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The sound of the shower has been softly lulling him asleep for the past twenty or so minutes. Husk is struggling to keep his eyes open, not taking in a single word on the page in front of him. He rubs his eyes roughly and lets his book fall closed in his lap.
The shower turns off and he tries to blink the sleepiness away, but its insistent tug on his tired mind is persistent. As much as he’d like to succumb to its sweet call, Angel has yet to join him in bed.
It takes another ten, fifteen minutes of fighting to stay awake before Angel comes out of the bathroom. He’s got a towel slung across his shoulders, dressed in a loose crop top and shorts for sleep. Husk almost misses the way his lower arms are hugged tight around his middle.
He follows Angel crossing the room to his vanity where he stops to take himself in. Angel’s expression is troubled as he pokes and prods at himself, tugging and twisting at the different parts of his inhuman body.
Sleepiness evaporates like mist in the morning sun, as Husk readies himself to step in if tonight is one of those nights; the ones when Angel will silently spiral due to something said or done to him, and he is unable to ask for the help he needs to come back down.
With a deep sigh, Angel drapes the towel over the chair’s backrest and pads over to the bed. He slumps down on the edge, shoulders hunched and knees pressed together as his arms wind themself around his midriff again.
That won’t do.
“Angel, baby, what’s wrong?”
He receives a minute shake of Angel’s head and a noncommittal hum. If he didn’t know better, he’d assume that meant to leave Angel alone and let him handle it his way. But Husk knows better.
“Something happen tonight?”
He sits up and scoots over the sheets to sit beside Angel. He leans softly into his side, offering comfort but giving him the option to pull away if he’s feeling sensitive and overwhelmed.
“It’s stupid, it’s nothing,” Angel pushes out roughly, his voice small and strained. Husk would just sit with him for as long as he’d like and try again tomorrow—except Angel is leaning into his touch.
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
Angel rolls his head onto Husk’s shoulder with a frustrated grumble. “Not even if it got me redeemed.”
Resting a hand on Angel’s knee, he considers the reactions he’s getting in response to his poking and prodding. A plan is forming in his head on how to make him feel better, but he needs confirmation or it’ll backfire horribly.
“Alright, anything I can do to help, then?”
Angel considers the offer, and Husk assumes he’d like to refuse and call it a night. But as he begins stroking slow circles into his knee with his thumb, Angel is quickly proving his theory correct.
“Do you trust me?”
It must flip a switch, as the typical sultriness returns to Angel’s voice with his reply of, “Should I?” It’s meant to be teasing, and in any other circumstance Husk would probably play into it, but not now when they’re teetering on a careful edge. If it’s not a yes…
Angel sighs, having caught on to his train of thought, and pulls away. “I trust ya. Happy?”
Husk hums, pleased. It's admirable how far Angel has come in respecting the boundaries of himself and others. It doesn’t last long, though, as Angel slips back into his on-camera persona too easily. “We gonna have kinky sex now, is that it?”
Husk ignores the remark as he takes one of Angel’s hands in his and presses a kiss to it, one on his wrist, then his arm, the crook of his elbow. He leaves a trail of kisses all the way to his shoulder where he meets Angel’s flustered gaze.
“Uh… Husky?”
“You trust me, right?” he asks again for good measure.
It’s delightful how simple kisses manage to fluster Angel to the point of speechlessness and avoiding eye-contact. Biting his lip, Angel nods. “I do.”
Husk keeps his hold on Angel’s hand as he stands, then grabs the other and lifts both to his lips. Angel’s face is pink around his wide eyes.
He drops a kiss on each hand, to both palms and on each finger. He takes his time, both to let Angel pull away if he so wishes, and indulgently for himself. Angel deserves to be worshipped, and Husk is but a devotee at his altar. Making Angel feel revered is his goal, not just tonight, but every night.
Following one arm up to the crook of his neck again, he presses a kiss there, too, relishing in the little gasp it elicits. He needs to be careful where he treads to keep things on the PG side. His intention is purely innocent in nature, no matter what Angel might think is to happen.
A kiss to Angel’s cheek, temple, forehead, and nose. Leaning back he finds Angel has closed his eyes, and they flutter open with warm curiosity simmering within. He can’t help himself leaning in and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, feeling it quirk up as Angel laughs.
“Why so sappy all ‘a sudden?”
“‘M not sappy,” Husk grumbles, ears flattening to his head. Angel laughs again, his arms loosening from their anxious grip on his middle to reach up to scratch the scruff of Husk's neck. It’s effective in distracting him from his goals. the sensation sending pleasant tingles down his spine.
