Work Text:
6 years Post Apocalapse
"Once upon a now, there's a bookshop, and it feels like coming home..."
The coach the boarding school had hired for the day trip dropped the teenagers in London with instructions to be back at the rendezvous point in time for the matinee they were all technically there to see.
"Come on," Zach said, grabbing Warlock's hand and giving him that smile that melted his bones. "We've got hours before we have to be back for the show. Let's go check if Fell's is open."
Fell's?"
"Weirdest bookshop you ever did see. My great gran took me there when I was little. She said something about it being a safe place and I should know how to get there in case I ever needed it."
Warlock let Zach pull him along. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do, or even anyone he knew in London, so if that was what his boyfriend wanted, why not oblige? He drifted in Zach's wake the way he'd drifted through life since that weird week when he'd been torn away from all his roots and anchors and tossed first to America, then back to England for boarding school among strangers. It hadn't been all bad. Nothing that involved meeting Zach could be all bad, but he missed having an adult to lean on. Missed having a home he could root himself in.
***
A bell jangled above them as Zach pushed the door open. Warlock trailed in after him, eyes wide. The books here were mostly old, leatherbound things, and it smelled of ink, and mustiness, and a faintly familiar undertone like smoke and spice mingled together.
A skinny man in black, said, glancing up from where he was sprawled on the window seat, "Not open. Go away." Other than him, the shop appeared to be empty of people. There was something familar about the man too, but for a long moment Warlock couldn't place him anywhere.
"Crowley? Is Mr Fell around?" Zach asked. "I wanted to introduce my boyfriend..." He trailed off.
Warlock and Crowley stared fixedly at each other, until Crowley made a small gesture pushing his dark glasses into the base of his nose, and something clicked.
"Nanny?" Warlock breathed.
Crowley sat up and offered a small, strange, smile. "Hello, Warlock."
"You know each other?" Zach managed.
"Knew," Warlock said shortly, stalking towards Crowley with anger in every line of his body. "You left me," Years of pain and grief hissed in his words. "You were my anchor and you abandoned me and you never came back."
Mr Fell's voice cut in before Crowley could answer. For such a mild looking man, the words came out as a strangely unresistable order. "Back room. All of you. Now." He flipped the sign to 'closed', locked the door, and waited until they all passed him through the other doorway before following with one hand resting lightly on Crowley's back.
He closed the inner door, and flicked his fingers at it. "That's better. No one can interrupt us now. You were saying, young Warlock?"
Crowley sank down onto one end of a battered sofa, arms splayed along the back and legs stretched out in front of him. Mr Fell sat more primly on the other end, leaving equally battered armchairs for the boys.
Zach slid into a chair.
Warlock stayed standing, fists clenched. "You left!"
Crowley tipped his head on one side, the gesture making up for his eyes being hidden. "Yes." There was a host of memory and ghosts of regret in the single word.
"Why didn't you come back?"
"I couldn't, dearheart. Not and keep you safe. Too many people want me and everyone connected to me dead, and you would have been caught in the crossfire."
"What did you do?"
Crowley gave him a long look, eyebrows lifting above his glasses. They were almost the same height these days. "I helped a boy stand up to his so-called father."
"And incidentally saved the world, as a matter of fact," Mr Fell commented.
"You had more than a bit to do with that yourself."
"Only a little. Adam did most of it himself, my dear."
Warlock blinked. "Adam?"
"The boy," Crowley clarified. He glanced over at Zach, hunched silently in the chair. "Anyway, the - you might say extended family - took it very badly."
Warlock curled in on himself, folding his arms against his body as he finally sat down. "What did they do? What do I tell security to look for?"
Crowley's face went oddly blank for a long, harsh, moment and one hand slid down onto the sofa's seat.
Mr Fell reached over and covered it with his own hand. "Better not to dwell on it," he said, gently, as Zach took courage from that to slide over to Warlock and perch close on the arm of the chair. "In general? Kidnap. Multiple murder attempts. Threats. Attacks. It's a miracle we're still here."
Crowley muttered, "Miracles is what we do." The touch seemed to revive him, and he hissed between his teeth, leaning forward. "Listen. Warlock. I didn't-" He held out his free hand, frowning as he hunted for words. "It wasn't that Nanny didn't care about you. Ever. There were - things - I had to do if you - if the world," he looked over at Mr Fell and then away again, "was to survive."
Warlock unfolded one arm enough to link hands with Zach. "You stood by that other boy. Would you do the same for me, if I needed it?"
Crowley didn't hesitate even a breath. "Yes."
"Even after..."
"Yes."
"Oh." Warlock felt the anger crumble inside him, leaving only the old grief. "I-" He reached out blindly and Crowley practically stumbled over his own feet lunging up to catch him.
"Hsssh, Nanny's got you, little hellspawn."
It was like coming home. Like an anchor returning. Like something re-awakening deep inside. Like a becalmed ship finally catching a breeze. Warlock could have clung on forever, but Zach cleared his throat and said hesitantly, "We do need to be at the rendevous point eventually."
Warlock sucked in a breath and forced himself to straighten. "Can I come back?"
Crowley looked at Mr Fell, who beamed. "Anytime, my dear boy. Anytime you like."
"As for the rest," Crowley snapped his fingers, "you'll find my number on your phone. Use it if you have to."
"But what about the danger?" Warlock wanted to know.
"The bookshop is protected. Guarded as securely as Eden, eh, angel?"
"What? Oh. Yes, I suppose it is."
"But Eden had the Snake..." Zach protested
Crowley's mouth twitched in amusement. "So does the bookshop. And it's on the shop's side." He slid his glasses down momentarily and winked one yellow eye at a shocked Zach. "Come on. I'll give you boys a lift. Anywhere you need to go."