isleofavalon | Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold

It had so often happened to him but just this once it felt appropriate to do it himself. Crowley reached up to ruffle a few fingers through Alec's hair even as his eyes shifted over to Aziraphale's legs.

"He does have cute ankles."

Tease him for that if you like, it was true!

"Football would be worth watching for some distracting shorts."

"Mmh." His eyes closed at the touch. "Right. Legs."

How dare Crowley be the reasonable one. How dare he have that way with words that Aziraphale praised only moments ago. How dare he look so cheeky and beautiful teasing Aziraphale for his tantrum.

"Oh, shove off, the both of you," he grumbled with a smile. Look at them, his Crowleys, getting along like the family they are. "Although," he agreed with cute vanity, pleased at the attention, "you're right. I would look rather fetching in those shorts and the knee highs." Though he personally preferred instead imagining Crowley in uniform...maybe even the shorter, tighter rugby kit.

They could take their time. Despite the insistence they get out of the damp, they had Alec's health to consider and his pride. No one would be carrying Alec out while he was conscious, that was certain. He dragged the pack over and eased himself down to sit on it at Crowley's other side, grimacing at the thought of sitting on the cave floor or leaning on the wall. There was dirt, possibly mud,and there might be bat droppings!

"Maybe, if you're that keen on football, I'll practice a few penalty kicks later."

Ooo penalty kicks! That set the eyebrows arching with entirely unveiled interest. It was something they had never done together. He was game for it!

Crowley snaked out a hand to snag Aziraphale's as soon as he sat beside him. By now he knew that nightmare had been only an illusion but it was still nice to be reassured of that, to touch him and squeeze his hand, just to feel how very real and alive he was. Crowley would have gone for a hug even if it wouldn't have seemed awkward with the three of them hugging in a cave like lost children.

And there was their new problem, even if the war was over they were still down in this cave. Alec was physically done but likely to put up a fuss if anyone mentioned that to him or tried to tote him out of here. Crowley didn't feel like spending the whole evening in here, freezing his... well, you know... off. It was chilly and likely to get even more so as the night went on. His Angel was set to go on a right rampage if anything dirty or disgusting might happen to stain that jacket of his. So a glimmer of a idea slowly formed. It was a terrible one, something likely to go pear-shaped, but it wasn't like a Pooka could run around like mad in a tunnel. As a bonus there couldn't be any magical tricks so...

"Think you could ride?"

"If you two keep flirting I'll lose what little lunch I had." Said mildly as he really didn't mind. He didn't even feel a stab of jealousy. All he felt was very tired and dangerously warm. This was home, his heart said, and he told it to shut up.

"Hm?" He cracked open an eye at the mention of a ride. "What are you planning? I'm not going to be carted around like a backpack." Even though he deserved it.

"You started it." Oh. But lunch sounded marvelous. He was almost going to dig out the biscuit tin when Crowley made a suggestion.

Aziraphale hadn't even thought of piggyback rides. They were, after all, in Camelot, and if one doesn't have an entourage of coconut-clopping cohorts, one rides horses.

"Oh, Crowley, don't. Don't. They're so ...uncomfortable, and I doubt he comes with a saddle."

"Not a backpack, I'm not offering piggyback rides here. I was thinking more like a cowboy."

Probably a cowboy of the New York city variety but maybe Alec could at least get on Shadow the right way around.

"I could call Shadow, see if he even shows? You've ridden Merry-go-rounds before, its the same thing only," a glance at Aziraphale as he was so right about that, "harder on the buttocks."

"A horse?" He hadn't ridden before, but how hard could it be to just hang on?

"Better than sitting here in the damp... but what about the crystals?"

They had gone too far to leave without them.

The good Mr. Fell was just going to sit here and keep any thoughts about Crowley-on-Crowley piggyback rides or cowboys or things that are hard on the buttocks to himself ...and instead he cleared his throat and fussed with his sleeves and collar.

One of the lights darted forward at the mention of crystals, right up to Alec's nose so he could see her angry expression which looked as red faced as Tinkerbell. Her words were impossibly high pitched to hear but she pointed at the group and then back at the far wall where the other two light spirts flew up to a small ledge that absolutely glittered with crystals.

"Looks like they are up there. Feel like a climb Angel? I'll see about getting Shadow out here."

