"Camping..?"

"Indeed! Camping!" Diavolo completely overshadowed Lucifer's obvious lament with his cheery disposition, motioning to Simeon, who stood to his left. "I believe it will be a fantastic way to bond with each other, as both peers and friends! It's been many milleniums since I have gone camping, myself! How long has it been, Barbatos?"

The Demon Lord's right hand man, who ironically was also standing to his right, glanced at his watch.
"Four and a quarter milleniums, my Lord, as of this Thursday." He responded, his voice reminding me of a certain butler who shared the same name with my favourite musical crustacean.

"I'll pass, sorry. There are bugs out there, in the outdoors. Can't have my flawless skin fall prey to bites." Asmodeus announced, tossing his hair.
"Same! I've got a super rare Ruri-Chan collectible coming from Akuzon! I'm not missing it!" Leviathan added, looking rather disgusted by the thought of socialization.

"Come on, you guys! This will be a fun experience! This program was created for us to share time together, and strengthen bonds among our races." Simeon explained, Luke right by his side, nodding along furiously, despite his obvious frustrations.

"I'm not so sure a camping expedition would be the best way to accomplish that. Perhaps once we know one another better, in the future, but it doesn't exactly sound inviting at the current time." Satan sighed, which kind of bummed me out. Why was everyone so against it?

Beside me, Beelzebub patted his stomach, humming in thought.
"Camping means campfire snacks. As long as that's the case, I'll come along." My mood picked up when he said that, and I smiled happily. At least one of them was willing.

"I'm super keen for it! It'll be great to get out of classes for a while and spend time with you guys!" As sappy as it sounded, it was the truth. Camping brought people together. At least, that's what I always saw in movies.
"Don't say that!" Mammon leaned around Beelzebub to scowl at me. "If you go, I'm gonna be forced to, too!"

"That's exactly right, Mammon. I myself have other engagements to attend to, but if (Y/N) is participating, then you shall be too." Lucifer smirked as he handed his brother the news, but I noticed the way Diavolo was almost bouncing on his heels. He had something to add.

"Actually, Lucifer...I have decided that this shall be a compulsory activity! If any of you refuse to attend, then punishments shall await you!" He announced, immediately soaking in all the shocked and appalled expressions of his underlings. "Oh, how fun! This shall be a great way to set this experiment into full swing!"

None of the demon brothers seemed at all impressed, minus Beelzebub, and I hoped that wouldn't mean they'd blame me for it. After all, I was part of the exchange.
"So, with that out of the way, I wish to inform you all that we shall be leaving for Loathly Forest tomorrow morning! Pack accordingly, for a three day trip!" Simeon instructed us with an angelic smile, which made me internally swoon.

Once the meeting had ended, the demons parted ways, muttering to themselves about how unfair the situation was, but I lingered behind, not wanting to get on their bad sides any more than I already had.
"(Y/N), do you require an escort back to the House of Lamentation? It seems that you have been left behind."

Barbatos bowed to me a little, and I nodded awkwardly, still not sure about his whole deal. He seemed polite enough, but nobody was that disciplined.
"Yeah...that isn't anything new to me, but sure, I'd appreciate that." When he extended his hand to me, I hesitated, but eventually accepted. The moment I did, we weren't in the meeting hall anymore. We were back at the house.

What in triple tiddy tarnation..?!

"Do not be alarmed. I dabble in occasional magic, and I thought that simply teleporting you here would save unnecessary walking." The turquoise-topped demon explained with a smile, seeming to take pleasure in my shock. "Is there anything else you need before I return to Lord Diavolo?"

Pondering for a moment, I thought about many of the questions I could have asked him, ranging from normal to horrendously stupid.
"Actually...I was wondering whether you had any tips about befriending the brothers..?" I asked eventually, twiddling my thumbs. "I mean, it's cool if they don't wanna be, y'know, friend-friends...but it would be great if they didn't hate my guts."

Barbatos softened as he listened to me, his hand dropping from his chest to sit on his hip in a more casual manner.
"The point of this exchange program is to unite the races. My advice to you, as generic as it may sound, is to just be yourself. You may just be surprised at how quickly they will come around."

But...being myself never works...

Still, the fact that the second demon butler known to me had faith in my true self made me feel a little better. I just hoped he was right.
"Thanks, Barbie. Maybe I can whip up a few friendships at this camping thing?"

Giving me a polite smile, Barbatos nodded, taking a step back and bowing his head.
"I am sure you will surprise yourself. Now, if you excuse me, I must return to pack for Lord Diavolo. Have a pleasant remainder of your evening, (Y/N)." Right before my eyes, he vanished. No smoke, no flash, just gone. Demons really did make my head spin.

As I waited for the brothers to return, I considered heading upstairs to check on Belphegor, but decided against it. If I was caught, I'd never be allowed to go on the trip. Among other things. So, I bided my time like any other sane person would do. I held another intense staring contest with the portrait across the hall.

"See? I told you she'd be at it again." For once, I didn't allow the sudden voice to startle me, maintaining aggressive eye contact with the 2D demon lord, even though my brain was about to implode.
"I never disagreed with you. This is expected, at this point." Finally giving up, I groaned out loud, slumping back against the bottom step.

"Y'all harshed my groove. I almost had him this time..." I whined, finally looking up at Mammon and Satan with burning eyes.
"Of course you did. Anyway, Lucifer told us to let you know that we'll be leaving rather early in the morning, so make sure you're packed and have an early night."

Mammon nodded along with his brother, trying to stick his chest out to look just as refined.
"That's right! Dinner and bed, human! Pronto!" Standing up, I stretched my arms above my head, for once nothing clicking and snapping back into place.
"Damn, and here I was ready to tell you that I found out that 'Upon Thy Knees' has a five part TV special..."

Mammon had me by the sleeve before I even had a chance to finish my sentence, shaking my arm about.
"Fuck dinner! I need to see this! C'mon, I've got a plasma in my room!" He was about to drag me off when Satan cleared his throat, bringing attention to himself.

"Asmo has the deluxe edition, in case you weren't aware. Last I heard, he hasn't watched it yet..." I had been expecting him to scold us for planning to stay up, but I was overjoyed with the surprise of him playing along. Still held by Mammon, I reached back and seized the fold of material near the blond's elbow, giving it a tug.

"You know you totally wanna go get him and come join us for a marathon." (E/C) eyes wide and hopeful, I watched as the avatar of wrath considered my proposal, eventually rolling his eyes with a loose sigh.
"Very well...but only because I want to see how accurately they've portrayed Incubi..."

Happy with his answer, I allowed Mammon to haul me away to his room, which, in all honesty, looked more like a drug lord's bachelor pad. There was even a car inside. A car. He was surprisingly very chatty as we set up his king sized bed for company, despite a few occasional grumbles about wanting me to not read into him letting me, a human, into his domain.

Satan arrived shortly after with both Asmodeus and Beelzebub, who they had run into in the kitchen when fetching likely the most accurate snack they could. Strawberries. Soon, we were all sat on the bed, blond and ivory to either side of me, both Asmodeus and Beel laying down the end, the glow of the television washing over us.

For the first time, even though it was a fluke, I felt happy. I'd never had such an experience before, surrounded by people and having a good time, laughing and cracking jokes. Even though we weren't all that close, I felt like maybe, just maybe...

...they could be my first real friends...

.
.
.
.
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***Cue Lucifer kicking the door down and being an angry mother.

I'm stuck on lesson 29 again because levelling cards is hard af, but damn, Satan needs to kick me. Immediately.

Next Time: Tent-ative***