Chapter Text
"Dinner, tonight. Just you and I. Meet me in my room at seven. Don't be late."
The whispered words from mere hours ago still sent a shiver down Angel's spine even as he walked to Alastor's room, hands pressing down the flowy skirt of the wine red dress he'd gone out and bought just for the occasion. This dress was now officially the most modest dress he owned, but he kind of liked it. The skirt fell just past his knees and swished against his legs with each step he took and the top had buttons up to a collar that Angel had left open just enough to be teasing, a simple black belt cinched his waist to give him an hourglass figure. He still felt like himself just… a little more dressed up.
The important thing was that Alastor would like it. Not that he was a prude or anything like that, he liked Angel for who he was, not how he dressed - something that still sort of surprised Angel when he thought about it for too long. Most people didn't stick around to see the guy under the porn star. But Angel knew he was an old fashioned sort of guy and would enjoy seeing the spider dressed up like this.
Keeping that in mind and trying not to freak out too much over the fact that he was having dinner alone with Alastor tonight, Angel stopped outside of his bedroom door. He pulled his phone from his fluff - the other reason he'd left his top unbuttoned a little, easy access was important - and checked the time. Seven on the dot. Angel gave a proud hum and knocked on the door while his other hand tucked the phone away once more.
It was only a matter of seconds before there was the obvious sound of footsteps coming closer on the other side of the door before it opened and Alastor stood there, looking sharp as usual in his black slacks and red button up, only now he went without the tattered overcoat he usually wore in favor of having his sleeves pushed up to his elbow and his shirt unbuttoned to actually show off his neck.
Angel couldn't help but let out a whistle of appreciation as he looked him over. "Well if I'd know we were dressin' down I wouldn't've spent an hour makin' sure my hair was just the right amount of fluffy."
Alastor chuckled and held his hand out to Angel, pulling him into the room and shutting the door behind him. "You look absolutely stunning, my dear."
"Flattery will get you everywhere." Angel said with a wink as he looked around Alastor's room. He'd been in here only a couple times before but never for very long. Usually just when he came by to say hi to Alastor after coming home late from work or when he came to pester the Radio Demon to entertain him when he was bored. But even then, there was almost always a secondary location, they didn't really "hang out" in Alastor's room. It was nice, nicer than Angel's room. Alastor had a big canopy bed against the wall furthest away from the door, a nice warm fireplace crackled in front of a love seat and chair in a little sitting area across from it. He had a vanity near the bed and Angel could see a crushed cigarette still smoking in an ash tray on the table. "Nice room you got here, handsome."
Alastor hummed and moved to the bed, grabbing something off of it and moving to stand behind Angel as he took in the rest of the room. "It's simply a place where I sleep."
"Still. Nicer than my room. Course, that might just be 'cause it's cleaner than my room."
"You do have a tendency to leave your undergarments strewn about."
"One time! And you were coming over to fuck anyway."
Alastor simply hummed and placed a hand on Angel's back, guiding him toward the noticeably blank back wall of the room, past the seating area the spider had thought they might be utilizing. "There is another part of my room I'd like you to experience. It's why I invited you up here actually."
"Oh yeah?" Angel tilted his head as they stopped before the wall. "The… blank wall? Do you need help findin' a picture to put up here or something?
With a chuckle, Alastor held up his staff he must have grabbed as they walked because Angel could have sworn he didn't have it ten seconds ago, and pointed it at the wall. A stream of green magic shot out from the speaker part of the microphone and hit the wall where it rippled like water and melted away.
Angel couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him as he watched the wall vanish and in it's place soft blue light poured into the room from a moonlit swamp. He could hear the sounds of softly rippling water, the songs of crickets, the light breeze swaying the tree branches and he couldn't quite believe it.
"Al, oh my- this is beautiful. How are you doing this? Some sort of magic paint and a sound machine? I thought Husk was supposed to be the magician." Angel tried to joke but he couldn't pry his eyes away from the scene before him. It looked so real. It sounded so real, but it couldn't actually be real… could it?
