Fallen Angels (Ineffable Husbands/Crowley and Aziraphale)

5. An Angry Demon

[warning: strong language] 

"Whoa—" Crowley pulled away. "You ...?"

"Oh, oh!" Aziraphale said, flustered. He moved away from Crowley, but the demon grabbed his hand.

"No, I ..." he seemed to be struggling for the words. So long they had gone unspoken.

"You do?" Aziraphale asked.

Crowley nodded. He avoided eye contact with the angel and fixed his gaze on their hands. For the first time in a good long while, Crowley was nervous.

"Are you scared?" Aziraphale asked softly.

"It's taken 6,000 years to get this far," he said. "I'm scared I'm going to mess it all up and then I'll really lose you ..."

"You're not going to lose me," the angel assured him with a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. He brushed the tears off the demon's cheeks.

"I fuck things up. That's what I do. I'm a demon!"

"No," Aziraphale said, forcing the demon to look at him. "You're just an angel who's hit a few road bumps."

"Don't do that," Crowley said bitterly. "Don't try to see the good in me. I'm not an angel and I haven't been for a good long while."

"Fine. So you're a demon. But you're my demon. Nothing's going to change that."

Crowley smiled. "In that case ..." He leaned in and kissed the angel—the one thing he'd been waiting to do since he met that doofus who gave away his flaming sword. The moment their lips touched, Aziraphale felt the room fill with more love than he had ever felt. It was different than any human love—it transcended that. The kind of love that lasted 6,000 years and would last until the end of the earth.

The couple lay cuddled up together in their shared bed without a wink of sleep until morning came. Aziraphale picked up a book to read, and Crowley pretended to read over his shoulder for a while, but reading was so dreadfully boring that he busied himself by running his fingers through the angel's hair and planting kisses on his cheeks.

"I know you hate them, but you should try reading this one," Aziraphale suggested, handing Crowley one of the fantasy books Adam recommended. He himself was not the biggest fan of them, but he thought Crowley might get a kick out of it. It was a whole series. Lots of wizards and witches.

"I don't think I'll like it—"

"Just try," Aziraphale said. "Ten pages. If you don't like it after ten pages, you can stop. Please?"

Crowley rolled his eyes and began to read. In fact, it didn't even take ten pages for Crowley to fall in love with it. Not even ten lines, or ten words even. Crowley hadn't read in a good long while and his speed was slow, but not necessarily needing to eat or sleep meant he could lie in bed the entire day without noticing the time passing at all. Aziraphale chuckled at the sight of his demon so engrossed in the book. Crowley didn't even notice when Aziraphale brought him breakfast in bed, although Crowley did manage to eat two whole bagels without ever looking up from the book. Aziraphale let him be and tended to his bookshop, watering Crowley's plants and whispering encouraging words to them.

"Well aren't you a beauty?" he remarked to one of the littlest ones. "I can see why Crowley likes you so much."

"Listen, Aziraphale," Gabriel said, miraculously appearing behind the angel.

"Archangel fucking Gabriel," Aziraphale muttered under his breath as he turned around to greet the annoying son of a bitch. Maybe a little bit of Crowley was rubbing off on him considering his language. "Yes, Gabriel?"

"I don't like you consorting with that demon. He's ruined a perfectly good angel, but I think with time we could persuade you back to the light—"

"You're not persuading me anywhere. I am perfectly fine right here. Just leave me alone for a couple thousand years, will you?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Aziraphale. Imagine the chaos that could be caused by an angel and a demon consorting down on Earth."

"Oh, we've been doing it for years. We're age old friends and nothing bad has ever come from it!"

"This has gotten out of hand, Aziraphale. I'm sorry, but I have to do what I have to do."

"What is that ... what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh it's nothing. Don't freak out. Just a couple of angels upstairs with your buddy and some holy water." Aziraphale stared at Gabriel blankly. "Come on, I thought that might have gotten a little more reaction out of you. We're going to kill your best friend. Helloooooo. Are you paying attention?"

"YOU FUCKING IMBECILES!!" Crowley shouted from upstairs. "DON'T YOU KNOW NOT TO POUR WATER ON SOMEONE WHILE THEY'RE READING? YOU'VE RUINED THE BOOK, BY GOD! Ugh, pardon the language. Harry just got the stone from the mirror and now you've FUCKING RUINED IT. HOW DO YOU THINK AZIRAPHALE'S GOING TO REACT WHEN HE FINDS OUT I'VE GONE AND RUINED HIS BOOK? YOU PATHETIC ANGELS SCREWING UP ALL THE TIME. CAN'T EVEN KILL A DEMON PROPERLY, CAN YOU? MEASLY LITTLE BASTARDS. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! RUN AWAY! GO RUN HOME TO DADDY FUCKWAD GABRIEL YOU SONS OF BITCHES."

A few seconds later, Crowley descended the stairs and held the soggy Harry Potter book out to Aziraphale. "Sorry, Angel. It got a little wet." He locked eyes with the angel Gabriel. "I don't suppose I'm going to have to threaten you again, eh? It was bloody fun last time."

"I think I've got the point," Gabriel said, backing away slowly.

Crowley grabbed his color and pulled him close until their faces were inches apart. "Do you? Because I know what you said to Aziraphale before he stepped into that fire." Crowley mimicked Gabriel's voice. "Shut your stupid mouth and die already." He laughed. "You know, for a while there I really regretted falling. Really wasn't my fault, though. But now I am so glad I did because I could not bear spending 6,000 years with you uptight jackasses. If you say anything like that to Aziraphale again ... well, I'm sure you already know. Don't you, Gabe? You and I are going to come to a little agreement here, wouldn't that be nice? You are going to leave me and my angel completely, absolutely, blissfully alone until the end of the century, and then, if you so wish, you can return so I can threaten you again, and by that time who knows what other funky new ideas I'll have for making your life a living hell. Actually, I've been there and it's not that bad. I'll make your life worse. Kapeesh?"

Gabriel suttered and miracled himself away.

Crowley turned to Aziraphale. "That's a real bummer because I was really liking that book."

"Nothing a little miracle won't solve," the angel said, snapping his fingers and returning the book to Crowley, good as new. He was more than a little awed by what Crowley had done.