Proposal

Chapter 8

It seemed like every night he had the same dream, and every day Angel was rushing out to work without saying more than a few words to him. Husker decided that the entire week was just a shit show that he was ready to be over already. Sitting at the bar, he glanced at the clock on the wall, a lovely little addition that Charlie had added on his behest. He'd told her that it would help prospecting clients come in and stay the night at least once if it was late enough when they arrived, when in reality it just meant he didn't have to pull out his phone and look down at that. Right now, it was a bit past midnight, but everyone else had already headed upstairs. He was sure that Charlie and Vaggie were headed to get ready for bed, while Niffty was probably indulging herself in some "secret" reading of the sordid type. Alastor had gone upstairs, to his knowledge anyways, but he wasn't sure if the man was going to bed or was going to stay up, and what he would even do if he did.

Sighing, he gathered the cards in front of him and began to shuffle the deck. The door to the lobby opened, which he could tell by the heightened sounds of the outside, the smell of the city wafting in, and the subtle shift in the lighting. They hadn't gotten around to making any of the changes that Husker had suggested yet, only because it was a bunch of fairly expensive and time consuming changes that they hadn't fully worked out yet. Looking up, he shuffled and neatly stacked his deck, setting them off to the side as Angel didn't hesitate to walk right up to him.

"Hey." The single word was breathed, barely considered spoken at all, by the spider.

"Hey." He repeated the word, but Angel didn't move to sit down like he normally would. He didn't even look down at the stools.

"Can we talk? You know... privately?" The other man pointed a finger up to indicate going to his room and Husker nodded.

"Sure." It didn't take him long to put everything away, because everything consisted of the cards he'd been practicing with and the bottle of bourbon he'd pulled out but hadn't actually poured a drink from. He didn't think anything of the occurrence though, as he stashed the bottle back into his spot and slipped out from behind the bar. Following the spider upstairs, he idly wondered if Angel had another wild story to tell him like the last time, and if Angel was planning on stripping and showering in front of him like last time. He couldn't say he would mind either at the moment.

When they reached the room, Angel closed the door behind him and he moved to sit down on the bed, Fat Nuggets happily trotting after his owner with excitement. He watched as Angel fed the pig, grabbed a change of clothes and, this time, moved into the bathroom to change clothes. He waited for the few minutes it took for the other man to get dressed and then sat there as Angel moved about the room before finally sitting beside him. The arachnid pushed himself until his back was against the wall and wrapped his arms around his chest.

"So..." He paused, biting his lip in thought and tapping a finger on his leg. "So, the other day, Val sent me to another client." Husker nodded, turning his body to better face Angel and crossing his legs like a school child.

"Okay. Another one like the last one or... a different kind of crazy?" The other man shook his head at the question, which had Husker more than a little curious now.

"It was just a regular client, you know? He was some company big wig in an industry that I didn't even ask about 'cause that shit don't matter at the end of the day. He was throwing this big party and had invited some A-listers to it that he refused to name and wanted Val's Best to impress them." Husker wanted to cringe at the term. Angel had used it before, and he now knew that it wasn't a term of pride or endearment, but a nickname synonymous with torture and ownership. "So, I get there and I'm looking perfect, just as I'm supposed to. I walk out so that everyone at this party can see me and I do my thing, right?" Husker nodded, but Angel shook his head and sneered in disgust. "When I'm done, I'm supposed to go around the crowd and greet people, so I do that. Then, the guy who hired me comes running up and drags me over to meet his "guest of honor" type bull shit. As we're crossing the room he tells me this guy is loaded and powerful and he's really gotta make a good impression on him to land this deal he wants, and he thinks I can do it." Angel didn't relax while telling the story, he didn't let go of his legs and dangle them off the end of the bed, or stretch out behind Husker on the pillowy bedding. He kept huddled against the wall, staring down as he spoke.