"Not quite." Alastor answered with an air of someone who knew exactly what was coming. "Why don't you take a step inside and see for yourself?"
Angel looked over his shoulder at Alastor with a raised brow. "Al, I can't walk through a wall."
Alastor just gave him a look and gestured him forward. Angel narrowed his eyes skeptically but did as he was asked and took a step forward, then another until he was standing right against the wall. He squeezes his eyes shut, not really wanting to watch himself smack into the wall, and took another step forward. Only… he didn't smack into the wall like he'd expected. Instead, the toe of his boot, followed by his leg and then the rest of his body stepped right through it. It felt sort of like walking through a bowl of jello until he fully stepped through to the other side and opened his eyes with gasp.
The swamp that mere seconds ago Angel had thought was merely an illusion on the wall was real. Were they up on Earth now? Had Alastor managed to make a portal leading Topside in his room? It had been so long since Angel had been back up there. It had been so long since he'd seen the stars or heard the rustle of trees in the wind. He took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh, Earthy air. He'd grown up a city kid so he'd never been anywhere quite like this but he'd always imagined what it might be like to explore an old forest or swamp like the kids in his old adventure books he'd enjoyed as a boy.
Now here he was, like he'd just stepped right into one of those old stories.
A moment passed before Angel felt a hand land on his shoulder and he looked down to see Alastor standing beside him, staff held behind his back with his free hand. "What do you think?" He asked as Angel went back to looking around in awe.
"It's incredible." Angel breathed out. "Where are we? Somewhere on Earth?"
Alastor shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, I'm not powerful enough to open a gateway to Earth from Hell, I'm fairly certain only sins and the royalty of Hell can do that. This is all just an excessive illusion, a swamp I built myself based off the one I used to explore and eventually made my home as a much younger man."
"That's still an insanely cool use of power, Al." Angel said. "It looks so real. I mean, I guess if you based it on your memories, yeah of course it does."
Alastor made a pleased noise at Angel's awe and moved his hand down to be between his shoulder blades before gently guiding him forward. Angel couldn't keep his eyes on one single thing as they walked. Every little sound, any little movement seemed to catch his attention, from the croaking of far off frogs to the scurrying of a mouse across the path ahead that he couldn't quite parse whether any of it was real or not. This illusion was so big. Angel kept expecting them to have to stop eventually but it just kept going. It was excillerating. He was only brought out of his awe when Alastor suddenly pulled him to a stop in front of a large willow tree who's branches were swaying peacefully in the light breeze.
"Smiles?" Angel asked as Alastor placed his hand along the branches and parted them like a curtain.
"I have a small surprise for you." Alastor answered and gestured Angel in.
"You mean the whole ass swamp wasn't the surprise?" Angel ducked through the parting Alastor had made and squinted as he glanced around in the dark. The silver light of the moon didn't quite reach under the canopy of the willow making it darker in here and harder to make out while Angel's eyes slowly adjusted. "So, uh, why are we hanging out under a dark tree then?"
Alastor made a tsk-ing noise and Angel felt him move to stand beside him again, their arms brushing as the Radio Demon lifted his staff and another shot of green magic came out and hit the grass beneath their feet. Alastor guided it along the ground and as he did, a gravel path lit with golden lanterns appeared before them, lighting the space under the tree and revealing a checkered blanket laid out near the trunk and a spread of food waiting for them.
Angel gave a small gasp as the light showed him exactly why they were under a tree and reached over, taking Alastor's hand as he lowered his staff. "Al, you did this all for me?"
"I did." The deer confirmed with a nod, ears pressing back as he looked up at Angel, searching his gaze. "Is it alright?"
"Alright?" Angel scoffed as he looked at all the effort Alastor had put in for him. Setting up a whole picnic in a beautiful swamp that was the closest thing to Earth Angel had seen in decades, it made his heart pound in his chest. "Smiles, this is incredible. I- I love y- it"
Angel cringed at his sloppy correction, breath catching in his throat as he realized what exactly was about to come out of his mouth. It was far, far too soon to be throwing that word around like this. He and Alastor had been together for only five months now, that was too soon. Honestly, Angel wasn't entirely sure when exactly a good time to throw out the big L word was but he was positive it wasn't now.
