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BarbWeek Day 3: Meme

1.2k words | Barbatos, Lucifer & Gen!MC| Fluff

Whenever Barbatos and Lucifer work together, better believe they accomplish any task they have. But it seems that this time they are having some difficulties.

Thanks to @2many-art for organizing #barbweek!

AO3 link Part 1: Exchange Part 2: Ropes Part 4: Suit Part 5: Under Part 6: Summer Part 7: Dame

"I give up…" Lucifer's heavy sigh made you freeze halfway through the door. You just wanted to pay a visit to Barbatos and Lucifer in the student council's office, knowing how hard they must've been working. You even brought a few cupcakes to sweeten the time they had to spend in a hot, stuffy room. But if the Avatar of Pride said something like this, they were doing much worse than expected.

"What happened?" You asked, approaching the huge table filled with papers. You found a free space and piled the cupcakes on it, getting an appreciative smile from Barbatos. Lucifer, though, couldn't care less about deliciously smelling bakery.

"Young Master entrusted us with a very important task…" Barbatos replied with a polite smile, but Lucifer interrupted him with uncharacteristic rudeness, indicating that he was on his wits' end.

"We both know that it isn't important. He just wants to have fun at our expense by putting us out of our element." The grumpy demon pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing even heavier than before. "I could be doing so many other things. The work keeps piling up, yet Lord Diavolo always finds a way to get inspired at the most inconvenient times possible."

"I wouldn't say that this task is out of my element, personally." Barbatos looked at his colleague in amusement. "But maybe I should reevaluate my abilities, since you didn't appreciate a single idea I came up with."

"With all due respect," Lucifer grunted and glared daggers at the butler, "you didn't offer anything even remotely constructive. I'm starting to think that you have the same mindset as Lord Diavolo and agreed to work with me only because you find it entertaining."

"I'm sorry if anything I said made you think that I'm not fully devoted to helping you." Barbatos made a sad face, putting a hand over his heart to show his sincerity. "But rest assured that I'm just as determined to deal with this task as you are."

"Care to fill me in?" You butted into the conversation and dropped on the chair. Since nobody has taken the cupcakes yet, you snatched one without any shame. Barbatos immediately stood up and hurried to make some tea. He already had a tea set ready, clearly anticipating that Lucifer and he would be stuck in this room for hours to come.

"Young Master entrusted us with popularizing the officers of the student council." He said, pouring herbal beverage into three cups.

"I thought you guys were popular enough. You're basically celebrities." You mumbled as you munched on the cupcake, making Lucifer's eye twitch. You smiled at him apologetically as a few crumbs fell on the table from your lips. The demon only rolled his eyes, fully realizing that you were just teasing him. Despite your indecent behavior, your tomfoolery smoothed out a few wrinkles on his forehead.

Barbatos handed you a napkin as he put a cup full of hot tea in front of you. Unlike Lucifer, it seemed nothing you did could piss him off. Such stoic demeanor was both admirable and annoying. You often found yourself wanting to do something unreasonable on purpose, just to see his reaction.

"It's true that we are well-known throughout the Devildom," Lucifer nodded and started slowly strolling around the room, sinking into his thoughts. "But Lord Diavolo wants us to show our down-to-earth side. Or humorous side, even." The demon massaged his temples, feeling the headache incoming. "We can't waste time on organizing any comic events or anything of the sort. Besides, to reach the masses we need something much different from a local live event."

Lucifer stopped in front of the board and taped on it, demonstrating to you the results of their hard work. The whole board was filled with printout images of various memes that were popular throughout the current year. In the center of it all, a definition of the word "meme" was written and circled with a red marker.

"We did very in-depth research on the subject," Barbatos smiled at you, settling on the nearby chair. He was nearly not as stressed as Lucifer, enjoying his partner's frustration. "Here you can find several algorithms of how to create a humorous internet phenomenon." Barbatos showed you a pile of documents with diagrams and spreadsheets. You didn't even try to read any of it.

"Guys…" You rested your head on your hand, covering your mouth and trying to suppress laughter. "So Diavolo tasked you with creating the kind of propaganda that 'kids' would find interesting? Don't you have someone more… modern to handle your PR? Asmo, for example?"

"Don't mention Asmodeus or Leviathan," Barbatos whispered to you with a barely visible cheeky smile, but it was too late.

"Asmo will be properly punished as soon as he returns from his fashion show," Lucifer growled, rolling the stack of papers in his hands into a tight roll, threatening to tear them apart. "Naturally I reached out to him as soon as I got this ridiculous task. But he refused to help, stating that 'you can't artificially create memes; the way people choose trends is chaotic and unpredictable.' Which is a complete lie; there is clearly an algorithm to it!" Lucifer's hand slammed on the documents with diagrams, shaking the table and all three cups of tea.

"Leviathan had the same opinion," Barbatos added softly, taking one of the cupcakes. "I believe he said something like, 'it's cringe when the government tries to be hip and communicate with people through memes, as it comes out as insincere and uncool.' It's hard to disagree with him on this."

"I don't care whether it's sincere or not; it's our job!" Lucifer sank into the chair and finally grabbed the cupcake, tearing it apart with his fangs. "We need to increase the number of followers on all our official pages in social media; to promote the 'casual' side of the student council; to make sure other demons are more acquainted with the policies we intend to establish in the nearest future…"

"I believe we won't have to worry about that anytime soon," Barbatos casually interrupted Lucifer, checking the phone that had been vibrating for the last minute. "#studentcouncil, #Dialuci, and #RAD are currently trending on all platforms."

"What? But how?" Lucifer stared at Barbatos in shock as a frown slowly started to appear on his face. "And what was that second hashtag?"

"Remember those stickers your brothers created? With you and Young Master," Barbatos smiled pleasantly as Lucifer's fingers twitched and his claws pierced the papers with algorithms. "Back in the day we managed to restrict them to the private chats of the student council and shared them only with exchange students. I just got Young Master's permission to post them publicly. I think you'll be delighted to hear that the numbers of views and new subscribers are simply enormous."

"Yes. I'm absolutely delighted." Lucifer growled through clenched teeth, setting the board with the research and all the documents on the table on fire. You just sighed, grabbing the rest of the cupcakes and saving them from turning to ash.

Barbatos rose to his feet and calmly strolled to the coffee table, putting down the fire with a flick of a wrist.

"I believe we need more tea," he smiled as Lucifer covered his face with his hands, completely defeated.

AO3 link Part 1: Exchange Part 2: Ropes Part 4: Suit Part 5: Under Part 6: Summer Part 7: Dame

P.S. The art doesn't belong to me; it's official art from Shall We Date: Obey Me! (Flowers and Muscles card)

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