By The Light Of The Blood Moon

Have A Ball!

Angel strolled into the foyer of the hotel, having thrown on some everyday clothing. It was nothing special, since he knew from experience that shopping would entail him dressing and undressing over and over again. He settled on a light sundress, easy on, easy off. Simples. 

Alastor was waiting for him in his usual chair by the fireplace. It didn't look as if another soul was in the hotel anywhere that he could see, except of course Husker, who was wiping down the bar between slugs of cheap booze. It was nice to know that some things never change. As he took Alastor's offered arm and strolled out the front door he called over his shoulder "Don't wait up, Husky. We'll be back later!" as he blew a kiss. Husker didn't respond other than giving him the finger and muttering "I don't even wanna fuckin' know." 

The streets weren't very crowded, but then again it was mid afternoon on a weekday, so most demons and sinners were either working or sleeping off last nights' drunk. Either way, Angel Dust was happy with the lack of people. Too many people around tended to make him nervous, except when he was on stage. That, for some reason, wasn't the same at all to him. The place could be packed, as long as he was on the stage and not in the crowd, he was golden. 

They continued walking in relative silence, save for some slight static and white noise from Alastor. Angel wondered to himself if he could ever make the static completely stop? When Alastor slept, what happened to the smiles and static? He giggled to himself imagining Alastor soundly sleeping and the radio sounds that he continually emitted sounding like a child twisting the tuner knob all night long. Damn would that be annoying, thought Angel. He had another round of giggles as he thought that's probably why he's still single. That and the creepy ass smiling. Shit, now smiley boy was looking over at him. He had to stop this giggling before he was asked what was funny. Thankfully, Alastor just turned up the creepy-factor on his already too damn big smile and continued to walk alongside.

They had arrived to the shop where Angel frequented, but as Angel Dust started to turn towards it, Alastor latched onto his hand with his free claw and continued his pace forward. 

"Okay," offered Angel, "color me confused. I thought we were going shopping?" 

"We are, darling." Alastor continued looking directly ahead, his smile never faltering. 

"But we just passed the store, Smiles" Angel said, pulling them to a stop. 

"We aren't shopping at that store." Alastor said it with an air of (what was it?) indignity. 

"My favorite store isn't good enough for ya, huh?" Angel said, feeling a bit insulted and crossing his lower set of arms.

"I never said that, dear." Alastor seemed inconvenienced by the stopping, but he humored Angel. "They don't have what we're looking for." 

"Well" argued Angel, "How do you know that when you didn't even go in?" 

"Where did all the clothes in your room come from, Angel?" he asked, sounding like an exasperated parent arguing with a toddler.

"Well, duh" said Angel, rolling his eyes and crossing his second set of arms to match the first. "the store"

"That store?" 

"Obviously"

"Well," he said waving his hand dismissively. "If everything you have came from there, and none of it is suitable, " he paused, looking expectantly at Angel, his smile growing as the realization dawned on his companion.

"Shut the fuck up and let's keep walkin'" was all the response he got. Damn bossy know-it-all deer. Angel wondered where in hell (literally) they were going shopping and hoped he had the funding to cover it. Nice clothes were never cheap, and ball gowns even less so. 

"Such crude language." stated Alastor as he continued walking towards the nicer part of the shopping district. "It really isn't becoming of a lady, my dear." he grinned at Angel, enjoying the  chance to torment him. 

"I ain't your average lady, my deer" sniffed Angel, sticking his nose up in the air trying to look like Alastor and mocking his tone near perfectly.

"You most certainly aren't, darling." Alastor laughed and his smile seemed to be more genuine. 

Well, whaddaya know. He can actually look not creepy when he smiles, thought Angel to himself. 

They had arrived at an upscale looking boutique and Alastor opened the door to allow Angel to enter before him. Angel Dust gaped at the beautiful gowns on display, any color and cut he could imagine. Even when he was working for Val he had never worn anything as nice as these. This place was like Shangri-La for a guy like him.

"Hey, uh, Al?" he muttered close to the other's ear, which flicked a little at Angel's breath.

"Yes, Angel?" Alastor answered quietly, his ear still twitching.

"I don't think we can shop here." He stammered out quietly "this stuff is worth some big coin, if you catch my drift"

"Just let me take care of that, darling." Alastor replied under his breath. 

"I can't do that," argued Angel, "It's too much to ask."

Alastor rolled his eyes, looking tired of this whole exchange, even through the smile. "Fine" he said. "You can pay me back, then. Deal?" 

Angel Dust had some real reservations about making any deals with Alastor, but he agreed to this one. "Fine." he said. "But I'm paying you back, y'hear?" He poked Alastor in the side with his finger.

"Fine" Alastor replied, mocking Angel's tone from a moment ago. 

After an hour and several changes of clothing later, Angel had found the dress that he loved and Alastor agreed to. It was a very long dress, which Alastor liked much better than the shorter ones Angel favored, but it had a slit that was cut almost all the way to the hip, which Angel liked because he could show off his slender legs. It was a dark red at the bottom, fading in an ombre to the top which was a beautiful ivory. It clung to one shoulder and was peppered with rhinestones which were more dense on the bottom and becoming more sparse on the top half. Angel was in love with this creation, and unless he read Alastor's face incorrectly, Alastor liked it as well. Perhaps this ball could be a lot of fun? It couldn't hurt his chances with Alastor, that was for sure. 

When the night of the ball arrived, Angel Dust had left nothing to chance. He had spent the better part of the day in preparations. He felt like a real queen as he descended the grand stairway to join everyone else in the foyer to ride over to the ball. Alastor's smile was genuine when he laid eyes on Angel, which made his heart flutter. He knew that they weren't an item, but it was nice to dream, wasn't it? 

The ride to the Blood Moon Ball was exciting and even a little chaotic because such things always are. Angel was relieved that the ball was being held at the convention center and not at a place owned by Vox or Val. He was also familiar with the convention center, which put him more at ease in case there was a problem, or if this was some kind of trick set up by Val to do who-knows-what. From the look of the block around the center, this was going to be a really big event. They pulled up to the entrance, which had been roped off with red velvet rope and there was a massive red carpet rolled out. 

"Wow." gasped Angel "They really went all in on the setup, didn't they?" Everyone else must have been equally surprised, as no one else could add anything to that. Suddenly the door was opened and everyone was getting out. Angel waited until last to exit because he wanted to be able to take his time in these heels with such a long dress. To his surprise, Alastor was waiting there for him, hand extended to assist him from the car. 

"Have I told you that I absolutely adore that gown on you?" He purred close to Angel's ear. "You look absolutely ravishing, my dear." he added with a smile.

"Oh," said Angel, taken a bit by surprise at the statement. "Well, thank you, Smiles. You don't look half bad yourself, ya know." 

Alastor offered his arm, and taking it, Angel and Alastor began their stroll down the red carpet, Alastor summoning his microphone as they took their time and looked incredibly fabulous doing so.