Yeah, Alastor had done all this for him, shown him this vulnerable part of himself, something Angel knew the deer struggled with doing. He'd introduced Angel to a part of his human life he'd clearly loved enough to recreate in death. He made Angel's heart pitter patter like a ping pong ball bouncing uncontrollably around in his chest. But it was too soon. Angel couldn't fathom the consequences if he actually said it and Alastor didn't return the sentiment.
He'd had more than enough heart break in both his life and death to be able to deal with that in any sort of constructive way.
Alastor was watching Angel, he could feel those intense red eyes on him as he warred with himself internally so he quickly put a smile on his face and swallowed down his worries until later when he was alone in his room and could panic about how he actually felt about all of this in private and not in front of the man who had inadvertently caused this.
"I love it." Angel said, trying to sound the same as he had before, looking around the area again under the pretense of taking everything in once more while really avoiding Alastor's gaze while he caught his breath again. Once he'd calmed himself down a little, he looked at the Radio Demon once more and smiled. "Well? Shall we?"
Alastor gave him a look that clearly said he didn't really believe Angel was as fine as he was pretending - and of course he didn't, the radio demon didn't miss a thing - but he didn't say a word about it. He just nodded his head and held his arm out. Angel took it with a grateful smile and let his man lead him down the lit path to the picnic blanket.
As they got closer, Angel saw what he would definitely consider a classic picnic waiting for them. A tray of little finger sandwiches made with what looked like a variety of different meats, a bowl of unnaturally orange chips Angel recognized as his favorites despite knowing Alastor hated them, another bowl with grapes and apple slices inside and finally, one last plate with what looked like homemade chocolate chip cookies. "An elevated picnic." Angel commented as he took a seat, adjusting his skirt under him. "It's perfect."
Alastor gave a pleased hum and sat down beside Angel, crossing his legs under him. "I didn't want to have anything that would be difficult to eat while sitting on the ground. My mother and I used to have picnics just like this when we needed to be out of the house and away from my father. Of course, the chips were far less neon back then."
Angel laughed and reached over to take Alastor's hand, lifting it and kissing his knuckles. "Your ma sounds like a helluva lady. Wish I coulda met her"
Nodding, Alastor said, "I think she would have liked you. You have a spark to you that I think she would have enjoyed. That's what drew me to you, after all."
Angel couldn't help the giggle that escaped him as he leaned forward and picked up a sandwich and raised it in a toast of sorts. “It's my winnin’ personality, ain’t it?"
Alastor picked up his own finger sandwich and held it up. “And your overwhelming amount of wit and charm, my dear.”
Angel grinned and tapped his sandwich against Alastor's before they very romantically fed them to each other like they were in a tired and overdone rom-com movie.
“Yanno, this is good and all, but you didn’t even bring any champagne to toast with.” Angel teased as he reached for the bowl of fruit and plucked a grape off the stem, popping it into his mouth.
“Oh dear, how silly of me.” Alastor said in that way Angel knew meant he was being sarcastic as he snapped his fingers before him and two champagne flutes, shimmering in the soft glow of the lanterns surrounding them appeared on the blanket along with an unopened dark green bottle of what Angel could only assume was the finest bubbly Alastor could find in Hell.
Fondly, Angel poked his tongue out at Alastor and picked up one of the glasses. “Sneak.”
“Perhaps.” Alastor said with a jovial laugh as he started unwrapping the foil around the head of the bottle. “I prefer prepared.”
“Two things can be true.” Angel said, adjusting his legs so he was sitting crisscross and arranging the skirt of his dress so he wasn't flashing Alastor on accident. Not that he really thought either of them would mind, Angel was comfortable with his body and Alastor had gotten better about not blushing so much he when he got a look between Angel's legs outside of the bedroom in the months they'd been together. But still. This was a nice dinner. Angel would save the flashing for later.
