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“Oh, my dear. Are you alright?”
“Yeah.”
He’s never been sure how to take care of Crowley at these times, but he recognizes the signs quite clearly. A bit less spring in the step, a tightness around the eyes that spoke of pain, or the memory of pain. It had been hard for him to pin down the first few times, but now it was unmistakable.
The first time he’d seen Crowley-- Crawly then-- like this, the demon had immediately straightened, pretending nothing was wrong. They’d danced around each other then, still wary in case things suddenly took a sharp turn into ‘enemy.’ But he’d remembered.
“You’ve been downstairs?”
“Ehh. ‘s nothing, angel.”
“Do sit down. I’ll get some tea.”
He could do it the human way-- pump the water, build up the fire, set the kettle on. But he didn’t want to be away from Crowley that long. Not like this. So he spared a small miracle instead, bringing the water to temperature while he measured the leaves and warmed the pot.
Crowley had settled stiffly on the couch in the back room, rubbing his eyes. His glasses sat on the table.
“The tea will be just a moment, my dear. Would you like anything to go with it? I’ve got some biscuits, or a few of those chocolates you brought last week.”
“M’fine, really. Just need a bit of a kip.”
Aziraphale got the biscuits anyway. “You’re always welcome to sleep here. Erm. May I... touch you?”
That got him a sharp look, that head-tilt he did when he wasn’t sure of things. “What d’you want to do that for?”
Aziraphale took a deep breath. He’d thought of this before, and never been quite brave enough to ask. To dream of asking, really. But that had been before Crowley-- he knew it had to have been Crowley-- had somehow saved him from his ‘promotion’ a few years back. He knew more about his demon now. And about himself.
“You come back and I can tell, you know. When it’s gone badly. I can’t--” I can’t make things better for you, I can’t make them understand how amazing you are, I can’t make you impervious to their cruelties. “I can’t fix everything,” he said finally. “But you’re clearly uncomfortable, and I believe I can, erm, help.”
The tiniest bit more tilt to the head, the tiniest bit sharper on the gaze. “And how would you do that,” Crowley breathed.
“May I touch you?”
“What about the tea?”
“It will keep.”
He could see Crowley thinking and held himself steady. Let those eyes rove over him, find what they were looking for until finally Crowley huffed out a little breath, almost a laugh. “Yeah, alright.”
“Very good. If you’ll remove your coat?”
Crowley shrugged out of his tailcoat, lips tugging up. “Y’know, if you wanted to get me naked...”
“Hush, you. Now--” He sat on the couch, angled toward Crowley. “You must tell me at once if anything I do is painful, my dear. I think you’ve had enough pain.”
Crowley nodded.
“And if you’ll turn that way, please?”
“Okay.”
Aziraphale started gently, running long careful sweeps down that thin back. Barely touching at first, then getting firmer.
Crowley sighed heavily, leaning into it.
“How are you doing?”
“‘M’fine.”
“Very good.” Aziraphale added a little power, just a trickle to be pleasant-- healing, relaxing. Warming his hands against the chill.
“Mmmm,” Crowley said.
“Everything alright?”
“Feels good.”
A bit more power, and he moved carefully until he could massage Crowley’s shoulders, rub gently up his neck, under the fire of his hair. Steadily ramping up the power flowing through his hands. Quietly. Today we don’t fight, we heal; we don’t smite, we soften. Today we love.
Crowley’s head lolled forward with a little moan.
“Not hurting you at all?”
“Nnnngh. Opp’site of hurt, me.”
A touch more, and he reached around to catch Crowley before he drooped over. “Come back here so I can reach more of you.”
Crowley let himself be pulled back, lying against Aziraphale’s chest. “Feels better. Good,” he murmured.
His eyes had closed, the tightness around them eased. Aziraphale stopped moving and just held him for a moment, healing flowing through his hands.
“Mmmm,” Crowley said again. His head slipped to the side, and he was silent.
Aziraphale spared a thought to keep the tea perfect and smiled, settled in to hold his demon until he should awaken.