Queen for a Day Part 2
2017
It had taken a bit of a miracle for Aziraphale to get the concert tickets but he had managed to get them. He thought for sure that Crowley would enjoy them. It was strange, getting a gift for Crowley but it just felt like the right thing to do. They met, as they usually did, in St James park.
"What's up?" Crowley asked as he took a seat on the bench they always occupied.
"I...got something for you. Thought you might enjoy it. You could take someone with you." Aziraphale said as he pulled the little manilla envelope out of his pocket and held it out to Crowley.
"Why are you buying me gifts, angel? What do you want?" Crowley raised an eyebrow as he took the envelope.
"Am I not allowed to just do something nice? Even for someone who isn't supposed to be my friend?" It was part of being an angel, wasn't it? Crowley just smiled and shook his head. He opened the envelope and looked at the tickets and immediately the smile was gone.
"No." Crowley shook his head and put the tickets back in the envelope, holding it back to Aziraphale.
"No? But Crowley..." Aziraphale was completely confused. "I thought you would enjoy..."
"You thought wrong." Crowley said as he got to his feet. "I.....I can't." He was fighting a losing battle trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.
"Crowley, what is going on?" Aziraphale was suddenly very worried.
"You wouldn't understand it, angel. I'm.....I'm sorry you went to all the trouble of getting those tickets but I just....I can't." He cleared his throat.
"Let's go have a drink. Alright? Maybe we can talk?" Aziraphale put a hand on Crowley's shoulder. The demon just nodded and they went back to Aziraphale's bookshop. The tickets for Queen + Adam Lambert tucked neatly in his coat pocket.
Aziraphale had held onto the tickets. He wasn't sure what to do with them, if he were honest. He wasn't sure how to go about selling them and just giving them away didn't seem right either. So they stayed in his desk drawer in his shop for the months since the day he tried to give them to Crowley.
The night of the concert, Crowley showed up at the bookshop about an hour before the doors to the venue were to open. He took a deep breath before going in and looking at Aziraphale.
"Do you still have the tickets?" He asked.
"Hello to you, too." Aziraphale cleared his throat and put his book away. "And yes, I do still have them. Wasn't quite sure how to get rid of them." He pulled the envelope out of his desk drawer and held it out to Crowley.
"I....will you come with me?" Crowley's expression was practically begging Aziraphale to say yes.
"Of course. We've got plenty of time to get there before the curtain." Aziraphale hadn't really been to any rock and roll concerts so he wasn't completely certain how things worked. Crowley just managed a smile and nodded.
Aziraphale had to admit that the concert was actually rather enjoyable. The use of a full orchestra for some of the music gave it a wonderful touch that he hadn't really paid attention to when it was blaring from Crowley's car radio. Some of it was really nice to listen to, though. And he'd had a bit of a hard time not laughing at the song that mentioned Beelzebub. The confusing part of the evening, though, was Crowley's reaction. There was a level of emotion coming off of him that Aziraphale hadn't experienced since their time caring for Warlock. And Aziraphale could most definitely say that those emotions included love. Crowley was definitely surprising him.
"Are you quite alright?" Aziraphale asked as he noticed Crowley wiping at his eyes when the house lights came up.
"Yeah, I'm.....yeah." Crowley nodded. He forced a smile as he looked at Aziraphale. "I'm okay, really. I need to....I need to do something." Without hesitation he took Aziraphale's hand and started to walk out of the auditorium. It took only a couple of moments for him to find the door to get backstage and the rather large security guard keeping people away.
"Crowley, what are you doing? We can't just waltz back there?" Aziraphale was quite afraid that Crowley was going to do something to the guard.
"Excuse me, sir. Could you do me a rather large favor?" Crowley let go of Aziraphale's hand and stood very close to the security guard.
"Nobody gets backstage." The man looked down at Crowley. It wasn't often they found people taller than he was.
"You have a radio, right? And that radio connects you to other security guards back stage with the band. Is that correct?" Crowley kept his hands in plain sight, rocking on his feet slightly.
"Yeah, what of it?" The guard was both curious and suspicious.
"Will you do me a favor and radio one of your fellow security guards and tell Roger that the yellow eyed flash bastard is here to see him." Crowley gave him a bright smile. The security guard just looked at him but did as Crowley asked.
A few moments later the door backstage came flying open and Roger practically launched himself at Crowley. Crowley laughed and just hugged Roger for a good minute before stepping back and looking at him.
