The Known/Unknown Quantity

Chapter 32: The Things We Do for Love

Chapter 32: The Things We Do for Love

Aziraphale had never been happier that Crowley's flat was practically a shot gun.

The straight long walls seemed to tow him to the bedroom while he drifted on his pain. The demon guided him on the other side. His eyes remained shut tight until he stood in the center of the room, where he looked at Crowley, and requested," Undress me."

"Worship time?" The angel nodded, and Crowley started with his tie. As first the jacket, then the vest, and all the rest came off, the angel proceeded to explain his disappearance this morning.

"Do you remember the fellow with the grey shaggy beard? Mostly comes in on Saturdays?"

"The one who runs the record shop?"

"Exactly. Well, he has another establishment down the road."

"And what does that sell?"

"Ummmm," the angel hesitated, "art?"

Aziraphale was down to nothing but his shirt sleeves and "small clothes," as he so quaintly put it. He stilled the demon's hand. 

"What kind of art?" Crowley uttered darkly.

"Um, the kind," the angel smiled nervously, "that takes a motor and a needle."

Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's arms, and the angel whimpered a little with the jolt. The demon softened his grip instantly. "You better not've—"

"He does other things, the types of art you expect to be applied with needles."

The demon's eyes couldn't get any larger. With a hiss, he undid the angel's buttons as quickly and gently as he could, then flung open the garment. Aziraphale moaned. Crowley froze, looked in a panic to the undershirt, to the impressions there, then shakily pulled the neckline down to reveal the angel's chest.

"Angel," Crowley rasped, "whot have you done to yourself!"

The ore had found new life as ornamentation. Two long black metal snakes, their scales edged in red enamel, glittered dully behind his friend's erect nipples. The gauge was a heavy one, and as Crowley ran a finger over each, they changed size back and forth, making the angel emit plaintive mews. "You changed your body," Crowley almost mourned. "Tell me how this came about."

"I designed and engineered them. The gentleman at the shop was thoroughly impressed with my craftmanship. And.................afterwards..........I healed myself up proper, so you could touch me."

"But the way your skin is, it's GOTTA hurt! Here, stop that!" The snakes grew and shrank.

"I can't change the mass, but I can move it around to increase or decrease diameter. Oh yes, I agree it's very sensitive. Never actually goes away. It tingles," his voice cracked on the last word. "Do piercings have the same effect on humans?"

"Can run from 'oh shit' to numbing. But humans don't shove a lock of demon hair through their ethereal flesh!"

"No different than the ring."

"No...No different than the ring?!?! The ring has an angel in it, not a fiend! The ring isn't rodded behind your nipple, pulsing along to your pounding heart!"

"The origin of the metal," the angel stated frankly, "does not injure my body. Your argument is invalid."

"Suppose it is," Crowley sneered. "But the matter remains you have two pieces of metal speared thru your perfect chest! No angel has ever done this! Ever!!"