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Chapter Text

Crowley has been following Gabriel for months now since he arrived Earth; he has always disliked the archangel so frustrating his plans is going to be fun.

He normally doesn’t follow direct orders, he avoids punishment by taking credit for things humans do themselves and the other demons are so impressed to remember he’s constantly disobeying.

They’re in the park and Gabriel has the most annoyed and frustrated expression Crowley has ever seen.

He’s following a human, a man with soft, almost white hair and the most kind smile Crowley has ever seen. He’s adorable.

Not that Crowley, a heartless demon, thinks the man is adorable, but he can see that other… people could find him cute.

He’s humming a song while he feeds the ducks and for a moment Crowley is so distracted by the sight he doesn’t notice when Gabriel groans and walks directly towards him.

Fortunately, they’re invisible to everyone else.

“You know what? You can take him,” Gabriel huffs, irritated. “He’s all yours.”

Crowley blinks a couple of times before looking right at the archangel, he’s not sure why it pleases him so much hearing him say that.

“I have no idea why head office wanted me to take care of him, honestly,” Gabriel narrows his eyes. “I’m the archangel fucking Gabriel, I’m not a guardian, I have a lot of things to do; I can’t take care of a boring human. So I’ll tell them you defeated me and took him or tempted him or whatever. It’s a win-win situation. Yes? Right, goodbye!”

Crowley is a little bit confused, but he’s not going to complain; that’s another thing he could take credit for, although he really wanted to piss Gabriel off for once.

Well, he can try it again in a couple of decades.

Instead of reporting to his people, Crowley moves closer to the bench the human is sitting on to take a better look at him.

But when he’s right next to him, the human turns his head and looks in his direction.

“Oh, hello!” He smiles, making Crowley gasp. For a moment he wonders if he turned visible by accident, but his wings are still completely exposed.

“Can you see me?”

“Of course! I’ve been able to see ghosts and angels my whole life!” He says and then turns to look behind him and adds: “Is the other angel gone?”

Crowley nods, still too surprised to say anything else.

“Great!” He sighs, relived and then blushes to the tip of his ears. “Well… It’s not that I don't–You see… he’s been following me around for a couple of days now and I don’t know… He’s just–I don’t quite like him. So I pretend I don’t see him…”

He’s been ignoring the archangel Gabriel for days, Crowley realizes while he grins from ear to ear, absolutely delighted.

“You what?” For some reason that makes him feel so happy, the human (suddenly the name Aziraphale appears in his mind) is a bastard.

“It wasn't–Well, I think he didn’t like me either to be honest,” Aziraphale mumbles, flustered. “So I think it was for the best.”

“I agree with that,” Crowley smirks, turning himself visible except for the wings. He sits right next to Aziraphale, who blinks at him adorably.

“Why did you–”

“So you don’t look like a crazy man talking to the air,” Crowley says and Aziraphale smiles back at him.

“Thank you…”

“Crowley,” he mumbles, not sure why he feels so warm and content out of the sudden.

“So… Crowley… What type of angel are you?”

I’m a demon, he doesn’t say. I’m not good for you, you’re better without me. But he doesn’t want to leave him and why would he? He’s actually doing what Hell wants him to do. Heaven wanted Gabriel to protect the human and now Crowley has him.

He can’t let him go.

“I’m a guardian angel,” the lie tastes weird in his mouth (not that he hadn’t lied before, but this time is different).

Aziraphale beams at him.

“Are you my guardian angel?”

“Ye–Yes, o–of course!”

That’s not going to end well at all, Crowley just knows it, but at the moment he doesn’t care at all.

“Well, since you have to follow me, what do you say if we go get something to eat?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Chapter Text

“What is a guardian angel supposed to do?” Aziraphale asks when they’re back in his bookshop, he has a few happy minutes before he opens the shop again.

He looks back at Crowley, who’s currently sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in his hand. He seems a little bit uncomfortable with the question and Aziraphale wonders if it’s forbidden for angels to talk about what they do. Well, of course humans are not supposed to be able to see angels in the first place.

But Aziraphale is curious, there are so many things about Crowley he likes; he seems completely different from anything he’s seen before. He’s never seen an angel with black wings, but he likes them… Somehow they suit him.

He also has a Bentley which means he spends a lot of time on Earth, pretending to be one of them.

Perhaps guardian angels do that; they wait on Earth until they find a human to follow around.

Crowley moves his head towards him, although it’s difficult for Aziraphale to know if he’s actually looking at him or not with those sunglasses of his he’s constantly wearing, even indoors.

“I have to protect you,” he smiles amusedly, before the expression is quickly replaced by a grimace: “Make sure you do… g-good things.”

He chokes at the last words and Aziraphale gets closer, worried.

“Are you alright?”

“Me? Of course, of c-course!” He stammers, glancing back at the glass of wine. He finishes it and pours himself more.

Aziraphale has never officially met an angel before, but he supposes all of them share the same love for wine or perhaps alcohol in general.

He sighs before turning around the sign on his door.

***

Aziraphale watches with horror as the woman finds his beautiful copy of the complete poems of Yeats. She approaches him, asks for the price and he blurts out a ridiculous amount that definitely shocks her partner.

He knows he needs to sell the books, he knows that’s what a bookshop owner is supposed to do, but he can’t help it, he just loves them so much.

