Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nathan was well aware his usefulness was limited; being a ghost didn't give one many options. He didn’t let that deter him though, he did what he could where he could and having had a relatively good standing with most of the other spirits in the hotel made his job easier. 

When Nathan had gathered up most of the ghosts in the meeting room and informed them about the new guests, he had expected some push back but to his surprise, he was met with none. 

The spirits seemed hooked on the notion that Katherine would let them do as they pleased for an entire week; they were taking her word in good faith and willing to behave until the guests left. 

Having a lot more time on his hands than he had expected after the peaceful meeting, Nathan was unsure of what more to do. A part of him desperately wanted to go look at the baby again, maybe even try and play with him. It made him regret not spending more time with his niece and nephew when they were that young. 

Nathan understood that Katherine would lose her temper if he tried to physically interact with the guests, so he decided to keep his distance.

He would have returned to the not-so-friendly ghost psychologist in the basement, but the ghost had shoo’d him away earlier, claiming that he had a headache… which was odd, since Nathan knew ghosts couldn’t get headaches. 

Lost between what to do and where to go, Nathan wandered the halls. He decided he may as well use the time to inspect all the walls that needed new wallpaper. 

He had counted roughly 120 walls in desperate need of a touch-up before he heard his sister call out for him. She had sounded distressed and a floor below him. Luckily, he could just phase his way down rather than relying on the stairs or elevator. 

“Kathy?” He called out, slightly concerned as to what the problem could be. Katherine didn’t rely on him much, or at all. She only called him if there was a ghost related issue, or… 

The ghost spotted Katherine in front of her bedroom, arms folded and hair looking dishevelled. She looked like she was a second away from tears, or screaming. 

He ran up to her, his brows furrowed with worry. 

“Kathy? What’s wrong?” he tried to rest his hand on her shoulder, but was given the usual reminder that he was no longer corporeal, as his hand simply phased through her. 

“Abaddon. He tried to hurt the baby, Nathan.” Katherine looked at him with exhausted eyes. 

“What? He wouldn’t do that, Kath.” Nathan couldn’t help but change his frown of concern to a frown of annoyance. He understood Abaddon had his tendencies to do bad things, but this was a bit much. 

“Nathan, for God’s sake, he is a demon, I know you see him as a kid but-”

“He IS a kid, a demonic one sure, but he’s also still learning things!” Nathan interrupted his sister, he was aware she was clearly running on adrenaline and saying things she didn’t mean, but it was difficult not to take it personally. 

“You know what, I didn’t call you over to argue. Abaddon is hiding under my bed. I’ve trapped him in the room with salt barriers until I can sort this mess out,” 

Nathan’s brows raised in surprise as Katherine walked past him, “Get through to him, because right now I can’t.” Her voice was quieter, but sadder. 

He listened to her, catching the glimpse of concern on her angry face before she rushed down the hallway. 

The ghost looked at the bedroom door for a moment before deciding to just phase through the wall instead. 

—-----------------------------------

Katherine's room was cold and dark, with the sun almost gone, further enveloping the room in darkness.

Abaddon preferred it that way. The old, hard wooden floor beneath him bit into his sides as he tried adjusting himself under the bed’s frame. There was just enough space for him to be able to roll from side to side if he wanted to. 

But he’d rather keep his position of being scrunched up into a ball, tucking his head to his knees as tight as he could while his left side ached as it lay against the floor. 

He had barely listened to Katherine; he had hardly noticed her get up and leave the room. 

Usually, when he had these sorts of sulks, he’d be shouting and cursing while kicking and punching anything he could. Still, as he continued to suck on the ‘pacifier’, as Katherine had called it, he felt his anger disappear and instead get replaced by a gross, empty feeling in his chest.

He had failed to get rid of the infant, in fact the thing laughed at him as if he was a joke. Katherine had caught him and now all that was left to do was wait for the inevitable punishment. If the Matriarch hadn’t trapped him in the room, he’d have fled for the forest and hidden away for a couple of days. 

“Heya bud?” 

Abaddon barely flinched when he heard the familiar voice, soon seeing the face the voice belonged to. Nathan had phased through the bed, down on all fours, trying to make himself as small as possible. 

“You wanna talk about it? Wait, is that a paci?” 

The demon glared at the ghost who was smiling at him. He quickly rolled over, turning his back to Nathan. As much as he wanted to hate it, Abaddon found slight comfort in hearing the man’s calm voice. 

“I’m going to take a wild guess here and say you stole that from the baby?”

Abaddon remained silent for a few seconds, deliberating on his choices. 

Nathan continued to stare at his back, being nothing but patient. 

“It gave it to me.” The demon barely whispered out through the pacifier, his speech slightly impeded from the soother. 

The ghost decided to lie flat on his back, staring up at the bedframe as he listened to the boy. 

“The baby gave it to you?” 

Abaddon could only nod before he frowned to himself, “Actually, I think it attacked me with it.” 

The demon finally jolted when he heard Nathan bark out a laugh; one of those laughs he made whenever he’d seen or heard something extremely humorous. 

Abaddon scowled, finally removing the pacifier from his mouth as he turned back to face the ghost. 

“You think it is a joke?” He wanted it to come out angry, but only a soft, disappointed voice escaped his throat. 

Nathan quickly stopped his chuckling and looked at Abaddon, a kind smile plastered on his face again. 

“No, not at all. Sorry bud, listen, I’m sure this is all just a crazy misunderstanding. Please tell me what happened?” 

