Rays of the morning's hellfires shone brightly as Alastor opened the curtains of his hotel room window.
"Good morning, Hell!" he hollered, and laughed to himself. The landscape was mostly empty of any actual people, as it wasn't like a whole lot of folks would choose to spend their time outside of the hotel of all places, but he didn't care. It was the thought that counted.
He went through his morning routine of washing his face, combing his hair, applying a dash of eyeshadow to achieve just the right amount of flair, and getting dressed.
Ready for the day, he waltzed out of his room, emitting a cheerful swing track to put extra bounce into his steps as he walked down the relatively busy hallway. He could already see three of the hotel's residents, and he was barely out of his room!
"Good morning, Niffty!" he said as he passed her, waving at her and receiving an enthusiastic wave in return.
"A beautiful morning, isn't it, Crymini?" he asked as he stuck out the bottom end of his microphone stand to trip her up on his way past. He closed his ears to the colourful swearing behind him.
"Looking dashing this fine morning, Vaggie", he said, and yanked at one end of her hair bow, causing it to come undone.
"You're an asshole!" he heard from behind him, and his smile simply widened and the volume of his music turned up.
He rounded the corner and made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. He saw Angel Dust rummaging the fridge, and a snap of his fingers was all it took for a carton of eggs to fall down and splatter on the floor at the spider demon's feet.
"Oh Angel, you ought to be more careful", Alastor said cheerfully, and took a sturdy metal tray from the shelf to place four coffee cups on. "Have a morning, I suppose."
He hummed to himself as he poured hot coffee into each cup, and added a generous squirt of hazelnut syrup into one and a dash of milk into another. He reached over the kneeling Angel – who was attempting to clean the mess on the floor – to grab a small container of Greek yogurt from the fridge. He mixed a handful of plain, sugar free muesli into it and put it on the tray with a spoon by its side. Next he eyed the fruit bowl on the counter for a moment, and then added a small red apple on his load. Lastly he grabbed one of the beignets he had baked yesterday from under the glass cover keeping them decent, and then picked up the tray and exited the kitchen.
He lowered his music's volume but hummed louder as he made his way to the communal living room. As he entered, he saw Mimzy sitting on the couch, reading the morning's newspaper, and Baxter sulking on one of the arm chairs and glaring in the direction of the paper Mimzy was reading. Clearly he had lost their little daily competition for said rag this morning.
"Pleasant morning, my dear", Alastor said, and placed the coffee with milk in it on the coffee table within Mimzy's reach. Mimzy gave him a smile and an equally warm greeting over her paper, but Alastor was already on his way to Baxter by then.
"Goor mor- Oops~" Alastor said as he upended one of the black coffees in Baxter's lap, not even trying to make it look like an accident, despite his words.
Baxter jumped to his feet, screaming and batting uselessly at the scalding stain. Alastor chuckled darkly to himself, dropped the coffee mug to the floor where it shattered messily, and turned around to leave the room again, having done what he came to do.
He ran into Charlie right outside of the room.
"Oh, good morning, Alastor", Charlie said, and smiled brightly at him before a frown came to her face as her eyes darted to the direction of the screaming . "Say, what-"
"Nothing to worry about, dearie", Alastor said and handed her the apple. She was adequately distracted by it. "Baxter simply spilled his java and is being needlessly dramatic about it. Have a wonderful morning!"
He patted her head, and turned to look at Razzle and Dazzle, who were tailing her. He gave them a smirk, and while their attention was on him his shadow smacked one of them on the backside, causing said goat demon to let out an undignified bleat and jump into the other one's arms. They toppled over at Charlie's feet, much to her confusion.
"Oh dear, aren't you two jumpy today", Alastor said innocently, and stepped away from the mess. "Have a nice morning regardless!"
He cranked up the volume of his swing song once more before walking away from Charlie's worried questioning.
Only one person left to greet today, and he had saved the best for the last.
Practically dancing now he headed over to the front desk doubling as the bar, and immediately saw Husk slumped over it, seemingly asleep. There was a spilled coffee mug next to him, but the puddle of cold coffee was small enough that it was obvious he had managed to drink most of it before – as Husk liked to put it – "giving up on life".
The subtle twitch of Husk's ears was the only tell giving away that he knew Alastor was approaching and he was, in fact, some level of awake.
"Good morning, Husk, my dearest!" Alastor said, and placed the tray on the counter on the non-coffee-stained side of Husk. "Might I interest you in a cup of java?"
One of Husk's ears turned in his direction to show he was listening, but he made no move to actually get up and greet him properly. "Fuck off, I already had some, and I have no patience for your bullshit or your motherfucking noise this early."
Alastor took a seat, lowered the volume of his music, and picked up his yogurt. He waved the spoon at Husk. "No bushwa for you this fine morning; I already delivered plenty of that to people I like considerably less than you. For you I'm delivering treats."
He ate a couple of spoonfuls of his morning snack while waiting for Husk to react. Eventually Husk turned his head towards Alastor and gave him and then the tray a considering and only mildly suspicious look. "...Is that a beignet?"
Alastor smiled widely at him. "It is indeed! And your mug of liquid wake-up juice has a dash of hazelnut syrup in it. I know you like to indulge every now and then."
Husk's pupils dilated as he looked at the offerings, and Alastor could hear the soft sound of his tail feathers brushing the floor as his tail flicked as a show of interest.
"Okay, fuck your games. This is a little too nice of you", Husk said, but his eyes didn't leave their target and he actually sat up now. The fur on his cheeks was ruffled from being pressed against the table for a good moment. "What the hell do you want?"
Alastor hummed and ate another spoonful of his yogurt with muesli before answering. "Direct as always. I shall reciprocate in kind. I want to pet your ears."
Husk was silently staring at him with an expectant air, his wings slowly unfolding into a more relaxed state, most likely without him even noticing. Alastor met his gaze and continued eating.
"...Is that actually all?" Husk finally asked when Alastor failed to elaborate and didn't show any tells to reveal the nonexistent ulterior motives his friend clearly expected to see.
"Yes, that is all", Alastor said, and put the now empty yogurt container back on the tray. He dropped the spoon into Husk's coffee cup and gave it a stir to mix the syrup properly and to release the aroma into the air, which promptly made Husk's heart shaped cat nose twitch in obvious interest. He arched an eyebrow and smirked in response. "Do we have a deal?"
Husk snorted and cracked a small smile. Now that was a victory already. "Fuck that noise, you smug motherfucker."
A paw reached for the cup, and Alastor let go of the spoon. Husk brought the cup near his face and took a deep whiff; his eyes closed and his wings quivered.
"Fine. Go the fuck ahead, I'm bought."
Alastor wasted absolutely no time in magicking himself on Husk's side of the bar counter, lodging himself between the red wings, and bringing his now gloveless hands up to caress the soft, silky kitty ears.
Husk took a sip of his coffee and grabbed the beignet in his free hand before leaning back and tilting his head to guide Alastor's fingers into the preferred scratching spot. Purring joined the quiet swing music soon enough to form a beautiful background duet between the two of them.
Alastor's own coffee was completely and utterly forgotten on the tray, cooling down with nobody interested in actually drinking it.
This was the start for an excellent day, and the best morning Alastor had had in ages.