letting walls down

It was deep into the night by the time Angel Dust dragged his sorry ass through the doors of the Hotel. By now, everyone was either in bed or doing their own thing (he didn't really give a shit what any of these weirdos did in their free time). The exception was Husk, who was behind his bar as usual. He was already grabbing a couple glasses to pour them drinks as Angel slunk his way to the bar. He slouched onto one of the stools and rested his upper two arms on the counter.

"Another shit night, huh?" Husk asked in his usual gruff voice. Angel knew most people wouldn't even notice the slight concern in his eyes.

"Boy was it ever," Angel complained, making grabby hands for the drink that Husk had just finished pouring. He threw back the drink the moment it was in his hands, emptying the glass in a few gulps. It tasted fucking awful. "C'mon, give me the good shit."

"You're so damn needy," Husk sighed as he grabbed a different (and hopefully more expensive) bottle. While he did that, Angel went ahead and snatched the drink that Husk had poured for himself. "Hey, fucker, that's mine!"

Angel smirked at the feline demon. "Not anymore, babe!"

He knocked down this drink even quicker than the last, enjoying the look of irritation on Husk's face, even if he didn't enjoy the harsh burn of the poor quality booze.

"See if I share this with you after you pulled that bitch shit," Husk warned, tauntingly waving the bottle of liquor in front of Angel's face.

"Aww, don't be like that! I had such a hard night. Very, very hard," Angel said, snickering at his own joke. Husk rolled his eyes.

"Doesn't mean I gotta put up with your shit," he grumbled, opening the bottle and taking a swig from it.

Angel pouted at him, and Husk shoved the bottle into his waiting hands. "I knew ya loved me!"

"You're too sober to be this delusional," Husk retorted with a hint of a smile visible on his face. "Now tell me what the Hell happened at your job before I decide to cut you off."

Angel took a drink from the bottle, humming in appreciation at how much smoother this went down. "Val. Fuckin' Val. He's being even more of a dick than usual, if ya can believe that."

"From what you told me 'bout the guy, yeah, I can believe it," Husk responded as Angel passed the bottle back to him.

"I guess Vox is still all pissy 'cause that smiley psycho made him look real dumb, and him being pissy is making Val all pissy!" Angel complained. "And who's the one who's gotta deal with Val's shit? Me!"

Angel shuddered for a second, his composure slipping as he recalled cruel red eyes and even crueler hands. It wasn't enough for Val to watch Angel spend hours being used and abused. He had to take his turn too. Fucking prick. A warm hand on his wrist brought him back to the present, and he saw Husk watching him sympathetically.

"You know, I'm not one for that stupid social media shit, but there's a video on VoxTube called 'Val's Most Epic Fails'," Husk informed him, looking smug.

Angel gasped in excitement, pulling out his phone and searching it up. He held it in between them, and they both laughed at the humiliating collection of clips featuring Val in all his idiocy. The internet was fucking awesome.

"I fuckin' needed that," Angel gasped out as he tried to catch his breath after all that cackling. "Dude really is a total moron."

They were already well into the bottle by now, and all of the aches and pain from earlier were fading away, being replaced by a pleasant warmth. He wasn't sure how much was from the alcohol and how much was from the company, but he wasn't gonna read into it. Instead he just grinned at Husk as his companion roasted Angel's piece of shit boss. It was crazy how much had changed since coming to this hotel. Angel still didn't know about this whole redemption thing, but he did know that he was severely less depressed than he had been before. His life still sucked ass, and he still belonged to damn Valentino. But at least he had a safe place to come back to, with people who actually gave a shit.

Eventually Angel started to get tired, and he reluctantly allowed Husk to pester him into going to bed.

("But I'm not tired," Angel whined. "I can go all night!"

"I'm not blind like your damn boss," Husk said. "I can see the dark circles under your eyes."

Angel gasped dramatically. "Excuse you! Implyin' that I look anything less than perfect!"

"You look like a mess," Husk said bluntly. "Now get your ass into bed.")

Like he said. Eventually.

As Angel curled up on his bed, listening to Fat Nuggets snuffle beside him, he felt pretty damn okay. Unlike in the past when he had nights like this, sleep came easily to him, and he drifted off with a small smile on his face.

Noiz: I literally finished this like a week ago but just never posted it because life got in the way. Here it is now though. It's short, but I just fell in love with the dynamic between these characters. I'm in Hazbin hell now guys.

Title is from "Loser, Baby" because I'm tired and unoriginal.

Thanks to the lovely Aviantei for beta reading! And thanks to my brother for beta reading as well, and making some suggestions to improve this little one-shot. He hasn't read my writing since we were in middle school, so it's nice that this fandom has brought us together again.