AN: welcome back, wonderful readers! Wow, lots of milestones that just leave me in awe: over 100k words, 19 favorites, 24 followers, 15 reviews, and 35 chapters! Y'all are amazing, thanks for the support. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 35: We're losers, baby
Taylor paced restlessly around the lobby as they waited for Angel to get back from work. Being privy to Angel's memories twice now, they had several hunches of what kind of things the spider demon was probably being subjected to as a result of their and Charlie's interference. They gnashed their teeth at the several glimpses they had seen of Valentino taking sick pleasure at overriding Angel's consent, along with the maddening notion that Angel believed he deserved it for making the deal with the Overlord in the first place. Further, they knew their friend lived like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow and would dissociate from the pain and hopelessness he felt with drugs, drink, and sex to cope with the poison he was forced to take.
'I should have done more, kept Charlie better in check. Better yet, I should have done more to keep her away entirely.' they languished over guiltily. They glanced over at an equally distraught Charlie keeping watch at the front door while Vaggie tried to console her. Taylor heard Husk growl from the bar space.
"Can you cut it out with the pacing bullshit? You're bumming me out." He said irritably as he cleaned glasses.
Taylor halted their marching and went over to the bar as they ran their hand through their hair in discontent.
"Sorry. It's just… it's tearing me up inside how we ended up making things worse for Angel." They answered with a huff as they slumped on the barstool.
"Why are ya surprised? He's in a tough industry, kid. Thanks to that shitty boss of his, he's bound to get roughed up on the regular." He said with a scowl.
"I know that! I just wanted to help!" They cried out.
"How?! You don't have connections, no money, and while ya have some decent fighting skills, that won't count for shit against an Overlord."
Taylor clenched their fists in frustration.
'But I can help him! I'm just not strong enough yet.' they seethed. They glared up at Husk in irritation.
"You know, Angel is right, you can be a real dickhead sometimes." They said bitingly.
Husk snarled at the comment before a flash of hurt passed over his face and he turned around to place the glasses away.
Taylor's indignation dissipated when they realized they went too far. They sighed as they burned with shame.
"I'm sorry. You're right, Husk. I didn't mean what I said." They gazed at Husk's back as they continued. "You're a lot of things, but a dickhead isn't one of them." They said apologetically.
They heard a huff before Husk turned around with a crooked grin.
"It's fine, kid. Your heart was in the right place." He replied genuinely.
Before Taylor could respond, the front doors opened and Angel strode in tiredly and groaning. He ignored Charlie awkwardly waving at him as he dropped himself onto the barstool next to Taylor and laid his head and arm across the counter.
"Ugh, I need a drink. The hardest you can make." He groaned out.
Husk grunted and placed a glass before him as he turned to grab a bottle.
"Hmm, you look like shit." He said plainly.
Angel sat up and took a deep breath before Taylor could get a word in as he donned his cocky smile.
"Pfft. Not possible. Just a long shoot, nothin' new." He said with forced energy.
Husk rolled his eyes as he poured two bottles into the glass. Angel snatched the glass before he was done pouring and downed the drink in one go.
"Angel, I-" Taylor started before Angel slammed the glass on the counter, spilling some of the contents.
"Eugh, I said a strong one." He said irritably at Husk, ignoring Taylor.
Husk stood back with a surprised look.
"Excuse me. Didn't realize this was a 'drinking to forget' kind of night." He said sardonically as he poured him another drink. Angel huffed at the sarcasm.
"Angel, listen, I'm -" Taylor tried to say more forcefully before Angel interrupted them again as he gesticulated with his four arms.
"Oh, I forgot. You're the wise old bartender who's seen it all. Get the fuck over yourself and pour me a real drink." He said testily as he used the tip of his index finger to tip over the full glass of spirits.
Without a beat, Husk picked up the toppled glass and started mopping up the spilled drink.
"Look, if you've got a problem, you're not going to find the solution at the bottom of a bottle. I should know, I've been looking there a long time." He said in a serious knowing tone.
Angel looked unimpressed before he took another breath and smoothed his hair back. He leaned to the side and replied in a suggestive tone.
"Oh sure, and where should I look? Hmm? In your bedroom, maybe?"
Husk flinched and stiffened in discomfort. Taylor could only watch mutely as Angel upped the ante.
"Under the covers?" Angel purred as he grabbed a bottle and shook his shoulders sexily before he walked his fingers across the counter. "Maybe we can go look together."
Husk held up his hand to get Angel to stop, annoyance clear on his face.
"Don't. Even. Start" he said in a clipped tone.
Angel perched himself on the counter and leaned beside Husk with a smug grin.
