Work Text:
Alpha Centauri was a perfect refuge from Heaven and Hell. For a former Supreme Archangel and a former Grand Duke of Hell, it was their own place where they could simply exist together—something they had been denied for a long time. As wonderful as it was in Alpha Centauri, something inside them craved something a bit more familiar. Gabriel, who had been somewhat inspired by his time as Jim, collected enough stardust to shape into a little house for them to share. Now they could explore the stars and have a place to come back to at the end of the day.
One particular day, Beelzebub returned home to find Gabriel waiting for them. He had an unusually coy look about him that immediately raised suspicions about what he was up to.
“Welcome home,” Gabriel greeted them warmly, though his arms remained at his side. He looked as though he was holding something behind his back. “I know I told you I was going to take a look at that meteor shower over by the nebula, but I had to tell you that because if I didn't it would have spoiled the surprise.”
Gabriel revealed what he had been hiding behind his back: two mugs, one purple and one red. Each mug had a steady flow of steam. “I stopped by Earth and borrowed Aziraphale's hot chocolate supplies!”
Beelzebub looked at the cup and raised an eyebrow. “And why did you do that?” they asked. They knew Gabriel must've had a very good reason if he had made the trip all the way back to Earth, but they couldn't for the life of them think of what that reason could be.
“Well…” Gabriel held out the red mug towards his demon. “I would never have consumed it if not for my lack of memories—and therefore common sense—being absent at the time… but after having it so much, I have to confess I've developed a taste for it.”
The angel moved closer to Beelzebub, setting his own mug in the air. It stayed right where he put it. He took his free hand and pressed the mug into Beelzebub's. Beelzebub wrapped their fingers around the cup with Gabriel resting his hands on top of theirs. “Not unlike how I developed a taste for you.”
His words made Beelzebub's face hot. Or maybe it was the beverage doing that. Either way, they melted under his purple eyes and smiled like a lovestruck fool.
“I just want to share something I love with the being I love more than anything else.” Gabriel spoke softly, looking just as lovesick. The former archangel retrieved his own mug, clinking it against his lover's. “Cheers.”
Having never consumed anything before, Beelzebub copied Gabriel's movements to the best of their ability. They brought the mug to their lips, blew on the drink inside, tilted their head back, and drank the entire thing at once. Gabriel laughed. He probably should have explained how drinking works before giving them the cocoa.
“If you want it to last longer, you can take smaller sips. Like this, see?” Gabriel demonstrated by taking a sip of his cocoa.
“Oh.” Beelzebub looked at their empty mug. “Next time, I suppose.”
✩⋆✩⋆✩
After sharing a cup of hot chocolate together, Gabriel had to return the mugs to Aziraphale, which left Beelzebub home alone. They didn't mind solitude every once in a while, but they really did miss Gabriel when he was gone. Their stomach got all knotted up waiting for him to come back.
Today that was especially true. Beelzebub entertained themself by lying on their stomach and playing with a few of their flies, but a sudden sound put an immediate stop to their fun.
“*HIC*-!”
The noise startled them. They jumped and looked around for where it could have come from. It was too loud to have been one of their flies… but there was no one else around for light years.
“*HIC*-!”
That time the noise was accompanied by a sudden lurch in their corporation. Beelzebub pressed a hand to their chest. They had felt like something was trying to jump out of them. It wouldn't have been the first time—(being Grand Duke of Hell put a demon in some precarious and unbecoming positions)—but it would have been highly unusual so far from the influences of Hell. Whatever was happening was something new.
“*HIC-urp*!” Beelzebub clamped a hand over their mouth. What was THAT? It hadn't been a buzz, and they hadn't said anything, so why was their body making noises? It almost sounded like a squeak, followed by a groan. The former Grand Duke of Hell did not squeak and their groans were usually much more drawn out and whiny.
They abandoned the flies they had been playing with and sat up, confused and a little frightened by the two new sensations.
What they had originally thought were the usual ‘missing Gabriel’ knots in their stomach felt different. It was a similar feeling, but the usual tingly sensation they got about Gabriel wasn't there. If anything, this sensation made them feel a bit like they were going to be sick.
“*Hic*… *hic*… *HIC-urp*!” Beelzebub's chest jumped with each noise. The last short sound had an even more peculiar result: instead of just air coming from their throat, a fly came with it. The fly buzzed happily with the other flies already nearby, leaving Beelzebub to stare at it feeling utterly perplexed.
