Chapter Text
The Hog Hotel was... Oddly quiet. Usually, there's some sort of... Thing going on. However, everyone, except Majin, Lord X, and Sunky had left. It was Majin's orders though. After all, tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and he planned on inviting as many people as he could this year, so the meal had to be big and require almost everyone's help to make it.
It is something that separates Majin from Lord X. Majin's always been a much more social entity, while Lord X prefers to keep to himself. Though, when they first became friends with Majin, he had stuck close to him and went off some of his philosophy ever since. He never fully understood why at the time, assuming that it was because he believed that he was quite an interesting entity. Never before in his existence did he think that he would end up in any sort of romantic relationship with any entity, yet here was, on a couch in a hotel in the multiverse, the leader of the Mazins leaning against him, their hands intertwined as they sat in the calming peace and quiet.
The two hedgehogs were in the living room by themselves, while Sunky was in another room. Neither knew what the young hog was doing, but the lack of any signs of alarm led to them assuming that they didn't have to worry too much.
The silence, although uncommon, was comforting. In a way, it reminded Lord X of the void, though the warmth and comfort of the hotel was far better than the cold emptiness he once called home. They could just put on a movie or something, but neither wanted to leave the others grasp. So they sat in silence. Lord X could tell how tired Majin was, and thought he might fall asleep right there against his side. He certainly wouldn't oppose the idea...
... Was he asleep? It had been almost an hour, maybe more, since everyone else left. Lord X shifted to look down at his spouse more clearly. Sure enough, the blue hedgehog was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling steadily. The sight warmed Lord X's heart. He shifted back into his previous position, subtly leaning closer to the sleeping hedgehog against his side. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep too...
After about an hour or two, there was a knock on the front door of the hotel, snapping Majin and Lord X awake. Lord X groaned, sitting up to look at the door while Majin immediately got up from the couch. He clearly seemed to be more awake.
Before he could even open to door, the entity on the other side opened it for him. It was Sonic.EXE. "We're back!" They exclaimed. He had a cooler bag over his shoulder, and behind him were the other household members. Majin smiled, opening the door wider as the others entered. Rewrite, Fleetway, Xenophanes, and Sarah were all holding grocery bags and other sorts of food containment. Surprisingly, Curse was also apart of the group, despite not even living in the hotel.
"Curse! Didn’t expect to see you, friend!" Majin said, their usual warm smile on their face.
Curse nodded in his acknowledgement. "Mhm. Saw everyone else and thought that I'd help out!"
Lord X, who was still tiredly trying to wake up on the couch, suddenly sat up. His nose twitched. "I smell the strong scent of blood and flesh..." They said, looking over to Sonic.EXE.
"Oh, that's probably just the tur-" Majin started, before X cut him off.
"Actually, we MAYYY have made a pit stop and got some VERY fresh meat..." X said, the cooler bag now in his hands rather than over his shoulder.
Majin's empty void-like eyes widened, tiny white pupils appearing in them as he stared at the cooler bag in disgust and horror. Lord X, meanwhile, just looked a little surprised.
"... Is it Mobian? Smells more like animalistic meat than human." Lord X asked.
Before Majin could interject, X answered. "Nah, just some animals." He opened the bag, lifting up a severed rabbit head. Majin had hold back vomit.
"Fresh from the source, too!" Rewrite added, holding up a bloody bag.
Majin turned his head away, overwhelmed by the scent of raw flesh and blood. "Goodness- Can you guys at least cook the animals first before serving them to the guests tomorrow?" He asked.
X just rolled his eyes, putting the rabbit head back into the cooler bag. "Fine... C'mon, Write. Let's get these in the chest so they stay fresh. And outta the way of the big bird..." He made his way towards the basement where the chest freezer was located, Rewrite following behind with the usual pep in his lanky steps.
Majin, still slightly overwhelmed from the smell of dead animals, stuck his head out the still-open door for fresh air. Meanwhile, Curse looked over at Lord X, now curious
"... Didn't think he'd be against raw meat that much, considering the fact that rest of the entities who live here are crazy criminals." He said.