"You have let yourself go, haven't you old man?" Crowley said with a laugh.
"And you haven't aged a day." Roger shook his head.
"Comes with being immortal." Crowley winked at him and Roger just shook his head. Roger then noticed the rather stunned and completely confused man standing a short distance behind Crowley.
"And who's that?" Roger raised an eyebrow. Crowley went back and pushed the angel a bit forward, closer to Roger.
"This is Aziraphale."
"Wait.....THE Aziraphale?" Roger raised an eyebrow. Crowley nodded and Roger felt the need to automatically pull the angel into a hug. "He's told us so much about you it's nice to finally put a face to the name."
"I...um...oh...well yes." Aziraphale's confusion only grew. Crowley hadn't told him anything about any of this, but one of the most famous rock bands in the world knew who he was? He wasn't sure how to handle that.
"Come on back. The guys are gonna want to see you!" Roger grabbed Crowley by the arm and started to pull him backstage. Crowley hesitated a minute.
"You really sure Brian's going to want to see me?" Crowley raised an eyebrow.
"That's in the past, Snakey. I promise." Roger smiled and Crowley relaxed a bit. He did manage to grab Aziraphale before they all disappeared backstage.
The next several minutes were a complete blur for Aziraphale. Crowley was talking with the various band members. There seemed to be very brief tension between Crowley and the one called Brian with the ridiculous haircut but it was over quickly enough. And once again, they all knew who he was. During the course of the conversations Aziraphale learned that it had been twenty five years since Crowley had last seen any of them. That he had spent a great deal of time with the band in their glory days. And that he'd gotten very close to all of them.
"I'm sorry that I didn't stay in touch." Crowley said. "It was just....hard." There was a slight shake to his voice. There was that emotion again.
"It's alright, Crowley. Really. We all understand." The one known as Deacy said. Aziraphale thought it was a little bit of a ridiculous nickname. And then the young man that seemed to be the current lead singer stepped up to the four men talking.
"It's nice to meet you, sir." He was very polite. Crowley shook the young man's hand and took a deep breath.
"You did an absolutely wonderful job tonight." He said.
"Thank you." Adam gave a little bow of his head.
"You know, young man.....Freddie Mercury was one of the most important people in my life, and I have to say....." Crowley stopped a moment, his voice shaking as he started to tear up a bit. "He would have loved you."
"That really means a lot to me. Thank you." Adam gave another little nod and patted Crowley on the shoulder. Roger offered Crowley a handkerchief but he waved it away. This all seemed so completely unlike Crowley. It was nice to see this different side of him. They ended up staying well past the time that most of the others had gone home and were even invited back to the hotel rooms but Crowley declined.
"Need to get this one home. It's ridiculously past his bed time." Crowley said with a slight laugh.
"But Crowley, you know I don't...." Aziraphale started, shutting up when Crowley gave him that look. He just nodded and smiled at the men.
"Don't be a stranger this time, okay?" Roger said as he hugged Crowley for about the millionth time that night.
"I won't. I promise." Crowley said with a sigh. "I expect free tickets the next time you're in London." He gave Roger a wink.
"Count on it." Roger said and walked the two of them out to Crowley's car. Crowley was quiet the entire ride back to the bookshop. A lot had gone on and he was trying to wrap his head around all of it. While it had been great to catch up with the guys, it made him realize how much he still really missed Freddie.
"Do you want to come in for something to drink?" Aziraphale asked as they sat in the car outside the bookshop.
"No, thank you." Crowley cleared his throat and shook his head. "You should go. Probably have some old books you need to sort or something."
"Crowley...." Aziraphale reached out and put a hand on Crowley's arm.
"Aziraphale, I appreciate your concern but I would also really appreciate it if you would just this once pretend that everything is actually okay." Crowley looked at him over the tops of his sunglasses. Aziraphale could read a million different things going on in those yellow eyes. He just nodded and offered Crowley a smile.
"Of course. Thank you for the ride, and for taking me to the concert. It was actually quite enjoyable." He said before getting out of the car. "See you later?"
"Yeah, later." Crowley said with a nod. Aziraphale shut the door and Crowley drove off at his usual breakneck pace through the streets of London.
It was shortly after dawn when Anthony J Crowley finally made his way out of the gates of Kensal Green Cemetery and back to his flat.
