one shots - ineffable husbands

bruised

Aziraphale was laying on his favorite tartan couch. He gripped his cup of liquor tightly, his hands shaking. He wiped his stray tears lazily from his eyes with his sleeve. Aziraphale took another sip, wishing to forget the previous ten minutes. He heard the door open, and stood up, setting down his cup. "Sorry, but, um, we're...we're closed right now..." Aziraphale said, his voice shaking. "Angel?" replied Crowley's voice. "Are you alright?" The demon waltzed through the doorway, looking over at Aziraphale. His eyes trailed over him, but lingered on a faint reddish mark near the back of his neck.

"Aziraphale..." Crowley murmured. Aziraphale's hand flew up to cover the spot on his neck, but winced at the touch. "Oh, it's, it's nothing, just...tripped over some books on the floor earlier, nothing to worry about." "Angel, don't lie to me."

"It..." Aziraphale slumped down onto the couch. "Gh..Gabriel.." he whispered. Crowley's eyes burned bright yellow behind his glasses. His hands balled into fists. "Where did he hurt you?" Crowley growled. "Where did he hurt you?"  He ground his teeth, and Aziraphale could see his eyes burn brighter with every second. Aziraphale slid off his coat and rolled up his sleeves. Dark bruises and burn marks littered his arms. He held his head in his hands.

"Everywhere, it's everywhere, they, the other angels, they know I'm in love with you, but he, Gabriel, he, he just walked in and I, what did I do wrong, Crowley, tell me what I did wrong, I'm-" Aziraphale's words spilled out so fast, he didn't even realize what he had said. His face flushed pink.

"You're in love with me?" Crowley asked. Aziraphale's face turned redder. "I, erm, I didn't-" the angel tried to find his words, but stuttered hopelessly. The anger in Crowley's eyes had gone, and was instead replaced with a warm light. "I meant, you know, I..." Aziraphale was trying desperately to explain himself to the demon, and squeezed his eyes tightly in an effort to think straight. "I was panicking, I promise, I swear I meant something else-"

Aziraphale was silenced by the sensation of something against his arm. He opened his eyes to see Crowley tracing his injuries, every burn and every bruise. They faded slowly from Crowley's touch. "Crowley, what are you..." "Shut up, angel," Crowley muttered softly. After a few minutes spent in silence of Crowley healing Aziraphale's pain, a soft bell twinkled near the door. 

"Uhm, er, we're closed!" Aziraphale called. "Aziraphale, you useless little shit, where are you? I'm not done with you yet," a harsh yet velvety voice spoke. Gabriel rounded the corner of the bookstore and saw Aziraphale standing there with his coat off, his sleeves rolled off, and being healed by a tall, dark demon, glaring at him. "Oh hell," Gabriel whispered under his breath. He half turned around to leave when Crowley grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him close to him. 

"Lisssten here, you disgussssting excussse for an angel," Crowley hissed. His eyes were now burning more brightly than ever, and Aziraphale could see his glasses start to smoke from the heat. "Don't ever come back into thissss bookstore again, unlessss you want to be disssscorporated. Nod if you undersssstand." 

Gabriel nodded once quickly. He squirmed underneath the demon. He felt like Crowley was growing taller and the room was getting darker. 

Gabriel was only half right. While Crowley did not change sizes, the lights in the bookstore were flickering.

"I ssssshould kill you right here, right where you sssstand."  Gabriel trembled even more. "But I'll give you five ssssecondssss to leave. After that," Crowley said, lowering his voice to a deep threat, "You're sssscrewed." He let go of Gabriel. "You're insane! I will tell a higher authority about this! You're the one who's screwed now!" 

"Aziraphale," Gabriel said, "you know I didn't mean what happened earlier, right? You're fine, you can just heal yourself. You didn't need this demon," the archangel spat, "to heal you anyway." 

"Gabriel," Aziraphale said calmly, staring at the floor. "You came in and told me I was the most useless angel. You said I existed only to be a plaything, only to be tossed around. You said I was yours, you said I was just a pawn to the others but for you, I was pleasure for you." Aziraphale sounded disgusted, and Crowley had taken off his glasses to glare at Gabriel again. "I won't to be something for you to bruise and beat, only for your fun. Not anymore." 

Aziraphale stared at Gabriel blankly. "Five," he said.

Gabriel took a step back. "Aziraphale, you wouldn't dare-"

"Four," Aziraphale said coldly, taking a step forward. "Three," Gabriel took another step back, and tripped over the floorboards. 

"Two." Gabriel scrambled to his feet and ran to the door.

The archangel had barely made it out of the shop when he heard Aziraphale mutter "One."

At the sound of the door slamming shut, the angel sank into the arms of the demon. "Ugh, that took much more energy than expected..." Crowley dumped Aziraphale onto the couch and poured two glasses of wine. "So, angel. You never told me if you really love me." 

"I do love you." Aziraphale looked at Crowley with deep affection in his eyes. Crowley pressed his lips to Aziraphale's briefly, before pulling away. "You're in luck, because I do too. You're my angel, and I would do anything for you." Aziraphale blushed, then opened his mouth in a gaping yawn. 

"Ah, I...I should head to bed," Aziraphale said. "Alright then," Crowley replied, and swept the angel away to his bedroom. "Goodnight," the demon whispered, and began to slither away into the night. "I love you," Aziraphale half-whispered.

The reply came from the inky darkness. "Me too."

That night, warm thoughts of Crowley filled Aziraphale's dreams.

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word count: 973  (sorry for the long chapter)