The pounding on the door woke Vaggie first.
Smacking her lips together, she tossed the cover off of her as she groggily turned and put herself in a sitting position.
The wooden floor was cold on her feet, but she was too tired to really care right now as she stood up.
The knocking continued.
"Coming!" Vaggie yelled, a cross between a mumble and a yell, as she slowly walked towards the door, trying to wake herself up.
As she reached the door, she shook her head vigorously trying to wake herself up, before she opened the door.
"Yes?"
On the other side was John, who was whistling a tune as he stared down the hallway, whistling a tune as he waited for the door to be answered.
When he heard the creak of the door, along with Vaggie's voice, he turned his gaze down to look at her.
Only to immediately snap it back away as his face began to turn red. "Jesus fucking Christ, Vaggie!"
Vaggie was confused. "What, what's wrong?"
"Get some fucking clothes on for Christ sakes!" He exclaimed, still averting his gaze.
Vaggie looked at him in confusion, before diverting her gaze down.
And freezing.
She could feel her face heating up in embarrassment as she examined herself, the events of the previous night coming back to her.
She was still completely naked from a romp with Charlie the night before.
John was unsurprised when the door slammed in his face, accompanied by the sound of Vaggie gasping.
He waited patiently as he heard shuffling behind the door, before it was opened again.
This time, Vaggie was in her white minidress, though her stockings were still absent.
"Sorry." Vaggie said, an embarrassed blush upon her face.
John decided to tease her, grinning a little as he spoke. "What, Charlie fry your brains last night?"
Vaggie glared at John. "Screw you."
John chuckled. "Pretty sure you have Charlie for that, if the fucking sounds from last night were any indication." He joked, causing Vaggie to turn beat red.
She had been… loud… the night prior.
"So, what's up John?" She asked him, looking back up at him.
John chuckled as he looked at her, noticing her trying to change the subject. "I'm going to the Hell Hole today to pick up some things. Charlie lost a bet with me, so she's supposed to be going with me."
Vaggie raised an eyebrow, instinctually suspicious. "A bet?"
"I had to make her blush with a sentence."
At that Vaggie nodded, suspicion disappearing. "You called her pure, didn't you?"
"Is it really that much of a regular occurrence?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
John chuckled. "And she still accepted the bet. Wow."
Vaggie nodded, smiling slightly. "Oh believe me, she's pure hearted, but she is not pure where it counts."
John let out a loud laugh at that. "No shock there."
Vaggie nodded in agreement. "I'll wake her up, tell her your waiting."
John raised an eyebrow. "Before I go, I'm on breakfast duty. Just wanted to make sure she got up early enough to get some."
Vaggie perked up. John's cooking skills among the Hotel were legendary. The only one who came close was Alastor. And when John made breakfast…
"What all are you making?"
John chuckled. "You really gotta ask?"
Vaggie laughed. "Better question is what aren't you making, isn't it?"
John laughed. "There you go!"
Vaggie shook her head with a chuckle. "I'll wake Charlie, let her know your making breakfast. See you in a bit."
John nodded, smiling. "See you in a bit."
Vaggie closed the door as John walked off, and turned back to her beautiful girlfriend, who was still snuggled in the covers, hugging one of the decorative pillows in their bed like a plushie.
Vaggie giggled at the site. Charlie really was a child at heart.
Like John had said, she was pure.
"Charlie… Charlie, Hun, wake up." Vaggie said as she gently shook the Princess awake.
"Mmm I don wanna go ta school…" Charlie mumbled in her sleep, batting at Vaggie's hands.
Vaggie chuckled, and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "John's making breakfast~" She said in a sing song voice.
Charlie's eyes shot open immediately. "He is!" She jumped up out of bed, Vaggie moving out of her way as she rushed for the door.
"Charlie!"
She froze at Vaggie's voice calling at her. She turned to look at her girlfriend. "Yeah, Vaggie?"
"Get some clothes on before you step outside!"
At the moth demon's words, Charlie looked down, and blushed when she realized that in her excitement, she had just about rushed out of the room buck naked.
"O-Oh… my bad." She said as she quickly rushed into their walk-in closet. Vaggie watched her rush out a second later, almost ripping the door off the hinges from the excitement of John's cooking. "See you down stairs, Vaggie!"
