"A Hellish Scenario" [Alastor x Reader : Request : CLOSED FOR NOW]

"Kitchen Date?" [Alastor x Reader!Hotel Guest]

June 23, 2023
Hell

          "I always thought I might be bad, now I'm sure that it's true. 'Cause I think you're so good. And I'm nothing like you... ~" You sing as you make your way to the hotel's first floor kitchen through the staircase. The elevators in the hotel were still under maintenance. Even though maintance has been overdue for about a year now. This forced you to have to use the old creaky stairwell that gave you chills, and you despised every time using it. Over time, you found yourself getting used to it and even came up with coping mechanisms to get you through the whole ordeal of it all: singing being one of them.
          "Look at you go! I just adore you, I wish that I knew. What makes you think I'm so special... ~" You continued before reaching the final step to the exit out of your daily nightmare.
          Opening the door, you found yourself face-to-face with an empty lobby, and this made you happy. You've always been sort of an aloof and quite guest of the hotel since you have been there. You happily skipped your way over to the entrance of the kitchen door. Your [C/D] dress flowing gracefully to your happy trot. You were smiling and humming to yourself the same song you were singing in the stairwell. The door was dark oak with a small window that was so dirty you could barely see through it. If at all.
          You grabbed the glass-like vintage knob, heard a squeaking sound before it unlatched, and swung the door open with one fluid motion. Your eyes took in the mess that laid before you, but before you could fully take that in your eyes, immediately darted to the figure sitting at the island on a bar stool wearing all red. It was Alastor. He turned his head to the left to attempt to face you before saying,
          "Well, well, well. Hello to you too, my dear. By the way, you swung that door open. You seem a little too excited to be in here." He stated before turning back to his food. "So, what's got you in a good mood this fine morning?" He inquired with a curious intention.
          The smile that you had dropped a little. You were hoping that you would have the kitchen to yourself and be alone to do your own thing. That's part of the reason why you get yourself up so early in the morning, so you could beat the others. You figured Alastor enjoyed getting up at 7 a.m., too, or maybe he just didn't sleep and had been down here for a while.
          "Nothing really, I felt like coming down here to make food. I was hoping to miss the "rush hour" of the others." You replied honestly as you made your way deeper into the kitchen and got a better look around at the damage. Who or whatever had used it last left the place is such disarray. You had never seen such disrespect done to a place you're supposed to consider home. You felt disgusted and a little annoyed, actually your were aggravated by it all.
          "Ah, I see... Is me being here dampening the expectations you had in your mind?"  He said in this almost mocking voice but with a tinge of empathy. You could tell he was curious if his presence was a burden to you. Taking a deep breath before saying anything, you looked at the remainder of the kitchen you hadn't looked at before turning to face his gaze.
          This is the most that you and him have spoken in an entire year. You've heard so much about him, but never had the opportunity to ever know him personally. You'd hardley ever walk by him. Maybe this was because you were in your room so much, but even when you did leave, you would see everyone else but him.
          You took another deep breath before replying with, "I hope you don't take this too personally, but yes. I was very much hoping to be here alone to do my own thing." You stated in a gentle manner, hoping not to get off on the wrong foot with Hell's most powerful overlord ever.
          "I see..." He stated, looking to the right of him with tilt of his head.
          You immediately felt a little bad and stated quickly, "But... if you wanna stay...It's ok. I'm not trying to push you away or make you feel like I don't want you to hear... I'm sorry." You finished before dropping your head slightly and turtling in a bit. Man, why do I talk sometimes. Sheesh. You thought to yourself while still keeping your head low.
          "Oh dear... I am not offended at all. You were simply being honest, and there is nothing wrong with you wanting your space or alone time for that matter. There is nothing to apologize for! Apologizing is almost as if you treat your needs and wants as a burden, which in essence means you feel the space you take up is too much and that your very existence is selfish which it ain't." Alastor said firmly and with a warm, booming reassurance to his voice.
          It was like he could read your thoughts. You looked up and smiled softly a bit, appreciating his understanding attitude towards your honest feelings. You felt taken a back at how emotionally safe he himself made you feel just now.
          "Thank you..." You said, smiling a little at him before beginning to clean the kitchen to make room for what you wanted to make.
          Alastor gave a nod before turning back to his paper, and you began to attend to the mess that was left there. Feeling calm and more at ease from his response to how you felt you started putting stuff into sink to wash. You weren't sure what you wanted to make, but you figured you would keep it simple and just do some eggs with a little salt and pepper.
