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Aziraphale was not expecting to wake up to the sound of books thudding against the hardwood floor. It was already rare for the angel to sleep as it was, but Crowley has practically dragged him into bed last night, nuzzling his head against his midsection until Aziraphale had no choice but to comply.
He had half a heart to go back to sleep, but was pulled out of his drowsy state upon realizing that his demon was not still in the bed. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sliding his feet into a pair of fuzzy white slippers. A few more thuds and a string of curses made him quicken his pace.
The red haired demon was running around the bookshop like a headless chicken, tossing books off of shelves and tables. Strands of hair were sticking to his forehead with sweat and his black coat jacket had long since been draped along the back of the couch.
“Crowley?”
Crowley didn’t seem to listen, instead continuing his attack on the innocent books.
“Crowley!”
The demon in question spun around. His glasses were slipping off the brim of his nose, his face glistening with sweat. Aziraphale was off put by his disheveled appearance. His hands fluttered about as he tried to think of something to say.
“What ever is the matter?”
“I can’t find my keys .” He fretted, tossing the couch cushions onto the floor. “And I know I could just miracle up a replacement, but they’re one of a kind and my key ring has a charm that I like and- plusss--”
“Breathe, my dear.” Zira said. “You’ll never find them if you don’t sit down and think about where you had them last.”
“I don’t have time for that!” Crowley whined, already pushing past Aziraphale to search for his keys in the back room. “I had an appointment half an hour ago and now I’m going to be fucking late all becausssse I can’t find my keys.”
The blonde angel miracled books back into their proper places and followed Crowley into the back room. Crowley was aimlessly searching through one of the desk drawers when he decided that he needed to calm Crowley down.
Taking a seat on the sofa, the angel patted the space beside him. “Take a seat.”
“Can’t” Crowley sped past him, but was stopped when Aziraphale grabbed his wrist.
“Please.”
Crowley did as told and flopped into place beside the angel. Despite how his hands were clenching the cloth of his pants, his knee bounced erratically and Aziraphale speculated that he was about to get up and run if Aziraphale didn’t offer any worthwhile words.
“I get that you’re...anxious,” Aziraphale started slowly. “but you’re not going to get anything done like this.”
“But--!”
“No but’s!” He said sternly. “You go take a warm shower to relax a bit and I’ll look for your keys. You can call whatever ‘appointment’ you have and tell them you’re going to be a little bit late.”
Crowley still looked decidedly not calm, but much better than he did a few minutes prior. Behind his shades, Aziraphale could tell that his eyes were closed in an attempt to get rid of the lingering anxiety. After a moment or two, Crowley took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Thanks, Angel.” He pressed a chaste kiss to Aziraphale’s cheek before running off to the bathroom to shower.
Aziraphale sighed in relief. It wasn’t often that Crowley got worked up, but when he did it was an accomplishment in itself to find out what he was stressed out about, let alone actually talking him down from losing his mind.
It didn’t take long for the angel to stumble across Crowley’s keys which were hanging on the coat rack, but were covered by one of Aziraphale’s coats. Crowley came bounding into the room, his glasses still perched on the bridge of his nose, but he seemed much more relaxed than he did moments ago.
“Look what I found~” Zira said in a sing-song voice, holding the keys above his head.
“Angel, you’re a lifesaver.” Crowley purred before he took the keys from his angel.
“Feeling better?”
“Much.” The redhead hummed as he headed towards the door.
“See you tonight?”
“Of course.”
The angel smiled to himself tiredly but adoringly as he watched Crowley drive off. One point Angel, zero points Crowley’s Dumb Anxiety.
Aziraphale felt like he’d read every book there ever was, but of course that wasn’t true. There’d always be something new to read and that’s exactly what he liked to reserve his quiet autumn afternoons for. When Crowley wasn’t around to entertain him, Aziraphale lost himself in the books. Books let him live a life that wasn’t his own. They were a doorway to a different universe where angels and demons weren’t real.