“It’s okay,” she mumbles with a smile, much to her partner and Aziraphale’s surprise.

Perhaps surprise is not the right word to describe Aziraphale’s emotional state at the moment.

He’s internally screaming.

“Are you sure? You can try another poets first–”

“Pretty sure,” she cuts him off, getting irritated.

Aziraphale looks at the book and sighs miserably before handing it to her, but when she’s about to take it, she stops… In fact, everyone around stops as well.

It’s like they’re frozen.

“What do you think you’re doing, Aziraphale?” Crowley is suddenly right next to him, the human can see he’s frowning even behind his shades.

“Crowley, something’s going–”

“I know, I stopped time!” He says, irritated. Like that’s the least important thing they should be talking about.

“That’s incredible!” Aziraphale looks around in awe and then back at Crowley who immediately stops frowning. “All angels can do that?”

Crowley starts babbling something unintelligible and then takes a deep breath, before trying again. Aziraphale notices his cheeks turning slightly pink.

“No, just… me.”

Aziraphale stares at him, fascinated, until Crowley looks at the floor and then at the book he’s still holding.

“What were you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“The book!” Crowley pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I was going to sell–”

“But you don’t want to; it makes you miserable! And don’t try to deny it! I was looking at you the whole time.”

Aziraphale sighs, eyes landing on the cover of the book.

“You’re right, I don’t want to, but I have to… I need to pay rent and buy clothes and food and–”

“No, you don’t,” Crowley interrupts and snaps his fingers, a check appears on his hand. “You want the money to pay for the rent? Or perhaps enough to pay for this place? You want food? Jewelry? You just have to tell me, I’ll give it to you. In fact, I can make you the owner of this building if that’s what you want. You have me now, you don’t need anything else.”

Aziraphale notices his mouth is open and he closes it immediately; he’s not sure this is how things with angels are supposed to work, but sounds very much tempting.

“I feel like I’d be cheating,” he admits. It’s just too good to be true…

“Trust me, I’m your guardian angel, I’m supposed to take care of you,” Crowley insists and Aziraphale looks from him to his precious book one more time before giving in.

“Alright,” he nods and Crowley smiles from ear to ear in a way that makes Aziraphale giggle like an idiot.

He snaps his fingers again and everything goes back to normal; the couple walks away confused and Aziraphale hugs the book against his chest.

“Thank you,” he beams at Crowley, who glances away, clears his throat as he turns red again; Aziraphale wonders if it’s because of the wine.

***

Now that Aziraphale is asleep and safe in his bookshop, Crowley decides to go back to Hell to find out more about him.

He needs to know how important Aziraphale really is to Heaven.

“We heard about the man,” Hastur says, while Ligur nods, although he keeps glaring at Crowley.

They never liked him, but he doesn’t really care about that.

“Beelzebub is impressed,” the other demon comments, grimacing.

“So what information you have on this human?” Crowley asks, moving out of the way as a group of demons walk down the hallway.

“We don’t know much yet,” Hastur replies, looking even more irritated. “Beelzebub hasn’t told us what to do with him yet, but you must keep an eye on him at all times. For what I heard, Heaven will try to get him back eventually, so you must be prepared.”

Crowley nods, trying not to shiver. He’s never cared about losing a battle against an angel, so many times he hasn’t made any effort to stop them from “ruining” his temptations.

But this time is different, he can’t let Heaven take Aziraphale away; they obviously don’t care about him enough.

The problem is that he also has to keep his human away from Hell.

Which is definitely not going to be easy.

Chapter Text

The problem of being in the Bentley with Crowley is that he just goes 90 miles per hour, even if they’re in central London. Honestly Aziraphale had a very wrong idea of what being an angel was. He didn’t know they loved driving like that.

It’s completely insane. If he doesn’t die in a car accident he’d definitely die due to a heart attack.

And even worse, Crowley has the bad habit of not watching the road while he’s driving, instead he looks at Aziraphale with worry.

If he’s being honest, he doesn’t feel at all safe sitting next to his guardian angel.

“You look tense, are you okay?”

Alright, apparently he doesn’t even notice.

“Oh, that’s probably because you’re not even watching the road!” He blurts out when he can’t stand it anymore. Crowley tries to suppress a smile, looks right in front of him, but keeps talking with Aziraphale.

“I have everything under control,” he assures him.

“You’re gonna get us killed,” Aziraphale protests and then adds: “Well, you’ll get me killed, I’m pretty sure you can’t die.”

Crowley shakes his head in a way Aziraphale is sure he’s rolling his eyes at him. The human would be charmed if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s praying for his life at the moment.

But then he slows down, glances at him quickly and says in an absolutely serious tone: “I’d never do something that could hurt you, Azi. Please, remember that.”

The human nods, suddenly feeling too flustered to talk, he decides to look ahead from then on.

When they finally get to Anathema’s house, the woman is already waiting for them outside. She smiles at Aziraphale while Crowley narrows his eyes.

“So… this friend of yours… is she–”

“I’m a witch,” she says before Aziraphale can explain to Crowley and he grimaces. She offers her hand. “Anathema Device.”

“Anthony Crowley, I’m Aziraphale’s best friend,” he says, still glaring at the woman. Aziraphale is a little bit confused.

Anathema grins amusedly just after shaking Crowley’s hand.

