Chapter Text
Aziraphale had been perfectly happy working at various marine rescue and rehabilitation centres for most of his life. But as he was getting older, he found himself craving a more sedentary lifestyle than was afforded by his current workplace. It just so happened to be perfect timing when a well-known but slower-paced aquarium and rehabilitation centre was in need of someone like him and reached out to him.
He was in this field because he loved animals and cared so much about marine life specifically. Especially with all the environmental issues marine organisms had to face, they needed help more than ever before. Aziraphale felt that if he didn’t do it, no one would. And a higher-paying job than he ever had couldn’t hurt.
Aziraphale moved nearby after accepting their offer, and awaited his first day, jittery with nervous excitement. He settled into the comfortable chair in front of his desk, holding onto his book, but he found that he couldn’t do anything – unable to even read his book! His anxious energy could not be contained, so he opened his computer and quickly looked up the aquarium. He looked through their staff page, which contained pictures and a short bio of each staff member. Aziraphale tried to remember all the names and faces, but he already knew that he would be wildly unsuccessful.
Until he reached the veterinary section. The head of the veterinary staff, someone named ‘Dr. A. J. Crowley,’ who, strangely enough, didn’t have a photograph attached. There was a very short bio, which just read: “Crowley is Scottish and a veterinarian. He has worked here for over 20 years.” Aziraphale screwed up his eyebrows, mouth slightly ajar. Who was this guy? His bio was terribly written and he was the only person without a photo. Aziraphale rolled his eyes; that was a mystery that could wait until tomorrow.
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Aziraphale woke up before his alarm. He took a swelteringly hot shower, massaging conditioner through his thick, blond curls. He anxiously tightened his striped bow tie, watching his actions in the mirror. He screwed up his face as he noticed his hair and attempted to fix his messy curls.
Aziraphale took the bus to his new workplace, beaming up at the gorgeous aquarium as people rushed past him through its doors. The blond straightened his bow tie, taking a deep breath and walking in. He supposed he looked a bit lost, and was immediately spotted by a tall American – Gabriel. He was given a bit of a tour, met the other people he’d be working with, and was shoved off to the cafeteria for lunch.
He grabbed a chicken caesar wrap and looked around at the shockingly full cafeteria, and sat down in the only empty seat. It happened to be across from a red head wearing sunglasses and tapping away on his phone, a salad forgotten beside him.
“Hello! Mind if I sit here?”
The other man barely seemed to glance up, shrugging slightly. “Don’ care.”
“Alright! Well, lovely to meet you!” Aziraphale grinned, taking a bite of his wrap.
The other man let out a chuckle, deep voice rumbling softly. “Not many people’d say that.” He grinned fiendishly, taking a large bite of his salad after stabbing the lettuce with his fork a few times.
Aziraphale finished chewing his wrap, peering at the person across the table from him. He was quite unlike anyone he’d met, and therefore intrigued him greatly.
“Well, you haven’t done anything to prove otherwise!”
“Ah, first time here, then?” He smirked as he took another ridiculously large bite of his salad, putting his phone down to stare at the man across from him.
“Yes, actually!” Aziraphale perked up, grinning. "You eat rather quickly, don’t you?”
“Right goblin shark , me.”
Aziraphale snorted, hiding a laugh.
“Unhinge my jaw ‘n all that. Big nose, too.” The redhead grinned, taking another bite.
Aziraphale rolled his eyes. "No, I think it’s rather pretty.”
The other man froze mid-chew, a faint blush creeping across his cheeks.
Aziraphale tried to change the subject, feeling a bit awkward. “I suppose you come here quite a lot, then?”
Crowley snorted, finishing his salad quickly and crossing his arms. "Could say that.”
Crowley stood up, leaning on the table a bit before grabbing a jet-black snake headed cane and sauntering away with it, tossing away his trash effortlessly.
Aziraphale gaped after him. The saying ‘hate to see them leave, love to watch them go’ played in his head before he pushed that thought away quickly. How unprofessional of him! His first day at work and he was thinking like that about a customer! He swiftly finished his wrap, trying to get the intensely homosexual thoughts of that strange person out of his mind.
