Chapter Text
Chapter 1
2011 – Drama School
Our story begins in the early 2010’s in a Drama School in London. Two young men, an unlikely looking duo, found each other stood near the wall watching the end of a god-awful performance of what was supposed to be a scene from Hamlet. “Well, that went down like a lead balloon.” A voice said softly, slightly tilting his head towards the other. “Hmm?” Aziraphale replied turning towards the unfamiliar yet impossibly smooth voice. When he turned, he saw a sharp jawline and long, red hair messily pulled into a bun. The strangers’ eyes were the most captivating shade of hazel Aziraphale had ever seen, it seems he was taken by surprise by the attractiveness of the man stood next to him he had forgotten to listen. “I said, that went down like a lead balloon,” the red head repeated, now fully turned to face him. Aziraphale almost forgot to listen again, but that would be impolite and Aziraphale was anything but. “Oh yes, it rather did. Maybe we should encourage them, that would be the right thing, no?” Aziraphale asked, searching the man’s face for what he did not know, but he couldn’t look away just yet. “Nah, encourage them to do what exactly? Act worse? Don’t like Hamlet anyways, it’s not funny,” Aziraphale began to protest at how Hamlet was one of Shakespeare’s greatest works but the other was on a tangent, “the funny ones are the best, maybe I should suggest we do something else it is our final year after all. Where is the suggestion box anyways?” The red head began to search the room, the room where a lesson was currently underway. Aziraphale became aware of this, he was talking in the middle of the lesson in a class he was eager to learn in. “I don’t think there’s a suggestion box! Look I’d just leave it, I don’t think they’d appreciate an undergrad saying this, we should listen to what’s being said, yes?” Aziraphale half whispered turning his attention back to the lesson underway. The red head made a series of noises but also faced vaguely in the direction of the teacher.
After class had finished, Aziraphale left rather quickly, he was hungry and wanted to get to his new favourite sushi place before it filled up. “Hey wait!” He heard a shout behind him, that recently became familiar. It was the red head from class. “Oh hello, did you need something?” he replied politely. “Erm ngk, no not need exactly, just wanted to say hi you know, see if you wanted to work together in the new project we got assigned at the end of the lesson?” the other clambered. Aziraphale really needed to learn his name. “Oh well, I’m not sure we should just tell the professor we are working together, I think I’ll see who I get assigned to before just presuming we can pick our partners,” Aziraphale replied back much more steadily than he felt, how could he work with this man when he could barely get his thoughts together without one popping up about how attractive he found him or how his hair suited him perfectly well and his eyes were-
“Okay, yeah no yeah, that’s ppff yeah that’s fine. I’m Crowley by the way incase you wanted to know,” the red head, now known as Crowley, stammered out before turning around awkwardly to walk away. “Wait!” Aziraphale shocked himself by calling out, “I’m going for sushi, if you wanted to join? Could always use a friend even if we’re not partners?”
Crowley tried not to smile, but failed miserably, “yeah, erm yeah I’d like that, lead the way angel,” he said gesturing with his hand. Aziraphale blushed at the pet name, and then realised he’d never returned the favour of his own name and also had bright blonde hair that curled only ever so slightly after he’d finished with it in the morning. “Ah yes, just this way, I’m Aziraphale by the way.” He said as he started to walk towards the sushi restaurant, Crowley following now. “Aziraphale huh, really are an angel.”
This remark did nothing for the already blushed cheeks Aziraphale was sporting.
The pair became fast friends after their date, which was not a date as Aziraphale learnt after watching Crowley hold hands with another man a few years older than themselves not too long after. This didn’t bother Aziraphale, outwardly anyways, too much as he believed in a plan of some sort from a higher power. What will be will be or something like that he believes is the spirit of Her message. Aziraphale grew up in a religious household, he had separated himself from the environment as much as he could after his parents had passed. However, he still believed in The Ineffable Plan, it wasn’t for him to understand.
The man that Crowley then told him about after Aziraphale had seen them together was called Lucifer, Lucifer was, “great angel, I can’t believe it! He’s showing me all sorts of new things and taking me to all sorts of parties, you should come!”
As happy as Aziraphale was that Crowley was happy, even without him in the exact picture frame he wanted to be in, he did not like Lucifer. Lucifer strutted about campus (of a university he graduated years prior) like he owned the place with a gaggle of other miscreants, Crowley slowly becoming one of them. Aziraphale started to notice Crowley turning up to the morning classes later and later, now sporting sunglasses hiding his gorgeous eyes, until one day he stopped coming to the morning session. Aziraphale did not want to be involved in this, acting was his passion not just something to pass the time and found himself glad that he was not partners with Crowley, something he had not thought since he rejected him all those weeks ago. It became obvious to Aziraphale that Crowley often was under the influence of drugs whenever he saw him, he was at parties nearly every day with Lucifer and the Guys! Aziraphale didn’t like hearing stories about what Crowley got up to it worried him tremendously, and whenever he tried to bring it up to him, he was brushed off. Crowley knew what he was doing apparently and Aziraphale didn’t need to worry.
Aziraphale did need to worry however, one day near the end of the year during exams he was called to the course leaders office. His locker which he didn’t use as he didn’t dare store any of his items in there because of sticky fingers, had been opened to find the answers to the end of year exams. Aziraphale immediately welled up, he had no clue how they got there, he didn’t even us the locker. Upon seeing his reaction, the course leader felt like something wasn’t quite right. Thankfully for Aziraphale, there was CCTV in the locker room. It clearly showed Crowley leaving the sheets in the locker and not closing it properly presumably by mistake, leaving it open ever so slightly. Slightly enough though that prying eyes could see, the eyes just happened to be a teacher. Crowley was quickly kicked out of the university, and not allowed to graduate like the rest of the year. Aziraphale was heartbroken, Crowley knew that was his locker. He never saw Crowley again after that, the first time years later on the television from his dressing room for his first ever performance of Hamlet as an understudy. Aziraphale wasn’t expecting Crowley to become an actor at all, never mind a television actor. It made him think of the first time they spoke, how he was utterly enamoured and how sour those feelings felt years down the line.
Aziraphale made his own way from stage to screen, his performance of Hamlet gave him the boost into stardom that he was not expecting. He never saw much of Crowley, if anything of him in fact as they were very different types of actors. Crowley had become more of an action, comedy actor with a bad boy streak hovering over his personal life, and Aziraphale had fallen into the more emotional roles of dramas and the like. It wasn’t until he received a call from his manager Gabriel over twenty years later that would change everything.
“Hey Aziraphale buddy! I need you to come to the office tomorrow for a quick meeting, I’ve got a proposition for ya, it involves Crowley, you know Anthony J Crowley, what does that J stand for anyways…”