#saw the sheer amount of coffee crisp in that bowl and was immediately like there's no way this is a random assortment of candy

[grauspitz]

shoutout to my sister for making a candy bowl just for the family and filling it with only the top tier candy from what we picked up for the kids

[ashitpos-t]

The Touch Of Your Lips

Chapter 4 of my Husk x Fem!Reader on my AO3 account.

CW: Murder, Suggestive Themes, and Alcohol

You faintly smiled into the sheets, letting out a deep breath you didn't know you were holding in.  Slowly sitting up, your hand fumbled up to your bra straps clinging to your back, fumbling with the clasps until you got the underwear off, your baggy sweatpants following closely along onto the floor just next to your bed.

You re-positioned yourself, snuggling your face into the pillows of your bed, hand tugging on your lamps string, turning off your rooms lights.

Fluttering your eyes open, you looked up to see the black mass of night, glancing over to your open window, what must have been a thousand sparkling lights staring back at you from the city, honks from cars speeding down freeways complimenting the bustle of the city.

You hated to admit it, but sometimes hell didn't seem half bad, when you weren't doing god awful performances, that is.

 ---

 You got up with a small start, arm shooting over your head to stretch from the long, lumbering sleep you had just experienced.  Hell's bright sun was diffused by passing clouds, the dappled lighting dancing onto your more than tired features, a faint smile accompanying the tiredness at the sight.

Sure, hell had blood red skies, shit clubs, and even shittier people, but it had been your home for decades, if you could even call it that.

You sighed as you slipped out of bed, eyeing the bathroom that you swiftly stepped into, turning on the skin to let the warm water run over your hands, before splashing some onto your face, your free hand searching for the face wash you earnestly needed.  After grabbing the bottle, you scrubbed your face of any dirt that had accumulated over the previous day, a refreshing scent of lavender wafting from the suds.

You breathed into your palms, sink now off, as you padded for the hand towel, eyes sealed shut when you finally dabbed the water free from your face.

You blinked, looking at your appearance in the mirror, hands quickly traveling under your sink, gripping the curling iron you planned to use on your hair, eager on giving it some kind of volume.  You plugged in the iron, deciding to do your makeup as it heated up. 

You trotted to your vanity, turning on its bright lights before you, sat comfortably on your vanity's stool.  Opening you bag of makeup to pick out concealer, mascara, and lip gloss, you definitely weren't going for a glam look today, why would you?  It's not like any of the inhabitants of the hotel would care, if anything, they urged you to feel at home, thought it made you feel better, or something like that.

You quickly applied the concealer to your under eyes, removing the unsightly bags from a relatively poor nights sleep, you couldn't even remember the last night you slept well.  Next, you grabbed your mascara, lightly flicking your wrist just on your eyelashes, applying thin amounts of product to them.  Lastly, you unscrewed your lip gloss, smearing the product to your lips elegantly, making sure to reach every surface, finalizing it with a satisfying pop of your lips.

A small beep knocked you out of your trance, and you immediately registered it to be your curling iron.

You stood, placing the sealed gloss onto the table, your small tail swaying with anticipation as you entered the bathroom, you have always had fun doing your hair, for whatever reason, you just found it, therapeutic, in a strange sense.

Hand gripping the iron, you sectioned off a piece of hair, carefully wrapping it around the heated metal, giving it a few seconds before letting go to reveal a curl that bounced in your sudden recoil.  You smiled, happy at the outcome.  With a tail wag, you continued to curl the rest of your hair, sending a comb to dissipate the sheer volume of the hairstyle, just to be left with beachy waves, definitely a win in your book.  You smiled at the mirror, satisfied with your hair and makeup, which funnily enough, would be the most formal thing out of your outfit, never mind how blatantly casual it was.  You had already planned out to wear grey sweatpants and a white tank top for the day, you almost always wore something similar to that, and decided that today wasn't any different from the previous.

You walked over to your closet, pushing open the sliding mirrored doors to see an array of different colored garments you've worn on many a different occasion.  Your fingers lingered over the outfit you had planned, carefully grabbing a hold of the clothes before closing the closet once again.

Your manicured nails traced over the seams of of your comfy attire, you smiled to yourself, carefully undressing your striped pajamas from your body before slipping on your outwear, honestly excited for the day at hand.  Your tail wagged and your ears perked at the happiness, your hand outstretching to the door nob, turning it before closing it behind you, quickly locking the door before prancing to the elevator. 

