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Beneath the sink, his sanctuary of solitude.
When families would move into this place to keep it a hotel this was the easiest room in the house to sneak into from the outside. Over the sink window and under the cabinets was easy to reach. The vessel was weak and though he could withstand the cold New York nights, he'd rather not.
During the winter hunger gnawed at his very being, plenty of mice to eat in here.
Then things changed when Nathan came round. When he'd freed him from his pit and brought him into the home. Froot loops each morning pbj with no crust for lunch and dinner whatever he could cook up, usually some sort of pasta dish.
Katherine had the same feeding habits though she tended to make more casseroles than Nathan ever had. The woman could make anything into a casserole: spaghetti, broccoli and chicken, rice and pork, anything she could cram into a casserole dish she would.
“Matriarch I do not want this, I will eat froot loops” Abaddon stared at his plate of rice chicken and some sort of creamy sauce. An edge piece lightly crisped from being left in the oven too long.
Katherine rolled her eyes “You finished the box this morning we don't have froot loops, eat your dinner it's good” she encouraged, looking at her children for backup.
“Put some sour cream on it, helps with the burnt pieces” Ben whispered and passed the container to Abaddon. Abaddon took it and plopped it onto his meal, stirring it around with his fork. He still didn't want to eat it and as the family around him finished their meals he kept staring at his plate.
Katherine sighed when her two children left the table. “Do you want a piece of cake?” she offered, picking up his plate and scraping it into a tupperware for her to eat the next day. She knew he'd eat that, the demon was a fiend for anything with sugar and refined carbs. Still the body of an 8 year old with the taste buds to match.
He wordlessly nodded and picked up his fork, watching her cut him a generous slice from the leftover birthday cake in the fridge. “Can I have ice cream on it?” He requested. She squinted at him but did as he asked, just getting him to eat anything that was actually food was a win. Even if it was just a bowl full of sugar she couldn't leave him hungry.
“What are some things I can make for you that you'll eat?” She asked, sitting down as he vowed down eagerly on his feast of ice cream and cake.
“Ice cream cake and frootloops” he answered.
She groaned “I mean actually good not piles of sugar, you like pasta right?”
“Your insistence that everything needs to be put in the rectangular dish is infuriating” he answered back. He was tired of casserole. So very tired of it.
She clapped her hands together, a tired look on her face “Hamburger helper it is for tomorrow then” she said. “Don't eat that too fast you'll give yourself a tummy ache”.
“I never give myself a tummy ache this vessel is strong” he snapped back as she left the room, getting him eat at the cake in his bowl. Frosting stuck to his cheeks and everything at the bottom of the bowl melted into a sludge he quickly lapped up. Modern food was a delight he was so glad he could taste, much better than the pottage he was served when first coming to earth.
.
.
.
The problem with eating the sugary foods he loved so much was the hunger that came a few hours later. Dinner was supposed to keep them full and it usually did tide him over till morning if he ate what was given to him. If he ate something sugary instead though it only made him hungrier as the night progressed. Not sleeping was also a contributing factor.
Ghosts didn't need sleep but many of them did anyway. Especially at night as to not wake the family, Katherine wasn't as forgiving to the ghosts if she was kept up all night. So Abaddon laid on his back beneath the kitchen sink, staring at the scratches etched into the wood. He didn't like hunger, after getting used to not feeling it it was hard to go back.
So he crawled out of the cabinet and started scrounging around the kitchen. What could he eat? What sounded good?
He opened the fridge and pulled out the cake, a good fourth of it still sat in the container. All that was left of “happy birthday Ben” was an en in red icing. He didn't bother with a fork, sticky hands digging into the icing and cold cake inside. Strawberry jam filling smeared into his face as he munched on it. Maybe some ice cream would do good with it…
Before Abaddon knew it he was standing in front of an open fridge covered in sticky sweet frosting and melted icecream. Wasn't even hungry anymore but the fear of being hungry later made him dig through till he found his favorite thing, yogurt.
He held the container in his hands, ignoring that weird feeling in his gut as he sat down and started taking sips of the thick pink liquid. Sugary strawberry yogurt was one of the first things Nathan ever gave him, it was his favorite thing aside from frootloops. He tilted the container upwards, letting some of it dribble down his chin onto his shirt. He didn't want to be hungry, he wasn't hungry but the fear of getting there was enough to keep him drinking it. Katherine needed to go to the store anyways, what if she didn't buy enough yogurt!? He'd simply pass away.
As he neared the end of the container he brought his knees to his chest, feeling something different he looked down to see his tummy was poking out from beneath his shirt and over the waistband of his pants. He hadn't seen that before, it felt weird, different.
The last gulp of sugary sweet goodness had him dropping the container on the ground. That's as probably enough right? He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, smearing frosting and yogurt in his clothes as he wiped his hands off on the front of his shirt.
