It was supposed to be a good day. Baxter’s side projects were getting close to being finished, the weekend was just around the corner, and there was more research to be done. Baxter liked learning, especially when it was about therapy. He’s learned so many new terms and slang from Husk. It was fun.

Baxter started the day with a nice warm shower. As a cold-blooded animal, the heat from the shower was nice and relaxing. But as he was getting ready, he looked in the mirror and scowled. Unfortunately, when he had spawned in hell, his sinner appearance had retained a lot of his human attributes. His height and genitalia unfortunately being the human parts of him. He could see the bumps around his chest and lack of bulge in his boxers and felt a deep discomfort. 

He had scheduled his top surgery 2 years ago when he had been working under Vox. Voxtek usually covered stuff like this (especially if you worked for Valentino). He wasn’t sure if they would still cover it as he was probably fired. But just in case they didn’t, he had money in his savings for it. The only problem was it wasn’t just the sloth ring that took forever with appointments. On average, it would take 4-10 years for a mastectomy, aka top surgery. 

So Baxter pulled on a binder and continued his morning routine. Although his lure was a famous trait only seen in female angler fish, a lot of sinners were too doltish to realize it was just females that had them. The stupidity of others made him a bit less dysphoric about his lure. But every now and then some educated motherfucker would have to point it out.

When he was all finished with his morning routine, he combed his hair back and put on his dysphoria lab coat (like a dysphoria hoodie). Then he put on his gloves because sensory issues, and climbed upstairs.

There were already quite a few people up and about, eating breakfast and hanging out in the lobby. Baxter had poured himself a cup of black coffee and walked over to the television by the common area. There were quite a few sinners around, including Husk, watching the news. But luckily, Baxter was able to find a spot in a lounge chair. He tuned in right when the weather segment was ending. Which he didn’t really care about. He never really left the hotel anyways.

“Now, enough of the weather, let's get on with more Hazbin Hotel drama,” Katie Killjoy announced.

‘Wonder what fake news they managed to artificially select today’ Baxter thought, taking a sip from his coffee.

“We have found out that Charlie Morningstar and her girlfriend, cuz gays can’t get married, will quite literally try to change everything about you! She will force you to change your gender and cut off your balls and tits when you stay at the hotel,” Katie started. Suddenly, a picture of Baxter popped up on screen, “Take this sinner for example. You may think it’s a boy, but you can easily tell by the lure that she’s a female. Only a few hours after staying at the hotel, she had changed into this male appearance! Charlie Morningstar made this poor sinner into something she wasn’t, because we all know trans people don’t exist.”

Baxter couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He had been living as male for years! He didn’t just change his gender when he started staying. This must be his payback for betraying Vox. Only that TV man knew his secret, mainly because he was a shark nerd and knew a little bit about other fish. 

“That’s right, Katie! This guest at Charlie Morningstar’s hotel appears to actually be female. If this sinner had her gender changed, who’s to say the princess won’t change yours?” Tom Trench commented. Katie and Tom then started going back and forth with more shit about Baxter and the hotel allegedly forcing people to become trans, using fake graphs and forged surveys. 

Baxter felt a deep sense of panic as he was just outed to all of the pride ring. What was he going to do now? Everyone would think he was forced to be trans because of what Katie Killjoy said. He suddenly felt a bunch of eyes on him from the other sinners gathered around the television.

“Hey… Ain’t you that fish sinner?” One of them asked.

“I- Um,” Baxter couldn’t say anything, he felt his throat close up. This was the worst thing that could happen.

“It is! Look at its head thing! It’s the exact same!” Someone shouted.

“No way! So the princess really will change our genders? Fuck this!” A sinner with a disgusted look on his face grabbed his key and put it back on the key rack, rushing out of the hotel as quickly as possible. 

Within minutes, half the hotel cleared out. People who had been watching from their phones or in their rooms had seen what Katie said and believed it. Charlie, who had been manning the front desk, became overwhelmed by how many people were suddenly leaving. She walked over to Baxter and Husk, trying to understand what was happening.

“Guys? Why is everyone leaving?” She asked, hoping they would know.

“Katie Killjoy is spreading some transphobic shit about Baxter and the hotel,” Husk grumbled and took out his phone, “Take a look”

He showed Charlie a post from the official 666 news twitter that was made right after the segment went live. It basically said the same things that were said before. About how the hotel was forcing residents to be trans and then using Baxter as an example.

“Wait, are you-?” Charlie looked over at Baxter, who simply nodded, keeping his head down. He hated talking about it. Once people knew, it was all the ever associated with him.