“I see… So, before we go, would you like to come inside and have a cup of coffee?”

Crowley takes a step closer to the house, but he stops suddenly, looking completely tense.

“I’ll wait for you here, Azi,” he says, looking almost sick.

“Crowley, is there anything–”

“Everything’s perfect!”

Aziraphale doesn’t believe him and Anathema looks back at Crowley with a professional curiosity.

“What if we drink some cocoa in my bookshop, dear?” He offers and she nods, putting her jacket on.

“The three of us are going back to the bookshop?” Crowley frowns again, Aziraphale can notice even with the shades on. He makes a mental note to ask him if he can take them off later.

“Yes, I told you–”

“I thought this was a quick visit and then you and I were going back, just the two of us,” Crowley cuts him off, making Aziraphale frown.

“But I promised Anathema we were going to the shop so she could read some of the books I have on prophecies…”

“Alright, just get in,” Crowley sighs and the human beams at him.

Just as Anathema jumps in the back seat, Aziraphale leans closer to Crowley.

“Not too fast, alright?”

“You’re asking too much of me,” his guardian angel says in response and Aziraphale chuckles; Crowley pretends to be annoyed, but the human sees him holding back a smile.

***

Aziraphale makes some cocoa for the two of them (Crowley insisted on just grabbing another bottle of wine for himself) while Anathema looks in the bookshop for something to read. She’s searching for a prophecy book, but sometimes she chooses a book on witchcraft.

One of the best things about her is that she never buys the books, she just sits there to read and puts them back where they were before leaving.

“You know… I’ve been thinking about what you said the other day,” she says, sitting in front the two men, looking quite amused while she takes a sip of the cocoa.

“What are you talking about, dear?”

“You know… about getting you a date.”

Aziraphale chokes on his cocoa while Crowley stops pretending he’s not interested anymore in whatever they’re saying and narrows his eyes.

“Anathema, I don’t think–I didn’t say that,” Aziraphale blushes to the tip of his ears, purposely ignoring Crowley.

“I can introduce you to someone or we can go to a pub together. It’d be great!”

“No.” Crowley growls, surprising Aziraphale.

Anathema quirks up one of her brows at him.

“Oh? What do you mean ‘No’?”

“It’s not a good idea,” Crowley insists and the witch frowns, leaning forward in her seat.

“Why not?”

“It just isn’t.”

“It’s alright, I’m not looking for a boyfriend at the moment,” Aziraphale mumbles. He starts wondering if Crowley, as a guardian angel, considers that a sin. Because even though he’s not particularly interested in having a relationship at the moment, he definitely doesn’t want to be alone for the rest of his life.

Anathema looks from him to Crowley and nods, although Aziraphale knows she’s not going to give up so easily.

“Alright, let me know if you change your mind.”

Crowley takes another sip of his wine, grabs another bottle and walks to the other side of the shop, looking a little bit annoyed.

Anathema seems to be having the time of her life.

“Well…” She sighs, after a while. “It’s time for me to go back home.”

“I’m not giving you a lift,” Crowley says suddenly, appearing out of nowhere.

“Crowley!” Aziraphale gasps, shocked. It seems that the more he knows Crowley, the more he realizes he has no idea how angels behave.

“It’s okay,” she assures. “Newton is going to pick me up anyway.”

Aziraphale walks her towards the entrance, apologizing profusely for Crowley’s behavior the entire time.

“It’s alright, really. I’m not offended,” she chuckles.

“I don’t know why he’s acting like that, honestly…”

“He’s in love with you,” she whispers, winking at him when Aziraphale freezes, face turning red in seconds.

The human gets flustered even though he knows she’s obviously confused. She has no idea Crowley is an angel, Aziraphale’s guardian angel no less, and she’s probably mistaking his protective nature for love.

Even though he’s pretty sure about it, he doesn’t look at him when he sits back on the couch in front of him. He’s still flustered and he gets even more when Crowley takes his hand and says with a huge smile: “Let’s have dinner!”

***

“Why don’t you take your sunglasses off?” Aziraphale mumbles back in the bookshop, after he finally agrees to take a sip of wine himself.

It’s obvious it’s something that makes Crowley uncomfortable because he looks tense suddenly.

“My eyes are… They’re not–You would find them… ugly.”

“I wouldn’t,” Aziraphale assures and leans closer. “Can I see them, please?”

Crowley sighs, takes the shades off and looks back at Aziraphale with yellow, snake-like eyes.

It’s fascinating.

“See? Now, I–”

He almost chokes when Aziraphale touches him on his cheek, stopping him from putting the sunglasses back on.

“They’re beautiful,” he mumbles and Crowley blushes to the tip of his ears. “You don’t have to wear them when we’re alone, alright?”

Finally, Crowley relaxes with a sigh, leans into the touch and puts the shades away.

They keep drinking until Aziraphale falls asleep on his couch.

Chapter Text

Crowley is grinning from ear to ear, he gets off the Bentley to walk in the bookshop; he just can’t help it, he hasn’t felt like that in thousands of years. It’s a warm and beautiful sensation bubbling inside his chest that only gets better as he approaches the shop; he has a box of chocolates in one hand and can’t wait to see Aziraphale’s reaction; they’re his favourites.

The smile on his face vanishes as quickly as it appeared though; the moment he sees Hastur and Ligur outside the shop Crowley’s world stops, even though he hasn’t moved a finger to alter time.