Abaddon whimpered quietly. That feeling in his tummy wasn't very nice. It was like when he drank the fabric softener. And now he was sticky “Nath- uurp-” he slammed his hand over his mouth. Half embarrassed at the burp that crawled up his throat and feeling utterly pathetic for calling for a man who could no longer help him. He looked behind himself, just had to make it under the sink and he could sleep it off.
He'd experienced far worse pain than this before. He was a big scary demon ruler of shrimp! Raised in the primordial ichor-
Abaddon tried and failed to stand up, a horrible cramp ripping through him as his tummy made all sorts of bad noises. He felt shaky from how much sugar he ate and now that bubbly feeling in his tummy wasn't going away. Poisoning it was the only thing he could think of. Maybe the cake or the ice cream had been laced with it!
So uncomfortable in his own skin the remnants of the soul within it got to speak for once. A quiet cry, a soft “Mommy” as he begged for relief from this horrible situation.
“Bud? Are you okay?”
Nathan was here. Abaddon stood up on shaky legs, gripping at his stomach as it gurgled and groaned. He felt so overly full it wasn't even nice, like everything would crawl back up his throat if he moved too fast. “Nathan” he warbled, hand trying to ease the ache in his tummy. “Carry me” he whined, reaching up and making grabby hands at the ghost. “I don't like this I don't-uurp” he slapped his hands over his mouth again.
Nathan bent down to his level, his heart aching to see little Abaddon like this. “I can't carry you bud” he said softly, watching Abaddon sit back down on his bottom and clench at his tummy. “What'd you get into?” He asked, seeing his covered in sticky icky goo.
“Cake and ice cream” Abaddon sharply inhaled “And yogurt I didn't want to be hungry anymore” his belly sloshed, face going a little green. Frustration tugging at him that Nathan couldn't hold him, couldn't make him feel better. His vessel ached to be held but not too tightly lest everything come tumbling out of it.
“That's way too much little guy” Nathan said, putting his hand out to pat Abaddon's head even though it phased right though. “I'll go get Kathy okay? She'll know what to do”
Abaddon sniffled “I do not wish for the matriarch to see me in such a pathetic state” his hands rubbed the underside of his bubbly tummy. “...I wish to be held, make her speak not of this madness to Esther”.
“Cross my heart” Nathan winked at him and went off to find his sister.
.
“Kathy, Kathy I need your help” Nathan spoke softly, gently phasing through his sisters shoulder as she slept.
“Ghost hours are from 8am to 6pm” she groaned and rolled over in bed, hugging at her pillow. “I need to sleep Nathan” when he didn't stop tapping her she swatted her pillow through him. “Nathan I'm serious” she turned on the light at the side of her bed.
He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot “I'm sorry to wake you up but Abaddon needs help” he actually looked distressed. “He wants me to carry him but I can't” frustration gnawed at him from the inside out for it. “He ate himself sick and now he's stuck on the kitchen floor”.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and sat up, tugging at her nightgown “are you serious?” She groaned.
“He was calling for his mommy when I found him, I don't know if it's his mom or you or the vessel I don't get it” he fiddled his hands together. “Can you please go check on him? I don't know what I can do to help”.
Katherine sucked in air through her teeth looking at her brother. He supposed she could do the right thing and look after his ward, even if he did probably eat everything in her fridge.
She pulled on her robe “Go do something else I'll check on Abaddon” she said stubbornly putting on her slippers.
“Really? Kathy thank you so much I'll stay out of your hair rest of the night I promise!” He clapped his hands together quickly rushing through a wall.
She walked down the hallways of the weirdly quiet hotel. Only noise she could really make out was the occasional ghost chatter down the hallways or the noise of the TV by Nathan's chair constantly on. That was until she got closer to the kitchen.
Was that crying?
She poked her head in, seeing Abaddon the prideful little thing shaking on his knees, bloated stomach pressing against his tight clothes as vomit and various sticky sweets stuck to his face hands and shirt. He'd really overdone it huh? She watched him heave and retch into the puddle in front of him, tears dripping down his cheeks as he vomited onto the floor.
She felt bad for him. How could she not? He looked like a little kid and acted like on too even if he was older than all the nations of the earth. “Abaddon?” She said quietly, flicking on the light and hurrying to kneel down next to him, gently rubbing his back. He coughed up more chunks of cake and pink yogurt, falling back onto his butt as the worst of it was over.
He took in deep ragged breaths, a pressure stuck in his chest he just couldn't get out. “Mommy” he whined again towards nothing in particular “it- it soothes the vessel to say that” he defended himself, sniffling as vomit stuck to his nose and chin.
He could call her mom if just for tonight. “Did you eat too much?” She asked, pulling his hair back and grimacing when feeling sticky sweaty pieces that had been stuck to him by sugar and vomit. He needed a bath.
“Mhm” he hummed, hugging himself as his insides bubbled with indigestion. “Help” he whined out, pressing his hands to his tummy. “The cake was poisoned and so was the ice cream and yogurt” that pressure in him didn't seem to let up no matter how much he banged on his chest.