The demon placed a hand on their stomach, feeling for something that could be causing this discomfort. In doing so, they dislodged a bit of air that had been stuck. “UURP!” They belched stiffly, three more flies flying from their mouth. It hurt for a second, but after it was done their stomach felt the tiniest bit of relief. They didn't feel quite as sick, but the relief didn't last.
“*HIC*! *Hic-hic*… *hic-urp*!”
They felt the familiar buzz of flies, but what was unfamiliar was the location of the flies. Usually when Beelzebub created one, it was formed in their mouth and flew out shortly after being created. For whatever reason, the flies seemed to be manifesting inside their stomach. As their hand rested on their middle, the demon could feel the slight buzzing from inside them. They wondered if they could force the flies out and pressed against their stomach again.
“*BUUUUURRP*~”
A hearty burp escaped Beelzebub and another handful of flies were expelled from their stomach. They couldn't even tell the difference after getting those flies out—their stomach was still buzzing just as much as before.
“*HIC*-! *Hic-urp*… *hic-hic*-!”
They took their hands away from their stomach since that only seemed to make the problem worse. They tried holding a hand against their chest, which still jumped every time that noise escaped them. Nothing seemed to stop it and they had no idea what was causing any of it. With no solution in sight, Beelzebub knew their only option was to wait it out.
“Whatever is happening to me, it can't last forever,” the demon thought. Surely this was a temporary state. It would pass and be long gone by the time Gabriel returned.
But just in case… Beelzebub moved into their bedroom. For privacy.
✩⋆✩⋆✩
The trip to Earth and back would have taken humans an eternity, but for Gabriel he was able to go and come back in just under an hour. He returned expecting for Beelzebub to be waiting for him as they always were, but instead he came home to what looked like an empty house. Worry creased his forehead.
“Beelzebub?” the angel called out for his love. He wandered around searching for them, thinking to check their bedroom first. They had three bedrooms: one apiece and then one that they shared when they felt like it. As devoted as they were to one another, sometimes they just wanted to exist on their own for a while. Gabriel knocked on their bedroom door. “Beelzebub? Are you in there?”
There was a strange and muffled sound, followed by the telltale buzzing of flies. “Yes,” the demon called back.
Gabriel had expected to be invited in. He waited a few moments for his invitation, but it didn't come. So he swallowed his pride for once and asked for one. “May I come in?”
“No!” That answer came quicker and more forcefully than their first. The same odd noise happened behind the closed door. It didn't sound like their buzzing, so Gabriel's worry only grew.
“Bee, please? Are you alright in there?”
“I zzzzzaid to leave me—*HIC*—alone!” Beelzebub snapped, their buzz coming out as they did. They didn't want Gabriel to see… whatever this was.
That time Gabriel recognized the sound. It was a hiccup. He had experienced hiccups himself once in the bookshop. He had drunk a mug of cocoa too quickly and ended up in a fit of hiccups. It had been amusing at the time in his memory-less state, but had he been himself, it might have been scary to experience alone. He decided that he didn't want Beelzebub to experience this alone.
“I'm coming in, and I'm not sorry because I can help you.” Gabriel spoke through the door before letting himself in. As to be expected, Beelzebub threw a pillow at him. After dodging the pillow, Gabriel could see just how full of flies the room was. It wasn't unlike Beelzebub to create some flies as pets or companions, but never this many at once. “Whoa…”
“I told you not to come in,” Beelzebub snarled. They were trying to be intimidating, but Gabriel thought it was really cute when they bared their teeth like that. “Get out!”
“It's hiccups, isn't it?” Gabriel asked. Beelzebub didn't know how to answer that. They didn't know the word for what they were experiencing.
“I don't know,” the demon said. No sooner than they had said that, another fit of hiccups wracked their body. Their build was small. The hiccups made their entire corporation bounce. They were clearly embarrassed, speaking harshly but more quietly. “Is that what this is?”
Gabriel nodded, getting closer to them so he could join them at their level. “That’s what Aziraphale called it when I had them. It happened after I had a cup of cocoa. Maybe it's something about the way you drink it?”
This time he couldn't dodge the pillow before it smacked him in the face.
“This izzz YOUR fault!” Beelzebub pointed an accusatory finger at him. They glared at him as if he had intentionally cursed them with this horrendous feeling. “Get rid of it.”
The angel didn't think it was his fault, but he wanted to help them get rid of the hiccups regardless. “Of course, I figured out a way to make them stop. All you have to do is-”
“*Hic-HUUOOOÖÖRP*!” Beelzebub hiccuped and burped up another five flies. The flies joined the swarm that was now in their room. Beelzebub just stayed still, looking to Gabriel for help. Gabriel, though, was more than a little surprised by that. He had thought it was just a case of hiccups.
