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fraugwinska · 3 months ago

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There was more to him than a prostitute, Husk was sure of it. He wanted to see him again, see if he could coax more of that other person out of him- but regardless of how drawn he felt, he drew the line at paying for sex. Maybe if he hung around a while, Angel would come outside- Husk could catch him then, talk to him a little bit. Maybe he could get through to him, convince him that the brothel wasn’t the best place for him.

Lord help me - we get MULTIPLE ship-romances in one AU and I am so HERE for Huskerdust! It just keeps getting BETTER AND BETTER!

God, That's Good!

Chapter 10: Kiss Me

Charlie and Vaggie hatch a plan, and Husk and Angel learn of some similarities between themselves.

Tags: Chaggie, Huskerdust, we have other relationships to flesh out besides Radioapple everyone! Val is tied with Sera for being The Worst™️

HEYYO WE'RE AT CHAPTER 10!!! TWO CHAPTERS TO GO UNTIL THE END OF ACT ONE 🥳🎉

As always, a huge thank you to my beloved @fraugwinska and @minkdelovely for their support and excitement about this story, as well as everyone else that likes or comments and reblogs 💗

Act 1: Chapter 1 🥧 Chapter 2 🥧 Chapter 3 🥧 Chapter 4 🥧Chapter 5 🥧 Chapter 6 🥧Chapter 7 🥧 Chapter 8 🥧 Chapter 9 🥧 Chapter 10

Charlie is pacing when Vaggie enters the room with a creak of the door, her dress swishing around her legs when she turns and spots her in the doorway, cheeks tinted from the exertion and her braid still swinging. “Vaggie,” she says softly, and whether it’s the stress of the night or her desire to finally, finally be closer, she’s propelled across the room in a few short strides and throws her arms around Vaggie’s neck, hugging her tightly. There’s a brief moment of hesitation where Charlie worries that she’s overstepped, crossed some kind of boundary.

And then Vaggie’s arms are coming up as well, wrapping around Charlie’s back and pulling her even closer.

Charlie could cry. She lets them stand there in comfortable silence for a moment before pulling back- she’s startled to find that her eyes are damp, hurriedly wiping at her eyes with her sleeves before Vaggie can see it. “I’m so glad you came,” she says, and Vaggie’s smile is soft and sweet.

“I couldn’t have stayed away. I have a proposition for you- and I completely understand if the answer is no, so please don’t feel obligated in any way to agree with what I have to say.” Charlie quirks an eyebrow, and Vaggie steels herself with a deep breath. “I want to take you away from here,” she says, and Charlie’s heart leaps in her chest. “I see the way that your guardians are towards you, and forgive me if I’m being too forward but you-”

She takes Charlie’s hand, stepping closer to her again and putting Charlie’s hand to her chest. “You are so radiant and beautiful, and I can tell that you feel so deeply about helping others when you talk about it. Your keeper may be a Judge but he is not a good or just man, and that Beadle is no better; they won’t let you be what I can see, so clearly, that you want to be.” She lifts Charlie’s hand to her lips, pressing a soft kiss there. “I want to help you become that. If you would allow me to take you away from New Orleans, I would do anything to help you realize your dreams- whatever they are.”

She does tear up then, her eyes wet and her smile wobbling, and Vaggie looks worried for a moment that she’s done something wrong. “I was going to ask you to get me out of here,” she admits. “I just heard before you arrived; Adam plans to marry me. My own caregiver! Expecting that I would simply agree to be his wife when he’s basically my father.” Her stomach churns as it had when she heard them speaking, and Vaggie looks just as shocked as she had felt. “I would rather die, Vaggie. I’ve no idea what sort of timeline he expects but knowing Sera- who gave him the idea, and I will never forgive her for it- they will try to rush it. They might expect me to marry him as soon as Monday.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Vaggie says, and her hand comes up to cup Charlie’s cheek- and Charlie was right, to be so close to her without the wall in the way was perfect, her palm a warm, comforting presence on Charlie’s face. “I promise you, I’ll take you far away from here. I had already made arrangements with a friend to shelter you for the evening- you would only need wait here until I let him know that I would be bringing you, just to make sure he has no company that might get word back to the Judge, and then I would return to fetch you.”

“Tonight?” She looks at Vaggie’s shorter stature, her determination clear in the set her her jaw, the crease in her eyebrows. “Where would we go from your friend’s place?”