After lunch, Gabriel pulled him into the back of the aquarium to a meeting room he’d not seen before. He smiled toothily at Aziraphale, patting him on the back. “You haven’t met your new best friend yet!” Aziraphale tried not to roll his eyes. “As the Head of Animal Care Operations, you’ll be working closely with Dr. Crowley here.”
And out from somewhere unseen stepped the same lanky, sunglasses-wearing redhead, smirking.
He cocked his hip, leaning on his cane. "Ah, so you're Fell.”
Aziraphale blushed a bit, holding out a hand for him to shake. "Call me Aziraphale.”
The other man’s eyebrows knitted together, trying to pronounce the name in his head before making a fool of himself by saying it wrong out loud. Aziraphale knew that look well.
“A-zir-a-phale.” He offered, smiling, hand still outstretched.
“Aziraphale.” He took his hand, smirking. "Call me Crowley.”
Aziraphale smiled widely, putting two and two together – he could hear a faint Scottish accent, and the man didn’t seem like the type of person to care about uploading a photo for his workplace. He was unfortunately and excruciatingly gorgeous.
Gabriel cleared his throat, and the men stopped shaking hands as neither of them had realised how long they’d actually been touching. “Well, you should get to know each other a bit. Crowley, show Aziraphale some of the training we do. He’ll be doing a lot of that.”
Crowley rolled his eyes quite excessively and sauntered away wordlessly. It was only when he pushed the door open that Aziraphale realised he was meant to be following, so he tottered after him quickly. Aziraphale focused on watching his feet or looking around as they walked, worried of what he’d say if he watched the man in front of him.
“I’m, so sorry about earlier!” Aziraphale worried out loud, obsessively straightening his waistcoat for something to focus on.
Crowley turned to him, eyebrows raised. Aziraphale could see the faint outline of the eyes behind his dark sunglasses. They were probably beautiful.
“Wot?” Crowley’s walk stuttered, falling back a bit so they were now walking side by side.
“Well, I made you uncomfortable!” Aziraphale insisted, avoiding the others’ eyes.
Crowley snorted. "Takes a lot more than that to make me uncomfortable, darling.”
Aziraphale turned a bit pink, looking away as they kept walking. He felt something a bit fluttery in his stomach. It was rather embarrassing.
Crowley took him around to where the dolphins lived and allowed one of the other staff members (who wore a naïve amount of white) to demonstrate how the dolphins were trained to be able to receive vaccines and have blood work taken easily and without great stress. Crowley said something rather ridiculous about how big dolphin brains are, which was shockingly adorable. Aziraphale was luckily able to take notes instead of just looking at Crowley, like he was worried he might be tempted to do. This staff member seemed a bit dim, but in their expertise they knew a lot more than Aziraphale thought he ever would.
Crowley had slipped away at some point, probably up to something important, so Aziraphale was alright being taught all the training techniques by this giddy person. They were very nice and helpful, although they seemed to not understand social cues all that well, but that was alright.
They looked at the time and gave the dolphin they were working with a last bit of fish, as a treat, and looked up at him. “Right then, Mr. Fell. Work day’s over, so you can head home.”
“Thank you, Muriel, but you can call me Aziraphale, remember?”
They nodded with a sheepish grin, and he followed them out of the enclosure and gathered his things to leave. It had been a very nice day, though it had gone much quicker than expected. He happily walked through the now-empty aquarium, finding his way out the staff entrance and into the staff parking lot. Although he was going to take the bus, he couldn’t shake the idea that he might see that gorgeous veterinarian again.
He looked around at the very empty staff parking lot, frowning slightly. It didn’t seem that he was still there, not until the staff entrance door was hastily shoved open. Aziraphale turned once he heard the distinct footsteps and sound of a cane. He beamed up the small staircase at the man who was slowly descending them, a hand bracing himself on the railing.
“Hello, Crowley!” Aziraphale grinned blindingly.
The redhead looked up, the semi-permanent grimace disappearing from his face. "Ah. How’d it go with Muriel?”
“Well! I thought they were quite smart and helpful, though I did like when you were there much more.”
Crowley looked away, beginning to walk towards the handicapped parking spot. "Tha’s alright.”
Aziraphale followed behind him, smiling. Crowley leaned against the hood of the jet-black Bentley sitting in the parking spot, crossing his arms and leaning his cane against the front of the car. Aziraphale stood in front of him shyly.
