The sun was beating down hard on the beach, and Azaziel Desdemona couldn’t be happier.

It had been one and a half years since the demon/wanna-be-angel was kicked out of Hell for unemployment, and the whole time he continued bumming off his exorcist “friend” Rea whom he first met in a battle for the order of the afterlife itself.

But that’s beside the point. After all, Rea decided she’d rather sulk back in Chicago than join her strange friends on their little road trip off to California for summer break. Everyone had been slightly down about it (Azaziel had been even more annoying with his pleading than the others combined) but the four were convinced to make Boy’s Trip fun.

So there they were, an unlikely crew of a priest, a bartender, a discarded choir demon, and a cursed incubus, laying about on a gorgeous beach and watching the waves.

The black-haired demon was humming cheerfully to himself, bouncing about as he set up folding lawn furniture that the others had flung out of their SUV’s trunk. The other three got out of the car and just watched in amusement at Azaziel’s hyperactivity.

“Just watch him go!” Daniel laughed. “How could they not find some sort of job for that in heaven, am I right, Goldstein?”

“I ask you the same, Father,” Jeff said with a laugh. “You’d know more than me.” He turned to the third man. “Yo, your mum’s an angel. You’d know, right?” Concerto didn’t answer.

The demon Concerto had been Azaziel’s best friend since they were only about 20 years old. Almost 175 years had passed with the two young demons being as close as anything. Concerto had never managed to reveal his huge secret to Azaziel though, that he’d been keeping at least half that time.

Concerto was in love with Azaziel.

“Da da!” Azaziel cheered, flicking up a foot and spreading his arms like a girl presenting prizes on a game show. “Done!” The others clapped and took their places lying in the sun.

Concerto sighed, plopping down in the chair between the bouncy demon and the father. Jeff leaned over, a bright grin on his face, and nudged Daniel.

“Hey, hey Danny…” he said, and Daniel immediately started laughing.

“I know exactly what you have in mind,” he whispered, “and the answer is no.”

“Aww, but it’ll be fun!” the blonde whined, looking with amusement at how oblivious Azaziel was to the longing expression on his friend’s face as he jabbered about how much it reminded him of old family holidays to the coasts of the Summerlands. Concerto just nodded and smiled at everything his friend was saying, a slight frown on the corners of his smile.

Daniel simply laughed a bit more. “Look, I’ve known you, how long? Three years I think? You’re a good guy. I’d love to get up to no good with you more than anyone else. However, Azaziel is living with Rea. Rea is my sister and your…whatever it is your complicated beer-filled relationship is. If your little cupid game backfired, Azzie would go running whining to Rea, and then she’d likely shove a sword up both our asses. So no.”

“Oh, but you can’t deny the sexual tension,” Jeff whimpered, face pleading.

“God, not the puppy eyes…”

“Come ooooooooon…”

Daniel sighed. “Fine, fine.” He rolled his eyes and muttered, “Cheeky git…”

“I heard that,” Jeff said with a smile.

“But I’m not getting involved. It’s your game, and I wash my hands of the matter.”

“Alright, if you insist,” Jeff said, shrugging. “Your loss.” He got up, dug through a beach bag, and pulled out a bottle with an evil grin. Daniel raised an eyebrow.

“What’s tha—oh, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff…” Daniel lost what composure he had regained. “You were planning this the whole time…”

“You bet,” Jeff said, snickering. He patted his friend lightly on the shoulder and then walked up between the two demons. “So, reminiscing?” he asked, dripping with false-innocence. Like everything else, Azaziel didn’t pick up on it at all.

“Yes, we were just talking about the summer when we were ninety-three, and we went to—”

“That’s nice,” Jeff cut him off, “but there’s something you’ve forgotten…”

“What’s that?” Concerto asked, looking up at Jeff suspiciously.

“I don’t know how it is in the afterlife, you two, but you’re awful…pale.” Jeff presented the bottle cheerily. “Sunscreen! So you don’t burn up like the fires of hell!”

“Ha. Ha.” Concerto took  the bottle, eyeing it. SPF 20…respectable brand name…looked normal enough.

“I’m tanning and Daniel’s already black enough. So I brought that along for you two.” Jeff winked to Concerto, causing him to be even more concerned. “Seeing as I know how bad Asians burn…and Az, you look practically Irish, so I don’t trust your skin at all.”

“My great grandparents were from South America…” Azaziel mumbled, but Jeff had already managed to escape squealing like a fan girl to his chair on the other side of the row. Concerto sighed.