“I’m so sorry, Baxter! Katie had no right to out you like that on live television!” Charlie exclaimed, “I do not force anyone to change their gender or sexualities. I need to speak with her-”

“Princess, No. Remember the last time this happened? It only made things worse. We just need to wait for this to die down,” Husk said.

Charlie and Husk argued a little for a while. Baxter held his knees to his chest while all this was going on. All he could think about was how Everyone knew he was trans now. And even worse, no one would refer to him as male anymore because they all think he’s just some girl being forced into this! Would he have to go back to living as female? To avoid sinner’s transphobic remarks? 

Not only that but he single handedly got rid of half the hotel. Being a bio-engineer, he’s learned how to overcome guilt, especially with experimenting on living organisms (dude is in hell for a reason). But a part of him did feel guilty for driving a shit ton of guests out of the hotel. 

Baxter stared into the floor in front of him, slowly rocking back and forth and chewing on his lip until it bled. He wasn’t even aware that he was doing this. His body just started trying to self-soothe in any way possible. Especially with the dysphoria creeping up again with his Lure. If he didn’t have that stupid thing, it would’ve kept his secret for far longer. 

Charlie seemed to have noticed Baxter acting strange. Usually the angler was quite composed and collected, barely showing any hint of distress. So seeing him acting like this worried Charlie.

“Baxter? Are you okay?” She asked. That suddenly snapped him out of his small trance. He stopped rocking back and forth and looked up at her. Out of nowhere, he felt his nose tingle and water starting to well in his eyes. He couldn’t cry here though. Everyone would see him as weak and belittle him! He had spent so many years proving to everyone that he was not some little guy to be messed with. He sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin all that progress.

“Yes, Charlie I am doing just alright. I’m going down to the basement. I believe I left my burner on,” He said, before making a quick exit out of there.

Baxter rushed to the end of the hall before he finally found the hatch down to the basement. He opened the hatch and started climbing down the ladder into his safe space. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. But then as he turned around to face his bedroom, he saw one giant eye and its body staring back at him.

“Shit! Niffty! What are you doing down here?” He asked, trying to wipe away any stray tears and make himself look more presentable.

“Delivering more bugs for you to experiment on! And folding your blankets,” She explained with a big grin. After finding out how he liked his blankets folded, she made it her goal to do it perfectly. She even had a protractor to make sure the angle was the exact degree.

“Oh, thank you, Niffty” He said. But the maid could tell something was up.

“You okay, Baxter?” She asked, her usual chaotic and loud voice becoming more gentle and quiet. She realized that he wasn’t his normal, confident and composed self. She was often very observant and noticed small things like this.

“I am alright, Niffty. Something has happened but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Baxter assured her.

“Ooh, what happened?” Niffty asked, suddenly getting excited. She liked eavesdropping on people and hearing their drama. Now she wouldn’t have to hide under tables to listen!

Baxter hesitated. One part of him was scared. He didn’t know what niffty thought about trans people. He knew she was an ally of gay people, but he wasn’t sure if that would be the same for transgenders. But at the same time, she was going to find out anyway. It would be better if he told her himself.

“I was not born male, Niffty… I am transgender. Katie Killjoy just exposed that secret of mine on live television to make the hotel look bad,” He explained to her, a hint of sadness in his voice.

He looked over to meet Niffty’s eyes and found her sharpening her knife. He was a little confused.

“She messed with the wrong bad boy,” Niffty said. Baxter smiled, feeling flattered that Niffty was willing to go kill Katie Killjoy for this, and also still considered him a bad boy. But a part of him felt like a fraud. Here Niffty was, calling him a boy, when the lure on the top of his head and bumps on his chest clearly stated that he wasn’t.

“It is alright, Niffty. Don’t dirty your knife. I’m not a real “bad boy” afterall,” He told her, looking down.

“You may not be the baddest, but I still think of you as a bad boy!” Niffty exclaimed. He chuckled a little. She thought he was talking about the bad part in “bad boy”.

“No, Niffty. I’m not a real boy,” He tried to explain.

“But don’t you feel like a boy?” She questioned.

“Well, yes-”

“Then you are one!” Niffty said, “Don’t listen to what Killjoy says! You’re my bad boy, and I'm going to protect you!” 

She suddenly ran into him and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a big, tight hug. Baxter’s face softened and he put a hand on her head. Maybe she was right. He shouldn’t listen to what Killjoy has to say. 

“Come on! I wanna show you how to make a roach crown,” Niffty suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him over to his desk before getting out a bunch of roaches from a box. She wasn’t the best at comforting people, but she sure knew how to help distract them!

The two of them spent the rest of the morning making roach crowns and experimenting with the bugs. Niffty had a couple biology questions about the bugs so Baxter pulled out one of his old textbooks on insects and bugs and sat down with her on his bed as they read through the book.