𝘆𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗵𝗶𝗸𝗶 - 𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞! 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭

「small talk」

you sat in silence, scrolling through your phone, while diavolo was slumped over his work, presumably napping. you yawned as quietly as possible, taking a small bite of your strawberry shortcake to taste it.

"so good," you whispered to yourself, taking more bites.

"strawberry shortcake is really good, barbatos bakes it all the time for me." diavolo suddenly sat up, smiling at you. you jumped off of your chair in surprise, cursing to yourself as you landed on the floor.

"diavolo!" you whined, dusting yourself off and sitting back down. "i thought you were sleeping!"

"i was, but for some reason, i was only able to sleep for about a few minutes." he sighed out, pushing his stack of paperwork to the side with a grin.
"you know... maybe i should just do it all later. it's not like anyone's going to notice. i can finish it up some other time."

"mmph." you nodded, your mouth full of strawberry shortcake. you swallowed, and replied properly to diavolo's comment.

"procrastinating's very bad, dia!" you said playfully, attempting to imitate a strict, rule-abiding mom. "you should get your work out of the way!"

"no." diavolo replied, chuckling. he sighed before leaning back in his chair.
"after all, the reason why i came here in the first place was to escape all of my paperwork and duties."

"you're so different from lucifer." you giggled, pushing the plate over to diavolo. about half of the strawberry shortcake was still on the plate.

"want some?" you asked, and diavolo shook his head while smiling.

"thanks for the offer, but i want to let you finish eating it! i'll get my own... soon." diavolo laughed, and you shrugged.
"your loss." you murmured.

diavolo took his own phone out to watch a few videos, not bothering to put headphones in, although he did lower the volume slightly. you took your eyes off of your own phone and you attempted to peek over at diavolo's screen, smirking to yourself. however, he seemed to have noticed, as he quickly retreated his phone to his chest while smirking back at you.

"why are you so curious?" he asked, while you retreated back to your chair.

"i'm just curious." you responded, giggling before gluing your eyes back to your phone.

"no way that happened..."
"wow, that's insane!"
"what the hell...?"
you continued to mutter phrases to yourself as you encountered random news or pieces of information while scrolling through media. diavolo noticed this and grinned at you. you didn't notice.

"there's no way she did that! that's nearly impossible!" you muttered yet again, and diavolo cleared his throat. you looked over at him, and he was beaming.

"has anyone else caught you like this?" he asked mundanely and bluntly. you blinked in confusion.

"what do you mean?" you asked.

"your little habits!" diavolo said cheerfully.

"huh?" you exclaimed. you were left confused for a few more seconds until you realized that you had muttered your reactions out loud. pink began dusting your cheeks and you quickly gazed away, back at your phone. diavolo did the same.

"i think i feel more awake now," he stated, "so i don't think i'm going to follow lucifer's footsteps."

he put his phone down and turned to face you. you looked at him, taking the hint and immediately setting your phone down as well.

"you should still drink less caffeine." you said, gazing down at the cozy, wooden table and tracing small patterns on it.

"well, i don't drink it constantly." said diavolo. "i reserve it for... instances like these."

"i can tell." you remarked, looking at the various cups of coffee and huge stacks of paperwork right next to diavolo.

"sooo... the weather..." you exclaimed awkwardly.

"small talk?" diavolo raised his eyebrows. "the weather's very nice today."

"eh, we don't have to do small talk if you don't want to." you said, continuing to trace patterns on the table with your finger. "i just have no idea what else to say. honestly."

"mmm." diavolo pondered for a moment before chuckling again. "i'll continue talking about lucifer and his brothers, shall i?"

diavolo took a massive breath, and you straightened up in your seat, preparing for the monologue he was about to present.

"lucifer's very strict on his brothers, yet i can see why. sometimes. he should ease down on the punishments... although i already mentioned that, of course. i do wish he could take a break, yet he's too prideful for that..."

"mammon's incredibly greedy, even going as far as scamming people, yet his family is fairly wealthy. well, mammon himself is quite... poor. but it's not only about money, it's about possessions, too..."

diavolo continued talking for about twenty minutes more, with your reactions ranging from just a single shake of your head to screeching something out loud.

"their family's quite chaotic, in general-"

the door to the cafe opened. diavolo's expression changed to one of worry, and you cocked your eyebrows.

"what's up?" you said, turning to face the door. you saw barbatos standing in the doorway.

"HEYYY, BARBIE TOES!" you yelled out, signaling for him to join you and diavolo. he spotted you and smiled, heading towards your table. diavolo sighed.

"lord diavolo," barbatos said, "it appears as though you've been procrastinating on your duties..."

"i just needed a change of... scenery." diavolo winked at you again.

"well, it's time to go back home. i'll escort you."
barbatos then turned to you and smiled. "also, hello, y/n. i wasn't expecting to run into you here."

"me neither." you laughed as barbatos began ushering diavolo out of the cafe, carrying the paperwork. you sat there by yourself, gazing at the floor awkwardly before you remembered something significant.

"holy shit, i just remembered-"
you quickly checked the time, rushing out of the building to head towards your guardian's office building.

take your kid to work day.
what a dreadful day.