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Crowley was positively livid and even that felt like an understatement. It really should not have come to this but here he was in the damned library he’d visited twice before and still with no answers about Aziraphale. The demon didn’t think he could be any more annoyed but unfortunately all of the other Archangels and Dukes of Hell were present and the general chaos of the situation was headache inducing. Everyone was arguing over stupid things like Gabriel’s dropping of his halo or a potential war between Heaven and Hell but none of that mattered to Crowley. Instead he stood mostly to the side next to the equally uninvolved assistant librarian. How the human had stuck around in all the madness was beyond the demon but he was glad for the company.
It would have been more entertaining to watch Gabriel plead his case if he were on trial in Hell but unfortunately Crowley didn’t have much power in the current situation. It wasn’t like the angel had done anything wrong in defending himself from the literal army Crowley had sent after him.
“We should have expected something like this from you Gabriel,” Micheal berated. “Only you would be foolish enough to throw down your halo.”
“In my defence they were tracking mud onto my Persian rugs.” Gabriel retorted, arms crossed. “Do you have any idea how hard those are to clean? They’re literally from the Persian Empire.”
“Not to mention that they started it by attacking uzzz!” Beelzebub seethed. Crowley couldn’t help the feeling of pride at the other demon’s indignant attitude.
“Those are weak excuses for such drastic action.” Uriel chimed in.
“Well I would love to see how any of you would have handled this in my position. It’s not like I asked for you to intervene.” Gabriel rolled his eyes.
“You most certainly did.” Saraqael interjected. “Or have you forgotten all that dropping your halo entails?”
“I’m not as stupid as you lot.” Gabriel responded with a scoff.
“Be all that as it may,” Crowley interrupted. “We still have a potential war to sort out. Thanks in no part to Shax and her poor attempt at a siege.”
Everyone turned their attention over to the Duke of Hell.
“Now if I have any say in it I would rather avoid a full blown war from such a minor incident.” Crowley shrugged his shoulders. “If we are to go to war again I’d rather have a better cause than storming a library.”
“We would also rather not engage Hell at this time.” Micheal reluctantly agreed. “There are a few things to sort out in Heaven that have a bit more urgency. Namely our rogue Supreme Archangel.”
“That’s the part that I don’t get,” Gabriel cut in. “Why are you so concerned with finding Archangel Aziraphale?”
“Oh,” Beelzebub piped up, “they want to reprimand him for abandoning his post.”
Abandoning his post, it didn’t sound like Aziraphale. Well at least not like what Aziraphale would want people to think. Crowley knew better though and his mind drifted to a memory from a few years ago.
The pair had agreed to meet a new upscale pub on the fringes of London. The food was alright but the drinks were quite good, if a tad overpriced. None of that really mattered to the demon since his angel had showed up to the meeting in quite a state.
Aziraphale had clearly been crying given the red rim to his eyes but he was intent to not let Crowley know that. The demon had also caught a worrying bruise on his angel’s wrist that he’d chosen not to mention. Aziraphale was also getting drunker than he was normally inclined to get. The angel had been in his sad phase of drunk and was heading towards everything being very funny.
“I mean wouldn’t it be nice.” Aziraphale lamented. “To just leave it all behind like Gabriel and Beelzebub did. No more pesky sides or paperwork.”
“Not quite as achievable for us though, eh?” Crowley responded. “I mean part of the reason they get left alone is because you and I are in charge. You think Micheal or Hastur would have the same courtesy for us?”
“No I suppose not.” A melancholy look shifted over the angel’s face. “Can you imagine Hastur being in charge? He would be a terrible High Duke.”
At the thought the angel dissolved into a fit of laughter. Crowley had always found his angel’s laughter infectious so was quick to join in. While the mood of the evening lifted from there the short conversation had stuck with the demon.
“Well that’s an oversimplification.” Micheal’s statement drew Crowley out of his thoughts. “But he must stand trial for his actions.”
Crowley clenched his fist at his side in an attempt to control his anger. ‘His actions’ all of Aziraphale’s actions were nothing but noble. As if Micheal had any grounds to stand on herself. While his angel was not very open about the goings on in Heaven Crowley assumed a lot from what he had divulged. As far as he was concerned Aziraphale was the only good angel in the entirety of Heaven.
He was distracted from his seething by a nudge to his leg. When he looked down his eyes met a snake, one of his snakes, holding an envelope in his mouth. He bent down and grabbed the letter as well as giving the snake a brief pat to the head in thanks. After that it slithered off again but Crowley was too distracted to notice where he went.
The envelope was the stark white that Crowley recognized as coming from Heaven. There was also familiar gold lettering on the back spelling out his name. This letter was from Aziraphale. Without another thought Crowley tore open the letter, eager to read its contents. As he scanned the letter for any clue about where Aziraphale ran off to. He was devastated to find that it was only the notes from his angel’s wedding vows. The demon struggled to hold back tears, both of frustration and fresh loss. Rereading the vows made the constant hole in the demon's chest ache with fresh pain. He missed his angel more than he could ever express in words.
