Archive of Our Own

It wasn't often that demons and angels ran across one another on Earth. Or, at least it wasn't often that an angel and a demon other than Crowley and Aziraphale ran across each other on Earth. Aziraphale had been on Earth since The Beginning and had only met a handful of demons outside of the major catastrophes when Everyone was called in.

But London wasn't exactly a small place. There were frequently demons who would pop up on his radar before heading elsewhere for trouble. Crowley's reputation kept a lot of other demons away, as no one wanted to try and compete against him for the most souls or glory in Hell, but there was the occasional demon that liked to stick around for a while.

This usually caused problems for The Arrangement as well, as neither Aziraphale nor Crowley could be seen contacting each other by either side, something that was far more likely to happen if one of their own was lurking around somewhere.

He'd tried to ignore it at first. Like he'd noted before, it wasn't the first time that a demon had appeared in London for some reason, but something seemed off about this time.

Firstly, they hadn't moved on yet. Whatever they were doing here was taking longer than it usually did. Secondly, Aziraphale hadn't heard from Crowley in a while. Now, this wasn't truly unusual for the two of them, as they could sometimes go years without ever hearing from each other, but it still felt strange to not hear from him. The demon did have a habit of "checking in" anytime there was a demon around, and let him know exactly who it was and what they were doing there.

Aziraphale liked to say he was concerned about him. Crowley would say he was just protecting an asset in The Arrangement. Aziraphale knew he was lying.

So he tried to keep an eye on what the other demon was doing. He seemed to be far more interested in the tempting of single souls rather than Crowley's brand of mischief, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't start getting up to more trouble if he was left unchecked.

He'd managed to track down the area where the demon seemed to be getting up to the most trouble. It seemed to be towards the east side, although the days before he'd been felt everywhere in the city. Aziraphale did what he could to counter the demon, placing blessings on the people who had been affected, doing tiny miracles that could benefit those around them, and just in general letting his presence be known. It was possible that if it was a lower demon they might be scared off by the presence of an angel in the area.

He sighed as he moved down the street, blessing the third person that day. It seemed to be a never ending thing, someone new almost every block. It was so different from how he and Crowley did things, he'd almost forgotten how much work actually terrible demons could be.

Heaven would surely comment on the amount of miracles he was doing, but at least this time he'd be able to specifically point to the people he was saving from the hands of whatever this demon was up to. They couldn't be considered frivolous if he was helping humans, right?

It seemed like the demon's trail ended here, though. No more humans seemed to be affected and all seemed to be going rather smoothly, unlike the last bit he'd been dealing with. Maybe the demon really had decided to leave?

"Ooohh, an angel," a voice said behind him.

Aziraphale froze for a moment. There was no denying that the voice behind him had came from a demon, sounding exactly like gravestone grinding against each other. Crowley's voice had never sounded like that, which could only mean that it had to be the demon that he'd been following.

When he turned around there was a man with blacked out eyes, white hair, and a frog sticking out from underneath the hair. Aziraphale didn't need anything more than that to tell himself that he was in trouble.

While he'd never personally seen the Duke of Hell Hastur in person before, he'd heard Crowley describe him multiple times, usually with fun words like "froggy" and "warty" and any other amphibious comparisons he might make.

"Duke Hastur," Aziraphale said, barely able to keep the surprise out of his voice. He hadn't expected a Duke of Hell to be running around London. He didn't seem to like the topside very much, from what Crowley had told him, and his out of date clothes spoke to that fact.

"And the angel knows my name," Hastur said. He smiled, his teeth broken and blackened in a way that made Aziraphale's skin crawl.

"Yes, well," Aziraphale said. He took a step back, hoping that he might be able to just walk away from him. It wasn't often demons and angels actually clashed on Earth, both sides usually too worried about the other side retaliating, but that didn't mean that Hastur wouldn't try it at least. He was a Duke of Hell, after all, and that did come with some perks.

"Where're you going?" Hastur said. In a blink of an eye he was behind Aziraphale, cutting off his escape. "It's not everyday I get the chance to run into an angel."

He jumped, feeling his back hit Hastur, and spun around to face him. The demon was still smiling, clearly enjoying the way he was making Aziraphale squirm.

