Beel croaked grumpily a few times, causing Jon to look over at him.
“Gabe was right. He always used to say you were great to talk to and ribbitted in all the right places,” Jon laughed.
Beel just croaked again. If only Jon knew the half of it. Poor guy would probably have a heart attack.
“So Marcus is obviously my ex, and yeah, he was kind of a dick. He had this hugely inflated ego and thought he was so great, and I guess for a long time I bought into his bullshit. I thought I was so lucky to be with him. He was athletic and smart and had a good paying job, and I kind of did feel honored that someone so handsome and smart was into me, because I’m obviously not the greatest catch,” Jon added, motioning to himself.
Beel ribbitted quite excessively at that. Jon was a total cutie pie, and any asshole who made him think he wasn’t deserved a special place in the labyrinths of hell.
Jon chuckled. “Yeah, he made me feel like crap about myself. Nothing I did was ever right. I’d buy the guy gifts, and they were wrong. Or I’d cook dinner, and it would tastegreat, and somehow he still found something wrong with it. He was constantly telling me how lucky I was to have him, and for a long time I think I believed it.”
Jon sat down on the bed next to Beel, opening the travel aquarium and reaching in for Beel to hop into his hand.
Jon laid back, placing Beel next to his head and facing him.
“You really are such a unique frog,” Jon murmured, stroking Beel’s back.
Beel closed his eyes in bliss, enjoying the pets, before he opened his eyes again and looked at Jon. He really had the most lovely hazel eyes. He was such a good person, so sweet and kind. Beel got grumpy all over again thinking about some asshole taking advantage of him and croaked his displeasure.
“Yeah, he was a jerk. For a long time I just didn’t see it, I guess, but then we were at a cafe for coffee, and he just started talking about how weird the owner was, and just being... well, being Marcus, I guess. But I know that owner; we’ve gone to town business meetings together, and he’s such a nice guy, and I just couldn’t sit there and listen to him badmouth the guy. But when I spoke up, he got super mad at me and made me feel like an idiot, but IknewI was right. I knew he was being a jerk. And I thought to myself, my god, this is what he does to me. These are the things he says about me, and I don’t stand up for myself either.”
Jon sighed before continuing. “It was like a lightbulb just went on. I just had this realization. I wasn’t happy with the guy. So… I broke up with him. In the coffee shop.”
Jon chuckled a little at the memory, and Beel ribbitted in support. Good for Jon. Beel was glad he got rid of that asshole.
“Anyway,” Jon added, his face losing any sense of humor. “Marcus didn’t take it well. He still isn’t really taking it well, and that happened like two weeks ago. He just can’t believe that someone likemebroke up with someone likehim. He really is a narcissistic jerk, and I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner.”
Jon stopped petting Beel and sat up. “But enough of that. Let’s go make some dinner and sit down for a movie. I happen to be a horror fan, and Gabe said you loved horror movies. It’ll be fun to have someone to watch them with. Even if you are afrog,” Jon added.
With that, he reached out his hand, and Beel dutifully hopped into it. They made their way into the kitchen, where Jon placed Beel safely out of the way of burners and dishes, and Beel settled in for the occasional tasting of dinner food while Jon cooked, happily chattering away about customers and his work day and his family.
Jon certainly wasn’t Gabe, and Beel almost felt a pang of guilt at enjoying himself so much, but it really was a lovely evening with the pet store owner.
It seemed like Az had come up with a fantastic idea, and Beel was excited for his little “vacation” with Jon, even though he missed his best friend and actual owner. Perhaps it was a good thing to step out of your comfort zone once in a while, after all.
Chapter
Seven
NIGHT 7,602/MORNING 7,603—BEEL’S BEAUTY SLEEP IS RUDELY INTERRUPTED
It was the banging that woke him up.
Beel took a minute to figure out where he was, but the moonlight coming in through the bedroom curtains oriented Beel to his surroundings pretty quickly. He was in Jon’s apartment, and they had just had a lovely evening of home-cooked food (which was delicious), snacks, and a classic horror movie.
Beel had gotten some good pets, and he didn’t mind at all that Jon talked through most of the movie. He’d seen it before, and it was kind of cute that Jon got so invested in the characters. It was also super cute that the guy had literally watched part of it between his fingers.
Beel didn’t often have the urge to take his demonic form, but he’d have loved to have been able to cuddle Jon during the scary parts. He probably needed a good cuddling, and he was the perfect size for cuddles as well; he wasn’t too tall or built or anything. He was kind of similar to Beel’s demonic form, actually.
Beel was a lesser demon, so he wasn’t nearly as large as some of the other demons. He supposed he looked like a short, kind of skinny guy when it came to humans. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mind thefrog form so much, although he did usually like to spice up his demonic and human forms with some piercings and tattoos; he liked being decorated.
Huh. Maybe that was why he’d been summoned as a colorful, unique frog.
But that train of thought could wait, because Jon was stumbling out of bed and throwing sweatpants and a T-shirt on (he regrettably had not slept naked; he was wearing boxers). Someone was banging away at the front door, and it was definitely the middle of the night.
What on topside was going on?
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Jon mumbled, rushing out of the room, and Beel had a moment of concern.
