Another Year, Another Open RP Post
May. 22nd, 2021 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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faemused
Currently offering: Crowley, angel!Crowley, Haleth. Will update this if that changes. If you want one of those three, have at it.
duckshaveears posting in faemusedCurrently offering: Crowley, angel!Crowley, Haleth. Will update this if that changes. If you want one of those three, have at it.
OH LOOK A HANDY PLACE FOR THIS
Date: 2023-08-22 11:43 pm (UTC)https://bakerstreet.dreamwidth.org/9032769.html?thread=3820223297#cmt3820223297]
It starts by accident.
Crowley had thought that evening would be it. What would the Supreme Archangel be doing in a nightclub, after all? It was hardly Aziraphale's scene even when he was...just Aziraphale. It's even less so now. He had lackeys to do Earth-work for him, surely. And it's a large planet. Chances of them finding each other by chance are next to nil. So that's that. Two ill-advised dances, two kisses on the cheek, and thank Someone Crowley left before really making an idiot of himself. And there's an end of it.
It happens again.
At a concert, the second time. Queen Extravaganza. Not the same without Freddie, but it's some of the original group and while Crowley isn't the fan his car is he can use the distraction.
What Aziraphale is doing in the crowd he can't imagine and doesn't try to find out over the noise of the music. But while the crowd is holding up lighters and phones and staring at the stage singing along with "One Year of Love", Crowley and Aziraphale end up in something not unlike a slow dance. Again. This time it's Aziraphale who kisses his cheek and then vanishes, and Crowley stands staring at the place where he'd been for the rest of the concert.
The third time it's at a cabaret in Zurich, and the irony of their meeting in Switzerland is not lost on him. There's burlesque going on in one room and live singers in another and music pumped through the still others and alcohol and vice flowing everywhere, and this time when they dance somehow each of them turns their face at the same time and it becomes a kiss on the mouth instead of the cheek. Barely a touch of lips before they both pull back surprised, frozen for a long moment of possibility, and that time it's Crowley who leaves.
This time it's a terrible American bar with line dancing going on on the floor, of all things, and Crowley can't be surprised when there's a tap on his shoulder and it's Aziraphale, can't even pretend surprise. The energetic line dancing turns into something slower and he doesn't even hesitate, doesn't wonder. He just steps into the embrace and sways.
This angel is fine and good and not Selfish and being Bad at all
Date: 2023-08-29 10:17 pm (UTC)While the Supreme Archangel is designated to spend most of time in the Office, engaging in plans and discussions, preparations for something Bigger and watching over the armies of angels, Aziraphale often confounded the other archangels by all the trips he still took down to Earth.
He was often questioned about his reasons. If you want something done right, you should do it yourself! he often said, although he's aware that that excuse is running thin.
But it was true. Is true. And, much to his credit, he does travel down with the intent of running particular blessings in person. Now, if he happens to see a familiar face...
And so it goes. Not every mission leads to a dance. And he doesn't notice himself beginning to actively look for missions he could take until he one day (when? How many days? He can barely tell up here) he finds himself quite put off when there aren't any right that moment.
But, when he can, when he finds that familiar flame colored hair, when their hands meet and their bodies fall in line, each dance he can feel himself fall deeper into the fantasy. Each time, the ache is pushed down a little more, and he's so very close to ignoring it. Each time he can smell Crowley's perfume he can focus on bringing it with him, until they meet again.
It doesn't matter where. It doesn't matter who else is around. As soon as he sees Crowley, the scene slows down for them. He can reach out to the demon and forget everything else.
This time, he actually smiles.
Crowley comes to him and the angel smiles up at the demon, smelling of ozone and clouds, dressed in holy and white, but the look is warm and loving.
He rests his head on the demon's shoulder and he sways, his body sighing against Crowley's. There is no Heaven like this.
And this demon is A Mess. So all is normal!
Date: 2023-08-30 08:38 pm (UTC)But these few moments when they dance are so sweet. Even if they're dancing on the shards of...whatever they had.
Aziraphale more like an angel than he used to, less like tea and paper and cologne. The ozone tang is so much stronger than it was. He's wearing pristine white crap instead of his own worn-to-softness clothes. But he still smells like Aziraphale, still feels like Aziraphale.
So Crowley closes his eyes and dances and...not pretend, he's not pretending anything, but he does just...push it all aside for a couple of minutes. Aziraphale actually rests his head on Crowley's shoulder and Crowley swallows over the giant lump that's somehow appeared in his throat and rests his head against Aziraphale's hair and listens to the music, which has incomprehensibly turned into a waltz by Strauss.
Heres a bout of what could be called unhealthy escapism or something
Date: 2023-09-12 02:25 pm (UTC)The fantasy doesn’t quite stretch out of his mind, not beyond the ill-fitting music, and the occasional couple jokingly engaging in exagerated mockery of ballroom dancing, but that’s fine. He has this. They have this.
