Chapter 17

Seventeen

It was the frantic sound of his name that woke Beel up. Somehow they both must have dozed off wrapped in each other's arms, and Beel came awake disoriented as he felt Jon push off his chest and hop out of bed.

"Whaa?" Beel managed to mumble out. He was not a morning person. Hells, he wasn't usually a person at all in the morning, so he definitely wasn't getting with the program very quickly.

Light was filtering in through the curtain, although it was dim, so Beel guessed it was really freaking early. Jon was out of bed, and Beel was momentarily distracted by his gorgeous ass, which was still naked.

"Fuck! Beel!" Jon cried out again, and Beel could hear the panic in his voice but had no idea where it came from.

"What, love? What is it?" Beel asked, sitting up now and trying to clear the fog from his head. Jon was worried as shit about something, and Beel couldn"t have that.

When Jon made it over to the aquarium and took the lid off, frantically searching inside, Beel realized exactly what Jon was in a panic over.

Oh, fuck.

Because of course the aquarium was empty.

Because of course Jon hadn't actually been calling his name; he'd been calling the pet frog's name. The pet frog who was currently not in the aquarium because he was currently a human in Jon's bed.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Where the hell is he? Beel!" Jon cried frantically. He moved rocks and felt around the whole aquarium, although it was clearly empty; there hadn't been that many decorations in it. He lifted the lid off the dresser and checked the bottom of it, like maybe Beel had somehow gotten stuck to it. Then he started checking behind and around the aquarium and on the dresser, which was also very clearly empty of a frog (or anything else—Jon was very tidy).

"Was it on? The lid? Fuck! I didn't notice if it was on tight—did you notice?" Jon frantically asked, turning to Beel.

Jon didn't wait for an answer. "Shit! It must not have been on. He could be anywhere. He could have hopped off and hurt himself!" And at that he lowered himself down onto the floor, looking under the dresser, calling Beel's name.

Beel tried not to be distracted by Jon's naked, waving ass (it was a great ass), and he tried really hard to focus on the problem, but his brain wasn't quite gearing up. Should he leave and reappear in frog form? Wouldn't that be rude as hell, though? To just ditch Jon when he was clearly panicked? But how was he supposed to reappear as a frog and ease Jon's panic when he was sitting there as a human? Should he go to the bathroom and then be a frog, and hope Jon put him in the aquarium and didn't carry him around? Because if Jon went looking for him then he'd have disappeared as a human.

So Beel just sort of sat there trying to figure out what the heck to do to fix his major fuck up while Jon crawled around the floor, looking under the dresser and behind it and carefully moving his hamper to check there.

"Help me look!" Jon shouted at him, seeing him still in bed. "But be careful where you step! He's an orange and blue frog. He can't have gone far. Fuck!"

Jon started carefully going through his hamper, gently checking clothes before throwing them onto the bed, hitting Beel with a sweatshirt. Jon didn't even notice; he just turned and gave Beel a frantic look.

So somehow Beel found himself looking for himself. It would have been comical if Jon hadn't been so damn upset. He was on his knees, carefully moving storage around under the bed and looking for a pet frog that wasn't in the room.

Well, he was sort of in the room. Just not as a pet frog. Hells.

Beel had no idea what to do. The bedroom door was shut, and at one point Beel figured fuck it, he'd do the bathroom thing, but when he went to open the door, Jon shouted, "No! I don't want him hopping out! And he was in here last night, so he must still be in here. Don't open the door!"

Only Beel hadn't been in the aquarium last night, but Beel didn't think pointing that out would be a good idea.

After a frantic search that seemed to last forever (but was probably only ten minutes), Jon sat back against the wall, and he looked like he was about to cry. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand before Beel could stop him and dialed it on speaker.

Beel crawled over and sat next to him, placing a hand on his knee.

"Jon, listen…" he started, but of course Az answered the phone at that moment.

"Jon! Our lovely shopkeeper! Have you found your prince yet? If you kiss enough frogs…" Az joked.

