Chapter 4

Four

Beel stared at the travel aquarium with a vague sense of distaste. Usually he loved outings. Gabe liked to take him along on the occasional adventure; he'd once taken him to the movies, which had been tons of fun. Being snuck into the theater inside a travel aquarium in a backpack had been a bit of a thrill.

But for the last few days Gabe had been consistently stuck on this whole companion thing, and a trip for him in the travel aquarium right now did not bode well for his privacy and solitude in his actual aquarium.

He just knew Gabe was going to do something ridiculous. He loved his human, he really did, and he knew Gabe had the best of intentions, but he was a bit single-minded on occasion.

Az walked into the living room, saw the travel aquarium, then looked at Beel. "I really did try, my friend. I'm sure you know how Gabe is, though," he whispered.

Beel sighed internally. Yes, he knew how Gabe was. And if an Infernal King of the Underworld couldn't manage to change his mind, a few croaks and ribbits surely weren't going to do any better.

Gabe probably sort of felt like he was a parent to Mr. Frog, and like most parents, he thought he knew best. No amount of arguing was going to dissuade him of that notion. Beel supposed he was just going to have to suck it up for at least a weekend and deal with a companion. Maybe after that he could prove to Gabe that it was not in his best interest to have someone (or something) else sharing aquarium space with him.

Hopefully he could get his point across before Gabe grew attached to whatever pet he decided to adopt to keep Beel company. And Beel supposed it could be worse. At least Gabe was talking about something along his level. He couldn't imagine having to compete for attention with a dog.

Not that Gabe would ever replace him. He knew that. But still, a dog would be fierce competition when it came to getting pets.

Gabe bustled in at that moment, and Az started to say something, but Gabe just shot him a look, and Az shut his mouth.

Well then. Apparently there was no help from that quarter.

"Mr. Frog! I thought we'd go on a little adventure!" Gabe declared, full of kindergarten teacher level cheeriness.

Oh boy. Beel croaked grumpily.

"Yup!" Gabe enthused, although Beel knew that Gabe could tell his grumpy croaks from his happy croaks. "It'll be such fun!" he finished, still smiling broadly, utterly ignoring Beel's sour mood.

Off came the aquarium top, and Gabe had the gall to soften him up with some lovely back petting. "You love going out, and this will be fun, I promise. You know I love you, Mr. Frog, and I always have your best interests in mind," his human said.

Az mumbled behind him, something about "Mr. Frog" being a demon and not a damn pet, but Beel just ignored him. Az was just jealous that he was getting a nice back rub and some I-love-you's.

Although really, Az wasn't so bad. He had been good to Beel, and he did trust the upper level demon. After all, he had tried to talk Gabe out of this whole absurd notion.

Ah well. With a sense of resignation, Beel hopped into Gabe's hand and let himself be placed in the travel aquarium. He could at least meet his fate with his dignity intact, and he had no intention of being dragged… wherever they were going.

He settled himself down and, with little surprise, he watched as Az and Gabe got themselves ready to walk out the door. If frogs could roll their eyes, he would be doing so. He should have known Az would tag along. Those two were practically inseparable. Honestly, it might make things easier with Az there. He could translate for Beel and make sure a fluffy pet wasn't in the running.

Not that Beel doubted Gabe's devotion, but fluffy would definitely mean that pet would get more cuddle time along with free range of the house. He supposed he was a bit of a jealous demon, and he didn't need that kind of aggravation in his life, that was for sure.

They eventually made their way out to the car, and Az drove so Gabe could hold the aquarium on his lap.

By the time they got to Marty's Pet Store, which Beel had realized was the destination about halfway through the drive, Gabe looked a bit green, and Beel had the urge to hop out and kiss the ground.

Apparently Az didn't have much practice in driving. There was a reason upper level demons had wings for teleportation (of course Beel could teleport himself, but without wings he had a hard time taking others with him).

Beel ribbitted loudly once they pulled into a parking spot, and he swore he heard Gabe mutter "Thank god" before shooting a guilty look in Az's direction.

Az just chuckled. "Oh, you two. My driving was fine. We had tons of inches between us and that other car."

"You aren't supposed to be able to see what's stuck in the other driver's teeth as they scream in panic when you cut them off, Az!" Gabe chastised, and Beel thought his voice might still have been wavering a bit. "And that light was not orange! It was red! There are no orange lights!"

Az swung open his door, still chuckling. "Yellow and red make orange, and it was totally halfway between the two."

Beel usually supported demon logic, but being in the car and seeing your little froggy existence flash before your eyes sort of put a damper on the fun. Beel croaked unhappily at Az. Those two had some sort of soul bond that probably protected them from things like car accidents, but Beel did not. He wasn't sure what would happen to him if his frog form was squished, but he bet it was a one way ticket back to the underworld.

"Oh Beel, you're fine. No one was in any danger. I have excellent reflexes, I'll have you know. No one got hurt. No one's car even got dented!" Az defended.

"I am driving home," Gabe pronounced, and Beel ribbitted in hearty agreement. Yes, definitely. Gabe was driving home.

Az just chuckled and tossed him the keys before they all got out. It was almost enough to put a damper on Beel's visit to his favorite pet store, which was usually quite the highlight.

Of course, Beel couldn't forget that they were there to pick out a new pet, so that was already enough to make him grumpy. Hopefully he'd at least get a few frog treats out of the cute owner for this whole ordeal.