Happy Holidays, impishtubist! Part 2
Dec. 16th, 2019 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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go_exchangeChapter 2.
In the morning Crowley started holding up his part of the deal by asking Warlock:
“Ok, what do you like?”
“I don’t know. Nothing.” Right now, Warlock quite liked sipping coffee at his former nanny’s kitchen table. It was weird how quickly he felt at home in this strange place, as if Crowley alone gave his existence some kind of sense and purpose. When he woke up and remembered all the events of the previous evening he wondered why he had even asked Crowley for something and how could Crowley agree when Warlock had absolutely no right to demand anything and, in fact, should be happy to even be a part of Crowley’s world. However, he decided not to say all this to Crowley.
“Okay, then what did you like?” Crowley didn’t give up.
He probably regretted that some time later when Warlock took him to the sporting goods shop.
“This one,” he said poking a black and red BMX bike with his finger. “It’s your style.”
“Why should it be my style?”
“I’m not taking a bike on the plane with me, and I want you to like the thing that’s going to occupy space in your closet. Besides you want to look cool, don’t you?”
“What does that have to do…”
Crowley already knew. He just didn’t want to accept the inevitable.
The inevitable came into view when they reached the skate-park.
“No. No, no, no, no, no!” Crowley said looking at the ramp that dominated it. “I don’t even want to look at this madness, let alone participate in it!”
“Come on! It’s going to be fun!” Warlock said. He felt like he was ten again. He hopped on his bike and rode to the ramp. He made a couple of bunnyhops to warm up, then a barspin and a tailwhip.
“Did we buy a bike only for you to break it on the first day?” Crowley grumbled like an old lady. “Why can’t you just ride it?”
“I am riding it! Look!” he shouted and rode up the ramp.
“I’m not looking!” Crowley shouted back. “You think I am, but I’m not – my eyes are shut behind the glasses!”
Warlock smiled. He was enjoying Crowley’s fear a bit. It made him feel brave. He hardly ever felt that way.
He reached the top of the ramp turned and then rode done and up the opposite side at the highest speed possible. He made a whiptail on top of the ramp, turned around himself and then rode down.
When he finally slowed down and looked at Crowley the demon was clutching at his heart. Or the place where it should be. Warlock didn’t know much about demon physiology.
“So you were looking after all!” he said, grinning smugly.
“No!”
“Your turn.” Warlock handed him the handlebars. “Come on! Just try it.”
“I don’t like it. They’re like metal horses. I hate horses – you can’t trust them.”
Warlock chuckled. “It will do whatever you make it do. It’s like a car.”
“Don’t you offend cars with such nasty comparisons, young man!” Crowley exclaimed, and Warlock thought that he seemed to slip back in his nanny voice. “My car, for example, is the most reliable creature in the Universe.”
“Anyway. You’ve promised me to do what I want, and then I’ll do what you want. No breaking the deal.”
“Fine!” Crowley said. “One time. Only one time.”
He sat on the bike and slowly and shakily rode up the slope of the ramp. There he stopped, got off the bike, and turned it around slowly in the opposite direction.
Warlock came closer. The ramp wasn’t that high, and from the ground, he saw Crowley shudder while looking down.
“Come on! You’re a demon, you can’t be afraid of heights!” Warlock called. “You’ve got wings – you literally jumped from the fifth floor yesterday!”
“I’m not afraid of heights,” Crowley said, annoyed, “I’m afraid to fall. ’S not like I’ll be able to spread my wings if I do.”
“You aren’t going to fall, Crowley! And if you do, you won’t die.”
It looked like Crowley wanted to say something else, but he took a deep breath and took his glasses off. He put them into his jacket pocket, grabbed the handlebar grips, and rode down.
He screamed. Warlock almost regretted not stopping him. Crowley’s body was stiff, hands gripping the handlebars for dear life, feet unmoving on the pedals.
It was a miracle he managed to ride all the way down the ramp. His speed was high and it took him up the opposite slope of the ramp, but there, he lost control and fell, together with the bike.
“Crowley!” Warlock exclaimed, already running towards him. “Are you okay?”
“No… Shit…” He sat on the ground and gingerly touched his forehead where a large bloody bruise was blossoming. Apart from it and minor scratches on his palms, he looked quite all right.