Vaggie giggled at Charlie's actions, before putting on her thigh highs and following her out the door.
"Hey, Husk, ass me the salt will ya?"
"Give me a second you spider-freak."
"Hey Alastor, can you pass the bacon?"
"Of course, Vanessa! Here you go!"
"Oh, Johnny! More steak!"
John chuckled at Niffty's excitement as he placed a large piece of stake on her plate before returning to the stove. "Calm down, Niffty. Eat away."
John always enjoyed mornings like this. Everyone at the table, being friendly, having breakfast. It reminded him of home.
Of Mamaw and Papaw.
His grandparents.
He shook his head of depressing thoughts as Charlie cam barreling into the kitchen.
"Food!" She cried out, excited to have a taste of John's good cooking once more.
There was an abundance of food to choose from, but she had ultimately chosen Mashed Potatoes, Biscuits and Gravy, and Bacon.
She took a seat next to Angel, who was currently bugging Husk.
"So, when's the next time your free for the night?" He asked, wiggling his eye flirtatiously at the cat demon,
"For you?" Husk asked, a grin on his face. "About three days to never fucking happening."
Angel pouted at Husk's response. "You're no fun."
"Vanessa, My dear, would you like to go shopping with me today?" Alastor asking glancing at the succubus, who looked surprised at the offer.
"M-Me?"
Alastor nodded. "Of course! You've been outside only once, and from what I gather, it didn't end pleasantly. I'd like to rectify, that!"
Vanessa nodded, somewhat shellshocked by the offer. "Y-yeah, sure!"
"Great!" Al's gaze turned over to look at Husk, who rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah, I know, I'm going with you." He grumbled. "Always roping me into shit…"
"Hey, Charlie!" Niffty called, catching the Princess attention. "Today's your trip to the Hell Hole with John, isn't it?"
Charlie's eyes widened at the question. "Is that today?"
John chuckled. "Yeah, it's Friday."
Charlie nodded. "Well, yeah, it is today, then NIffty." She turned her gaze to John. "With all that's happened in the past couple days, I completely forgot about that."
John laughed. "It's fine. It's been crazy the past couple of days."
Vaggie chose that moment to walk into the kitchen, giving Charlie a kiss as she passed by her. "Good morning, Hun."
Charlie smiled as she swallowed some mashed potatoes. "Morning, Vaggie."
As she moved to grab herself some food, Vaggie smiled at John. "Morning, John."
John smiled back. "Good morning, Vaggie." He pointed with the spoon in his hand to a plate with pancakes on it, separate from the one with a couple more servings. "There's you pancakes, just got done before you got down here."
Vaggie nodded with a grin as she picked up the plate, taking a wiff of the sweet smell. "Thanks. Syrup?"
"On the table." John said, gesturing to the table behind them.
Meanwhile, everyone watched the scene with confused eyes.
"Uh… when did this happen?" Angel asked.
"So, you two are all buddy, buddy now?" Husk asked with a raised eyebrow.
Vaggie sighed as she took a seat, grabbing the syrup. "I realized yesterday that I'd been unfair." She said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Alastor raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Oh shut up, Shitlord." Vaggie glowered, hearing the cocky tone in his voice.
"Me and her had a talk yesterday after I flipped out on her." John said as he shut off the stove, finally able to prepare himself some food. "We exchanged words, and started over. Clean slate."
Niffty cheered. "Yay, your friends!"
Vanessa looked between the two. "Did I miss something?"
John waved it off. "Nothing important."
Husk leaned over and whispered into Vanessa's ear. "Vaggie's been nothing but a bitch to him since he got here."
Vanessa's eyes widened and she nodded. "Ohhhhh."
"So, should I be prepared for any surprises when we get to the Hell Hole?" Charlie asked as she glanced at John.
John shrugged. "Not really. People are more peaceful and friendly." John chuckled as another thought occurred to him. "Less perverts." He joked.
Charlie rolled her eyes. "Well, that's a welcome change." She looked at John with a curious gaze. "Is there anywhere specific we're going?"
