What's Not to Love - a Beetlelands Soulmate AU

Be There in Spirit

"Barbara, have you seen Betelgeuse all day?"

Barbara turned to her husband, sporting a matching look of concern on her face. "Not since we first met Lydia. Why?"

"I was thinking about going to him to learn more about soul marks and soulmates among other things but when I checked the entire attic twice, I may add, our new demon friend and apparent soulmate was nowhere in sight," Adam stated as a matter of factly, which led to Barbara becoming even more worried than she previously was.

"Why don't we check the roof then," Barbara suggested. "I think that I heard the window that leads out there open and close. If he's out there, I'm kinda worried. Want to go check on him and make sure he's doing okay?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Adam joked, playfully winking at his wife.

"Adam!" Barbara playfully nudged her husband in the chest, leading to him doing the same to her and laughing.

Back to the matter at hand, Adam and Barbara stopped with their play fighting and turned their attention over towards the area of the attic in which the window that led out onto the roof. Nodding towards one another, they made their way over towards the window. Outside on the roof, they did in fact find Betelgeuse right there by the roof's edge. Like Adam had previously assumed.

"Betelgeuse, there you are! Thought we'd find you out here!" the worried voice of Barbara was heard shouting from behind him, her having climbed out onto the roof of the house with Adam following closely behind.

The demon, who had his back turned to them, turned his head, looking over at them with a sad look on his face. Not to mention his hair was a glum shade of blue, mixed in with some purple. He glanced at them briefly, then turned away from the both of them - once again looking either straight ahead of him or down towards the ground three stories below. Either way, Adam and Barbara were not going to go back inside without at least talking to him and seeing if something was wrong.

They sat down on either side of him, focusing on what was ahead of them. And they stayed like that for at least a while. At least until Betelgeuse looked from one of them to the other with a confused but annoyed expression. "I was fine out here on my own before now."

Barbara tilted her head to the side, putting a hand on Betelgeuse's back. "We just wanted to talk to you. Make sure everything was okay."

"Everything's fine." Betelgeuse's hair became a transparent, ghostly white. He was clearly lying. And Barbara and Adam immediately took notice of that, Barbara removing her hand from Betelgeuse's back as she shared an uncertain look with Adam.

"Betel-"

"Leave me alone."

"Betelgeuse, we just want to talk to you." Barbara looked down and sighed quietly to herself before looking back up at Betelgeuse. "We know that something's up, so what is it?"

He said nothing in response, almost leading up to the Maitlands getting up and going back inside. They were about halfway back inside when they heard the panicked and uncertain tone in Betelgeuse's voice.

"Could you guys... I dunno... stay out here with me for a while longer?" The demon's tone was worried. Soft.

"Do you want us to?" Barbara put forward, her and Adam turning to face the demon.

He didn't think to say anything else, though, instead opting to nod.

Taking that as a yes, Barbara moved to lean against the railing at the edge of the roof. Then Adam. The three of them just stayed there for a while and enjoyed their view of the scenery before them. And not a single word was spoken by any of them.

After what seemed like a good while, Barbara turned towards Betelgeuse with a curious but confused look. "Are you okay? We noticed that you were gone just as soon as Lydia headed back downstairs. At first, we were a little unsure of where you'd gone but then we heard your voice coming from the roof. So we came out here."

After a while, things fell silent. And Adam and Barbara took the time to think quietly to themselves.

"What are you guys both thinking about?" Betelgeuse asked out loud, looking from Adam to Barbara with a look of confusion on his face.

"Well, we may have only known you not too long. But we were thinking about including you in our relationship. How does that sound?"

Betelgeuse, stunned into a complete silence at that simple request, looked down at his two green colored and glowing soul marks then looked up towards Adam and Barbara as a hint of nervousness crossed his face. "You mean to tell me that you guys want to try your hands at a relationship with me?"

"Well, yeah!" Barbara, followed by Adam, put a hand on the demon's back and caused his hair to turn a full on shade of pink. "Of course we do. If we're all supposed to be soulmates with one another, then why not."

After a brief while passed by - although the Maitlands knew by now that at least week or two had passed then by, Betelgeuse seemed to nod in agreement - willing to be in a relationship with his two chosen soulmates. And though Barbara and Adam were both as hesitant about this decision of theirs to be in a relationship with a demon soulmate that they had met and known for only a short period of time, what exactly was going to stop them?

Nothing, they hoped. Nothing at all.