It had taken a bit of a miracle for Aziraphale to get the concert tickets but he had managed to get them. He thought for sure that Crowley would enjoy them. It was strange, getting a gift for Crowley but it just felt like the right thing to do. They met, as they usually did, in St James park.
"What's up?" Crowley asked as he took a seat on the bench they always occupied.
"I...got something for you. Thought you might enjoy it. You could take someone with you." Aziraphale said as he pulled the little manilla envelope out of his pocket and held it out to Crowley.
"Why are you buying me gifts, angel? What do you want?" Crowley raised an eyebrow as he took the envelope.
"Am I not allowed to just do something nice? Even for someone who isn't supposed to be my friend?" It was part of being an angel, wasn't it? Crowley just smiled and shook his head. He opened the envelope and looked at the tickets and immediately the smile was gone.
"No." Crowley shook his head and put the tickets back in the envelope, holding it back to Aziraphale.
"No? But Crowley..." Aziraphale was completely confused. "I thought you would enjoy..."
"You thought wrong." Crowley said as he got to his feet. "I.....I can't." He was fighting a losing battle trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.
"Crowley, what is going on?" Aziraphale was suddenly very worried.
"You wouldn't understand it, angel. I'm.....I'm sorry you went to all the trouble of getting those tickets but I just....I can't." He cleared his throat.
"Let's go have a drink. Alright? Maybe we can talk?" Aziraphale put a hand on Crowley's shoulder. The demon just nodded and they went back to Aziraphale's bookshop. The tickets for Queen + Adam Lambert tucked neatly in his coat pocket.
Aziraphale had held onto the tickets. He wasn't sure what to do with them, if he were honest. He wasn't sure how to go about selling them and just giving them away didn't seem right either. So they stayed in his desk drawer in his shop for the months since the day he tried to give them to Crowley.
The night of the concert, Crowley showed up at the bookshop about an hour before the doors to the venue were to open. He took a deep breath before going in and looking at Aziraphale.
"Do you still have the tickets?" He asked.
"Hello to you, too." Aziraphale cleared his throat and put his book away. "And yes, I do still have them. Wasn't quite sure how to get rid of them." He pulled the envelope out of his desk drawer and held it out to Crowley.
"I....will you come with me?" Crowley's expression was practically begging Aziraphale to say yes.
"Of course. We've got plenty of time to get there before the curtain." Aziraphale hadn't really been to any rock and roll concerts so he wasn't completely certain how things worked. Crowley just managed a smile and nodded.
Aziraphale had to admit that the concert was actually rather enjoyable. The use of a full orchestra for some of the music gave it a wonderful touch that he hadn't really paid attention to when it was blaring from Crowley's car radio. Some of it was really nice to listen to, though. And he'd had a bit of a hard time not laughing at the song that mentioned Beelzebub. The confusing part of the evening, though, was Crowley's reaction. There was a level of emotion coming off of him that Aziraphale hadn't experienced since their time caring for Warlock. And Aziraphale could most definitely say that those emotions included love. Crowley was definitely surprising him.
"Are you quite alright?" Aziraphale asked as he noticed Crowley wiping at his eyes when the house lights came up.
"Yeah, I'm.....yeah." Crowley nodded. He forced a smile as he looked at Aziraphale. "I'm okay, really. I need to....I need to do something." Without hesitation he took Aziraphale's hand and started to walk out of the auditorium. It took only a couple of moments for him to find the door to get backstage and the rather large security guard keeping people away.
"Crowley, what are you doing? We can't just waltz back there?" Aziraphale was quite afraid that Crowley was going to do something to the guard.
"Excuse me, sir. Could you do me a rather large favor?" Crowley let go of Aziraphale's hand and stood very close to the security guard.
"Nobody gets backstage." The man looked down at Crowley. It wasn't often they found people taller than he was.
"You have a radio, right? And that radio connects you to other security guards back stage with the band. Is that correct?" Crowley kept his hands in plain sight, rocking on his feet slightly.
"Yeah, what of it?" The guard was both curious and suspicious.
"Will you do me a favor and radio one of your fellow security guards and tell Roger that the yellow eyed flash bastard is here to see him." Crowley gave him a bright smile. The security guard just looked at him but did as Crowley asked.
A few moments later the door backstage came flying open and Roger practically launched himself at Crowley. Crowley laughed and just hugged Roger for a good minute before stepping back and looking at him.
