Christmas Market Event,

Day 3

Group two: Asmo, Barbatos, and a hint of Diavolo & Solomon

This little story belongs to my Christmas project, a series of stories leading up to Christmas Eve! Check my Event Masterlist for more information, and have fun!

Even half an hour after Diavolo had left off without him, Diavolo´s words were ringing in Barbatos´ears:

No need for you to escort me, Barbatos.

Letting out another big sigh, Barbatos let himself be dragged across this human world Christmas market by Asmodeus.

“Come on, Barbatos, you need to get over it!” Asmo scolded, just like he had done after every of the butler´s sighs so far. “This isn´t the first time Lord Diavolo is someplace without you. Why is it bothering you now?”

Barbatos´ face formed the slightest pout.

“The Young Lord has never declined my escorts so bluntly…” he explained. “It felt like he almost ached to get away from me… As if I´d hinder him in having a good time.”

Luckily, the butler was too deep in his thoughts to catch that look Asmo gave him. And immediately after, the avatar of Lust was quick to put on a radiant smile.

“Don´t worry your head over it! I´m certain Lord Diavolo wanted to mix things up for a change. And don´t you think that’s the perfect opportunity for you to let loose, too?”

Eyeing the stalls they were passing, Barbatos gave a shrug. “I suppose you could say that…”

“Great!” Asmo cheered. “Then, I say the two of us have a little toast on that, and then we´ll go have the greatest time one can have at a Christmas market!” He gestured towards the stall that Asmo seemed to be heading to.

“Mulled wine?” Barbatos read from the neatly written sign.

“Yeah!” Asmo grinned. “I doubt this human world alcohol will have any effect on us, so it should be fine to drink a cup or two, right?”

As they came to a stop in front of the stall, Barbatos mustered it some more. It was obvious he was still unsure, but then Asmo whispered to him with a smirk.

“Let´s show Lord Diavolo how much of a fun person you can be, so that he´ll never turn down one of your escorts again, hm~?”

And with sparkling eyes, Barbatos gave a nod.

“Let´s do it.”

—————

So, uhm…

It seems like the mulled wine had more of an effect on the demons than anticipated. Maybe because it was heated, maybe because of the spices, maybe because Asmo and Barbatos ended up drinking way more than one usually would – but soon, both found themselves in that quirky, just-so-able-to-walk-normally state of drunk.

And that on itself was fascinating, as Barbatos wasn´t one to be influenced by Devildom alcohol that much. Now, however, he found himself hunched over a wooden table, whining about his worries:

“I just can´t believe he turned me down like that” Barbatos sulked. “The Young Lord´s well-being is my top priority at all times, and yet he´s always searching for an excuse to get away from me… Asmo, am I doing something wrong?”

Asmodeus, seated next to Barbatos, was taking the mulled wine a little better. Gently patting the butler´s back, he shook his head heavily. “No, darling, you´re a great butler! Anyone would be happy to have you watching over them. I mean look at you! You´re smart, strong, handsome – like, look at your pretty eyes, and that cute hair of yours – Lord Diavolo would be a fool to dodge a demon like you!” He was playing with Barbatos´ hair as he spoke, maybe invading his space a biiit too much, but Barbatos would only sniffle and nod.

“Thank you, Asmodeus” he mumbled. “You´re a true friend.”

“You´re welcome” Asmo smiled. “Now, what do you say we walk around a bit? Maybe buy a thing or two? It´s not often we get to hang out in the human world, after all.”

“Yes” Barbatos nodded. “I´d like that.”

So they got up to take a look at the remaining stalls, but it didn´t take them too long until Barbatos spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

“Hey, Asmodeus… “He mumbled, pointing at a person a few stalls away. “Isn´t that… Lord Diavolo?”

“Oh yeah” Asmo hummed. “And Solomon, too. Wow, the poor guy is packed with shopping bags…”

“The Young Lord must have bought all these…” Barbatos grumbled, unconsciously walking towards them now.

“Wait!” Asmo managed to stop him. “You can´t approach him! We´re trying to have fun without Lord Diavolo, remember?”

“Ah, you´re right…” Barbatos stopped. However, a moment later, he shot Asmo a somewhat bashful glance. “But, uhm… Do you think we could… maybe… Continue our walk in the same direction as them?”

Asmo´s eyes widened. “You want to tail them?!” he gasped, to which a guilty blush spread on the butler´s face. “Barbatos, you devious man!”

“I-I´m sorry, I shouldn´t have proposed such conniving ide-“

“I love it.”

“… Huh?” Barbatos tilted his head.

“I love it” Asmo repeated, a mischievous spark in his eyes. “Let´s hurry, I bet we´ll end up with some juicy tea to spill about them…! Aaah, I´m so EXCITED!”

“T-tea…? What has tea to with – uah!” Barbatos started, not quite following but by now, Asmo was already pushing Barbatos into Diavolo´s and Solomon´s direction.

————–

The pair was successfully tailing Solomon and Diavolo for quite a while.

They were amazed by the amount of items Diavolo ended up buying – while half laughing at, half feeling sorry for Solomon, as the poor guy that had to carry all that stuff. In a sober state, Barbatos would have jumped to Solomon´s aid by now, but after all the wine he had, everything his dizzy mind could focus on was how Diavolo was enjoying himself to the fullest.