“Wherever you want,” she says. “I plan to travel North eventually- I wouldn’t presume that you would go with me automatically, but if there’s anywhere else-”

Charlie cuts her off with her own hand along the delicate line of Vaggie’s jaw. “North sounds perfect,” she says quietly, her eyes tracking the swallow Vaggie takes down her throat. She was so beautiful, and to know that their plans had somehow aligned so perfectly with one another’s was a sweet, heady cocktail that had her stepping closer still, a mere whisper of space between them. “Anywhere would be perfect with you.”

“Charlie,” she breathes, and her eyes dart down to Charlie’s lips before meeting her gaze once again.

One could call Charlie naive. Innocent. Unaware of the world and inexperienced with the way she had been sheltered. But she had seen couples in love, the tender kisses that they shared when they thought no one else was looking, the longing looks that they exchanged when being observed. She understood- and she wanted that with Vaggie.

“Would you kiss me?” She asks quietly, adding on a soft, “please” for manners’ sake. And Vaggie obliges, pulling Charlie slightly down so that their lips can meet for the first time. It’s a soft press of their mouths, sweet and perfect, and Charlie feels her face flame at the thought of anyone seeing such impropriety- they were not married or engaged, they would both be ruined if anyone found out and told Sera or Adam. But her caregivers were gone, and the night was quiet and still; there was no one to see them, to judge them or tell them to stop.

She pulls away with a soft gasp, and Vaggie is so lovely like this- her dark hair escaping her braid, cheeks blushing and her eyes wide. Charlie was already sure of her choice but this cemented it- she wanted Vaggie. She wanted to flee North with her, to whatever life they could build together, far away from the oppressive atmosphere of New Orleans, of Adam and Sera. Their time of knowing one another had been brief, but it was enough for her to know what she wanted.

Vaggie’s fingers card gently into her hair. “May I kiss you again?” She asks, and Charlie’s affirmation is lost between her lips as their mouths join again, and again, and again.

Husk had stayed in the shop until that Niffty girl had left, waiting for Alastor to head up the stairs following a series of concerning sounding thumps. As soon as he had gone Husk slipped out, more desperate for a drink than anything else, but he found himself wandering closer and closer to the market, unsure of what exactly had led him there until he spotted the bright pink lights of the whorehouse that Angel worked at. He had been thinking about the young man frequently- too frequently if he was being honest with himself, always catching his mind wandering to those eyes of his, the soft, sweet smile he had given him when they had parted ways. They still saw each other every now and then, short waves and hushed greetings whispered when they got the chance, but that Valetino watched Angel like a hawk when he was so much as a few feet away from the house.

Not that Husk knew what the best place for him was, but surely anything would be better than here. New Orleans was dark and dangerous and rife with secrets that Husk knew all too well. If he could steer one person away from the tar pit, he would consider that a job well done.

“Just gimme a fuckin’ minute, Vel- tell him I’ll be right back.”

Husk looks up from his feet to see Angel coming out the brothel door, his head tilted down and hands fumbling in his pocket for something. There’s a woman in the doorway, her dark eyes narrowed as she watches Angel basically run around the corner. She looks up and spots Husk, her mouth downturning into an angry sneer. “Fuck’re you lookin’ at, geezer?” She demands, and doesn’t wait for a response before the door slams shut, the windows of the establishment rattling. He waits a moment to ensure that she won’t step back out with that Valentino before he follows Angel’s path around the back of the building.

He’s pacing when Husk finally sees him, his strides jerky and frantic as he fumbles with whatever is between his fingers- Husk sees the flicker of a match before a breeze blows it out, and in the brief moment of lighting he catches sight of Angel’s face- eyes wide and frightened, a deep bruise forming along his cheekbone. “Come on, come on,” he was muttering around the butt of a cigarette, hands diving into his pockets for a new match.

Husk approaches like he’s a wild animal- timid, unpredictable. “You need a light?” He asks softly, and even with how soft he had been Angel is still startled enough to drop his book of matches into a puddle at his feet. “Sorry- I guess you really do now,” he apologizes, and he’s only a little pleased when the man’s shoulders relax ever so slightly upon realizing it was him.

“That was my last book,” he says, and though he’s aiming for nonchalant Husk can hear the frayed nerves in his voice. “Ya got somethin’ to help me out?”