You walked in, a small smile painted onto your face as you pressed the button for the first floor, the elevator jolting before descending to your destination.  The elevator skidded to a stop, its worn out light flickering madly before returning to its normal function.  The doors slammed open, and you stride out, being especially mindful of its snapping doors.

"Good morning!" a female voice greets, prompting you to look over to the sound.

Charlie was waving to you boisterously from the kitchen, while Vaggie waved faintly, a small smile on her face, which you quickly returned.

Just behind the pair, you spied two tufts of black and red fur which you instantly recognized to be Alastor's ears, glancing over to your right, you saw Husk sitting at the glass coffee table, staring mindlessly at the tv as he scooped cereal into his mouth.  You smiled, glad you could eat with everyone, but before you grabbed yourself a bowl of cereal, you walked to Charlie, keen on asking her a question.

"Good morning Charlie," you grinned, tapping her shoulder, "would you mind if I got myself some breakfast?" 

She smiled, "oh of course of course! Feel free to get anything you'd like!" she enthused, Vaggie nodding along, albeit less interested.

You walked past the two into the kitchen, seeing Alastor frying a few eggs by the stove, as you grabbed a bowl and spoon from their respective cabinets.  Alastor simply side eyed you, seeming as though he didn't particularly see the point in greeting you, the way his somehow unenthused smile looked to be slightly lessened told you all you needed to know.

You felt a shiver roll down your spine due to his gaze, yet you tried your best to not show it, instead distracting yourself with what cereal to get.  Scanning the array of different boxes and bins of cereal, you pondered which one to choose, and ended up deciding on a sugary, marshmallow filled cereal.  

You smiled to yourself, walking over to the fridge for some milk, just to quickly take it out of the fridge and pour some into your bowl, all the while feeling the crisp coolness of the milk jug against your skin.

"Going somewhere?" you jumped at the voice, your head snapping to the source, only to see Alastor eyeing you.

You laughed, pushing down your nervousness with a smile, "oh- oh no! I'm just thought it'd be nice to pretty up for the day, have to be prepared for tomorrow, I have a recording to catch" you finished, knowing you weren't particularly convincing.

He nodded, seeming to brighten up at the thought of whatever possible entertainment you participated in, "Marvelous!" he flourished, "I do adore singing myself!" he paused, "You do sing, correct?"

You nodded, putting a strand of hair behind your ear, you never much liked talking about yourself and occupation, "It's nothing too big, not even sure if it's going on the radio," you lied.

He grinned over to you, your last remark obviously going over his head, his excitement beaming over your lie.

Before he could ask you any other questions, you resumed making your breakfast, quickly returning the jug to its place into the hotels fridge.

You looked down to your bowl of cereal, admiring the way the marshmallows swirled into the milk, dying the milk delightful shades of blues, pinks, and reds.  The plainness of it made you realize how downright strange your life had become, it was weird before, but it was on a whole different level now.  You lived with one of the strongest overlords in hell who was cooking eggs in the kitchen with an apron on, the princess of hell and her girlfriend, the most popular pornstar in hell, an eccentric cyclops cleaner, and an alcoholic, cat demon gambler.  You smiled at the thought, looking up and scanning the room, genuinely admiring the demons you lived with.  Half of them were assholes, drug addicts, cannibals, and downright crazy, but you weren't much different.  You weren't adverse to smoking, drinking, and even selling out your body to other demons.

You admired these shit people, they all were strangely good people, even if their sin outweighed their virtues.

"Quit spacin out an sit," a grumbling voice said, just below you.

You snapped out of your thoughts, looking down to see Husk glaring up at you, his spoon sitting in his cereal bowl.

"Oh! I'm sorry," you sat down next to him, crossing your legs to be eye level with him, "I was just uh, zoning out."

He grumbled a curse or two under his breath, his brows knit together as he continued to eat his cereal, looking up to the tv.

A small smiled painted onto his features, he was obviously putting a tough guy look on, the gleam in his eyes showing his true intentions.

You scooped a big spoonful of cereal into your mouth, looking up to the tv, wondering what weird program was on, "Uh," you gestured your spoon towards the tv, cereal in your mouth, "whats this about?"

He glanced over to you, "Just some hick show about beating the shit out of other demons? I'm not too fucking sure either," he responded, his claw gesturing towards the tv, seemingly unimpressed.

You laughed a bit at his words and hand movements, finding his description to be a bit funny.

He only grumbled in return, quickly shoveling the cereal into his mouth, prompting you to do the same, effectively mimicking him.

