A/N: Well! The two newest episodes really threw a wrench in a couple of my plans for this story. And it… also created some new ideas. Now I have to rework some future arcs to account for the things that have been revealed.
Although… It definitely makes me feel more confident in the concept for this story. So I definitely cannot complain.
Also, side note: I know Alastor's a deer. But his ears/hair resembles fox ears more than deer ears, and I stand by that comparison. It doesn't make him a fox, its just the way his hair looks.
The sweet aroma of pancakes…
Charlie could recognize it anywhere. She'd always had a bit of a sweet tooth, and her nose could hone in on the scent of anything tasty like a bloodhound.
There was no doubt that the smell was coming from the kitchen, and Charlie had found herself curious (and eager) to see who had made pancakes.
She was positive it wasn't Alastor. I'm the Radio Demon's not so humble opinion, making doughy, fatty lumps like pancakes was merely a waste of good food.
But she didn't know who else would be cooking in the kitchen. Vaggie had tried once, bless her heart, but… well, her skills definitely weren't in the kitchen.
And she knew it wouldn't be Angel, Husk, or Niffty… but there was no way it was John, right?
It had only been a day. She severely doubted that the behemoth would be making breakfast for the entire Hotel, right?
As her feet carried her closer to the kitchen, she could make out the familiar deep voice emanating from within as well, humming a small song to himself.
It was John!
Charlie found herself falling into disbelief as she finally made it to the doorway, and the sight she saw was certainly unexpected, to say the least.
Despite his massive size, having to hunch his head much like they'd seen him do when they first meet him, John was currently cooking another batch of pancakes upon the stove, two fingers and a thumb wrapped around the skillet as he leaned down to check the oven as well.
And within she could see… biscuits?
John made a noise of approval and went to reach in to grab the tray without grabbing any sort of oven mit, causing Charlie to speak up.
"Won't you burn yourself?" The princess asked, concern in her tone. Despite all her power, she'd fallen victim many times to the fickle feeling of impatience, and she wasn't exactly eager to see someone else do so as well.
But John merely shrugged, glancing back at her with a smile. "Nope." He assured as he stuck his hand into the still burning oven and grabbed the pan without so much as a sound, casually piling it out and laying on a metal pan he'd had set up on the counter next to…
Wow, that was a lot of pancakes.
"I would've burned myself for sure." Charlie couldn't help but to pout at the fact that this sinner could so easily do what she wished she could.
"Eh." John said with another shrug as he shut the oven lid with his foot and moved to turn off the heater. "Probably a trick of the mind. If I can do it, I know you can." He turned to look at Charlie with a small grin. "Good morning, by the way."
Charlie had the decency to be a little sheepish as she realized that she hadn't actually greeted him. "Good morning." She greeted back as she moved into the kitchen, pulling a chair out and taking a seat at the table as she watched John dump the last couple of pancakes onto another plate.
At that moment, the microwave beeped, signaling that whatever was inside had not finished.
"Good, the gravy's done." John said with a smile as he shut the stove off, wiping his hands with a towel before popping open the microwave and pulling out a large bowl filled with gravy.
Gravy which smelled so good.
"I take it you're a good cook." Charlie commented with a smile, eliciting a grin from the behemoth as he placed the bowl down next to the tray of biscuits.
"I've had people tell me that, but this ain't nothing compared to my grandpa." John replied with a grin as he turned towards the Princess. "You ain't had nothing till you've tasted his cooking. Only man to ever get me to eat mashed potatoes."
"Hmm… I guess you take a lot after him, don't you?" Charlie remarked as she propped her chin up on her hand.
John let out an amused chuckle in response as he passed a plate of pancakes to the princess, causing her to admittedly begin eyeing the large… well, actually, the comparatively small stack of pancakes with an eager eye.
"People used to tell me that I was damn near a carbon copy. I looked like him, and acted just like him, they'd say." John remarked as he passed a few biscuits onto a new plate, before grabbing a spoon and dipping it into the gravy. "And it makes sense. My grandpa has always been my hero."