Scanning the letter for some sort of clue made tears sting at the corner of Crowley’s eyes. His hand not holding the papers clinched at his side in a vain attempt to fight back the emotion. Despite his best efforts the demon felt a few tears fall down his cheeks and watched as they landed on the paper below. Thankfully the ink was unaffected by the water.
Suddenly there was a soft touch to his free hand. Glancing over Crowley saw Angelo, the assistant librarian, looking at him with concern. Neither said anything but Crowley relaxed his hand in invitation and the other man interlaced their fingers. The comforting action was so painfully familiar that a new stream of tears started.
He turned his attention back to looking for any kind of clue that would lead him to his husband. Due to the close examination Crowley was giving the paper he was able to notice matching indents in both the letter and the envelope. It looked like a small round object had been pressed into it.
In an instant the pieces clicked together and the demon rounded on Gabriel and Beelzebub, interrupting whatever unimportant conversation everyone else was having.
“I’m going to need you bastards to explain this!” Crowley stormed over and thrust the letter in the pair's faces.
“Oh that old thing.” Gabriel waved his hand dismissively. “Probably just an old missive from Heaven.”
“With my name on it?!”
“Maybe it got lost in transit.” Beelzebub, weakly, suggested.
“I am so over you two lying to me! Beelzebub you know we can tell when people lie!”
In answer the other demon simply shrunk in on themself before answering truthfully.
“So it may have been on the Supreme Archangel when he arrived here.” They shifted their feet awkwardly but still held the Duke’s eyeline. “Which he may have also been here…the whole time.”
“Where?!” Crowley bellowed. He’d searched the library twice since Aziraphale had gone missing and he’d never found a trace of his angel.
“We may have cast a small miracle to keep him concealed from both Heaven and Hell.” Beelzebub confessed.
“So that’s what that was.” Micheal commented. “I knew Gabriel would never use a miracle for love.”
“Well can you bloody undo it?!” The Duke cut back in.
Gabriel sighed and gave a quick snap of his fingers. A feeling like a weight being lifted from his shoulders washed over him and Crowley blinked. When he looked back around the shop he immediately found his angel. He felt foolish for ever mistaking Aziraphale for a human, let alone an assistant librarian. Crowley immediately rushed over to him.
“Oh Aziraphale I-” He caught himself before he could say anything he might regret. “I finally found you.” he settled on.
“Yes, quite.” The angel replied, giving a soft smile. “But, um, who is Aziraphale?”
That was the last thing Crowley had expected to hear. The pit in his stomach began to ache with a vengeance. Two weeks of missing his husband and now here he was but he apparently didn’t know who he was. It was easy to guess who had done a stupid miracle like that though. So Crowley rounded on Gabriel and Beelzebub again.
“What did you do to his memory?!”
“We didn’t do anything.” Gabriel huffed. “He showed up like that.”
Crowley looked between his angel and the pair of headaches. He spent more time looking his angel over to make sure he was unharmed other than the missing memories. His eyes landed on the bare spot on Aziraphale’s hand where his wedding band usually rested. He then remembered the strange indents in the letter and envelope.
“Where is the ring?!” Crowley questioned.
“What ring?” Gabriel responded.
“We didn’t take anything from him if that’zzz what you’re implying.” Beelzebub said defensively.
“There should have been a ring in with the letter! I know you idiots opened it so where did you put the ring?!”
The angel and demon shared a look of confusion before shrugging.
“So you lost it then!” Crowley was literally fuming at this point. “That ring is very important!”
“Why do you know that?” Gabriel questioned.
“Becaussse, like I’ve been trying to tell you bastardsss for the past two weeksss, I am…that we’re…ugh! I’m… friendsss…with him!”
Before Crowley could launch into another beratement of Gabriel and Beelzebub, or more likely throw something at them, he was interrupted by another nudge to the leg. Looking down he was greeted by a familiar snake.
“Abel!” Crowley exclaimed and swiftly lifted the snake into his hands. “I’ve been worried sick about you!”
The snake nudged his head against the demon’s hand and dropped something into it. Abel then looked from him then towards Aziraphale expectantly. Crowley almost unthinkingly passed the snake back over to his angel which seemed to satisfy both parties. The demon then turned his attention to the object Abel had given him. It was a familiar silver band with an inlaid ruby and delicately engraved snakes.
Aziraphale’s wedding band.
“Oh you clever snake!” Crowley cooed and gave Abel a grateful pat to the head. “Keeping it safe this whole time, weren’t you?”
“Is that why that animal refused to let me clean under my couch for the past two weeks?!” Gabriel exclaimed. “There are so many dust bunnies under there now!”
Abel in response flicked his tongue out at the angel in an indignant manner.
“Angel, give me your hand.” Crowley completely ignored Gabriel’s objection. He was solely focused on fixing whatever was wrong with Aziraphale.
“You forgot the O, dear.” Aziraphale commented but placed his hand in the demon’s.
Memories of their wedding flashed in Crowley’s mind as he went through the familiar gesture of placing Aziraphale’s ring. The angel had the same soft smile that he had that day ten years ago. While his blue eyes lacked their usual depth they were still striking in the morning sun. Crowley didn’t think it was possible to fall for his angel anymore than he already had but apparently he was wrong. Even though they had spent more time apart on a regular basis these past two weeks had felt like eternity to the worried demon.
