𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 | 𝘼𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧

[ 𝟐𝟒 ] - 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 | 𝘼𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧

【 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 】

    Letting out a yawn as she sat up with a satisfying stretch, (Y/N) lazily glanced around her room only to see that she was not in her room, but instead still sleeping on the plush couch of Charlie's and Vaggie's room adjacent to their now vacant bed. Slipping off the blanket that she had been provided by one of them, she returned to her room briefly to wash up and dress for the day before descending the stairs to see only Husk behind the counter of his bar, once more cleaning a glass like usual.

"Where is everyone?" She asked softly whilst glancing around, sitting down in front of Husk who turned at the sound of her voice.

"The Princess left with the other one to try and recruit more sinners, Niff is cleaning upstairs, and who the hell knows where the others are," Husk answered in a soft grumble as his tail swished in aggravation behind him. "Anyways, what do you want? Are you gonna drink this time?"

"Oh, just water again," she hummed. "Sorry if it's boring, but I'm not too fond of day drinking."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged, uninterested.

His striking yellow eyes then zeroed in on (Y/N)'s nails as she gratefully accepted the glass of water that he had poured her, the glimmer of the red and black polish reminding him—irritatingly enough—of a certain demon who's color scheme was exactly that. As he propped his head up whilst watching (Y/N) who had begun to happily speak about random topics, his mind wandered to how her position at the hotel, while formally a guest, was still hazy. Alastor had been the one to bring her in, not Charlie, and if Husk knew one thing about the Radio Demon, it was that he didn't like to share what he found interesting.

He liked to own them.

Then there were those like Husk, souls he found pitiful since they signed just that away to him.

It was enough to make Husk's teeth grind.

So, to imagine (Y/N) willingly wearing Alastor's collar, his pendent, and now donning his colors was enough to make Husk theorize that such subtle tactics would allow for the easy ownership of her soul—a path he didn't want for her, and a path he knew personally would do her no good.

"That's new," Husk purposefully pointed to (Y/N)'s nails, his brow raising when she seemed more surprised than anything.

"Oh, Charlie painted them for me," she murmured as she gazed at her nails, having only thought the Princess would be painting a red color. "Huh... you know, this color scheme kind of reminds me of Alastor, wouldn't you say?"

"What reminds you of me?" Alastor suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the sudden closeness of his staticky voice making her jump.

Holy shit, he scared me!

He's like a whole fricken' jack-in-the-box with these little pop up's he's got going for him.

"Just my nails," she hummed after calming down, holding her hands up to show him. "Charlie, Vaggie, and I sort of had a girls night where we ended up painting each other's nails, and my manicure turned out to look pretty close to your style." She then turned her hand around so she could see her nails again, saying, "They look pretty nice, actually. Charlie did a good job. Do you like it?"

Alastor crooked a brow as he tilted his head, a creaking sound filtering from his microphone at the action. It was obvious he knew nothing about manicures, but then his grin couldn't help but stretch and his eyes couldn't help but widen when the true meaning of her words finally sunk in. Turning his head, he chuckled at the thought, his smile shifting into a pleased smirk.

"Are you making fun of me?" (Y/N) deadpanned.

"No, my dear, so could you lend me your hand?" Alastor reached out his own.

"Uh... why?" She questioned in suspicion even though she placed her hand in his.

In the next moment, she knew exactly why he wanted her hand when he bent down and closed his eyes as he kissed the tips of her fingers—more specifically, as he kissed the remnants of him and his colors on her hand that she didn't seem to mind. Almost as soon as his lips met her flesh, her face erupted in a type of heat that flashed throughout her body and made her stomach feel alive with the fluttering wings of butterflies.

"Alastor...?" She blinked, obviously completely flustered by his forward actions.

"I'm just flattered..." his voice was soft as he looked up with that devilish smirk of his, his lidded red eyes focused on her and only her. "...my dear."

With that, (Y/N) devolved into a mess of flustered and stuttering goo whilst Alastor merely laughed on and on from her hysterical reactions. Not only were her reactions purely entertaining like that of a festive comedy show, but the thought of her willingly branding herself as his was an attractive notion in his mind. Sure, she kept on the pendent and collar that he had given her, but this was different—this was a shift that he hadn't been expecting.

    He had to say he enjoyed it.

Husk merely rolled his eyes whilst scoffing under his breath. He already knew what game Alastor liked to play. If (Y/N) couldn't see that, then she was just digging a deeper hole for herself, and he wouldn't be the one to tell her to put down that shovel.

"You need to stop doing that," (Y/N) then pressed a finger to Alastor's chest after she had regained her composure and emotions.

"Whatever could you mean, my dear?" His lips parted to showcase his toothy grin.

"Oh, you know exactly what I mean," she huffed with a tight smile as she crossed her arms over her chest, ignoring the almost predatory way he was starting down at her—in fact, if she really thought about it, the look in his eyes almost made her feel as if he would devour her whole if she wasn't careful. "You're doing all this on purpose, aren't you? Handsome bastard..."

Although she muttered that last part under her breath, Alastor still heard.

"Now, now, my dear!" He laughed as he slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest, enjoying the way her expression stiffened as soon as he did so. "Don't let a frown ruin that delightfully charming smile of yours..."

"Argh!" (Y/N) threw her hands over her eyes.

"Haha!" He laughed.

Husk rolled his eyes again.