"You sound like you really respected him." Charlie noted as she began digging into her plate of pancakes with a fork she hadn't realized had been provided as John passed a plate of biscuits and gravy to her as well. "Thanks." She expressed after swallowing her first bite of food.
"No problem." John replied with a smile as he went about making another plate of biscuits and gravy. "And as for my grandpa… well, my grandparents were better parents than my mom and dad ever were." He admitted as he sat his plate of biscuits and gravy on the table, before grabbing the comically large stack of pancakes and setting them on the table as well.
"That… sounds depressing." Charlie couldn't help but to note, pausing in her feast as she looked at him with a sympathetic gaze. "What happened if you don't mind me asking?"
John merely shrugged with a smile as he took a bite of one of his gravy covered biscuits. "Don't care." He assured as he chewed his food, before quickly swallowing. "Mom left when I was in… third grade. Got hooked on drugs and took off. Only ever met my dad once."
It was sad to Charlie, how casually he could admit it. "Doesn't it bother you?" She couldn't help but to ask.
"Not really." John admitted as he continued consuming his food, managing to speak rather clearly despite a mouthful of pancakes. "Mom never cared too much anyway. Can't tell you how many stories I have of being dragged to bars. And my dad… well, if he ain't still alive, he's down here."
"And… there wasn't anyone else?" Charlie couldn't imagine that. Granted, she and John were very different in terms of family, since the only grandparent she had was… well… God…
And her parents weren't neglectful in anyway, they were actually pretty good parents.
So it was hard for her to imagine being raised by her grandfather because her parents hadn't been there.
"My step-dad, but he wasn't worth much." John answered without missing a beat. "Only good thing that came from him and my mom's marriage were my brother and sister. Asshole would beat me half to death just cause I wasn't his kid. After two years of it, Papaw put his foot down. And I was with them until I died."
"You never left them?" Charlie asked in confusion, to which John shook his head.
"Even if I'd ever wanted too, I never got the chance. I was seventeen when I died."
Charlie nearly spit her pancakes out all over the table when she heard that, tapping her chest to try and help the food that got stuck to down after choking on it in shock.
Seventeen?! He was only seventeen when he died?! What sick bastard would cut someone's life so short?! A kid, to boot…
"So… you're only twenty-one, then?" Charlie asked slowly, to which John nodded.
"Just celebrated my birthday last month, as a matter of fact." He revealed with a chuckle. "Never thought I'd celebrate my twenty-first birthday in Hell, but hey, shit happens."
The way he spoke so jokingly about his death and afterlife was honestly more than just off-putting. Charlie couldn't help but to find it a little disturbing how freely he made jokes about the loss of his life.
It honestly made her wonder…
"You… joke so easily about your death." Charlie couldn't help but to speak, setting her fork back down onto the plate as she looked at him with a furrowed brow. "It's… why?"
"Well, you can't change the past." John replied shortly as he paused his feasting upon his own breakfast as he looked at Charlie. "I'm dead. I can't change that. I'm in Hell, and that's not gonna change for a while. But if there's one thing I'm good at, it's dark humor." He explained, a small smile working its way onto his face. "Find the light in the dark, you'll always be able to see. If I can make people laugh… who gives a shit?"
That's an… interesting perspective. Charlie hadn't quite met anyone who he looked at it that way. Unlike most sinners she'd met, John had decided to actually take his cruel fate and turn it into something good. Something to make people happy.
Most people took mean-spirited jabs at others, but John would make jokes at his own expense just to get someone to laugh.
The entire concept was refreshing. And honestly,
Charlie couldn't help it.
She laughed.
"What's so funny?" John asked with a smile as he watched the princess fall into a giggling fit, chuckling himself from secondhand amusement.
"Sorry, sorry…" Charlie's voice was high-pitched and breathless as she came down from her laughter. "It's… just nice to hear that a sinner is so… nice."