“Ooh, that must hurt!” Warlock winced. “It makes you look rather cool though. Like a proper movie hero.”
“Does it?” Crowley huffed. “I was going to heal it, but if you say so… I should get at least something out of it.”
Crowley looked at his palms, and the scratches miraculously disappeared. The bruise on the head stayed.
“I’m sorry,” Warlock said and reached out with his hand to help Crowley to his feet. “You didn’t have to do the ramp, you know?”
“What? You said it was my turn!”
“I meant just to ride the bike. I didn’t mean you had to do the tricks.” He gave Crowley a sly smile.
“You bastard!” Crowley said fondly. “Now it’s my turn to choose a place we’ll go next! Come on.”
***
“I can’t go to the pub! I’m too young to drink.”
“No, here you aren’t. The drinking age is eighteen. Not that I care, of course; I’m a demon after all. Anyways. I need to calm my nerves, so come on.”
They went inside. It was still quite early and the pub was almost empty. Warlock ordered a glass of cider and chips and glanced nervously at Crowley, who was downing one shot of whisky after another.
“Look, pubs aren’t for drinking,” finally said Warlock, after Crowley silently drank his fifth glass, put his arms on the table and lowered his head on top of them.
“What sort of nonsense is that?” he mumbled.
“Pubs are for talking.”
“Who says?”
“All of them do, in the films.”
“Bullshit. Don’t lissssn to ’em. You lisssn to me.”
“Okay, I’m listening. What’s happened that made you so gloomy?”
“Aziraphale happened.”
“Aziraphale?”
“Ye-eah. The angel. He was ye’gardener.”
“I remember, you told me yesterday. You tried to stop the Apocalypse with him.”
“Uh-huh. We’ve been together since Eden. Sssince I tempted Eve. And now… He’s just acting like… like we’re friends.”
“You mean, he’s friendzoning you while you want more?”
“Whaaat?! Is there, what, a special word for it?!” Crowley even looked up. Then he thought for a moment, said “Shit,” and drank. “I don’t know if I want more. What ‘more’ should I want anyway? He’s just… Ahh, you don’t want to hear this nonsense!”
“I do!” argued Warlock. “Tell me. When I first rang at your door, you thought it was him, didn’t you? You told him to go away. Why?”
“We had a fight,” he said unwillingly.
“What happened?”
“Yesterday I went to the bookshop to see’im. But I hadn’t yet gone inside when I spotted a figure l-lurking outsside the building. He was looking through the window, obviousssly ssspying on Aziraphale. I came up from behind and caught the bassstard. He screamed. I screamed too, because, it suddenly turned out to be an angel! But I di’nt let him go. Aziraphale heard the noise and came outside.” Crowley frowned and made a face probably trying to show how Aziraphale looked. “‘What are you doing!’ – That’s what he shouted at me. Why would he shout at me when I’d just saved’im from some lurking bastard?” Crowley looked at Warlock as if he was waiting for a reply.
“Er, I don’t know,” Warlock shrugged.
“’S because I’m a demon,” explained Crowley. “’M’always to blame. I showed him the angel I caught. Just some impish little fella, ridiculously long white eyelashes, I bet he can’t wear sunglasses with’em. Aziraphale made us both come in. The angel said, stuttering, that he was Aziraphale’s replacement on Earth, since Aziraphale no longer obeyed Heaven. And he’d come to him to ask for advice because he was experienced and evr’thin’… Aziraphale was flattered, of course. He said he’d be honoured, bla-bla-bla. I said that he didn’t need to waste his time on those people. They treated him like garbage, you know? When I was in Heaven, they…”
Crowley suddenly cut himself off and poured another glass of whisky. “Aziraphale didn’t want to listen. ‘Well, forgive me, Crowley, if I can’t simply forget my angelic nature’, – and all that nonsense. It’s almost like…” He stopped again.
“What?” Warlock leaned closer across the table. Crowley looked troubled as if he wanted and didn’t want to talk at the same time. Warlock could see his eyebrows above the sunglasses, and this made his face look so pitiful that Warlock almost regretted asking. Crowley had never looked pitiful when he had been his nanny. But they had agreed to help each other, so Warlock asked. “Like what?”
