The Radio Demon avoided him for a day, which was fair. Then two. Then three. Angel was miserable. He'd come to really enjoy their chats over tea, their walks together, the exchanging of raised eyebrows whenever entertaining drama was going down, etc. He'd enjoyed the weight of those red eyes focusing all their attention on him. And now?
Radio silence.
It made living in Hell feel like living in Hell. If that even made sense. God, but Angel had fucked up. He'd never deserved the attention of the likes of an overlord of Hell in the first place, and now he'd ruined a perfectly good… whatever this was. Whatever there had been, before Angel in a drunken, roofied stupor, abandoned any sense of decency and respect between them by grabbing at the Radio Demon.
Pathetic.
Maybe he should've taken Charlie more seriously during their 'boundaries' exercise.
He didn't think he could earn the demon's forgiveness, but the pit in his stomach was going to wear an ulcer into him if he didn't at least try. Which led to Angel to tracking down a butcher just outside Cannibal Town– which was still one of the sketchiest places in all of Hell, and coming from Angel that should mean something– for the Radio Demon's favorite meal, fresh venison.
He really did not need all the weird looks he got when it came to him using all six arms to carry the ridiculously large carcass back to the hotel. In heels, no less, because Angel could do it all, and he could do it all in heels. He dumped the carcass onto the small table in front of the Radio Demon, who was sipping tea, exhausted. "Look, I'm sorry," Angel said. "I'm an asshole, and– my ma would say a degenerate– and a million other things, but mostly, I'm just sorry. I shouldn't a done what I did. Not that I think that's the first time a guy like you has had someone come on ta him, Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Handsome, but that's no excuse for what I did. I was a drunk idiot, and you were just tryin' ta help me out after I got all stupid and roofied, and I promise I'll neva let myself get roofied on purpose again."
The Radio Demon leveled a neutral look, unimpressed.
Angel ran his hands through his hair and pulled at it, shaking. "I swear I've never been sorrier. I'll– I'll stop doing drugs. At least outside the studio when Valentino makes me. I promise."
The Radio Demon snorted. "You? You wouldn't last twenty-four hours."
"I can do this," Angel insisted. "So?"
"Let me squirrel this away for later," the Radio Demon said, spiky shadows latching onto the venison and disappearing with it, "and then there's this little errand I've been meaning to run. Help me out with it, and we're square. Deal?" His eyes lit up green, and Angel didn't like the look of that.
"Not a deal, but I'm always happy to help out a fr– to help someone in need." Angel couldn't call the Radio Demon a friend. He didn't deserve a friend like the Radio Demon, after all. Plus he didn't want to be the first to admit it. He already felt so raw these days, like that venison he'd dragged in.
We could always just have makeup sex. That's much easier. He thought to himself privately, but he'd already sexualized the Radio Demon too much, clearly. That was one quip Angel would keep to himself, and that's all it was. A joke. Not like he thought the Radio Demon was hot or anything.
The guy had to already know how good he looked in a suit.
"Grab your guns, my dear," the Radio Demon said, "you'll be needing them."
Angel raised an eyebrow. "What kinda errand is this?"
The Radio Demon merely smiled and waited. Angel got his guns. "Uhh ready, I guess?" Angel said.
The Radio Demon snapped his fingers and transported them just outside a warehouse. "We have to fight our way into that warehouse. My target is the owner, who should be there today. I'll be using my shadows for some… persuasion, which leaves me unusually vulnerable. That's where you come in. Stand guard outside the door for me, and shoot anyone who interrupts. Sound good?"
Angel had a brief flash to his gang life before he died, and his heart started beating faster. This was the type of work he tried to avoid in Hell.
But it was only one time, and it was to make up for his fuck up with the Radio Demon. So he sucked in a deep breath to still his heart, and nodded at the Radio Demon.
The Radio Demon nodded back at him and they made a dash for the warehouse. The Radio Demon lashed out his shadows in a wave to clear a way to the door, and Angel fired off a few warning shots, sending workers scrambling.