You saw a small smile on his face in your peripherals, whether it was from your laughter or the show didn't matter, you never saw him happy, and for whatever reason that made you happy too.

Before you knew it, you had finished the cereal, an empty spoon reaching your mouth alerted you to your finishing, you had become enamored in the show, becoming invested in the main character, his name being Davis or something of the other.

You chuckled at yourself, looking over to see husk had finished as well, and without a second thought, you grabbed his bowl and stood, keen on heading to the sink.

Husk looked up to you, surprise written on his face, "Ya don't have to get that for me," you smiled down at him, "yea, but I want to."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but he shut his mouth, crossing his arms before hoisting himself onto the couch behind him, letting you do the work.He looked like he wanted to say more, but he shut his mouth, crossing his arms before hoisting himself onto the couch behind him, letting you do the work.

With pointed steps, you motioned towards the sink, eyeing the numerous dishes laying before you, and with an abrupt sigh, you left yours with the rest of the bunch, not too keen on cleaning the mountain of dishes.

You turned back around to the lobby, seeing Husk lounging on the couch and Angel finally making his way down the stairs, yawning into his hot pink gloved hand, while Charlie and Vaggie still sat at the kitchen table, talking about something you didn't care to ask about.  An idea popped into your head, or better yet, a pang of guilt, it had just occurred to you that you weren't even paying Charlie for letting you stay here, much less work at the hotel.

You started for Charlie, giving her shoulder a quick tap, "Hey Charlie, is there anything I can do to help out? I mean, I'm not really doing much today," you trailed off, looking over to the side.

She perked up at your offer, smiling up at you, "I'm so glad you asked! I actually need to get some groceries, if you wouldn't mind." you nodded along.

She pulled a long piece of paper out of her bag, spanning over two regular sheets of printer paper, all jam packed with food items and other miscellaneous objects.  The sheer length made your face go pale, you swallowed.

"Can i get some help with that?" you quickly said, pointing to the paper.

Her head quirked to you, her expression saying she thought it was a reasonable amount, she shrugged, "Hey Angel?" she started, "what?" he groaned in response, sounding tired, "Can you help y/n out with grocery shopping?" He groaned loudly, obviously not wanting to help.

"But I've got woooooork," he dragged out, spreading himself over the couch, his head falling to his face, nearly swooning.

Charlie held back a sigh, knowing Angel would try to avoid anything that helped others out, "Hey Husk?" she called hesitantly, "Do you mind helping?" You heard a quick grumble, followed by Husk standing up off the couch with his arms crossed, making an effort to walk over to the three of you slower than usual.

"I'll do it," he looked to the side, before pointing to you, "but yer gonna owe me a solid, got that?" you nodded, not caring too much on whatever it would be.

Charlie smiled at Husk helping out, her expression saying she didn't expect him to even get off the couch.

You glanced over to his slouched being, noting his grumpy face and overall disposition, you almost felt guilty making him come along to the store with you.

Charlie handed the long list to you, just before grabbing a golden card from her pocket, "Here's the list," she waved the card in the air before handing it to you, "and the hotels business card!  Maybe you can get yourself something," she smiled.

Your jaw hung in shock at the gold laced card, shimmering in the light, "Charlie I- are you sure?" she nodded happily, quickly turning to Vaggies side after your talk.

You stood there dumbfounded, glancing over to Husk who looked just as confused as you, neither of you knew the hotel even had a business account, let alone a card.  The two of you walked to the hotels doors, quick to shuffle out into the gloomy streets of hell.

"So," you started, looking to your left and right in search of a grocery store, "you got any idea where a store is?" Husk only shrugged in response, he obviously wasn't very familiar with the place either.

You sighed, plunging your hand into your pocket in attempts to find your phone, and thankfully, you found it promptly.

Opening your phone, you scrolled to goregle, typing in the nearest grocery stores that were in your area, finding a few that were only a block or two away.

"Alright, I found a store two blocks away, we might as well just walk over there," Husk nodded, seemingly not caring too much about the whole ordeal, it just seemed like he wanted to be out of there as soon as possible, but you couldn't quite blame him, it wasn't like you were friends, you barely even knew each others names.

You looked over to him, quick to notice his tightly knit brows, slouched posture, and his eyes glued to the floor, you honestly felt bad, you never much liked annoying people, or making them do things they didn't want to.  You hoped he was doing this of his own personal accord, rather than only going just to get something out of you, but you really couldn't tell, as you were never very good at deciphering anyone's true intentions, especially demons you were unfamiliar with.

