Exist To Fall (Fransykes)

Chapter 2

Okay so I just wanna say that the whole aetheric thing is not an idea so original. I actually inspired myself on another fic but adapted to what I thought that was far more fitting around my own views (Flight by NorthernSparrow on ao3, one of the best reads of my whole fucking life, strongly recommend if you have the patience. Flight's a sequel tho, but still fucking amazing) and I've actually studied bird and human biology for this fic which. Is something. So I think that thinking of Josh as a birb isn't so far off heh. Also, I'm trying to make sense of the bible in a way that coexists with my own views again bc yeah 

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"What the fuck?!" A heavy gasp and a jerk back almost makes Oliver fall from the bed. Joshua tilts his head.

"You use that word a lot, don't you?"

Oliver scoffs.

"Is that a fuckin sin or some shit? And I'm allowed to swear when I wake up with some fucker's face right on mine. What the fuck are you doing here?"

Joshua straightens. The weapon right on his face doesn't seem to faze him.

"I heard you speaking and you screamed. I figured something may have happened so I came to ensure that nothing was wrong."

Oliver can't exactly blame him for that but his embarrassment says otherwise. Fuck's sake, he's a grown-ass man, he can't keep waking others up with his nightmares.

"Fuck off, oh my god," Oliver mutters, planting face-first on his pillow. The weapon slips from his grasp, back under the pillow. "I'm fine, okay? Probably had some dream."

"I think nightmare would be more precise."

"Yeah, whatever," he finds it better to dismiss the angel's remark than to fight it for now. "I'm going back to sleep."

Joshua hums. "I'll wait here."

It takes a little time for Oliver to process what Joshua said. It takes a little time for him to process his existence fully. An angel. Oliver slept, a full sleep, with an angel right in his house. The 'if he was supposed to kill you, he would've done it already' that his mind supplies him with does little to ease him.

"No, the fuck you are," Oliver speaks once he turns to Joshua with a filthy glare on his face. Joshua holds his stare unwavering.

"I've realised that me staying downstairs is a risk we cannot take. It takes too long enough to come up here, long enough for you to die." Oliver sees his point but he really doesn't care.

"Dude, I don't want you watching me sleep. That shit's creepy as fuck."

"I'm afraid that has no importance to me. I cannot keep you as safe as I would if I'm not in the same room as you," Joshua counters and Oliver gets beyond annoyed at his condescending tone.

"Dude."

"Yes?"

"I need my personal space, okay? Stop trying to cross it."

"I'm not crossing it, I'm doing what I have to do."

"You fuckin are. Just let me sleep alone."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

An exaggerated groan. Oliver knows a lost battle when he sees one.

"Whatever. No use trying to go back to sleep then."

Joshua adds nothing to that.

Oliver gets up and ready for the day, trying his best to be mindless about the staring. But it's all awkward so Oliver just takes his sweet damn time in the bathroom where there are no prying eyes because Joshua did not insist on it with his filthy murder glare before going back outside and leading the angel downstairs. He feels himself going a little crazier as time slides by. He's definitely not used to having holy guests and he really doesn't know what to do with himself so he tries some mindless chatter.