He didn't want to kill anybody if he didn't have to, and for now it looked like the Radio Demon was on the same page. The Radio Demon darted into a hallway and around the corner, and Angel followed him. They passed three offices before the Radio Demon stopped. He nodded to Angel, and then ripped the door knob off the door with a shadow.
"What the fu-" The Radio Demon cut off the voice inside by waltzing in and slamming the door shut behind him. Shadows covered the spot where he'd ripped the doorknob off, and Angel couldn't hear anything else going on inside.
Which was probably for the best, quite frankly.
Thirty seconds passed, and Angel spotted a worker turning the corner. Angel fired off a wide shot and the worker darted back behind the wall. "Shit," Angel said. He was about to take fire.
He used his long legs to straddle the walkway, walking himself up towards the ceiling, and aimed his gun from the top of the hallway. When someone pointed a gun and shot off a round where Angel had been, he'd never been so grateful he had legs for days.
Angel spotted the hand holding the gun and an ear leaning around the corner. He shot both, and the demon retreated, cursing up a storm.
The Radio Demon burst from the office as suddenly as he'd entered, and Angel hid a sigh of relief. Another round of bullets was fired off at them but the Radio Demon's shadow rose up and stopped all of them. "Angel, my dear, what are you doing up there?" the Radio Demon smiled.
"Practicin' fer my next porn movie," Angel lied smoothly, and dropped down from the ceiling, landing on his feet. "Took you long enough. We good to go?"
The Radio Demon's shadow tore into the side of the hallway and they made an impromptu exit. "Back to the hotel?" the Radio Demon asked.
"Please," Angel said, and the Radio Demon teleported back to the hotel lobby. "What was that all about, anyways?" he asked.
"Some personal business I sorted out. Overlord stuff." The Radio Demon dusted off his suit from the hallway getting torn apart.
"Ah." Well, there was no way Angel wanted to be involved in that. More than usual anyways.
"Anyways, consider us square, my good fellow," the Radio Demon said, and Angel did sigh in relief this time.
Makeup sex still woulda been easier.
—-
Angel Dust lasted a full forty-eight hours before his throbbing headaches kicked in hard enough to send him back in to a drug den. His hands would not stop shaking and his legs ached and he wouldn't last a second if Valentino suddenly called him up to the studio. He'd made double the time the Radio Demon thought he could; so that proved him wrong and Angel right. Sort of. It was the kind of sort of that Angel could live with. The drugs, he could not.
So he showed up at the unassuming apartment– unassuming minus the smoke trailing out the windows– with his crack pipe in his jacket pocket ready to calm down and make everything right in Hell again. The dealer of the crack house was sitting on a large, rounded couch. In front of the couch was a large coffee table, also rounded, with a bunch of candles lit for people to smoke their crack. Around the room, there were smaller armchairs with smaller coffee tables, adorned with a single lit candle at each one. Angel wondered at how often these places didn't go up in smoke more with all these open flames about. Especially since Hell was no stranger to pyromaniacs lighting shit on fire, given half a chance.
His withdrawal-induced headache immediately subsided when he spotted a certain someone in one of those armchairs. Angel stormed up to her.
"Moll-Maggie! What da hell are you doin' in a place like this ?!"
She looked up at him and gave him a cool look. "Crack. Why, what's it look like I'm doing, baking Girl Scout cookies?"
"I thought you were so hard up for cash ya couldn't even pay rent on ya place without a job? Or was the whole little-brother act a lie?"
"Hey, I'm not a liar!" she snapped. "I may be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them. Yes, I need money for rent. Yes, I have a little brother to feed. But everybody needs a hobby, right? It's not like they have knitting classes down here in Hell. Besides, are you really going to preach about the woes of crack? Your name is Angel Dust, for fuck's sake."
Angel huffed, because she had a point. "I'll have you know I've been clean fer forty-eight hours," he said instead.
"Congratulations, would you like a fucking medal? Besides, uhhh, where are you right now?"
Angel looked at the ground, cheeks pinking.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," she said and turned away from him.
Angel grabbed her wrist. "Crack's fer people who don't got nothin' or nobody. You've got somebody who's looking up to you." All he could see was the person he'd been in life, stupid enough to turn to crack to take the edge off the hard life. He should've been there more for Molly, instead of ending up in Hell after a drug overdose.
