#iM EXCITED FOR HUSKERDUST ANGST I HAVENT DONE NEARLY ENOUGH

[angie-long-legs]

❝ i’ll never look at you the same, i hope you know that. ❞ - from Hotel Husk LET'S PLAY AROUND WITH THE TIMELINE BAYBEEE

betrayal prompts

This was exactly what Angel had been afraid of. This was exactly why he didn't want to go back to the hotel and face the music, to own up to his abhorrent behaviour in the name of doing the right thing. In one fell swoop, he had found himself shunned by the only people he truly considered family, and he couldn't stand it. He deserved it, he knew damn well he deserved it - but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

He could live without Vox's forgiveness. He suspected he would - being framed for drugging and assaulting someone wasn't exactly the kind of thing that could be patched up with an apology. He could live with Charlie's bare-faced disappointment, with Alastor's hatred; he could choke it all down, soothed in the knowledge that he had it coming.

But Husk?

Husk was Angel's solace, his sliver of something real in a world that worshipped who they wanted him to be. Husk loved him for who he was underneath it all, every flaw and blemish, every dark secret and every terrible truth.

Almost. Not every.

Not anymore.

Now, Husk wouldn't even look at him. Angel reminded himself that he had been the one to insist he and Husk talk this out after he had shown up at the hotel following his two-week disappearance. Having confessed his sins to the audience of his horrified friends, he needed time alone with Husk to fully explain, to conjure up something that excused his actions and exonerated him from blame. He could win Husk's favour again if he just gave him the context, the details, the nitty-gritty of all his reckless and heartless behaviour. Angel could talk his way out of anything.

He stared at Husk in silence.

What could he say? Sorry I blamed a grieving man for a violent crime just so I wouldn't get caught using? Sorry I didn't tell you that I was grieving Valentino, I feel lost without him? Sorry I cheated on you with Vox, it's just he's the only link I still have to Val? Sorry I stole from Charlie and lied about being sober and slept around with strangers, sorry I didn't tell you I was in withdrawal from Val's pheromone, sorry I didn't tell you that I actually loved the man whose death you thought I was celebrating?

It was ridiculous. It was futile, he couldn't say all that, it was ludicrous to even try. It was messy and ugly and Husk should wash his hands of it, of him. If he had any sense, he would.

And yet, Angel couldn't bear to let him. Arms crossed over his body as though he were hiding behind them, he gazed stubbornly at his shoes. Get them before they get you. Tell him you're through with him.

Fuck, he couldn't do that either. What could he do? Why the fuck did he ask Husk if they could talk? He had nothing to say.

Scowling, he bit his lip as hot, angry tears pricked the inner corners of his eyes. There was no saving this. He had to take it on the chin.

"Are you finishin' with me?" he muttered, eyes still fixed on the floor. "Cuz, uh, might help ta know we're ova' before I do the whole beggin' yer forgiveness thing. Save us both the headache."