Chapter Text
May 2019: Three And a Half Months Before the End of The World
"And then I handed him the books and offered him a lift home," Crowley concluded as Evan finished doing his wall sits.
"Okay, that's romantic as hell," Evan confirmed as he switched to lunges. "I mean, I think entering the church with the consecrated ground should have been enough, but that ending bit was blatant. If he hasn't already jumped your bones, then he's either the most oblivious being alive or he's deliberately pretending to be obtuse."
Crowley was afraid it was the latter, given how often the angel liked to remind him that he was a demon and thus the enemy. Instead of replying, he carefully watched Even go through the motions of lunging in various directions. He was working easily with his physical therapist three days a week, and had a list of exercises to do on his own the other four days. Some of his friends had made noises about him getting back into things too quickly, but the physical therapist had agreed with his course of treatment and provided all the exercises.
And of course, Crowley was keeping an eye on him. He knew there would be no side effects, like blood clots or relapses, because it was angelic healing that did the bulk of the work, and the essence lingered in the area. That didn't mean that he didn't have Evan take precautions, and Crowley checked him over himself regularly. He'd considered hiring a nurse for Evan, but since Crowley could spend most of his time there, and pop back across the pond as needed, without worrying about Evan seeing him perform a miracle, he decided that his own oversight was good enough.
Though of course there were bumps in the road, like whatever had made Evan so furious this morning that Crowley could feel it through his tether to his godson while he was mooning over spying on his Angel. So far he'd managed to avoid the angel — now that they were no longer watching over Warlock up close — and avoid explaining to him who Evan was, but that would surely change soon, unless he could distract him somehow. "By the way, what got you in such a strop this morning?"
Evan made a face. "Maddie."
"Ah," Crowley replied knowingly.
"She came by, tried to take over my care, insisting that I was pushing myself too hard, without knowing anything about what I've done in the past month. She wasn't even there at my welcome home party, though I'm sure Chimney told her all about it." Evan was clearly irritated, and Crowley didn't blame him. His sister had been an immense source of stress for Evan throughout the years, in one form or another, and her performance in the hospital had brought things to a head. Thankfully, with the exception of Chimney, the others hadn't seemed to have taken her message on board.
"Clearly she thinks that you'll eventually cave because you miss her too much. I'm sure she's just waiting for you to toss yourself at her feet and beg her to micromanage your life for you," Crowley snarked.
Evan frowned, but didn't disagree. "Well if she did, she doesn't think it now." He sighed and then quietly admitted, "I mentioned Daniel."
"You what?" Crowley was stunned, as Daniel was a very sore spot that Evan usually avoided thinking about. "I thought you were going to wait until she brought him up?"
"That was the plan." Evan grimaced. "And then she tried to make excuses for not visiting me in the hospital, because it was just 'too hard'."
Crowley snorted. Subtle she was not.
"Yeah," Evan agreed, switching to high steps. "Then she brought up our parents, and I shut her down. She tried to convince me that my parents love me, and I pointed out that I hadn't gotten so much as a phone call from them since I was admitted. She said I didn't know what they'd gone through, and I snapped back that it was less than Daniel had suffered."
"Oh Evan," Crowley sighed. He didn't blame Evan for losing his temper and letting that slip, and he hoped that Evan wasn't beating himself up for it.
"She was horrified that I knew, and immediately assumed you had told me, which made her even more furious with you." Evan continued. "From what she was ranting I think she assumes you're one of mom and dad's old friends that they ditched after they moved to escape Daniel's memory, and that's why they never mentioned you. But I'm not inside her brain, so I'm not sure."
Crowley had, in fact, seen the bone marrow donation listed in Evan's chart during that first hospital visit, and had gone looking for more information. He'd been appalled to learn what Evan's parents had put him through at such a young age, and even more upset by how absent they were. It was blatantly obvious that they were blaming him for not saving their older son, if their neglect was anything to judge by. Crowley had told the 14 year old the truth as soon as he got him back home safely.
At the time, Evan had been devastated to know about Daniel, but relieved to have an answer for why his parents seemed to hate him. Crowley didn't bother to try to convince him that they loved him instead, because it was obvious that they didn't. He'd merely vowed to look out for the boy all the more.
"Well, to completely change the subject to something that won't upset us, how's it going with Eddie?" Crowley asked with a teasing smile.
Evan shrugged. "It's going. He and Chris are still my best friends, and I see them at least twice a week. That's a little less than before, but then I'm not at work with Eddie all shift."
"And your hopelessly unrequited love for him?"
"Still going strong," Evan confirmed with a sigh.
"I could try to miracle him un-straight for you," Crowley offered. He wasn't sure it would work, but he knew Evan wouldn't take him up on it anyway.
Evan shot him a mild glare. "No thank you. No messing with my friends' brains."
Crowley held up his hands in surrender and Evan smirked. "Besides, after how long you've been pining after Aziraphale, I don't think your love miracles are all that potent."
"A dagger through my heart," Crowley clutched his chest in mock agony, making Evan laugh. He hadn't had nearly enough to laugh about, these last few weeks.
"There, done for the day," Evan announced, bouncing up on the balls of his feet and grinning. "You're free for the rest of the day, right?"
"Yep," Crowley said, drawing out the e and popping the p.
"Then let's go do something fun," Evan suggested, his eyes lighting up. "I've been good with my PT and earned a break. And you definitely need a break from hovering over me."
Crowley chuckled, even though he'd never give up watching over Evan. Still, it had been a while since he'd done something fun for grownups, after spending the last six years as Warlock's nanny and then the last two months worried about Evan. "I suppose I could be persuaded," he agreed.