"Yeah, and look where I got us! I got us sent to Hell," she said, eyes watery. "He's better off without me."
Angel felt something welling up within. He dragged her out of the drug den onto the streets. None of the other demons cared, too invested in their own drugs.
"Look, I don't know what you did in life ta deserve Hell, or ya brother, and I don't care. Hell's hell, but you still got a second chance ta do right by him. You can't give that up, ya just can't!" Oh great, the headache was back, and they brought a buddy, the sweats. He ignored that. "If I had a second chance wit' my li'l sis, I wouldn't blow it. I mean it, crack's fer people who don't have anybody left."
He looked her in her eyes, a level look. He couldn't make her quit crack, he knew that better'n anybody. But something he said must've made sense because when he let go of her arm, she didn't turn around and walk back in.
"Hand me yer cell phone," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"C'mon, hand it over."
She did, with a raised eyebrow. Angel typed in his digits and created a new contact. "When the withdrawals kick in, call me. If I'm not in a shoot, we can, I dunno, take a fuckin' walk in the park or somethin', I guess. Shoot up some tin cans. Whateva you want, so long as we do it together ta get yer mind off the crap. We can talk if ya want too. Just give me a shout."
She gave him one more long look without saying anything, and started walking away.
"Hey!" Angel yelled.
"See ya later, loser," she said, and turned back just a bit to look at him. The corner of her mouth was upturned to a bit of a smile.
"Yeah," he muttered. "See ya."
She left and Angel was still standing outside the drug den. He didn't want to go back in, shakes and headaches and all. Forty-nine hours. Take that, Radio Demon.
It was as if his thoughts summoned him. "Hello, Angel Dust!" the Radio Demon said, appearing out of thin air with his shadows curling around him.
"Goddamn-Jesus-fucking-Christ Smiles, what the hell are you doing here?" Angel asked. His heart started beating faster. Must be the drugs. Or the shock. After all, the same thing had happened after Angel woke up from being roofied. And yeah, after Angel's fuck-up he could admit that the Radio Demon was physically attractive. Somewhat. Not as hot as Angel though.
"Hmm? Well, you did promise me as part of your apology to swear off drugs forever, so I had my shadows follow you and alert me whenever you went into a drug den. Thought I'd enjoy your failure. But," the Radio Demon tilted his head, "it's odd, usually you look a little better for the wear when you exit a drug den than when you enter. Still shaking?"
"Fuck you," Angel said, and puffed out his chest. "Forty-nine hours."
"Curious, very curious," the Radio Demon said. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"
"Sure," Angel said. "No cannibals this time?"
The Radio Demon chuckled. "No cannibals this time." They started walking together. "You know," the Radio Demon said, "there's the most interesting tea I've come across. It's from the Gluttony region, you see, and the Twin Tails overlord did the most curious thing…"
Angel walked next to the Radio Demon and listened to the demon prattle on. He put his hands in his pockets to hide the shaking, and slowly the shaking began to subside.
His heartbeat didn't slow though.
—-
Sixty-two hours, and Angel was close to breaking. Every time he'd close his eyes, he'd see Maggie curled up around crack, and up until now that had been enough to get him by. His shaking got worse without the Radio Demon nearby.
Angel couldn't avoid Charlie's notice forever, so it was better to just rip the bandaid off and get it over with. Besides, he was getting desperate here. So he found himself knocking at Charlie's door.
"Angel? What-?"
"I'm tryin' ta quit crack," Angel said, holding out his shaking hands. " Please help me ."
"O-oh, okay, wow, Angel, that is really cool!" Charlie said.
"Help."
"Okay, uhhh ginger ale?" Charlie leaned him onto her bed. "I'll be back in a jiff!"
Angel shivered on the bed. It was too cold, and he was too shaky, and he was starving.
And who should pass by the open door?
Oh, Hell. Angel didn't want the Radio Demon to see him this pathetic. The Radio Demon always saw him this pathetic. It was part of why he'd approached Charlie instead in the first place.
The Radio Demon stepped inside the door. "Feeling a little under the weather, are we?" he asked.