Aziraphale had never been a fighter. When the war had broken out in Heaven against Lucifer and his gang he'd chosen other duties, been assigned away from the fighting despite his rank. He'd helped other angels heal their kind or watched out for God's other creations. There'd been no need for him to fight, really. Even when he'd had his rather large and flaming sword back in the garden, he'd never actually used it. It was more for intimidation really, as who wanted to pick a fight with the angel with the flaming sword?

But he didn't have his sword now, which he was keenly aware of. Hastur also didn't have a weapon, but demons were infinitely more devious when it came to fighting, leaving Aziraphale with basically no chance.

"Probably for good reason," Aziraphale said. He'd tried to steady his voice, to not show how much it bothered him to be standing in front of the Duke of Hell while he was wearing that creepy smile of his, but it sounded fake even to himself.

"You're the angel that's always thwarting Crowley, aren't you?" he asked. His eyes roamed over Aziraphale before he shook his head. "I don't get it. I mean, I know Crowley's an idiot, but I still expected something better."

Suddenly, there was another presence nearby, this one also demonic. For a moment Aziraphale allowed himself to hope that it might be Crowley, that the demon might have somehow sensed that Aziraphale was in trouble and showed up just like he always did, but it soon became obvious that it wasn't.

"So he's the town angel."

When Aziraphale turned he saw another demon standing there. This one seemed to be a bit more up to date with the current fashions, but the chameleon and rapidly changing eye color made him stand out quite a bit more.

Ligur, or so Aziraphale believed him to be. Yet another demon that Crowley frequently had to report to.

"We were wondering when you'd show up," Hastur said. "It's not like an angel to let us run amok."

"Yes, well, you see-" Aziraphale said. But before he could say anything else Hastur snapped his fingers and the world went dark.

XXX

Angels and demons both had different ways of traversing the Earth. Most angels, when reporting back from Heaven or using their celestial beings to transport themselves, appeared and disappeared in a flash of lightning. Demons, on the other hand, tended to sink down into the Earth and reappear somewhere else as if they were corpses crawling from their graves.

Aziraphale had only ever travelled as lightning. There was no need for him to have traveled the way that demons do, and after his first experience with it, he hoped he never had a reason to again.

The ground had been stifling and hot as they'd moved along. He couldn't see anything, not even the two demons that kept a tight hold on his arms as they moved along. Claustrophobia had never been a big fear for him before, but he could certainly see why it was something that scared people. If he'd been the sort that had to breathe, he definitely would've been more worried.

That's not to say he wasn't worried, as he certainly was. Two powerful demons snatching him off the street in full daylight was not exactly a normal occurrence, but there was still a part of him that was telling him that it would be okay. Neither side would really risk bringing down both Heaven and Hell before it was time, especially not over something so stupid, right?

Plus, there was another part of him that told him he'd never need to worry. It was a strange part of him, one he often tried to ignore and pretend didn't exist, but it did. He knew that if he was really going to be in danger, then Crowley wouldn't be far behind. He never was.

Aziraphale hadn't quite figured out how the demon always managed to show up right when he needed him, but in the very long, exhaustive history of the two of them, he'd never let him down. If there was anything wrong with Aziraphale, Crowley would show up and help stop it. He'd saved him from discorperated more times than he could honestly remember, and so there was no way that he'd fail this time.

But there was the fact that he hadn't seen or heard from Crowley in almost a year. Granted, it had never stopped the demon from showing up before, but it did still put a slight dent in his- well, perhaps faith was the wrong word, but his confidence that he would show up. Would he even know anything was wrong?

There was also the fact that he was being held by two demons. Strong demons, at that, definitely higher ranking than Crowley, no matter how well liked he was Downstairs.

Crowley had never exactly fit in with the other demons, but that didn't mean that he was going to go against his kind head on to defend Aziraphale. It was different against humans, animals, and sometimes his own foolishness than it was with demons.

Suddenly, they were no longer in the ground. They rose up through the Earth to stand outside of a rather old, run-down looking stone building. It seemed to have been for boat-building or maybe something else related to fish as it certainly smelled like them, but it was hard to point out any exact purpose for it. There were scorch marks on it, barely noticeable until they got closer.

"Move it," Hastur said. Together both he and Ligur marched Aziraphale into the building, never once letting go of his arms.

"Let go!" Aziraphale said. He tried his best to jerk his arms out of their grasp, but they barely even seemed to notice. His body had never been the most physically strong, which was something that Hastur and Ligur were currently using to their advantage.

"He's a fighter," Ligur noted in a bored tone, clearly not caring whether Aziraphale fought or not. "Most humans cower from us or beg to make a deal with us."

