After The First Day Of The Rest Of Their Lives

Aziraphale, Crowley and Hastur Have A Talk

Down in the bookshop Crowley and Hastur found Aziraphale serenely eating biscuits and reading a book. He greeted them happily. Crowley desperately wanted to know what he knew of the shower scene upstairs, but felt like he couldn't ask, or at least couldn't ask in front of Hastur. Instead he prowled round the bookshop watching the other two.

Hastur seemed entirely at ease. He'd taken a book from the shelves and was reading with a concentrated expression. Crowley was irritated, Hastur didn't read, he was sure he didn't. It must be a ruse. He just couldn't figure out what he was up to. He sneaked a look at the cover 'Dorothy L Sayers: Five Red Herrings' he was none the wiser, unless the 'red herring' reference was meant as a joke. Like the book was a red herring and he really was up to something. It seemed a bit too clever for Hastur though.

Hastur saw his interest. "It's good this one, they're paintin' type humans and they find one of 'em dead an' the posh bugger reckons he's bin murdered but won't say why, an’ they all hated the bastard for one reason or another, probably deserved to get murdered if you ask me". Crowley looked confused. Aziraphale looked up happily, trying to explain "golden age of detective fiction, your friend here is a bit of a connoisseur". Hastur wrinkled up his nose "conny what?" Aziraphale said "means you're an expert". Hastur looked pleased, saying happily “I like murder”. Crowley scowled. How had his ex managed to make such a good impression so quickly, it must be some sort of trick.

The angel prevailed on him "do sit down Crowley, you're making me nervous pacing about". He eventually sat, still looking sulky, and glared at the teapot. "Can't we have some wine?" He asked, Aziraphale tutted, "it's not even lunchtime yet" he said disapprovingly. The other demon looked up. "So? Wine would be good. Get your little demon to fetch us some" waving a hand towards Crowley. "Now look here, just look here, I am not his 'little demon' he doesn't boss me around and neither do you anymore. You're not my boss and I'm not your, your….” He paused, not knowing how to continue, finishing up with “you don't get to treat me like that, not anymore".

The outbreak was unexpectedly emotional and Aziraphale and Hastur both stopped reading and gave Crowley their full attention. He flushed under their gaze and would have walked out if Hastur hadn't grabbed his arm. "Sorry" he said in a quiet voice. Crowley had been about to explode but the wind was entirely taken out of his sails by that one quiet word. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before settling on saying "ok" and sitting down not knowing what else to do. Hastur had just apologised to him! He'd never expected that, hadn't even considered it possible.

Hastur broke the silence. "When I finished with you, well, it wasn't how I intended y'know? It just, I just, I just couldn't do it any longer. I wasn't trying to upset you" he spoke earnestly in a monotone, as if injecting any emotion into the words would make it too difficult. "You know that don't you?" He asked. Crowley was still cross and answered "what? If you'd been trying to upset me you'd have done a better job? I got news for you, you did a pretty shit job cuz I was just fine, I'm still fine, never better in fact. I don't need you, never did, I'm just fine without you". He was red in the face now, shouting at Hastur, and looking anything other than 'fine'.

Hastur looked at him "yes you are fine, I always knew you would be. See, you might not have realised, but even back then I knew you had something else, someone else. Well, now you got your angel forever, an' I lost mine" his voice broke slightly at this. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes against the prickle of tears. Aziraphale tried to say something but Hastur spoke over him. "See, all those times you was on earth, all those stories, all the things you'd done without me. Well, I knew you weren't doing them on your own, there was always someone else wasn't there?"