Husk digs into his own pocket and pulls out an actual lighter- he steps closer to Angel and brings his hands up, one flicking the lighter to bring forth a flame and the other blocking the wind so that he could light Angel’s cigarette for him. Angel takes a deep drag off the thing, the end burning brightly enough for a moment that Husk can see the bruise on his face with stunning clarity, along with the ones that littered his neck and the bit of collarbone that showed. “I hear those things are bad for you,” he says, nodding at the cigarette, and Angel scoffs.

“Better than coke, isn’t it,” he says absently, taking another long inhale. “Cheaper, too- don’t have to work so hard for a share a’ these.” He blows the smoke out in an exhale, casting his eyes over Husk’s frame. “What brings ya this way so late? Don’t tell me ya changed ya mind about takin’ me for a ride.” His tone is teasing, but the look in his eyes is distant, the different colors equally as dull as he looks more over Husk’s shoulder than actually at him. “We usually stop takin’ customers this late, but money is money to Val-”

“Yeah, I’m not here for that,” Husk interrupts, and the relief in Angel’s posture is easy to spot, tension dripping from his shoulders. “I was just out for a walk, noticed you leaving the house in a rush. Figured I would see if you were okay.”

“Oh, peachy,” he says, his tone sarcastic. “I mean, really just dandy.”

“Why don’t you leave?” Husk can’t stop the question, and Angel just laughs hollowly.

“Workin’ for a psychopathic freak is more of a hobby than a necessity, didn’t ya know?” He shakes his head, his blonde hair falling from its careful styling and into his eyes. “Ya don’t know what I’ve done- the shit Val knows, the shit he has on me, it’s safer for me to stay with him than it would be on my own.”

And boy, if Husk didn’t know that particular feeling of being trapped too well.

“Hey, you ever wanna talk to someone, I know how you’re feeling. I’ve been there; Hell, I’m still there.” He takes a step closer, his hand slipping from Angel’s shoulder to rest lightly on his bicep- green and brown eyes catch Husk’s dark ones, his breath seeming to simply stop. “You ever wanna try and get out of this shithole-”

“Angel, baby!”

The hair on Husk’s arms stands on end, his posture immediately tense when he hears a voice that could only belong to Valentino. Angel has frozen as well, immediately stepping back from Husk and pulling his arm from his grip. The tall man just drapes himself across Angel’s shoulders, running a darkly tanned hand across Angel’s chest and abdomen, settling possessively on his hip. “Who’s your friend, baby?” He asks, his voice low and accented in Angel’s ear, and Angel’s eyes dart over to Husk and then away.

“Just a John,” Angel mutters. “I was tellin’ him to come back in the mornin’. Ain’t that right?”

“Yeah,” Husk agrees, eyeballing the way that Valentino’s fingers dig harshly into Angel’s hipbones. “We were just finishing up- I’m on my way.”

Val’s eyes narrow, his gaze tracing up and down Husk’s body and sneering. “Estupendo,” he leers at Husk, and then to Angel- “how about you head back in, bello? I’ll have a chat with our friend here about our working hours.”

Angel’s eyes widen, darting between Husk and Val in a frenzy. “He was just leavin’, Val, it’s fine-”

Fingers dig sharply into Angel’s jaw, forcing his words to a stop. “Go. Inside,” he repeats. “Don’t make me repeat myself, cariño.” He releases Angel when he nods, eyes closed and defeated- his fingernails had left tiny indents on his cheeks. “Make sure Velvette covers up those little love bites!” He calls after him as Angel scurries inside the house, and then his dark, mean eyes are back on Husk. “If you come near my little puta again,” he says, the accent thick and angry in his voice. “I’ll make sure he gets much worse than a couple of bruises. Do I make myself clear, cabrón?”

Husk might not have spoken any Spanish, but the tone was clear enough. And as much as he wanted to knock the pimp onto his scrawny ass, he didn’t want to get Angel into anymore trouble.

At least, not until he could figure out a plan to get them as far away from New Orleans as possible.

“Crystal clear, sir,” he says, with as much contempt as he can muster, and Val smiles meanly before he vanishes through the door as Angel had, leaving Husk alone in the alleyway.

Act 1: Chapter 1 🥧 Chapter 2 🥧 Chapter 3 🥧 Chapter 4 🥧Chapter 5 🥧 Chapter 6 🥧Chapter 7 🥧 Chapter 8 🥧 Chapter 9 🥧 Chapter 10

#The rare occasion where I really care about Chaggie as a ship #Valentino is a prick in EVERY AU and this is the proof #I want to say 'Husk is falling for Angel' in that annoyingly childish singsong voice #Husk and Angel #sitting on a tree #K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

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