Archive of Our Own

Y/N threw down her bag, mostly filled with stolen MP-3 players, and fell down on the bed with a sigh. It was always nice when she’d found a decent place to stay after a period of homelessness, especially when the place was this decent! There weren’t even any cockroaches in the room, that was five-star hotel quality compared to the rancid shitholes Y/N had been forced to stay at! No blood stains on the wall, no bugs crawling over the floor, and most importantly, no loud sex noises every hour of the day. And best of all: she could stay here absolutely for free! No need for Y/N to go out scamming, gambling, or stealing to make money, she could stay right here, listen to her MP-3 players all day, and not have a care in the world! As long as she played nice.
That was… not a big problem, as long as she could keep her anxiety under control. Y/N was fortunate enough that she could live without alcohol, drugs, or sex, but she could not live without stealing. Sometimes, it felt as though she’d die if she didn’t steal anything- and back when she was still alive, that would’ve been true. It was sometimes even true in Hell. However, now that she was at the Hotel, she ought to be safe without ever needing to take what wasn’t hers.
Y/N joined the rest of the Hotel residents at the bar after dinner. There was a hell hound wearing a punk outfit, a spider demon whose gender Y/N couldn’t quite guess, and a purple lady with a cross over her eye and a pink bowtie in her hair, along with Charlie Morningstar and a few other members of staff. A lovely band of misfits, it seemed. Y/N sat down next to a glow-in-the-dark fish demon who wore a lab coat and a funny hat. He was sitting at the bar, and he looked as though he’d rather be anywhere else.
She extended her hand to him. ‘’Good evening, my name is Y/N.’’
He looked up at her. Man, even his eyes were glow-in-the-dark! He pushed her hand away. ‘’I don’t shake hands,’’ he said as he shook his head, ‘’I don’t touch people.’’ He scratched his head. ‘’I’m Baxter, don’t talk to me.’’ And he turned away.
Wow, wonderful company. The bartender, a husky with wings that had card symbols on them, leaned on the bar. ‘’Don’t worry, he’s like that with everyone,’’ he reassured. ‘’Can I get you anything?’’
‘’Do you serve hot chocolate?’’ Y/N asked. She loved chocolate milk, it felt like she was tasting a little bit of heaven in Hell whenever she drank.
The bartender furrowed his… massive brows. ‘’Isn’t it a little too hot down here for a hot chocolate?’’ He asked.
‘’Then… do you have a cold chocolate?’’ Y/N asked mischievously.
‘’Fortunately for you… yes, we do. But Charlie’s the only one who drinks ‘em.’’
Y/N glanced over her shoulder at Charlie, who was laughing and excitedly talking with the lady with the cross over her eye. The fact that she liked chocolate milk… kinda made sense.
‘’Huskar,’’ Baxter said, ‘’gimme another whiskey.’’
The bartender turned to face him. ‘’You know, alcohol isn’t the solution to your problems,’’ he said as he poured the fish another glass.
‘’You don’t know what you’re talking about,’’ Baxter said before taking a sip.
‘’Sheesh,’’ Huskar muttered before preparing a cup of chocolate milk for Y/N.
Y/N gingerly received the cold chocolate, smiling at the bartender and singing an appreciative ‘thank you!’ before taking a sip. She savoured the taste of the rare luxury, the chocolate was sweet and full and everything was right for a moment.
‘’You’re in a good mood,’’ Huskar muttered.
‘’Of course. I’ve got some chocolate milk. What’s not to be in a good mood about?’’
‘’You’re in Hell,’’ the bartender said bluntly. ‘’Nobody here is in a good mood. What’s going on with you?’’
‘’I’ve been in Hell for more than a hundred years,’’ Y/N sighed. ‘’If I had to be in a bad mood for that entire time…’’
‘’A hundred years, huh?’’ Huskar asked as he cleaned the bar with a cloth. ‘’When did you die, the 1920’s?’’
‘’The 1900’s, actually,’’ Y/N corrected.
‘’Jeez, you’ve probably been around since before the invention of chocolate. No wonder ya like it so much.’’ He stopped cleaning for a second. ‘’Ya know, usually, sinners get their kicks outta drinking alcohol and doin’ drugs.’’
‘’Well, I’m sorry that I don’t want to drink piss water which causes me to stumble around and forget everything that happened that evening. I prefer chocolate milk.’’ And stealing.
Huskar leaned on the bar. ‘’So, if you don’t get your kicks out of drugs and alcohol,’’ he said, ‘’then where do you get your kicks from?’’
‘’Chocolate milk,’’ Y/N answered cheekily. And stealing. And cheating at card games. But she’d keep those to herself for now- it was always good to keep your cards close.
‘’Huskar, pour me another one,’’ Baxter, who was laying with his head on the bar, said.
‘’Buddy, you’ve got a drinking problem,’’ the bartender said.
‘’It’s not a drinking problem! It’s a drinking solution!’’