"Well, I'm not human," Aziraphale said primly. "And I hardly make deals with demons."

The chameleon on Ligur's head changed color, his eyes flashing to match. "Word is that you do." He increased his grip on his arm, bringing his face closer to his. "And we're very interested in finding out with who."

Suddenly, both of them were letting go of him, shoving him away from them as if he was the dirty and disgusting one. He stood up from the ground, taking a moment to brush the dirty from his clothes as he straightened them.

"Why on Earth would an angel make a deal with a demon?" Aziraphale said, although he could feel his ears heat up. "That would be absurd."

They'd been very careful about The Arrangement. Or so he'd thought...

"I dunno," Hastur said. "Maybe you're trying to 'bring him to the light' or whatever. Or maybe he's defected. Either way, we want to find the traitor and kill him."

Aziraphale could feel a sharp pain run through him as he listened. They were threatening Crowley! Just like Aziraphale always said they would do if they ever found out they were working together.

He wouldn't tell them though. He couldn't! Not when there was every chance that they would kill Crowley, or at the very least force him back to Hell.

"Plus we get to have a little bit of fun with an angel while we're at it," Ligur said. "Sounds like a win-win for us."

Aziraphale opened his mouth to protest, to tell them again that they had the wrong angel, that he'd never work with a demon, but he didn't even get a chance to. Before any of that could happen, fire shot from Hastur's fingers, lighting the ground around him on fire.

"Oh!" Aziraphale said. He quickly stepped back, backing away from the flames, but it didn't seem to matter. The flames circled him, a tight wall of fire blocking his escape at every turn. One of his wings, while not even in this realm, got a bit too close to the flames. Instantly, pain ran through him, causing him to cry out.

"Better be careful, angel," Hastur mocked. "Wouldn't want ya to burn your wings on some Hellfire, now would ya?"

Aziraphale drew his wings as close to himself as possible. He couldn't even bring them into this plane of existence to check on them, as there wouldn't be enough room in the circle to do so. All he could do was hope that it hadn't singed them too much.

He knew that the fire had felt different than other fires, but he honestly hadn't expected the demons to actually use real Hellfire against him. There were rules against that sort of thing! He couldn't just use Holy Water whenever he liked, and he'd liked to believe that demons had a similar rule against Hellfire. But perhaps he'd been wrong.

Ligur circled around, taking in Aziraphale from every angel. "Who are you working with?" he asked him.

"I'm not working for anyone other than Heaven," Aziraphale said.

"Liar," Ligur hissed. The flames rose higher and flared, embers catching on Aziraphale's clothes. He was quick to pat them out, ignoring the burns it caused on his hands. "We know you're working with someone."

"I'm not, I'm really not," Aziraphale said. "Like I said before, why would an angel work with a demon?"

The flames quickly rose again, nipping at all of Aziraphale. He could feel their heat, the way the flames made it feel like he was going to burn or maybe even melt. He tried to glance around the room, wondering if there was any way he could miracle himself out of the situation, but he didn't see anything. Not that Hastur or Ligur would be likely to or let him any time soon.

"We'll figure out who it is," Hastur said. "And when we do, we'll make sure to take care of them before coming back for you."

"We'll show you what we do to liars," Ligur said, his voice rough.

The flames responded to them once again. They rose up, taller than Aziraphale, and spun wildly in a circle like a vortex. Through it all, he could hear the maniacal laughter of Hastur and Ligur as they watched the angel struggle to stay away from the flames.

He sat down on the dirty floor, trying to make himself as small as possible. His wings and hands ached from where the Hellfire had touched, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. All that mattered was that he didn't touch anymore of the stuff.

Surely, they would get bored soon, right? There were plenty of humans down in Hell for them to torture, it's not like they really needed him for entertainment. Plus, there was no way they could connect him and Crowley together. As far as they knew, the two of them were bitter enemies that couldn't stand each other. With those two facts combined, Hastur and Ligur would surely get bored and move on to something or someone else that they could bother.

He'd just need to wait them out.

XXX

London was as it always seemed to be, and yet something was still wrong.

Crowley searched through all of the usual places that Aziraphale tended to frequent, and yet there didn't seem to be a trace of the angel anywhere. Where were the miracles? The blessings? Where was the wonderful being that could always make Crowley feel better, even after something horrible had happened?