John let out a snort of amusement, mixed with a playful eye roll, before shaking his head. "Sure. Glad I could lift your spirits a smidgen higher."
"So… what do you think of the Hotel so far?" Charlie couldn't help but to ask, an optimistic smile on her face as she awaited his answer.
John took a bite of his food, chewing and swallowing before he spoke. "Well…Well… I maintain what I said. I think it's cool what you're doing. But if I'm honest…" He looked like he was struggling with how to word what he said, before letting out a sigh. "Well, you got your work cut out for you."
"Do you mean Angel?" Charlie immediately assumed he was talking about the incident with Angel the day prior, but John shook his head.
"Not just him. That little cyclops, Niffty. I know she's your housemaid, but she's likely to scare off any real guests from this place in a heartbeat." He spoke plainly and honestly, shaking his head a little. "And in regards to Angel… I'll be honest with you, he's lucky I didn't knock his ass out."
"Thanks for that, by the way…" Charlie sweatdropped.
"Well, in my honest opinion, it is a good place. But if you don't put your foot down, you just have a free for all and no progress." John finished his opinion of the Hotel, before flashing Charlie a smile. "But hey, I think you and Vaggie got this." His words did give the princess a small confidence boost, but it was appreciated regardless.
"Thanks." Charlie said with a genuine smile as moved back to consuming his pancakes.
John merely nodded as he resumed eating his own food as well.
The two continued to eat in a comfortable silence, with only the sound of chewing mouths barely heard within the confines of the kitchen.
It left Charlie alone with her thoughts.
John seemed to have attempted to find a better way to word his opinion, but in the end, he chose to simply be honest. He'd have liked to spare her feelings if he could, but he'd felt it best to simply tell her the blunt truth.
In that way, Vaggie and John were pretty similar. The main difference being that Vaggie told her the truth, but would immediately assure her that they could do it. Whereas John, no matter how he tried to mince words, was always rather blunt from what Charlie had experienced.
Now that she thought about it… John and Vaggie seemed to have quite a few similarities. They were both honest, blunt (to an extent in Vaggie's case), and didn't seem to really take any shit as her dad would say. The key differences were really their overall demeanor.
Vaggie wasn't usually approachable, whereas John almost always gave off a friendly demeanor. Charlie thought this was ironic considering Vaggie was considerably less intimidating than John at first glance.
One was a five foot woman, the other was a… nine feet? Ten feet? A behemoth of about that size.
And with muscles to match. Every time Charlie so much as glanced at his shoulders, she found herself wondering if they were wider than her own skull.
Now that she thought about it… how was a sinner that powerful in the first place? The only thing in Hell that should've been more powerful than the exorcist demons were the Seven Deadly Sins and, obviously, the royal family. A sinner was… about three spaces below that.
So how?
Charlie was honestly curious.
But her questions would have to wait, as the sound of footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. At first, Charlie thought it was Vaggie.
However, rather than a familiar moth demon, a certain four armed arachnid made his way into the kitchen with a yawn.
"Morning Charlie. Morning Spike."
"Good morning, Angel." Charlie greeted with a smile. Angel wasn't usually up this early, so she most certainly wouldn't complain. Maybe it counted as progress?
"I got a bone to pick with you." John spoke up with a mouthful of food, causing both pairs of eyes to shoot towards him as he swallowed before looking at Angel with a stern expression. "I can't say I liked the stunt you pulled yesterday." He admitted bluntly.
Charlie was beginning to notice a pattern that she really hoped was just in her head. For how friendly he was, it felt like John suddenly became the most nerve wracking person in the room once someone else walks in.
But then, Charlie noticed something else.
It was like someone flipped a switch, suddenly, Angel's whole demeanor seemed to change. It was almost as if his fatigue disappeared, and he suddenly took a more seductive stance as he gave John a lustful smirk.
"Aw baby, I was just having a bit of fun."