A few days later, Charlie had organised a new… what’s it called? Redemption exercise? She’d somehow set up a small obstacle course in the main hall, and all the sinners had gathered round to listen to her instructions.
‘’Good morning, everyone!’’ Charlie, Princess of Hell, cheered. ‘’Thank you for joining us today! As you can see, Vaggie, Alastor, and I have set up a small obstacle course for you to follow! I’m going to divide you up in pairs and tie your leg to your partner’s, so you’ll have to work together to make it through the course! Now, Angel, you’ll be with Husk.’’
‘’Yes!’’ Angel cheered and cosied up to Husk a little bit. ‘’Hi, handsome,’’ he flirted.
Husk crossed his arms. ‘’Don’t push it.’’
‘’I think Vaggie and Crymini should be together,’’ Charlie said, ‘’and then Y/N can go with Baxter.’’
‘’What?!’’ Baxter exclaimed. ‘’No! You can’t! Please don’t make me! Pair me up with someone else instead, please!’’
Y/N just stared at him, open-mouthed. She didn’t know whether to be offended or to be amazed that the little fish demon was brave enough to put on such a blatant display of disrespect. Worst of all: she didn’t know what she did! She just offered to shake his hand, and when he said ‘no’, she left him alone! Was it somehow wrong of her to respect his personal space?!
Charlie furrowed her brows. ‘’That’s… very mean of you, Baxter,’’ she said. ‘’What did Y/N ever do to you? She just got here!’’
‘’I’ll go with him!’’ Niffty screamed.
Baxter glanced at her, clearly put off a bit. ‘’Oh, uhm- I-’’
‘’That’s fine, then,’’ Charlie said. ‘’I’ll go with Y/N.’’
Y/N the street rat, racing together with Charlie, the literal Princess of Hell? What an honour! She didn’t have any friends or family, but if she did and she told them about this, they’d be astounded! Y/N was really moving up in the world!
The obstacle course itself was pretty fun. The height difference between Charlie and Y/N made it a little more difficult than it needed to be, but they made it through with pure teamwork (and a little bit of laughter). Charlie seemed to be a good partner to be paired up with, because she was very considerate and communicative over what they needed to do next. Angel Dust and Huskar did very well together, too, although they argued a little bit at around the midway point. Vaggie and Crymini didn’t seem to get along very well- they were both stubborn, so they argued a little bit. But oh, boy, Niffty and Baxter were a disaster together. Niffty was rushing the obstacle course, and since Baxter had stumbled over the first tyre, he was being dragged along by the… surprisingly strong maid. Y/N would feel bad for him if he hadn’t just rejected her in the rudest way possible.

The dining room at the Hotel was a big room with several small tables, and some sinners sat at a table together (like Angel and Huskar), while others sat alone (like Baxter). Y/N sat together with Charlie and Vaggie, considering Charlie had been her partner during today’s team-building exercise.
‘’Charlie, why didn’t you and I do today’s exercise together?’’ Vaggie asked, clearly a little bit sad.
Charlie giggled and shrugged. ‘’Because I know that we’ll be able to do it together! The exercises were meant to build camaraderie, something you and I already have! You and Crymini, on the other hand…’’
‘’In that case, shouldn’t you have partnered Baxter up with Y/N?’’ The purple lady asked. ‘’He seemed like he could use some extra camaraderie with her.’’
‘’I- uh-’’ Charlie shrugged again. ‘’I didn’t know what to do! He was so mean, I thought that it wouldn’t be a good idea to pair him up with her!’’
Y/N smiled at her. ‘’It’s alright, Charlie. I… liked the final set-up.’’ She smiled as she remembered Baxter being dragged over the obstacle course by Niffty. Perhaps it was time to start believing in Karma.
Vaggie chuckled. ‘’I don’t blame you.’’
‘’C’mon, there must be some reason as to why Baxter was so mean to Y/N,’’ Charlie commented. ‘’There’s gotta be! I can feel it!’’
Charlie was right. There had to be a problem with Y/N specifically that caused Baxter to respond that way. If there wasn’t, he would’ve just asked to not partake in the obstacle course at all, or to do it alone. But why Y/N? Again, what had she done to deserve such treatment? She glanced over at Baxter, who was sitting at a faraway table. He was looking at her. He immediately turned his face down to his spaghetti, inspecting it like this was the first time he’d ever seen pasta.
‘’Charlie, sometimes people are just mean because they wanna be,’’ Vaggie commented.
‘’I actually agree with Charlie on this one,’’ Y/N said. ‘’Baxter seemed to be having a problem with me specifically, so there must be a reason for that, right?’’
‘’Right!’’ Charlie exclaimed a little too excitedly. ‘’And if there’s a reason, there’s also a way to make him stop!’’ A big grin appeared on her face. ‘’I’m gonna talk to him tonight!’’
Y/N chuckled nervously. ‘’You really don’t have to-’’ Honestly, it’d be even more awkward if Charlie was talking to Baxter on Y/N’s behalf- almost as if Y/N couldn’t do that herself or something.
‘’Don’t worry, it’s my pleasure!’’
Oh, Lord. Seemed like Charlie wasn’t gonna change her mind on this. Y/N glanced over at Baxter, who was looking at her again. He immediately turned his face away and stuffed spaghetti into his mouth. Maybe he didn’t hate her at all, maybe he was just a little weirdo.

