Chapter Text
"Angel."
Aziraphale looked up from the book he had been reading, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and set it aside. Crowley looked upset about something, he wouldn't meet his eyes, and was even wearing his sunglasses. When it was just the two of them, Crowley only wore them when he wasn't doing well. Which meant something was wrong.
"What is it, dear?" He stood up. The demon didn't move. "Are you okay?"
"Ngh." Crowley grunted and glanced off of to the side. "I need to tell you something. Or show you. Its easier to just show you. I don't know if I'll be able to make myself tell you if I gotta say it out loud."
"My dear, are you alright?" He strode over to him and put a hand on Crowley's forearm. The demon didn't react.
"I gotta show you, Aziraphale." Something was definitely wrong. Crowley hadn't called him by his name in a long time. "If you're mad that I hid it from you, I understand. Or if you don't want to see me anymore, I understand that too. After this, I'll leave if you want me to. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. I just can't hide the truth from you anymore."
"Crowley, what are you on about?" Crowley jolted out of Aziraphale's grip, taking a few long strides back. It put a good couple of meters between them.
"Turn around, angel. Please." The demon ran a hand through his hair, like he needed something to distract himself with. "And only look back at me when I say so, okay?" The hand Crowley was carding through his own hair tightened. It looked painful. "Please."
"Okay, okay." Aziraphale spun on his heel, turning his back onto Crowley. "Do whatever it is you need to do, my dear."
He could hear Crowley letting out a pained sigh behind him. Only a few seconds passed, and then Aziraphale felt something in the air shift. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. It was the same way he felt whenever Crowley changed into his snake form or otherwise changed his corporation. Something was different now. Crowley sighed again, this time more in resignation, and Aziraphale heard a ruffle of feathers.
"You can turn around now."
He did.
Crowley had his wings out and his back to Aziraphale and- oh
Well, nobody in Heaven really did know what had happened to Raphael. The general consensus was that he was either brooding in space, dead, or spreading angelic healing on Earth. Either of the options where he was still alive meant he was also distancing himself as far as he could from the other angels, that he wanted nothing to do with Heaven anymore.
It turned out that none of those theories were correct.
Right after the Fall, a few angels did suggest that he could have Fallen, but they didn't talk about it much because Gabriel threatened to throw those certain angels off of the clouds. And shortly after, it was generally agreed that he couldn't have Fallen, because if he had he would be a Price of Hell alongside Dagon and Beelzebub and Hell certainly would be boasting about it.
Of course, nobody took into account the possibility that Hell just didn't know either.
Crowley had his wings out, all eight of them. They were as black as the space between the stars at night. And now that Aziraphale thought back on it, even though he had only seen Raphael twice and from a distance, he definitely had red hair.
"You're Ra-"
"Don't say that name, Aziraphale. Please just don't. I'm not that angel anymore." Crowley rushed the words out, talking quickly.
"Crowley." Aziraphale couldn't think of anything else to say. The demon hunched into himself at his name.
"I'll go. If you want me to. You'll never see me again unless you decide to, I'll leave you alone, angel. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do." He rambled.
"Oh my dear, beloved Crowley." Aziraphale walked over to his beloved. He reached out a hand to stroke the feathers on one of Crowley's uppermost wings. It twitched beneath his hand. "I love you. Nothing will change that. Not this."
"Angel-"
"I can see why you hid this from me, my love." He pressed a kiss to a wing joint. "I don't blame you. I forgive you." He paused. "Turn around please, my dear."
Crowley moved slowly, clamping his wings tight over his back to keep them from bumping Aziraphale. He took the demon's face between his hands, rubbing his thumbs over his cheekbones. He moved one of his hands away to pluck Crowley's sunglasses off and set them down off to the side.
"You're so wonderful my dear." Aziraphale whispered. "So brave and kind. And so, so beautiful. Your wings are stunning."
"You're too kind to me, angel." Crowley pressed his face into Aziraphale's shoulder. He lifted a hand to run it through the red locks.
"I'm really not, my love." Aziraphale pressed a kiss onto Crowley's shoulder. "You deserve all of it. You do, my love."
Crowley nuzzled into Aziraphale's neck and opened his wings. They spread wide and wrapped around them both. They were so dark and dense that they easily blocked the outside light.
"I love you, angel." Crowley whispered, Aziraphale could feel the puff of his breath against his throat. "I wish I told you sooner, instead of dodging it. We could have gone flying together."
"We still can, my dear." Aziraphale smiled. He was glad to have this. And lucky too. Out of all the people Crowley could have fallen in love with, it was him. "We have eternity, after all."