It was a well kept secret that Alastor did not, in fact, always smile like a lunatic.

Now, some might assume he stopped smiling in his sleep, which was actually not the case here. Firstly, the fucker didn't sleep very often. Secondly, when he did he usually did it by standing creepily in a corner, eyes open and glowing, sporting a wide creepy smile. Thirdly, the rare times he actually slept in a bed were done exclusively in the privacy of his own house, and only when nobody was around. So who fucking knew if he smiled then or not.

Some people might also think he'd drop the smile if he was spooked or scared or angry or some other emotion that caused normal people to stop smiling. Hah! As if. The motherfucker only changed the nuance of his smile instead of dropping it, no matter what. It could get sharper when he was angry, small or forced when he was upset, fixed when he got surprised, sneer-like when he was disgusted, and so on.

So when did it actually drop?

The answer was: when he was alone with someone he was absolutely comfortable with and trusted.

Husk only knew about this because of Rosie. Rosie was Alastor's oldest friend in Hell, and the only one whose approval he ever sought for anything. So, whenever he made a new friend, he'd eventually bring them to Rosie's place for her to judge. If she didn't like someone, Alastor inevitably got rid of the person one way or another. If she was indecisive, he'd keep the person at an arm's length until a more precise judgment was made. If she liked them, he adopted the attitude of "you're mine forever now". Husk would never ever be dumb enough to say it out loud, but in his mind he referred to the phenomenon as "mom's permission to play with this person".

Rosie had liked Husk the moment they entered her shop.

When one kept being friends with Alastor, the package deal included being friends with Rosie as well. Actually, being friends with Alastor meant eventually meeting every single one of his friends one by one, or at least that was Husk's experience on the matter; he didn't know if he was special or if that was universal. Regardless, Husk had found himself spending a lot of time with Rosie as well as Alastor, to the point where sometimes he was just picked up by Alastor and then left with Rosie for a couple of hours before being taken back home. He didn't know why and didn't ask.

Rosie told him a lot of insider information about Alastor as years went by. Some things were small and pretty obvious, and seemed like Rosie was just checking whether he had noticed them himself or not yet – such as Alastor's lack of interest in sexual relations. Some things were practical and good to know – take Alastor's dislike for all things sweet for example. Some things were big and crucial, but only trusted to those who wouldn't exploit them – like Alastor being somewhat afraid of dogs. And then there were the secrets that almost nobody was privy to.

Alastor not smiling at times was one of them.

Not that Husk had ever needed the information. When he had been told about it during one of those times when Alastor just dropped him to hang out with Rosie and fucked off himself, he had admittedly spent a few weeks kind of… waiting for it. Hoping for it to happen, if he was perfectly honest. When things just kept being normal and Alastor kept on grinning even when it was just the two of them simply hanging out in his living room, Husk eventually gave up on the thought of it happening anytime soon.

He never forgot, however. Perhaps he was lowkey still hoping for it. Perhaps the information was shocking enough to be unforgettable. Who knew.

And now…

Alastor was visiting Husk and they had just finished watching a movie. It had been one of those black and white shitty old flicks from the 20s, because that was how Alastor rolled. This one had even been a particularly boring romance film, which Husk had kind of suspected to be the case when he picked it up from the thrift shop, but movies from Alastor's preferred time period were rare enough that they weren't gonna be picky.

The end credits were rolling and Husk stretched his stiff limbs.

"That sure was a movie we watched", he said with a small smirk, and turned to look at Alastor. "Not so-"

He instantly forgot what he had been about to say.

Alastor was staring at the television, or its general direction anyway, with a blank look. An honestly blank look. As in, no expression of any kind, smile included.

Alastor was not smiling. In Husk's presence.

Alastor was comfortable enough with him to not feel like he needed to put up a front and drop his smile.

Husk's heart was considering a career in circus and was doing wild fucking shit in his chest, including beating fast enough to occasionally skip a beat or two, as well as feeling light as fuck while simultaneously swelling to ridiculous sizes and making breathing difficult.

Yes, he fucking stared. Yes, he fucking wanted to grab Alastor's smirk-free cheeks and violently nuzzle his adorable face. Yes, he was purring quietly, or at the very least he hoped it was quiet because he sure as fuck didn't know for sure right that moment.

And then Alastor either got confused by the sentence Husk had abruptly dropped, or he felt the stare; fuck if Husk knew. Either way he turned to look at Husk, tilted his head slightly like he did when he was silently asking a question, and gave a little "hm?"

He kept the smile-free face all the while. If it wasn't for the other familiar bits, Husk wasn't sure he would have been able to read him. But as it was, he could. And it was precious.

"N-nothing", Husk said.

Did he fucking stutter just now?

Alastor stared at him for a moment, and then chuckled. "Now that's quite unusual for you, Husker. You don't typically waste words."

Alastor was smiling now, but it wasn't the smirk of the Radio Demon. It was small, soft, and genuine. It reached his eyes fully and held no pretense whatsoever. It looked like it could settle for a neutral expression any second now unless there was a real reason to keep it up.

Husk felt almost dizzy from it.

"Today is a bit of an unusual day", he managed to answer, and cleared his throat. He didn't want to make this into a big deal, lest Alastor grew self-conscious and never relaxed around him again. "Now that the movie is done, how about some coffee? I got some fancier stuff just the other day and you'll probably fucking love it."

"Ah, yes! Coffee would certainly hit the spot", Alastor said cheerfully, and stood up. He extended a hand towards Husk. "Shall we then?"

Without a word, Husk took the hand.

He would silently toast for more moments like this once he had the coffee in his paws.