“Remember what I told you yesterday about finding the one who cared? I didn’t notice at first that he did, I thought we were just having a great time together. When I came to him to ask him to stop Armageddon with me, I thought I just needed an ally and he simply had the same interests. It was only later, as the world was collapsing around us did I realise… You know, they say, during a fire one grabs the most precious thing in the house and runs out with it. For me, he was the most precious thing. I was ready to grab him and run away. Only he didn’t go. He stayed on Earth trying to save it, and he returned there even after he’d been forced to leave. But he didn’t stay with me, and he didn’t return to me either. He did it for the world. And I admired it too. It never hurt me, because it was him, and I didn’t want him to do anything for me. I thought he didn’t need to – he already was perfect, he already was everything I loved.” Crowley started as if he was surprised to hear himself say the word. “But then something changed. Our world. We became free from Heaven and Hell, and I thought that now we could belong to ourselves. And to each other. But Aziraphale… He continued doing good deeds. In fact, if you ask me, he began doing them more diligently than when he had been Heaven’s agent. He’d never enjoyed it before. I can’t see why he has to do it now! I, for one thing, don’t want to go back to my former duties. And I hate it that if Aziraphale does this, it sort of implies that I must also be what I am. A demon.”
“And you don’t want to be a demon?”
“I do! No. I mean, It’s not that I’ve suddenly become a saint, of course, I still enjoy making people’s lives miserable sometimes, but mostly because I like to watch them finding their way out of difficult situations. It’s more exciting than any reality show; you should try it. But no one’s keeping score anymore.”
“Maybe Aziraphale also does it for his own reasons?”
“What reason would it be? Is he afraid to Fall? But he hasn’t Fallen yet, so he probably won’t. No. You see, that line that had separated us before Armageddon – he’s drawing it again. We had been free to be whatever we wanted, and he is choosing to be an angel, of all things.”
“If you don’t want to do demonic deeds, maybe you could join him, on his side?” asked Warlock looking at Crowley with great interest. The demon had been right: his problems were much deeper than Warlock’s, they were more complicated and they involved other beings. However, if Warlock looked closer, he saw that they still had so much in common. He didn’t say it out loud. He was afraid to offend Crowley. He didn’t like it when his problems were compared to someone else’s, and he guessed that Crowley would like it even less.
“I can’t,” Crowley shook his head and let out an unhappy laugh. “And I don’t want to. I would be a hypocrite. Sometimes I do something good because Aziraphale asks me to. But then I ask him to do some mischief for me and he refuses. He hadn’t refused before when we had the Arrangement to help each other. But now he says that he wouldn’t do anything bad for me because I no longer have to do it. I become angry with myself because he can make me do what he wants and at the same time he wants me to stay a demon. I care for him so much that sometimes I’m afraid that I’m losing myself because I’m trying to be a version of myself that he might like more. So to prevent this, I do lots of nasty things just in case. And then I realise that maybe he wanted me to do those things all along – that he wanted us to be on opposite sides.”
Crowley buried his face in his hands. Warlock noticed that the demon had stopped stammering and slurring words a while ago and realised that he’d probably sobered up.
“Okay,” he said standing up. “You win. Your problem is bigger than mine. Now, let’s go fix it.”
“What? How?” Crowley blinked at him looking as if he thought that the best way to fix the problem was to fall asleep for a century or so.
“We’re going to pay Aziraphale a visit.”
“Why?! No! That bloody little angel will be there!”
“So what? You said you had faced the archangels of Heaven, why are you afraid of one tiny angel?”
“I’m afraid that Aziraphale would hate me if I face him…”
“You won’t. We’ll just talk. I want to see Aziraphale too. I’ve already got your apology, now I want to hear his.”
“Huh. Alright. Off we go then,” mumbled Crowley still quite uncertainly, but he stood up anyway.
***
Once they were in Soho, Crowley started acting weirdly. First, he stopped near one of the ticket offices and told Warlock a long story about how he had been to some theatre with Aziraphale, and how good it had been, then asked Warlock if he wanted to see a show.
“Maybe later,” Warlock said patiently. “Right now, we are going to see your friend, aren’t we?”
“Right,” said Crowley.
Then he saw a coin on the pavement and leaned over to get it, but it appeared to be stuck to the stones of the road.
“It’s glued, can you imagine that?” he said but busied himself with the coin for five whole minutes.