John nodded. "A little apartment building. Grundy's Plaza." He looked at Charlie with a small grin. "Little family of Hellhounds and Imps that live there. We actually ran into an old friend of mine at Lu Lu World yesterday."
Charlie's eyes widened. "Really?"
John nodded. "Yeah. Big guy for a Hellhound, bout 7 feet tall. His name's Vortex."
"How many of them do you think are coming here?" Charlie asked. John chuckled.
"Probably all of them. Like I said before, this place is safer than the Hell Hole is, especially now that I'm here, rather than there all the time." John answered as he finished up his food.
"What time are you wanting to leave?" Charlie asked as John stood up and moved to wash his plate.
"I'd like to take off as soon as possible. I want to spend a little time with them before we come back. They won't be here immediately for about another month." John explained as he washed his dishes.
Charlie nodded. "That's right. They still have to pack up their stuff, right?"
John nodded. "Yeah. Plus, they scheduled the moving truck a month in advance, so they kind of have to wait."
Charlie conceded his point. "True."
John finished washing his dishes, and dried his hands as he turned to Vaggie. "You sure you'll be able to run the Hotel while we're gone?"
Vaggie rolled her eyes, grinning at the question. "It is my job, John." She remarked. "Yes, I'll be able to run it."
John nodded. "Alright! I'm gonna go grab something from my room." He looked at Charlie. "When you're finished, I'll be waiting in the lobby."
Charlie nodded with a smile. "Okay, just let me finish eating."
John nodded with a grin as he made his way out of the dining room. He leaned back into view for a quick second though. "By the way, their's more than enough for the rest of the Hotel guests if they want some breakfast, Vaggie."
Vaggie nodded. "Thanks John."
John smiled. "Not a problem." And then he disappeared again.
After finishing her breakfast and meeting John out in the lobby, the two had made their way outside.
"So, how long of a trip are we looking at, here?" Charlie asked. John chuckled.
"Walking distance is about five hours. By car, three." He grinned down at the princess. "But we're taking the shortcut."
"The shortcut- Hey!" Charlie yelped when John suddenly swiped her up, bridal style, before taking off in a sprint. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm an impatient asshole!" John promptly replied. Charlie was about to question what he meant, only to find herself screaming when John suddenly leapt into the air.
Literally.
They left Pentagram City behind very quickly, as the force of John's leap sent them flying far beyond the city limits, and out into the barren wastelands between cities and towns.
"John!" Charlie cried out, unconsciously wrapping her hands around John's neck as they soared through the air. When they landed, they landed hard, but it was surprisingly smooth, at least in Charlie's opinion.
When they landed, John was able to use his momentum, and all the sudden, they were soaring even higher, and even farther.
Charlie didn't know when she'd tucked her head into his chest, she just knew that this wasn't like any of the rides at Hellsny or Lu Lu World. This was just plain terrifying.
When they landed again, Charlie waited a few moments, before realizing John hadn't made another jump.
Opening her eyes, she looked around.
Their surroundings looked like that of a small town, a little diner sitting in front of them. Charlie's eyes slowly moved to look up at John, who was grinning down at her, a raised eyebrow taunting her.
"You can let go of my neck, now."
At his words, Charlie quickly scrambled out of his grip, smoothing out her somewhat frizzled clothes as John laughed at her swiftness.
"You could've warned me!" Charlie yelled, glaring at the spiky demon in front of her, who was still laughing his ass off.
"But I love seeing people's reactions to that!" He said between laughs. "What fun would it have been if you had known?!" He said, hunching over as he laughed at her angry face."
Charlie huffed. "That was mean!"
John nodded as his laughing calmed to chuckling. "Yes it was… it was also funny."
Charlie pouted as turned away from John, refusing to look at him.
Seeing that he had upset her, John let out a small chuckle as he walked up next to her. "Look, I'm sorry. It was just a joke." He said. "I've only ever done that to a few people, and all of them laughed it off afterwards." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I didn't take into account that some people might not like it at all."
"Hmph." Charlie still refused to look at him. John sighed as shame began to build within him.
"I really am sorry, Charlie. I didn't mean to make you mad." John said, looking at the Princess. "It was just supposed to be a joke."