"Where I come from, we call that sexual assault." John retorted without missing a beat, his eyes narrowing as his voice took on a deeper rumble. "Now, I'm gonna tell you one time. Pull that shit on me again, I will knock you on your ass and watch all eight eyes spin in your skull."
Angel visibly flinched at John's words, but not at the part Charlie would've expected. Rather than the threat, it was the mention of sexual assault that seemed to strike angel.
"My job is to protect this Hotel and everyone in it." John continued before Angel even had a chance to speak up or reply. "Don't assume that means I'll just stand there and take that bullshit. I'm a security guard, not a booty call. I'm not gonna sit here and give you a bunch of shit over it, but don't pull that stunt on me again."
"Yeah, yeah, my bad." Angel said with an eye roll, his demeanor dropping once again. "I heard you the first time." He said, before his eyes spotted the food set up on the counter. "Pancakes and biscuits and gravy? Did you make this, Charlie?"
"Nope." Charlie admitted with a shake of her head as she gestured to John. "Thank John for that."
Apparently John's words had struck some kind of nerve, as Angel's expression visibly soured as he faced the behemoth once more, before shaking his head.
"I'm not hungry." Angel muttered as he turned and began making his way back out of the kitchen. Charlie watched in concern, worried for the spider-demon. John, however, seemed to see the action differently.
"Get back in here and eat something." John's words caused the spider-demon to pause, turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought you wanted me to stay away from you?" Angel's tone was bitter, crossing his arms as he averted his eyes, refusing to look at the fellow sinner.
"What?" John's face took on a look of confusion for only a moment, before he shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh. "No, I just don't want you pulling any more stunts like yesterday. It makes me uncomfortable. Other than that, there's no sense in us being at each other's throats, so get over yourself and get something to eat. You need to eat something."
"Why do you care?" Angel asked once more, still refusing to look at John. "You don't even know me."
"That means fuckall." John retorted, finally cracking a grin at the spider-demon. "What, we're strangers so that must mean I want you to starve?" He joked, before flicking his thumb in the direction of the food once more. "Get yourself something to eat already."
Angel simply looked at John for a moment, and he seemed to be contemplating whether to listen our simply continue out of the kitchen.
But, thankfully, he opted to eat.
"I could use some food." Angel muttered as he moved back towards the counter, and began fixing himself a plate of biscuits and gravy.
Charlie let out a sigh of relief. That went better than expected. And Charlie hadn't expected it to occur in the first place.
"So, honest question?" Angel spoke up as he grabbed a plate of pancakes as well. When he saw John glance up at him, he continued. "How the hell did you know I had eight eyes? No one else has managed to figure it out."
Wait, so Angel really did have eight eyes? Where have they been the whole time?!
"Freckles are too even, match too well, and they're too close to your eyes." John answered as he ate. "All it really takes is some attention."
"Why can't we see your other eyes?" Charlie asked, genuinely curious as Angel moved to the opposite side of the table with his food.
In response… Angel opened his six other eyes.
Charlie promptly yelped with fright that certainly didn't befit the princess of hell, but she couldn't help it. It was unexpected, unnerving, and it doesn't help that they opened with an audible pop.
She felt a little better however, when she noticed that John too visibly jumped, a shudder running through him as he shook his head.
"Nope, close 'em, please close 'em." John spoke in a… surprisingly unnerved tone.
Angel merely chuckled at the reactions, but proceeded to do as asked as his other eyes slowly closed shut, leaving him looking… a lot less freaky, Charlie hated but had to admit.
"I'm surprised it freaked you out." Charlie admitted as she finally found herself returning to eating her food as she eyed John. "I'd have thought you've seen scarier things."
"Sad part is that I have." John admits with a chuckle. "But I got arachnophobia, and it never went away. Not even after I got my powers."
Angel raised an eyebrow at that. "Man, you do realize I am a spider, right?"
"No, you are a spider-demon." John retorted with a shake of his head. "Your resemblance to an actual spider is minimal, and I am fine with that."