          After you finished cleaning all the dishes and neatly placing them in the dish washer beside the sink, you began heading over to the fridge to grab the carton of eggs and butter. After reaching below the counter in the dark wooden cabinets, to grab the gray colored non-stick pan, you then go into the white untensil rack on the counter for the black spatula.
          Gathering all your necessary needs to make your breakfast, you were only missing one thing, which was the salt. You saw the pepper shaker by the rack of kitchenware but no salt to accompany it. It was odd. Did they get divore or something? Salt is never away from pepper. You thought this to yourself as you started opening cabinets to see where it was.
          "Looking for something sweetheart?" Alastor stated, still looming down on his newspaper, but his ear tingled a bit from the sound of you opening cabinets and to the very humerous personified thought you made on two objects.
          "I can't find the salt." You answered while still looking
          "Well..." He said before placing his paper down and standing to assist you. "I doubt it was because the two had a divorce." He chuckled continuely, confirming that he indeed can hear your thoughts. "But rather a moment of disagreement." He stated while smiling a bit. He then opened a cabinet you had not opened and reached in, pulling out the salt. "You see, it takes more than that to break an honest union. Salt and pepper will always be salt and pepper. No matter the distance or how long the time of separation is." He finished while reaching out to hand it to you at the same time as he finished his poetic tale.
          You reached out to grab it and was once again taken back by how formal and proper his English was, as well as his intelligence. Did he just turn salt and pepper into a poem while simultaneously tying it into a lesson on love and rea life?
          You were thinking this as you grabbed the salt from his hand and held it while looking down at it and then back up at him with a face of slight awe on it. You both then stared back at each other. Your [E/C] eyes locked on his red hued ruby colored eyes, and for a moment, it was just you and him and right here, right now. Nothing else, nothing more. Only you and Al.
          Alastor smiled back at you. It was a small, lighter smile. Instead of his usual wide grin, he has constantly.
          You matched his expression back before proceeding to turn to do the final steps of your now delayed breakfast. Alastor sat back in his chair, but before  doing so, brought out a white china plate with a simple floral design around it and placed it beside you for when you were finished.
          You started to cook and season your eggs, and before you knew you were done and placing the two sunny side up eggs on your plate. You started putting what you used away and cleaned the pots and kitchenware; placing them into the dishwasher and then running it. You finished off by cleaning the counter with hot water a rag.
You then stopped slowly for a second and placed your hand on the cold counter while looking down at it. Rag still in the other one. Getting lost for a bit in the colors and dots of the brown multicolored shaded granite you spoke.
          "Alastor?" You said in a neutral, relaxed montone voice. While still staring down at the counter.
          "Yes...?" Alastor stated, not looking up but raising a brow as rather intrigued by the way you had said his name.
          "I really appreciate what you had done there for me, as well as said. I hear a lot about you but never ever had the chance, until now, to meet you formally. But, given your attitude towards my feelings, as well as your assistance. I feel that maybe you're not as bad as people make you out to be down here. You could just be misunderstood, but they use bad as a label to overshadow that. Making you out to be solely bad, but merely you are just different and bad being the mask over it because its easier to hate what we don't understand instead of accepting the fact that its on to not understand everything or everyone...." You said, the words almost flowing from your lips like a gentle log floats along the river. You still had your head down and were also lost in the granite, but a wave of shock came over you. Making you question within yourself where that had come from.
          Alastor was silent from what you had just said. For the first time in his entire afterlife living in Hell, no one has caused him to feel so speechless more than you have. You were already an entertaining sight to him, but now you raised a feeling in him that no one's ever done before. At this very moment in time and space, he didn't know what to feel or say to that.
          "You know [Y/N]... You fascinate me. So much so that I find it so hard to believe that no one has ever taken the time to really listen to you. You're just... something else. Magical, perhaps." He said as he looked down at the island in front of him.
          You turned to look at him once more, and as you did, his head looked up, and your eyes once again locked on each other for a moment, and as you stared deep into each other. Both the muscles on each of your faces curled into two grins that paralleled one another. ~ ♡

"She's his favorite poem."
sansastarkr

The End