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[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Date: April 2nd, 2000
Setting: Belial's room
Status: Somewhat public - Aziraphale, Belial
Summary: Aziraphale seeks out a neglected friend.

It took courage.

Aziraphale straightened his hair one last time in the mirror, nervous. He hadn't seen Belial in months; not since the surgery, really.

And now to go visit him out of nowhere...

The angel felt guilty. He hadn't meant to let everything fall by the wayside like that. Aziraphale only wanted Belial and Gabriel to have their time alone before reintroducing himself into their lives. If they even wanted him.

He crossed the hall, down to Belial's door, and knocked soundly, gathering his courage. He really hoped

a) that Belial was all right, and recovered;
b) that Gabriel was still close with him;
c) that Belial would faintly recognize him, hopeful tartan included;
and d) that Belial wouldn't find his sudden reappearance too offensive.

The last was where the ice cream came in.

He knocked again, hearing stirring sounds from within. "Belial?" he asked quietly. "Hello? Are you quite all right, my dear?"

Comments

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

Belial was woken by the soft rapping, blinking against the blinding light that greeted him. He shook his head and slid ungracefully out of his bed, stumbling to close the drapes. Darkness surrounded him comfortingly and he gave a soft sigh, glancing down to make sure he was decent.

Well, it would do.

The second knock came and he whirled, stalking across his chambers, and tugged open the door without a second thought as to who it might be. Smelled strawberries and looked down.

"Oh, Aziraphale," he said, breaking into an unrepentant grin at the sight of the ice cream the angel was carrying, "come in, come in."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale's mouth broke into a slightly crooked but entirely enthusiastic smile, and he stepped in, clutching the bucket to him.

"Ah, thank you, Belial." He set the container down, two silver spoons sitting on top neatly, and then turned to inspect the demon properly.

"Now, my dear, how have you been? We simply haven't spoken in ages and, well, I decided to come and see how you were. We could catch up on gossip, perhaps? If you don't decide to boot me out for having longer hair than you now, that is." He smiled to show he was only joking. "Er, do you mind so much? The new appearance?" He put his hands on a slim waist as he glanced down at his body again. "It's only looks, and you know I'd rather they be the old ones, but it was a rush order. Perhaps you heard. I don't know. Oh, dear, I'm rambling, never mind me." Aziraphale was slightly pink in the cheeks at his own prattling.

"Er." He searched for a topic that they might be able to reconnect better on. "How is Gabriel...?"

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

Belial tucked his smile away as Aziraphale rambled, trying not to betray his amusement.

"Gabriel is well," he said, and flicked his eyes down Aziraphale's new body. Not a bad model, really; one of the few that he'd seen with a decent look to it. He had always wondered, just a bit, what it would like to be fair-skinned with pale eyes.

Clasping his hands behind his back, he gave a sly smile that suggested Gabriel was, perhaps, luckier than most angels got in their existences.

"Gabriel is well, I've been better than I've ever been, and you look quite dashing."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

"I- dashing, you say? You really think- Er, well, it's only a corporation, and the hair's too long..." he blushed anyway, missing Belial's cat-who-got-the-cream smirk.*

"Er. Ice cream?" he asked, to change the subject not-so-subtly.


*Which was probably just as well, since the cream in question wasn't something Aziraphale necessarily wanted to know about (although he was glad to see that Gabriel and he were doing well). The angel doubted it tasted of strawberry shortcake, for one thing.

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

"Quite dashing. And I always was a bit fond of longer hair," he said, the corners of his dark eyes crinkling with the shadow of a teasing smile.

They lit upon the container Aziraphale had placed on the center table, and the creases exaggerated themselves with a curl of his mouth. "Strawberry shortcake? You remembered," he said fondly, collecting his hair behind his head and giving it a twist to keep it out of his eyes.

"Tell me over a bowl how all of this happened." He made a gesture to indicate Aziraphale's relative shape and design.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale took a seat, smiling. "I wouldn't forget, my dear, it was absolutely scrumptious last time."

He picked up his spoon, blushing as Belial gestured to him. "Er, well, it really depends on how much you know. Do you know that I started... well, it's really to keep myself busy, you understant... working as the Manor secretary? There hasn't been one in, oh heavens, ages..."

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

"I hadn't heard. Perhaps you should start at the beginning?" He arched an eyebrow and smirked. "And slow down, no need to stumble over your own tongue."

He opened the container and attacked it with his spoon, sinking it deep into the ice cream, like he was mining for gold.

"I've got no where else to be."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

"Well, in that case, I don't feel nearly as guilty boring you with my stories." The angel smiled mischievously, braid an unfamiliar weight against his neck as he leaned forward to the ice cream, dipping a spoon in as well.

"Let's see. About, oh, two months ago now, Raphael and Crowley were in the greenhouse, arguing. Michael arrived at some point, and Ellie, the dear, was there. Raphael informed Michael that Crowley had attacked him - untrue, I'm told by all parties - and Michael... lost his temper." He thought of that nice man with all the scars coming to get him, coming to tell him, and of Crowley all out of sorts. "I saw him- I found out about this afterwards, and was, perhaps understandably, angry." He examined Belial for his reaction as he took another scoop. "Well, what if you had been me and Gabriel was the one hurt? For a lie?"