Warlock was starting to suspect something.
When Crowley stopped to help some old woman cross the street, he knew he had been right.
“Is it just me, or are you playing for time?” he asked the demon once he returned.
“Er… I thought, maybe it’s already getting late and the angel wouldn’t want any guests at this time of the day.”
“Do angels need to sleep?”
“No, but…”
“Then let’s go!”
“He might not be very happy to see you.”
“I’ll survive,” said Warlock and grabbed Crowley by the sleeve.
“Let’s at least stop at the shop and buy some cakes for him!”
Warlock let him buy the cakes.
When they arrived at the door of a small bookshop, it was already twilight. Crowley opened the door without knocking.
Warlock saw a middle-aged gentleman at the counter who jumped a bit at the noise and immediately looked up from the book he had been reading.
“Hi, angel!” Crowley said as nonchalantly as possible. “Here’s someone who wants to meet you.”
Aziraphale looked at Warlock. Warlock looked at Aziraphale. He did not look at all like Brother Francis. He wore an outdated suit like a character in a period drama, but he looked pretty normal.
“Good evening, young man. I’m afraid I don’t have the pleasure…”
“It’s Warlock,” Crowley interrupted him. “Remember? Not-the-Antichrist.”
“Oh,” Aziraphale said.
“He knows everything. About us. I told him. Instead of a bedtime story.”
“Everything?” Aziraphale looked properly shocked.
“Yes, everything.”
“Are you mad at us?” Aziraphale said cautiously.
“I see that you’re an angel,” Warlock huffed. “Crowley didn’t even think to ask. I was mad, at first. But now I’m fine with it. I’d still prefer you to apologise.”
“Well, strictly speaking, it was all Crowley’s idea…”
Crowley glared at him above the sunglasses and Aziraphale quickly added:
“But I agreed to it, so I’m sorry. But in my defence, I should say that I thoroughly enjoyed being your gardener and one of your early teachers.”
“Thank you. Crowley said the same.”
“Did he?”
Warlock looked at Crowley. The demon pretended to be checking his phone.
“You are a grown-up man now.” Aziraphale smiled awkwardly, obviously having no idea what to say next.
“Almost,” Warlock nodded. “I’m deciding my next step in life now. So I’ve decided to visit my former home and people I knew as a kid. Maybe you could give me some advice.”
“Oh,” Aziraphale said again. “That’s– That’s very nice, I think.”
There was an awkward pause.
“We’ve brought cakes!” finally announced Crowley, showing the paper bag triumphantly.
“Great! Wonderful idea! I’ll make tea then. Come in, please” Aziraphale started fussing around, putting the kettle on and getting the cups. Crowley and Warlock followed him to the back room of the bookshop and sat on the sofa.
When they all settled down and took their cups, Warlock noticed that Aziraphale was glancing at Crowley a bit worriedly. He thought it was because of him, but the next moment Aziraphale said:
“My dear, what’s happened to you?” He pointed at the demon’s forehead.
“Ah? What?” Crowley touched his head, pretending he didn’t know what he meant. “Oh, this! It’s nothing. We had a lot of fun in the park earlier today. I didn’t even notice it.” He miracled the bruise away and rubbed the spot absently. Warlock knew Crowley was relieved that the injury was finally gone; he’d noticed that the demon wasn’t very good at enduring even minor pain – probably because he usually didn’t need to. So it was even more amusing that he’d agreed to keep the bruise only to be able to show it off to Aziraphale.
“Really? What sort of fun?”
“You wouldn’t like it.”
“Oh.”
“You look great, Aziraphale,” Warlock said to save them all from another moment of awful silence. Besides, he still couldn’t recognize Brother Francis in this man, although he did look familiar. “Much better than you did when I was a kid. How did you do it?”
“Thank you! It’s so very nice of you. I… Well, honestly, I retired.”
“Right! Crowley told me about that. So, you’re enjoying it, aren’t you?”
“Yes! Yes, I rather do. You see, when I was an angel, I had to do good every day, looking for a possibility to help someone, to save someone, to comfort someone. It was my duty. And when I didn’t do so, I felt like I was a pretender, like I wasn’t good enough. And I hated that good deeds made me feel so bad. But now, because I don’t have such duty anymore, I can do good things out of my own free will! I do it because I choose to do it. I can stop wherever I want. I don’t want to stop, so I don’t. But I like that I’m able to.”