Husk glanced over to you, only to meet your own eyes, and upon noticing this, the two of you broke eye contact almost immediately, both unwilling to make the other uncomfortable, or even seem weird by having any kind of interest in each other.  By that notion, you decided to pick up the pace, not walking only slightly faster than before, mainly in attempts to get to your destination faster and avoid any kind awkward interaction.

You'd be a liar to say you weren't embarrassed, you certainly didn't mean to stare, you just wanted to understand what was going in his head.

You felt a tap on your shoulder, looking over to see Husk gesturing to the right of you two, "This is it, right?" your gaze directed to his claw, alerting you to the large building in front of you.

You nodded, and scanned over the list, a grimace becoming apparent on your face, "Uh, why don't you grab a shopping cart too," you said, grabbing a shopping cart for yourself, setting the list into the small basket in the cart.

He grumbled in response, clearly annoyed that he had to grab his own cart, yet he obliged anyways, grabbing a cart in compliance.

You looked over the list Charlie had given you, seeing the large array of foods, drinks, and necessities for the hotels rooms, "Alright," you hummed, "why don't we go in different directions, I'll grab the food, and you can grab the drinks and everything else," he nodded, seemingly satisfied with this.

You ripped his required portion of the list and handed it over to him, obvious that you had an equal split of items to search for, and that you had purposely given him the opportunity of looking through the drink isle, knowing he had a better grasp of popular alcohols than you, even though you were well versed in many different drinks.  Wheeling your cat right after Husk into the grocery store, you headed over to the food isle, nearly clearing out a few of their fruits, cereal, and other industrial foods.  You looked over the list again, and smiled when you realized you had already gotten everything you needed, especially since the cart was nearly overflowing with all kinds of snacks and goodies for the residents.

After over looking your items, you wheeled your way over to the alcohol isle, only to see Husk staring down a few bottles of different high end whiskeys and scotches.  You laughed at him, breaking him out of his trance, to see you finished with your side of shopping, a bit happy to see he could get out of there soon enough.

You looked over to the bottle he had been staring at, an idea popping into your head, "Hey Husk, why don't you take our carts to an isle, I have to look for something real quick," he was about o ask what, but before he could, you shooed him off with your hand, making him curse in annoyance, quickly leaving to find an open isle.

You smiled, knowing your plan had worked, you trotted over to the bottles, your tail wagging a bit as you read over the Whiskeys names, seeing many different expensive brands and tastes.  You ended up settling on what Husk had been looking at, something called "Tanner's Fire," some kind of honey laced bourbon, definitely something to get you jazzed pretty quick.  Grabbing the large bottle of booze, you walked just down the isle to see boxes and boxes of cigarettes and cigars, due to it being hell, they weren't put behind any kind of supervision like they would on earth.  Looking over the large display, you settled on some hearty cigars, and a pack of cigarettes, both of them being for yourself, unless Husk liked to smoke as well.

You walked out of the alcohol isle, seeing Husks ear tufts peeking over the cashiers line, and with a smirk on your face, you trailed over to him keen on showing off your small gift.

"Look what I got," you declared, shaking the bottle in your hand in front of Husk, causing him to turn around and see your display, surprise written onto his features, "I- you-" he gestured, a smile threatening to appear of his face, "ya don't have to get that for me, ya know that, right?" he questioned, laughing nervously.

You nodded, a small wag finding itself on your tail, "and it'll be on MY tab," you winked at him, acting a bit more, risky, than you intended.

A nervous smile shown through his grumpy demeanor, making it clear he didn't expect you to even notice which alcohol he wanted in the first place.

 The two of you waited for the line to move which, unsurprisingly, took a while, mainly due to your sheer amount of items, and the annoyed worker who wasn't too keen on scanning all the items you had accumulated.  With some patience, that originated from the though of both of your vices that you were buying, you managed to make it through the seemingly endless process of waiting, scanning, bagging, and paying for all of the items.

After getting through the complete hell of a check out, you smiled over to Husk, to see him with numerous bags on each arm, and cradling his new alcohol like a baby.  You laughed at his display, finding it hilarious he would work through the weight of all the liquor just to carefully hold his new bottle.

"Hey," he barked, a smug smile on his face, "I'll have you know I treasure this bottle, considering it was a gift," he side eyed you, a devilish grin now fully formed on his features.