"Angel, knock it off. You're going too far." Taylor interjected as he saw Husk's growing agitation.
"Oh, c'mon, I bet I can make those wings flap!" He continued as he grabbed one of Husk's wings and wrapped it around himself.
Having had enough, Husk roughly shoved Angel back onto the barstool as the bottle he held shattered and spilled its contents on the ground. Taylor startled at the aggressiveness.
"STOP! Fucking Christ! You can cut the act already!" He said angrily as he slammed both arms on the counter. "It's never going to work on me. All you're doing is makin' an ass out of yourself with this fake bullshit."
Angel listened with a furious snarl before he snapped and got up in Husk's face, his pupils and freckles glowed dark neon magenta.
"Call me fake one more time, morherfucker! I dare you." He shouted angrily.
Husk moved in close and poked Angel's chest fluff before replying smugly.
"Fake."
Angel shot up in a blind rage.
"Fuckin' asshole-" he seethed before he hit the bar ceiling hard, clutched his head in pain, and fell back off the stool and onto the floor. "Arggh! God!" He sputtered.
"Angel!" Taylor got off the stool and knelt down to the aching spider demon. Husk leaned over the counter and stared at him coldly.
"Ya done?"
Angel swiped away Taylor's attempt to help him as he growled angrily at the bartender.
"Ya know what? You would be fucking lucky to get a chance to fuck me!" He said in a crazed voice as he threw the half-broken bottle of alcohol at Husk. Husk stared unmoved as he shifted aside as the bottle missed him. "Ya know how much I'm worth? You know how many people would kill to have Angel Dust come onto them? Fuck you. Have fun being a lonely piece of shit!"
"Angel, that's enough! You need to calm down." Taylor spoke sternly to try and deescalate.
Angel rounded on them as he spoke venomously.
"And you! Ya knew what Valentino is like, and ya still brought Charlie to the studio! Ya knew what would happen and let it play out anyway! Some friend ya are! Piss off!"
Taylor knelt there numbly as Angel got up and stormed out of the hotel, but not before pushing past Vaggie. The moth demoness saw his agitation and asked.
"Whoa— the hell? Angel, where are you going?"
Angel angrily called out before he slammed the front door.
"Out!"
Taylor took a moment to process before they stood up and stared at the door their friend left from. They clenched their fist as Angel's words rang in their head. Vaggie called out to the cat demon.
"Husk, what did you do?" She asked accusingly.
Husk shrugged and spoke matter-of-factly.
"Made him a drink."
Taylor suddenly moved determinedly toward the doors and heard Vaggie call out.
"Wha—? Taylor, where are you going?"
"Out." They responded quickly before closing the door behind them.
Taylor got to the hotel gates at the bottom of the hill before they heard Husk call out to them from behind them. They looked over their shoulder to see the gruff cat demon gliding down to them and landed roughly beside them.
"What are you doing here?" Taylor questioned.
"Princess asked me to keep an eye on you and Angel. Drag his sorry ass back to the hotel if I have to." Husk said with annoyance.
Taylor shook their head.
"I'm not going to force him back. If he wants to go drown his sorrows, that's up to him; I'm just going to make sure he stays safe." Taylor said resolutely.
Husk sighed before he shrugged.
"Whatever. It's Angel, he'll be fine." He said dismissively.
"Come on, if we keep dawdling, we'll lose track of him." Taylor said hastily as they opened the gates.
The two demons followed Angel as he entered a seedy looking nautical-themed bar called The Black Dot. They entered the green lit space and saw that in the center had circular bar space for procuring drinks surrounded by booths and fishing nets above and in between said booths. Taylor scanned the space and their eyes narrowed as they saw Angel Dust snorting a white powder off a nautical wheel and getting drunk off martinis while being surrounded by shark gangster demons. He leaned back and cried out euphorically before laughing exuberantly.
They heard Husk beside him snarl as someone bumped into him. He shrugged it off as he saw Angel as well. They made their ways to the center bar counter where Husk put down money and asked for a whiskey from a treasure chest and octopus tentacle demon bartender while Taylor watched Angel laugh boisterously.
"I meant the whole bottle, jackass." Husk corrected as he grabbed the bottle before the bartender shrugged and left it for him. He offered a glass to the fire demon. "Want some?"
"Nah, I only drink from bartenders I trust." They said casually before smirking in his direction. Husk chuckled before taking a swig from the bottle as the two listened in on Angel's conversation.
"Haha, ya, ya, so I said 'You couldn't afford me in a million afterlives.' I got better options, right boys?" He said proudly as the shark demons agreed with a round of laughs.
The two watched with disgust but left him be. They hear Angel indicate to a saw-shark demon sitting beside him.
