Chapter Text
Crowley slammed the heel of his hand on the steering wheel of the Bentley as he sat parked on the darkened street and swore. His guts were a writhing mess of conflicting emotions. He rested his head on the steering wheel and thought about what he’d just done.
He’d fucked up.
This wasn’t just some minor inconvenience, this wasn’t something that would only impact on him, no. He’d fucked up someone else’s life permanently, an innocent human caught in the crossfire. It was all his fault, and he’d have to live with that. So would she.
Crowley may be a demon, but he never set out to actively harm humans if he could help it. It went against his very nature. Sure he’d annoy them, cause them little irritations, tempt them in the most pleasurable ways possible into sin, but he was a gentleman about it. He cared about humans. It was a major failing in a demon.
Sure, he tried to hide it, pretended to be more evil than he was, talked a big game down in hell for the benefit of his reputation. Because to show weakness was not the most advisable course of action for any demon. Not that he was weak, far from it. He had been pretty damned important before the fall, a fact known between only him, Satan, and possibly another denizen or two of Hell who had seen him on arrival, only two of six wings remaining, scorched, bloodied and maimed from his fall. He was one of the most powerful demons in hell, although he kept that fairly quiet as well, and pretended to be a bit more lowly than indeed he was. It was better to be underestimated.
Nonetheless, Crowley was an Alpha, and a powerful one at that. His mere presence in a room could make everyone else there cower in deference if he so desired, although generally he tamped his power down to remain discreet and fly under the radar on a day to day basis.
For the past six thousand years, Crowley had only ever desired one Omega though - a certain blonde haired angel. But although they were friends, as close as could be, Crowley remained afraid that he would make Aziraphale fall if they ever gave into their baser desires and instincts and bonded. And his alpha nature meant that his desire to protect Aziraphale from anything and everything was able to take priority over whatever his libido had to say on the matter.
Not without some difficulty however. Which had led to the other Arrangement.
Crowley hadn’t spent as much time around the angel in the early days. They’d meet up every few years, sure, with increasing frequency as time went by, but it was easy at first to not bump into each other when the angel was in heat or the demon in rut.
But soon it became clear that the hold the angel had on him was far stronger than he’d ever thought possible. The first time he’d scented Aziraphale in heat he’d almost gone wild with the desire to chase him down and confess his love for him, to rip both their clothes off and take him in every way possible. And that was merely smelling him from the other side of town. He wasn’t in rut himself at the time, as otherwise it would have been utterly overwhelming and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold back even with his iron self control.
As it was, he’d been able to recognise Azirapahle’s pheromones for what they were, recognising the source of the tantalising scent that his particularly serpentine sense of smell could taste on the air like sweet honey. Somehow he’d had enough self awareness to be able to prevent himself from tracking the angel down. He’d dug his fingernails into his own arms until they bled, trying to ground himself, and when it felt like he’d lose his grip he capitulated and hastily miracled himself to the other side of the planet. To safety where he wouldn’t be able to taste that intoxicating scent, lest he lose his self restraint and pursue it.
He’d left it a couple of weeks to be safe, to allow the angel’s heat to subside before he sought him out again. He’d tracked him down to a bar in some village in Greece and sat down next to him, face grim. “We have to talk.” he’d growled through gritted teeth.
Interesting that the other Arrangement came about perforce centuries before the whole miracles/temptations Arrangement did. But they had to do it, to keep the angel safe.
Aziraphale lifted his brows in surprise over his cup of wine as the demon sat down next to him. “Crowley, what a delight to see you, dear boy. What appears to be the problem?”
Crowley gave him a long, appraising look, raking the angel’s exquisite form with eyes tinged with barely concealed lust, despite neither of them being in heat at the time, he still desired him. It was just far easier to control things like this.
“Look Angel, I’m going to be frank here, because this needs to be out in the open. I know you’re an omega, I can smell it, even when you’re not in heat I can still tell. Now I’ve never been around you while I’m in rut but I’m pretty sure you can still tell I’m an alpha, and this presents a problem.”
Aziraphale leaned back in his chair, wary. Where on earth was this going? Was Crowley going to make a move on him even though he wasn’t in heat? His eyes nervously darted to the exit, weighing his options. He did find Crowley extremely attractive, and if he was honest with himself, Crowley’s was the face he envisaged when he was in heat, while trying to distract himself from the torment his body put him through. Crowley’s was always the name on his lips whenever he came, although he didn’t know if he could ever admit that to the demon. He was an angel, it was unthinkable.
“Relax, Aziraphale, you’re safe. I never want anything to happen to you, which is why I needed to talk to you. I smelled you the other week when you were… well. You know. I was two miles away, Aziraphale. I can pick it up over a far greater distance than even humans can, and it doesn’t matter if you use perfumes to try to cover it up, I can still sense it. I know what you smell like.” He paused to pour himself a cup of wine from one of the amphorae on the table, and took a gulp.
“You know I’d never hurt you, Aziraphale, and that includes doing anything that might put you at risk of falling. And I’m pretty sure getting mated and marked by a demon alpha would be right at the top of that list. Not that any of us know for sure, but I wouldn’t want to take the risk.”
Aziraphale remained silent, not trusting himself to talk lest he say the wrong thing. His mind was in turmoil. Crowley was the only alpha he’d ever want to be taken by, even though he knew they couldn’t be together. If he couldn’t have Crowley he didn’t want anyone else.
“So I’d like you to let me know when you’re apt to come into heat, so I can make sure I stay away from you for a couple of weeks. I’ll also let you know when I’m coming into rut so you can do likewise. I’ll need you a long way away from me during that. Can you do that for me, Angel?”
Aziraphale swallowed nervously. Whatever he had been expecting out of this conversation, this hadn’t been it. The tenderness in the demon’s voice was entirely at odds with everything one would expect a demon to be. He looked the part, but his gentleness was surprising. Especially considering his potent alpha male scent that meant others in the bar were giving him a wide berth. Aziraphale could see the concern in the demon’s eyes where his small smoked glass spectacles slid down his nose and didn’t quite conceal the beautiful gold there.
Crowley was looking at him expectantly, patiently waiting for an answer. Aziraphale realised he had simply been sitting there gaping in surprise. “Oh, yes, yes of course, I am most dreadfully sorry, Crowley, I had no idea what effect it would have on you, I feel terrible for putting you through that…” he blustered, nervous, until Crowley’s gentle hand on his arm stilled his words.
“Hush, Angel, none of that. It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong, there’s nothing to apologise for. I just needed to let you know, because I want to keep you safe. I also want you to let me know if there are any alphas who pester you, if you need any help keeping them away when you’re vulnerable as well, because you know I’ll do that as well if you need me to.”
Crowley gave Aziraphale’s arm a gentle squeeze and let go, then knocked back more wine with a fond smile. The angel let out a relieved breath. “Oh, thank you, Crowley. I… I mean, it means a lot to me. I’ll be sure to let you know when you should be avoiding me. I do tend to lock myself away safe at that time anyway, but I never realised how much it affected you even at a distance.”
And so they had. They’d either learned their cycles, or if it came upon them unexpectedly, sent a messenger to alert the other that they needed to get further apart quickly. The system worked. They made it work for millennia. They had to.
They’d never discussed it as frankly again however. They’d hedged around the subject, used veiled words, but each knew what the other was referring to when the message came. “I need some alone time.”