Chapter Text
Aziraphale was sitting on a hill, looking at the barely visible outlines of a nearby village. The humans had been doing increasingly well lately, and he thought it to be quite satisfying – just overlooking their development throughout the years.
He heard some steps behind him, which he was able to recognise right away, and he might have allowed the corners of his lips to lift up slightly. His sight stayed fixed on the landscape in front of him, though.
“Hi.” Crawly said, sitting next to Aziraphale.
“Crawly!” The demon could swear that the angel had just actually brightened up, as he seemed to be contrasting with the overwhelming darkness of the night.
The moments when they could share each other’s company, had really become the highlights of their lives. But it wasn’t very shocking, as it was quite literally the only constant that they could be certain of. Pity they needed to keep it a secret. But, after all, it couldn’t do any harm to meet once in a while, could it? They both reckoned it was rather important to keep updated, and to have a stable information flow. They had figured it was easier to do their jobs if they knew what the other side was up to. It was simply an exchange of data.
It did worry Aziraphale that he genuinely enjoyed the time spent with Crawly. He wasn’t sure if it was just that the demon wasn’t the fiercest adversary, or maybe it was because Aziraphale was an angel. Perhaps he just couldn’t feel such an emotion as hatred towards another being.
Crawly, on the other hand, had more or less come to terms with enjoying the angel’s presence quite some time ago, although it did give him his fair share of frustration at first.
“Quite a nice evening, isn’t it.” The angel noticed absent-mindedly, seemingly still lost in the daydreaming about whatever he had been thinking about before Crawly had joined him.
“Yeah.” The demon groaned, and it sounded almost sorrowful. The only thing Crawly liked about nights was sleeping. “You’re right, it is.” He corrected himself quickly, now sounding way more spirited. And even if the angel had picked up on that sudden change of tone, he didn’t say anything.
“So, what have you been up to?” He decided to ask instead.
“Oh, you know. The same old thing. Spreading menace and other equally evil… stuff.”
“Anything noteworthy?”
He thought about it for a second. “No, I wouldn’t say so. The other day I was just suggesting some rebellious ideas to the children in a village south from here. Pretty easy job, and Hell was content. So, you know, I’d call it a success. Even got a commendation for ‘having bad influence on the minds of a local new generation.’” He scoffed.
The expression on Aziraphale’s face could only be described as condemnatory. “I really wish that Hell wouldn’t bring kids into its wrongdoing. They’re just so young and innocent.”
“Really?” The demon quirked an eyebrow. “Heaven certainly didn’t seem to care about the children in Mesopotamia.” He noted. “The flood.” He wanted to make sure his point was transparently clear.
“Yes, I don’t need you to remind me about that.” Aziraphale said hastily. “It’s just a shame that you need to corrupt those poor kids’ heads with your evil schemes.”
Crawly admittedly failed to mention that the corruption of the poor kids’ heads with his evil schemes had taken place when said children had been enthusiastically braiding his hair. They had been talking about some things that were generally frowned upon at the time, but which they wanted to do in the future. And all Crawly had done, was trying to convince them that putting those ideas into practice would actually be very beneficial not only to them, but to the whole community. People simply hadn’t fathomed it just yet.
“Well, there had been things Hell had asked me to do that would bring much more harm into this world than rebelling a few kids.” He shrugged. “Anyway, what’s up on the better side?” That question was overflowing with sarcasm, but Crawly didn’t really expect the angel to notice.
Aziraphale shifted excitedly. “Oh, well, so, just this day I’ve met that remarkably amiable merchant, and he has actually introduced me to his family, which has turned out to be just as lovely!” Crawly was fiercely fighting back against the smile that was treacherously showing up on his face, as he was barely able to withstand the angel being so happy and so stupidly fluffy. It was agonising. “He had two daughters and a son, and his wife was pregnant with another baby but, sadly, she was quite sick, so I figured she could do with a small miracle. So, now both - she and her baby - should end up being completely fine.”
“Certainly sounds like a good deed.” The demon nodded, aiming for an aloof tone, and struggling not to sound too captivated.
“Yes, I would say it has been an incredible day.” For a split second he wanted to mention that what made that day even better, was that it was topped with meeting Crawly, but he held back. Instead, he decided to focus on the first positive thing that came to his mind that did not involve the demon. “Actually, when I was parting with those wonderful people, it was sunset, and the sky was just so beautiful. I swear that it seemed almost pink! Completely breathtaking.” He sounded as if he wanted to convince someone to something a little too hard – Crawly thought. Adorable. “But, to be honest, I believe it couldn’t hold a candle to the sky we have right now.” The demon looked up, and then immediately back down. “Cloudless, and so full of stars.” Aziraphale said dreamily, and then added a barely audible: “I really like the stars.”