“Well that complicates things a little…” he said.
He wasn't as confident as he was with the hiccup, but he was pretty sure that the other sound had been a burp. He had never burped before, but he had heard a similar sound when Azirphale had been in Edinburgh and Crowley had gotten into the wine cabinet.
*
Jim had been in bed but woke up for a glass of water. He heard a strange sound coming from the bookshop downstairs and went to investigate. When he descended the stairs, he saw Crowley lounging on the couch with a bottle in his hand. The demon had been drinking for who knows how long, and apparently that made him burp a fair amount. Jim had asked about what was happening to him. An inebriated Crowley explained that when you drink, you swallow air and that air has to come back out. He had then demonstrated by patting his own back and belching rather loudly. Jim hadn't known what to make of it at the time, so he had gone to bed.
*
Granted, Crowley hadn't been burping up flies, but perhaps that was just a side effect of being Lord of the Flies.
“Um, it's alright. I know what to do.”
Beelzebub looked skeptical, but they had no other choice but to trust that Gabriel knew what he was doing. They watched as Gabriel opened his arms and beckoned for them to come closer. The demon let out another soft burp, hesitating before letting themself go to Gabriel's arms. He hugged them close, Beelzebub wrapping their arms around him. He pulled his legs up and floated in the air, allowing Beelzebub to sit in his lap, their legs wrapping around his waist. They rested their chin on his shoulder, which jumped as another hiccup forced its way out of them. It hurt… they wanted Gabriel to take their hurt away.
“Now—*hic-ururrp*—what?” Beelzebub asked, their question interrupted by a hiccup-burp that only brought up a couple flies.
Gabriel responded by bringing his hand to rest on their upper back. He patted their back, not hard enough to cause them more discomfort but enough to be felt. It made quick work and a wet burp slipped out along with three flies. Beelzebub sat up, instantly tense again, and glared daggers at Gabriel. “You're supposed to make them stop!”
“They will stop. You have to get all the air out. And in your case, flies, I guess.”
Beelzebub didn't stop glaring at him, but they thought about what he said.
It made sense that to get rid of the problem, they had to get rid of its source. Reluctantly, the stubborn demon laid their head down on Gabriel's shoulder again to allow him to continue his work. The angel was pleased to see his demon would allow him to help. Gabriel patted his lover's back to get all of their burps out and hopefully stop their hiccups, too.
At first it felt humiliating; Beelzebub being cradled like a cherub and rocking in his arms. They certainly felt like a cherub again, just a bit more gross. Gabriel's patting was effective, releasing flies from the demon's stomach as they hiccuped and burped almost uncontrollably. Some were short and small, while others had more power behind them. Their stomach slowly began to feel better. The demon closed their eyes as they belched up flies and their shoulders jumped with each hiccup.
“*Hic-URRP*! *HIC*-… *hic-urp*… *hi-OOÖUURRP*! *Hic*-! *Hi-urp*. *Hic*… *hic-urrrp*… *hi-uuurrp*…”
The longer the two stayed together like that, the more Beelzebub felt it wasn't as embarrassing. Actually, they began to like it. Being taken care of and held so close. It made them feel safe. Gabriel made them feel safe.
They weren't sure what stopped their hiccups, but after a minute or two their shoulders stopped jumping. They had been cured of their hiccups! Now all that was left was the burping. As he patted, Gabriel moved his hand to different spots on the demon's back. He wanted to be thorough and leave no trapped air inside of his demon. While Gabriel worked the last of their air out of them, he coaxed them through the final stretch while soft burps slipped past their lips.
“I'm sorry. I should have explained to you how to drink hot chocolate instead of letting this happen to you. Now we know to drink things slowly so this doesn't happen. And if it does happen again, please don't hide it from me, okay? Tell me so I can help you…” Gabriel spoke softly into Beelzebub's ear, to which they hummed in response.
“*Uuuurp*… *uurp*… *urrp-ourp-buuurp*~”
The idea of Gabriel doing this again… holding them so close, treating them so gently, and giving them such a feeling of relief… it made Beelzebub's heart pound.
With one final pat, the last of the air was knocked free. The demon's whole body tensed and they held on to Gabriel's arms as a long, deep burp rumbled out of them. They weren't even sure how many flies came up with that one. They didn't bother to count but it was at least twelve. Beelzebub gasped and collapsed into Gabriel, exhausted and just wanting a nap. The angel just smiled and rocked his demon in his arms.
“Get some sleep, love. I'll be right here when you wake up.”