silverusagi

let me feel your heartbeat (grow faster, faster). 5k.
Aziraphale saw him sometimes in all-staff meetings, sitting toward the front but off to the side, lounging against a wall. Even then, he’d had style—wings tipped in gold and face painted with gold flakes in the pattern of the first constellation he designed. He was amazing, and eye-catching, and it was no exaggeration to say that he did not know Aziraphale even existed.

For some reason, I never really like fics that start before the Garden, but while this fic does start before the Garden, it's very much a 'through the ages' fic that happens to start before the Garden. It also rewrites their time in the Garden, but it's just done so well and their interactions through the ages are brilliant.

“You know, for someone who is such a proponent of fitting in, you seem happy enough to announce what I am to the world,” Aziraphale groused once.

Crowley lifted an eyebrow. “Is that what you think?”

“Well, aren’t you?” Aziraphale said, suddenly less certain.

“When I call you angel, that’s not what humans hear,” Crowley said.

“What, then?”

Crowley leaned close, so that his lips were almost at Aziraphale’s ear. “They hear 'honey. Darling. Sssweetheart'.”

Aziraphale went very, very still, and he felt like his body’s traitorous heart might beat out of his chest. “Oh,” he managed, finally. “That’s all right, then.”

“It is?” Crowley asked, and it was his turn to sound uncertain.