Satan stared down at Luke with a confused expression while the young angel shuffled awkwardly on the doorstep of the House of Lamentation with a pout of his own.
"Did you get lost or something, Fido?" Satan asked as he folded his arms and leant against the doorframe.
"D-don't call me Fido!" Luke burst angrily, balling his hands into fists and stomping his foot on the ground.
A playful smirk spread across Satan's face.
"I'm sorry," Satan said in a teasing voice, "would you rather I called you Max? Or perhaps you prefer Bingo or Buddy?" Or maybe Patches?" Satan surveyed the young angel closely for a moment. "Although, I think Spot would be a rather fitting name for you."
"I'm not a dog, Satan!"
"Don't get your leash in a knot, I'm only kidding," Satan laughed and shook his head, "with a temper like yours, you make it too easy to tease you."
"I don't want to hear that from a demon!" Luke burst again. "Especially from a demon like you, Satan!"
Satan felt his eyebrow twitch and his smile begin to falter at Luke's words.
"What's that supposed to mean, huh?"
Luke gulped nervously as his courage began to waver under the demon's intense stare and words failed him.
"Luke?" Beelzebub's voice sounded from behind Satan as he appeared at his brother's side, making Satan's intimidating aura disappear within an instant — Satan's expression softened as he turned his gaze towards Beelzebub instead — relief poured through Luke's body at the appearance of the other demon. "What are you doing here?"
"That's a good question," Satan said, turning his attention back towards Luke, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he finally spotted a carrier bag in Luke's hand.
"I wanted to bake some muffins using a new recipe that Barbatos taught me, but Solomon insisted on helping so Simeon asked Lucifer if I could use the kitchen here at the House of Lamentation instead while he keeps Solomon busy at Purgatory Hall." Luke explained, his own anger and fear from before ebbed away too.
Satan and Beelzebub shared a knowing glance.
"That's understandable," Satan nodded, "you'd want the muffins to be edible, after all."
"And Solomon would insist that we all eat the muffins he made," Beelzebub pointed out with a frown as he absently held his stomach, "I don't think even I could handle that."
The three shared uneasy groans.
"I don't get why you came here though, wouldn't it have been better if you asked Barbatos to make the muffins with you?" Satan asked, tilting his head to one side as he regarded Luke with a curious stare. "He would've been able to give you useful tips and advice."
"I did message him earlier, but he said that he wasn't available today." Luke replied.
"Not available today?" Beelzebub blinked in confusion.
"That doesn't sound like Barbatos," Satan mused aloud with a thoughtful expression, "Lucifer's out all day today too, maybe there's something going on at the Demon Lord's Castle?"
"It's not anything that serious, Barbatos just said that he had to get some tea leaves," Luke explained.
"So what kind of recipe did he teach you this time?" Satan asked as he opened the door wider and moved aside with Beelzebub to let Luke step inside.
"White chocolate and devilberry muffins!" Luke chimed with an excitable smile as he crossed over the threshold.
"They sound delicious, I can't wait to try some." Beelzebub grinned and licked his lips.
"That does sound interesting," Satan closed the door behind the young angel and led the way towards the kitchen with Beelzebub and Luke following closely behind him, "would you mind if I join you?"
"You want to bake with me?" Luke asked, he stared up at Satan curiously. "I didn't know you liked to bake."
"I often cook for my brothers, so I'm always open to learning a new recipe. That is if you don't mind teaching me, of course."
Luke surveyed Satan closely, but couldn't hide the eager gleam in his eye.
"I'd be happy to teach you," a grin spread across Luke's face, he set the carrier back down on the kitchen table and began to unpack the ingredients with Satan's help, "but only if you promise not to make any more chihuahua jokes!" He added with another pout.
"Not even just one more?"
"No, Satan!"
"Okay," Satan chuckled playfully, "it's a deal."
Luke finally pulled out a notebook out of the carrier bag, and set it down on the table between himself and Satan before he began to flip through the pages
"Hm?" Beelzebub gave a questioning hum as he watched the young angel. "What's with the notebook?"
"These are all the recipes that Barbatos has taught me," Luke replied as he continued to leaf through the notebook.