Angel shifted uncomfortably. The last time he'd been in bed with the Radio Demon looming over him, he'd fucked up.
"Just take your snide comments 'n shove 'em," he muttered, and shook again.
The Radio Demon took off his jacket and draped it over him. "Hungry?"
"Starving."
"That won't do. Word will get out the hotel doesn't feed our guests." The Radio Demon summoned jambalaya, beignets, baked mac & cheese, baked ziti, and corn fritters.
Angel Dust launched into the food. It was so, so good. He had his face stuffed full by the time Charlie came back with the ginger ale.
"Alastor! What are you doing here?" she asked as she passed Angel the drink.
"Well, I'm afraid I'm the one who put Angel here in such a predicament."
Oh God, was he going to tell her about the other night? Angel squeezed his eyes shut.
"You see, I challenged Angel here to go sober. I didn't think he'd actually take me up on it, but he is a rather stubborn, prideful fellow here to prove me wrong out of spite."
Angel could kiss him. If it was consensual, of course. He wasn't on drugs and he had learned his lesson.
Angel looked at the Radio Demon and his cheeks got warm and his heart started beating faster again. Fuck it, he definitely had– just a little– crush on the Radio Demon. The guy was feeding him pasta while he was sick, for fuck's sake. Plus he actually let Angel borrow his jacket. The one he was so pissed about Sir Pentious ripping just a little. You'd get a little crush too if all that happened to you too. Totally reasonable.
Charlie sighed. "Well, Angel, I'm happy you're trying. We're going to care for you the best we can, okay?"
"M'kay," Angel said, stuffing his mouth full of food again. When he'd finished eating, he asked, "Hey, Charlie, ya don't have any magical… demon princess… powers that could help? I just– I feel awful."
"Sorry, Angel, but only real angels have healing powers. I don't."
"I can knock you out," the Radio Demon offered, chuckling.
"Do it," Angel said.
"Angel-" Charlie started.
"No, let 'im do his thing. I think I can handle this again in a few hours, just– not now," Angel pleaded.
"I know just the right amount of force to send you unconscious. You're in good hands," the Radio Demon said. He held Angel's head in his hands gently, and Angel found himself leaning into the touch a little bit. Dammit Angel. This wasn't a romantic kind of moment.
"Do it," Angel repeated.
The Radio Demon hit him, and his world went dark.
—-
When Alastor held Angel's face in his hands, it was soft. Fluffy. He didn't let that distract him. He calculated the right amount of force, and hit the demon. No satisfaction as the porn star with the golden voice fell unconscious. Al gently laid his head onto Charlie's pillow.
"Would you like to stay in a guest bedroom tonight, my dear?" Al asked.
"No, I'll stay in Vaggie's room tonight," Charlie said. Made sense. "He just… he's having such a hard time, I can tell," Charlie said, looking down at their sleeping Angel. "I wish I could make this all easier on him. When I was in that studio, I could tell something was really off. Couldn't you?"
Al didn't know how Charlie knew he'd gone with Angel to Valentino's studio. He wondered how much she knew of what exactly was going on, how much had transpired between the two demons. Did she pretend to be more ignorant than she was until it suited her to come forward? Or had she merely caught a glimpse of one event? Al decided it was more likely to be the latter. Otherwise she'd have babied Angel over his injuries. She was too caring to turn a blind eye to things like that.
"I could," Alastor answered. "But it's not so easy to break a contract. Or go sober. One could commend him for keeping his sanity and his limbs after… everything."
"Can you watch over him for a bit?" Charlie asked. "I think you can do more for him than I can at this point."
Alastor nodded.
"Thank you, Alastor," Charlie said. "I'm going to go check on the hotel."
Alastor hummed quietly to himself. He felt a pang when he looked at the sleeping demon, which was strange. He hadn't felt anything when he was hitting the demon, and this time he wasn't responsible in the slightest for the porn star's pain, since he'd asked Al to hit him. Was this feeling pity? But there were demons worse off than Angel, more poor, in more pain, more desperate. No, it wasn't pity.
What in Hell was it, then?
Angel's phone buzzed underneath Al's jacket. Al pulled it out. Valentino's name lit up on the screen.
