Proposal

Chapter 22

Three days later and Angel still couldn't believe everything that had happened. In a single day, he'd confessed his love to the man he'd fallen for in life, and all over again in death, and he'd been freed from the biggest mistake of his existence. He would have celebrated the moment they got out of the building, or the moment they'd reached the hotel, but he couldn't. The reality had taken awhile to sink in, and then he'd been hit by the truck load of emotions and repercussions of the broken contract. When he'd idly asked Husker what he was going to do about his contract with Alastor, his lover had explained that it had been nullified mere hours before the whole ordeal at the casino. He hadn't gone into detail, but that was probably because Angel was too busy vomiting again to truly listen.

Now, though, after three long days, he was finally feeling like himself again. Not the him with Valentino, but the him before that. The real him. Laying in bed, he stared up at the ceiling and thought about all of the years wasted beneath Valentino, and how he'd ended up there in the first place. A small voice whispered in his ear that it was his fault. That everything would have been fine back then if he'd only kept his mouth shut like always about how he felt. Shaking his head, Angel sighed. No, it wouldn't have been fine, because he still would have been hiding. Sure, agreeing to the contract with Valentino was an awful choice on his part, and one that probably should have been avoided. However, it also was the reason he'd said yes to Charlie's offer. Not because it would give him free room and board, though that was nice, but because it came with the possibility of maybe, just maybe, getting out of Val's grasp if it worked.

The groan beside him pulled him out of his own thoughts with a smile. Looking to his left, Angel sighed with his contentment at the man. Husker was still fast asleep, but he kept scrunching his nose every once in a while and sneering. Looking his lover over, his mind drifted back to before he left for the party and how close they'd come to simply making love in the garden. Angel lightly pet his fingers down Husker's side slowly, taking note of how unusually soft the feline was. When he got to his lover's hips, he reached his hand back and stroked one of the large, red and black feathers. It was softer than he'd thought it would be, and shinier than he'd noticed prior. Moving to pet another, Angel jumped when Husker shifted, his feathers fluffing before vibrating a bit and settling down.

Pursing his lips, Angel debated on what to do next before an idea crept into his brain. Walking his fingers up his lovers side, he lightly pet a finger down Husker's cheek. Watching the man's nose twitch, Angel smiled. Delicately stroking the feline's whiskers, he gleefully watched as Husker scrunched his nose again and huffed. Toying with the sensitive vibrissae, he didn't even take notice of the cat's tail beginning to twitch. As he slid one between two fingers, he looked up to find those golden eyes staring at him. "Angel... what are you doing?" He immediately stopped what he had been doing and pulled his hand away.

"I...uh..." He tried to get himself to look around, to find something else to focus on, but he couldn't. "I wanted to wake you up, but... I didn't think you'd appreciate my first idea so...." He trailed off and Husker lifted a brow.

"Oh really? And what exactly..." The man shifted until Angel was pushed onto his back and the feline was directly over him. "Was your original idea?" Biting his lip, Angel smiled at the coy cat. Shifting, he let the other man settle between his legs and smiled.

"Well, kitten, I did mull over the idea of finding some... sensitive spots of yours." Husker nodded as he spoke and lower slowly. Their bodies pressed together, Angel sighed in his excitement.

"Oh really?" Angel nodded at the question. Husker nodded before shifting again and Angel merely sat and waited for the man to do whatever it was he was doing. At first he thought it was just getting comfortable, but when the man's hands began to tactfully roam over his body, he knew better. One slid beneath the baggy night shirt he'd worn to bed and brushed over his stomach before burying in the immense fluff on his chest. The other slipped beneath him to cup his buttocks. "And what were you gonna do once you found those, huh?" He asked the question just before slipping his hand inside Angel's underwear and using a finger to toy with the edge of the tightly puckered ring. Inhaling slowly, Angel dropped his head back against the pillows with a smile.