• ~ Late Night Thoughts - a Radiodust story ~ •

Thoughtful.

A/N: Not a continuation of the other chapter at all, nor is it related to this fanfiction besides the RadioDust. I just thought this would be nice to post here! Happy Birthday, Angel!

For as long as he could remember, April 1st was always the worst day of Angel Dust's life. Since it was a day of pranks and jokes, even when he was alive, it had always been a point of ridicule.

Seems even your birthday calls you a joke, would be the common insult spat at him by all he knew. Even the people who genuinely wanted it celebrated, it always reminded him of a loss he had endured during life.

He knew she was safe up in heaven. He knew she didn't deserve to be in Hell, she never did.

So, his birthday was always a day he dreaded. As for Valentino? He never gave any fucks about Angel's birthday, other than special programs in honor of it. Therefore, he would never be given a day off, forced to work birthday specials for some rando to jack-off to. Genuinely, he could never be more willing to return back to the hotel.

After taking enough drugs to make an elephant overdose and one last shoot, Angel was free to stumble back to the Hotel in his suit. The world was swimming, colors shifting around him. Demons cat-called and smacked his ass as he walked by, but he paid them no mind. This was nothing unusual, nothing he couldn't deal with. Strangely enough, half way through his walk, all that had stopped. Demons had stopped approaching him, had stopped making any advance.

It was then he realized that there was another walking beside him. At first, he though the light pounding he heard was his heart hammering in his chest, but it had turned out to be a certain Radio Demon.

"Al...?" Angel asked, turning his head to look down at the other.

"And so he notices. Hello, my dear." Alastor's grin was as wide as ever. "My, my, you're in rare form today!"

Angel scoffed. He was too high for this. "Yeah. Didn't notice."

The deer beside him laughed. "Oh, how pitiful. It's so wonderful seeing you in this state." Alastor mused, smugly grinning up at the other.

"I appreciate you tormenting me, but can you not?" Angel snapped. "I'm sort of fucking pissed, so I'd rather get rid of the jizz all over me and go the fuck to bed."

Alastor cringed at his crudeness, smile tightening. "Yes, yes. Just make sure you keep an eye out for anything...out of place in your room." Alastor spoke cheerily, quickly recovering.

Angel raised an eyebrow at him. "The fuck didja' do 'ta my room?"

"Oh, nothing special!" Alastor sang. They had now reached the Hotel, and Alastor swung the door open. "Have a good rest, Angel Dust!"

As quickly as he had arrived, Alastor sped off. Angel frowned, questions swimming in his mind. With as much speed as he could without smacking into the walls, he went to his room. The sea of magenta light struck him, and he instantly began to look for anything out of place. However, instead of anything missing, it seemed like something was added. A piece of paper was taped on his vanity mirror. Angel moved to it, and he felt his heart begin to race.

On the paper was a little doodle- one that didn't seem to have taken long at all, scratched out with no skill with a dying pen. It was one of Angel, surrounded by a myriad of smiley faces, some of which laughing. In his hands was a cake with a candle, a goofy smile on his face. In a different color of pen was written

It's Angel Dust's birthday today! So, nothing special!

Despite the rude intention of the last comment, Angel gave a smile, gently reaching forward to hold the corner of the drawing. He stared at it for a long time, until he felt something wet on his cheeks.

He was crying.

Quickly, he wiped them away and peeled the paper off of his vanity. He sat down on his bed, lying his head on a fluffy pillow whilst still admiring the drawing.

Even if it wasn't much, Angel couldn't help but clutch it close to his chest. He whispered a gentle, "Thank you, Smiles."

What he didn't see, was the shadow lurking in his room. It smiled, then was wisked away.