Hey, bitch. Your next shift starts in an hour.
Charlie came back into the room and Al hid the phone in his pants pocket. "Ah, Charlie, my dear! I just had some urgent business come up. Be a dear and take over here for me? I'll be just a moment."
"Uhh, okay?" Charlie said.
Al made it out of the room and down the hallway before the phone buzzed again. Al ignored it. It was probably just that bastard again.
Al turned two corners. Vaggie and Charlie's rooms were on opposite sides of the same floor. Cute, and Alastor had never been so grateful for the meager distance. He knocked politely on the door.
"Huh? Alastor?" Vaggie said when she opened the door. "What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms in front of her.
Alastor pulled out Angel's phone and shoved it into her hands. "You know how to work those eclectic boxes. Tell Valentino Angel's been kidnapped and he won't make his shift tonight."
"ANGEL'S BEEN WHAT?"
"Hush!" Alastor snapped. "It's not true, of course, but Valentino doesn't need to know that."
"So… where is Angel?" Vaggie asked.
"Hm? You can ask your darling girlfriend tonight. For now," Al said as the phone buzzed again, "Valentino?"
"Oooookaaaaay, but first I'm going to have to get through his password," Vaggie said. She typed in one password. And then another. And then another. Finally, on the fourth try, she got in. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," she snapped. "6969? That's his password? He's so gross."
Your little star has been kidnapped. Leave $1,000 in the dumpster at the end of Dead Man's Alley if you want him back. J.C. Vaggie hit send, and showed the text to Alastor. "Will that work?" she asked Al.
"Who's J.C.?" Alastor asked.
Vaggie smirked. "Jesus Christ. But Valentino won't know who that stands for."
"Where's Dead Man's Alley?" Al asked.
Vaggie shrugged. "Never heard of one. But I bet Valentino doesn't know that either." She flicked the phone to silent. "The phone won't bug you anymore even if Valentino does text Angel again now."
Al smirked. This was the same guy that took thirty minutes to count three bills. He was never going to figure out their trick on his own. Vaggie was an intelligent young lady. Alastor was pleased to have made the right choice to come to her for her technology skills.
"Keep Charlie inside the hotel tonight. We'll give off the impression that the three of us are out searching for him as well," Alastor said. He took the phone back from Vaggie and stuck it back in his pocket.
"Keeping Charlie occupied is my special talent," Vaggie smiled.
"Pervert," Al teased.
"Not like that!"
Al left, chuckling at her red face. Oh, these emotional reactions were so entertaining.
—-
Angel woke up, yet again, to the Radio Demon looming over him. "Damn it, Red Velvet, I do not need babysitting," he groaned.
"Don't you?" The Radio Demon said. "Besides, this saves me the time of tracking you down."
Angel yawned. "Tracking me down fer what?"
"Why, to explain how we staged a kidnapping for you, of course!"
"I," Angel said, "am not awake enough fer this shit yet."
The Radio Demon chuckled. "You're late for a shift with Valentino, you know?"
"Shit, shit, shit! Why didn't you open with that?" Angel threw the Radio Demon's jacket at him and swiveled his feet off Charlie's bed. "How late am I?" he demanded.
"Eight hours of beauty sleep."
"EIGHT HOURS?!" Angel shrieked.
"Yes, hence the kidnapping plot," the Radio Demon said. "Do try to keep up. Here," the Radio Demon handed Angel Dust's phone over to him.
Angel paused to read the texts and saw he had eleven missed phone calls. He whistled. "Only eleven? Valentino must've gotten distracted by somethin'."
"Anyways, I assume you can act like you just escaped a kidnapping when you go to work?" the Radio Demon asked.
"Hm? I mean, yeah, I guess. If I c'n win Adult Film Star of the Year over Tiffany Titfucker then I c'n fool Valentino no problem."
"How's the withdrawals?" the Radio Demon asked.
Angel did a quick self-scan. "My body feels tired, but not like before. I think I c'n make it through a few hours of work with Val. Thanks fer that, by the way."