“He’s got a point though, you know. Our skin will burn while we’re in human form…” Concerto said, flipping the bottle open and sniffing it. Smelled like sunscreen. He relaxed a bit, squirting it into his palm and handing the bottle over to his friend.

***

“What was in that bottle, by the way?” Daniel asked casually.

“Sunscreen of course…and some slightly-illegal aphrodisiacs.”

Daniel looked nervously over at the two demons and scooted his chair away.

***

Concerto felt his eyelids drooping as he massaged the lotion in lazy circles over his legs. There was something odd about today. The distinct separation between the two demons and the two humans. But it didn’t feel excluding, it felt more like he was given space…to be with…Azaziel…

He shook his head to get rid of the prancing visions in his head. No, there was a reason he hadn’t ever acted on those feelings, why did he want to so much now?

“Coooonce…”

He looked over to the other demon, and his eyes went wide at the sight of Azaziel. His back was arched eroticly and he looked over his shoulder at the incubus with a face filled so much with want.

“Conce…do my back?” he said, a light blush over his face. Concerto’s jaw dropped. He glanced back at Jeff and Daniel, who were checking out women on the beach and desperately hiding in a book, respectively.

Oh by the Lucifer himself, what have you gotten into us, Concerto thought to himself. This was Jeff’s fault, he knew it. Funny really that he was the one driving a demon to temptation…

He moved to the edge of his chair and nervously started rubbing the lotion into Azaziel’s shoulders. He knew, knew if he got any closer, things would get a hell of a lot more messed up. And then…he had to do that.

Azaziel let out a long moan that sent a shiver down Concerto’s spine. He pressed into the other demon’s hands. “That feels good, Conce,” he purred. A switch clicked in Concerto at that, going from “wary” to “full steam ahead.”

“You know,” Concerto said in a low voice, “the reason I chose to become an incubus when it came around to picking jobs was because I wanted you. Every time I was with someone, I always pretended it was you…” He moved his hands further down Azaziel’s back.

“I…never really thought about it…” Azaziel said, his breath becoming a bit abnormal, “but…that sounds…incredibly appealing. The idea…of you and I…” he dissolved into another pleased moan as he felt Concerto nipping at his neck.

“Maybe we should then?”

***
By this time, both humans were swimming in the ocean, laughing their heads off.

“Jeff, really. You’re going to be in so much trouble when Az snaps out of it…”

“I’m just trying to shove them out of their closet.” Jeff laughed.

“Oh come on. For the way Azzie acts, coming out would be him admitting he’s straight…”

“Haha, true. But it doesn’t matter. It won’t last long, and they’ll forget afterwards anyway. Hopefully they’ll enjoy themselves though…”

The conversation continued.

***

Concerto was incredibly thrilled at this current turn of events. Somehow the two of them had managed to fall off their chairs into the white sand. Azaziel was straddling Concerto and happily running a manicured hand through the other demon’s course blue-black hair.

“Hot today, isn’t it?” Concerto asked, feeling himself flush.

“You’re hotter,” Azaziel said with a smirk, and Concerto’s inner self started dancing. Azaziel leaned down and planted a kiss on Concerto’s lips. The incubus pulled his friend closer.

Their lips parted as the kiss deepened, red tongues sliding over one another like a passionate tango. Azaziel tasted like honey, Concerto noted. How appropriate for the holy little demon. He was so delicious…

I love you, I love you, was all he could think to himself, though not a word escaped his throat even after his partner drew his face away to kiss his throat. A few people stopped to watch the two, a few giggling college girls even snapping photographs of the teenage demons. Concerto dug his fingernails into Azaziel’s back with one hand and flipped off the small crowd with the other.

Azaziel licked Concerto’s chest. “Nice. A crowd. That’s sexy,” he laughed, returning to licking and nipping at Concerto’s nipples.

Who would have known my moral little Azzie was an exhibitionist, Concerto thought, moaning and clawing more at the other demon’s flesh. He nearly whimpered when Azaziel sat upright, grinding their hips together.

Azaziel traced a line down to Concerto’s waistband with his finger. “You know what I think we should do now?” he said, licking his lips. Concerto grinned expectantly. “We should…

“Play Frisbee!” Azaziel squealed, popping into an upright kneeling position and clapping his hands. Concerto looked at him with confusion before realizing that it felt like a fog had been lifted. He growled. All that had happened…what the hell was in that sunscreen…

Azaziel giggled and started digging around a beachbag for the plastic disk, utterly oblivious of what had happened. To Concerto’s upset, he found that the past few minutes were actually starting to fade away from his own memory. He sighed.

Could be worse, he thought. Maybe I’ll actually tell him straight out one day…