Aziraphale in denial and Crowley wallowing in masochism, so healthy
Date: 2023-09-12 06:29 pm (UTC)He squeezes his eyes shut harder for a moment, because they can't keep doing this. They can't. Aziraphale will get caught or Crowley's heart will crack clean in two or if nothing else they'll fuck up the humans all around them. Nothing about this is a good idea. Nothing.
He'll wait 'til the end of this dance, though. A few more minutes of feeling Aziraphale's breath on his cheek, the warmth of his fingers. Just a few.
https://youtu.be/dvTmm0wV9SY?si=OVOt_-vMI2QyXz_x
Date: 2023-09-16 05:57 pm (UTC)His bookshop, for one. His sanctuary. His beloved books. His knick knacks and pieces and collections and decor. The place he'd made only for himself, under the guise of something else.
(He's stopped by Whickber Street a couple of times since then. The shop is still there. He's not managed to get himself to walk in yet.)
Food. Delicious, complex meals, or even the simple, heathier ones. Sweets and pastries, tea and cocoa. And wine, lovely wine, and whiskey, strong and bodied.
He'd given up everything.
But the scent of Crowley's cologne, the touch of his hand, the swaying of their bodies, his warmth. That's the last thing he can call home.
And, maybe, if he tries hard enough, he can make himself believe that he can keep it.
But he feels the tension on Crowley's shoulders. The stiffness of his steps. It's subtle, but he can tell.
All Aziraohale wants is to show him how much he needs him. How much he wants his company.
Is he only hurting him?
you know that's playing in one scene in the show, yes? aughhhhh
Date: 2023-09-16 10:08 pm (UTC)He's here anyway, holding Aziraphale, dancing cheek to cheek. Head bent so he can better catch Aziraphale's scent, even tainted by too much Heavenly association. Eyes closed so he can pretend for a while that it's just them. Nothing else in the world, only them. Their side.
But his sunglasses stay on. He hasn't removed them once during any of their chance (not really by chance) meetings.
He's here. But things have changed, and he can't--won't--pretend otherwise.
Though he doesn't have to, it's obvious. They never used to dance before, for one thing. Funny old world.
I figured that's where I got it from, but also I Needed to toss it in here
Date: 2023-09-16 10:25 pm (UTC)And it's been quite, for a while. But some how, some day, it decides to chirp up now. To let it self be known once more.
You're hurting him, you know, it says. You know you are. You, o archangel of Heaven, in your power so absolute, in your words so holy and mighty, you let yourself be tempted towards things so out of your reach.
A selfish, cruel thing. You know what you do. You know who you hurt. You luck upon your existence and yet you take and take.
But he's not trying to. Crowley could leave whenever he likes. He must want it to, does he not? Does he not enjoy their dances? Is this not like all of their meetings over the millenia?
Does he? Want it?
Oh, Crowley.
The music gets quieter, slower. The angel can feel his closed eyes burn. The fantasy threatens to fade, and he doesn't catch the tear before it sinks into the fabric of Crowley's coat.
dammit How'd I lose this tag sorry for the delay!
Date: 2023-09-27 11:15 pm (UTC)Until he feels something touch his shoulder.
He shouldn't even notice, really, except that he's so hyper-aware of everything Aziraphale does, even more than he ever was before. It's light like a raindrop but heavy with the weight of an angel's grief. So of course he notices.
They've been cheek to cheek again, but Crowley leans his head back, searching Aziraphale's face with obvious concern.
Np I keep losing tags from losing tabs
Date: 2023-09-30 11:06 pm (UTC)He suddenly lets go of Crowley, moving back slightly and turning to face away from him. He knows Crowley can tell something is wrong - well, you know, besides the Whole Thing -, and he's trying to save face in whatever way he can.
His lips are pursed tight. His eyes are wet. He tries to compose himself.
also we have a lot. ;) but I'll backtag literally forever, as you know!
Date: 2023-09-30 11:52 pm (UTC)Then stops.
Then starts lifting his hand again to reach out.
And stops.
He only caught a quick glimpse of Aziraphale's expression. But even if he hadn't, he can read the tension in his frame, the shoulders that shake ever so slightly, the stiff neck.
There's no need to ask what's upset him. Crowley's well familiar with Aziraphale's "pretending everything is fine" smiles, and also with the moment when they break. They've danced these steps before, many times.
He should walk away, like always. But he never does.
Slowly he steps up to Aziraphale and folds his arms around him from behind, burying his own face in the angel's neck.