Alastor hummed as he finished unwrapping the foil around the cork then placed his thumbs underneath it, aiming the bottle away, and pushed. It only took a few seconds for the cork to loosen and pop out of the top, shooting away from them and sending champagne spraying into the grass and all over Alastor's hands.
“Mazel tov!” Angel cheered while Alastor wiped his hands on the blanket, making him chuckle.
“Champagne for you.” Alastor said once he got his hands mostly dried off and started filling Angel's flute then his own. Once they were filled, he set the bottle aside and lifted his flute. “A toast. To us and five wonderful months together.”
Angel got misty eyed and clinked his flute against Alastor's, making that pretty ringing sound that told Angel these were real crystal. “You're a big ol' sap, Smiles.”
Sipping his champagne, Alastor gave a noncommittal hum. “Don't tell anyone."
That only made Angel giggle. “Your secrets safe with me.”
The two ate and drank and laughed together, Angel grabbing a grape at one point and tossing it perfectly into Alastor's mouth and making them both fall into a fit of giggles after. Before they either one realized it, they'd polished off the bottle of bubbly, only noticing when Angel went to refill his glass and nothing but bubbles dripped into his glass. They were both pleasantly tipsy, leaning heavily into drunk - at least in Angel's case, he could handle drugs like a pro but he was kind of a light weight when it came to booze - making him feel warm and tingly all over. He wasn't sure he'd felt this happy since he'd found out Alastor liked him back and he couldn't even remember a time before that he'd felt so… light and full of an unbridled sort of joy.
"I want to dance." Angel blurted out after tossing the empty bottle aside and setting his equally empty glass down.
Alastor gave a hum where he sprawled on the blanket, laying beside Angel, propped up on his elbows with his long legs stretched out before him. "There's no music." He said, but there was a warble to his voice in his tipsiness that made Angel giggle.
"You are literally a radio." Angel said and put his feet flat on the ground under him, hands pressing into the blanket as he pushed himself up to standing, wobbling like a toddler learning to walk. His head was filled with a rush of dizziness and his vision went blurry briefly, making him put his hand to his forehead. "Whoooooa."
"Dear?" Alastor asked, pushing himself up to a sitting position but not making an attempt to get to his feet just yet.
"Head rush." Angel smiled as he stabled himself again. "Haven't felt something like that since I started getting clean. Felt good."
The radio demon got slowly to his feet, hypothetically so he wouldn't experience the same rush of dizziness as Angel had. "I can't say I've ever gotten a head rush and said it felt good."
"You ain't never been high enough then." Angel grabbed Alastor's hand and tugged him away from the picnic blanket. "C'mon, dance with me! Play something with a beat, lets get the blood flowin'!"
Alastor gave a surprised laugh at being tugged around and took a second to think, Angel could almost see the list of music Alastor liked flicking through his mind as he narrowed down the best one before his smile stretched wider and and his teeth started glowing gold as an upbeat jazz song started playing from his chest. Angel couldn't help his own smile getting bigger as his boyfriend grabbed him around the waist with one hand, the other clasping their fingers together. They started twirling around under the softly swaying branches of the willow, both of them looking at each other like they were shining stars in the night sky.
They danced until their feet ached and their dance was more flailing than actual dancing. Cheeks flushed pink, Angel finally stopped after three songs and laid his head on Alastor's shoulder, breathing deep to try and calm his racing heart and the pounding of his pulse he could hear in his ears. "This has been a perfect date." He panted between breaths.
"I'm glad you've enjoyed it so." Alastor responded, sounding slightly less out of breath than Angel, a hand coming up to stroke the spiders hair. "You're happy?"
Angel lifted his head and gave Alastor a smile. "Never been happier."
Alastor nodded and wrapped his arms around Angel, moving his head back to rest on his shoulder once more and swaying to a slower song he started playing.
Maybe one day Angel would have the guts to say those words he'd nearly let slip out earlier. Maybe one day it wouldn't feel so sudden, the feelings, the want to say them. Maybe one day, Angel would look Alastor in his pretty red eyes and confidently tell him he was in love with him.
But for now, they were happy. And that was good enough.