Beel wanted to groan, but Jon rushed in. "He's gone! Fuck, Az—I don't know what happened. He was here last night in the aquarium, and we've scoured the entire room, and he isn't here, and I don't know…" Jon trailed off, his voice cracking, and Beel put his arm around him, tugging him close.

"It will be ok, love," Beel murmured.

Az heard him, obviously, and cackled at the phone. Jon looked at the phone disbelievingly. "Az, I lost Beel. I fucking lost Gabe's pet frog, and he wasn't just any pet frog—he was special. This is not funny!"

"Ah, yes, special indeed. Someone has made a tactical error, I see. Did you fall asleep? That's my guess. Hopefully there were some good orgasms involved first!" Az laughed, clearly talking to Beel.

"That's… I'm not… Az, focus!" Jon snapped. "Of course I slept! But that doesn't explain why Beel is missing!"

"Fuck," Beel whispered. "Yeah, I fell asleep."

Az obviously heard him. "Cat's out of the bag, my friend. Or should I say frog is out of the aquarium? Besides, it would have to come out sooner or later."

Beel sighed, but Jon was looking at the phone, confused as fuck. "Wait, Az, do you know Damon? Do you recognize his voice?" He turned toward Beel then, asking, "Oh my god, Damon, you didn't do anything with Beel, did you? Are you, like, a frognapper or something? What the hell is going on?"

Beel pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them. "How am I supposed to explain?" he asked Az.

"Explain what! Did you do something with Beel?" Jon demanded.

"Just tell him, Beel. It will be ok. Or it won't, because not all humans are like Gabe. And if that's the case, then you'll come home and be sad for a while, but you'll have us to help get you through it with horror movies and heated rocks and popcorn. I think you should have some faith in your man, though—he seems like a good sort. So go explain. And good luck," Az finished, and then the phone was disconnected.

Beel was afraid to pick his head up from resting on his knees, because Az had just given a lot away, and he didn't really want to know what Jon was thinking.

"Did Az…" Jon started, and he could actually hear him swallow before he continued. "Did Az just call you Beel?" Jon questioned softly.

Beel nodded his head, still not looking up.

He was a coward, and he knew it. This couldn't be easy for Jon, but fuck, it wasn't easy for him either. No one but Az had ever seen him and known him in more than one form, and even Az didn't know his human form. The uncertainty and fear was overwhelming. Beel felt a bit like he was going to throw up or start crying. Or both.

He cared for Jon more than he could even say; the depth of his feelings was actually kinda scary. He felt like if Jon never wanted to see him again that he wouldn't recover. He knew it was melodramatic, but he couldn't imagine Jon not in his life. His whole being ached at the thought.

Last night had been perfect—hell, every moment with Jon, whether he was human or frog, was pretty damn perfect—and he just wanted a little more of that perfection. He guessed he had wanted the fairy tale Az kept alluding to, but he wasn't a frog prince—he was just some lesser demon who had been summoned as a pet quite a long time ago.

"I just wanted to… I'm so sorry, Jon. I didn't mean to lie to you. Being with you has meant everything. Watching movies, and hanging out in the shop while you worked—I loved every minute of it, from watching you help that lady with her parrot that was molting the first day to pet-blocking that asshole yesterday afternoon. But I couldn't resist when Marcus showed up, and then there was that kiss, and I loved eating dinner with you, and talking about our lives, and more kisses, and everything that went after the kisses… And I'm just… I'm really sorry," Beel finished lamely. He still couldn't look at Jon.

Jon just sat there for a minute, quiet. Beel had no idea what to do. Finally, he started to unfold himself, reaching a hand down to get up, saying, "I can go. I'm sorry."

But Jon stopped him, pressing a hand to his knee. He could feel Jon looking over at him, but he stared ahead, afraid to see what was on his face. Disgust? Anger? Betrayal? He didn't want to know.