That night, the Hotel residents were all drinking and laughing together at the bar. Except for Baxter, he was standing on the second floor balcony, looking down at the partying guests. He seemed lost in thought, staring out into nothing with a neutral expression on his face.
Charlie wasn’t sure about how to approach him, so she just said: ‘’Hi, Baxter!’’
He let out a scream that belonged in a horror movie, and fell over. Charlie bowed down to try to help him up, but he crawled away from her. ‘’No! No, don’t touch me!’’
‘’S- sorry!’’ Charlie exclaimed. ‘’I didn’t mean to scare you!’’
Baxter crawled up from the ground, dusting off his lab coat. ‘’Just cough next time or something,’’ he muttered, clearly annoyed. ‘’In fact, don’t talk to me at all!’’ He leaned on the balustrade and let out a long sigh.
‘’I’m sorry, but I have to!’’ Charlie said. ‘’You were so mean to Y/N earlier and I wanted to ask you why.’’
His eyes went wide and his cheeks clearly became a shade or two darker. She knew it! There was something going on! ‘’That’s none of your business!’’ Baxter exclaimed, turning his face away.
Charlie thought for a moment. She could be direct about it like she usually was, but Baxter wasn’t gonna crack if she kept asking- in fact, that’d probably cause him to close back up again. But she wasn’t gonna leave him alone, either. Charlie sighed as she leaned on the same balustrade as him. ‘’Why did you come to the Hotel, anyway?’’ She asked softly. ‘’You don’t really seem like you want to be here.’’
‘’It’s a science experiment,’’ he said. ‘’Can sinners be redeemed? I just wanna see if it’s possible.’’
‘’And… after we’ve redeemed someone,’’ Charlie asked. ‘’...will you leave?’’
Baxter turned his face away. He tightened up again, crossing his arms. ‘’That’s none of your business,’’ he hissed.
‘’...Alright.’’ Charlie thought that she could crack him. She just needed to be a little more patient and a little less intrusive.
Baxter and her stood leaning on that balustrade in silence for a while, looking at the drinking and partying guests below. Everyone seemed to be getting along great, which was a wonderful sight to see. Vaggie, Crymini, and Y/N were seated around a table, talking together. It made Charlie very happy to see that her girlfriend was getting along better with Crymini, even if it was strictly in a conversational setting.
‘’Oh, no, I was an atheist,’’ Y/N said. ‘’...Until I arrived down here.’’
Y/N laughed boisterously at her own joke, and Vaggie and Crymini chuckled along. Baxter chuckled, too. He smiled with his hand in front of his mouth, seemingly looking at Vaggie’s table. All the dots suddenly connected in Charlie’s mind.
‘’That’s why you were so mean to Y/N!’’ She exclaimed. ‘’You have a crush on her!’’
Baxter looked up, his eyes wide, his cheeks several shades darker than usual. ‘’What?! No!’’ He yelled. ‘’No, I don’t!’’
Charlie kept stupidly grinning at him, nothing was gonna convince her that she was wrong. Baxter and Y/N, what an adorable couple! They were the perfect height for each other! Charlie was gonna have to tell Y/N, the little raccoon girl was gonna be so flattered!
‘’Don’t say anything!’’ Baxter yelled. ‘’No! Don’t even think anything!’’ Charlie silently grinned at him. ‘’NOOOO! You’re thinking, stop it!!!’’
‘’We should tell Y/N!’’ Charlie exclaimed. ‘’You should ask her out!’’
‘’No! No! Nuh-uh!’’ Baxter said while violently shaking his head. ‘’I can’t even talk to her like a normal person! I just get so nervous when I’m with her and I can’t handle it! Charlie, you have to promise me that you won’t say anything!’’
He looked so desperate, Charlie’s excitement ebbed away and she started to feel bad for him instead. ‘’Okay. I promise I won’t tell anyone about your secret crush,’’ Charlie said. ‘’But… I wanna help you. I can’t just sit back and watch as you do nothing.’’
‘’Nooo, Charlie, c’mon!’’ Baxter whined. ‘’Please, you’re just gonna make it more embarrassing!’’
‘’Look, I’m not gonna set you up with her or anything,’’ Charlie clarified, although she really did want to do that. ‘’Instead, I’ll teach you how to handle yourself so you can have a normal conversation with Y/N and eventually ask her out.’’ She already got excited at the prospect. ‘’And then you’ll get married and have the most beautiful children and-!’’
‘’Sinners can’t have children,’’ Baxter said bluntly.
‘’You’ll adopt! Oh, it’s gonna be so awesome!’’
Baxter rubbed his forehead. ‘’For fuck’s sake…’’ He muttered.

Y/N had been staying at the Hotel for a couple of weeks and things had been going fairly well until now. However, a crawling anxiety had been creeping up on her lately, a feeling that could only be held at bay as she socialised with the others at the Hotel. However, the longer she stayed alone, the more she began to feel like something horrible was going to happen. Like the Angels’ attack on the Hotel, for example. What if they pulled something like that again, but now unexpected? Or what if some other overlord attacked the Hotel for some reason? Heck, what if Alastor suddenly decided that he didn’t want to do his job anymore and just killed everyone at the Hotel? So much could go wrong, and Y/N would be in the middle of it! She didn’t want to die! Even more so, she didn’t want to suffer!
Y/N needed a little pick-me-up, something to remind her that she could handle life’s difficulties and that no matter what, she’d prevail. She always had, she always would. Most of the other residents were in the main hall of the Hotel or hanging around somewhere else as they had some free time to do whatever. Y/N slipped into one of the other residents’ bedrooms- it didn’t matter whose it was- planning to steal something. Hopefully, something shiny. The room she’d slipped into was messy. There were clothes and torn notebook papers dispersed all over the floor, most of them walked on. There was a chemistry set on the desk, a strange-looking apparatus with glass flasks, beakers, and… triangular beakers… filled with all sorts of powders and liquids. This must’ve been Baxter’s room. Y/N carefully stepped around the clothes and papers, like a strange game of ‘the floor is lava’, and made her way right to his bin. He’d thrown away those papers, anyway, he wasn’t going to miss any of ‘em. Y/N grabbed a couple of scrunched-up papers from Baxter’s bin, then high-tailed it out of his room. Wouldn’t want to have him walk in on her, he’d hate her even more if he caught her here.
When she’d arrived back in her room, Y/N unfolded the papers. Even though she couldn't read, she was curious as to what would be on them- probably a plethora of difficult equations. Y/N could read numbers, maybe she could spend some time studying the equations to try to figure out what they meant. However, when she unfolded the papers, she found something a lot more horrific than maths equations: they were drawings of her. Baxter had drawn portraits and even full-body drawings of her, in pen, in his notebook. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that all of them were crossed out. As if he was some creepy serial killer that had a horrible obsession with her: he loved and hated her at the same time. That would explain the way he was acting before! Baxter hated her! He wanted to kill her! Y/N ought to leave the Hotel for her own safety!
She took a deep breath. Perhaps it was better to calm down, otherwise, she’d have to steal again. Baxter wasn’t gonna kill her, Charlie (and perhaps even Alastor) would make sure of that. Besides, even if Baxter did try to kill her, Y/N was better at slipping away than she gave herself credit for. She could run and she could hide- in fact, she specialised in both. The truth was that Y/N had nowhere else to stay but the Hotel, so even though there was a crazy scientist targeting her, it might still be safer than out on the streets of Hell.