It's not like it would be the first time Aziraphale had had to leave London to go away on business, nor would it be the last, he was sure, but it still felt wrong to not have the angel's presence in the city.

What London was lacking in angelic miracles, though, it was making up for in demonic ones. The whole town reeked of them, the air seeming to become more putrid and heavier the longer he stayed there. He wouldn't be surprised if one of the horsepeople showed up at this rate.

It also didn't take long for him to find the source of the problems.

"Crawley," Hastur said from behind him.

Crowley jumped and swung around to look at the demon. He was just standing there in the park with him, the last place he'd hoped to find Aziraphale, as if it were something that just happened every day.

But it wasn't every day that Hastur came up from Below. He hated Earth, basically did everything to avoid it unless it was to cause as much trouble as possible.

"Duke Hastur," Crowley said. He tried to hide the surprise from his voice, to make it seem as though he should have expected him here all along. Maybe he should have. He wondered how many memos he'd missed during his vacation. "It's been a while since I've seen you. Last time I saw you, you were caving in a mine around me, remember? A year ago?"

"Was wonderin' when you'd show up," he said. His black eyes glared into Crowley, almost pinning him in place. "You always do, like a bad penny."

"Oh, you know," Crowley said vaguely, waving his hand around. "Sometimes trouble takes ya to some strange places. You know, after I got out of the cave." He glared at Hastur, who seemed to find the whole thing just as funny as he had when he'd originally caved it in around him. Slowly, he glanced around the park, wondering if anyone else had noticed the man with the frog for a scalp. So far, it seemed like most people were giving them a wide berth, which Crowley was grateful for. "So, uh, what're you doing here? In London? On Earth?"

A gross smile spread across his face. "We came to find you, actually."

A nervous smile spread across Crowley's in response. It was never a good thing for Hastur to seek him out. "We?"

"Yes," Ligur said, suddenly appearing next to him. "We thought that you might be able to shed a little light on the angel who presides over London."

A strong twist jerked in his stomach. "The angel?"

"Aziraphale or something like that, I dunno," Hastur said. "White hair, white wings, ya know. What do you know about him?"

"Well, I-uh, I don't actually run into him that often," he said, his words a jumbled mess in the rush he made to get them out. "Don't wanna end up on the wrong side of some smiting and all that mess."

Ligur circled him, a look of doubt on his face. "So, you mean to tell us that you frequently live in the same city as the angel and never run into him?" He shared his look with Hastur before turning back to Crowley. "Tell me why I've got a hard time believing that."

"No, no, no, no!" Crowley said, moving his arms in front of him in a dismissive way, like it might somehow erase the crazy idea from the two other demons. "It's the truth. Like I said, don't want to end up with some Holy Water splashed on me or something. You know he had a flaming sword at one point? It was huge!" He glanced back and forth between the two of them, hoping to see some sort of change in their expressions. When he didn't get one he spoke again. "Look, I really don't know much about him."

"That's a shame," Hastur said. He glanced over to to Ligur and smiled, a truly sadistic smile if Crowley ever saw one. "I guess we'll just have to get it out of him some other way."

Crowley's face scrunched up, confusion apparent in his face. "What're you talking about?"

"Word on the street is that the angel has been teaming up with a demon," Ligur said. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

He could feel his heart beat faster in his chest. He pictured Aziraphale, sitting across from him and eating whatever human food he'd decided to try now. How he'd convinced him that The Arrangement could work- would work, as no one else but the two of them ever needed to know about it.

"No, not a clue," Crowley said, hoping that he sounded at least a bit honest. "Like I said, I don't see him often. I don't really think he's the type to consort with demons. Have you ever seen him?"

"Oh yes," Hastur said. "We've seen him alright."

A shiver went down Crowley's spine. He raised an eyebrow at his words, glancing back and forth between the two other demons. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say, we decided to pay him a little visit," Ligur said. "And treat him to a trip. One he likely won't be coming back from."

Fear and anger ran through Crowley in equal parts. If anything had happened to Aziraphale he'd... well, he didn't actually know what he would do, but he knew that Hastur and Ligur wouldn't live to regret hurting him. He wouldn't even give them the chance to.

"Wh-what exactly does that mean?" Crowley asked. His heart was still beating fast, his hands sweaty.

"It means that we're going to get him to confess who he's working with, and then we'll kill him and the traitor," Hastur said.

The two other demons turned around like they planned on leaving. Since Crowley had had no information it seemed that they had no use for him anymore.