She rolled her eyes and scooped him up, letting him rest on her hip. Definitely heavier than he usually was “I'll clean up the vomit okay? Can you take a bath for me?” He requested. Expecting the usual fight and screaming and kicking till he got free. Instead he melted into her shoulder and little sticky hands gripped onto her shirt. He stank to high heaven, so she was thankful he wasn't putting up a fight this time.
As she walked him up the stairs to her bathroom she gently bounced him, patting his back till that pressure he couldn't shake finally came out in the form of a deep belch. At first she stopped, worried he'd vomited all over her shoulder again before feeling him sigh with relief. “It was stuck” was all he said.
She brought him into the bathroom and shut the door, setting him down on the toilet lid while she drew a bath. He looked so much more tired than she'd ever seen before- there was that time he beat up that old man in a robe and a bus full of cultists but this was different. He shivered and kept his hands on his upset tummy, leaning forward to try and get some relief while he waited for her. “You can't eat that much sugar Abaddon, what were you thinking?” She asked and knelt in front of him, urging his shoes off and peeling his socks from his skin.
“I didn't want to be hungry, it's unpleasant” he said. “Help me with my shirt please?” He held his hands above his head. Katherine took great care in undressing him, careful not to stare at the cross shaped white branding scar in his chest. Though she did note how his tummy stuck out from the rest of his body, his ribcage looking like it flared to make room for everything he'd crammed into his stomach.
Her expression softened, pushing his hair back and helping him with his trousers. “You will never go hungry here I promise” she insisted. “You don't need to eat enough to make yourself sick okay? Just till your tummy is full” she reached out pressing her warm palm to his aching belly. He flinched at the feeling at first but melted into it. She could feel everything bubbling around in there, his stomach still sounding very upset.
She pulled off his trousers and underwear, lifting him back up and lowering him into the bath. He sniffled again, looking away from her as she started washing his hair. She handed him the bar of soap and a wash cloth “here you go, go ahead” he stared at her looking offended. “Isn't my hair enough?” He asked, chunks of cake and vomit still stuck to his face and chest.
She blinked “No Abaddon you have to wash everything”. He groaned and sunk himself under the water instead. She rolled her eyes and plucked the wash rag and soap from him, reminding herself he couldn't drown as she dragged him back up from under the water to wash his messy face and beneath his hands.
“It's too much work” he whined. “Mommy stop this-” his face heated up, stupid vessel had once again called her his mother. “I'm sorry” he apologized as she grabbed a different rag, scrubbing at his body.
though still very tired and ready to go back to bed she didn't scold him “It's okay Abby, you can call me mom if you need” she patted his back. “Almost done” she said, handing him the wash rag. “Wash your buns I'll get you a towel”.
He did as he was told, pulling the plug and sinking down into the emptying bath tub. “You can leave me here now Katherine” he mumbled, hands going back to rub his sore tight tummy. She stared down into the tub at his naked form, quickly dropping a towel on him.
“I'll wash your clothes in the morning, dry off and I'll get you a T-shirt”.
Though he wanted to climb back into his usual attire he knew it needed to be cleaned. Probably wouldn't fit either, with how his tummy stuck out from his ribs now. Far too icky and yucky to put on now he settled for wrapping himself in a towel. “Help?” he asked, staring up at her from the bathtub floor. “Please? The vessel it aches, it's limbs are heavy and wrong”.
Poor little guy was probably exhausted. She bent down and got to work with the towel, drying his hair and his body before wrapping him up in it. “Place me in the vents now, I must sit in darkness” he insisted.
Yeah no they weren't doing that. She wasn't going to deal with a naked Abaddon running around in her vents especially if his tummy was upset that was just asking for trouble. She bounced him a little while carrying him to the edge of her bed, setting him down all bundled in the towel while getting a shirt to pull over him. “Hands up up up” she said, a faint memory of helping Esther dress entering her mind while she got Abaddon settled. He did as asked, sitting on the side of the bed in a shirt far too big for him.
“Thank you mommy” he'd calmed down now, but still insisted on the name. Why'd he have to be a 10,000 year old demon when he was so precious like this?
“No worries Abby, crawl into bed okay? You can sleep here for now” she said, taking off her now dirties and damn house coat and tossing it to the corner. She'd wash it with Abaddon's clothes in the morning. “I know you don't sleep but I do, and I'd like to keep an eye on you while you're hurting”.
The small demon grumbled something but did as he was told, scooting to watch her crawl in next to him and flick off the light. “...Mom?” His voice asked in the quiet dark.
“Yes Abaddon?”
He reached around in bed till finding her, scooting up close to snuggle and laid on his side. He grabbed at her wrist and brought it over to his tummy. “Rub my stomach if I must stay here will you?”
She rolled her eyes and pulled the blankets up over the both of them, tucking him against her body and gently rubbing his tummy. If he fell asleep and started to snore just a little she wouldn't tell a soul. “Goodnight Abaddon”..