He uses his powers to look inside and realizes that Aziraphale is fine; smiling happily as he takes the books from his desk and starts looking for an empty shelf to put them on.

The relief Crowley feels is undescribable. He turns around to face the demons, takes each one by the arms and miracles the three of them away from the bookshop, as far from Aziraphale as possible.

Ligur blinks at him in confusion and Hastur looks… impressed and almost terrified of him. Crowley knows it takes a considerable amount of power to miracle two supernatural entities against their will and Hastur knows that too.

However, both emotions disappear only to be replaced by the usual hate and mistrust he always sees in the demon’s eyes.

“Don’t do that again, Crowley,” Hastur growls.

“Don’t get closer to my human again.”

“Getting possessive of a mortal, are we now?” Ligur mocks, but Hastur doesn’t seem to find that as funny as the other demon does.

“Of course,” Crowley says, trying to hide all those emotions Aziraphale wakes up in him. “He’s my assignment.”

That makes Hastur relax a little bit.

“Well… It seems you’ll get a new one soon,” Ligur comments, smirking.

“What do you mean?” It takes Crowley all of his will to make it sound as casual as possible, even though his first instinct is to shake both demons until they spit everything out. He has to close his hands into fists to hold himself from going back to Aziraphale.

“Beelzebub wants you to start the temptations; make him sin,” Hastur says, a satisfied grin on his face as he adds: “and then kill him.”

Crowley doesn’t shake, but he panics; he knew the moment was coming, but he thought it wasn’t going to be too soon.

“To make sure he goes to Hell, I’ll need a couple of years for that, it doesn’t take just a sin to–”

“We know!” Hastur cuts him off, irritated. “We’re not amateurs! Just make sure Heaven doesn’t get him first.”

Ligur and Hastur disappear after that, leaving Crowley with his panic.

He knows Aziraphale is safe at the moment; Crowley would never hurt him, the mere thought makes him sick, but he also knows Hell is not patient, if they know something’s wrong, they’d try to kill him themselves.

He needs to make a plan.

***

Aziraphale realizes he’s humming when he’s about to put the last book back into the shelf. It’s been a while since the last time he did that; the day looks like it’s going to be excellent.

He makes himself cocoa and smiles as he turns the sign of the bookshop to “open”. The few people that come inside just look around and go away quickly, which is good in Aziraphale’s opinion.

It’s not that he doesn’t like people; he likes when they come in just to talk about books or a particular author they like. The thing he doesn’t like is when they try to take away his precious books.

Although now, thanks to Crowley, he doesn’t need to sell books anymore.

He looks around once more, takes a sip of cocoa and tries not to think about how much he’d like to see Crowley. He’s normally there right before it’s time for Aziraphale to open the shop… and there is still no sign of him at the moment.

Well… Crowley is his guardian angel, but Aziraphale is not so sure how that works… Maybe he doesn’t have to be with him all the time; he probably has more important things to do. After all, it’s not like Aziraphale is in danger.

Although he has to admit he misses him already. He saw him yesterday, but he had thought he could talk to him again that day.

Aziraphale sighs, smile dropping quickly as he decides to look for one of his favourite books to start reading.

He hasn’t even finished the first page when the angel he doesn’t like that much walks in his shop; he’s tall and has mesmerizing purple eyes that somehow look terrifying on him sometimes. Aziraphale can perfectly see his white wings behind his back and thinks for a moment that Crowley’s are definitely more beautiful.

The angel is supposed to be invisible to the human eye, so Aziraphale decides to ignore him again. He sighs, wishing Crowley was there with him.

By the way he gets closer and leans forward until Aziraphale can feel him next to him, the human is sure that angel has no idea he can see him. Aziraphale tries again to focus on the book, but the angel narrows his eyes at him; he walks around the couch and places himself in front of the human.

“What makes you so special?” The angel mumbles to himself, reaching out to Aziraphale and it’s… It’s just too much for him.

He can’t pretend anymore.

He closes the book suddenly, looks up to the angel who stares back in shock and then takes a deep breath.

“Hello,” Aziraphale tries to grin; he’s close to an angel after all, which is a good thing, isn’t it? He’s just like Crowley, well… At least he’s of the same species so he deserves a chance.

“You can… see me?” The angel blinks, still surprised.

“Yes.”

“Why haven’t you said anything before?” The angel looks irritated and Aziraphale has to hold back the sensation of satisfaction that spreads to his chest. He told himself he was going to give him a chance.

It’s because I don’t like you, the words are on his tongue, he can feel them, especially because the angel is still narrowing his eyes at him.

“You can be… intimidating sometimes,” he mumbles instead of the truth and it certainly does the trick because the angel grins, quite satisfied.

“I suppose I can be quite intimidating,” he is still smiling when he offers his hand, this time making himself completely visible; his wings disappear. “I’m Gabriel.”

Aziraphale takes the angel’s hand as the realization hits him then.

“You mean the a-archangel Gabriel?” He breathes, blushing to the tip of his ears.

“The very same,” the archangel says, quite proud.

He’s probably Crowley’s boss.

“Michael mentioned you were special,” Gabriel mumbles, cupping Aziraphale’s face without asking for permission. It’s alright, maybe it’s something supernatural entities do. “I can see why now.”