There was no way that Crowley could let them leave, however. Not without finding out where they had taken Aziraphale.

"Kill an angel?" His voice was just on the sane side of panic, although it sounded disbelieving to everyone else. "You're going to kill an angel?"

"Hellfire does terrible things to them," Ligur said offhandedly. "It would be a shame if he were to come into contact with some."

"You can't just kill an angel!" Crowley said, his voice fully hysterical now. A man passing by glared at him, but otherwise paid them no mind. "Heaven won't like that. They really won't like that. Especially if you kill a principality like him."

A questioning look came across the two demons' faces, as if they hadn't considered that. There was a very strict rule about that kind of thing happening between demons and angels, and for the most part both parties followed it, but they wouldn't be the first to break it.

Still, he had to convince them that it wouldn't be worth it to kill Aziraphale, that it would be far too much trouble for them.

"And, I hear that he reports straight to Gabriel," Crowley said, putting on his most manipulative voice. "Do you really wanna be the one that kills Gabriel's lap dog?"

"I thought you said you didn't know anything about him?" Ligur said with a sneer.

"I don't," Crowley said, holding his hands up in front of him in a defensive manner, "Just seen him around. Seen Gabriel around, too. And I know how much you two love dear Gabe."

Now it was time for both of them to sneer. Hastur looked like he might actually throw up at the thought of the angel.

"But, I mean, Gabe's an angel, I'm sure he'll do the whole forgiveness thing for you guys-" both of them shuddered at that, "because angels can't hold grudges, right?"

Hastur and Ligur turned away from Crowley, their voices low. It was obvious to him that they were having a hard time believing him, but everything he'd said was true, or at least most of it anyways. Aziraphale was a principality, even if he didn't act like one. Aziraphale did work directly under Gabriel, and Gabriel would be upset if Aziraphale died, but not because of a sense of brotherhood or comradery or anything else like that. No, if Gabriel was angry it would likely be because of the fact that he'd have a lot of paper work to do due to the angel's death, as well as the fact that he'd have to train someone else to do Aziraphale's Earthly job.

Gabriel was also not the person to ask forgiveness from either, demon or otherwise, so that one had just been a straight up lie.

"Well, there's still the demon to deal with," Hastur said. "Even if we take killing the angel off the table, there's still the traitor!"

Crowley nodded his head. "Right, right," he said, "the traitor. Right. Well, I did see a demon hightailing it out of London while I was on my way in. And he reeked of angelic goodness."

Hastur grinned at that, but Ligur just stared at him. The chameleon on his head changed colors, as well as his eyes, as he seemed to stare right down in Crowley's being. "Are you lying to us?"

"No, no, no, of course not! Why would I lie to you?" Crowley said, as if even the idea of it was insane. "What would that get me? The same treatment you're gonna give the traitor? No thanks."

Again, the two other demons looked at each other and turned their backs to Crowley. Their whispers were too quiet for him to make them out exactly, but he could tell that he had seemed to have won them over. Now, if he could just figure out where they'd taken Aziraphale...

"Where'd you take the angel anyways? You better have made sure that it's no where Gabriel might find," he said.

Ligur turned back to him, his eyes sparking orange this time. "We took him to one of the regular spots for some Hellfire," he said.

"Right, right," Crowley said, nodding his head. It had been a practice in days gone to only use Hellfire in certain areas of the world, as it could be a bit uncontrollable, especially if the demon watching over it got careless. There were a few of the old spots around London, if he remembered correctly. It would just take a little bit of searching to find him, and then he'd get him out.

And if anything had happened to the angel while he'd been stuck in a cave...

"Why? Planning on going and having a bit of fun yourself?" Hastur asked.

"Who me? What, and steal all the fun from you?" Crowley asked. "Pssh, no." He looked around the park for a moment, hoping that the two of them were still buying it. "But seriously, guys, you might want to get on that demon. Who knows where he'll go after he hears you've captured the angel."

Hastur and Ligur seemed to agree, and after a few vague threats towards Crowley, consisting of the usual taunts of being up here too long, having a terrible work ethic, and just being nasty to him in general, they departed. Hastur made a vague gesture towards Crowley, implying that he'd see him again soon, which Crowley was just so looking forward to.

He could only hope that it didn't end up with him in a cave. Or the bottom of a well. Again.