Huskar was serving drinks at the bar that night- like any night at the Hotel. And most of those drinks went to Baxter, just like any night at the Hotel. Huskar hadn’t seen the poor guy so hammered in a long time, but he couldn’t help it. The few times Huskar had stopped serving Baxter alcohol, he’d gotten in trouble for taking drugs instead. And Huskar figured that it was better to have Baxter be completely hammered than to have him take some sort of self-synthesised drug that caused his arteries to explode or something. Besides, he’d sneakily been pouring lemonade into Baxter’s whiskey glass, and the ‘scientist’ was none the wiser.
‘’She’s so beautiful,’’ Baxter slurred as he laid with his head on the bar. ‘’She’s so goddamn beautiful…’’
Huskar sighed. Baxter had been swooning over this mystery girl for days, muttering about how beautiful ‘she’ was. If he were honest, Huskar didn’t actually believe that this beautiful girl Baxter was muttering about actually existed. Perhaps he’d seen her in a dream or a drug-induced hallucination.
‘’Who’re you talking about?’’ Huskar asked as he cleaned a glass. He didn’t expect an answer, Baxter would usually ignore his queries.
Baxter sat up, clearly a little more cognizant than Huskar had expected. ‘’Y/N!’’ He exclaimed, offended. ‘’Don’t you know Y/N? You talked to her a few hours ago!’’
Oh, now it was getting interesting. Seemed like Baxter’s mystery girl existed, after all. ‘’Yeah, I know her. Didn’t really cross my mind that you liked her so much.’’
‘’She’s so beautiful,’’ Baxter drooled. ‘’Have you seen her little ears? They’re so adorable!’’
‘’Uhm- yeah- whatever.’’ If Baxter was gonna keep swooning over how beautiful Y/N was for the rest of the night, Huskar might as well put in earplugs and pretend to listen. The conversation was gonna be really boring, otherwise.
‘’And- and she’s so funny!’’ Baxter slurred as he sat back up. ‘’You know what she said? ‘I wasn’t an atheist’, she said. ‘Until I got here’, she said!’’
Huskar chuckled. Alright, that was actually kinda funny. ‘’So why are you so mean to her? I mean, yesterday, you yelled at her to go away, even though she wasn’t even that close to you.’’ Not very… typical behavior for someone who was in love.
‘’I love her!’’ Baxter sobbed. ‘’I love her so fucking much!’’ He slid his empty glass forwards. ‘’Please, pour me another one.’’
Huskar grabbed his whiskey bottle filled with whiskey-colored lemonade (he’d requested it specifically for situations like this), and poured the lemonade into Baxter’s glass. He took a sip without complaining. ‘’I’m just so fucking nervous,’’ the little fish demon croaked. ‘’Every day, all the time, it feels like the world is out to hurt me. Like I’m in danger everywhere I go and-’’ He gasped a couple of times. ‘’I get so fucking nervous when Y/N’s there! I can’t handle it! I love her so much but I can’t handle being with her, you know? I love her so fucking much!’’ His head fell down on the bar with a painful ‘bonk’, and he started sobbing. Oh, Lord. Huskar always hated it when his patrons started sobbing. He never knew what to do.
Luckily for him, Charlie walked past the bar. ‘’Charlie!’’ Huskar hissed. ‘’Hey, Charlie, come help me out here!’’
The Princess looked over and sighed. ‘’Again?’’ She muttered to herself. ‘’Alright, Baxter, time for you to go to bed. You’ve had enough.’’ Charlie picked Baxter up like a child, it was pretty easy for her since he was very small, and carried him up to his room.
While he was being dragged away, Baxter sobbed: ‘’I love her so much! I love her so goddamn much!’’

It was in the afternoon, and the bar was completely empty- except for Huskar, of course. Now was the perfect time for Y/N to approach him and ask him everything she wanted to know. She sat down on the bar stool.
‘’Could you pour me a soda, please?’’ She asked.
‘’Sheesh,’’ the bartender commented sarcastically as he poured her a soda. ‘’Calm down, you wouldn’t want your liver giving out!’’
Y/N chuckled as she took a sip. ‘’Now, I heard from Crymini that you know everything about everyone,’’ she said. ‘’So, how about we gossip a little bit, huh?’’
Huskar grabbed a glass that already looked clean, and started cleaning it. ‘’Not interested.’’
‘’C’mon, it’ll be fun!’’ Y/N said. This next part had to sound as natural as possible. ‘’I mean, how about Baxter, huh? Is he secretly a crazy serial killer?’’
Contrary to her expectations, Huskar let out a boisterous laugh. She didn’t even know that the grumpy bartender could laugh! ‘’That little freak?! No way!’’ He exclaimed. ‘’He’s afraid of the world! I’d be surprised if he even had it in him to kill somebody.’’
Y/N furrowed her brows, confused. So… if Baxter wasn’t a crazy serial killer, then what about all the crossed-out Y/N portraits? ‘’Uhm, so, what does he think about me?’’ Maybe that was… a little less obvious.
‘’You?’’ Huskar eyed her cautiously. ‘’Oh, he likes you.’’
‘’What…?’’ Y/N muttered, confused. ‘’No, it can’t be.’’ What about the crossed-out drawings? What about that time she sat next to him at the bar and he ran away screaming?
‘’Trust me, he really likes you,’’ Huskar said with a smug smile. ‘’He really, really likes you.’’
Y/N shook her head. ‘’There’s just no way,’’ she said. ‘’There’s just no way. I don’t believe you.’’
Huskar shrugged. ‘’Your choice. But it’s true. Baxter likes you.’’
‘’Hm,’’ Y/N hummed before she took a sip of her soda with furrowed brows. There was no way Baxter liked her, there was just no way. ‘’What’s your favourite card?’’ Y/N asked to divert the conversation.
‘’The Ace, of course. It’s got hidden power.’’
‘’Mine is the Jack of Spades, I like the picture on it.’’

