrolled the napkin was a fork. He made two toothpicks pass through each other when they had been in a firmly locked position, and finally made Alastor break one of those toothpick inside of the previous cloth napkin and still be whole when he unfolded the napkin.

Alastor's mind was blown more with each trick. He had seen Husker do magic with playing cards plenty of times. He had seen him do miraculous things with the magic tool set he had at home an a few occasions. But these displays were performed on the spot with the mundane items that he simply scavenged from around the bar; they couldn't have been prepared beforehand. Husker was simply doing his tricks like there was nothing to it, and Alastor was thrown for a loop. It was the best feeling in the world.

Husker was leaning his arm on the table and his cheek against his palm, smiling warmly at Alastor. "How about one more piece of magic and then we're done? For this one, you'll need to close your eyes."

Alastor closed his eyes immediately, and almost quivered in anticipation. He had no idea what to expect – and how thrilling was that! – so he simply waited and listened.

He heard a chair move, and then Husker got up and walked over to him. Alastor fought the urge to open his eyes as Husker's claws very carefully cradled his face – he also kept the discomfort at being touched at bay – and then a kiss was pressed on one corner of his smiling mouth, followed by the other. Alastor puckered his lips a little in invitation, knowing full well that's what Husker was hoping to get – Husker never kissed him on the lips without a permission, but he had figured out ways to ask for it without words on the rare occasions he really wanted one. As expected, Alastor's lips were captured into a slightly gross but oddly enjoyable contact for a brief moment, before Husker pulled away and chuckled.

"Ah, it seems I messed up the magic a little", Husker said with a humorous tone of voice. Alastor took that as his cue to open his eyes and give Husker a questioning look.

"Oh? And what went wrong?" he asked, playing along.

"I meant to steal your kiss", Husker said, smile growing. "But turns out you stole my heart instead."

Now, Alastor wasn't well-versed in flirting. In fact, it tended to fly right over his antlered head. But even he knew that line was absolutely cheesy. So he laughed.

"Really, my dear! Aren't you getting a little mushy, as you like to put it?" he asked, and leaned his cheek against one of the paws still framing his face.

Husker moved his thumb, caressing the edge of his smile in a most delightful manner. "Pretty sure I'm allowed to be mushy and flirt with my sheik on our first official date, jackass."

…Date? This was a date? How? Why? When was that established? What was going on?

All it took was one look at Husker's adoring, happy face, and Alastor decided to not ask any of the questions out loud. Instead, he gave him another kiss and figured he'd simply enjoy the rest of the date without questioning any of it.

All that mattered was that Husker was in the best mood he'd been in a while, and that was the truly magical part of the evening.