Angel couldn't help but to chuckle. "So, let me get this straight. You're like… nine feet tall, you look like a walking building… and you're afraid of spiders?"
"Fuck you." Finally, John had a good natured grin of his own as he looked at Angel. "You better not give me any shit over that. I told you that in confidence." He joked, but Charlie honestly doubted he'd actually care if it came out. Maybe a little bit of embarrassment.
Then again, she could be completely wrong, but she didn't see it happening that way.
Angel let out a genuine laugh at John's words. "Motherfucker, I didn't say nothing about keeping my word." He joked back, causing John's grin to only widen.
"Oh no, I have put my trust in the wrong person! Whatever shall I do?" He made a faux look of hurt, before both he and Angel burst out laughing. "You actually seem like a pretty cool guy." He told the spider once they'd come down from their shared amusement.
As if on instinct, Angel's smirk turned flirtatious once more. "I can be a lot cooler." Of all things, Charlie noted Angel's choice not to use the name 'baby', which was usually a common word one would hear when Angel was flirting with someone.
"Don't push it." John warned, though it held no actual bite to it, helped by the smile on his face. Angel shook his head as the flirtatious expression faded for a look of genuine amusement once more.
"I don't plan too. Couldn't push you anyway." Angel took the chance to make yet another joke, earning an eye roll from John in response.
"I mean, you could try." John spoke with a shoulder shrug as he went to take a bite of his food, before pausing. "I will laugh if you fall on your face, though." The behemoth joked, before eating his food.
Angel reached a hand over and gave the behemoth playful shoving, pushing himself more than actually even nudging John, but he had a smile on his face as he ate.
It was almost impossible to believe. When Angel walked in, John didn't seem to like him very much. Now they were laughing and joking as if they'd been friends for years. Charlie had barely made any actual progress with Angel herself, but already, he was at least letting some of his walls down.
It wasn't much, but Angel was finally showing some unhidden genuine emotion. It was a step in the right direction.
The back and forth banter between the two continued for a bit, mostly focused on Angel's spider qualities and John's sheer size, while Charlie could only watch the scene with a smile
It wasn't too long later when Vaggie walked in.
"Oh, here you are." The moth demon commented once she spotted Charlie within the kitchen, before her gaze drifted over towards the food that was still warm upon the countertop. "Did you make breakfast, Charlie?"
"Nope, John did." Charlie answered with a smile as she gestured to the sinner once more, before her expression turned more eager. "You have got to try these pancakes! They're really good."
Vaggie eyes John for a moment with a suspicious gaze when she heard that, before shooting Charlie a soft smile and nodding. "Okay, hon." The moth demon made her way over, noticing the biscuits and gravy that accompanied the pancakes, and couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow.
"Biscuits and Gravy? That seems like an odd combo with pancakes." She commented as she grabbed one of the pre-prepped plates of pancakes and snagging a fork, opting to go without the biscuits and gravy.
John chuckled in response to that, and by this point, he'd pretty much finished his food. The empty plates were now sitting stacked atop each other in front of him. "My grandpa used to make pancakes for my younger siblings while he made biscuits and gravy for everyone else. I started eating both at a time, and developed a bit of a taste for the combo." He admitted with a grin.
"I don't have the best relationship with my family, which is probably why most of us are in Hell." Angel piped up, causing all eyes to swing towards him. "But if there's one thing I do miss, it was my mom's spaghetti on Wednesday night. I'll tell you, you ain't ever had nothing till you've had her spaghetti."
"She don't make it anymore?" John assumed, to which Angel shook his head.
"If she does, I wouldn't know." Angel replied with a… sad smile? Was Angel actually opening up about something? "My mom didn't come down here with us. Considering we never saw anything of her, I'm assuming she went upstairs."
No one was really sure how to respond to that. Angel opening up about anything definitely hadn't been an expected development of the day, and it was clear no one was sure how to respond.