"The fire escape story," Jon wondered. "Those were my boxers. And then parkour? And knowing about my bedtime and the pizza. And you always showed up when I was in the shower. And you were never in the shop. Not as you are now. But you know about the parrot and the asshole customer."

Beel shrugged. "I'm not very good at cover stories. I haven't been human in a really long time."

There was a pause, then Jon asked, "How long?"

"Over twenty years. The first time in over twenty years was when Marcus showed up. But I couldn't just do nothing, and then we kissed, and then I wanted more," Beel murmured.

"You're Beel?" Jon asked.

Beel nodded his head in confirmation.

"Beel, what are you?" Jon whispered.

"I'm a demon," Beel admitted. "Az is too. Gabe knows. I mean, he didn't know about me for like twenty years, but he knows now, although he's never seen me in any other form. I was summoned to be his pet, and it was… it was good, so I never left, even when I'd fulfilled my duty. Most of what I told you tonight was true. I'm a lesser demon, and the errand running and stuff—it got old. I liked helping Gabe and being his friend; I felt like an older brother. He needed me. And then Az came around, and he told Gabe, and I thought things would change, but Gabe said I was family, and so I stayed."

"But you were never human with him?" Jon questioned softly.

Beel shook his head.

"Only with me?" Jon persisted.

Beel nodded, letting his head fall to his chest.

"Beel, look at me," Jon demanded softly. Beel shook his head once. He couldn't. He was too afraid.

Jon wasn't having any of that, though, because he scooted so he was facing Beel and lifted Beel's chin, forcing his head up. He placed both his hands on the sides of Beel's face, looking into his eyes. Beel looked down, but eventually he gave in and made eye contact. He didn't see disgust, or anger. He wasn't sure what he saw, but something inside him unclenched and eased a bit. At least Jon didn't hate him—he could tell that much.

"Beel, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're a frog or a human or a demon or whatever. I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell me, even though I knew something was weird,"—he snorted a bit at that, mumbling "parkour" under his breath—"but I don't blame you. I mean, I'm not sure I would have even believed you, because it just seemed so far-fetched. I guess I should have trusted my instincts," he shrugged.

"You aren't… disgusted?" Beel murmured.

Jon looked outraged for a moment. "Disgusted? Why would I be disgusted?"

"Because I'm a frog. And a demon. And because I lied to you," Beel insisted, knowing he wasn't doing himself any favors listing it all. "But I couldn't resist you. You are perfect, Jon. You're sexy, and kind, and sweet, and I love the way you blush when we flirt, and I love talking about our lives and listening to you tell me things, and I also love when you pet my back and feed me popcorn while we're watching movies, and even I know that's fucking weird."

Jon laughed, then he leaned in and kissed Beel. It was soft and hesitant at first, more on Beel's part than Jon's, but Jon persisted, gently pressing his lips over and over against Beel's, eventually licking out with his tongue, and Beel opened for him.

They slanted their heads, lips gently grazing, tongues softly tangling. It was easy, and slow, and sensuous, and Beel felt himself get hard despite the worry and panic he was still low key dealing with. Because he just couldn"t resist Jon.

"You, Mr. Frog, are also perfect. And it's not fucking weird. So you like being a frog and a human. You're just… nonbinary, that's all," Jon reassured him.

Beel snorted at that. "I don't think that's what that term means, Jon."

Jon looked affronted. "Technically, nonbinary means composed of two things, and you are composed of two things—or maybe three? Is human separate from demon? Nontrinary? Not sure that's a thing, but we can make it a thing, and there's nothing wrong with it. Now come on, I made brownies, and we're going to eat some and talk, because chocolate is perfectly acceptable for breakfast after this morning's chaos," he said, and he got up, reached a hand down to help Beel up, and waited.

Beel hesitated a moment, but he took Jon's hand and stood. If Jon wanted to lead him somewhere, Beel would follow. Maybe, just maybe, he'd have his fairy tale ending after all.