"If the world is to fall, I'll be there." Crowley promised, looking down at the young boy. He looked back up at the demon, a bright and unknowing smile etched on his face.
Crowley didn't often promise things. Very rarely, if fact, that even Aziraph...
Crowley was, as stated before, feeling very conflicted. There was a child. In his flat. The very flat that not even Aziraphale wasn't allowed to enter most of the time. And now there was basically a pocket sized him as well. Talk about double trouble.
"Right." Crowley said. The boy turned to face him, a sparkle in his eyes as he looked around. "First off, what do I call you?"
The child blinked as he stared up at the supernatural creature.
"They called me mistake." He offered with a smile, unknowing of what the word actually meant. Crowley felt his mood sour even further than it already was. "You can call me that too!"
"No." No way on Earth was Crowley going to call an innocent child a name like that. He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a name that would be suitable for a child. After all, he couldn't exactly keep going around calling him 'the boy' or 'the kid', could he?
"Briar." That was an okay name, right? Yeah. He'd just refer to the child as Briar. For now. Y'know, since he was found living in bramble and- he didn't have to explain himself! Briar it is.
"What's a Briar?" He asked, and Crowley mentally facepalmed.
"That's your name now." Briar smiled. The innocent thing did that a lot, huh?
"Cool."
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(Low quality sketch of what I think he might look like at the moment)
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Crowley soon found that taking care of a child was a lot more hassle than he once thought. He suddenly respected single parents significantly more.
Briar, now somewhat familiar with his new name, was like a little ball of energy, something that Crowley definitely could not deal with. He was jumping all over the furniture, laughing, hiding, and being downright annoying.
But Crowley realised, to his surprise and irritation, that he couldn't bring himself to dislike the abandoned child.
"Mister Anty, Mister Anty! Come build a fort with me!" And Crowley found himself being dragged to his living room, where pillows and blankets were strewn all over the room. He didn't even know he owned all of this.
He then proceeded to spent the next hour stacking up pillows and covering then with blankets and miraculously finding more when they didn't have enough. Briar giggled every time Crowley came back with more, almost as if he couldn't believe he had them all in the first place. But obviously he did - how else would he get them?
"Briar, how old are you?" Crowley asked when they were both situated inside the fort, Briar subconsciously snuggling closer to Crowley's side.
"I'm a whole 7 years old! I'm gonna be... um... 10 next year?" Briar held up 8 fingers. Crowley didn't know whether he wanted to hug him or go after the people who left him. Maybe both. He wrapped an arm around Briar, who snuggled into the warmth before yawning.
He eventually fell asleep. Crowley didn't bother moving. It was the best night's sleep Briar had had in a long while.
Crowley sighed and mentally cursed himself out. Fuck him, he was getting attached.
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Aziraphale was somewhat worried. A few days ago, after he'd called Crowley something good and whatnot, he'd stormed off. When he came back, he seemed... a little different. Like, not bad different, good different. He knew that sounded odd, with Crowley being demon and all, but it was the truth. And he was determined to find out what had happened.
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"Why do you insist on calling me fuc- bloody Anty?" Crowley asked, feeling rather exasperated (still refusing to swear in front of a child though). Briar laughed and skipped ahead of him, going up to shop windows and peering inside at the contents.
Crowley had taken him out to get him something, anything. At the very least, new clothes. He'd convinced the boy to take a bath yesterday, which frankly left him more mad at the previous family than before.
[Yesterday]
"So. Before we do anything, you need a bath." Crowley said, leading Briar up the stairs and to the bathroom. While he didn't actually need one, he enjoyed having a long soak in a near boiling bath.
Briar, however, seemed very hesitant to take one, seeming to weigh his options. He looked up at Crowley with large hazel eyes. Nervousness pooled in them.
"Mister... Mister Anty, I don't want to take a cold shower! I'm sorry!" Crowley blinked in surprise. And then in anger. What kind of monster makes their child bath in the cold?! Crowley almost shivered at the thought.
"What. The bath isn't gonna be cold, kid." Briar looked confused. Crowley tried again. "The water's gonna be warm."
"But... daddy said that only important people got warm baths... he said I just only got cold showers." Crowley was going to hit something. Or someone.
[Present Time]
Briar always seemed nervous when pointing out something that he wanted, and Crowley could now see why. Still, with him being soft for kids, he bought (or rather, stole if we're gonna be honest) anything the kid so much as glanced at.
They'd gotten back to the flat, and Briar began playing with his new toys. Tears sprung to his eyes, and he gave a laugh.
"You've done nice things for me." Crowley bristled at the poor word choice but didn't correct anything. "So you must be..." He muttered the end part just quiet enough so that Crowley couldn't hear him. He raised an eyebrow at the kid.
"Care to repeat that?"
"... I said you must be an Angel." Briar said, looking directly at him whilst pointing. Crowley quite literally couldn't believe what he was hearing. He wasn't an Angel! Well... not anymore.