"Hey, baby, be a doll and bring me another one? Daddy's outta juice!" He said as he waved his empty martini glass around. The demon got up and headed toward Husk and Taylor with two empty glasses.
The two watch suspiciously as the saw-shark demon sat next to Husk and the bartender poured spirits into both glasses. To Taylor's shock, the shark demon pulled a small bottle filled with pink liquid and poured some into Angel's drink. They recognized the bottle from Angel's nightstand as a love potion, incensing Taylor. As the shark demon got up to return to the table, Taylor and Husk shared a concerned glance, nodded in unison, and got up muttering angrily.
"Son of a—"
"Motherfuckers."
As they approached, the saw-shark demon extended the drugged drink to Angel.
"Here you go, darling. Just for you—Hey! "
Just before the handoff was complete, Taylor swatted the drink out of his hand, spilling the contents onto the other shark demons as Husk lifted the saw-shark demon from the back of his suit.
"Nice try, fuckhead." Husk said before he threw the demon across the room and into the jukebox, changing the song.
The other shark demon gangsters kicked the table over and took out their guns as Taylor grabbed a shocked Angel by the arm and dragged him out of the booth and toward the door.
"Party's over, time to go!" Taylor quickly said as Angel protested.
They looked over their shoulder to see Husk throw a stack of razor-sharp cards at the shark demons, cutting the barrels off their guns and cutting the fishing nets loose from the ceiling, trapping them.
Outside the bar, Angel continued struggling to get free of Taylor's grip.
"Get off Fuoco! What the actual fuck are you and Husk doing here?" He said incredulously.
"Not this time, you're high and drunk. We're taking you back to the hotel where it's safe." Taylor said firmly as Angel managed to wrestle free and face his two rescuers.
"I don't need no babysitter!" He huffed angrily.
"That fucker put somethin' in your drink." Husk said accusingly.
"You don't think I can tell if someone spikes my drink? I do this all the fuckin' time!" He shot back.
Taylor stared mouth agape in shock.
"You let people drug you all the time? Why, Angel?" They said in disbelief.
"You think I ask for it? I don't ask for any of this shit! I didn't ask to be this way. I didn't ask for Charlie to save me; I didn't ask for you two to save me. I can handle myself." He replied indignantly.
"Really? Because I just saw someone self-destructing. It seems like... I don't know... you might need a bartender to talk to." Husk offered.
Angel gave an ironic chuckle as he regarded the cat demon.
"Oh, so now you're going to act like you give a shit about me? You think after how you treated me, I'm just gonna open up to you? Please." He waved the two off as he started to walk away.
Taylor's temper flared as they had had enough.
"Angel, we all give a shit about you! We wouldn't have come looking for you if we didn't care. It doesn't have to be like this! You don't need to put up walls and lash out at us!" Taylor seethed.
"Maybe I'd treat you better if you were real, and not some bullshit version of yourself, always pushin' my boundaries! Lemme tell ya, nobody in that hotel cares who you are. How famous, how hot, so you might as well just... cut the act." Husk joined in.
Angel froze mid-stride before he gave an about face and spoke with tears in his eyes.
"It's not an act!" He said genuinely.
The two flinched and regard the weeping spider demon in shock.
"It's who I need to be." He sobbed as he hugged himself. "And this…" he gestured to the street. "This is my escape. Where I can forget about it all! How much I hate... everything. A place where I can get high, and not have to think about how much it hurts. And maybe... If I can ruin myself enough in the process... if I end up broken, I won't be his favorite toy anymore..."
The two frowned as they took in what Angel said. Angel sat down on the sidewalk and curled up with his legs close to his chest and arms wrapped around him before he put his head on his knees.
"…and maybe he'll let me go…" he said quietly.
Taylor went over to the despondent spider demon and sat next to him. They put an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close to comfort him. They sat there as they heard Husk sigh and sit nearby on Angel's other side.
"I was an Overlord once, you know." He said with a nostalgic tone. The two looked at him in surprise, and Husk smiled as he remembered. "Yeah, and uh... It was nice to have that power." He frowned as painful memories came back. "But when you're dealing in souls while also being a gambler, the stakes are pretty high. And losing a few hands can be more than a little dangerous." He grimaced. "So when you're down on your luck, you turn to anything to...Keep you afloat. Even making deals with yourself. So I know what it's like to... Regret the choices made... And knowin' ya can't take it back." he said dejectedly.
Taylor looked down as they took in the new information. They realized that all three were in the same boat. They sighed as they guardedly chose their words.