“So, Gabriel said we should get to know each other more?”
Crowley peered at him from behind his sunglasses. “Yep.”
Aziraphale grinned. “Well?”
Crowley raised an eyebrow. “What? You want to know something?”
“Why do you wear sunglasses? It doesn’t seem like the most…” Aziraphale paused. “Professional attire? You do look quite dashing, though!”
Crowley grinned. “Light sensitivity. But I think you’re the firs’ person to not be too scared to ask that.”
Aziraphale smiled sheepishly. "I find it hard to believe that.”
“Why? I get migraines!” Crowley stammered.
Aziraphale chuckled. “No, that people are scared of you!”
Crowley grinned. “Well, ’m only nice to you.”
“That can’t be right! You’ve just met me.”
“Well. Thought you were a payin’ customer, didn’t I?” Crowley stretched a bit, back cracking.
Aziraphale snorted, looking up at the other man with mirth shining in his eyes. “Right.”
Crowley looked up at the rapidly darkening sky and took off his sunglasses, folding them and putting him in his pocket. Aziraphale’s stomach fluttered again at the realisation that he had been right: Crowley’s eyes were absolutely beautiful. Aziraphale couldn’t help himself and stared – they were a rich light brown, almost amber, and did nothing but add to Crowley’s effortless beauty. Aziraphale was absolutely infatuated.
Crowley’s cheeks slowly reddened as Aziraphale stared wordlessly at him, and he choked out a: “Wot?”
Aziraphale snapped himself out of it, shaking his head. “Ah, sorry. Your eyes are just absolutely lovely!”
Crowley’s blush swiftly spread to his ears. “Er.”
“Oh- sorry! Didn’t realise-” He coughed awkwardly, looking away.
It was then that Crowley apparently noticed the pattern on his bow tie, standing up from the car and leaning on his cane to lean over and peer at it. Aziraphale stood there awkwardly, feeling like an amoeba under a microscope. Crowley stood back up with a triumphant noise, when Aziraphale realised how close they were actually standing now. He felt his cheeks warm a bit as he looked up at the red head.
“It’s got stripes!” Crowley grinned wider than Aziraphale had seen him do before.
Aziraphale looked down at his own bow tie, smiling shyly. “Uh, yes, it does.”
Crowley leaned on his cane, cocking a hip. "Like a… a…”
“Yes?”
“A multibarred angelfish ! You’re like an angelfish!” Crowley laughed, almost doubling over.
Aziraphale couldn’t help but chuckle along; Crowley’s laughter was raucous and quite contagious. “An angelfish?”
Crowley snorted, knees buckling a bit, and Aziraphale reached out to him. The blond wrapped his arms around Crowley, holding him up. It was a good thing, too, as Crowley’s legs completely buckled and he was entirely leaning against Aziraphale. Aziraphale was doing nothing but hoping Crowley couldn’t feel how fast his heart was racing.
“Angelfish!” Crowley laughed harder, burying his face in Aziraphale’s chest.
Aziraphale felt like he was blushing from head to toe. “Are you alright, my dear boy? Do you need a ride home?”
Crowley shook his head, pushing himself upright from Aziraphale, hands on his shoulders. “Nah, happens sometimes.”
The taller man leaned heavily on the cane, steadying himself.
Aziraphale’s eyebrows knitted together in worry. “Is that- have you been to a doctor about that?”
“Yep. They’ve got no clue. ‘s just how I am, now.” Crowley shrugged, smiling. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, angelfish.”
Aziraphale tried not to grimace, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Alright.”
Crowley stood taller, leaning less on the cane. “Well, where’d you park? You know there’s an employee lot,” He gestured around them, smirking.
Aziraphale looked at his feet, smoothing out his waistcoat to quell his anxiety. “Right, I didn’t know that.”
Crowley raised an eyebrow, but Aziraphale didn’t see that. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
Aziraphale sighed in relief, looking back up at the taller man. “Have a good night!”
Crowley sauntered to the drivers’ side door of his car, opening the door and leaning against it, looking back at Aziraphale. The other man was walking away, clutching his bag, before he turned to look back at Crowley. Their eyes met and both smiled; Aziraphale lifted his hand in a small wave, before continuing on his way.
Aziraphale couldn’t stop smiling the whole night, even after his cheeks began to ache.