Y/N kept thinking about that conversation she’d had with Huskar. She still couldn’t wrap her head around how Baxter might like her. Not only was there no evidence in his behaviour, Y/N didn’t even like herself. If Y/N already didn’t like her, how could Baxter, who was always screaming at her and crossing out his drawings of her? Y/N couldn’t let it go, so one afternoon, she snuck back into Baxter’s room to do some snooping. Hopefully, the trinkets in his room could give her the answers she craved.
Y/N hadn’t been this nervous about breaking and entering in a long time. Maybe it was because she wasn’t stealing anything: she was spying. She was searching for something specific, but she wouldn’t even know what she was searching for until she found it. This caused her to need to stay in Baxter’s room for a lot longer, which increased the odds that he (or anyone else) would walk in on her. Y/N had to be as swift as she could.
So, she quickly (but carefully) opened one of the drawers in Baxter’s desk. It was chemistry equipment, glass bottles with unidentified powders and liquids inside. She closed it and opened the drawer beneath it. There were a bunch of notebooks. Y/N took out one of them and flipped through the pages, there were mostly equations and some scribbles Y/N couldn’t read. She legitimately wondered if that was Baxter’s handwriting, or if he’d been doodling squiggles in his notebook. She put the notebook on Baxter’s desk and grabbed the second notebook from his drawer. This one had less equations and more schematic drawings, as well as paragraphs of text. Y/N couldn’t even read, but she could tell that Baxter’s handwriting was terrible. It was a slanted cursive and it looked like it was written very hastily. Y/N flipped all the way to the back where she found… drawings of herself. Those drawings of herself. But they weren’t crossed out this time. They were finished, adorned with hearts, and actually quite pretty. A few pages had been torn out of the notebook, most likely the pages Y/N had found. So… why were they torn out and crossed out, but these ones weren’t? Y/N took out the page she’d taken with her, and compared it to the drawing in the notebook. She had to look at it for a long time until she noticed that in the torn-out page, Y/N’s eyes were uneven, as were her ears and her hair looked strange. So these were drawings of Y/N that Baxter wasn’t satisfied with? God, Huskar seemed to be right- Baxter really did like her!
But then what about his offensive outbursts? Y/N put away the notebooks as she thought. Why would Baxter be so mean to her if he liked her? She thought about the first time they met, about how he pushed her hand away and told her not to talk to him. He hated people, that was clearly evident from his interactions with the rest of the sinners at the Hotel… liking someone would be counterintuitive to him. It’d probably make him nervous, really nervous. So much so that he might panic and be rude to her as a defence mechanism. Y/N snuck out of Baxter’s room after she’d put everything back in its place, and sped to her own room.
Y/N didn’t know what to do with the information she’d just acquired. Whenever someone had a crush, it was just so… so serious. And Y/N wasn’t equipped for serious. She wanted to get along with the rest of the people at the Hotel without getting too emotionally involved with them. She wanted to be friendly, but not intimate. Could Baxter’s crush on her be a threat to those wishes? At this point, perhaps it would’ve been better if he simply hated her.

Y/N couldn’t remember what her dream was, but she woke up in love with him. His awkward face was stuck in her mind, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get him out of there. Every time she thought of him being anywhere close to her, she started feeling warm inside, like after drinking from a cup of hot chocolate. Y/N loved him. She loved him! And that thought scared her to death. She couldn’t risk getting involved with anyone, because then she got attached, and when she got attached, bad things would happen. People would use her and betray her trust, which would cause her more pain. Y/N hated pain, it wasn’t something she wanted to gamble with- and trusting people was always a gamble.
A few nights later, Baxter was sitting at the bar all by himself while the other residents were drinking and partying. Y/N, admittedly, was spying on him. She felt bad for him, how he was always sitting alone at the bar without talking to anyone. Even though he hated people, he must’ve been quite lonely, right? Y/N fought with herself for a while, because part of her wanted to go sit with him, but she knew that it was folly. She couldn’t risk interacting with him and getting too attached. And yet… the vision of him sitting at the bar all alone like that made Y/N sad. Before she knew it, she’d made the choice, and she sat down on the bar stool next to him.
Baxter’s shoulders immediately went up, and he turned his face away from her. ‘’Oh, no,’’ he muttered to himself. If Y/N didn’t know what she knew now, she’d take offence to his response and reason that he hated her. But now… it was actually kinda endearing. He was just so nervous and awkward, and that was why he responded so rudely, not because he actually hated her.
‘’Huskar, can you pour me a cold chocolate?’’ Y/N asked the bartender.
‘’Going crazy tonight, huh?’’ He asked sarcastically.
‘’Yep. I’m celebrating life.’’
Baxter finished his whiskey and shoved his glass towards Huskar. ‘’Please pour me another one.’’
Huskar sighed as he pulled the cap off of the whiskey bottle. ‘’Drinking yourself into oblivion again, I see.’’ And he poured Baxter another glass. The tiny scientist gingerly started drinking.
Y/N didn’t much like this side of him. It was difficult to watch a guy she liked destroy himself purely because he couldn’t handle his crush on her. ‘’Maybe you shouldn’t do that,’’ Y/N said. ‘’Alcohol’s very bad for you.’’
‘’Ah!’’ Baxter screamed, seemingly terrified that Y/N had acknowledged his existence. ‘’Leave me alone!’’ Alright, Y/N, remember: he just said that because he was nervous, he just said that because he was nervous…
‘’It’s okay, Baxter,’’ Y/N said in the hopes of reassuring him. ‘’I like you.’’
He whipped his head over at her and stared at her with widened eyes. Y/N had never noticed it before, but his cheeks were now clearly a few shades darker than usual: he was blushing. Baxter then fell out of his chair and ran away screaming.
‘’...Wow,’’ Y/N muttered.
‘’A real charmer, that one,’’ Huskar said sarcastically, ‘’amazing with the ladies. A real playboy.’’
Maybe there was nothing to be afraid of. If Baxter kept acting like this, Y/N might never get super attached to him, after all.

