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Aziraphale was waiting for Crowley on their usual park bench. Crowley was running a little late which was not out of the ordinary. They met on Sundays, the days Aziraphale came to meet with his Earth representative and or attend a human religious gathering of some kind. Therefore it was only natural that the Supreme
Archangel would arrive before the much busier Duke of Hell.
Still the demon was running late even by his timetable. Aziraphale tried not to worry about it, after all he knew how easy it was for a meeting to run long or to get caught up in paperwork. Though Crowley was a bit more relaxed in his duties if what he told Aziraphale often was to be believed. He began to wring his hands together in his lap. The sudden movement woke up Able who had been napping on Aziraphale’s lap.
“I’m sorry, dear, I did not mean to disturb you.”
The snake fixed him with a look that was more human than snakes were usually capable of looking. It was also a look that Aziraphale was used to seeing on his friend. It read something along the lines of ‘are you okay?’. The angel brushed off Able’s concern with a few strokes to his head.
“No need to worry about me, dear. I am just fine.” He fixed the snake with a smile though it quickly faltered. “I am simply worried about Crowley. It is not like him to be this late.”
In response to the angel’s clear discomfort Able moved from his spot in Aziraphale’s lap to wrap around his lower arm in a gentle squeeze. Aziraphale was used to this and normally found the light pressure to be grounding when he was in one of these moods. Right now it was not as helpful as the angel would hope.
“I mean normally if he is going to be late he will send a letter, right?” The Supreme Archangel reasoned to the snake. Sometimes talking aloud also helped ease the tension in the angel’s stomach. “I suppose he could just be caught up in a meeting. Oh I hope he’s not doing performance reviews. He hates doing those.”
Really there was no reason for Aziraphale to be so worried since Crowley was barely an hour late. Though the longer it took for the demon to arrive the less time they would have with each other. It was hard enough for the angel to maintain his social calendar with other angels let alone the equally busy Duke of Hell. Still the two tried to meet up relatively frequently to allow each other a momentary break from their hectic schedules.
When he checked his pocket watch again the concern the Supreme Archangel had grew more. Against his better judgement he began to think of every possible thing that could cause Crowley to miss their meeting. These ranged from the mundane of meetings running long to the extreme of another violent uprising that the Duke had to put down. If that was the case then Crowley would definitely be in a bad mood or worse in pain. Memories of all the past times Crowley had been injured and hid it from him played in Aziraphale’s mind. Most prominent was the argument they had last time the angel had tried to get Crowley to tell him when these things happened.
‘Crowley I have a right to know when you are injured!’
‘Says who?! Last I checked my health was my business alone!’
‘But you are not alone Crowley! You have me!’
Aziraphale had been on the brink of sobbing when he first saw Crowley collapse from blood loss and then they had started arguing about it. The angel had only wanted to help but Crowley, being from Hell, was not used to that. Of course once the tears started to fall from the angel’s eyes Crowley started to apologize as much as a demon can. That had made Aziraphale feel worse though. His demon was always so nice and comforting even when he was the one with the stab wound to the gut.
That train of thought made Aziraphale feel even more worried for Crowley. While the angel was fairly open with his feelings the demon preferred to keep them to himself. Aziraphale could usually only get him to open up when he was at his breaking point and even then it usually took an unpleasant argument to really get it out of him.
If Hell had been anything like Heaven these past few months then Crowley would certainly have a lot to be upset about. Heaven had been dealing with all of the fallout of what the humans were calling the Cold War. Trying to keep hope alive in both the United States and Russia without tipping either into actually starting a war was a very tricky feat. Aziraphale was very worried over the paranoia that was stirring in the humans. He was trying to combat this by focusing on the small miracles that he can provide mostly scientific advancements.
A tear rolled down Aziraphale’s cheek catching him by surprise. Of course once he started crying he felt rather silly about it which led to more tears. The angel felt selfish whenever he let himself get worked up like this. He was the Supreme Archangel; there was no reason for him to feel overwhelmed or upset. Able, the dear that he was, tightened his grip on the angel but not enough to be uncomfortable. Aziraphale gave the snake a small smile but his tears refused to stop.
“Hey angel, I didn’t expect to be so late.” Crowley’s voice suddenly came from behind the angel causing him to jump. “Heh, didn’t mean to startle you either.”
As he made the second comment, the demon rounded the bench and got a good look at Aziraphale. It only took a single glance for Crowley to know that Aziraphale had been over thinking things again.
“Hey it’s okay. Did something happen?” The demon asked as he sat down and put an arm around the angel’s shoulders.
“No. I am just being silly.” Aziraphale used his arm not being held by Able to wipe at his eyes.
“Come on none of that. We’ve been over this angel, you’re allowed to be upset.”
“But I am not even upset over anything. I just started crying.”
“You know that’s not true. With everything the humans have going on I’m sure you have plenty of reasons to be upset.”
“But I shouldn’t be. None of the other Archangels are upset about it.”
“Well you’re not exactly like the other Archangels now are you? I mean you’re the Supreme Archangel for a reason.”
Azriaphale was caught off guard by the comment. While he had stopped crying by now he still had the nagging pit in his stomach. But Crowley’s comment had made him stop and think. Was he really so different from other angels because of his status or did his status make him more connected to humans. The angel was not sure if that was entirely how it worked but it did make a bit of sense, in a way.
“I suppose when you put it like that it does make a bit of sense.”
“Thank you angel, I do try.”
Crowley removed his arm and leaned back more casually on the bench. Able moved his way back to the angel’s lap to resume his afternoon nap. The angel also settled himself into a more relaxed position and settled his hands on his knees.
“Oh how rude of me my dear I have not asked how you have been since you got here.”
“It’s fine, angel. You were in the middle of something.”
“That’s no excuse for poor manners, my dear.”
And like that the pair fell back into a familiar rhythm of conversation. Aziraphale hardly noticed the feeling in his gut as he talked to Crowley. It was very pleasant to ignore the sensation for a brief moment. Though in the back of his mind Aziraphale knew it would return whenever he and Crowley parted ways. The angel did not let that thought ruin the moment though and was intent to enjoy the short time he had with his demon.