Abaddon found it slightly difficult to keep his frown and pout as Nathan looked at him with that look, the look that made him feel like every bit of Nathan’s attention was on him and him alone. 

The demon shied away from the gaze and focused on the pacifier he was holding in his hands,

“I despise the infant. I wanted it gone. So I tried to get rid of it, but I failed.” Abaddon didn’t know if it was because of Nathan’s general kind aura or how the ghost would try to hug him, he just wanted Nathan to know the truth. 

“Oh, uh, like, gone gone?” Nathan asked for clarification, he looked somewhat mortified when the demon nodded his head in affirmation. 

“Yikes, bud, I’m afraid that’s a no no. Remember how I told you killing is bad, but if you really, reaalllyy had to do it it should be done to someone who’s seriously crazily evil?” 

Abaddon glanced away from the ghost as he remembered snippets of that conversation Nathan had had with him. Once he looked back at the ghost, he nodded once. 

“So what makes you think the baby is some crazy evil?” Nathan asked curiously, not in a condescending or belittling way. 

It was Abaddon’s turn to stare at Nathan with mortification. He narrowed his eyes, he opened his mouth a couple times to speak but he couldnt formulate the words. 

“It - , you all… it had you all looking at it, and talking at it in funny voices!” Abaddon finally blurted out, keeping an eye on the ghost’s reactions. 

Nathan stared at him for a while, blinking once, then twice. Then his moustache slowly rose as he began to smile. 

“Abaddon, that’s jealousy, buddy.” The ghost reached his arm out , his hand gently phasing through the top of the demon’s head. 

“No! It’s not!” Abaddon shook his head and tried to scoot away from the ghost. He really didn’t want to have the same conversation he had already had with Katherine.

“Did you feel angry and hurt when you saw me talking to the baby?” Nathan kept his voice calm, and he persistently kept his hand on the boy’s head. 

Abaddon paused his scooting for a moment. He was annoyed that Nathan was correct. 

“...perhaps.” The demon cleared his throat, his free hand nervously picking at the wood in the floorboards. 

“Then, as much as you don’t want to admit it, that’s jealousy. It’s a normal emotion to feel, although sometimes not healthy.” Nathan pulled his hand away and lay his arm back down, but he had lifted it in a way that were would be enough space for Abaddon if he wanted to lie between him and his arm. 

“Human emotions are beneath me.” The demon muttered as he eyed the spot the ghost had left open for him. He wasted no time in crawling into said space, tucking himself under Nathan’s arm. He remembered how he and Nathan would do this when he was alive; sometimes at night they’d lie on the grass outside and look at the stars… which Abaddon found extremely boring, but he enjoyed the company, and Nathan could make up the worst stories. 

“You and I both know that’s not true. You feel plenty, and that’s okay.” Nathan returned his gaze to the bed frame, letting the demon settle. 

“Admitting to that would be pathetic.” Abaddon huffed, unable to ever see himself openly declaring his feelings that weren’t anger or pride. 

“Don’t need to admit to it with me, bud. I’m happy you didn’t hurt the baby, but things could have gone south…” 

Abaddon wasn’t entirely sure how his actions could have gone south, as far as he knew, they had been facing the east. 

“So,” Nathan continued, “I don’t want this happening again, so instead of trying to attack an innocent baby, just talk to me?” 

The demon’s eyes returned to an angry red as he snapped his neck to look up at the ghost. 

“Talk to you? Like how you’ve been talking to that poor excuse of a doctor for the past few weeks? Like how Esther and Ben have been talking to their friends non-stop? Or maybe how Katherine has been shouting at everyone because she’s ‘stressed’.” Abaddon slammed his hand against the floor, his rage obvious. 

The ghost looked at him, and his face dropped to an expression the demon couldn’t quite place. Sad? Disappointed? 

Abaddon watched Nathan sigh and slap a hand to his face, something he did when he’d done something foolish, which was usually. 

“Oh geez, bud. You’re right. We’ve been neglecting you, haven’t we?” Nathan took both of his hands and covered his face in shame. “I’ve been so wrapped up in myself lately, I didn’t even think about how it would be affecting you.” 

Abaddon wasn’t entirely sure what he felt as the ghost turned on to his side and tried to wrap him in a hug. It wasn’t warm or soft, it was cold and empty… yet, it was enough. 

“I’m sorry bud, I promise I’ll pay more attention to you, and we’ll sort this all out with the rest of the family, how does that sound?” 

The demon nodded slowly as he scrunched himself back up while the ghost tried to embrace him even closer. His eyelids nearly closed when Nathan had given him a soft peck on the head. 

Abaddon felt his fear and worry disappear, and his anger had once again settled. Nathan may have been a fool, an idiot, a gullible loser, but Abaddon could never think of anyone else who hugged and loved him as Nathan did. 

“Now, about that paci…” 

The demon’s eyes shot wide open and instinctively shoved the pacifier back into his mouth, making it clear that he had zero intentions of letting it go. 

“Okay, okay, one thing at a time then. I’ll go talk to Katherine and get you out of here, then we’ll get everything back to normal, alright?” 

Abaddon nodded as Nathan stood up, phasing through the bed. He watched the ghost’s feet walk towards the wall he’d previously come through. When the pair of feet had disappeared, the demon continued to lie in silence. He tried not to focus on the warm feeling in his chest or the heat on his cheeks, or the fast patter of his heart. 

The demon wouldn’t admit to it, but he wanted more. 

Perhaps if Nathan got through to Katherine, maybe he could convince them to kick the guests out and give Abaddon all the attention the infant had stolen...