un_fallen | (no subject)

Crowley has been surprisingly charitable for most of the time spent in Raguel's new apartment - criticizing everything, of course, but only in the most general way. He pronounces it barely habitable, which Raguel takes to mean that he's done a decent job. And if the shower (and by necessity, the bathroom) has slightly larger dimensions when Crowley walks out of it than when he walked in, Raguel doesn't mention it.

It's late afternoon when they step out into the hallway and furtively climb the ladder to the roof. It's not much of a view, but the sunlight through dry air casts sharp shadows that make the grunge a little harder to see.

"You don't think anyone will notice us, with the sun still up?" Raguel asks, a little nervously.

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From:

aj_crawley

From:

un_fallen

"What?" He chuckles nervously.

"Hey, I never said she was successful."

From:

aj_crawley

"Your what."

From:

un_fallen

Raguel blinks at him. It looks like he's beginning to wish he'd never brought it up.

"Wife," he says at last. "It was a long time ago," he adds, again.

From:

aj_crawley

"That's," he says.

"Wow. Really? - I mean."

Though he says no more, Crowley's visibly in agony; naturally curious even before the Fall, he's now downright nosy. But he hasn't precisely missed the look on Raguel's face, nor - most significantly - the sudden abrupt similarities with certain parts of his own past.

And he doesn't welcome uninvited questions. So -

From:

un_fallen

Raguel watches him closely. Crowley doesn't look like he's tempted to laugh, so some of Raguel's automatic defenses come down.

"Yeah, really. They didn't get too formal with ceremonies where we were, but." He shrugs.

"It wasn't long after I got here."

From:

aj_crawley

"Huh," he says. "Well, I see what you mean about 'a long time ago'. Um, considering, though," he waves a not very helpful hand at Raguel, "I'm assuming it was after the, er. The Nephilim... incident?"

From:

un_fallen

"Uh. I'm actually not sure. I didn't hear about that until a while after. She didn't have any kids, though; guess that was my fault." He scrubs a hand across his face and sighs.

"I didn't know what the fuck I was doing," he adds, with sudden anger.

From:

aj_crawley

Crowley cracks his knuckles uncertainly, the snapping noise absurdly loud in the desert silence. Raguel could mean anything, of course, but if there's one thing that -

"Er, well. If it was after the Nephilim, um, thing, then it definitely wasn't your fault. If it was before, then - you got lucky."

In more ways than one, perhaps - but that's not something Crowley thinks he could say. Nor something he's sure he could say and mean.

From:

un_fallen

"Yeah. Either way, I was lucky, because I had no idea what that would have meant. I thought having a wife was just what I was supposed to do. Necessary to blend in, you know. I think I was half-convinced I was human, I don't know. Wasn't thinking straight."

From:

aj_crawley

"Oh," he says, and the world makes a little more sense again. "Oh."

"Yeah, I 'spose I can see the logic behind that. Especially with how small everywhere was back then. You weren't necessarily, you know."

Crowley does not remember much of those years. Not properly. He doesn't like to think of Raguel -

From:

un_fallen

"Maybe. It was a strange time. I guess nobody really knew what they were doing, which is probably the only reason any of us made it through." A twitch of a fond smile shows in the corner of his mouth, but his eyes remain focused on the ground.

"She put up with me, though. I think my total ineptitude at... everything... was amusing. Something like that."

From:

aj_crawley

"Something like that."

Crowley seems deeply entertained by some mental image, though what it is, he doesn't choose to explain.

The gist of it is probably not hard to guess, though.

From:

un_fallen

Raguel eyes him.

"Something funny?" he asks, but the small smile doesn't fade. Concerned as he was about Crowley laughing earlier, it doesn't seem to be an issue now that the hardest part is behind them.

From:

aj_crawley

"Just thinking about how you live now," says Crowley with a smirk. "Plus ça change, and that. Poor woman."

From:

un_fallen

"Hey, we were all living pretty rough at the time," he says defensively. "You were probably still snake-shaped, fighting with that... wombat, or whatever it was."

From:

aj_crawley

"You know, if that's going to be something you keep bringing up, maybe you should reconsider the part where you tell me details of your sordid past."

From:

un_fallen

"It was not sordid," he says, laughing. "Stupid, maybe. But overall it was... very nice."

From:

aj_crawley

"Well, bravo," Crowley replies. "I didn't know you had it in you. Well, not the stupidity bit, I knew about that."

From:

un_fallen

"Shut up," Raguel says. "I've got half a mind to just leave you in the middle of the desert."

From:

aj_crawley

"Oh? And what'll you tell Aziraphael when it's your turn to make up a story? I have a feeling he's gotten sort of attached to me. 'Course, you know how it is."

From:

un_fallen

"You were attacked by bats," he says loftily. "You were recovering at my place with all the curtains closed because you couldn't stand daylight. And when you come in after either finding a door or taking a ride in first-class, I'll say that it was so traumatic that you blocked out the whole thing." He looks briefly very proud of this little tale.

"But, er. As to that, I don't think I do."

From:

aj_crawley

"No?"

No. Raguel isn't that stupid. Not with a human, not like -

Not like himself and Aziraphael.

The thought of it is nearly enough to make Crowley cringe in horror (instinctive, and particularly undemonic).

Instead:

"Let me guess - you got lost in the desert once, except someone propped a cactus in your chair and drew a frowny face with dirt, and she didn't notice the difference."

From:

un_fallen

"No," he says with finality. And he doesn't intend to, either.

"All right," he admits, with a passable attempt at a stormy expression. "I wasn't there a lot of the time, but it wasn't that bad. Anyway, I wouldn't get lost in the desert."

As defenses go, this one is... not very good. And Raguel knows it.

From:

aj_crawley

"You're only encouraging me to test your desert survival skills."

(Of all the things - in this context, anyhow - that Crowley's qualified to talk about, human entanglements and not being there are probably amongst the top few.

But 'qualified to talk about' isn't quite the same as 'can talk about'.

Crack-crack, again, go Crowley's knuckles.)

"Probably not, though," he agrees. "Not that bad, I mean. You're at least reasonably distinguishable from a cactus. And I wouldn't necessarily take that as a compliment," he adds, for form's sake.