“I am happy for him” Barbatos claimed, hiding in the crowd as he watched Diavolo buy a pair of knitted gloves. “I… I am. But I don´t understand… Why did he have to go without me?! I would´ve advised him to buy the red gloves, not the yellow ones!”

Asmodeus next to him was sipping on another cup of mulled wine. “You tell him when you´re home” he said, his finger gesturing up and down stupidly much. “Let him feel how hopeless he is without his butler.”

“I will” Barbatos grumbled, drinking more of his own wine. “I will… And I will show him that right now!” With that he walked, or rather staggered towards the prince, but thankfully Asmo was able to hold him back.

“No, honey, I tell you, we already went through this” he babbled, his voice too loud and his speech slurred enough for people to turn their heads towards the scene. “If you go up to him now then you lose. But you have to win, you hear?”

Barbatos stared at him, visibly conflicted. Then, biting his lip, he turned to look at Diavolo again – but there was no Diavolo to be seen anymore.

“Wh… Where´s the Young…” the butler mumbled, only seeing Solomon in the crowd. So he threw Asmo a panicked glance. ”We lost Lord Diavolo!”

“Huh?” Now the avatar of Lust was scanning the market as well. “You´re right… And Solomon´s gone, too…”

“What?! But Solomon was there just a second…” Barbatos swirled around. “You´re… You´re right… Something must have happened to them…We have to find them!”

So they lurched through the market, especially Barbatos getting whinier by the second.

“I have failed as a butler” he cried out. “I am never going to find the Young Lord, and it´s my fault for-“

In his misery, he didn´t notice a person crossing his way and instead stumbled right into him. Confused, he looked at the figure and identified him as a police officer.

“Oh… oh officer…!” Barbatos called out with sparkling eyes.

“Hey there…” The officer threw him a sceptical glance. “Can I help you?”

“Yes… Yes, I have lost someone” Barbatos explained. By now, Asmo had caught up to them as well.

The police offer gave a nod. “Okay, stay calm, we´ll find your kid. How old are they?”

“I… I don´t know, I stopped counting at some point” Barbatos waved it off.

“A few thousand years old!” Asmo jumped in to help. “Barb, honey, will this man help us find Lord Diavolo?”

While the demon butler gave a nod, the officer blinked in confusion.

“A thous… Lord…?” the human mumbled. “Errr… Okay, so, what does your friend look like?”

Little did he know that encouraged the two demons to info-dump him with details about Diavolo, not even necessarily about his appearance.

“He´s about this tall…”

“He has tanned skin… Just a great man, through and through…”

“He has these big, big muscles that look SO amazing…”

“You have to know him!” Barbatos cried out at some point. “He´s the demon prince, after all!”

The officer slowly furrowed his brow. “The… demon prince… I see…”

“Exactly!” Barbatos smiled. “You know him, right?”

“Sure…” The officer proceeded to grab his police radio and mumbled something into it. He was about to put it back again, but then Asmodeus remembered something else.

“Oh, and we´re looking for a sorcerer, too!”

… You could make out the “come quickly” that the police man murmured into the device, then he turned to the demons again.

“Okay, don´t worry guys, I know where they are.”

“You do?!” Both called out at the same time.

“Yeah, yeah, they´re right at our station. Come, I´ll bring you to right to them.”

—————–

Making their way together with this very nice police officer, Asmo and Barbatos kept babbling things that, really, they shouldn´t say out loud… here… In the human world.

At one stall, they also came across the avatar of Wrath.

“Oh, hello, Satan!” Asmo grinned as they passed the blond, waving at his brother with this inner peace that only sweet alcohol could give you.

While Satan was mustering the scene, the officer´s face was once and for all twisting from confusion to pure stress.

“God help me” he mumbled, shaking his head and picking up his pace.

—————–

A few hours later…

“Asmodeus?”

“What is it, Barbatos?”

“I… I think my head is clearing up again…”

“Uh-huh” Asmo agreed. “Mine too.”

“So, uhm…” Barbatos began. “… Why are we locked up again?”

“I don´t know… But it´s disgusting in this cell, I want to go home already…”

They let out a sigh.

“I wonder how the others are doing” Barbatos mumbled. “Lord Diavolo must be…”

The cell´s door got opened. Blinded by the light, it took the demons a moment to realize it was none other than Diavolo looking down at them.

“There you are!” the prince laughed. “You guys, we were worried about you!”

“Mylord…‼”

“Lord Diavolo!”

The second after, Diavolo found himself in a tight embrace by both of them.

Diavolo let out a chuckle. “Seems like the two of you had one hell of an evening!”

He guided them out of the cell, waving the officer´s goodbye. Outside the building, they were greeted by Solomon.

“My my” the sorcerer grinned. “Am I curious to find out what you guys did to get locked up…”

A few more hugs later, they were heading back to the rest of the group.

“I would have never guessed to see such a side of you” Diavolo said, peeking at Barbatos. “Really, I was baffled when Satan told me about it! Maybe I should have gone with you after all, seeing what adventures you must have lived through.“

Barbatos and Asmo threw each other a glance… and smiled.

“Yes, yes you should have” they said.