"You're welcome," the Radio Demon said. "Now, to drop you off somewhere out of the public eye. It wouldn't do for you to go waltzing out of the hotel from your supposed kidnapping. At that point, I think even a demon as dense as Valentino would notice."
"Yuuup," Angel said. "I owe ya one for the dropoff then?"
"It's a deal, then," the Radio Demon said, eyes flashing green.
"Not on your life, Red Velvet," Angel said. "Keep dreaming."
The Radio Demon extended a very gentlemanly hand to Angel Dust, and for a breathtaking moment Angel thought he was going to kiss it. He was such a dumbass. Angel took the hand offered and allowed himself to be deposited into an alleyway behind a dumpster. "By the way, Vaggie thinks your phone password is gross," the Radio Demon said by way of parting.
Angel laughed. And then the Radio Demon was gone.
The fear of Valentino was not new. His unpredictable outbursts became predictable over time. Sure, there were some uncertainties. How far Valentino would go, what would he really do if he truly blew his top off one day, how much it would hurt. But there were certainties too. Valentino would strike Angel. Valentino would say or make Angel say something derogatory. Valentino would either start at a low hissing or loud screaming. The worst thing he could ever do was kill Angel, that's all. Angel sometimes had to fight the temptation of laughing at Valentino because the screaming, stomping, and hitting were all just adult-sized toddler tantrums that Angel was subjected to.
His body could never get used to the fear of Valentino though. He wouldn't shake every time Valentino hit him, but he couldn't seem to stop the shaking permanently. Like Russian Roulette but with a vibrator.
Which objectively sounded like more fun than what Angel was going to do in the studio.
Right. Time to get into character. The best way to minimize the damage was to make Valentino believe him when he said he got kidnapped. The pathetic look often worked on Valentino.
Dignity? That was for people who didn't have a Valentino.
So he ran into the building and slammed the door shut behind him. He got weird looks from the demons around him. "Where's Valentino?" He put some panic into his voice. "Where is he?"
"Try his office, sweetie," one of Vox's people said. "He's been in there all night."
"D-don't let anyone in behind me," Angel said, and tossed a nervous look over his shoulder at the door.
"We have people for that here, sweetie," the same demon said.
Angel swallowed and booked it for Valentino's office. He didn't even knock on the door, he just flew in. "Val, you're not gonna believe-"
"Angel! Do you have any idea the manpower we put out looking for you, babe? Do you have any idea how much the delays on set have cost me? I should take it out of your paycheck." Valentino looked down his nose through his scarlet-tinted glasses at Angel.
Quite frankly, Angel could probably afford the pay cut now that he was off crack. But Valentino didn't need to know that. Angel ducked behind the desk next to Val but on the floor. "Do you have any idea where I've been? I was kidnapped!" Angel glanced nervously at the door. "Ya gotta protect me, Val!
"Of course, darling, no one's getting into my studio and messing with my stars," Valentino said, and pet Angel's head.
Angel pretended to let that mollify him. "Well, anyways, I managed to sneak out while they were distracted. I saw da ransom and if anything, I saved ya money by skedaddlin' out of there before they forced ya to pay up."
"Angel dear, that is so cute. Fine, I'll only take a little bit out of your paycheck for the little disturbance. Really, I guess this isn't the first time you've been kidnapped. We ought to get insurance on your pretty little head." Valentino stroked Angel's chin as if he were a cat. "Hmm, I did just send the studio staff on break since I didn't know when we'd get you back in. Why don't we head up to the studio alone , just the two of us?"
Angel looked away. "Sure, Val."
"And Angel?" Valentino slapped him. "You had better not be lying your ass off."
Angel's eyes welled up with fake tears. "I'm not!" his voice cracked. God, he was an acting genius.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I believe you baby but I had to check. You know Daddy had to check right? You're not mad at me?"
"I could neva stay mad at you, Val," Angel lied.
"Good. Let's head upstairs then," Valentino crooned.
Too bad being a great actor couldn't get him out of Valentino's claws.
Author's Note: If you want to see what I think human Angel Dust looks like, check out my Tumblr:
criticalhitzip/744434833744429056/wanted-to-try-to-capture-some-of-angels-conflict?source=share