Chapter Text
Alastor sucked in a deep breath, gripping onto his microphone cane tight. He watched as Charlie discussed plans for the hotel, a small smile on her face as she held hands with Vaggie. Alastor looked down, trying his hardest to ground himself and not slip .
Alastor was currently craving warm blankets and holding his stuffie. He wished he could, but he still had matters to attend to. So, the only thing he could do was repress the urge to regress. He shuffled his feet, trying to not swing his microphone cane like a little child. He silently dug the butt of it into the floor, leaning on it just a bit.
“So, what do you think, Al?” Charlie asked, tilting her head ever so slightly.
Alastor, although he would never admit it, liked the nickname ‘ Al ’. He just didn’t like how it made him so easy to slip into littlespace. But he pushed it down, “I-I think it’s a great idea!” He said, his smile brightening. Fuck , he stuttered. And he just had to make his voice just a little bit softer.
Charlie’s gaze on him seemed to falter for a moment, “Are you okay, Alastor?” She asked, “You look a bit… I guess, innocent?”
Vaggie rolled her eyes, “Innocent my ass,” She muttered under her breath, before speaking up. “You’re probably lying, aren’t you?”
“Chill, Vags, he ain’t try’na do anything,” Angel Dust contributed to the rather unpleasant conversation, setting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Vaggie huffed, taking a step away from Angel Dust.
Alastor narrowed his eyes every so slightly, ignoring how his throat had closed up and the pressure behind his eyes. He didn’t like the attention being centered around him. He did like attention, just not this type of attention.
“Alastor?” The princess looked up at the Radio Demon, “You look tired, maybe we can continue this meeting another time.” She said.
Niffty happened to walk into the room, noticing the look on Alastor’s face. He seemed a bit tense, eyes that were always so wide narrowed just a bit and how his ears drooped just a bit.
“I’m fine, darling,” Alastor tried to reassure Charlie, glancing down at the floor for a split second. “...You have nothing to worry about!”
Niffty knew how Alastor aged regressed from time to time. He usually regressed whenever something stressful hit him, or whenever he felt extremely down, sometimes it's caused when he remembers a traumatic experience. Sometimes, he would revert back into an earlier mental age for no reason. She found out by doing her usual routine, which was walking around the hotel and cleaning the rooms.
She had some, if not a lot of knowledge on age regression, even read some fanfictions about it! So she did whatever she could whenever Alastor was age regressed. She knew about this for some time, at least three months when the Happy Hotel started.
Sometimes, Alastor would remember some not-so-good moments from his past life that would cause him to suddenly regress. It concerned both Husk and Niffty whenever he started crying suddenly, the Radio Demon trying his best to suppress any noise.
Niffty couldn’t tell if the others noticed how soft his voice was, but she could clearly. She walked up to Alastor, tugging at the end of his coat gently. “Hey, boss,” She started, “I need you to check on something with me!” She gave Alastor a warm smile.
Alastor looked down at Niffty, letting out an eternal sigh of relief. “Of course, Niffty! Lead the way!” He tried his best to stop his voice from shaking or stammering, but it still shook ever so slightly at the end. Niffty started to walk up the stairs, glancing behind her to see if Alastor was following or not, he was.
Niffty led Alastor to his room, opening the door for him and making him sit down. “Are you okay?” She asked, closing the door behind her and going to the closet. “Do you want your stuffie?”
Alastor made his microphone cane disappear, slipping his coat off and untying his bowtie. He nodded at Niffty's question, if he were to speak then his voice would have sounded too child-like. And he didn’t want that.
Niffty pulled out a box from the corner of Alastor’s closet, getting out a cat plushie along with a pacifier. She walked up to Alastor, pushing the pacifier gently into his mouth as he sat beside him, holding out the cat plush. The plushie was simple, with orange button eyes and black fur. The pacifier was red with glitter on the handle, simple yet cute.
“...T-Thank you, Niffty,” Alastor murmured around the pacifier, voice soft with none of that radio-like sound. He started hugging the cat plush, snapping his fingers and switching out into more comfortable clothing which was a pastel red, oversized sweater and black, baggy sweatpants. He also had fluffy black socks on, and they were extremely comfortable.