As soon as the ring was back in its rightful place there was a shift in the air. The familiar warmth of Aziraphale’s ethereal essence, that Crowley hadn’t noticed was missing, returned. Crowley also felt the same warmth return to the ring on the chain around his neck. The angel blinked a bit as he gave the shop a once over. His eyes had returned to their sharp almost glowing blue, which Crowley could easily notice because they were focused on him.
“Hello my dear.” Aziraphale smiled at him. “I expected you’d find me a bit sooner.”
“You should have come to Hell in that case.” The demon snarked, squeezing Aziraphale’s hand where they were still interlocked. “Had to deal with these idiots in the meantime.”
“Some thanks we get for keeping him safe.” Gabriel grumbled.
“I’ll see that you two receive a proper reward for concealing the Supreme Archangel.” Micheal replied.
“Not if Hell has anything to say about it.” Dagon snarled.
“Well it was Crowley who wanted him found.” Beelzebub interrupted the argument before it could start. “And now he’z found him so there’z no reason for Hell to punish anyone.”
“That’s that part that I don’t get.” Gabriel crossed his arms. “Why was the High Duke of Hell looking for the Supreme Archangel? And why does it seem like Aziraphale was looking for him too?”
“That is a good point.” Micheal agreed as the group turned to face the angel and demon pair. “Would either of you care to explain yourselves?”
“Well it’sss like I said before.” Crowley shrugged. “We’re… friends.”
The group gave him a disbelieving look.
“Oh come now dear there’s really no need to be so coy.” Aziraphale chuckled and gave Crowley’s hand a squeeze. “It’s only fair that at least Gabriel and Beelzebub know the truth after all we did to put them out.”
“It’s the least you could do.” Gabriel mumbled but didn’t try to interrupt more than that.
“If you must know Crowley and I are married.” Aziraphale stated the information so bluntly that is took a few seconds for the others to process what they’d heard.
After a minute though the silence was broken by everyone speaking at once. Everyone was asking the same variety of questions. Mostly ‘what do you mean married?’ and ‘an angel and a demon? Together?’.
When it became clear that the crowd wasn’t coming to order despite the many calls for it Gabriel grabbed a bell off of a desk behind him and rang it to get the group’s attention.
“As shocking as this news is the more important thing is how did this even happen?” Gabriel asked after the chaos had quieted. “I mean I thought the first time you two met was at the airfield. When would you have seen each other after that?”
“We’ve know each other since bloody Eden.” Crowley rolled his eyes. “I mean I’ve been to Earth a fair amount you know.”
“Quite right.” Azirphale agreed. “We met on the wall of Eden and then well we just kept running into each other.”
“Is that why you were so insistent on meeting in person?” Gabriel asked.
“Partly.” The archangel blushed. “But I also enjoyed coming to Earth on its own. It’s quite dull up in Heaven, no color really.”
“So sure you meet you a few times over the years.” Beelzebub interrupted. “How doezzz that lead to marriage?”
“It just sort of happened I suppose.” Aziraphale smiled. “Though it was partly inspired by you two.”
“As important as all this is it’s distracting from the main point at hand.” Micheal cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Aziraphale still needs to return to Heaven to face punishment for his actions and now it seems so does the High Duke of Hell.”
“Not so fast.” Dagon growled. “Hell should have rights to punish the pair as well.”
“I hardly see how you have claim.” The angel glared.
“We have just as much stake as your lot.” The demon matched the look.
When it looked like the two factions were going to come to blows over rights to punish them Crowley was gearing up to use it as cover to run. He had no intentions of going anywhere with anyone and he was sure that his angel felt the same. Before he had the chance to slip out B’s voice cut through the arguing.
“Well why don’t we ask them where they want to go?” The demon crossed their arms, a posture Crowley was familiar with when they wanted people to listen to them. “I mean after all they are both still in charge as of right now, aren’t they?”
The chorus of mumbled agreements was honestly a shock to Crowley.
“Fine.” Both Micheal and Dagon agreed.
“Alright then,” B continued, turning to the couple. “Where do you two want to go?”
“I must be honest.” Aziraphale chucked. “I hadn’t really given the matter much thought. I suppose though that I would be happy anywhere Crowley is.”
“And I’ll be pleased as punch wherever you are angel.” Crowley smiled as he turned to fully face his husband.
He heard some arguing break out among the group again but the demon couldn’t be bothered to pay it any mind. For the first time in two weeks his angel was right in front of him and he only had one thing in mind. Now holding both of the other’s hands it seemed his angel had the same idea. The pair leaned in and interlocked their lips. The kiss was just as powerful as their wedding vows even if there was not true magic behind it. He could feel the word fade out around them as they kissed and when they finally pulled apart the demon noted that they had somehow ended up in a quaint little village. It was vaguely familiar, South Downs he thought. The couple had been a few times and even discussed living there. Now it seemed that those talks could become reality.