He forces himself to shake his head and dislodge the satisfying scratching, glowering at his amused boyfriend for his underhanded tactics.
“Dirty move, Legs.”
Angel pulls him in by his nape, leaning onto his persona like a crutch. “We can make it dirtier.” Faking interest, Husk lets himself be pulled down until he’s bracketing Angel’s head with his hands on the duvet. “Ohh yeah~ Give it to me, baby.”
Husk smirks and lowers himself to drop a row of kisses onto Angel’s exposed collarbone before retreating back. Angel huffs with annoyance. “That’s all you got?”
He props his chin up on one hand and pretends to think about it. “Hm, yeah, that’s it.”
It’s a good thing he’s got an excellent poker face, because Angel’s affronted expression threatens to get him to break. “I can keep going or we can go to bed–”
“–No, keep going,” Angel begs, and in the smallest voice possible adds, “please,”
Husk melts, He kisses Angel without fanfare, trying to keep it chaste while also pouring in all the love he feels for him. One pair of arms wrap around him as the other comes up to cradle his face.
These are his favorite moments; when he’s managed to disarm Angel enough to get him to drop the facade and reveal the real him underneath. Husk is drunk on how soft Angel can be, craving it more, more, more—
But tonight isn’t about him, so he reluctantly breaks their kiss to resume his path of worship. Angel’s frustration at being cut off melts away with every new kiss pressed into his body.
Moving down to his stomach gives Angel pause, as Husk had feared. He stops his minstrations, rubbing circles into his hips
“Is this okay?”
Angel worries his lip between his teeth and his fingers have tangled themselves into the sheets anxiously. He mumbles a response, averting his eyes. Husk prompts him to repeat, waiting patiently.
“...keep going, please.”
Keeping his hands where they are safely above board, he itches to prove to Angel that every part of him deserves to be loved equally. Respecting Angel’s boundaries becomes difficult when he’s unable to voice them, so he’ll be careful to not push him too far too fast.
“Tell me if I go too far. Just say the word and I’ll stop.”
Angel nods, blinking rapidly as he stares at the ceiling. Husk is of the mind he should stop here, when he feels fingers link through his own, giving a reassuring squeeze. He squeezes back and waits a few breaths before resuming his task.
Giving Angel’s stomach a few lingering kisses, he moves downward at a glacial pace to press reverent kiss after kiss to his thighs and legs. Angel is delicate but not fragile, and the last thing Husk wants is to make Angel think he’s doing this out of pity or thinks him to be weak, because he’s anything but.
Despite growing up Catholic, Husk has never felt as reverent as he does here and now. His belief in a higher being while alive had been shaky at best—and Heaven leaves a lot to be desired in the afterlife, too—but his belief in love has been restored and there’s no one else worthy of receiving it than Angel.
He hopes Angel feels his devotion with each kiss he imprints on his skin like a brand. Not in a show of possessiveness, but as a reminder that he, too, is worthy of love.
His knees ache as he rises back up, sufficiently pleased with his ministrations. He startles as he takes in the tear tracks on Angel’s face. Wiping them away hastily, he cradles Angel’s face between his hands, beating himself up over losing himself in the moment instead of focusing on how Angel was doing.
“Angel, baby, I went too far, why didn’t you say anything?”
Angel shakes his head, a smile pulling at his lips as another tear slips down his cheek into Husk’s fur.
“I trust you.”
Husk deflates, wings settling back down from their unfurled state. “Had me worried there, Legs. Was it okay, though?”
“Mhmm, just don’t make it a habit.”
“Hm, not making any promises.”
Angel shoots him a glare that is undercut by the puffiness of his eyes, and followed by a yawn that he himself wasn’t expecting.
“Time for bed,” Husk prompts, his tiredness returning tenfold now that he’s done his duty.
Angel rolls them over, curling into him and nuzzling into Husk’s hand that is trapped beneath his cheek. It’s cute and Husk bites down on commenting on it, lest Angel take offence and decide he’s had enough of Husk for tonight.
Nudging Angel to move, they settle down properly in bed together, curled against each other; Husk’s arms around Angel’s waist and Angel’s leg thrown over his hip.
It’s warm and comfortable and sleep is pulling him fast under, so he almost misses Angel softly murmuring his gratitude into his neck. Nuzzling into Angel’s hair he presses a kiss there and lets himself bask in the feeling.