Y/N wanted to write Baxter a card. The idea had randomly popped into her head one day, and no matter how hard she tried to forget it, she couldn’t. It kept persistently nagging at her, like some sort of persistent stomach bug. But it didn’t go away with time, and after a few days, Y/N begrudgingly gave in to her desire. Besides, maybe if she told Baxter how she felt, he’d get anxious and pull away from her. A girl could only dream, right? There was only a tiny little problem with her plan: Y/N couldn’t write. She couldn’t read, either.
However… maybe she could make a card without writing on it. She couldn’t write words, but Y/N could probably still craft something really cute. So, she borrowed some of Charlie’s craft paper (with asking, this time!) and got to work making a cute card with hearts on it and stuff. The crafting itself went really well, the only problem was what to write inside- considering that there wouldn’t be any writing at all. Y/N debated about just leaving it empty when she realised that she could also make a little drawing of Baxter and her on the inside. After all, pictures spoke thousands of words- that was what people said, anyway. And a drawing of Baxter and her hugging with a big heart above them would get across the message pretty well. So, Y/N made a simple pen drawing of Baxter and her inside the card, and nervously snuck over to Baxter’s room to ‘deliver’ it. He wasn’t in his room at the moment, so Y/N just put it on his desk and snuck out. She wondered how he’d respond when he found it.
A few days after Y/N had given Baxter the letter, Y/N was walking through the Hotel’s hallway back to her room. That was when the little fish scientist nervously scurried up to her. Y/N looked at him, a little questioningly, as he shuffled up to her with his hands behind his back. His face was turned to the floor, and she could tell that his cheeks were really dark. Then, with shaking hands, he presented an envelope to her.
Y/N smiled. She could feel her cheeks getting hotter, almost as if the sun was shining on her face (a sensation she hadn’t felt in a century). ‘’Is that for me?’’ She asked, knowing damn well that the envelope was for her. ‘’Thank you!’’ Why? Why couldn’t he’ve just gotten all anxious and left the Hotel or something?!
Y/N extended her hand to grab it, but Baxter let it go too soon, so he dropped it on the ground. ‘’Shit!’’ He exclaimed, after which he rapidly bowed down to grab it. Y/N had the same reflex, and as she bowed down, she bashed her head against Baxter’s. They both pulled away, grabbing their painful foreheads. ‘’Fuck!’’ Baxter yelled. ‘’Fuck! Sh- shit! Sorry!’’ He helplessly looked up at her. ‘’God! Shit! Fuck! Sorry, sorry! God, sorry!’’ He turned around and sped away to his room. Baxter slammed the door shut, and a few moments later, loud sobbing originated from behind the door.
Y/N had to stop and stare for a moment to fully comprehend what had just happened, after which she picked up the envelope. It had writing on it, which was cool and all, if Y/N were literate. She opened up the envelope and pulled out a few sheets of lined paper, filled with paragraphs upon paragraphs of text. The handwriting on these letters was much better than what Y/N had seen in Baxter’s notebooks, but again, she was illiterate. She had no idea what it said. Y/N sighed and pursed her lips, thinking about what she should do. Again, she was afraid to get attached, but… Baxter wrote these for her. Baxter wrote these for her. He did something so nice for her, and… well, it’d just be downright ungrateful if Y/N didn’t give them a read. The problem was that she’d either have to painstakingly teach herself to read… or ask someone to read them for her.

Y/N embarrassedly knocked on Charlie’s bedroom door. The princess opened, grinning widely. ‘’Good afternoon, Y/N!’’ She cheered. ‘’What brings you here today? Do you need help with something?’’
Y/N sighed. ‘’Uhm, yes, but… I want to discuss this privately, alright?’’
Charlie’s face turned a bit more severe. She nodded. ‘’Alright, come in.’’
Y/N walked into Charlie’s bedroom, which was a cute reddish-pink room with purple accents and a double bed. Charlie sat down on the bed, so Y/N sat down next to her.
‘’What’s wrong?’’ Charlie asked.
Y/N shook her head. ‘’Nothing’s wrong, per se, but…’’ She showed Charlie the letter. ‘’Baxter gave this to me.’’
The princess gasped loudly. ‘’A love letter?!’’ She squealed.
‘’Not so loud!’’ Y/N exclaimed, worried that the other residents would hear her through the doors or the walls. Softly, she resumed: ‘’I want to read it, but… I’m illiterate.’’ Y/N had gone a century without anyone knowing, and now, she betrayed one of her biggest secrets… for a love letter. Oh, what had the world come to? Y/N had been acting in increasingly reckless ways and she just knew that the world was going to punish her for it someday.
‘’Oh, I see,’’ Charlie said as she gave Y/N an empathic smile, ‘’And you want me to read it to you?’’
Y/N nodded.
‘’Alright, then,’’ Charlie said as she unfolded the letter. ‘’Let’s see what Baxter wrote to you.’’

‘’Dear Y/N,

I don’t even know how to begin to describe my overwhelming feelings for you. I usually suffer from nightmares, but when I dream about you, I feel calm and tranquil. I feel warm and loved. I’ve told Husk a million times in a drunken stupor: you’re beautiful. You’re so goddamn beautiful. Your eyes are golden, more regal and expensive than any buried treasure. Your skin looks softer than water, your hair prettier than a completed mathematical equation. Whenever you come near, I feel like an unstable isotope, ready to collapse at a moment’s notice. There are so many things I wish I could tell you, but every time I try, it feels like my brain has been stewed by too many hours of studying. I wish I could just be normal around you, you deserve someone who can talk to you like a normal human being, but I suppose that this is the way things are now and we cannot change. Every day, I’ll try for you, Y/N. I don’t think I’ll succeed, but I promise I’ll try.

