Work Text:
I’d hoped to explore Earth since being assigned to London, but I can’t. If I try, a translucent shield forms across the bookshop door, a threshold I can’t cross. Aziraphale tried to fix it, but it would require the Book of Life to undo, and he hasn’t found that yet.
Luckily, the curse only affects me, so Nina and Maggie and Mr Crowley can visit with food and records and lessons on doing things the human way.
One day, Mr Crowley brings over a short demon with spiky hair. “Meet Eric, Shax’s replacement. Thought you two might get along.”
“Nice to meet you, Eric.” I reach out for the customary human hand touch greeting, but the shield makes it feel like touching a glass door. He tries to reach out, but yelps in pain.
“Demon, can’t cross the threshold of the bookshop.”
“You’re a demon, Mr Crowley.”
“Az-the Supreme Archangel made an exception for me long ago. Guess he hasn’t gotten around to fixing it yet.”
Eric and I sit on opposite sides of the invisible barrier and talk. He tells me about his many discorporations, about his favorite Earth things, like avocados, ducks, lizards, and trains. He has so many stories. I don’t have many of my own stories, but I tell him about books I’ve read. Unlike my other visitors, he is in no hurry to leave until sunset. He comes back the next day, and the day after that. He skips a few days for demonic business, but on most days, I have a friend now, and it feels nice.
One day, he asks about the curse. I tell him about the missing Book of Life.
“I bet I could find it. One advantage of being disposable; no one notices when you’re somewhere you’re not supposed to be.”
“You don’t have to… what if you get hurt?” The thought bothers me more than it should, given that he’s a demon.
“Eh, get discorporated enough times, it stops hurting. It hurts me more seeing you trapped like this.”
“Why do you care about an angel being trapped?”
“Why do you care about a demon getting hurt?” He has a point. “I can’t promise I’ll succeed, but I have to try.”
He doesn’t return for years and years. That’s what it feels like, anyway. I’ve passed centuries in solitude, but now, it feels like Eric took a part of me with him that won’t return until he does. I’ve never felt this before, but I’ve read enough books to know what it might be.
“Am I in love?” I ask Mr Crowley. “Is love supposed to hurt like this?”
“I dunno, but it effing does.” He didn’t actually say effing.
Finally, some months after Eric left, he returns, looking disheveled. I ache to hug him, but I can’t, which hurts. He dons thick gloves, pulling the tiny red book out of his satchel.
“I thought it’d be bigger.”
“So did I.” He slides the book over the threshold. I open it, reading a solution that is simple and difficult at the same time.
“It says ‘love can break all barriers.’”
“You’re an angel. All you do is love.”
“I… I think it might require a specific kind of love. One that angels aren’t supposed to feel.” I look into those sweet brown eyes I’ve missed so terribly. “I… I think I love you. Do you love me?”
Eric looks at me strangely. “I’m not sure. Demon, not supposed to know what love feels like. But… I had to do a lot to get this. Got discorporated several times, which never bothered me before, but this time… I feared I might not come back. Might not get to see you again. It’s strange being scared, innit?” I nod.
Eric reaches out his hand, just like that first day. I reach out to meet it. This time, no shock from above, just a hand, soft and warm. He leads me across the threshold and into his arms.