“I don’t think–”

“So you can see angels and…”

“I can see human spirits at least while they’re still here on Earth.”

“I see,” Gabriel mumbles, tilting Aziraphale’s head to the side. When the human can’t take it anymore, he moves out of the archangel’s reach. Gabriel grins in response. “What about demons?”

“I suppose I can see them too, but I have never actually seen one before,” Aziraphale admits.

Gabriel sits next to him on the couch, frowning in confusion.

“But I thought Crowley–”

“That’s it!” Aziraphale cuts him off with a fond smile on his face. “Crowley must’ve gotten rid of them. I suppose you were the one that sent him to be my guardian?”

“Your what?”

“My guardian angel, you know… Crowley?”

Gabriel bursts into laughter and Aziraphale thinks for a moment that he must’ve said something wrong or has something on his face.

“I’m sorry, I just–I thought about a joke Michael said the other day,” he breathes, leaning closer to Aziraphale. “So… Crowley has been taking care of you?”

“Yes! He’s very nice and kind to me,” the human beams.

“How… interesting. Well, actually I came because I wanted to supervise Crowley’s work,” Gabriel touches Aziraphale’s hair and his eyes roam all over him like he’s making sure the human is alright. “I can see he’s doing a great job. Michael and I have been thinking about giving him a reward.”

He deserves it, Aziraphale thinks and it occurs to him that Gabriel is not that bad after all.

“But we wanted it to be a surprise,” the archangel adds. “You think you can keep this… meeting between us?”

“Well… I–” Aziraphale bites his bottom lip… He doesn’t like the idea of keeping something from his guardian angel, but Gabriel himself is telling him is to give him a reward for his work.

“Of course, if you don’t want to it’s fine. I just wanted to give him a surprise, but I suppose…”

“It’s okay, I'll–I won’t tell him,” Aziraphale mumbles then.

“Thank you, Aziraphale,” he grins, touching the human’s cheek with his thumb. “I’ll come to pay you another visit soon, we have many things we need to talk about.”

Gabriel disappears, leaving the human with a bad feeling in his chest. Although it must be just his imagination, right?

***

It’s completely different; what he feels when Crowley’s fingers touch his skin is warmth and a lovely sensation of safety, Gabriel, on the other hand, just makes him uncomfortable.

Although the expression on Crowley’s face hasn’t changed since he rushed in Aziraphale’s bookshop and the human has started to worry.

“Are you okay?” He mumbles and Crowley chuckles, not looking at all amused.

“I should be the one asking you that,” he whispers and Aziraphale can see his beautiful yellow eyes filled with something the human can only describe as softness, even though he knows that’s not an emotion. “Are you hurt?”

“No. Why would I be?”

Crowley sighs, relief clear on his face as he takes Aziraphale’s hand and pulls him towards the couch.

“Sorry… I just worry sometimes.” He smiles and Aziraphale thinks that Gabriel is right; Crowley deserves that reward.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” the human giggles before doing something he’s not sure it’s okay to do. He kisses his guardian angel on the cheek.

“Ngk,” Crowley says, face completely red. He tries again: “You’re w-welcome.”

Aziraphale decides to ignore the way his heart beats inside his chest after that.

Chapter Text

Crowley has seen the witch too many times this week; she doesn’t seem like someone with bad intentions towards his Aziraphale, but there’s something about her that makes him feel… uncomfortable.

Perhaps it’s just because he’s already nervous; Beelzebub wants him to tempt Aziraphale to turn him into one of theirs and Crowley is sure that Heaven is going to come for his human soon as well.

He’s nervous, constantly in the bookshop and keeping a close eye on Aziraphale; always staring when he thinks the other is not looking. His sunglasses help him a lot not be too obvious, although he believes the girl has noticed it.

Anathema sits on the old couch, adjusting her glasses, pushing them further up her nose and looking at a couple of notes she always has in her pockets.

It has never bother Aziraphale; he’s too happy looking at the books he just bought a couple of days ago (well, actually… Crowley bought them for him but he doesn’t like to think about that, he knows it’s not normal for a demon to want to please a human all the time).

“What do you have there?” The demon asks, just to let her know he can be observant too.

“Agnes Nutter, my ancestor, was also a witch,” she smiles. “And she wrote prophecies… hundreds of them. They’re all in a book, but I always keep copies of them close to me… You see, they’re not easy to interpret.”

Crowley glances at Aziraphale who’s still too distracted to have heard any of that or see the way the demon tenses at Anathema’s words.

He starts wondering if Agnes Nutter wrote something about him… What if Anathema knows?

“This is excellent!” Aziraphale takes one of the books, looks at it almost with adoration (which makes Crowley frown for moment, he wants Aziraphale to look at him like that) and then leaves it on his desk. “We have to celebrate with crêpes!”

He walks away before Crowley can say anything; the demon stands up, ready to follow him, but Anathema blocks his way.

“We need to talk,” she mumbles. The demon narrows his eyes, ready to stop time and go after his human when the witch hands him one of her notes and Crowley starts reading with curiosity and amazement. “You see? He’ll be back in a couple of minutes with five crêpes.”

Crowley is still too surprised to notice that Anathema has started to circle him. He shakes his head.

“I still need to see if Azira–” he interrupts himself when he tries to take a step forward and is stopped by an invisible barrier, then he sees the circle of salt around him.

