Chapter Text
Angel Dust is a good actor.
Or at the very least liked to think he’s a good actor. When the cameras and lights were on him, he knew how to put on a show, a real good show. He knew how to arch his back, how to flutter his eyelids, how to moan for his audience. Angel was damn good at his job, and because he was so damn good, that must have meant that he was a good actor. Never mind that the scripts were shit and instead of faking powerful monologues, he was faking orgasms.
He was a good actor.
Is. He is a good actor. So why the fuck was he having such a hard time acting like he was okay. He didn’t understand why he was shaking, or why his teeth were clattering against one another. The scene was just like every other crappy porno he had been in, in fact, it was awfully vanilla. His coworker (Angel didn’t care to remember his name) was playing his boyfriend, some cuck who Angel would cheat on with a plumber.
Angel had done this same plot with dozens of other guys, with ten times more rope usually, but for some reason, it got to him. Because for some reason they added a shitty cuddling scene. Angel understood why they added it, to demonstrate how much the cuck adored him, to make the betrayal of sleeping with the plumber hit that much harder.
It was a fake scenario made so some lonely soul could jerk off, however, the moment arms wrapped around Angel, developing him in a soft heat, Angel realized how long it had been since someone had last hugged him.
Angel didn’t care that he didn't know the guy's name or the way he could smell that he hadn’t bathed before the shoot because Angel was being held. There were no wandering hands that Angel had to fight against nor was the hug tight enough that Angel struggled for air.
It was light. Soft. Gentle.
It left his skin burning in desire, wishing for this feeling to consume him. The fizzy feeling in his chest extended to his very own fingertips as he embraced the stranger in return.
How he wanted to die here, in some freak's arms. It was pathetic and yet despite Angel’s wishes, a death like that was too good for a dumb whore like him.
“Angel what the fuck are you doing!?” A voice hissed at him.
Oh yeah. He was at work. Filming a porn. This wasn’t real. The hug was part of a scene. A scene that he should act in soon or Val might get pissed. The same Val glaring at him.
Fuck.
“Angel,” Val hissed again, teeth-baring at Angel as he sat in his director's seat, a finger tapping against the arm of the chair.
Tap… Tap… Tap…
“Ah- shit. Sorry Val, musta blanked for a bit.” Angel responded, harshly shoving away his coworker. Whatever warmth he gained from the hug fleeing, replacing it with frigid fear.
“I’m not paying you so you can have your head up your ass, I’m paying you to suck dick. And if you can’t even do that, then get the fuck out.” Val growled out, the tapping becoming faster.
Tap.. Tap.. Tap..
“No, please Val. I had a long night, but I can do this. This is the last mistake I’m making.” Angel rushed out, slowly getting up from the prop couch they were using.
Val glared at him, the scowl on his lip threatening to go lower. “ That’s the problem Angel Cakes, you shouldn’t be making any mistakes. Period.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Val-“
“Don’t fucking ‘Val’ me. And what the fuck is this about a ‘long night’? You finally got a boyfriend you didn’t tell me about? Or you couldn’t get enough from the studio so you found someone wh-“
“I was trying to meet my quota.” Angel cut in. Interrupting Val would earn him a beating, but letting him spiral would be so much worse.
Tap.Tap.Tap.
“Staying at the studio ain’t cheap- which I can’t thank you enough for even letting stay, but I’ve been getting longer hours here, so I haven’t been able to work the corner most days and-“
Taptaptap
“I only just realized rent was coming up so I-“
Taptapta-
Angel was still talking, he was sure. He could feel his mouth moving but the words weren’t coming out, and air wasn’t coming in. The grip that Val had around his throat grew tighter, the pain making Angel close his eyes. He should have realized sooner that Val was choking him. Maybe he should be a couple days late on rent if it meant he could sleep a little more, the lack of it was clearly getting to him.
“You keep talking and yet I can’t hear anything of fucking substance. You practically begged me to stay here.” Val growled out, bringing Angel closer to him, his other hand coming to yank Angel's head back, forcing his eyes open. “You wanted all this. You. You. You. But somehow I keep being the bad guy every time you don’t get what you want. Is that what you think of me, Angel? A bad guy?”
Angel couldn’t breathe. He needed to talk, because if interrupting Val was bad, ignoring him was even worse. There was lots of ‘worse’ when it came to Val.
He opened his mouth to speak, but every time he tried the black spots in his vision got bigger. His hand weakly made its way towards the one Val had on his throat because maybe Val had forgotten he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. It hurts and he can’t breathe. He can’t. It hurt.
As Angel struggled, Val watched. Now Val wasn’t delighted by Angel fucking up the scene, however watching him struggle, how the fur around his face raised in fear, how he tried so hard to speak up. How he tried so hard to please him. Now Val liked that. So even when the fight was gone, Val held him by the throat.