As soon as they vanished, Crowley began his search. Three spots immediately came to his mind when he thought of likely locations for burning Hellfire, but there was really only one he could picture Hastur using.

It would take him a while to get there, but he had no doubt that Aziraphale would be there.

XXX

The thing about Hellfire isn't just that it burns angels. It also heats up the room like a normal fire would. And even if Aziraphale hadn't been an angel, sitting this close to a fire was likely to hurt him anyways.

He'd never noticed how hot fire truly was. Maybe it was an idiotic thing for him to suddenly realize, but he'd never exactly been surrounded on all sides by it before. He'd been to deserts before, stood in the scorching sun with no water around for miles, but this was far worse than that. This heat never let up. There was no shade, no cooling night time relief, nothing except the constant heat and spark that licked at his hair, his wings, and everything else it could possibly touch.

Hastur and Ligur had left him alone and hadn't come back for him. He'd rather thought they'd spend a lot more time taunting him, playing tricks on him, even prodding him with Hellfire, but it seemed like they'd just left him alone instead. How long did they plan to leave him hear for? Were they planning on coming back? Aziraphale had been very careful to not tell them anything about Crowley, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't figure it out. Demons were tricky, they had their ways of getting what they wanted from people.

And maybe this was just one of those ways. Hellfire could literally burn for all of eternity and absolutely would if there were no demons to stop it. Was he expected to just sit here and wait for them to decide to come back? For some other demons to run across the trapped angel?

For Crowley to find him?

He shook his head at the thought. It would be far too dangerous for Crowley to show up and help him now, even if he wanted to. Not that Aziraphale even knew if he wanted to or not. Maybe this was all another trick, maybe he'd been wrong to trust Crowley in the first place.

Again, he shook his head. No, he knew despite the fact that he denied it at every turn that Crowley was his friend. And even though Crowley was a demon, he did have standards. Punishing him by leaving him trapped in Hellfire for all of eternity just wasn't his style.

A particularly large spark jumped off and landed firmly on his wing. He cried out, patting at the flames with frantic hands, although the position did little to help him. Tears burned in his eyes as the pain shot through him, his poor feathers seared and damaged from the infernal fire.

"Aziraphale!"

He jerked his head up, looking through the fire. It was so thick it was hard to see anything. But he knew that voice. Only one person in the entire history of the universe had ever said his name like that.

"Crowley?"

"Hold on!" Crowley yelled, his voice making it over the fire. "Just- just give me a second, okay!?"

Despite the flames that were still raging around him, he could feel himself staring to relax. Crowley was here now, he'd found him, just like he always had. It might take him a little bit to get free, but he now knew that he at least would be freed.

It wasn't much longer before the fire reduced itself, leaving only a scorched circle on the floor and the faint trace of smoke in the air. With the flames gone it was easier to take in Crowley's appearance, standing just beyond where the circle ended, his hand extended out towards him.

He didn't even hesitate to take it.

"What did they do to you, angel?" Crowley asked softly. His hands ran up and down Aziraphale's arms, ending at his hands which were still burned and red from the fire. There was nothing Crowley could do for them at the moment, nothing other than get him out of there as soon as possible, but that didn't feel like enough at the moment.

His voice cracked when he went to speak, the flames and the smoke having gotten the best of him. Less than a second later, Crowley had magicked up some water for him as he brushed his hand against the angel's forehead. His own forehead creased as he noticed the temperature of it, but he said nothing.

"They know I've been working with a demon," Aziraphale said. He did his best to keep the accusations out of his tone, as it would do no good to accuse Crowley of anything.

"Yes, that's what they said," Crowley said, his tone distracted. Gently, he turned Aziraphale around, taking in his wings that weren't even currently on this plane. "Oh Satan, I'm sorry angel."

A moment later and Aziraphale's wings manifested. They'd been the things he'd been most worried about when they'd caught fire, and the things that he'd been least able to do anything about. He dreaded to even think about what they looked like, especially if they were drawing that kind of reaction from the demon.

"I'll kill them," Crowley said. "I swear, I will. Hastur can fuck with me all he wants, but this is a step too far."

Something deep inside Aziraphale shifted at that. He knew that Crowley cared for him, the same way he cared for the demon, but to hear him say it so plainly when they both usually hid it behind words was almost too much for him.

His hands were gentle as he reached towards the angel's wings. Slowly, he picked at the burned feathers there, removing the dead, shortened ones from the healthy ones. A pile formed at their feet as he went and the tears came back against his will.