"So many..." Satan murmured under his breath as his eyes quickly scanned over each page before Luke turned them. "And the level of detail in each recipe is amazing, this is very impressive, Luke."
"Y-you really think so?" Luke's cheeks reddened at Satan's compliment.
"There's enough recipes here to put Madam Scream's out of business," Beelzebub nodded as he peered over Satan's shoulder.
"Beel, you're drooling on my shoulder!" Satan snapped at him as he ducked away from his brother.
"I can't help it, they all look so good." Beelzebub gave Satan an apologetic grin.
"Aha! I found it!" Luke said with a triumphant hum as he finally turned to the page titled 'White Chocolate and Devilberry Muffins' in his notebook. "First things first, let's wash our hands and preheat the oven!" He gave a determined nod and rolled his sleeves up before he headed over to the kitchen sink with Satan to washed their hands.
Satan began to rummage through the cupboards for a muffin tin, measuring scales and a mixing bowl while Luke set the oven to the temperature instructed in his notes.
"I want to make enough for everyone to try them," Luke murmured to himself as he returned to the notebook on the kitchen table, he pondered over the measurements of the ingredients and absently accepted the mixing bowl and measuring scales that Satan handed to him, "so I'll want to make enough for Simeon and Solomon, everyone at the House of Lamentation, and Lord Diavolo and Barbatos too."
"So twelve should be enough," Satan nodded as he joined Luke's side again, placing a muffin tin on the kitchen table and lining it with paper cake cases.
"The measurements in this recipe should be enough then," Luke nodded again as he pulled the bag of self-raising flour towards himself to open it.
"Hang on, Luke!" Satan placed his hand on the angel's shoulder to stop him before he grabbed a cat-patterned apron that had been hanging from a hook on the wall and handed it to Luke. "Devilberry stains are particularly difficult to wash out — especially on white fabrics, so you should wear this to protect your clothes."
Luke gave Satan an appreciative nod and slipped the apron over his head, he gave the printed cats a questioning stare for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and tightly fastened the apron behind his back while Satan carefully read through the recipe and weighed out the butter.
Satan then crossed the kitchen to melt the butter in a saucepan over the stove, stirring it with a wooden spoon that he had pulled out of the cutlery drawer.
"I want to help too," Beelzebub piped up with a smile as he rolled his own sleeves up and hurried to the sink to wash his hands.
"We need to mix two tablespoons of milk, 150ml of yogurt, and two eggs in a jug." Luke told Beelzebub as he carefully weighed the flour, baking soda and caster sugar into the mixing bowl.
"I can do that," Beelzebub gave the young angel another warm smile and a nod as he moved closer to the kitchen table and began to follow Luke's instructions.
"We've just got to wait a minute for the butter to cool down before we add it to the rest of the ingredients in the jug," Satan said as he gave the butter one last stir and removed the saucepan from the heat.
"What's that for?" Beelzebub asked as he spotted a jar of amber syrup on the table beside the pot of yogurt.
"Oh, that's Golden Manuka Honey from the Celestial Realm," Luke replied as he watched Beelzebub pick the jar up to inspect it, "you've heard of it before, right?"
"It's made from pollen of Manuka plants that have grown solely in celestial sunlight," Satan piped up, he carefully added the butter to Beelzebub's jug and set the saucepan down on a heat resistant mat on the kitchen table before he took the jar of honey from his brother's hands to look at it closely, "I've heard that it's sweeter than any honey in the three realms with a floral aftertaste. How were you able to get this, Luke?"
"Michael gave it to me."
Satan and Beelzebub froze.
"He just...?" Satan started.
"... gave it to you?" Beelzebub finished the other demon's question.
"Y-yeah," Luke stammered nervously under their questioning stares, "Simeon told Michael that I had started baking, so Michael sent me the honey as a gift."
Satan and Beelzebub remained silent for a moment as they shared an incredulous stare.
"Luke, do you know how incredibly rare this honey is to come by?" Satan asked in an astonished voice. "It's almost always in high demand and only those of the highest standing, like Lord Diavolo, can afford it."
"It is?" Luke asked, he tilted his head to one side and gave the demon brothers a quizzical stare.
"He didn't even know?" Satan murmured to himself with a sigh.
