Work Text:
Charlie had been planning the Halloween party for a long time and every morning he told all the guests and residents of the Hazbin Hotel , about this very special holiday and how wonderfully cool and great it would be.
And Halloween is a great exercise for building mutual trust.
In addition to some typical games that are common in the human world, the Princess of Hell also put a lot of effort into decorating the hotel's entrance area.
There were carved pumpkins, bats, gravestones, spider webs, skeletons and lots of black and orange decorations. Niffty had been given the task of baking Halloween cookies and with the help of Rosie, Charlie had ordered a partner costume for himself and Vaggie.
All in Halloween style, of course, and Charlie and Vaggie would be portraying the Halloween costume of Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter.
Vaggie was the Hatter and Charlie was dressed as Alice. Keekee the cat had been dressed in a rabbit costume and was watching the wild goings-on and chaos, half asleep on Charlie's arm.
Razzle and Dazzle had also received a few Halloween costumes that Lucifer had chosen and personalized in a fun-sized way.
Charlie's two bodyguard animals were dressed as Milk & Cookies.
It made Razzle and Dazzle even cuter and Charlie was glad that her dad was trying to get involved.
It was after Adam's death caused by Niffty, a change that was unusual, but Lucifer tried to get involved and support Charlie with her dream and the hotel.
And the King of Hell had of course chosen a costume too.
And of course he had chosen a duck costume.
A Halloween costume that was way too big and made the little king look even smaller...but it was Halloween and it didn't bother Lucifer. Because Halloween was one of his favorite holidays...right after Christmas...Easter...his wedding...oh...um, Charlie's birthday! And who doesn't like ducks?
Angel Dust had dressed up as Harley Quinn, the baseball bat and the blue and red mascara rounded off his short outfit, in which Angel felt comfortable and couldn't stop throwing a few teasing comments at Husk, who was forced to wear a clown costume with a green wig by Charlie. Angel had enough Harley/Joker hints in tow to get on the grumpy bartender's nerves. Even though Angel had died in a different decade, he had quickly learned and loved this Harley Quinn costume and her complex relationship with the Joker.
"Come on Husk, you could be my Joker hmmmm?", - Angel cooed with an amused grin and waved at him demonstratively happily with his right hand, which was in a red glove.
Clown Husk, however, just looked at him grimly before heading with a tray behind the bar to the table on which Niffty and Alastor had set up a buffet for Halloween.
The bartender balanced a few spooky cocktails on the tray that shimmered raven-black and orange and were decorated with fine sugar spider webs. Husk placed the tray on a free space at the table and immediately took one of the cocktail glasses.
Alastor himself hadn't put on a costume. He was the radio demon and not a circus clown... even if Husk's green wig certainly made him grin even more, the young Princess Morningstar could still look so pleading with her eyes.
He didn't dress up, but he would be a guest at this Halloween party out of pure interest in this spectacle. (The small crown made of cockroaches that Niffty had made a while ago was also rejected by Alastor) - accordingly, he appeared in a brand new suit... like the one he had in his closet in countless copies. He was scary enough and didn't need to squeeze himself into a ridiculous costume to spread fear and terror...he was a radio demon and that should not be forgotten, especially on Halloween. Nevertheless, Alastor was amused by the choice of the other poor souls and residents of the Hazbin Hotel for this Halloween party evening.
Frank the Egg Boi had dressed up as a miniature version of Sir Pentious to honor his deceased best boss ever, Niffty had helped him sew the little hat and the snake tail. Frank now walked proudly next to Niffty, very excited about this Halloween tradition.
Niffty, on the other hand, had thrown herself into a witch costume and decorated her pointed hat with a little blood. Whether it was real or fake blood was not yet clear, but Niffty seemed to be beaming just as much as Frank, who was very excited about celebrating Halloween and opening the door to the first demons that go around trick or treating and giving them candy.
After Charlie started the Halloween party with a short speech about friendship, the origins of Halloween and the anticipation of soon being able to give candy to all the hard-working trick-or-treaters if they dare to ring the doorbell, it was time for the first games at the party.
Because besides the alcohol, which Husk probably indulged in the most, Charlie had read up on customs and games to make the very first Hazbin Hotel Halloween perfect and memorable.
There was a Halloween scavenger hunt through the hotel, fishing for apples out of a bucket, horror-tactile dares where you had to blindly guess everyday objects by feeling them in a darkened container, Halloween bingo, pumpkin bowling, stop dance, and a costume competition whose winner was to be announced at midnight.
Angel was just in time at the start, playing non-alcoholic eyeball pong (a version of beer pong but with painted table tennis balls that were supposed to look like eyes) for his team consisting of him, Alastor and Husk, ... when the doorbell rang for the first time that evening and to everyone's surprise it was Alastor , who went to the front door and opened it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Ah, children in costumes, let's see, we have a Frankenstein, a fairy, a... shopping basket? And a lion... don't forget to smile children!", to the surprise of everyone present, Alastor was the person at the door and, with his creepy smile, put a few sweets into the little buckets of the young demon children.
"Alastor? You forgot a child", Vaggie stated dryly and nodded once to a child in costume that Alastor had clearly skipped over.
And the radio demon didn't put any sweets in the little boy's bucket either. He had simply ignored the disguised demon child.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, dear”, Alastor said innocently.
“I don’t believe that. Charlie, can you please tell Alastor that every child gets some of the Halloween candy, no matter what they’re dressed up as!”, groaned Vaggie.
“What an incredibly wicked rule! With such a tasteless costume, our little friend should be happy not to be chased off the grounds of the Hazbin Hotel with pitchforks and fire running after him!” - Alastor giggled amusedly.
The little boy had dressed up as Vox. Yes, exactly, as the TV demon Vox. A good reason from Alastor to ignore this tastelessness, and for someone who uses a pathetic, immature demon as his Halloween costume idea, there are no candy.
“Alastor? It’s Halloween - look how cool the little boy is dressed!” Charlie tried.
Alastor's right eye twitched irritably as he looked at the costume.
"Oh i dont think so? It's not even a direct replica! The antenna is damaged on the wrong side ha-ha!", Alastor laughed and slammed the door in the child's face.
Lucifer snapped the fingers of his right hand once and the poor disguised Vox Kid Boy, got a lot of candy in his bucket... and Alastor got a Halloween hat conjured onto his head. Whether he wanted it or not.
"Happy Halloween! And if we play limbo next, I'm for Alastor to start!", Lucifer said amusedly and waddled ahead in his duck costume.
It was going to be a long, fun evening, full of scares, horror and Halloween vibes. A slightly chaotic first Halloween for the Hazbin Hotel and its residents, but one that will be remembered... a good memory... and lots of extra decorations in the form of small ghost figures that were distributed throughout the hotel, by a prankster at midnight... as if they wanted to keep the Halloween tradition going even a few days after October 31st.
But who the mysterious question mark was that distributed these little figures , all over the hotel would remain a mystery without an answer, for better or worse.
THE END