"They look gray," he noted.

"Hm?"

"The feathers that you're pulling out. They look gray."

Crowley looked down at the pile. "Hellfire does that. Don't worry, the rest of them are just as white and as fluffy as before."

Aziraphale turned his head towards Crowley, looking towards the demon's back where his wings would be if they were manifested. He thought of how dark his feathers were, almost exactly like a raven's with a shininess to them that was almost unreal. Faintly, he wondered if Crowley's wings had been white when he'd been an angel and if his own wings would have turned black if they had been allowed to stay in the Hellfire or if they would have just burned away.

"Angel wings are resilient," Crowley said, almost as if he was reading his mind. "Your feathers will grow back just as white as before."

"That's good to hear," Aziraphale said, glancing at his hands. When he'd been trapped he'd barely noticed the pain they been in from the sparks and flames he'd patted out, but now that he'd been freed he could feel all of it. Every single burn seemed to be screaming in agony at him. Perhaps it would've been better to have just lost them in the fire all together.

"We'll have to treat those the human way, I'm afraid," Crowley said. "I can do a lot, but I can't heal Hellfire."

"Yes, of course," Aziraphale said, if a bit disappointed. It's not like he had exactly expected the demon to be able to heal his hands, but it still hurt to hear that he couldn't.

Crowley took one of his arms, snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were in the bookshop. It wasn't a small miracle, and it was definitely one that was likely to be questioned if and when Hell or Heaven ever noticed, but it didn't seem to bother the demon at all.

He helped Aziraphale sit down on the couch, leaning him back until his head was dangling over the back of the couch. A moment later he returned to the room, a bowl of water, a couple of wash cloths, a glass of water, and a roll of bandages in his hands.

One of the cloths was draped across Aziraphale's forehead. It wasn't until that moment that Aziraphale noticed that he was still hot, despite the fact that he had left the flames far behind.

"You're probably dehydrated," Crowley said. He handed him the glass of water, instructing him to make sure he drank it all before he got to work on his hands.

Carefully, Crowley began to wash his hands, taking great care to not hurt them any more than they already were. Flakes of skin came off, too damaged to stay in place, and Aziraphale thought he might be sick. No one should have to watch pieces of themselves come off like that. His wings had been bad enough.

To distract himself, he decided to watch Crowley. His dark glasses were firmly in place, blocking the demon's eyes from his view, but he could imagine the look that was in them. There was a certain tenseness to his shoulders that spoke more than words could describe.

"I didn't tell them anything about... us. About The Arrangement, if that's what you're worried about," Aziraphale said, sure that he'd figured out what had bothered Crowley. "I wouldn't do that."

His hands stayed soft, stayed as gentle and as soothing as they had been before, but his whole body seem to coil up. If he were in snake form he would probably be ready to strike.

"I know, angel, I know." He finished cleaning his hands and picked up the bandages. Aziraphale wasn't sure where Crowley had learned to wrap wounds the way he was, but he couldn't find it in himself to complain. "I didn't doubt you for a second."

A swooping feeling occurred near the angel's heart, similar to a sudden free fall that ended with you being jerked back upwards, like a bad, broken bungee jump.

"You didn't?" he asked. He couldn't help it.

A growl came from Crowley. "Of course not! I trust you."

The fact that a demon was trusting an angel should have been funny, should have been something for Aziraphale to tut at and point out that that was likely a bad idea, but he didn't. Maybe it was because he also trusted Crowley, even if it wasn't the most well advised decision he'd ever made.

"Then why are you-" he trailed off. "Then why are you so upset?"

Crowley stopped his ministrations, tossing the bandages away from himself. Her jerked up right, walking away from the couch and leaving Aziraphale's eyes to follow him as he paced the room back and forth. His hands reached up, rna through his hair, and drew it up into crazy, mismatched spikes.

"Why am I upset?" he asked his voice just this side of hysterical. "Why am I upset? Maybe because two idiots just tried to light my best friend on fire? And not just any fire! Hellfire. Do you know what would've happened if you'd been burned by any more of that stuff? You wouldn't have come back. You would have died, like actually died."

The room seemed to freeze at Crowley's words. It's not like it was exactly a surprise that Crowley thought of Aziraphale as his best friend (nor the fact that Aziraphale felt the same way, although he would never say it out loud), but it was still surprising to hear him just state the fact so plainly. Aziraphale didn't know what to do with that information, so he did what he did best.