“You’re welcome, Al!” Niffty said, smiling up at him, “Do you want me to go get Husk?” She asked, but Alastor shook his head. “Do you just want to colour and then nap?” She suggested. She wasn’t quite sure when or how Husk knew about Alastor’s age regression, never thought to ask, but he was usually there to take care of Alastor.
At that, Alastor nodded, “Mhm!” He had a small smile on his face, not those forced signature ones that he had when he wasn’t regressed. He felt relaxed, warm, and safe. He knew that Nifty wouldn’t do anything to harm him.
Niffty got out a colouring book along with colouring pencils. Alastor picked a page for both of them to color, laying down on his chest as he picked up a random colour pencil and started to fill bits of the page with it. Niffty smiled, joining him.
“Tur- Turk-” Alastor stammered, trying to form words. “T-” His brow furrowed slightly, a small pout forming on his face.
“Al, you gotta take out your paci if you wanna talk,” Niffty said, reaching a hand forward and slipping it out of Alastor’s mouth.
Alastor blinked, “Oh,” He murmured, before holding up one of the pencils. “T-Turquoise?” He tilted his head, ears facing Niffty’s general direction.
Niffty’s smile brightened, “Yeah! It’s turquoise, good job!” She gave back the pacifier, Alastor gratefully putting it back into his mouth and sucking on it.
Alastor smiled, absolutely loving the compliment. He giggled, going back to colouring. They finished colouring more than half the page before Alastor yawned, beginning to get tired.
“Nap time, Al?” Niffty asked, putting both her and Alastor’s colouring pencils back into the box. Alastor nodded, holding his stuffy close to him as he shuffled on the bed. Niffty lifted the blanket, throwing it over Alastor. “Do you want cuddles?”
“Pl-Please..?” Alastor seemed to perk up at the question, making grabby hands towards Niffty. The maid couldn’t resist the look on Alastor’s face, wrapping her small arms around Alastor’s torso. Alastor seemed to drift off after that pretty fast, face neutral but content as he slept.
Niffty, of course, stayed awake. If she stayed any longer, the others would become suspicious. She slipped away from Alastor, putting away the colouring book and pencils before giving him a small peck on the forehead. She walked out of the door, closing it softly before going down the stairs and into the lobby where everyone else was.
“Ah, Niffty!” Charlie waved at her, “Is Al doing okay?”
Niffty nodded, “Yep! He’s gonna be busy for a couple of hours, and he doesn’t want to be bothered right now,” She said, “So nobody goes to his room!”
Charlie, although a bit curious as to what Alastro could be doing, didn’t ask anything. “Alright, we’ll keep that in mind, right?”
Vaggie narrowed her eyes, arms crossing, “Yeah, right.” She agreed.
“Sure, toots,” Angel Dust gave both Charlie and Niffty finger guns before going into the kitchen to grab a popsicle to suck lewdly on. Vaggie and Charlie went about their day like usual, checking in on the other residents of the hotel.
Niffty went up to the bar, where Husk was, pulling herself up onto the barstool. She set her hands onto the counter, swinging her legs back and forth. Husk grunted at Niffty as a sort of greeting, sipping the cheap bottle of booze in his hand. “Al regressed?” He asked Niffty, brow raised. Of course, his voice was quiet as to not alert the nearby arachnid.
Niffty nodded, “Yeah, he’s asleep right now so we shouldn’t worry.” She could tell in Husk’s voice he was just a bit concerned, “Did some colouring until he wanted to take a nap.” She smiled.
“That’s good, he hadn’t regressed in awhile.” Husk glanced at the kitchen entrance, secretly hoping that Angel Dust wasn’t hearing in on the conversation. Alastor might get mad if he found out.
“I guess stress got to him or something,” Niffty shrugged, “Hey, you got the good stuff, right?” She grinned, raising her voice a bit just so that the spider could hear.
“Yep, ‘course I do.” Husk let out a small chuckle, handing Niffty a bottle of apple juice. Out of the corner of his sight, he saw Angel Dust from the entrance of the kitchen. Niffty opened it, taking a sip and letting out a sigh.
The maid decided to continue the conversation and not let it cut short, “So, how did you meet Alastor again?”