(no subject)

[un_fallen]

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.

Comments

[un_fallen]

"I didn't," he insists, sounding horrified. "If it came with me, I carried it. It's fine. I didn't break the spine or, uh. Anything."

[aj_crawley]

"Preaching to the choir," Crowley says, sniggering. "I lived in a state of terror before I realised I was probably the one person who could get away with leaving a book open, face-down."

[un_fallen]

"Yeah, well. I suspect I wouldn't be so lucky. I'd get on the blacklist, or whatever he's got. Shunned forever. Couldn't set foot in the bookshop. Not allowed anything with words on it."

[aj_crawley]

"Pretty much," Crowley agrees. "I'd expect surprise inspection tours, if I were you."

[un_fallen]

Raguel thinks about this for a moment.

"I'll have to add a bookshelf," he says at last, resigned. "Otherwise there'll just be a little pile on the floor. Maybe on the couch if I'm paying attention."

[aj_crawley]

"Don't worry. I hear they assemble very easily."

So easily, in fact, that Crowley is going to have to clear his schedule just to come over and watch.

[un_fallen]

"Uh huh," Raguel says uneasily, glancing over. "Last time I used anything like a hammer I was knocking out a hole in the wall. As a window."

[aj_crawley]

After a moment:

"You cared enough about having a window to knock a hole in your wall?"

[un_fallen]

"At the time," he says carefully, "that's how windows were generally made."

The badly suppressed grin on his face suggests that he may not be entirely serious.

[aj_crawley]

"I'm just confused, considering that the window you had in your last place didn't even let any daylight in..."

[un_fallen]

"Sure it did," he insists. "Some. Well, enough. Anyway, the new window wasn't for light - it was for air. Stuffy place."

[aj_crawley]

"In Los Angeles? Well, I suppose it depends on how you define 'air'. Anyway, it's all double-glazing from here on out."

[un_fallen]

He laughs, but Crowley's point is made in the rusty sound of it.

"Not in Los Angeles, but I see what you mean. Does double-glazing mean I can't open the windows?"

[aj_crawley]

"No, you can open them - I'm just not sure why you'd want to let the smog in. Unless you feel more comfortable having a layer of grime over everything."

[un_fallen]

"Sometimes it's nice at night," he says, a little sulkily. "But I guess it depends how you define 'nice.' Breeze off the water, maybe, and by the time it gets to me it smells like exhaust and fast food." He shrugs, but it's lost in the movement of the wings.

"But it's still a breeze."

[aj_crawley]

"It might be a little less rank up on the roof," Crowley suggests.

[un_fallen]

"Think so?" he says, thoughtful. "Haven't really tried it in the new place. Tonight's the first time I've been up there."

[aj_crawley]

"Well, from the look of it, it doesn't seem like anyone else is up there much, either. You'd probably have it mostly to yourself."

[un_fallen]

"Yeah," he says, as they glide over the outskirts of the city. "I don't think people are supposed to go on the roof. Doubt that stops them, but it probably makes a few think twice."

[aj_crawley]

"You could always 'misplace' the key..."

[un_fallen]

"I don't think I'm supposed to do that," he says. "People tend to leave me alone when I want to be left alone, though. Except in Milliways."

[aj_crawley]

"A hint?" Crowley asks, archly.

[un_fallen]

Raguel snorts.

"If I needed to drop hints I wouldn't go to Milliways."

[aj_crawley]

"And yet you spend all that time lurking in shadowy booths."

A sudden burst of noise below, louder than the growing hum of city sounds: a car, windows down, music blaring.

Afterwards:

"In any other place, they'd probably warn the younger waitresses to steer clear."

[un_fallen]

"I'm not lurking," he insists, "I'm watching."

Because that is so much better.