Hazbin Hotel: Angel's Birthday
"Happy Birthday to you!" The crowd finished singing as Angel blew out the candles on his cake. It had been Charlie's idea to celebrate his birthday and who was Angel to disagree with the princess of Hell. Everyone was there, including Sir Pentious who Emily had brought along with the permission of Sera. She'd been meaning to do it for some time now. Everyone had been missing him so much and with everything going on with Caine, it was a good way to lift spirits. Of course, the dark overlord was the only one absent from the party. He had felt he wasn't ready for something so grand and Emily sort of agreed with him. His panic attacks were something she'd been wanting to keep an eye on and a crowd like this might not help. "It's your birthday bitch! Let's get fucked up tonight!" Cherri held up two bottles of absinth, Charlie quickly stepping in "Responsibly!" To which Cherri and Angel rolled their eyes, though in good humor.
Husker was watching Angel open presents, going absolutely bonkers over the little things like new phone cases, makeup that he'd been sorely needing, new clothes and outfits for Fat Nuggets who was in his lap, face smeared with cake "Oh he'll love it!" It was an exact replica of Angel's usual day outfit, only the right size for the little pig to wear. Emily stepped forward and offered him two gifts. One was from her, a journal for him to write in, the other a box wrapped in black wrapping paper with a bow on top. He didn't have to struggle to guess who it was from "Caine wanted you to have this, he's just not quite ready for crowds" Angel pulled the top off and inside was a throwing knife set, each one etched with a spider web print much like Angel's tommy guns "Wow…" he was in genuine shock that Darkness even cared enough to give him a gift like this "Tell him thanks, maybe he can come next year" Emily just nodded with a nervous smile.
The party went on for a few hours, everyone laughing and carrying on. Angel noticed that it didn't take long for Pentious and Cherri to separate from everyone else, a smirk coming to his face. That snake was hopeless sometimes, but he knew what he was doing when it came to Cherri, had to give him that much credit. "Nugs!" Angel felt the cold icing hit his fur as Fat nuggets got into his slice of cake was well "Oh you…. alright, Husker's turn to baby-sit" Even though he protested, it was mostly to save face, Husker did enjoy holding Fat Nuggets, he'd just never tell anyone else that. Angel excused himself to the kitchen to clean up.
It wasn't until he was drying his hands that he realized he wasn't alone. He turned to see Caine sitting on a stool at the counter, fork in a piece of cake that he was picking at "This stuff is…sweet" he pushed the little paper plate aside, Angel coming over "It's better when it's fresh…you missed the birthday song Darkness" he folded his arms as he leaned a hip on the counter "What's the matter? Afraid to let angel girl hear your singing voice?" Caine side eyed him, but he'd come to realize that dirty looks really didn't intimidate the spider. "Large gatherings aren't quite for me, besides, it's your day, a day to celebrate another year. "I don't need to be there for you to enjoy yourself" he picked at the cake again, this piece having a bit of the spider web that had been made in icing. "Not true Darkness. It's not exactly fun if all my friends aren't there." Caine stopped picking at the cake to look him in the eye "We're friends?" Angel just shrugged "What else do you call it? Can't let Em be your only friend, can I?" he smirked then wiggled his brow a bit "Not that you two are just friends now…. right?" He gave the order lord a knowing glance and Caine quickly looked anywhere else "Don't be ridiculous. At most she sees us as colleagues, perhaps…friends…but that's all"
Regarding Emily as potentially anything more than friends would be a terrible idea. She had her job to do and he was part of that. So what if he felt a certain way whenever she was near. Or felt empty and alone whenever she was not…. like now. "She's just a friend. That's all she'll ever be" Angel wasn't buying it, hearing the disappointed tone to his voice "Let me tell you something Darkness, in my line of work I got pretty good at knowing what's real and what ain't. Whenever you make a little bit of progress, or a lot of progress, that girl looks at you like you put the moon up there and all the stars too." He smirked and leaned in a little closer "And she's out there right now looking like she's lonely because you're not there too" Caine wanted to fold in on himself. Damn the spider and his perceptiveness "You know…. I think Alastor said something about bringing down his gramophone and putting on some records. If you're fast enough you may just snag her for a dance before Pentious does"
He pulled out one of the little knives, balancing it on his finger "Great gift by the way, never hurts to have a weapon that doesn't run out of ammo" He walked away, leaving Caine to think. Rejoining the party, Alastor had indeed brought down the record player and some slow, big band numbers were playing. Charlie and Vaggie were already dancing, but he looked over to see Pentious ask Cherri for a dance. He looked over to Husker, not even looking remotely interested in dancing. His smile fell a little bit, wondering what it would be like if the two of them danced together like that. He went to get Fat Nuggets back before Husker fried him up with eggs. He didn't behave with anyone else but Angel "Come here Nuggies" he snuggled his little friend "Were you good for Husker?" Husker rolled his eyes, now the one covered in cake and certainly needing a bath later. But he smiled endearingly at the two friends "He was alright. Hey…" he held out a little wrapped box, wanting to give it to Angel when they were alone rather than in front of everyone "Happy Birthday" Angel honestly hadn't expected anything, but he took the box, unwrapping and opening it to find a framed photograph of himself, Husker and Fat Nuggets from the grand opening party. It was the first time he'd ever seen Husker looking even the least bit happy "I asked Charlie for a copy, thought it would look good in a frame instead of on that wall of yours"
Angel touched it with a gentle caress, drawing his finger over the part where he and Husker were smiling at each other. It looked like for a moment the whole world stopped and it was just the two of them "I love it. Thanks Husky" Usually Husker would get upset but he just shrugged it off, it was the kid's birthday after all "You're welcome…Anthony" It felt weird hearing his real name coming from someone. He never shared it with anyone, not even Charlie. But he had told Husker one night over a drink. Somehow the way he said it, it felt right. He was going to say something back, but Husker seemed to be distracted. "Husk?" he asked and merely got a "Well will you look at that…" in return. He turned to see where he was looking and surprised himself.
Caine had ventured out of the kitchen. He couldn't sanction the thought of someone else asking Emily for a dance when he'd never done so himself. Especially the snake. Seeing him more distracted by Cherri, he approached Emily from behind who was just watching and enjoying the music. When he cleared his throat, she turned around and gasped with surprise, but only smiled more seeing him there "I see you're enjoying the party…" he held his hands behind his back, being stoic as always, though she was coming to find it to be an endearing quality, especially when he was using it to hide his happiness or joy. "I didn't think you'd come. You were so dead set against it" he shrugged a bit "It didn't seem to be my type of enjoyment. However…" he perked up a bit as a song he knew started to play, one he quite loved and enjoyed. "These songs are meant for dancing, and you seem to be without a partner." He made his cane disappear and then held out his hand to her "Miss Emily, would you do me the high honor of granting me a dance?" When she looked as if she might burst into tears, he thought he'd said the wrong thing. When her hand slipped into his, he knew he'd gotten it right.
Caine was many things, a vicious overlord, a dark and intimidating figure, but the one thing he knew how to do was dance, especially a lovely waltz. Neither of them noticed that everyone else had cleared out of the way, too shocked to even comment on this strange but very welcome development. "I knew Darkness had it in him…" Angel murmured to Husker. It was sweet to see them so wrapped up in one another, eyes only for each other. Only when Emily leaned in closer and rested her head on his shoulder did the spell break and Caine realized they were the center of attention. Somehow it didn't bother him so much.