Fraternizing

Part 1: Six Thousand Years

"Aziraphale!" called Crowley. His eyes searched the bookshop.

Every single time he went in there now, he would get flashbacks to that horrible moment when everything was burning down. And it would take him a good few seconds to realize that that was all in the past. It was never going to happen again. He wouldn't let it.

Thankfully, the angel was sitting at his desk as normal, flipping through books and adjusting his glasses every four seconds. He turned around and smiled. "Hello, Crowley! Nice to see you."

"Angel. There is a very serious matter."

Aziraphale blinked. "There is? Oh. How dreadful."

He stood up and dusted himself off, as if he had been sitting there for years.

"Gabriel and Beelzebub," Crowley said gravely. "They're meeting. In secret."

"Ah." Aziraphale didn't look all that surprised.

Crowley raised his eyebrows. "Nothing more to say?"

Aziraphale sighed and shifted around, trying to find something to lean against.

"Well, they're fraternizing, like us, aren't they?"

Crowley winced. "I hate that word," he hissed softly.

Aziraphale swallowed. "I-I can't imagine why."

Crowley tried to let it go. "Well, what exactly are we going to do about this?"

"Well, I would leave them be. I mean, if they like being... friends... like us...."

"Is that all I am to you?"

"What do you mean?" replied Aziraphale, cleaning his reading glasses anxiously.

Crowley took a deep breath.

"Gabriel and Beelzebub are doing more than fraternizing. They're dating."

Aziraphale breathed out slowly.

"Right."

Silence.

Crowley took a few steps forward.

"Perhaps," Aziraphale murmured, "this is the path to peace. The ineffable path."

Crowley gritted his teeth and did what he had done a couple of months before. What he had done the moment before they met Sister Mary.

He grabbed Aziraphale by the collar and pinned him against the wall.

Like before, he was careful not to hurt the angel. Crowley didn't let Aziraphale's head hit the wall. But he didn't have an issue with personal space. Not with this angel.

"You're more than someone to be friendly to to me."

"I- Crowley-"

The demon leaned in closer.

"Much more. And you obviously don't have a clue about what I'm saying. You said- you said I go too fast for you." He quivered. "But I've been going slow for six thousand bloody years. And now Gabriel and Beezlebub- if they're dating- I- you hear me?!"

Aziraphale stood frozen.

Crowley got even closer, if that was possible. He breathed heavily in Aziraphale's face.

The angel finally spoke.

"Crowley." He blinked. "I think you should l-leave."

Crowley pulled away. He sighed deeply.

And he was gone.

Aziraphale still stood there.

And he stood there for such a long time that he had to dust himself off again.