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"I just told you, I'm not interested in your cheap second-hand books!"
Hearing this, Nina looked up from the table she was cleaning and saw Aziraphale surrounded by two tall men who seemed to be trying to sell him some books.
They surrounded him and it was obvious that they were quite shady. They were preventing the bookseller from entering his shop.
Nina put down her tea towel, wondering if she should intervene, when suddenly Crowley emerged from the shop and immediately placed himself as a roadblock between the two men and Aziraphale.
After an argument that she didn't hear, the two men left under the threatening gaze of the red-haired man.
Suddenly she saw him start to smoke and wondered if she shouldn't go and deactivate the coffee shop's security system. She didn't really want to be locked in again, especially since she would be alone this time.
But Aziraphale approached him, put a hand on his arm, and that seemed to calm Crowley, who let himself be dragged into the bookshop.
Nina went back to work, but she couldn't stop thinking about something. The conversation she'd had with Aziraphale on the night of the bookshop raid.
“Crowley will be back in a moment, he will have a plan.”
“Why don't you stand up for yourself? Make your own plans.”
“I am, but rescuing me makes him so happy.”
Thinking back to the scene she'd just seen, she wondered how true it was. She went out into the street to bring the signs to the coffee shop, and when she saw Aziraphale coming out of the bookstore, she decided to take the opportunity to talk to him.
She walked up to him and asked, "So, are you all right? I saw what happened."
Aziraphale hesitated a little, "Ah, um, yes, it ended well."
Nina crossed her arms, "Yeah, I saw that. Your knight in shining armor came to save the day."
Aziraphale sighed, "I know..."
Nina insisted, "But weren't you the one who said it made him happy not long ago, so why are you sighing?"
Aziraphale hesitated a bit before answering, "Because I realized it was putting an unnecessary burden on his shoulders."
Nina resumed more gently, "Maggie and I witnessed your abilities and strength, so why?"
Aziraphale looked almost desperate, "I didn't have time to react. He was already there."
Nina nodded, "I see. I suppose you've been working this way for a very long time, if I understood Mr. Grumpy correctly, so it will take some time to reverse the tendency. But I'm relieved to see that you've changed on this point. It's not good when it's unbalanced, believe me."
Aziraphale smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Nina. You're very kind."
Nina chuckled, "Me? I think you've got the wrong person."
She returned to the coffee shop to the sound of the angel's light laughter.
**********
The next morning Aziraphale was opening the mail when suddenly Muriel burst into the shop, breathless and shouting, "Aziraphale! Aziraphale! It's Crowley... he's in... trouble. Hurry!"
Aziraphale ran to them, "Where? Take me with you and tell me what you saw on the way!"
They both ran off, Aziraphale not bothering to leave the open bookshop behind. As they ran up the street, Muriel told the angel that while they were chatting with Crowley, who was getting out of the Bentley a little further up the street, two mean-looking men had appeared out of nowhere. One of them knocked them to the ground and then dragged Crowley into a nearby alley.
"Why didn't he fight back, that idiot?" exclaimed Aziraphale.
Muriel shook her head, "I don't know, he just yelled at me to go away and mumbled something about being nice. It's right back there." Muriel pointed to a small alleyway where no one ever passed.
Aziraphale, out of breath, stopped and said, "Very good. Thank you, Muriel. Now I need you to go back to the shop and watch it, okay?"
"But..."
Azirphale shook his head and said firmly, "Let me take care of it. I promise everything will be fine."
Muriel nodded worriedly and went back to the shop.
Then Aziraphale stepped into the alley.
"You're going to tell your boyfriend that we're the law in this neighborhood, and if he wants to go about his business in peace, he'll buy from us whatever we bring him."
The angel heard Crowley sneer, "If you think for one second he's going to do what you ask, you're sorely mistaken. Mmmph!"
Aziraphale rushed over and arrived just as one of the two men stepped back after punching the demon in the stomach and said, "But if he doesn't, we'll help you make him understand."
Aziraphale was now behind them and said in a loud voice, "He's here and he understood perfectly well that you didn't seem to value life."