The angel sighed. "No use for it then. Michael Fell and it didn't seem to be much worth anything to argue over past hurts. However, a few weeks later, I ran into Raphael again. Or rather, he ran into me. I'd begun that morning at the secratarial duties, and I was greeting some new guests - Israfel, notably - when he arrived. And he began to... I suppose he strongly dislikes Israfel, and he wasn't having the best of days. But you know how I feel about poor manners and humiliating a newcomer. Israfel even brought me books for a new collection as a sign of goodwill.

"I'm afraid we got a tad argumentative, my defending Israfel and Raphael determined to ruin him before he'd even settled. Israfel said nothing, seeming to grow more embarrassed by the second, and Uriel tried his best to make Raphael calm down. There was nothing for it, however. Mr. Wednesday came to have a look, keeping an eye in case something went wrong." He took another scoop of ice cream.

"And then... Raphael said some nasty things, and Israfel lost it. He shouted, and the roof caved, as it's wont to do when he shouts. I'd forgotten about that trick of his. Uriel pulled Raphael, who hadn't noticed, away just in time, but I was not so fortunate. Crowley and John heard me shriek, they say, but I was already discorporated by the time they arrived."

Aziraphale shook his head. He still remembered his return, coming across Crowley in such a state.

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

Michael had Fallen? "Never been the sharpest tack in the drawer," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head disdainfully as Aziraphale told his story.

"It sounds like Raphael might need a swift kick to his reality processor. I thought you angels were supposed to be caring. Not inconveniently discorporate one another." Belial winced in sympathy; the mortal death-discorporations were always rather messy, but at least it hadn't been as bad as a forced discorporation. Beelzebub had pulled him back from Earth once and ended up with a nastily blacked eye for the effort.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

"I think Raphael has had enough kicks as it is; I wouldn't do him more," Aziraphale confided, "but I am still rather annoyed about the affair. Crowley was in such a state while I was away, and John... John left. They argued; but the details aren't mine to share, forgive me."

He sucked thoughtfully on the spoon, considering again Michael's fall. "He's Mictain now, I heard."

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

"Well, I do hope John is well. Good fellow, for a mortal. Pretty good kisser," Belial said, casually, twirling his spoon between his fingers deftly. "Nice trenchcoat, too. Would probably get him a lot of sex if he was a little more open about things with male equipment."

Belial snorted, rubbing his hands together to warm them. "'Mictain'? What a ridiculous name. I refuse to call him that. Coulda picked something unique at least."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

"Well, he's still as strong as he ever was, so do watch out. I do believe he may have less principles by now, however - be careful. I don't want to be the one telling Gabriel that you're in pieces because you opened your mouth too wide. Er." He winced, blond hair catching in his mouth. "Double entendres notwithstanding..."

The angel frowned, an out-of-place expression on such a chiseled face. "I certainly hope he's all right too... I'm sure he will be, he could take care of himself before this and will afterwards. I simply wish we had a clue where he was." He glanced out of the window idly.

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

"I never had trouble in dealing with any angel, Fallen or not. And if he has taken a turn for the worse, I doubt that Lucifer would let him make tiny bits out of me. That's a right reserved for him," he said, flinching a bit.

Belial leaned close to Aziraphale and laid a comforting hand on the angel's shoulder, giving him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure everything will end up fine."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

He smiled back, feeling sheepish. "Oh, well, of course it will, I'm just being a bit of a silly fool worrying like this."

Aziraphale covered Belial's hand with his own, however, as he spoke. "My dear, I know." He smiled ruefully. "If there is one thing I'm terribly proud of having done in the past year or so, it is solving that."

The angel took another spoonful of ice cream. "Do you ever consider if... mortals like John, perhaps... think we're the enslaved ones? I've always thought it was them who we were supposed to pity, to save from their plight of being, but perhaps that's not so true. We pity them for being trapped in mortality, but maybe they look on us and pity us our lack of choice in immortality. They still have that choice and we..." His gaze met Belial's and stayed there, eyes curious cerulean. The angel didn't finish his sentence.

"I'm glad you have a choice," he said, finally.

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," Belial murmured, and patted Aziraphale's shoulder comfortingly. "It means a great deal to me that you've helped me, and if I can help you in any way I can, I will."

He bit the inside of his lip and looked down. "You shouldn't think such horrid things like that, you know. It doesn't become you," he said, sincerely. "You shouldn't have to."

"Besides," he said, "you can't compare pears with peaches and judge them by the same standards. It doesn't work."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale smiled. "I suppose not," he said, looking down.

"You know, I quite like peaches. Perhaps when summer comes we could have a picnic of sorts..." He took another glop of ice cream. "It would get you out into the sun - when was the last time you went outside, my dear?"

[lordofthesouth.livejournal.com]

Belial chuckled abruptly at Aziraphale's comment. "I haven't gotten that pale, have I?" he asked, playful.

"But you're right, I haven't been out in a while, no," he confessed, tilting his head to one side. "A picnic would be a lovely idea."

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

"Oh good. When summer comes, then." The angel stood, blinking at the last remains of ice cream. "Goodness, that went fast."