[RadioDust] Artificial Love

Chapter 11: Analysis and Action

For the next few days, Alastor decided to forego his usual avenues of research in favor of looking into Italian-American culture. As much as Angel insisted that he should relax and not worry too much about the upcoming meeting, he was determined to make a good first impression. Not that he thought doing otherwise would make Angel think less of him. Not that he expected Angel might, for lack of a better word, dump him if things didn't go well...

...though now that that thought was in his mind, he was suddenly becoming a bit paranoid about it. After all, there was no reason it shouldn't be possible. If their relationship was to function in the way his beau wanted, shouldn't Angel have every right to end it if he chose? And it wasn't unreasonable for criticism from family members to be a 'deal-breaker,' so to speak. Oh, this line of reasoning was a mistake. Generalization. Unreasonable. And yet...

Well, all the more reason to make sure he conducted himself appropriately! Yes, as long as he didn't mess anything up the night of, Angel would have no cause to question their relationship. He'd been getting much better about monitoring his behavior around others so he wouldn't do anything too strange. And if worse came to worst, he could always—no, Angel had asked him not to willfully don his shackles again unless he felt he had no other choice. But the way he saw it, the prospect of losing Angel certainly qualified as 'some kinda emergency.'

A rough nudge to his shoulder brought him back to the moment so he stiffened and jerked away from the touch. It was accompanied by an equally rough voice chuckling, "Hey, sweetheart, looks like ya tom's broken or somethin'. If ya want a guy with all his parts workin'—"

"Save it," Angel snapped back without hesitation, arms crossed as he stood before the wall of mirrors just outside the dressing room, "and how 'bout ya keep your goddamn hands to yourself 'n' I won't tell him I'm feelin' threatened by how you're lookin' at me."

On cue, Alastor turned over his shoulder to glare at the offender, a tall but scrawny individual who looked at least a decade older than Angel. He was all the more defensive not only for having been touched unexpectedly, but because he knew he shouldn't have let himself get so distracted in the first place when Angel was vulnerable. Luckily, the mannerless salaud harassing them must have seen the venom in his gaze, as he rolled his eyes and stalked off, muttering something less than complimentary under his breath. Alastor had to fight with himself not to go after him and force him to apologize for those insults.

Angel's hand gently meeting his arm helped with that considerably, and he looked up to meet his beau's softened gaze. Something about seeing him shift from volatile anger to gentle concern was especially endearing. "Hey. You doin' okay? I was callin' ya for a minute there 'n' ya acted like ya couldn't even hear me."

"Were you? I'm so sorry, cher, I...I didn't hear you." That was a problem, and not one he'd ever had before. Had he really allowed himself to get that caught up in his own nervous fears? What if Angel had really needed him? He would have to be more careful.

"It's no big deal; I was just wonderin' what you were thinkin' about so hard."

Alastor opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated. It wasn't right to keep things from his beau. He knew that, and yet the prospect of explaining what had so thoroughly occupied all his available processing power at once was embarrassing in a way. Still, he couldn't lie.

Well. He could, now that he thought about it. But he didn't want to.

"I was just, er, worrying, I guess," he admitted sheepishly, and Angel let out a sigh.

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of." Taking a seat next to Alastor on the couch where he'd been waiting, he laced his fingers through the tom's to hold his hand. "It seems like you've been gettin' more 'n' more freaked out about tomorrow night ever since I mentioned it. I thought knowin' beforehand would make it easier for you, but I think it's just makin' ya more nervous."