Me toooo. Also this tag hurt to type
Date: 2023-10-01 11:27 am (UTC)His eyes well up more. He should pull away. He should leave. He should let Crowley go. He should go back up to Heaven. He should
He should
There’s a quiet, minute little sob that escapes his throat. He immediately covers his mouth with a shaky hand, muffling shakier breaths. He is an angel, he should get ahold of himself, and he is a gentleman, this is no way to act in public. Not that any humans are turning to look - in fact, there’s pointedly no one looking over at the two of them.
His free hand covers up to grip Crowley’s sleeve. His eyes shut tight. More tears fall, and there’s nothing he can do to stop them now.
sorry for the delay, my brain melted for a week
Date: 2023-10-07 12:01 am (UTC)Those are--
He's--
Crowley doesn't stop to think. He also doesn't let go. He physically hauls Aziraphale to the side, to a darkened corner of the room (which had been occupied but suddenly isn't as the former group all immediately have a pressing need to be somewhere else).
He turns Aziraphale around so they're chest to chest and this time the embrace is firm, total, one hand cradling the angel's head and pulling it forward to rest against his shoulder. The music is still too loud and this corner is dark and private and no one will see or hear them here, no one, Crowley will make sure of that. He'll put everyone to sleep if he has to. They're not going to see this. He doesn't think about what it means that Aziraphale is...he doesn't think. Aziraphale needs a safe place to hide and he's made one. That's all.
No rush! Also I cried real tears when I read that tag for the first time lol
Date: 2023-10-08 02:08 pm (UTC)He doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve for Crowley to give him safety and shelter and save him from embarrassment. He doesn't deserve the help in keeping the broken dam pretty vate, but of course Crowley does that for him. Of course he does. Because he's good, and he's kind, and he's the best of them.
It doesn't all come out as an explosive burst of emotion. He cries quietly against Crowley's fine quality coat, gripping at the back of it with desperate hands.
He's never been held like this. He's never been cared for like this.
Can they run it all back?
The only sound that leave him in the next several minutes are small shaken breaths pulled in. He didn't even realize how much he's been holding back. This has never happened to him before.
should I apologize or feel smug? ;) also perfect icon time
Date: 2023-10-08 11:34 pm (UTC)It shouldn't feel like the end of the world. He's been through that. Two or three times, if particular emotional upheavals are included as well as the literal event.
It feels a bit like that all the same. They've held each other only once, not including the times they've danced. Those were dancing. Sort of dancing. And the other...
(His hands gripping the lapels of Aziraphale's coat, a hand moving against his back, flailing, holding and then letting go, a warm mouth against his, their breath mingled, and it's part goodbye and part don't go and entirely the feelings they've never named and it haunts him, all the time it haunts him, he wishes he hadn't done it and he wishes he'd never done anything else)
...had been. Something.
Crowley just holds him. His arms tighten as he feels Aziraphale's shoulders shake, and he buries his face against Aziraphale's hair, and if a very few tears of his own fall, the shadows won't remark on them.
Smug lmao
Date: 2023-10-14 07:52 am (UTC)He still believes in his goals. He still believes in the things he could do, can do, in the new position they have given him. He still has things he wants to do through Heaven, in Heaven, the change he wants to be, but he misses Crowley.
He lost his best friend.
But Crowley still holds him, still protects him. Saves him from danger and embarassment with the same level of gravity and Aziraphale knows, he's known, and he's the only one who ever did with full and proper knowledgement of who Aziraphales is, truly is.
He cries. He cries a little more. So unbecoming of his but he cries and is held and holds onto. He is safe and he is held and he is terrified of letting go.
He does eventually lift his head, face and eyes red, and sniffs and tries to wipe his face, tries to regain some dignity. Tries to wipe the tears off of Crowley's jacket.
"Oh, Crowley, you must hate me." Finishing the sentence threatens to send him back into a fit of tears, but he holds on. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for all of this."
"Achy Breaky Heart" is playing in the background. Because.
Date: 2023-10-15 10:34 pm (UTC)Though he could do without the Billy Ray Cyrus.
He sighs and holds Aziraphale harder, bending his head back down so they're hidden in an embrace again. Anything so he doesn't have to see Aziraphale's reddened eyes. "Don't be daft," he says again. "You know I don't, I could never."
Fantastic touch
Date: 2023-10-16 09:39 am (UTC)And the demon's embrace - it's so sturdy, it's so safe. It's so warm and gentle all the same. It's different from the dancing. It's everything Aziraphale's never had and never imagined he could. And still knows he shouldn't.
"You should." The voice comes quiet and frail, only comes through the loudness of the music by how close they together they are. No longer just enemies-turned-allies-turned-friends meeting in coffee shops and restaurants, museums and tops of buses. They're now like star-crossed lovers, holding each other in a dark corner of a seedy bar.
He thought it would be more exciting. Or more comforting.
their pain deserves the worst soundtrack, also hi
Date: 2023-11-14 10:28 pm (UTC)