Work Text:
Heaven and Hell were closing in. Shax was practically clawing at the bricks. And bloody gormless angels had been sent to sniff around the neighbourhood, around the bookshop, without a by-your-leave.
Like they hadn't sorted this after Armageddon't. Like they hadn't really had any peace at all.
He rounded on the best immediate target, Gabriel's stupid face. "You have no idea of the trouble you are causing, do you."
Gabriel's one brain cell struggled with the answer. "No. Or yes. Or... no."
"Yeah. I'll tell you something, Jim. Or Gabriel if you're in there somewhere. If any harm comes to Aziraphale because of this, I will..." He bared his teeth, holding himself back from grabbing the git and shaking him.
"Yes?" Jim asked, clueless and wary.
It was like punching a kitten. Not that kind of demon.
He deflated a bit. "Oh, it doesn't matter. It's too late for that now, isn't it."
He stared off into the distance, feeling his eyes creep golden all the way through. "It's always too late."
Too late, too slow.
Four years. Thought he was going slow enough for the angel. Dinners, sure, going to shows, they did that now.
But he wanted them gone. Safe.
Away from London and this independent Embassy nonsense with angels and demons traipsing about. Let some other cursed angel take over. Get some place for themselves, well out of it. Spend all their power putting up wards against Heaven and Hell, disappear themselves while they're at it.
He was working up to it, wasn't he. How many times had he tried to tempt him. Suggesting little trips. "The seaside, perhaps, angel. Lovely spots in the South Downs. Do you some good."
Find somewhere so hopelessly twee the angel would fall in love with it. And he could convince him to stay. Somewhere they could have a garden of their own. They'd earned it, a thousand times over. Earned their peace.
He'd been working on it.
And then fucking Gabriel shows up and suddenly it's bloody Charing Cross Bookshop. And now all he wanted was to grab the angel and disappear over the horizon line.
But he couldn't leave this bookshop. This blasted tether.
And now it was too late.