"Alright, if I must." Aziraphale gave a loud sigh, mostly because it was disrupting his daydream and not because he didn't really want to do any climbing. He pushed himself to his feet, dusted himself off, and handed Crowley the rolled up blanket. "If they're both amenable, you might be able able to use this for a riding blanket? Just, do try to be careful when you unroll it. My biscuit tin is in there and I'd really rather not lose or dent it."

He wasn't even really sure what the crystals were all about, but they'd come this far, as said, so they might as well claim the fruits of their labors.

"And I better not hear any smart comments from you, young man," he warned Alec before heading for the far wall.

No smart comments from him but a wolf whistle when he started to climb. If Fell were to look back he would see a perfectly stone faced Alec.

Given there was no playful cat-calling following the whistle, he almost knew it wasn't his demon. The irritation was mostly for show, because he sort of invited something rude (though he didn't anticipate that one), and he cast a glare over his shoulder at the seemingly innocent Alec.

"Someone's feeling spritely again."

The cavern rang out with a demon's laughter. Alec wasn't wrong but as that had been so unexpected it caught even Crowley off guard!

"Wish I had thought of that!"

But mischief worked best when trying to tempt a Pooka into showing up. Feeling the mirth in the air Shadow ended up trotting into the cavern and whinnying a happy little greeting to the group when he arrived. Though he did wonder what he had missed.

Edited 2021-01-12 03:22 (UTC)

He tucked the crystals carefully against himself as he gathered each of them, and turned and gave Crowley a little less of a glare. The look wanted to be a glare, but mostly it just looked smug and a little pleased and he may have reached a little farther for the last crystal just to show off his backside.

"I hope Shadow's at least a gentleman."

He smirked, both at the laugh and the outrage. It felt good. He hadn't felt that good since--

Well he wasn't going to think about it.

Anyway the horse was bloody tall and even when he managed to get to his feet, just staring at it was intimidating.

"Did you bring a ladder?"

Shadow nickered and stomped a hoof... Now whether that was a horsey catcall or not only someone with working animal talking magic could tell you.

"I think he likes the view too."

The mischievous answer would always be the one Crowley leaned towards.

"Careful on the way back down, Angel, you wouldn't want to bruise that."

Shadow pranced in front of Alec, looking between both he and Crowley like this was an impressively elaborate joke!

"Wait, not yet Alec. You just climb onto a Pooka's back and they take off like lightening."

Crowley stepped forward and carefully reached out a hand to stroke the Pooka's muzzle, something he hadn't done since they had arrived.

"This isn't a game. Alec is important to me... No running around like mad, alright? Take care of him."

The Pooka was a small horse really, one rather like the British breeds who barely stood taller than a man and looked as if they might fall over if anyone full sized sat astride him but actually they could handle a fully armored man.

"And maybe could you kneel? He has had a bad day."

Shadow gave a little snort at that but kneeled he would be easier to climb onto.

Alec is still dubious about the horse. He understood it but by and large wished he hadn't and isn't about to translate it. For the moment though he manages to get on the beast's back, gripping its mane though not too tightly and adjusting his seat until the horse tells him he's tolerable.

"Right... Good..." He stares out at the dark tunnels of the cavern. "Where next." And dear god he hopes this isn't a trial. He wants to sleep. Maybe even eat. Though the thought of going back to that inn room sours his stomach-- he's not about to complain.

Aziraphale finished up the climb and joined them. He tucked the crystals away safely and kept any ‘then you can kiss it better’ thoughts about bruised bottoms to himself. They’d had quite enough silliness for now.

“You look very knightly,” he teased Alec. Last one, promise. He took Crowley by the hand. If there were any more visions ahead of them, he wasn’t going to let Crowley face them alone. Or Alec—as long as Shadow travelled slow enough, they’d stay within arm’s reach.

“Well, we can either go the route Shadow took as a return, if he remembers, or we can follow the blue string back to the entrance. Lamassu should be guarding the other end. We’ve faced a trial, received a reward—I think we’re good and done with the offerings of this place.”

Shadow looked ahead at the maze of tunnels, stomped a hoof, and then looked to the blue string. The sure thing looked like a better idea to him and he set off after it... but as he had been asked so nicely, he traveled at a much more leisurely pace than he usually would have. No reason, at all, to give the weird doppelganger a second heart attack.

"All he needs is a suit of armor that will ride up as he goes."

Crowley ever so helpfully added as if this was a problem armor had when it was actually very difficult for metal to squish up into places it wasn't meant to be.

