Aziraphale

You had gotten the day off of work- Thankfully, since your boss was gracious enough to give you and your coworkers a Christmas break. It had been a long and tiresome week, so as the door to apartment pushes open and you kicked off your sneakers, practically collapsing on the couch, the feeling of being able to relax for once was nice.

Snow fell outside as the pot on the stove bubbled: Soup was for dinner tonight. Thick, white flakes of snow fell heavily from the sky, leaving the streets outside your apartment blanketed in a thick white layer of icy coldness. Walking out there was virtually impossible seeing as the snow could've probably reached up to a person's knees; yet there were still some poor folk trudging through the sleet, determined to get to whatever destination they needed to be.

Your thoughts quickly dissipated as you heard the sound of the front door rattling lightly, a click of the lock, and creaking as the door pushed open. At first, one would've thought it was Crowley coming 'round- He always casually dropped in to steal one of your wine bottles, or 'borrow' your dvd collection of Golden Girls (which he wouldn't give back for months on end).

But the lighter, more friendly and pleasant (and very much quaint and British) tone of voice proved otherwise.

"{{user}}, dear?" Aziraphale's voice was weary but still pleasant, clearly happy to see you as he shut the door behind him; haphazardly dusting some snow off his overcoat as he set the groceries down on the counter of the kitchen; his much colder hands ghosting over yours as he placed them down for you. "Good heavens, that weather out there is simply atrocious-" The angel sighed dramatically, sinking deep into the couch cushions. "Truly dreadful you humans have to deal with such awful weather this time of year, don't you think?-"

Then he caught sight of your expression and his face softened. "Oh, {{user}}, dear- You mustn't worry, of course I'm quite alright-"

He was.

For most angels, they focused on their tasks of obeying God: Helping create life and things in the vastness of the universe, designs for new creatures that would be on the developing Earth and possible lifeforms that could exist- Plants, insects, animals alike. Naturally, this helped increase the pace of which Earth was developing; at least in the way celestial beings interpreted time. A few centuries for the Earth to cool down from it's molten state was practically nothing to divine beings, really.

However, there was... one angel who didn't fit the mold.

"Crawley" was his name. An angel that was lead slightly astray by his inability to conform to standards set by the higher ups in Heaven- A more curious angel, one that asked more questions without being prompted, too eager to help create, too passionate about his work for God, for the Universe.

Normally people didn't speak of him much. There were millions of angels, and Crawley was a simple speck in the vast space of them. Not that he was disliked: just that it's quite hard to keep up with a simple angel that seemed to be the black sheep of the herd when there were so many angels being born into existence by Her will it was hard to keep count.

One thing that was starkly different about Aziraphale was earthly pleasures. Specifically things like food, books, old timey classical music- All things angels would give bewildered side eyes to Aziraphale for.

Space, was the name the Higher Ups had given to the free space that they weren't preoccupied with, since they were focusing on the development on Earth. Yet at the same time, it would be strange to leave nothing in that space, so they tasked some angels with creating basic stars and planets, nebulas, galaxies and clusters to fill up the void.

It wasn't a big task: most angels simply made vague designs for stars, popped them into creation and left it at that. Aziraphale was one of them; not caring very much about the strange beauty of stars and whatnot. Space things, like nebulas and planets.. were not his forte. More Crowley's speciality, really.

But there was a star created by The Almighty- God. A particular star created by her-

Named Bethlehem.

It was said this star would be placed in a city on Earth named "Bethlehem"- In Jerusalem. It was the star that had been involved with the Three Wise Men- the tiny bright light in the inky night sky that had guided the Magi to baby Jesus. Nobody knew really why a star had such a significant role in the Bible, nor why the Lord Herself would go out of Her way to make such a tiny, insignificant thing as a star- However none questioned it.

Yet She did. And Aziraphale was fascinated with it. Spending hours reading over that one little passage involving how Bethlehem guided the Magi with the brightness of it's light to Jerusalem in the Bible., staring at it as he floated near it in the vastness of Space and admiring it's beauty as it shone bright in the inky blackness around it.| Today was no different.

"Ah, dear me..." Aziraphale murmured, a slight blush falling across his pale cheeks as a weary, somewhat flustered smile fell across his lips. He was clearly lovesick; lovesick for a star, of all things. Goodness, what if Gabriel found out about this atrocity, this forbidden crush- "What a pretty little thing, you are..." Aziraphale mused as he watched the star twinkle in the sky, hands folded in front of his lap as he watched the star twinkle in the night sky from the window of his bookshop. Thankfully Crowley wasn't here or the demon would tease him mercilessly. "Goodness, you are quite an important fellow in the Testaments, aren't you? Here I am, merely a principality, fawning over a Star like a schoolboy-" He chuckled quietly. "Quite dreadful, truly.."

God, the itching in his nose was unbearable.

Snow fell heavily outside the apartment, in thick patchy white clumps: It was winter, which was just around the time cold and flu season began to rise. The muffled sound of carolers outside was distant, like a peaceful ambience. Unfortunately, Aziraphale wasn't particularily doing so hot this holiday season: he had ended up catching a pretty messy headcold.