I love you dearly,
Baxter.’’

‘’Awww!’’ Charlie squealed. ‘’That’s so sweet! Seems like Baxter’s got a bit of a romantic in him after all!’’
Y/N chuckled. She’d never, in her century of living, been more flattered. ‘’Charlie, can you do me a favour?’’ She asked. ‘’Can you keep this a secret? I mean, this letter was supposed to be between Baxter and me.’’
‘’Of course,’’ Charlie said. ‘’My lips are sealed!’’
‘’Thank you,’’ Y/N sighed as she stood up. ‘’And… thanks for helping me with this.’’
‘’Y/N, I’d do anything to get two people to fall in love with each other!’’ She said with a big smile. ‘’You know, the power of love can do wonderful things!’’
Like… redeeming sinners? Y/N didn’t believe that dating Baxter could help her redeem herself (in fact, he might actually have a bad influence on her), but then again, Y/N didn’t believe that she could ever redeem herself. She was just too damaged and too fucked up. Still, she appreciated the faith Charlie had in her and the rest of the Hotel residents.
‘’Oh, Y/N?’’ Charlie called after her before she wanted to exit the room. ‘’Maybe you should ask Baxter to teach you to read! It’ll be a great team-building exercise!’’
Y/N chuckled. It was a nice idea, there was just one problem: ‘’I don’t think that that’s gonna work, Baxter can’t even be in the same room as me without panicking.’’ She was quiet as Charlie pursed her lips. ‘’But… I’ll consider it,’’ Y/N added to lessen the blow.
Charlie smiled at her. ‘’Great! Baxter’s a scientist, so teaching you should be child’s play for him!’’

Y/N sat at a dining table together with Crymini one evening. Crymini was ranting about the government, using long and difficult words like ‘internalised misogyny’ and ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’. She seemed very passionate about it and Y/N didn’t want to seem like an ‘internalised misogynist’ or an ‘antidisestablishmentarianist’, so she just smiled and nodded along to whatever Crymini was saying.
However, all of that ended when Baxter scurried up to the dining table, and sat down in front of Y/N. He had his face turned to the table and his lips were tightened, but he was sitting no more than a foot away from her, which was a big step for him.
‘’Now you look like someone who upholds sexist values,’’ Crymini commented.
‘’Oh, yeah, I suppose,’’ Baxter muttered, not even sparing the hound a glance. He was staring at Y/N.
‘’And it’s so easy to coat all of this stuff as ‘traditions’ and to say that men and women ‘naturally fall into their gender roles’, and even though it sounds logical when people say it, it’s not logical! It’s not logical at all! Why should men like trucks and football and why should women like dresses and sewing? Don’t get me wrong, I love dresses, but I also like football! And there should be nothing wrong with that!’’
Crymini probably had a point in there somewhere, but Y/N was too busy staring into Baxter’s crimson eyes to notice. She’d never really looked into his eyes before, which was a shame, because his eyes were so goddamn pretty. Y/N had never been a big fan of red until now.
Food was served for the three people sitting at the table together, and Y/N absent-mindedly started eating while Crymini talked about food or whatever. ‘’And here’s another flaw in our society: our food! You know, I was a vegan when I was still alive, but now that I’ve been given the body of a carnivore, I have to eat meat! C’mon, that’s just shitty!’’
‘’What’s your favourite food, Y/N?’’ Baxter asked softly.
‘’I don’t know,’’ she answered. ‘’Any food I can share with you.’’ She wished Baxter and her could pull a ‘Lady and the Tramp’ and eat the same strand of spaghetti together. Would Baxter be the Lady in that scenario, and Y/N the Tramp?
Crymini chuckled. ‘’You’re not listening to what I’m saying at all, are you?’’ She asked.
Y/N looked up. ‘’Oh, no, yes, yes I am,’’ she lied, hoping that Crymini would still like her.
‘’A romantic dinner between a man and a woman is contrived,’’ the hound said as she stood up. ‘’But who am I to stand in the way of love? Go, eat your dinners, you heteronormative heart-stealers.’’ She grabbed her plate and walked off to go sit with Huskar and Angel Dust.
Y/N glanced back at Baxter, a little more timid now that the two of them were alone together. ‘’What’s… your favourite food?’’ She asked him, not knowing what else to ask.
‘’...Spaghetti,’’ he muttered, glancing down at his plate of spaghetti. ‘’Uhm… seafood, ironically. Shrimp.’’
Y/N chuckled. She’d never paid much mind to the food on her plate, she was often just glad that she could eat. However, since she’d gotten into Hell, she’d enjoyed a good omelette more so than anything else. ‘’Eggs,’’ she said, ‘’boiled, fried, sunny-side up, sunny side down, doesn’t matter. Omelettes are my favourite.’’
‘’Omelette…’’ Baxter muttered. Then, he started taking very obvious, deep breaths.
Y/N furrowed her brows, worried. ‘’...Are you alright?’’ She asked.
‘’I’m nervous!’’ Baxter eeped and continued breathing deeply. Oh, so the breathing must’ve been a way to quell his anxiety… Huh. Y/N had heard about that breathing thing before, but she didn’t think that it actually worked. It probably worked for Baxter, considering he was still using it.