Lord X nodded in confirmation. "He's probably the sanest person here... Aside from you and maybe Sunky."
"Oh, thank- Wh- Wait- But Sunky's a kid?"
"Exactly. That's why I said maybe."
As Fleetway, Xeno, Curse, and Sarah brought all the groceries in, which was a surprising amount, the sound of Fleetway complaining began to fill the space.
"Geez, why do we need this much food!?" He whined, resulting in an annoyed groan from Xeno. "What're we feeding, the entire Pastaverse?"
Sarah, although annoyed, nodded in minor agreement. She poked her head from the kitchen, looking over at Majin. "Hey Maj, who're you even inviting tomorrow?"
The dark blue hedgehog's pointy ears raised up at the question, looking back at the human woman with mild excitement. "Oh! Well, I plan on inviting all the people I know."
"Which is basically everyone." Fleetway commented, before Majin cleared his throat.
"Well, we've got 2017X, Sally_ALT, Crimson, Hog, Wacky, All-Father, MX, Hypno-"
"Wait-"
"Satanos, Starved, IHY Luigi, Forest King, End-"
"Jesus Christ, I didn't mean it literally when I asked if we're feeding the entire Pastaverse!" Fleetway exclaimed. "Lemme guess, did you invite Coldsteel and Sanic?"
"Hmmm... No, but I won't be too surprised if they show up anyway." Majin replied with a shrug, causing the golden hedgehog to facepalm.
Curse then poked his head out frommthe kitchen. "Is Diablo invited?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah! Why?" Majin asked.
Curse awkwardly looked away. "... Can you make sure he stays outta the kitchen... so we don't have a repeat of... last time?" He asked.
"What happened last time?"
"Well..."
*Insert flashback montage of the last time Diablo tried to cook for Thanksgiving, where Diablo attempts to cook using his pyrokenisis and accidentally burning everything.*
"Oh... You know he didn’t MEAN to burn everything, right?" Majin asked.
"Yeah, but it was still a disaster!" Curse exclaimed. "The fire alarm kept going off, Xeno tried to call the police TWICE thinking there was a house fire, and I kept on having to go back to the store SO MANY TIMES to get a new turkey, the guy working at the deli thought that I was trying to hit on him."
"... Oh gosh." Was all Sarah could say. "I'm pretty sure I wasn't even here that Thanksgiving..."
Majin shook his head dismissivly. "Nevertheless, Diablo is still invited, but I'll let him know that he's temporarily banned from the kitchen."
Time skip since basically nothing has happened yet
Thanksgiving day. It was now here. Although the guests hadn't even arrived yet, and Majin woke up everyone in the hotel early to prepare, the leader of the Mazins was still stressing out.
He paced around the living room, shaking like a leaf. Lord X watched him with a concerned look, while Fleetway stuck his head out to watch the Mazin panic.
"Oh goodness... Oh gosh." He muttered to himself as he paced back and forth.
"Maybe you should've invited less guests this time..." Fleetway said with a shrug.
Majin stopped in his tracks, turning to face the Super Sonic. "I didn't want anyone to feel left out!!! What's so wrong with that!?" He snapped.
Outside of being a very extroverted entity, Lord X has also learned that the dark blue hedgehog is a people pleaser...
"So, I assume Majin's not doing well?" Curse asked. He had stayed over at the hotel for the night, and was now in the kitchen with Sonic.EXE, Rewrite, and Xeno.
Fleetway nodded. 2011X, who was leaning against the counter behind Curse, let out an amused scoff.
"Psh, he really shouldn't." Sonic.EXE said with a shrug. "Over half of the people he's inviting will eat literally anything. Especially you, Curse, since you've lived in the woods for goodness knows how long..."
"Wh- Hey!" Curse exclaimed, turning to the exe. "I won't eat literally anything! I'm pretty discerning."