Charlie kept her eyes averted for a moment, before sighing. "Just… warn me next time, okay?" She said, a small smile on her features as she finally looked at the behemoth, who smiled back.
"No problem."
"So, you said Grundy's Plaza, right?" Charlie asked.
John nodded, pointing down the street. "Considering this is Zarroff's Diner, the plaza should be about six blocks that way."
Charlie smiled, and immediately started walking.
John grinned as he followed after her. "You're really excited, huh?"
She nodded vigorously. "I can't wait to meet the future hotel guests!" She exclaimed, practically shaking with excitement.
John chuckled at her excited demeanor. "I'm glad you're excited. I can tell you right now that everyone there's gonna love you."
Charlie grinned. "I hope so."
John laughed as a thought occurred to him. "The youngest, Beartrap… he'll love you."
"Beartrap?" Charlie asked, confused at the name.
John chuckled. "His real name is Benny, but he's got a birthmark in his fur that looks like a beartrap." He explained with a chuckle. "Tell you what, he earned the name too."
"Really?" Charlie asked, smiling slightly.
John nodded. "Oh yeah. That boy's only about five, he was a year old when I fell. His jaw is strong enough to crush concrete."
Charlie's eyes widened. "Really?"
John nodded. "That whole family has strength running through it. I've watched Vortex lift a 8,000 pound Hummer off the ground."
Charlie's eyes widened. "Wow. The best I ever managed was six thousand."
John smiled at Charlie. "Just remember, strength and power."
"There's a difference." Charlie said with a smile of her own, recalling that particular lesson.
John nodded. "There you go!"
"So, How did you meet everyone here, anyway?" She asked, interested in that story.
At the question the smile on John's face took on a mixture of fondness and sadness.
"When I died, I fell here." John started. "This imp, Madrox, found me. Dragged my ass all the way back to the Plaza."
"This apartment building… is everyone there friends?"
John chuckled. "More than that. If you are accepted into that building, it's cause everyone knows you and considers you family. And it makes sense." He said, glancing at Charlie. "Everyone there is related in some way. Both Imps and Hellhounds."
Charlie's eyes widened. "Really?"
John nodded. "Yeah. In fact, Madrox? The imp? Beartrap's his son."
Charlie knew the shocked expression on her face said everything.
John just laughed at the baffled look on her face. "Yeah, I know. A surprise."
"Uh-huh…"
"Anyway, I was unconscious when I fell. I'm not happy to admit I had a hell of a panic attack when I woke up."
"How bad?" Charlie asked without thinking, though John didn't think much of it.
"I uh… destroyed the top floor. Vortex's dad, everyone calls him Andre, he tried to stop me, restrain me so I didn't do any more damage." John had a look of regret on his face as he recalled that particular incident.
"How'd that go?" Charlie asked, though she already assumed the Hellhound didn't come out too good.
"I uh… I broke every bone from his ribs to his leg in the right side of his body." John said. "When I finally calmed down, I damn near sent myself into another panic attack when I found out I hurt him."
"Oh my god…" Charlie whispered as she listened to the story.
"I was fixing to take off when Vortex stopped me." John said, smiling. "Not a single one of them blamed me. I was a sinner, and a particularly strong one too. They were surprised I hadn't leveled the place."
"Andre offered me a place at the Plaza. Told me they'd all help me adapt." He smiled as he glanced down at Charlie. "Me and Vortex have been as close as brothers ever since, and they all treat me like family."
Charlie smiled as he finished the story. "Sounds like a lot of good people are in Hell."
John smiled. "Yeah."
The rest of their walk was made in silence, Charlie excited to meet the family that John thought so highly of, and John excited to see them all again.
Both knew one thing, it was gonna be a good day.
A/N: And there's the chapter. I hope you all are enjoying it so far. Next chapter, we get to meet the family that took John in when he died, and we learn more of John's life prior to his appearance at the Happy Hotel.
Yes, I made John and Vortex best friends, because I fucking love Vortex, and I feel like he has been under utilized so far in the series. But that's just me.
I have plans for not just Hazbin Hotel, but Helluva Boss as well.
Yes, that does include I.M.P.
Anyway, that's it for this chapter, don't forget to comment/review, and please, Stay Tuned…