John

[theangelfell]

Aziraphale rather liked visiting churches, though he'd done less of it these days. Perhaps a small part of him was afraid that being more conspicuous in God's view might make those Up There decide to start paying attention to him again. And if that happened he was pretty sure they wouldn't like what they saw.

"Mr. Fell," said the priest kindly when he walked into the sanctuary. "How very nice to see you." He was just stepping out of the confessional booth, so he paused and said, "Did you come to take confession?"

Aziraphale blurted, "No," so very quickly that it was probably suspicious.

The priest blinked, and then lowered his voice a little and said, "Just so you know, Mr. Fell, I consider myself a progressive member of the clergy, and you won't find yourself doing hail marys for perfectly natural forms of lo - "

"I just came to sit and pray," Aziraphale said quickly, cheeks turning quite pink.

The priest only smiled. "Well it's nice that you're here. I've been wanting to share a book with you. I came across it recently and thought you might like a look."

Aziraphale brightened. "That would be so lovely. Thank you, father."

The priest nodded, and then shuffled away, leaving Aziraphale standing at the front of the sanctuary.

Comments

[theangelfell]

"Yes," Aziraphale said. "I have a bookshop on Carnaby Street."

[petty_dabbler]

"LEt's go there, then," he said. "I don't want to have this chat in the sanctuary."

The priest came out wearing a bright smile with a parcel.

"Mr. Fell. I am so pleased this will be safe," he said and handed the book to the angel.

[theangelfell]

"Oh, of course it will," Azirraphale said, reverently taking the book with a polite nod.

And then, in part because he didn't want to risk anything John might say in front of the priest, he nodded at him to follow and led him out of the church. Perhaps he could set the man up with a cup of tea and then slip away to talk to Crowley.

[petty_dabbler]

John's car was right outside. It was easily twenty five years old and looked like some of it was wired together. He gave it a nod.

"Hop in. Tell me where."

John wasn't a good driver. At all. But they didn't die so that was something.

John walked in the shop and smiled. The Love in here was intense. So. The angel had a book kink. Good to know.

In the corner, sunning by the window, was a slender man with red hair and dark glasses. He was reading a copy of Motor Sports Weekly.

He looked up, John looked right at him, then held up his hand and a burning wheel became a shiel before the two of them.

"There's a bloody demon in your shop!" he said in shock.

"What did you bring home now, angel?" asked Crowley, doing his best to sound put upon.

[theangelfell]

... damn, thought Aziraphale.

"Put that away, John," he sighed. "Does he look like a threat?"

[petty_dabbler]

John looked at Crowley sitting there sedately. An angel. And a demon. And that tone.

"...Is that your boyfriend?" he asked in shock. The shield stayed up.

[theangelfell]

Aziraphale... said nothing. He wasn't sure if he was waiting for Crowley to answer, or if he just hoped John might change his mind about asking the question.

[petty_dabbler]

"Oh, he mentioned me," Crowley said, his mouth splitting in a viper's grin. "How sweet of you."

"Oh, knock it off," John scoffed, slowly bringing the shield down. He looked to Aziraphale.

"I'm going to guess ol' Gabe doesn't know about this?"

[theangelfell]

Aziraphale shot Crowley a Look, and then back to John. "Now seems like an excellent time to discuss what you might not mention about me and what I in turn might not mention about you."

[petty_dabbler]

"I can keep mum about every single thing, if you can," he replied.

Crowley lifted his magazine again.

[theangelfell]

"So far it seems as if we're on the same side of things," said Aziraphale. Speaking of which -

"Crowley, do you think you could help us find a demon who is harming children?"

[petty_dabbler]

Crowley slowly lowered his magazine and leveled a gaze at the pair.

"Children?" he said. It was serene enough...but that tone was one Aziraphale would recognize as barely subdued anger. "I'll need more to go on."

"Memnoth," John said and Crowley instantly shot to his feet.

"No, no, no. Are you out to kill him? Holy water is the best." Something he knew all too well.

[theangelfell]

"You know him?" Aziraphale asked. "He..." Now it was his turn to have the rage just underneath his serene tone. "He was working with an angel."

[petty_dabbler]

"What?! Working with an angel?!" Crowley replied in shock. As if such a thing had never been heard of. Ever. Not in 6000 years.

John looked from one to the other and which one, wondering exactly how long they'd been married.

[theangelfell]

"I didn't task," said Aziraphale quietly. "Wasn't sure I wanted to know."

[petty_dabbler]

"You probably don't want to know. But he's gone and I need to find Memnoth," John said.

"Well of course you do," Crowley said, conspicuously not offering to help.

[theangelfell]

"Crowley," Aziraphale said gently. "Might you have suggestions for where to find them?"

[petty_dabbler]

"Hell? Soho? Oh, what about Bristol?" Crowley offered.

John was obviously not impressed.

[theangelfell]

"Crowley, I thought you might be able to actually help," Aziraphale said.

[petty_dabbler]

The demon scowled and huffed a breath through his nose.

"I'd really rather not," he protested. "No reason to alert the home offices we still exist."

"Wot's that mean?" John asked Aziraphale.

[theangelfell]

Aziraphale hesitated and then said, "They know. Or at least my lot know. I just ran into Gabriel and he did not seem surprised to see me."

[petty_dabbler]

Crowley shook his head slowly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If they know we're here then of course we can't help. I won't bring any more unnecessary attention to you, Aziraphlale," Crowley said more gently.

To describe the look on John's face as shock was the mildest wording. He stared at Crowley a long moment, then turned to look at the angel.

"You two are bloody insane," he decided.

[theangelfell]

Aziraphale frowned at John. "Why are we insane? You're the one going around killing angels."

[petty_dabbler]

JOhn poked him in the chest.

"I'd think you should be doing something about it. There's rot in Heaven. Angels going rogue but not falling. How long you been on Earth that you don't know this. Where you been?" he asked.

[theangelfell]

"Hey!" said Aziraphale at the poke. "I've been here."