"You'd best not let Mammon find out about it," Beelzebub warned Luke in a serious tone.
"Yeah, he'd definitely jump at the chance to snatch up and sell something as rare as this." Satan agreed with a nod.
Luke gave the jar of honey an apprehensive glance.
"Don't worry, Mammon's not home at the moment." Beelzebub gave the young angel a gentle, comforting squeeze on the shoulder. "He went shopping with Asmo so he won't be home for a while."
"And even if he was home, we wouldn't let him take your gift from Michael." Satan added as he carefully placed the jar of honey down on the kitchen table.
Luke couldn't help but give a small smile to himself at Satan and Beelzebub's words of reassurance. He watched as Satan then picked up the jug and a whisk before he began to beat the ingredients until they were well mixed - pausing every so often only to check the consistency of the mixture.
Maybe the demons weren't as bad as he had thought?
"What's next, Luke?"
Satan's voice pulled Luke from his musings.
"Oh!" Luke gave a start as he quickly checked his notebook and pulled the mixing bowl closer to himself. "We have to add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix them well."
Satan gave a nod, handed Luke the wooden spoon and poised the jug over the mixing bowl, "just say when."
"Okay, I'm ready." Luke said while he began to stir the dry ingredients as Satan slowly began to pour the contents of the jug into the mixing bowl - the pair worked together until the entire contents of the jug had been added to the mixing bowl.
"Now we just add the devilberries and white chocolate chips," Luke chimed happily and he turned to reach for the remaining ingredients, "huh?" Luke cast his eyes around the kitchen table with a puzzled expression. "I'm sure I put them on the table just here," he added with a frown before he checked inside the carrier bag, "I didn't forget them, did I?"
"BEEL, STOP!" Satan yelled as he spotted the open plastic container of devilberries in Beelzebub's hand with a handful of berries already halfway toward his lips, he quickly lunged himself across the table to snatch the container out of Beelzebub's hand.
"S-Satan, wait!" Luke called out as the mixing bowl and packets of ingredients tipped over and made a mess over the kitchen table.
Satan heaved a sigh of relief as he recovered the devilberries from Beelzebub, "that was close," he murmured to himself and shook his head wearily, "you really need to learn some self control, Beel. You can't just go eating Luke's ingredients like that."
"I'm sorry," Beelzebub frowned and shuffled guiltily on the spot, "talking about the honey made me hungry and I couldn't help myself."
Satan prised himself off of the kitchen table and frowned at the state of his clothes.
"Ah... the batter," Luke gave a defeated sigh as he surveyed the mess over the kitchen table.
"It's okay, Luke." Satan tried to reassure the angel as he dusted the flour and batter mix off of his clothes as best he could. "We can still make another batch, let's get this cleaned up and we can start again. No harm done, right?"
"Right!" Luke nodded with a determined smile.
Satan began to clear off the kitchen table and filled the sink with hot, soapy water, "first things first, we have to find a way to sate Beel's hunger before he eats all of the ingredients," he added as he dropped the jug, mixing bowl, saucepan and utensils into the sink.
Beelzebub bowed his head with a guilty expression at Satan's words and mumbled another apology.
"I'm sure you couldn't help it, right?" Luke patted the avatar of gluttony on the arm sympathetically before he turned back towards Satan. "So how do we sate Beelzebub's hunger?"
Satan remained silent for a moment as a thoughtful expression crossed his face.
"I think I have an idea," Satan finally murmured to himself.
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With a dull thud, Leviathan placed the last box of spicy newt chips down beside the kitchen table on top of the first two boxes that he had brought down from his bedroom earlier.
"That's the last one." Leviathan said as he dusted his hands off.
"Are you sure that you don't mind?" Satan asked as he eyed the boxes that Beelzebub was already tearing open to get to the contents inside.
"It's not like I was going to be able to eat this many by myself anyway, so as long as he doesn't eat the cards too, it should be fine."
"Eat the cards?" Luke gave Leviathan a confused stare.
"Some of these packets of chips have a collectable card inside," Leviathan explained as he pulled out a portable console from his jacket pocket and powered up the device, "it's a limited edition Ruri-Chan collaboration event," he elaborated after he received another bewildered stare from the young angel.