He changed the subject.

"I know what Hellfire does to people, dear," he said.

Another growl came from Crowley. "Then you should understand why I'm so upset about this!" Another hand raked through his hair and tugged at the ends of it. If he wasn't careful he was going to pull it all out.

Aziraphale sat up, removing the wet cloth from his forehead as he did so. It had heated up by now, anyways. "Crowley," he said, drawing the demon's eyes back to him. "I understand."

With just those two simple words Crowley seemed to calm down. He stared at Aziraphale, his eyes moving over every inch of him until Aziraphale was tempted to squirm under them. He'd always found Crowley's eyes beautiful and interesting, but they could be very intense when they were focused on you alone.

"I'm sorry," Crowley said, although Aziraphale wasn't sure what he needed to be apologizing for. He hadn't been the one to put him in a Hellfire circle. "I should have been there."

Ah, there it was.

"You couldn't have known," Aziraphale reassured him. "We hadn't seen each other in a while, anyways. There was no way you could've known."

Words seemed to do little to soothe the demon, but they were really all Aziraphale had. Perhaps if he just kept him talking it would put them back how they usually were.

"Where did you go?" Aziraphale asked. The pain from his hands had lessened now, the skin significantly less inflamed than it had been before, although it was still tender. Distantly, he wondered if any of it would scar. His form didn't usually acquire such things, but infernal wounds might be different.

"When?"

Aziraphale rolled his eyes. "When you were gone. It'd been a while since I'd heard from you or seen any of your handiwork around here." He hesitated for a moment. "That's why I followed Hastur and Ligur. I thought that they might be you, back to your old wiley ways here in London."

Teeth were bared at the mention of the two other demons, but aside from that he seemed to be rather calm again. "That would also be Hastur's doing," Crowley said.

Aziraphale sighed. The nervous need to ring his hands together was just barely avoided by thinking about the pain that it would cause to do so. "Oh, what did he do this time?"

Crowley looked over Aziraphale, his eyes lingering on his wings. "Nothing as bad as this." Yellow eyes drifted back to his, gazing at Aziraphale in a way he couldn't describe. There was certainly fondness there, a little more then was perhaps there a hundred years ago if that was possible, but there was also something else. Maybe it wasn't for Aziraphale to describe. Maybe it was ineffable.

"Which is why I'm going to get him back," Crowley said. He rubbed his hands together and leaned back, the mischievous look returning to his eyes.

"Crowley," Aziraphale warned. "He's dangerous. Plus, he already knows that I've been talking with a demon. What will we do if he decides to come back? And do more than just threaten this time?"

A dark look shot across Crowley's face, almost too quick to notice. "That's why I've sent them on a wild goose chase. Let them chase after a demon who doesn't exist for a while and get bored with it. Neither one of them have particularly long attention spans, and their hatred of Earth will surely send them back to Hell before long."

He scooted closer to Aziraphale and draped an arm dramatically around his shoulders. His head titled back, eyes closed like he might take a nap right then and there. "And, even if they do decide to come back, we'll be ready. There won't be any surprises this way."

It wasn't often that they sat this close together. Sure, they shared bench seats, couches, tables, and basically every other double seating available, but for Crowley to hang his arm around him was nearly unheard of. He could feel the heat rushing to his face even through the already feverish feeling he had. It was a different kind of hot. A good kind.

"Just rest, angel," Crowley said. "Your wings and your hands should feel a bit better by morning. And hopefully you won't look as red all over as you do now."

His blush deepened at Crowley's words, but he decided not to say anything. He wasn't usually big on sleep, as he was definitely one of the beings that saw it as a waste of time, but he could never resist Crowley. And if Crowley was willing to drift off there next to him with his arm around him, then who was he to judge.

He slid down the couch a bit more, trying not to make it obvious that he was getting closer to Crowley. If Crowley did notice, he didn't say anything. Instead, he kept his eyes closed and quietly said, "Good night, angel."

A small smile formed on Aziraphale's lips as he settled in next to the demon. "Good night, Crowley."

In the morning they would need to treat his hands a bit better and make sure that none of his other feathers had been affected. A plan would also need to be made in case Hastur or Ligur came back, as Aziraphale wasn't exactly sure that Crowley's plan of misdirection would work, but that could wait. All of it could wait just a few hours while the angel and the demon drifted off on the couch, both of them unknowingly leaning towards each other.