Just want to start off by apologizing for the late update, I had to go away for a little bit for personal reasons.
But it was so heart-warming to return to such kind follows and reviews. My heart is full from the love and support. Thank you all so much.
I obviously don't own Hazbin or any of it's creative properties
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Charlie peaked around the corner to the angel's room and, sure enough, there stood Alastor outside the door. She stayed hidden and quiet, her nerves on edge at what the Radio Demon would do, but trying her best to be trusting nonetheless. If she was going to support demons in their rehabilitation, that meant she had to want and think the best in all of them...no matter how...challenging some could be. Her fears quickly were vanquished by curiosity however as she watched him fiddling with his own.
She was shocked to observe Alastor shifting his weight from foot to foot. Preening his ears and tufts of hair, and straightening his clothing before taking a deep breath and standing up straight as he could. He raised his hand with uncharacteristic hesitation before finally rapping lightly on the door. His normal smile had dropped from his face as he waited stiffly for an answer. She felt the silence herself when none came. Alastor looked nervously at the bowl, and she saw his hand glow and steam rise as she supposed he warmed it with his hand. He reached up to knock again but the door finally opened.
Light flooded the hall and him as the angel stepped out, luminescent and smiling. She stood a good foot shorter than the demon but he seemed to retreat back slightly anyways. His smile returning, but….gentler than usual.
"Hello," the voice rang softly like a bell through the hallway as the angel smiled kindly to him.
"Ha ha," Alastor barked back, quickly clearing his throat. "I'm-"
"Alastor." The angel cut him off, matter of factly, but with no ill intent. Charlie herself felt a chill and saw Alastor take a hoofed step back as well, his smile faltering, eyes widening.
"Y-Yes." He stuttered, eyes going wide. "Do you-"
"I was briefed on all of you," She answered softly. "Michael wanted to make sure I understood who I would be residing with."
Alastor's eyes immediately sought the toes of his shoes. Charlie felt herself tense at the image. The Radio Demon. Hell's most formidable overlord. He looked like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If his ashen face could have blushed, she guessed it would have been burning. He didn't raise his eyes, and a slender finger tugged at his collar as he cleared his throat again. "So you know...that I'm…"
He trailed off, but the angel didn't lose her smile. Her strange glow seemed to only grow warmer as she reached a hand up to his face, lightly touching his cheek. Charlie saw him stiffen at the gesture. "The Radio Demon. An….I believe you use the term...overlord? A cannibal, previous serial killer, the backing for this establishment and…" she paused and breathed in deeply before gesturing to the bowl, "an excellent cook from the smell of that."
If Alastor could have melted into the floor, Charlie was sure she would have. It put her on edge to see the way twitched at her assessment. She had never seen him like this. There was a fear and pained cloistering that felt alien coming from the deer demon that sent a pang through her heart she couldn't describe. She felt an overwhelming confusion. Was Alastor afraid of the angel? She had feared him toying with the new guest but he seemed more put on the back foot by her than she had. She had expected a string of his usual charming but devilish playing, but he seemed so off-put by the new lady.
Alastor finally seemed to find his tongue, and gave a small chuckle, holding it out to her. "Jambalaya," he said, his usual grin returning with teeth bared, strained. "Just like my mother used to make. She always said that if Johnny could beat the devil with his bow, she would stand a fighting chance with this."
The angel eyed him curiously before throwing back her head with a laugh that filled the dark hallway. Alastor seemed to relax at the sound and bowed his head slightly as she took the meal. "I see she taught your manners as well," she commented as she raised the spoon to her lips, blowing gently before sipping. Alastor's grin became more plastered on as he watched her take the first dainty bite. His head cocking to the side in anticipation. "Mmmm," she hummed as she tasted his meal. "This is absolutely splendid."
His smile somehow defied physics and grew larger as she ladled more into her lips. "She was quite the cook," he said softly, his voice not matching his intense expression. "No one in all N'alans could rival her-"
"It's funny," she interrupted gaily, between one bite and the next. Charlie couldn't miss the way his head shot straight to attention. "They said such horrible things about you on the way down, but you've all been nothing but hospitable. I almost wouldn't guess the things I was told to be true. And I dare say this Jambalaya is nothing short of…" she laughed, covering her mouth, "heavenly."
Charlie couldn't help the urge to step in at this point. She was so proud of their patron and so excited to see her two biggest threats to her project getting along so swimmingly that she felt moved by the warmth to join in. She stepped into the light of the hall and added, "Alastor is of course our biggest benefactor, but we all know his culinary expertise is the real draw."
The angle smiled warmly at Charlie as she appeared but she immediately realized her mistake at Alastor's twitch of the ears and cold eyes turning to her. For a flash, a mere second, the deer demon looked like a frightened deer. Caught in the headlights. But it only lasted a moment before the hall seemed to grow staticky and Charlie felt her vision discombobulated as her ears filled with the crackling of static. Even that lasted a second before things snapped back to normal and she was left with only the angel in the hall, clutching the soup but shaking her head in confusion. Alastor no where to be seen.
"He's quite odd, that one," the angel's voice cut through the awkward silence. Charlie felt as though her stomach had fallen to her toes as she forced a smile to the woman, who was looking at her, still eating spoonfuls of the bowl. "Shy as a foal, but I'd love his mother's recipe." She finished with a small, warm smile before gliding back into her room. Before the door closed with small click, Charlie hear her sing-songy voice add, "Very peculiar, to see the one I was so warned about be such a gentleman."
Charlie realized she'd been holding her breath since the static and let out a heavy sigh. This was all new territory to adjust to.
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I'll be updating more, and more frequently. You're kind words and support have meant more than you know