“Leave” Val commanded the rest of the staff, who immediately obeyed the demand, no one looking back as they left the two alone. As soon as the last sinner left the set, Val made his way over to the prop couch, carelessly tossing Angel's unconscious body against it.
“You always make me so mad, Angel baby,” Val muttered to the empty room, knowing that even though Angel wasn’t awake to hear it, he would learn his lesson through different means. “But I’ll give credit where credit’s due, you’re so pretty~”
Val popped open the first button of his shirt and then the next and the next.
“But being pretty doesn’t mean you get away with not doing your job, get away with disrespecting me, with talking back.”
The sound of fabric falling seemed to echo despite how soft the noise really was.
“So you’ll have to make it back up to me. And lucky for you, I know the perfect way.”
When Angel woke up he felt like shit. Well, he always feels like shit, but right now he feels super shitty. His bruised throat throbbed in pain when a whimper escaped him, attempting to get up before falling back against the couch. Angel didn’t need to look down at the damage done to his body because he already suspected what happened. The only silver lining was that at least he wasn’t awake for it.
Laying there in agony gave Angel a minute to think, and despite the millions of topics that could have occupied his brain, he kept thinking about that dumb fucking hug. If Val was ever half as gentle as the hug, would Angel still hate it? If Val was even a third, maybe Angel would enjoy it a little.
Maybe, just maybe, if Val was a completely different person Angel could love him.
Yeah. Fuck that.
Getting frustrated with his train of thought, he attempted to move again, this time being successful in sitting up. Not too far from where he sat, Angel spotted the remains of his outfit, sprinkled around the room. The spider let out a sigh at the sight, ignoring the burn of his lungs as he did so.
There wasn’t another outfit that he could wear nor were there any blankets lying around that he could use to cover himself on his way back to his studio bedroom. So unless he wanted to take a curtain off the set and face the nagging of some dickhead producer, Angel was forced to go through another walk of shame up to the 50th floor.
Well, it’s not like it's nothing they’ve never seen before. Practically every soul down in hell has seen him naked, probably rarer to see him fully clothed if he were being honest. So he stood up, legs slightly shaking against his body weight as he approached a door.
He made his way through the room, ignoring the exit leading to the studio hallway in favor of the one that would take him to an alleyway. Angel snagged a cig and lighter, items left behind from after he’d passed out, pushing the door and letting the heat of hell wash over him, preparing for a well-earned smoke break.
His hand trembled as he placed the cigarette in his mouth, his other pair of arms struggling to work the lighter.
God, he should buy some crack.
A striking moment of brilliance, but before he could come to another life-changing epiphany, a voice spoke out from the alleyway he stood in.
“Wow, you’re…umm. Really naked right now.” An unfamiliar voice squeaked out.
The pornstar tensed as he took a quick glance in the direction of the voice only to be met with golden blond hair and a blood red suit.
“Look babes, I don’t know if you know this, but ya right outside a porn studio,” Angel grumbled looking back at the lighter in his weak grasp, contemplating something. “Actually while you're here, mind lighting up my cig?”
Without giving her a moment to respond, Angel gently tossed his stolen lighter to the strange demon who had appeared before him. The poor girl barely had time to react as she attempted to grab the item tossed to her, hands stumbling over themselves as she eventually caught it.
“Sure! I would love to! I think? I’m actually not too sure on smoking. I read once that it’s actually pretty bad for your lungs so you shouldn’t do it. But also it feels pretty rude to say no, so- like maybe?” The blond nervously spoke, glancing around as if looking for something or simply just avoiding Angel's bare body.
“You’re going to… maybe light my cig?” Angel slowly repeated, eyeing the girl up and down. “Hey, real quick babes, are ya lost? You don’t look like the usual clientele and Val would never let you out wearing shit like that if you were one of his.”
“Oh um! Not lost actually, however, I did accidentally run off and lose my girlfriend in what I assume was an impromptu orgy in the middle of the street. So I’m kinda trying to keep an eye out for her right now.” The stranger spoke, her voice reminding Angel of a fairy tale narrator.
“Well as long as she keeps her clothes on, she won’t be too difficult to spot around here.”
“Oh! Actually about that, here!” And as soon as the words left her lips, a little red jacket was being handed to Angel.
“That wasn’t a sign for you to start stripping toots,” Angel said, unsure why she kept moving her jacket closer to him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t! Not that I’m judging people who do, it's just me personally, would never! I mean you look great-“ the girl winced, “That came off as super creepy, I’m sooo sorry. But y'know, shit… let me start over.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and when she opened them again Angel felt everything stop.