"So you bought three boxes of spicy newt chips?" Luke asked, regarding the boxes in question with an incredulous glance.
"There's twenty cards to collect, that's including the rare, shiny demon-form Ruri-Chan and the rainbow Azuki-tan cards!" Leviathan enthused. "We're not always guaranteed to get a card in every packet of chips either, so I wanted to get as many as I could to increase my chances of getting all of the cards."
"A rare, shiny demon-form Ruri-Chan?" Luke furrowed his brow as his confusion deepened. "What's a rainbow Azuki-tan?"
Satan shook his head with a sigh, folded his arms and spoke up as Leviathan opened his mouth with an excitable expression.
"The important thing is that these chips should tide Beel over until we've finished baking," Satan pointed out as he moved closer to the kitchen table and set up the measuring scales again.
Luke quickly followed Satan's lead while Leviathan pulled a wooden chair closer to the kitchen table — where he sat cross-legged and began to play on his console while Beelzebub happily opened packet after packet of spicy newt chips.
________________________________
Satan held the oven door open while Luke donned a pair of oven gloves and retrieved the baking tray of steaming, golden-brown muffins.
"It looks like they're done!" Luke chimed with a cheerful hum as he placed the baking tray onto the heat resistant mat and pulled off the oven gloves while Satan closed the oven door and joined Luke's side. "We just have to let them cool down and then we can drizzle some honey over them."
"They smell good," Beelzebub grinned as he turned his attention away from Leviathan's console to sniff at the sweet scent in the air.
"H-hey! Beel, watch it! You're going to drool all over my controller!" Leviathan snapped angrily as he lunged towards the younger demon to snatch the console controller out of his hands — he accidentally kicked the table leg and caused the whole table to jolt.
"No I won't!"
Beelzebub moved the controller out of his brother's reach; knocking the table again.
"You're drooling right now! I don't want my controller to get dirty!" Leviathan tried to climb over Beelzebub while the other demon tried to fend him off. "Just hand it over, Beel!"
"But I still want to play!"
"You can play when you learn to control yourself! Last time you got like this you ate my controller!"
The pair began to wrestle as they bickered; paying no attention to their surroundings as they continued to nudge and bump into the kitchen table.
"OI, STOP!" Satan yelled as he grabbed the kitchen table to stop it from moving while Luke quickly put the oven gloves back on and grabbed the baking tray again.
"S-Satan, look!" Luke called out with a gasp as he pointed towards the jar of Golden Manuka Honey that was teetering on the edge of the kitchen table.
Satan let go of the table and started towards the end with his hand outstretched as the jar of honey fell off of the edge — something dark darted through the kitchen door, onto the floor after it.
Leviathan and Beelzebub stopped fighting and slowly detangled themselves with guilty expressions while Satan and Luke shared a horrified glance.
Luke quickly placed the baking tray on the kitchen table once more and rushed around the table to the place where the jar of honey had landed while Satan rounded on his brothers.
"I hope you two are ready for the consequences of your actions." Despite the smile that adorned his face, Satan's voice was low as an intense and terrifying aura emitted from the fourth born brother.
Beelzebub gulped while Leviathan slowly ducked behind the avatar of gluttony.
"Belphie?" Luke's perplexed voice issued from behind Satan, making the wrathful demon freeze and turn his attention towards the young angel instead.
They all watched as Belphegor slowly pulled himself up from the floor with the jar of Golden Manuka Honey safely intact in his hand — the youngest demon carefully handed the jar back to Luke (while Luke gave a stunned, muttered thanks), pulled out a kitchen chair, slumped into the seat and stared at his brothers through bleary eyes.
"Why are you all being so loud?" Belphegor said as he tried to stifle a yawn.
Satan felt his anger ebb away as he stared at Belphegor in shock and confusion. "D-did you catch that jar?"
"Hm?" Belphegor slowly turned his gaze towards the honey in Luke's gloved hands before he gave a small chuckle. "Yeah I did, it would've been a waste to let it fall."
The demon's words were met with four astonished stares.
"I don't think I've ever seen Belphie move so fast." Leviathan murmured under his breath.