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Hard to Love

Genre: hurt/comfort bc my baby husk needs comfort too.

Me? Self projecting on characters? Neverrr.
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Some people are just unloveable. No matter how hard they try, how nice they are or how cruel they can be, everyone finds something about them that is just difficult to love. Whether it be looks, personality, quirks, or flaws, they were given a hand of unplayable cards, a roll of a dice with a big fuck you on all sides.

Some people are just hard to love.

Husk was one of those people.

Or so he thought.

When Husk was alive, he dated around, both men and women throughout highschool. That's where he met his highschool sweetheart his senior year. They were together all throughout college, and eventually married after graduation. His wife was his everything, and he treated her as such. He spoiled her, and gave her all the love he could offer, but that was never enough. She always demanded more, soon nothing was satisfactory, fights broke out between them constantly, and after twelve years of marriage, she cheated on him with a younger, wealthier man.

The divorce was quick, they had no kids and Husk didn't want anything from her. She married her affair partner soon after, but Husks heart never recovered. He hated himself, thought nothing he ever did would be good enough, that he was never good enough. He began drinking and gambled away what was left of his wealth, and eventually, he drank himself to death.

When he came into hell, he continued to drink and gamble until he lost his soul to the radio demon, Alastor. He started working as a bartender at the Hazbin Hotel shortly after. He closed himself off, never talking about himself and only listening to others. He got a reputation for being gruff, apathetic, and grumpy. No one ever really bothered to get friendly with him. The patrons got drunk, vented to him, and never spoke to him when they were sober. Nobody had any sort of relationship with him outside of intoxication.

Nobody except Angel Dust, hells famous pornstar, who, sober or drunk, always talked to him, even despite his efforts to push the spider away.

Their friendship started off as annoyance, Husk tired of his boundaries being constantly challenged. He hated being flirted with, resented the stupid nicknames Angel gave him. But, as Angel Dust became more honest, more real, more vulnerable, Husk grew a bond with the spider demon he didn't expect to form. They complained together, drank together, and on bad days Husk would treat Angels wounds and help him through breakdowns. They were friends, occasionally going out into the town together or spending time on the balcony just smoking and bullshitting. They could sit and absolute silence and it would never be awkward. Angel gave Husk feelings he hadn't felt for ages, and soon those feelings became scary, and unbearable.

He was in love, but he was unloveable. Angel would never feel like that towards him. He knew Angels flirting was just a coping mechanism, a way to escape the trauma he built up. Husk hated himself for falling in love. He would never be enough for the man so fragile and hurt, who deserved so much more. He'd just make things worse. He was just as broken.

That fact tore his heart, so he started becoming cold towards Angel, with short answers and ignoring any of angels attempts to flirt, or even conversate normally.

Angel noticed it, but chopped it up to just Husk being Husk. He continued like normal, flirting and bullshitting with the man he grew to love. For Angel, Husk made loving someone less scary, made him feel real and human. He thought Husk felt the same way, but wanted to wait until he could tell for sure. But as he continued to be around Husk, he noticed how each conversation was shorter, more bland. He noticed how miserable the cat looked. He wanted to ask, but didn't know how. Husk was a listener, he hated talking about himself. But, as all things do, the truth finally came to light.