It’s not like anything had changed in the brief moment it took for her to pull herself together, but when her stare met his, a warmth started to fill his chest.
Her stare was kind, it was soft and gentle.
It felt like a hug.
“I keep noticing that you keep trying to cover up. And well, I get it that you’re most likely an adult film actor but that doesn't mean you shouldn’t get any sort of privacy.”
It wasn’t just her stare that was kind, it was her. Kind. She was kind. Fear started creeping up the back of Angel's neck. No one was this kind for no reason. Not in hell. His body tensed as he slowly started backing away. Danger, he wasn’t sure how, but he was in danger.
“Who the fuck are you?” Angel snapped, his unlit cigarette falling from his lips.
At the sudden hostility, the girl flinched. The jacket she was holding out now hugged her chest tightly, and she took a few steps back. Despite Angel being the aggressor, she was the one who wore a guilty expression. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by someone at the entrance of the alleyway.
“CHARLIE!” Another girl had yelled. Probably the girl’s- Charlie’s girlfriend if the relief on her face gave anything away.
“Vaggie!” Charlie responded in return, joy radiating from her body. What the fuck kind of name was ‘Vaggie?’
Angel watched as the two girls hugged, Charlie leaning down to press a kiss on Vaggie’s forehead. His chest ached. He needed to leave, if Angel could just quietly enter the building he’d be free of whatever bullshit had just found him. But of course-
“Was this pervert bothering you!?” Vaggie spoke up.
Okay well, fuck you too bitch. Angel was absolutely a pervert, don’t get him wrong, but he clearly was the victim right now.
“No no no! I’m pretty sure I’m the one doing the bothering!” Charlie defended him, stepping in between Vaggie and Angel.
“Are you trying to recruit Angel Dust!?” Vaggie asked, disbelief dripping from her voice.
“You know who I am?”
“You know who he is?”
Angel and Charlie responded in unison.
“Babe,” Vaggie started, looking at Charlie with a strange fondness. “We pass like a shit ton of billboards featuring him doing… things.”
“Hey! Those ‘things’ as you so kindly put it are some of my best work. Damn right, I’m on billboards, and what the fuck are you on about. ‘Recruiting.’ Fuck you if you’re some of those Scientology freaks, I already told y’all to fuck off and you’re dead. There’s no space in hell.” Angel scrambled to open the door, only to find it locked. Great, he would have to walk through what he heard is an orgy-filled street to get back into the studio.
God, he couldn’t wait for the next extermination. Maybe then he could finally rest.
“We’re not part of any cults! But recruiting is kinda the reason I ran off earlier, I’m looking for someone to join my hotel!” Charlie spoke up, still holding her stupid fucking jacket in her arms.
“What? You fucking understaffed or some shit.”
“Oh me and Vaggie got the staff part covered! We’re looking for guests!”
That nearly made Angel laugh. Was this some sort of joke? “Why?” He asked, unsure where his curiosity would lead him.
“Well, it’s not really a normal hotel. We’re trying to rehabilitate sinners.”
“Rehabilitate them?”
“So they can enter heaven.” Charlie had said it with such a genuine expression that Angel almost believed her. What a big fucking joke.
“Alright, you can stop fucking with me now. What do you bitches really want? If you’re here to kidnap me and record a ransom just know Val will probably turn it into my next porno intro-“
“I promise this isn’t a joke!” Charlie interrupted, desperation coating her words. “Each year thousands of hell’s civilians are killed. Murdered without a chance to prove themselves to be better, but I know. I know there is good in all of you. This hotel might be some wild experiment but I have to try. You don’t have to believe me, but do you think maybe you could visit? I promise there’ll be no weird shit involved.”
God Angel was gonna regret this, however, the kindness had yet to leave her eyes, and despite how uneasy it made him feel, he wanted to trust them.
He needed a fucking nap.
“What do I get out of this if I visit?” Angel questioned, suspicion filling his eyes.
It seemed like the question annoyed Vaggie as she grabbed Charlie’s hand, ready to drag her out of the alleyway. “Let’s just leave, he’s not worth our time.”
“Free food and stay.” Charlie stayed firm in her spot. She squeezed Vaggie’s hand in return but held her place, red eyes meeting pink and black.
Free stay? Free stay. This was too good to be true but at the same time if it was… he could leave. He didn’t have to stay here under Val’s watch. Under Vox’s glare and Velvette’s jeers. He wouldn’t have be treated like some free-use toy whenever his Valentino needed to destress. He didn’t have to stay here. Yes. Yes. He needed to say yes, because even if it was a trick what if it wasn’t? It wasn’t complete freedom, but it was a start. All he needed to do was say yes.
“Are pets allowed?”
This was gonna be Angel's new start.