Chapter Text
Love like yours will surely come my way, a-hey, a-hey hey
And with that, they were gone. Lord Beelzebub, Grand duke of Hell and Gabriel, the Supreme Archangel of Heaven.
They had been so different, if anyone had told him, Aziraphale wouldn’t have believed it. But it had happened before his very eyes.
If they could be happy – there was nothing stopping him and Crowley. They had known each other for thousands of years. The things they had seen and done – together. It had taken him too long to realise that he was in love with a demon. The nicest demon he had ever met.
And now there was nothing to stop them from being together. Finally. As he smiled at Crowley, for now there was no one else in the room.
“Uh, if you’re going back to Hell, can I get my flat back?”
Crowley, apparently had not forgotten. Shax rolled their eyes. “Who the Hell cares.”
“I care! Bored of living in my car!” Well… Crowley could just live here with him. Seeing as Gabriel wouldn’t be needing the spare room… “And I don’t think my car is much of a fan of it, either…” He should probably wait to suggest that until he finally said what he had planned to say for a while now…
The demons were still talking but Aziraphale wasn’t really paying attention as he thought about how he could say something like that… maybe he needed to host another ball… the dancing had worked after all.
After a moment, the remaining demons disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
Only the angels remaining… and they were what troubled him more.
“I am authorised to remove anyone who helped Gabriel from the Book of Life. You will never have existed, Aziraphale.”
And there was nothing he would be able to do to stop them. The Book of Life was in Heaven, after all… maybe he deserved it. He had always known there would be consequences if he kept lying to them… this was worse than he had thought, though.
The door opened while Michael was talking.
“In the absence of Gabriel I am the Supreme Archangel” “Duty officer” Uriel added, rolling their eyes “and I-“
“Excuse me, I’m sorry, I must interrupt you there”
Who in the Heavens was he and what was he doing in his shop? He was closed! And seeing as there were still archangels present, he was in trouble. None of them seemed to know the old man, either. Michael looked put out as they had been interrupted mid-sentence.
“Oh, and I brought over a coffee.” “I don’t believe I asked for any interruptions.” “I couldn’t help it. You’re talking utter balderdash, I mean, complete piffle.” Whoever that was would regret talking to Michael like that, that much was certain. “You don’t have the authority to do anything like that.”
Michael had obviously had enough of this interruption. “Um, and who are you?”
The man seemed disappointed. “For Heaven’s sake. And I mean that most literally, you don’t know me?”
No one appeared to recognise him. Aziraphale wasn’t sure but he could have sworn that there was something familiar about him. Vaguely.
“Well, uh, what about you, Demon, do you know me?” He turned around to see if Crowley showed any signs of recognition. His friend was thinking.
“Get him out of here!” Michael was getting more and more annoyed. “Really?”
“Oh, I know you. Last time I saw you, you were a big, floating, giant head, mind…”
“Oooooooh! The Metatron!” Of course! That’s how he knew him – but what was the Metatron doing here?!
“Correct! This draws much less attention, though.” All the angels gasped. “Right. You, you, you, back to Heaven, spit, spot, not another word. Aaaaah, not you.” The last bit was directed at Inspector Constable.
Uriel, with newfound respect, began to speak. “Um… Your… Your Reverence, Your… Your Grace, Your…” “Oh, come on, spit it out.” “Have we done anything wrong?”
Oh, he could name a couple of things they had indeed done wrong…
“Well, that remains to be seen, does it not? Well, go on, off you go, the lot of you! Except the dim one. I may need you.”
Not wanting to argue with the Metatron, the angels except for Inspector Constable teleported back to Heaven.
But… if he didn’t want to talk to them, what – “Right. It’s just you and me, Aziraphale, eh?” Oh dear. The Metatron smiled, but it was unsettling. “I think we need to have a bit of a chinwag, don’t you?”
It was unsettling but he had made his decision. “I don’t believe there is anything left to be said. I’ve made my position quite clear.”
“Yeah, well, I brought you a coffee from the shop.” He didn’t like coffee. He preferred tea. And hot chocolate. And what did a coffee have to do with all this? “It’s an oat milk latte with a hefty jigger of almond syrup.” He still didn’t like coffee. And that couldn’t be all the Metatron wanted.
“You brought me a coffee?” “Are you going to take it?” He supposed there was nothing wrong with taking it. For a moment he thought he felt a miracle being performed but it wasn't big so he forgot about it again. “Shall I…?” “Drink it? Of course. I’ve ingested things in my time, you know” Aziraphale drank a sip of the coffee.
He felt himself smile. “It’s … uh, it’s very nice.” He gave a slight chuckle. Usually, he didn’t like coffee but this one was exceptional. “Yes, I should jolly well hope so. Well, we have things to talk about. Shall we take a little stroll?”
There wasn’t really anything… well, the Metatron would just say whatever they wanted to say but that wouldn’t change anything… he didn’t really want to leave though. “Um…” He turned around to Crowley. If he would object, he would stay.
“Mm. Go on. Day can’t get any weirder.” Well, a little stroll wouldn’t be too bad, probably… Aziraphale started walking towards the door but had to wait a bit for the Metatron who stayed behind for a bit. If he had had a different perspective, Aziraphale would have seen the look the Metatron gave Crowley.