There were days where Aziraphael wished that he and Crowley could have been born human. They could have been childhood friends who dramatically started to act strange in high school because they realized that they had feelings for each other. But alas, I guess meeting at the beginning of time was a cute love story too.
Anyways, Aziraphale’s quiet time was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He’d ignored it for a few seconds before realizing that the only person who had his cellphone number was Crowley. He tucked a bookmark into place before pulling his phone out of his breast pocket.
“Crowley?”
“Hey, angel!” Crowley’s voice pitched up. There was the sound of pedestrians talking in the background, but it got quieter as Crowley seemed to move to a secluded area. “Are you busssy?”
“Not at the moment, no. What’s the matter?”
“Funny that you ask.” He says quickly. “Ssssso, I need you to bring me my bag.”
“Bag? What bag?”
“The, uh, black bag that’s hanging on your coat rack. It’s leather?”
Aziraphale stood slowly, grunting at the feeling of his knees popping. He made his way over to the coat rack where Crowley’s bag hung haphazardly on one of the lower hooks. The angel barely recognized the satchel, and couldn’t seem to remember when Crowley had ever sported a bag like this.
“Where are you?”
“That’s problem number two.” Crowley said nervously. “I don’t exactly know?”
“What do you mean ?” Aziraphale stressed, heading out of the shop and locking the door behind him with a snap. “Crowley, what’s going on?”
“Calm down, Angel. It’s alright.” Crowley soothed. “Just a ssssmall predicament.”
Aziraphale’s anxiety was building the more he walked, hoping that he would spot the Bentley somewhere or maybe bump into the idiotic redheaded demon. He willed his hand to stop trembling he his brain seemed to come up with the worst case scenario. What if Crowley had been captured and this was just his captors trying to lure him?
“I can hear you thinking through the phone. I”m fine..just a teeny weeny bit lost.”
“How? I don’t-- you don’t just get lost, Crowley. We’ve lived here for ages.” Zira whined confusedly. “Please help me understand.”
“Give me a second.” Crowley went silent for a few seconds before Aziraphale heard him bring the phone back up to his mouth. “I’m across the ssss- the road from the theatre?”
“I’ll be there in 5.” Aziraphale said with a deep breath. “Promise me I’m not going to get there to find you bleeding out or something equally absurd.”
“Promise.”
It took Aziraphale all of 2 minutes to get to the area Crowley had described. Pedestrians below would think that he was a bird or a plane, but in fact it was Aziraphale flying at full speed to get to his beautifully stupid demon. He flies over an ally, but his wings have a different idea in mind. The white wings are almost sentient, directing him down into space behind an office building. When the angel lands, he immediately starts scanning the area. Blue eyes land on a man dressed in all black. Crowley is sitting against a wall, his head tucked between his legs.
“Crowley, my dear?”
Gold eyes lock onto blue ones, relief washing across Crowley’s face. “Angel! Did you bring my stuff?”
“Of course.” Aziraphale walks over, holding out the bag and Crowley takes it, immediately sifting through it for something.
“Are you going to tell me what happened or?”
“Yeah yeah, jussssst-”
Aziraphale puts his hands over Crowley’s. This stops him from searching through the bag and also makes Aziraphale realize that Crowley’s hands are trembling slightly.
“Dear?”
Crowley avoids looking at Aziraphale, but can’t avoid his gaze for too long.
“There were these priests. Yelling about the devil and sinning and shit.” Crowley recalls, his hands fidgeting with the bag in his lap. “There was so much going on I- this lady bumpssss into me and knocks my glasssssses clean off right in front of them.”
Aziraphale nodded to show he was listening, but doesn’t speak yet.
“Of course the firsssssst fucking thing they notice is my eyesssss.” Crowley shifts uncomfortably. “One of them ssssssstartss throwing holy water around and I’m trying to play it off by saying they’re contactssss, but they won’t believe me. I took off down the street and hid here.”