A day after Y/N and Baxter’s silent (but pleasant) dinner, Charlie had set up the obstacle course again. The moment Angel Dust walked into the main hall, he saw the course and groaned loudly. ‘’Again?!’’ He exclaimed. ‘’Wasn’t one time enough?!’’
Charlie put her hands on her hips and smiled proudly. ‘’Rome wasn’t built in a day! Learning new skills comes with practice and dedication, and I’m dedicated to building more effective teams out of you! Angel, you’re with Crymini!’’
The spider demon looked over at the hound, confused. ‘’What? Why?’’
‘’Because you haven’t talked to each other much! This is the perfect way for you two to get to know each other!’’
Crymini glanced over at him. ‘’Hm, a cross-dressing gay porn star. Very progressive. I’ve been paired up with worse.’’
‘’Alright, Charlie, when can we get this over with?’’ Angel Dusk asked grumpily.
‘’When I’ve announced every pair. Vaggie, you’re with Husk. Baxter is with Y/N…’’ She empathically smiled at the little scientist. ‘’...If that’s alright with you.’’ He silently nodded. ‘’And then Niffty can go with me.’’
Niffty pouted. ‘’Why? Why can’t I be with Baxter?’’ She grinned. ‘’He was so fun to drag around!’’
‘’Because you’re with me now!’’ Charlie said. ‘’And… I didn’t think Baxter enjoyed being dragged around by you.’’
‘’I didn’t,’’ Baxter muttered.
And so, the couples did the obstacle course again. Angel Dust insisted that Crymini and him went first, and they completed the obstacle course together surprisingly quickly. They yelled and cussed at each other a bit, but on the whole, they did fairly well. Vaggie and Huskar, too, argued the entire way, but they made it through the obstacle course without falling too much.
Baxter and Y/N were next. Y/N was nervous, Baxter’s warm and soft body was pressed up against her, which was really nice. Y/N hadn’t noticed this before, but Baxter was actually smaller than her- and not many people were smaller than her. She grabbed him around the shoulders for support, and he gently grabbed her waist. Then, they started to traverse the tyres, which required expert coordination from both parties.
‘’Alright, together now,’’ Y/N instructed. ‘’Right, left…’’
On her instructions, the two of them first stepped through the tyres on their outside legs before stepping through them with their communal leg. They repeated that, over and over: outside legs, shared leg, outside legs, shared legs. Y/N found herself in a sort of trance, focusing solely on the tyres in front of her. She had to admit, this was actually really fun to do.
‘’Hey slowpokes!’’ Angel Dust yelled, ‘’Hurry it up, will ya?’’
Baxter tripped and fell. ‘’Shit!’’ He exclaimed.
Y/N helped him back up by the shoulders. ‘’It’s okay,’’ she said. ‘’It’s okay. Don’t listen to him, he’s just being mean.’’
Baxter eeped as he grabbed her by the waist again, and they finished the obstacle course together.

The following day, Y/N was relaxing in her room, listening to her green MP-3 player with the pizza sticker on it, when there was a knock on the door. Y/N took out her earbuds, surprised. She usually hadn’t gotten any visitors to her room, except for Niffty, who was adamant on cleaning Y/N’s room every day. Y/N was lucky that Niffty hadn’t questioned why Y/N had a drawer filled with objects the other hotel residents were missing…
Y/N opened the door to see Baxter standing in the doorway. He was holding a thick book. ‘’Hello,’’ he muttered.
‘’Hello,’’ Y/N greeted with a smile. It was always nice to see her favourite crush(/lover?) ‘’Come in. I wasn’t doing anything in particular.’’ Well, she was listening to music, but she’d much rather hang out with Baxter.
He silently shuffled into her room and took a look around. ‘’It’s very clean here…’’ He muttered. Y/N wondered if Baxter was comparing her room to his own. The truth was that Y/N didn’t have any hobbies outside of listening to music and talking with others, so there was also nothing special in her room.
Y/N sat down on her bed, and Baxter quietly sat down next to her. ‘’What’s that book?’’ She asked.
Baxter glanced down at the book in his hands. ‘’It’s about the theory of relativity,’’ he answered.
‘’And… what does that mean?’’ Y/N asked. It was probably some difficult philosophical concept that she wouldn’t understand, but she wanted to make conversation with Baxter.
‘’It’s one of Einstein’s theories,’’ Baxter answered. Oh, Einstein, Y/N knew that name! That one turtle tenant she stayed with in the 1950’s used to call people an ‘Einstein’ when they did something smart. ‘’The… idea is that time is relative at high speeds. So- uhm- they’ve actually done an experiment with this where they synchronised two clocks. They sent one into space for a while, and when it came back, it was running behind.’’
‘’The fuck?!’’ Y/N exclaimed. ‘’No, that’s fake! I don’t believe that!’’ She shook her head.
Baxter chuckled. ‘’It’s true, regardless of what you believe. But it doesn’t matter to us, anyway, since I don’t think we’ll ever be moving at light speeds.’’
‘’So, how fast is light speed, anyway?’’ Y/N asked. ‘’A hundred miles per hour or something?’’
Baxter burst out laughing. Y/N wasn’t sure if she’d ever heard him laugh before, it sounded like a bunch of consecutive hiccups. It was a very sweet and amusing laugh. ‘’It’s a little faster than that.’’
‘’Okay, so like… two-hundred miles per hour?’’
Baxter snorted. ‘’No, more like six hundred and seventy million.’’
‘’Oh, but that’s not that fast,’’ Y/N said sarcastically. ‘’Y’know, I once stole a car that was faster.’’
Baxter chuckled. ‘’I don’t believe you. Nothing’s faster than light speed!’’
‘’Really? You should see me when chocolate milk is on sale!’’
Y/N was worried about the knowledge gap between Baxter and her. After all, Baxter knew about all these difficult things like light speed and relativity and stuff, while Y/N couldn’t even read! However, Y/N was willing to learn, and if Baxter kept telling her about all these interesting things, maybe Y/N could become more than just a dirty kleptomaniac who cheated at card games. Maybe this could work, after all. They had an eternity together to make it work.