"Husk was right earlier, as always. I try to project calmness and normalcy, but inside I'm a wreck. I can't say that the skeletons in my closet are similar to what you're two are going through, but I can say I understand the feeling." They said with a distant tone as they stopped themselves from putting a hand on their throat.
Husk nodded while Angel glanced over, hoping they would say more. After a heavy silence, Husk got up and started to sing.
Husk described how things might look hopelessly bleak and that their lives could be completely wrecked. But he surprised the two by saying that they are correct to think that. He then called the two of them losers in many different ways before letting them know that it's alright, as they have company.
He then let them know that since they were all in the same shit sandwich situation, sometimes talking things through can help, even if just a little. Angel admitted that he sold his soul to a psychopathic freak, to which Husk laughed that he thought he was special in that regard. Angel felt better about his situation.
Husk assured them that it's okay to be a loser. Angel stood and sang that even being a dumb coked up whore, at least he wasn't alone. Husk admitted that he was an avid gambler who sold himself out for power. The two concluded the song saying that despite being on another's leash, that they should go ahead and be their true genuine selves: losers with company.
Taylor listened along and also felt more optimistic about their situation. While they couldn't admit it outright to them, they felt a kinship with the two demons through shared miserable circumstances.
Suddenly, the doors of the bar slammed open and the shark gangsters piled out, guns blazing.
"There they are! They're fucking singing?" One gangster shouted.
The trio bolted and hid behind a car as bullets were fired. Husk got his cards and dice ready.
"Shit! Stay down. I'll deal with this." Husk directed.
"I'll cover you. I can redirect bullets, remember?" Taylor reminded him as they grinned.
Taylor stood up and gazed at their opponents. The gangsters aimed at them, only for their bullets to be diverted or ricochet back at them and hitting their compatriots. Husk jumped on the car hood and tossed his cards before bounding into the fray and using his exploding dice and slashing his opponents with ease. He laughed at the fun he was having before one shark gangster jumped on his back. He had trouble getting them off until Angel pulled out one of his guns and shot the shark off until he was a bloody puddle.
"Eat lead, sucka!" He shouted. Angel extended a hand to Husk and winked. "I told ya. I can handle myself, baby."
Husk smiled at the help as Taylor joined them. They summoned a barrage of fireballs to rain on the sharks as Angel brought out six guns and fired and Husk tossed his cards and dice.
Soon enough, the threat was defeated as one of the shark demons remarked that things didn't go as planned before dying.
The trio were a bit winded, banged up, and covered in the shark demon's blood, but in good spirits. Husk looked impressed at Angel.
"Well, that was something I didn't expect to see." He said in an awed tone.
Angel winked at him in a friendly manner.
"Like I said, you don't know me. Sex ain't the only thing I'm good at."
"Yeah, you should have seen him during the turf war trust exercise, he was the MVP of the crew!" Taylor recalled as they grinned merrily.
Husk grinned as he regarded the bloodied but smiling Angel.
"Good to know, cause this guy ain't that bad."
Angel looked apologetic as they turned to Taylor.
"Hey, Fuoco, sorry about earlier when I said ya weren't a good friend. I know ya tried ya best to keep Charlie safe."
Taylor waved them off.
"No worries. I wish I could've stopped it sooner for your sake, but nobody in Hell can stop that demoness when she sets her mind to something."
The trio laughed and made their way back to the hotel together.
They arrived at the hotel as Angel ragged on Valentino.
"He had like three bills, and it took him thirty minutes to count them. His eyes are so shit!" He cried in disbelief.
Taylor remembered Valentino squinting at a clipboard during their last dealmaker job and chuckled to themselves.
"Hehe, and this is the guy you gotta take orders from?" Husk remarked.
"I know! What a fucking joke, right?" Angel exclaimed.
All of a sudden, Charlie rushed over to Angel and hugged him tightly in relief.
"I'm so sorry, Angel. I promise I won't ever, ever, ever, ever- " she emphasized as she apologized profusely.
Angel patted her head in a consoling way.
"Charlie, it's fine. I get it. Thanks... for caring about me." He said gratefully.
Charlie began weeping in relief and Angel held out toward Vaggie.
"Ehh, I think this is yours." He said awkwardly as he placed the sobbing Princess in Vaggie's arms.
"Okay, missy, let's get you to bed." Vaggie said as she carried Charlie away as she continued blubbering.
"He-he-he said he - for-forgave me! It's so beautiful, Vaggie..."
Husked sighed contentedly as he regarded the two demons.
"Hey, how about that drink?"
"You read my mind." Angel agreed.
"Hmm, I don't know. I don't see my favorite bartender anywhere." Taylor jested as they looked around.
Husk laughed as the three headed over to the bar.