Crawly could feel his cheeks burn. It was a bit funny, as he didn’t even know if Aziraphale was aware that he had had a part in creating some of the nebulae. But still, that stinging sensation caused by the seemingly indirect praise was absolutely killing him.
He couldn’t really look at the sky himself, though. Not that it was physically impossible, he was just still a bit bitter about the whole Falling business, and everything he had lost because of it. So, he was forcing his eyes everywhere but up. He was looking at the sand, at his own knees, perhaps also at the angel. A bit.
And this time, Aziraphale actually noticed Crawly getting abnormally fidgety, not able to settle his sight on anything for longer than a few seconds. After retracing everything that had just been said, the sudden understanding hit him rather hard. He hadn’t exactly known Crawly before he Fell, but he had heard of him, and he could distinctly remember being quite impressed by him and his creations. It honestly hadn’t been his intention to make him feel upset. He reckoned he ought to be more cautious with his words.
The hardest thing to accept, was that he shouldn’t really care. Crawly was a demon, so he had most certainly done something to deserve whatever negative things he felt, right? But Aziraphale couldn’t bring himself to think about him in those terms. He silently disapproved of the whole concept of eternal punishment. And he especially didn’t entertain the idea when it came to Crawly, as he realised that whatever he may say, he had grown rather fond of him.
Nevertheless, it was just the principle – someone feeling bad shouldn’t be condemned, they should be soothed.
But it wasn’t like he could just perform a quick blessing on him – that was undeniably out of the question.
Crawly’s heart skipped a bit when Aziraphale just got up, without a word of explanation. Had he said something wrong? Had the angel caught him staring? Maybe they had simply spent too much time on that hill, even though it felt like mere minutes to the demon.
But then the angel did something Crawly definitely hadn’t expected him to do. He just sat right in front of him, facing him.
“I’d rather you didn’t torment yourself with what had been before.” That was the only explanation Crawly got before Aziraphale started to casually prattle about something completely unrelated to the matter. Admittedly, it was quite an obvious, but nonetheless, sweet attempt at distraction. “This merchant I’ve told you about, he was very grateful when I assured him his wife would be alright, and he gifted me a script that is rather magnificent, if you ask me.” There it was again. That look filled with utter joy and, somehow, it didn’t feel illegal to look this time. It was a perfectly ordinary face-to-face conversation. Or rather a monologue on the angel’s part, but Crawly didn’t seem to mind. It was positively mesmerising.
Once the angel started talking about the salutary effects of the invention of papyrus with pure, unfiltered passion, Crawly realised he didn’t want to look anywhere else anymore, and that he wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off Aziraphale even if he genuinely tried to. While he thought it rather embarrassing, that was honestly just how enraptured he was. And what was worse, there was that emotion he refused to call affection, and it was boiling inside of him at that point. The intensity of that feeling was almost painful and, with no way to vent, sitting through all of that seemed to be his only option. He just hoped the nearby growing grass wouldn’t catch on fire accidentally.
“I’m honestly thrilled to see what they will come up with next.” The angel continued cheerfully. “She made them really clever, the humans.”
“Too clever.” Crawly’s kind of gloomy answer was met with slight confusion. “They’ll start asking rather pointed questions quite quickly, you’ll see.”
“Well…” Aziraphale seemed to be estimating what the best thing to say was, or maybe even what to think about that. “I don’t think it will be a problem. Or at least, I hope it won’t be.”
“Angel, I know too well what happens when you start questioning God’s Ineffable Plan.” He couldn’t help himself, and rolled his eyes at the word ineffable. “I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think humanity deserves such a fate. God is simply too unpredictable. Just think about it, you can’t know for sure that once they get a bit curious, She won’t just wipe them all out.”
“Oh, I’m certain it won’t come to that.” It didn’t sound certain at all. There was that plain uneasiness to it that made Crawly change the subject instantly. After all, he didn’t get to see Aziraphale too often. So, whenever he did, the last thing he wanted to do, was to vex the poor angel.
“Well, I reckon there’s no use in pondering it right now.” He shrugged. “Why don’t you tell me more about the script you’ve acquired?”