[RadioDust] A Firm Hand

Chapter 5: What Are We?

He wasn't really sure when he was supposed to go by, but he figured it should probably be around a time he wasn't likely to run into anyone else. At about 11 p.m., he left a sleeping Nuggets on his bed and headed back to the third floor. Alastor didn't open the door himself this time and just called, "Come in," from inside. Was that a bad sign? Come to think of it, he hadn't approached Angel himself earlier in the day, which meant he might still be in a bad mood from the previous night.

Nervous at the prospect of more punishment but hoping he might be able to talk his way out of it, Angel cautiously eased the door open and peeked inside to find Alastor seated in an armchair in the corner of the room, eyes trained on a book in his hands. And...he was even wearing glasses? This was probably the first time Angel could recall ever thinking of him as 'cute.' Oddly, the lighting was normal this time—not red like before—but it was still dimmer than in Angel's room.

"It's rude to stand around in doorways, chéri," the Radio Demon pointed out, and Angel hurried into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Sorry. Uh, Baron said ya wanted to talk?"

Alastor's eyebrows raised, and he looked up to meet Angel's eyes. "'Baron,' hm?"

"I mean, I felt weird just callin' him 'Shadow,' so that's the name he gave me." The spider couldn't help noticing that Baron wasn't around at the moment. Probably off doing Alastor's dirty work somewhere else in the hotel.

"Interesting." Setting his book aside on an end table, Alastor crossed one leg over the other and leaned back in his seat. With his usual casual smile in place, he asked, "Why did you lie to me last night?"

"What—I didn't," Angel said with a frown. Was that why he ran off? "Dontcha think I know what a big deal this kinda thing is? I wouldn't lie about somethin' like that."

"When we were finished, when you wouldn't let me touch you, you still told me you were 'fine,'" Alastor insisted evenly. "That was a lie, mon cher, and we both know it."

Oh. Well, technically, he wasn't wrong. Crossing his arms defensively, the spider gave a noncommittal shrug. "I didn't wanna make a big deal about it."

"Angel." The tone of Alastor's voice was firm but not harsh as he pushed to his feet to take a step closer. "My offer was to provide you direction and meet your needs. But I can only do that if you can express them to me. If you can't, or if you refuse to, I'm sure I'll end up inadvertently hurting you at some point."

Inadvertent, huh? Angel thought back to Baron's words the night before, about Alastor seeing how upset he was and then choosing to leave anyway. But then, if he knew it would be an effective punishment, that sort of made sense. Besides, wasn't Angel the one to blame for assuming Al would react the same way as Val? For basically making the decision for him? That definitely wasn't a sub's place.

"I get it," he answered, still gazing somewhere off to his right.

"If you want to continue this, I'll need you to promise you won't lie to me again."

"I—"

"While looking at me, please." That 'please' was a weird addition after he'd been so forceful the night before.

Taking a deep breath, Angel turned to meet the Radio Demon's eyes again and answered, "I promise. I'll be up-front with ya from now on."

"I'm glad to hear it." Alastor took one of his hands and kissed his knuckles. "Now that that's sorted out, I suppose you can go."

"Go? Seriously?"

"Was there something else you wanted?" The grin on his face said he knew that Angel had been expecting more and he was teasing on purpose. Two could play at that game.