“I’m sorry… It’s not that–I actually like you, you know? But Aziraphale is my friend and I have to protect him,” the witch mumbles. “I know you are a demon; I had an idea you were different when you refused to walk in my cottage… I suppose you couldn’t because of the protections–”

“You cannot tell Aziraphale, please…” Crowley normally doesn’t beg, but he’s desperate at the moment. What if his human never forgives him?

“Listen,” she continues, staring at him. Crowley takes his shades off and Anathema seems to see something in them she likes, because her expression softens. “At first I decided to forget about it because I noticed the way you looked at him. I know you love him… But now that I’m sure what you are… I just need to know you’re not gonna hurt him.”

With his cheeks feeling like they’re on fire, Crowley shakes his head quickly.

“I would never hurt Aziraphale,” he says, there’s no hesitation in his voice and he realizes, panicking, that he’d even risk his own life first. “I just want to protect him.”

She looks more relaxed after that, but it’s obvious she doesn’t trust him completely… yet.

Crowley takes a deep breath and decides to tell her everything since he met Aziraphale. He’s sure he’s grinning like an idiot whenever the human’s name comes from his mouth, but he doesn’t really care at the moment if she notices.

“So… You don’t know why they want him?”

“No. They don’t know either, at least not yet,” he says, feeling worried again. “And I’m not gonna let Heaven have him either, at least not until I find out myself what’s going on. Because demons are bad, I agree with you, but angels are no better and you shouldn’t forget that.”

“I’ll help you, I’ll find out if Agnes wrote about him,” Anathema says then, wiping off the circle. “But you need to tell him the truth. He can't–Why did you say you were a guardian angel?”

“I panicked,” he admits, blushing again.

“I brought the crêpes!” Aziraphale walks back in the shop again with a bright smile on his face that Crowley can’t help but return.

Anathema is right, he needs to tell him… but not yet.

***

Crowley wonders if it’s alright to leave him or if he should stay in his car, watching the bookshop in case something happens; yes, it’s definitely something any human would consider creepy, but he’s worried.

Or maybe he should tell Aziraphale that, as his guardian, he must remain close to him at all times, watching over him, but lately it’s been more and more difficult to lie to him.

He doesn’t know what to do, but he knows it’ll be a mistake to go back to his flat.

The demon stops wondering about that as soon as he feels something changing in the air; he recognizes the sensation of good, the light surrounding those creatures.

He hisses when he turns around, only to face Gabriel who’s smiling with satisfaction, which is never a good sign.

“What are you doing here?” He bares his teeth. “You said you weren’t interested in him!”

“I was wrong,” he says, still with that smug expression that only makes Crowley want to punch him in the face. “It surprised me though… When I saw that you were actually protecting him. Why?”

Crowley is now out of the Bentley, glancing from Gabriel to the library, wondering if he can run inside and take Aziraphale. Gabriel is an Archangel though, the demon knows he’s powerful, but Crowley still thinks he’s faster than him.

He could stop time, although he’s still not sure how long it would hold Gabriel.

“Aziraphale is special,” the Archangel comments then, making Crowley hiss. “I’m sure you have noticed that already.”

“What do you want?” The demon basically growls; he has decided he can’t do anything at the moment.

“I want to protect him as well.”

“You said you weren’t interested in him, you said he was not–”

Gabriel chuckles and Crowley hates him more; angels are so arrogant, especially Archangels.

“I must admit I wasn’t until Michael discovered what he truly was. He won’t be safe with you anymore; Hell would kill him if they found out.”

Crowley tenses, trying to think; he could be lying, yes, he’s an angel, but he’s sure he doesn’t care about lying to demons, he probably considers it a good thing.

“I can protect him myself,” he insists and he’s glad he’s wearing his sunglasses.

“He’s not actually human,” Gabriel insists; the light on the streets is even more weak compared with the Archangel’s natural light. “He’s just trapped in that vessel, he doesn’t remember either… He needs to be woken up.”

“You’re ly–”

“Lying?” Gabriel chuckles. “You don’t even believe that yourself. You just don’t want it to be true, because you know that as soon as Aziraphale wakes up he will hate you.”

Crowley feels pain in his chest, but he ignores it.

“He’s an angel,” Gabriel adds, grinning from ear to ear. “He won’t like you once he remembers what he is, besides, you have lied to him, haven’t you? Honestly… That thing about the guardian angel is hilarious…”

Crowley panics, already thinking about Aziraphale looking at him with sadness, knowing the demon has lied to him more than once.

“Please don’t tell him,” he blurts out, desperate.

“I won’t, I’ll just wake him up,” Gabriel says, staring almost with fascination as Crowley falls apart. “But he won’t be safe with you… The good thing is that there’s a possibility he won’t even remember you…”

Crowley’s heart hurts, he normally doesn’t like to feel… But he doesn’t care anymore.

“It’s…”

“Leave him to me,” Gabriel insists and the demon remembers Beelzebub’s orders.

“Swear to God you won’t hurt him,” he says, shaking. “Swear to Her!”

The Archangel looks almost affronted, he seems like he’s about to protest, but Crowley takes a step forward and shows his wings.

He’s ready to do anything for Aziraphale.

“I–I swear to the Almighty,” he mumbles like it’s almost painful. “I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t like me to do that…”

Crowley nods and watches as Gabriel walks in the bookshop; he’s ready to do something in case Aziraphale needs him.