X reached under the counter, taking out something small and yellow. "Eat this." They said, handing it to Curse.
The cursed hedgehog took it from the other's hand, putting it into his mouth with hardly any hesitation. "What was that?"
X, with a giant grin on his face, held up a sponge with a small chunk torn off of it. Curse's eyebrows raised up, his face contorting into disgust
"Don't feed a guy a sponge, X!" He exclaimed.
X held back laughter. "Y-You literally put it in your mouth!" They said through pleased giggles.
Curse attempted to hack out the sponge. After a few failed attempts, he looked back up at the demon with an annoyed expression. "You must be so happy with yourself, huh?"
They nodded. "G-Genuinely didn’t think you'd f-fall for that..."
Soon enough, the scent of food being cooked filled the Hog Hotel. It was a comforting smell. Comforting enough to already start luring people toward the hotel...
Majin leaned against a counter in front of a window, observing how everyone else was doing. He was a little surprised at Curse's cooking skills. He certainly has improved since they first met. Back then, all the hedgehog could actually make was ramen noodles. Now, he was making chili dogs (with the help of Xenophanes) like a champ. Why chili dogs specifically was not entirely known to the Mazin. He just assumed it was because chili dogs were something that everyone liked.
Suddenly, he heard something bang against the window behind him, causing him to practically jump out of his quilled skin. He whipped his head around, and saw none other than 2017X. The grey hedgehog's face was pressed against the window, looking at the others cooking with excitement.
"Wh- Sonic!?" Majin exclaimed.
"Smells good in there." He simply said. He clearly appeared to be shivering.
Majin stared back at the grey hedgehog, mildly confused as to how he's able to smell the food from outside. "... Yes, but the food's not done yet, so I suggest you wait." He said as he began to close the blinds.
"WAIT!!!" 2017X screamed, causing Majin to jump once again and stop himself. "C-Can I at least wait ins-side? It's kinda c-cold out here..."
Majin looked at 2017X for a long moment, thinking hard. After a long moment, he sighed and closed the blinds.
"Wh- MAAAAJIIIIIINN!!!" He screeched, before the front door opened. He looked over at the door to see Majin holding it open for him.
"Don't be so dramatic." Majin said, motioning him to come inside. The shivering grey hedgehog nodded, entering the warm hotel. Majin closed the door behind him, commenting, "You're not wrong about how cold it is out there, though..."
2017X almost immediately dashed towards the couch, wrapping himself in the blanket on it. He had lacked any sort of winter clothing, so it wasn't too surprising that he'd be this cold...
Now that Majin thinks about it, he's never wearing clothes. Not even gloves or shoes.
"... Yknow, it might not hurt to wear clothing for a change, Sonic..." He said, leaning against the couch.
"Hm?" 2017X looked up at the Mazin, raising an eyebrow.
"If you don't like the cold so much, maybe wear something to make you warmer." He further explained. He paused, before asking, "... Do you actually HAVE any clothes?"
2017X thought for a moment. "Does paint count?"
Majin facepalmed.
"I'll take that as a no." He said, turning away.
As the day went on, more and more guests came to the hotel. One would think it'd get crowded, since on the outside it looks like a two or three story building, but it's surprisingly larger on the inside.
Lord X was in the living room with the guests, observing everyone, while Majin was at the door to greet people in.
If they did something like this years ago, with this amount of murderous entities in one place, everyone would've be at each other's throats by now. Surprisingly, it seems as if they've all now grown accustomed to this domestic and docile environment...
Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door. When Majin opened the door, his ears suddenly perked up. Lord X watched as he spoke to the guest.
"I-Is this the 'Hog Hotel'?" A voice asked. "I'm not sure if-" The voice cut itself off, as if it was surprised by something.
"Yep! Come on in, make yourself comfortable!" Majin cheerfully said, stepping out of the way so they could enter.
If Lord X had a drink, he would've spat it out just now.
The entity who stepped inside the hotel, wearing a jacket and knitted hat, was none other than EXE...