It’s obvious that Crowley is agitated if the more pronounced hiss didn’t completely give him away. Aziraphale tugs him into a hug, but Crowley wriggles out of it uncomfortably. He gives his angel a little shove as if to say ‘not right now’. Crowley finally finds a spare pair of glasses in his bag and practically shoves them onto his face. It must have been too aggressive because the snake winces before running a nervous hand through his hair.
“Home?” Aziraphale offers softly.
“No, I have one more errand to run before dinner.” He says dismissively.
“O-oh. Alright then.”
Crowley goes stalking off towards where his car must be, leaving Aziraphale standing in the alley by himself. Aziraphale curses to himself silently. One point for him and one point for Crowley’s Anxiety.
Aziraphale isn’t even half way home when his phone buzzes with a text.
oryourdevil: hey can you come get me
oryourdevil: im like right down the street from where we just were
oryourdevil: youll see me
Icanbeyourangle: Is everything okay?
Icanbeyourangle: Do I need to bring anything?
oryourdevil: no
oryourdevil: just bring yourself ig
Aziraphale sighed softly and starts back in that direction. He doesn’t know how to react. He and Crowley very rarely text one another, finding it easier to converse via call. So for Crowley to text him out of nowhere is off putting to say the least. Sooner rather than later, Aziraphale approaches the Bentley. Crowley is resting his head against the steering wheel, body unmoving.
Aziraphale nervously knocks his knuckles against the window, which startles Crowley into shooting up ramrod straight. The angel opens the door and Crowley instantly collapses into Aziraphale’s arms. He’s a shaking mess, nuzzling his face against Aziraphale’s collar bone. For warmth or comfort, the angel will never know.
“My love, what happened?”
“The Bently wont sssssstart.” Crowley hisses, but it comes off more pitiful than menacing.
“You could have miracled it?”
“I know!” The redhead cries out, pulling away from the angel to push his glasses to the top of his head. His eyes are misty. “But I just-- I couldn’t handle it? It sssssounds dumb, but I was overwhelmed. Today was a shit show.”
“Agreed.” Aziraphale says tersely. “I’m sorry, my dear.”
“S’ not your fault. I just have the worssst luck.” Crowley shrugs. “It all became too much at once. Like holy shit I could have died today over something dumb.”
Aziraphale doesn’t think that the situation is funny at all, yet Crowley has his self deprecating grin on his face and it makes Zira feel a thousand times worse. Crowley feels self conscious under the angle’s empathetic gaze. He pulls his sunglasses back down and runs his tongue across his teeth nervously.
“Crowley...you know it’s okay not to be okay.”
“What are you on about?”
Aziraphale removes Crowley’s glasses and presses a long warm kiss to his nose. “You had an understandably bad day, yet you’re still trying to hole yourself up and act like it didn’t happen. It’s okay . We all have bad days.”
“I know-”
“Then let yourself be not okay. No matter what, I’m here.”
Crowley looks everywhere but at Aziraphale. It’s become a talent of sorts throughout the millennia. After 6000 years of running away from his feelings, he figured it’d be another 6000 years of the same thing. Aziraphale seems determined to stop the unhealthy habit now. He lifts his hand to cup Crowley’s cheek and gently rubs his thumb against the snake’s skin.
And then Crowley is crying. They’re big ugly salty tears that make him shake and hold onto Aziraphale’s coat as if he’s going to be taken away if he lets go. And Aziraphale holds him. As many times as Crowley has been there for him, it’d be insane if he didn’t return the favor. Crowley’s tears slow over time until finally he’s just sniffling occasionally.
“You’re such a beautiful idiot.” Aziraphale muses, peppering Crowley’s face with kisses. The demon smile, albeit embarrassed beyond belief to have put his feelings on display like that.
“Guilty.” Crowley laughs wetly. “But you love me.”
“I do.” Aziraphale hums. “Let me tempt you to sleep in instead of going for dinner tonight?”
“Temptation accomplished.” Crowley snickers to himself.
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“I love you most.”