"You have let yourself go, haven't you old man?" Crowley said with a laugh.
"And you haven't aged a day." Roger shook his head.
"Comes with being immortal." Crowley winked at him and Roger just shook his head. Roger then noticed the rather stunned and completely confused man standing a short distance behind Crowley.
"And who's that?" Roger raised an eyebrow. Crowley went back and pushed the angel a bit forward, closer to Roger.
"This is Aziraphale."
"Wait.....THE Aziraphale?" Roger raised an eyebrow. Crowley nodded and Roger felt the need to automatically pull the angel into a hug. "He's told us so much about you it's nice to finally put a face to the name."
"I...um...oh...well yes." Aziraphale's confusion only grew. Crowley hadn't told him anything about any of this, but one of the most famous rock bands in the world knew who he was? He wasn't sure how to handle that.
"Come on back. The guys are gonna want to see you!" Roger grabbed Crowley by the arm and started to pull him backstage. Crowley hesitated a minute.
"You really sure Brian's going to want to see me?" Crowley raised an eyebrow.
"That's in the past, Snakey. I promise." Roger smiled and Crowley relaxed a bit. He did manage to grab Aziraphale before they all disappeared backstage.
The next several minutes were a complete blur for Aziraphale. Crowley was talking with the various band members. There seemed to be very brief tension between Crowley and the one called Brian with the ridiculous haircut but it was over quickly enough. And once again, they all knew who he was. During the course of the conversations Aziraphale learned that it had been twenty five years since Crowley had last seen any of them. That he had spent a great deal of time with the band in their glory days. And that he'd gotten very close to all of them.
"I'm sorry that I didn't stay in touch." Crowley said. "It was just....hard." There was a slight shake to his voice. There was that emotion again.
"It's alright, Crowley. Really. We all understand." The one known as Deacy said. Aziraphale thought it was a little bit of a ridiculous nickname. And then the young man that seemed to be the current lead singer stepped up to the four men talking.
"It's nice to meet you, sir." He was very polite. Crowley shook the young man's hand and took a deep breath.
"You did an absolutely wonderful job tonight." He said.
"Thank you." Adam gave a little bow of his head.
"You know, young man.....Freddie Mercury was one of the most important people in my life, and I have to say....." Crowley stopped a moment, his voice shaking as he started to tear up a bit. "He would have loved you."
"That really means a lot to me. Thank you." Adam gave another little nod and patted Crowley on the shoulder. Roger offered Crowley a handkerchief but he waved it away. This all seemed so completely unlike Crowley. It was nice to see this different side of him. They ended up staying well past the time that most of the others had gone home and were even invited back to the hotel rooms but Crowley declined.
"Need to get this one home. It's ridiculously past his bed time." Crowley said with a slight laugh.
"But Crowley, you know I don't...." Aziraphale started, shutting up when Crowley gave him that look. He just nodded and smiled at the men.
"Don't be a stranger this time, okay?" Roger said as he hugged Crowley for about the millionth time that night.
"I won't. I promise." Crowley said with a sigh. "I expect free tickets the next time you're in London." He gave Roger a wink.
"Count on it." Roger said and walked the two of them out to Crowley's car. Crowley was quiet the entire ride back to the bookshop. A lot had gone on and he was trying to wrap his head around all of it. While it had been great to catch up with the guys, it made him realize how much he still really missed Freddie.
"Do you want to come in for something to drink?" Aziraphale asked as they sat in the car outside the bookshop.
"No, thank you." Crowley cleared his throat and shook his head. "You should go. Probably have some old books you need to sort or something."
"Crowley...." Aziraphale reached out and put a hand on Crowley's arm.
"Aziraphale, I appreciate your concern but I would also really appreciate it if you would just this once pretend that everything is actually okay." Crowley looked at him over the tops of his sunglasses. Aziraphale could read a million different things going on in those yellow eyes. He just nodded and offered Crowley a smile.
"Of course. Thank you for the ride, and for taking me to the concert. It was actually quite enjoyable." He said before getting out of the car. "See you later?"
"Yeah, later." Crowley said with a nod. Aziraphale shut the door and Crowley drove off at his usual breakneck pace through the streets of London.
It was shortly after dawn when Anthony J Crowley finally made his way out of the gates of Kensal Green Cemetery and back to his flat.
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