His heart hurts, but it hasn’t broken… yet.

Chapter Text

Aziraphale tries not to look disappointed when Gabriel walks into his shop; it’s difficult since he just wants to see Crowley again and the Archangel has always looked like an asshole to him.

Well… He knows he should give him an opportunity, after all he hasn’t done anything to hurt him.

“Aziraphale,” his smile is huge, but instead of making him feel better, the human feels slightly uncomfortable. “It’s a pleasure to see you again! I see Crowley has been doing an excellent job!”

“Yes!” Aziraphale smiles back at him, he wants more than anything for Gabriel to recognize Crowley is a good guardian angel. “I haven’t felt more safe in my life!”

Gabriel snorts at that, finding it somehow funny, which only makes Aziraphale frown.

“I’m sure you haven’t,” he says, closing the distance between the two and putting a hand over Aziraphale’s shoulder. “But that’s not exactly why I came here, my friend. I need to tell you something important.”

Aziraphale has a bad feeling. He’s not sure why if he’s in the presence of an Archangel; nothing bad can happen to him… It’s ridiculous.

“What is it?”

“There’s a reason why you’re able to see angels as they truly are,” Gabriel begins with a satisfied smirk on his face. “You’ve never met a human like you, have you?”

Aziraphale shakes his head, trying to take a step back, to move out of Gabriel’s way, but the Archangel only gets closer and closer until he takes the man’s face in both his hands.

“What about your past? Do you remember your parents? Your childhood friends?”

Aziraphale narrows his eyes; his head has stated to ache as he tries to remember a face, a conversation, but he realizes that he can’t. He just has a vague idea that he had them. Because he had a family… right?

“I–I don’t remember at the moment but–”

“You can’t. You won’t,” Gabriel cuts him off and suddenly Aziraphale thinks that the Archangel is having fun doing that: confusing him, making him doubt. “You’re not actually human, Aziraphale. You’re not one of them, you never were…”

“What?” He’s dreaming. He has to be. This is just ridiculous.

“This,” Gabriel continues, ignoring his distress and touching his chest. “This is just a vessel.”

“I think you’re mistaken, I cannot be–”

“I’m never mistaken,” Gabriel almost growls, violet eyes turning dark. Aziraphale suddenly has the feeling that the Archangel can be cruel, that he could hurt him if he wanted. “You’re one of us, Aziraphale. You’re an angel.”

There are many thoughts that cross Aziraphale’s mind in just a second, but the one that remains, the one he cares about the most stays, making him forget for a moment this cannot be happening.

“Does that mean I won’t see Crowley again?” He asks, concern written all over his face. What if that was the last time? Why if he doesn’t come back? After all, Crowley is a guardian angel… They are just meant to take care of humans, right?

“Don’t worry,” Gabriel’s eyes glimmer with amusement for a second. “I’m sure you’ll see him again.”

It’s weird how that simple answer makes him feel a lot better.

“But let’s not talk about Crowley again, shall we?” The Archangel smiles. “Now it’s time for you to wake up.”

***

There’s a white blue light that comes from the bookshop; Crowley doesn’t feel anything wrong, he doesn’t feel like Aziraphale is in danger and yet he rushes into the shop anyway.

“Get out of here,” Gabriel growls. “This doesn’t concern you anymore.”

Crowley hisses in response, but forgets all about his anger as soon as he sees Aziraphale lying on the couch. He looks good, but he’s fast asleep and doesn’t seem like he’s going to wake up anytime soon.

If he had any doubts about what Gabriel said they would be completely gone by now. Because he feels it; he feels the blessed energy coming from Aziraphale. The light and the goodness…

Then he sees as his wings appear behind him. He’s never seen such beautiful wings before.

Although, they still need someone to take care of them, Crowley notices there are a few feathers that are about to fall or need to be removed so they let the new ones grow properly.

He reaches out, instinctively, but Gabriel stops him by getting closer.

“What are you doing?”

“He needs grooming and I–”

“Aziraphale doesn’t need anything from you anymore, demon,” Gabriel smirks with satisfaction as Crowley can’t help but grimace in pain.

Crowley knows that he’s right; he’s not sure if Aziraphale will remember him when he wakes up, but even if he does, he probably won’t like to see him again.

Because Crowley lied to him; that’s what he does, he’s a demon, he can’t have friends, he can’t be with anyone because he hurts everyone.

The demon leans to caress Aziraphale’s forehead; he can’t kiss him even though he wants to because Gabriel is still glaring at him.

“Take care of him,” he mumbles, even though it makes him look vulnerable, even though he still doesn’t trust Gabriel.

Oh but Crowley is going to come back, he’ll watch his angel from afar to make sure he’s okay.

***

He’s on Earth. Yes, he was supposed to be its official guardian, but why does everything look so different? Did he fall asleep?

No, the Almighty found out about the sword, a couple of thousands of years later. And she decided to give Aziraphale a lesson.

Did that really happen? Aziraphale feels like there’s something he’s missing. What was the punishment? Why is he inside a bookshop?

Why does the place feel so loved?

“It seems your punishment affected all of us,” a voice comments and Aziraphale realizes he’s not alone. Although now that he has noticed the Archangel Gabriel he wishes he was alone. “Now I do remember you! I thought I hadn’t met you as an angel!”

