Work Text:
Asa and Anthony Crowley-Fell were finally home from their honeymoon: a two-week holiday in Marbella. They had curled up together each night on their room’s balcony to watch the sunset across the harbor.
The holiday ended, as all things do, dand they returned to life in London. Asa was due back at the bookshop, even if Anthony’s classes were out of session until August. Anthony drove him to work in his shining Bentley, bidding him farewell with a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of his hand.
Anthony spent his morning watering his plants and unpacking their bags, but was itching to see his Angel again. He could pick him up for lunch, spirit him away to some cafe for a nice meal together. Plan set, he set off again.
As he grew closer to the bookshop, it became clearer and clearer that something was very wrong.
Thick, black smoke curled in the air, still blocks away but enough to make Anthony anxious. Asa wasn’t answering the phone, either. A scream of sirens led Anthony straight to the very bookshop he had been so excited to visit.
Anthony ran into the flames, screaming out for his husband.
“Asa! Where the heaven are you, you idiot?”
He couldn’t find Asa, he was gone, and someone dragged him, sobbing, from the building just before it collapsed.
He stumbled home, weeping from grief, knowing that his husband, the love of his life, was gone, lost to the flames.
He opened the door… Asa was there! On the sofa, book in hand, hale and whole. What the—
“Hello, darling! I forgot to remind you that Derek closes the shop early on Wednesdays, and forgot to charge my phone again, so I walked home… why on earth are you covered in soot?”
“Oh, Angel…”