And then John let out an amused chuckle. "Well, that's better than my mom. Yours was actually around." It sounded like a joke that was in poor taste, but it seemed to work its magic as Angel let out a laugh, slapping the behemoth's arm in a playful manner.
"Don't make it sad!"
"You started it!"
"That doesn't mean to make it even sadder!"
It was clear that Vaggie hadn't been expecting the… well, unexpected friendship between John and Angel, considering the events that had occurred the day prior. The moth demon leaned over towards Charlie as the two men once again fell into banter. "When did this happen?" She whispered to the Princess.
"Not too long before you got here." Charlie answered with a smile as she glanced at her girlfriend. "Outside of telling Angel not to do it again, they've been getting along rather well."
Vaggie didn't reply, choosing instead to sit back in silence and watch the scene play out as Angel and John conversed.
"So I'm curious. Those spikes of yours, are they bone or something else?" Angel asked the behemoth as he took a bit of his food.
John let a chuckle escape him as he raised his arm to look at his elbow spike. "They feel like bone, I can tell you that. Hurts like hell when I knock 'em on shit. Funny enough, I wanna bulldoze through something? I don't feel shit."
"Hmm… and those cuts? Don't they hurt?" Angel asked once more, gesturing to the myriad of gashes covering John's body.
But the sinner shook his head. "No. Granted, they can get a bit spooky at times, but leaking blood tends to do that." John explained with a grin, ignoring the looks of confusion and(in Vaggie's case) disgust at his words.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Charlie couldn't keep the nervousness out of her voice as she asked the question with a nervous smile.
John raised an eyebrow, before holding his hand out upon the table.
What happened next was… well, Charlie was thankful she didn't have much food left to eat.
The gashes along John's forearm began to suddenly pulse, blood beginning to fall freely from them. However, instead of falling to the ground, it was almost like the liquid had a mind of its own.
The red, viscous liquid floated up like a stream, converging above John's hand where it seemed to begin… taking a shape?
The other three watched, looked of disgust morphing into disbelief as the blood seemed to smoothen and harden, before a statue of a young woman was resting upon John's hand.
"These gashes serve a purpose." John explained, eyeing the statue upon his hand with a mournful smile. "I can control blood. The gashes are just so I don't really hurt myself weaponizing my own. I don't use it too much… but it can be useful at times."
Suddenly, John just got a lot creepier, in Charlie's opinion.
"Who's the girl?" Vaggie asked. John's face fell slightly at the question, and he was silent for a moment as he eyed the statue.
And then he let out a sigh. "Someone I used to know." He dispersed the blood, the statue coming apart like water and retreating back into the gashes as if it had a mind of its own, before John stood to his feet. "I'm gonna walk around a bit, keep familiarizing myself with the Hotel." He informed them as he made his way towards the kitchen door, stopping only inches away from it as he turned his gaze back to them once more. "Enjoy the food. If there's any left, I'll clean it up later."
And that was it. With seemingly nothing else to say, John turned and exited the kitchen, and they could hear his heavy footsteps moving down the hall.
Leaving the three of them alone in the room.
"Well, I can safely say that's an ability I've never seen before." Angel muttered as he shook his head, his surprise fading in place of amusement as he chuckled. "That was actually pretty cool."
"If you say so." Charlie was honestly still iffy at the revelation of such a disturbing ability. It definitely wasn't something she was used to.
But she was more concerned with John's demeanor.
Whoever that person was, they clearly meant a lot to John. The look he was giving the statue… it was a gaze fueled by an impossible longing. And the details… the long hair, the simple outfit… such a simple design, and yet, someone that meant a lot to John.
It wasn't just someone he knew once. It was someone he cared for. Greatly.
Enough that the reminder seemed to be able to put him in a dull mood. And yet… he chose that person for his display.
Which meant he wanted to see them, in some capacity. Even knowing what it would do to him.
It… it made Charlie curious.
And it concerned her.