“What happened?”

“You we’re turned into a human,” Gabriel says grimacing, like it’s the worst thing that could’ve happened to him. “You have to remain here, as a guardian. And keep the facade you had.”

Aziraphale looks around and he already loves the place, he knows he used to, as a human. The problem is he doesn’t have any memories of it.

“I don’t remember,” he mumbles.

“Give it time,” Gabriel smiles, but doesn’t offer him help. “Now, you have another mission.”

“What is it?”

“You must get rid of the demon named Crowley.”

Crowley. What does that name sound so familiar?

What does his human heart hurt?

Chapter Text

Everything hurts. Aziraphale takes a deep breath and looks at his wings; they’re a complete mess. It’ll take hours for him to groom them properly, but he certainly doesn’t have anything to do at the moment so he might as well start.

He’s glad Gabriel’s gone; he never liked him that much and now after waking up disoriented he’s not exactly sure what to think of Gabriel’s words. Aziraphale has never killed a demon before… or has he? He’s not sure…

Who’s Crowley? Why does that name sound so familiar? Has he fought that demon before? Aziraphale has so many questions, but it seems no one is there to answer them.

He makes cocoa; he remembers how to do it and more importantly he knows he loves it. The angel takes a deep breath and spreads his wings. Aziraphale sighs, he knows it’s going to hurt, but at least he’s glad he has something to do, otherwise he would feel completely lost.

He hopes his memories come back soon.

***

Beelzebub is going to be so pissed when they find out what happened to the “human” Crowley was keeping an eye on. But that’s not the reason why the demon is pacing around his own flat, like he’s gone crazy.

No, it’s because he’s desperate to go back to that bookshop; he wants to see if Aziraphale is fine, if he’s awake now, if he has done something about his wings. He certainly needs help with those, they were a complete mess when Crowley saw them.

He’s tempted to go back (as ridiculous as that sounds coming from a demon). But he doesn’t know if Gabriel told him about Crowley’s lie. Besides, even if he hasn’t, now that Aziraphale is an angel he’d probably try to kill Crowley or at least fight with him if he saw him.

Does he remember him? If he does, he probably still thinks Crowley is angel and as soon as he looks at him he’ll realize the terrible truth.

He’ll hate him one way or another. And yet that doesn’t seem to be enough reason in Crowley’s mind to stop himself from going back to the bookshop.

He could just see him from afar; perhaps his powers are weak at the moment, maybe he won’t feel Crowley is the demon stays outside in his Bentley.

***

Aziraphale gasps as soon as he feels it: an undescribable warm sensation that makes him warm and fuzzy inside.

Love. It seems the streets where he chose to put his bookshop are full of it. Aziraphale wonders if there are couples outside at the moment and that’s why it feels so strong that particular day.

It’s beautiful.

However, this new wave of love is so intense, Aziraphale feels his own human heart beating fast into his chest. This love is almost like is pushing to come inside the bookshop.

Curious now and realizing he’s much better after grooming himself, he gets up from the couch and looks with curiosity through the window.

There are a couple of people out there, but they’re in a hurry so they don’t stay long outside the bookshop. Aziraphale can’t see in them that glimmer of love; they’re not the source so the angel keeps looking around until his eyes stop when they see the Bentley.

There’s something about that car, besides the fact that irradiates love, that catches Aziraphale’s attention.

He gets out of the bookshop to talk with the person inside, but as soon as he opens the door and starts walking in that direction, the Bentley’s occupant decides to leave.

As Aziraphale watches the car go, he realizes another thing about the driver; there’s a demonic energy coming from him as well.

He’s a demon, but he’s not an ordinary one apparently; this one can feel love and his love is… overwhelming.

Aziraphale doesn’t know what to think of it. He should be worried a demon was keeping an eye on the bookshop, but he cannot be that concerned; the demon cannot be that bad with all of the sweet love coming from him.

Is that the demon Gabriel was talking about? Aziraphale hopes he’s not, because he’d definitely never try to hurt someone like him.

The Bentley is gone, but Aziraphale knows it’ll be back in a couple of days and when that happens he’ll be ready to talk with its occupant.

***

He’s not sure if he used to actually sell books or not, but he certainly doesn’t want to now; he tries to convince people that’s not the book they want and feels complete satisfaction when they get out of the shop with nothing in their hands.

So when a girl walks into his shop later that day, he’s not entirely happy about it. But she doesn’t stop to see any of the books, she approaches the counter.

“Hello! How can I help you, my dear?” He smiles suddenly, feeling like he should… Like he needs to in front of her. He suddenly has a good feeling about her.

She chuckles.

“What? Are you gonna pretend we’re strangers now?” She says. “I brought you…”

The young woman stops to stare at him; her expression changes completely.

“Oh, no… You’re… different. Something happened to you.”

“Who are you?” Aziraphale asks, words hurting his throat; he should know her, why did he forget so much?

“I’m Anathema Device,” she offers her hand and when Aziraphale shakes it, a memory appears in his mind; it’s her sitting on the couch, laughing with a cup of coffee in her hands Aziraphale made. “And I’m your friend… Or I used to be.”

He takes a deep breath and looks into her eyes; she’s telling the truth, he can feel it. He even has the sensation he needs to be completely honest with her.

“I’m an angel.”