Titanic (Aziraphale X Crowley)

Chapter Five: They Talk

The next morning, Aziraphale went down to Third Class to meet up with Crowley to thank him for the rescue the night before. But they soon just walked around the deck with Crowley telling more about himself to Aziraphale. Not that he seemed to mind.

"Well, I've been on my own since before the Earth was created and I became a Fallen Angel. And I had no friends or close kin in that part of Hell. So I lit on out of there and I haven't seen them since. You could just call me a tumbleweed blowing in the wind," Crowley said before switching to another subject, "Well, Aziraphale... we've walked about a mile around this boat deck and chewed over how great the weather's been and how I grew up but I reckon that's not why you came to talk to me, is it?"

"Mr. Crowley, I-"

"Just Crowley."

"Crowley..." Aziraphale corrected himself, "I want to thank you for what you did. Not just for... for pulling me back but for your discretion."

"You're welcome."

"Look, I know what you must be thinking. Poor little rich Angel. What does he know about misery?"

"No. No, that's not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was what could have happened to this Angel to make him think he had no way out?"

"Well, I... It was everything. It was my whole world and all the people in it and the inertia of my life plunging ahead and me, powerless to stop it," Aziraphale showed Crowley the badge of an Archangel that Gabriel had given him in advance, before the pendant last night.

"God!" Crowley was shocked at the size, "Look at that thing. You would have gone straight to the bottom."

"500 invitations have gone out. All of Heaven's society will be there and all the while I feel I'm... standing in the middle of a crowded room screaming at the top of my lungs and no one even looks up."

"Do you want the position?"

Aziraphale was surprised by the question, "Pardon me?"

"Do you want the position?"

"You're being very rude. You shouldn't be asking me this."

"Well, it's a simple question. Do you want the position or not?"

"This is not a suitable conversation."

"Why can't you just answer the question?"

Aziraphale laughed nervously, "This is absurd. You don't know me, and I don't know you and we are not having this conversation at all. You are rude and uncouth and presumptuous and I am leaving now," Aziraphale shook hands with Crowley, "Crowley. Mr. J. Cowley, it's been a pleasure. I sought you out to thank you and now I have thanked you..."

"And you've insulted me," Crowley added

"Well, you deserved it."

"Right."

"Right."

Aziraphale couldn't stop shaking his hand which just amused Crowley at that point.

"I thought you were leaving," Crowley said with an amused smile.

"I am," Aziraphale said starting to leave but turned back to him, "You are so annoying."

Crowley chuckled as he started to leave. But Aziraphale was quick to turn back

"Wait. I don't have to leave. This is my part of the ship. You leave," Aziraphale said pointing away from him

"Oh-ho-ho, well, well, well," Crowley was still amused by this Angel, "Now who's being rude?"

Aziraphale said nothing, not knowing how to respond to that. He saw the art folder that Crowley had been carrying around and took it from him, asking what it was. He opened it to reveal all of Crowley's work. He sat down to look at them more and Crowley sat next to him. All the drawings were of people. A lot of them naked women and men

"Crowley, this is exquisite work," Aziraphale said, admiring the work

"Ah, they didn't think too much of them in old Paree," Crowley said

"Paris? You do get around for a poor..." Aziraphale cut himself off, "Well, uh, uh, a person of limited means."

"Go on, a poor demon. You can say it."

Aziraphale turned the page to see sketches of a naked woman

"And these were drawn from life?" Aziraphale asked

Crowley nodded while Aziraphale hid the pictures from a passing man.

"Well, that's one of the good things about Paris. Lots of girls and guys willing to take their clothes off," Crowley said

Aziraphale chuckled and turned the page again to see the same man over and over.

"You liked this man," Aziraphale commented, "You used him several times."

"Well, he had beautiful hands, you see?" Crowley said

"I think you must have had a love affair with him"

"No, no, no, no, no. Just with his hands. He was a one-legged prostitute. See?"

Crowley showed Aziraphale a full-body picture he drew of the prostitute, proving that he did indeed only have one leg. Aziraphale was surprised by it

"Ah, he had a good sense of humor, though. Oh, and this lady..." Crowley turned the page to reveal an upper-class lady, "She used to sit at this bar every night wearing every piece of jewelry she owned just waiting for her long-lost love. Called her Madame Bijou. See how her clothes are all moth-eaten?"

Aziraphale sighed, "Well, you have a gift, Crowley. You do. You see people."

"I see you."

"And?"

"You wouldn't have jumped."

Meanwhile, back in First Class, Metatron was talking with two other men about how the whole point of going for the Archangel status was to gain respect and that Aziraphale had already done that. To keep their origins a secret, the Metatron didn't mention that it was an Archangel position. Just a high position in their 'company'. One of the men pointed out that Molly was coming over. Metatron told them to start leaving before Molly spotted them. But Molly caught them just as they were leaving, explaining that she hoped to catch them all at tea.

Metatron told her that she had just missed them and that they were heading off to get some air on the boat deck. Molly thought that was a great idea as she could catch them up on her gossip during that time. So they all left to go there. They walked passed Mr. Ismay and the Captain on their way out. Mr. Ismay was voicing his disappointment at the fact the Captain hadn't lit the last four boilers.

The Captain told him that he didn't see the need to as they were making excellent time. Mr. Ismay told him that the press already knew of Titanic's size and now he wanted them to marvel at her speed. He also wanted to ensure that her maiden voyage made headlines when they arrived in America.

The Captain voiced his concerns about pushing the engines until they had been properly run in. Mr. Ismay pretended to back down before continuing on about what a glorious end of the Captain's career would be if they made it to America before the estimated date. The Captain silently considered it which didn't go noticed by Mr. Ismay who knew he had just gotten his way.