Chapter Text
It had been a stressful couple of weeks for the devil of Los Angeles. Between trying to juggle his private life and work at the LAPD, learning about a disturbing prophecy, breaking up with Eve and then having her go to extremes in order to show him how perfectly fine she was with that there hadn’t been a moment to really sit back and relax.
Now he finally had some time for himself, thinking he ought to use it and take a few days off. And yet, Lucifer noticed that he was unable to just sit in his flat doing nothing. Not even any of the wild activities of Lux could manage to keep him occupied. Instead, like so often before, the devil found himself driving towards the LA police station, wondering with a smile what his partner might be working on.
He entered the department, charmingly greeting anyone he came across – except for Dan, who had been behaving exceptionally douche-ish, lately. Way to take a step backwards. But it was easy enough to ignore. At least, that’s what the devil told himself. And really, he wanted to see only one person.
She was focused on some papers on her desk when he approached.
“Detective”, he said brightly. “Tell me you’ve got something interesting today.”
“Not sure if you’d categorize it as ‘interesting’”, Chloe replied, smiling up at him for a moment before focusing back on her files. “Missing person. A college student.”
Lucifer leaned over the detective’s shoulder and was about to tell her that nothing they worked on together could truly be considered boring when his eyes fell on the name written on the paper and his smile disappeared.
“Well that won’t do.” His voice was dangerously low. “That won’t do at all.”
***
With their decision to no longer let Heaven or Hell stand between them, Aziraphale and Crowley had gained a freedom like none of them had known before. They had quickly started to gravitate towards each other; meeting up almost every day under the pretense of making sure the other was still around and not kidnapped by one of their respective offices, later dropping that excuse and just happy to be in the other’s company.
They went out for dinner, argued, fed the ducks, went to concerts of classical music and rock bands, to history museums and art exhibitions, to auctions of antique books and on picnics.
Slowly more and more of Crowley’s things started to appear in Aziraphale’s bookshop, plants being placed between shelves and near windows, the kitchen suddenly gained a variety of new-fangled machines that weren’t plugged in but worked regardless and a sound system that got installed in the flat above the shop that played music despite lacking speakers.
And then, one day, Crowley just didn’t leave. And Aziraphale let him.
They still went about their own business, the angel reading his books and intimidating customers, the demon driving around and causing the occasional mischief, but even if they didn’t speak for an entire day they were comfortable to just be together. To be a part of the other’s life and knowing that they both would do anything to keep it that way.
Over time they let the final barriers break down and they allowed themselves to have what both of them had wanted for longer than either was ready to admit. After all, there was no point in hiding it now, was there? They had declared to be on their own side, a united front, they had no obligation to deny themselves this connection any longer.
It was scary at first, taking that final step. They tip-toed around the subject for a while, afraid of going too fast, of accidentally hurting the other if they moved too suddenly. But with every longing glance, every brush of hands, every smile they could emit from the other their resolve wavered, more of the walls crumbled.
Then, one night, they were walking back through St. James Park after a particularly nice dinner at the Ritz and instead of just taking his arm like usual Aziraphale intervened their fingers and leaned against his counterpart as they walked. It made the demon’s cheeks flare a bright red and he almost stumbled, but he squeezed Aziraphale’s hand in return. And when he later that night pushed the angel against the back of the sofa with a racing heart and finally pressed their lips together, Aziraphale simply wrapped his arms around his back and pulled him closer.
They still had to sort things out after that, working through the remaining insecurities and clearing up the final bits of doubt still residing in their minds, but they weren’t scared anymore. Because they had realized that whatever this was, it was still just them and if there was one thing they knew for certain it was that there was nothing to be afraid of when it came to the other. And however things would develop it would be right as long as they approached it together.
Now, six years after the Almostpocalypse and on the same day the devil decided to find a missing college student, Aziraphale was sitting in his armchair, a book disregarded in his lap, as he watched the serpent pace around. They weren’t drunk (yet), but a bottle of wine had been sitting on the table all evening and they were starting to get slightly tipsy. Not enough to completely lose track of what they were saying, but enough for the conversation to spiral into strange directions, largely influenced by a documentary the demon had seen on TV the day prior.
“I’m telling you, angel, it can’t be a coincidence.” Crowley waved his glass around before putting it down in order to have his hands free so he could further illustrate his point. “There are many strange animals roaming about, but some of the weirdest are in Australia. It’s where She puts all of her failed experiments.”
The angel frowned. “I’m not sure anything the Almighty created can be considered a failure. It all might be part of the Ineffable Plan, we just don’t know it. They all deserve to live and be loved.”
“Maybe not failed”, the demon corrected. “More like ‘well that one turned out kinda weird, off to Australia with it’.”
“But giraffes are rather strange too, aren’t they?”, Aziraphale pointed out. “With their unreasonably long necks. They can eat even the thorniest plants without hurting themselves, did you know? Anyway, they’re not native to Australia, I don’t think.”
Crowley took that into consideration and let himself fall onto the sofa across from the angel as he thought.
“Giraffes are strange”, he finally agreed, “But, I mean, in the end it’s nothing but a really long gazelle, right? That’s nothing compared to what runs around in Australia. We talked about the platypus-“
“Yes, we talked about the platypus”, Aziraphale interrupted hastily, thinking back to their almost two hour discussion.
It had taken five books of outdated biology to first determine what exactly defined a mammal and then convince the demon that the platypus did indeed belong into that category, despite the fact that it laid eggs. Aziraphale was quite proud of himself for remembering that one, though he was beginning to doubt the credibility of one of the books when it claimed that platypuses had venomous ankle spurs. Crowley meanwhile had been delighted at the information, generally approving of any animal able to produce toxins just like him – except for spiders, which he thought had too many legs.
“Strange bugger, I’ll give you that. Never seen anything like it.”
“And there are more!”, Crowley exclaimed, gesturing widely, his voice not without admiration. “There are those frilly neck lizards and kangaroos and emus and this giant moth with wings that are almost invisible. Just… crazy!”
Aziraphale nodded, finding it most satisfying to just listen and watch Crowley’s eyes lit up when he talked about something that fascinated him. He took off the sunglasses around him more often these days. It pleased the angel as he rather liked Crowley’s eyes.
“Yes, there are many wondrous creatures on earth”, he agreed.
“Exactly! And I’m just saying, if, and that’s a big IF, there was one place She dumps her weirdest creations, it would definitely be-“ The demon paused mid-sentence, his face suddenly becoming blank. He instantly sobered up.
“Aziraphale…”
Startled, the angel followed his example and stood up, taking off his reading glasses. “What’s wrong, dear?”
“I’m not sure…” Crowley got up and closed his eyes for a moment. A violent shudder went through his body and he swayed on his feet. When he opened his eyes again they were wide. “I’m being summoned.”
“What?!” Aziraphale took him by the shoulders. “Can you tell where from? Hell? Heaven?!”
The demon focused. “Earth, I think…”
Aziraphale bit his lip. It had been quite a while since the last time. Humans had slowly but surely moved away from the occult after discovering science and it was usually nothing to worry about, but there had been a few times when it had ended really badly and-
His thoughts were interrupted as Crowley doubled over in pain, holding his stomach.
“Sorry, can’t fight it anymore”, he hissed. “I’m sure I’ll be back soon, don’t-“
The demon disappeared and Aziraphale’s fingers desperately gripped the empty air as he was left alone in the bookshop.