The two thugs turned around and one of them said in a mocking tone, "Oh, he's come to save his boyfriend, that's so cute. I'm so scared I'm shaking in my boots."
"Kof...kof..." Crowley coughed as he stood and held his stomach before saying, "You...should...should be scared..."
The other man guffawed, "Afraid? Of... this? Hahahammmh..."
Suddenly the two men found themselves on the ground, hands and feet bound and mouths gagged, as Aziraphale leaned over them and said menacingly, pointing to his own hand, "You see my hand? The moment it rises, you'll forget everything - this place, me, him - and you'll disappear from here. Maybe you'll learn a lesson."
The two men's eyes widened as they struggled, then Aziraphale began to raise his hand as he continued, a predatory smile on his lips, "You won't know who I am, but I'll always know where you are."
The two men disappeared, screaming in silence, and Aziraphale rushed over to lCrowley, who was leaning against the wall, holding his stomach where the thug had punched him.
He put his hands on the demon's shoulders and shook him lightly, admonishing him, "You triple idiot! What's gotten into you? Why didn't you fight back? What if I hadn't gotten there in time?"
Crowley raised his hand and said, "Easy, angel."
Aziraphale took a deep breath to calm himself, and putting his arm under the demon's for support, he replied, "I'm gonna get you home and we're gonna talk about this, believe me."
A short time later, after Muriel had been reassured and sent home, they sat down on the sofa.
Aziraphale gently lowered his hand to Crowley's stomach and said inquiringly, "I know it can be very painful, is that the case, right now?"
Crowley shook his head, "Not anymore."
Aziraphale asked in a harder voice, "So I ask you again, what possessed you not to defend yourself?"
Crowley replied, "I was trying to be... kind?"
Aziraphale narrowed his eyes and retorted, "Are you kidding me?"
"Angel! It's not like you to swear like that!"
"And here I thought you were smarter than this, but apparently we're both wrong about each other! What's that supposed to mean? Trying to be kind?!"
Crowley shrugged, "Just before the two goons jumped me, Muriel had just told me she thought I was nice. Everyone, like you, tells me that all the time, so for once I tried to live up to what people say about me."
Aziraphale rolled his eyes before replying, "Let me use your words here, how can someone as clever as you be so stupid? Don't you know that when people say you're kind, it's because you are. You don't have to live up to some image you think people have of you. We say it because we think you are. People say you're kind because they've been the beneficiary of your kindness. So you don't have to be somebody else. We're not going to change our minds because you're going to defend yourself in your own way against two thugs who, moreover, attacked you."
Aziraphale dropped his forehead on the demon's shoulder, "And most of all, don't scare me like that again."
Crowley leaned his head against the angel's and chuckled softly, "Now you know how it feels."
Aziraphale straightened his head and said seriously, "Yes, and I didn't like it. And I'm sorry."
Crowley put an arm around the angel's shoulders and leaned back into the couch, pulling him along with him, before saying, "Anyway, I liked seeing my angel get tough."
Aziraphale glared at him and patted his chest, saying, "Idiot, I was only tough because you were in danger and had just been hurt."
"I like it anyway. By the way, two questions: first, what was that deliciously terrifying smile, and second, where did you send them?"
Aziraphale explained against the demon's chest, "That smile, I learned it from watching you for 6,000 years and..."
Crowley interrupted with a proud little sneer, and after waiting for him to calm down, the angel continued, "And I sent them to a farm, where they are forced to do the dirty work, knowing they have done wrong, but remembering nothing."
There was silence at first, then Crowley laughed softly before saying, "Oh, yeah...the epitome of viciousness. Even when you're punishing someone, you're adorable."
Aziraphale tapped Crowley's chest harder, "Hey! You're getting a little too cheek-"
"But it's one of the reasons I love you."
He pressed his lips to the angel's hair and said softly, "Thanks for coming to my rescue."
Aziraphale hugged him a little tighter and replied just as softly, "You're welcome. But if possible, don't make me do it again so soon."
Crowley chuckled, "Look who's talking. You're a few moves behind me, so I can't guarantee anything."
As the angel began to pound his chest, the demon burst into laughter, soon joined by the angel, and in their shared joy, they let the last vestiges of their misfortune fade away.