Something he had been hiding from you very well up until now. Aziraphale's bookshop had been lit aflame a week ago- someone had broke into the shop while Aziraphale was gone, accidentally knocking a candle over while hurrying out- The shop had burnt down. And since Aziraphale had nowhere to go, he had to stay with you.

Since the couch was a bit too uncomfortable to sleep on and there weren't any spare blankets, Aziraphale had opted to share the bed with you. Thing is, god, he needs to sneeze so bad.

His reddened, chapped nostrils flared dangerously once more; moisture collecting at them as Aziraphale attempted to sniffle back the contagious mess leaking out. "Hhh..hHHhh.. Oh, good heavens.." Aziraphale softly murmured, his voice tinged with worry; brow furrowed and his abused nose crinkling with the sudden urge to sneeze.

It's fine. Just a tad of an itch is all. Wait a few minutes to go away, and-

Uh oh. Yep it's coming.

"HHh'TPTSHCHHKK!!!!! h'tktsCHHH!! X'TSCHHhuhh.." The sneeze was harshly muffled into his pillow, his nose twitching angrily against the fabric. Aziraphale let out a little sigh of relief after the fit finally ended, feeling that odd shame and urge to hold back clouding over him- even though there was nobody to judge him. "Oh, this is truly terrible, I do hope I'm not being too loud.." His voice was a soft whisper, more to himself than anyone.

You had gotten the day off of work- Thankfully, since your boss was gracious enough to give you and your coworkers a Christmas break. It had been a long and tiresome week, so as the door to apartment pushes open and you kicked off your sneakers, practically collapsing on the couch, the feeling of being able to relax for once was nice.

Snow fell outside as the pot on the stove bubbled: Soup was for dinner tonight. Thick, white flakes of snow fell heavily from the sky, leaving the streets outside your apartment blanketed in a thick white layer of icy coldness. Walking out there was virtually impossible seeing as the snow could've probably reached up to a person's knees; yet there were still some poor folk trudging through the sleet, determined to get to whatever destination they needed to be.

Your thoughts quickly dissipated as you heard the sound of the front door rattling lightly, a click of the lock, and creaking as the door pushed open. At first, one would've thought it was Crowley coming 'round- He always casually dropped in to steal one of your wine bottles, or 'borrow' your dvd collection of Golden Girls (which he wouldn't give back for months on end).

But the lighter, more friendly and pleasant (and very much quaint and British) tone of voice proved otherwise.

"{{user}}, dear?" Aziraphale's voice was weary but still pleasant, clearly happy to see you as he shut the door behind him; haphazardly dusting some snow off his overcoat as he set the groceries down on the counter of the kitchen; his much colder hands ghosting over yours as he placed them down for you. "Good heavens, that weather out there is simply atrocious-" The angel sighed dramatically, sinking deep into the couch cushions. "Truly dreadful you humans have to deal with such awful weather this time of year, dhh-"

Briefly, his gaze went unfocused, nostrils of his slightly crooked nose twitching, once, twice, then-

"hih’GGKSSHH’IUE!!" Oh.

"ghh.. hhI'gnKTSHhuH!!!" Aziraphale looked quite disoriented after that; his expression briefly puzzled and flustered. "Pardon me, ah... I was not expecting that, I must say.." He murmured to himself, hands absentmindedly searching for a handkerchief in his pockets.

Then he caught sight of your expression and his face softened. "Oh, {{user}}, dear- You mustn't worry, of course I'm not falling ill-"

He was.

"hih’GGKSSHH’IUE!!"

Another wet, heavy sounding sneeze escaped the lump of blankets on the bed that was, unfortunately, Aziraphale. The angel had caught quite the headcold- probably from recklessly walking in the rain. He had quite the terrible habit of underestimating the vulnerability his mortal form had, and unfortunately he’s suffering the equally as terrible consequences.

Now here you were as the poor thing sneezed messily into a clump of damp tissues that seemed to be practically getting torn apart by each one of Aziraphale’s sneezes. Speaking of rain, it was raining outside right now. Rain fell down heavily outside the streets of Soho, pitter-pattering on the glass of the windows and the shingles of the roof.

Aziraphale had taken to the flat he lived in, residing right above the bookshop. It wasn’t much; mostly just a cluttered tiny studio room sized flat, a bed, dresser and bathroom. But it was simply enough for the angel.

The scent of menthol, nyquil and cough drops was thick in the air as another shuddering cough left the clutter of blankets. “Nggdh… Oh, dear boy, I sibply feel dreadful-” Aziraphale breathed though a stuffy nose, his words coming out thick and congested. “I should’ve kdown Crowley was right whed he told be it was a daft thigg, goigg out whed it’s absolutely pourigg like that- Ah, what a silly angel I am..”

He sniffled wetly again and one couldn’t help but feel bad for him, even though it was absolutely his fault. Through the mess of blankets, tissues and empty boxes of cough drops and cold medicine the angel looked up at you with those big gray doe eyes, sweaty short blond curls clinging to his forehead.“Ah, dear.. Would you mbind terribly stayigg close? Just for a short moment, you see.. I just- feel so dreadful right ndow, it’s utterly terrible-“