You'd be a fool in denying you didn't redden at his remarks and grin, you'd never seen him smile like that before, or look at you like that.  Yet on the other end of the stick, you'd be a fool to say you even liked the demon, but he definitely did catch you off guard, its not like he wasn't attractive.

He chuckled at your embarrassment, "What, never seen my smile before?" 

You looked over to him, an impish smile on your features, knowing how to get him back, "No," you positioned the bags of one hand into the other, "but I'd like to see it again," you finished, your hand under his jaw and you eyes narrowed a bit, fluttering your eyelashes.

His face brightened in surprise, enticing a laugh to bellow from his throat, "I get it, I get it," he pushed your hand away gently, "I like yer smile too."

You only giggled at his compliment, hiding your fluster, promptly returning to your original pace back to the hotel.  You both made it back shortly, and you were glad too, your arms and hands had been cramping thanks to the weight of all the food and other objects.

Charlie rushed to the two of you, directing you to the kitchen counter so you could place your things down, "Thanks so much for going out, and don't worry about putting everything away, I'll make sure to do it myself," you weakly smiled down at Charlie, she really was just a ball of joy.

"Thanks, Charlie" you replied, handing her the hotels card she gave to you earlier that day, "I hope you don't mind, we picked up a few things for ourselves."

She smiled at you, "Oh don't worry about it, I'm glad!"

Quickly sifting through the groceries, you grabbed your smokes, looking over your shoulder to see Husk already at the bar, drinking a new bottle of beer.  You figured he was tired after the day out, considering he seemed to not like interaction much, and due to carrying those heavy bags.

After minimal thought, you decided to relax as well, plopping yourself onto the couch to watch some tv.

 ---

 "Gumbo, everyone!" the call alarmed you, making you jump from your spot.

"Gumbo?" you mumbled to yourself, confused at the declaration, "but it's only-" you looked at the clock, realizing that you had in fact been watching tv for a few hours, straight up until dinner time.

With a sigh, you stood, making your way over to the kitchen, only to see a large pot in the center of the table, filled to the brim with vegetables, shrimp, and chicken.  Bowls sat in front of each seat, a serving of rice planted in the middle to accommodate the main meal.  You gulped, you wouldn't admit it looked positively delicious, especially since it was the radio demon we're talking about, you would never trust such a malicious demons cooking.

"Oh wow Alastor," Charlie spoke, clearly hungry for the meal, "this looks great!" she quickly sat in her seat, plopped right between him and Vaggie who took their seats just after her.

You repressed a grimace, seeing as Angel and Niffty made their seats next to Vaggie and Alastor, respectively.

Husk sat next, making sure to sit next to Niffty in hopes of avoiding Angel Dust.

Leaving you, sitting just between Husk and Angel, perfect.

The lot of you nervously glanced around, none of you making any effort to eat, all a bit scared that some kind of poison may be lurking in the dish.  Well, all of you except for Charlie, you nearly immediately took a giant bite of the dinner, eager to know its taste.

"Charlie!" Vaggie enthused, "Are you Crazy? What it it's poisoned?" she glared at Alastor, gesturing a bit wildly.

"It doesn't taste like poison," Charlie trailed off, a big hunk of rice in her mouth.

Vaggie sighed, sinking back into her chair while a devilish smile was painted on Alastors lips, before parting to partake in his own cooking.  Everyone nervously dug in after that, seeing as Charlie seemed to be fine after a few spoonfuls.

You regretted to inform that his cooking was delicious, and that you even had to hold yourself back from going back in for seconds, or even thirds.  A quick glance around the room told you everyone else felt the same, and Husks angered expression enthused his particular distaste for just how good his cooking was.

You all finished your meal relatively quickly, Alastor sporting a grin of fulfillment on his gray skin.

"Sheesh," Charlie spoke, "that was really good, Al," he smiled even wider, "I'm glad you think so!"

Vaggie merely huffed, communicating she felt the same, while Angel and Niffty nodded along in agreement, both a bit more enthusiastic than the moth demon.  You and Husk on the other hand, were more like Vaggie, neither of you liked the deer demon much, and more or less, had little to no trust for him, all for very good reasons, too.

"Well," Angel started, pushing away from the table to stand, fixing his hair, "I'm gonna split, see ya" he finished, trotting away presumably to his room.

Husk already started for the bar, and Niffty had begun to put away the dishes, while Alastor snapped away, seemingly to his room, or something of the other.

You merely waved at Charlie and Vaggie, mouthing a small goodnight before heading to your room as well for a good nights sleep, hell knew you needed it.