The demon couldn't help but hold Aziraphale back, just to let the Pooka and Alec get a little further ahead. He hadn't actually given his angel a proper hello when he arrived but with a 'farewell to the death cave' kiss he hoped to make up for that.

"Thanks... for not listening and coming after us anyway."

He wasn't deaf and the sound carried but he let them have their romantic cave snogging and kept his gaze straight ahead. He wasn't a knight or a king. He was just a sad tired old man who was still tired and getting older by the minute but no longer as sad as he used to be, even though he knew he would be very sad later.

Little by little the light came through the end of the tunnel and no more visions tore at his mind. Just the sun and the sand and the open water which made a wave of nausea climb up into his belly and settle there. Christ. The horse underneath him bunched with energy but fortunately didn't bolt off into the wild blue.

"Thanks," he muttered to it. For many things.

Six thousand years of barely being able to say Hello. Lovely to see you. Are you well?, the Angel wasn't too put out to not be greeted with a kiss. Still, he wasn't going to say no to one either.

"Of course. I wasn't going to leave you two to have all the fun," he said with another kiss, this time to his cheek. Fun, he said, as if his demon hadn't been battling with inner demons. Still, Aziraphale hadn't really planned to come along and join this quest. He'd only planned to show up with a care package and check up on them, reassure himself that the two most important persons in his life weren't about to get themselves killed in a cave.

"Are you okay, though?" he asked quietly, once they had started to follow Shadow and Alec at a distance, his hand still securely in Crowley's, arm bumping his as they walked. "I know we're are the worst three people at talking about such things, but... are you alright? Is Alec? Are you absolutely sure you want to continue on this quest of yours?"

When the light came through, after being in the darkness for so long, he squinted and held up a hand to block it out. For once, he was almost envious of those sunglasses Crowley always wore. At least they were out of the cave. Lamassu was still there, at the end of the yarn, waiting like a statue.

Shadow nickered happily. This being the first time he had been thanked for anything, he was rather pleased with himself. He practically strutted past that odd human-faced creature still holding onto the string but he bobbed his head in thanks to it for not letting go. Thank you's were catching once they got started.

Crowley walked hand-in-hand with his angel, trying not to squeeze his fingers too tightly or let those nightmares get the better of him. Fire. It was always fire for some reason. He was largely immune but the others hadn't been and now he would never see some of them again. Hn, despite what Alec had claimed the nightmare wasn't all fake.

"I don't know what Alec saw back there. He never said." And Crowley wondered if he would have even if asked, "But it's his quest. You heard him back there. He is not going to be satisfied until he does some good... working his way home. I can't just leave him. What if the next part of the quest is even worse than the first?"

Anything that might have been said about his own state of mind was kept very quietly to himself. Oh he would tell Fell about it, but later, once they had a big pot of tea or even better wine and a nice blanket to snuggle in. This felt a better setting for an 'I miss having a family' conversation than popping back out into the sun and discovering the grim face of a Lamassu staring back at you.

UGH, CREEPY! Crowley was tempted to turn right around and run back into that cave.

"You'll stick around won't you? Join the quest?" His eyes favored Aziraphale's with a hopeful look, "We can be questing buddies."

He looked up at Crowley with big, grateful eyes. He was so good, not just for a demon, but for a human, too. Crowley was so good and kind and loyal to those he cared for, and Aziraphale was incredibly lucky to be here by his side.

Later, they could talk in more detail, but for now, he was just happy to see that both of them had survived this ordeal and that they were still the determined, steadfast men he loved, even if their footing had been shaken somewhat.

"Thank you, Lamassu." The familiar bowed his head once in acknowledgement and ignored whatever look Crowley might be giving him.

Aziraphale tipped his head and considered the offer to stay on, and then, with a sweet, sly smile, he released Crowley's hand.

"That's not really your offer to extend, now is it?" After all, it wasn't Crowley's quest--it was Alec's. He came over to stand at Shadow's side, squinting up through the sunlight at Alec. "Well, sir knight." Not really mocking, though he smiled. "May I accompany you on your noble quest, or should I make for home?"

He wrinkled his nose. "Don't do that. Start that and it'll become a thing and I hate the thing."

He considered it. Would he like Fell to come? He didn't want to think about it really.

"Up to you. Can we move away from this bloody lake, please?"

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