“That’s… really interesting,” Warlock said and looked meaningfully at Crowley. The demon was gaping at Aziraphale. His sunglasses had slid down his nose a bit and his eyes weren’t blinking at all. He looked like a wax figure of himself. A very surprised wax figure.
“And what about you, Warlock? What would you like to do? What are your interests?”
“Hm, you see, I’ve already told Crowley that I don’t have many interests. That’s what makes the choice of a future career more difficult.”
“Have you tried volunteering? Many young men say that helping other people helped them understand themselves better.”
“Pfft, nonsense!” said Crowley. “He’s already wasted too much time doing what other people have told him to do. It’s time for him to do what he likes. What you need, lad, is fun. Rock-n-roll. Nothing will help you explore your nature better than acquiescing to all the temptations and desires you have. Once you know what brings you pleasure, you’ll know what you want to do. And believe me – it won’t be solving other people’s problems.”
“You know, Crowley, I think you might be wrong here…” Warlock said pensively. A shadow of an idea had just touched his mind with its elusive wings. He wanted to catch it. It was intriguing.
But at that moment the bell on the door tinkled, and they heard footsteps.
“I forgot to lock the door!” whined Aziraphale. “It must be some pesky customer. Wait here, I’ll drive them away and come back in a mo.”
He stood up and went to the main room of the shop. Warlock used this moment to whisper to Crowley:
“Did you hear what he said?
“What?”
“What do you mean ‘what’? About him doing good, of course! It’s exactly the answer to your questions – the ones you’ve told me about today.”
“Ah.”
“Do you even understand what that means? He says that he is doing good because he feels free. Isn’t it exactly how you want him to feel?”
“It is, but…”
“What now?”
“It still doesn’t help me to understand what I am free to do! Where is my place in this?”
“Anywhere you want!”
“Oh, yeah,” Crowley huffed sarcastically, and then froze, listening. “Shh! Who’s he talking to?”
Aziraphale was, in fact, talking to someone in the main room, but for some reason, he was talking very quietly.
“A customer?”
“Then why would he whisper?” Crowley sprung to his feet and silently crawled to the door in a cat-like manner. Warlock was sure that the demon just wanted to escape the conversation he’d started, but followed him anyway. Together they peered through the door.
Aziraphale was talking to a young man with silvery blond hair and unnaturally long white eyelashes. He wore a suit which could be called fashionable if you meant that kind of high fashion that implied strange combinations of skirts and trousers, bare arms and lacey cuffs without sleeves. His skin glowed in several places.
“I thought so! There he is again!” Crowley whispered furiously. “It’s the angel who was lurking here yesterday. I’m telling you, Aziraphale is hiding something from me.”
He pushed the door open.
“Hello, old friend,” he said to the angel smiling menacingly. He looked like a proper demon now, Warlock thought. If he didn’t know Crowley, he would probably be more scared of him than of that stinky guy whom he’d met in the desert of Megiddo a long time ago. “What’s the news?”
The angel did look rather nervous. He stepped closer to Aziraphale and stammered as he spoke.
“I– I just came to pay a visit to Lord Aziraphale… J–Just to thank him for the advice he gave me…”
“Did you now? You seem to have a lot of free time if you can go around paying visits every day. Want to have my advice too? Get busy!”
“Crowley!” admonished Aziraphale.
“That’s okay, Aziraphale, I was already leaving. Thank you for everything.” And then the angel suddenly blinked, the heavy eyelashes of his eye falling and rising like two huge fans.
“Er, right. Goodbye then. See you!”
“See you!” the angel said and left.
“Did you see that?” Crowley exclaimed, even before the door closed after the angel. “He winked!”
“What? Why would he wink?” In Warlock’s opinion, Aziraphale’s frown was over-defensive.
“How should I know?” Crowley shouted. “He’s certainly up to something. You’re up to something, aren’t you?” He turned towards Aziraphale.
“This is not your business.” Aziraphale was trying to keep calm, but he was terribly bad at it.
“They’re trying to lure you back up there, aren’t they?” Crowley asked, his breath catching. He sounded angry, but also – Warlock suddenly realised – scared.
“No! That’s absolutely not it.”
“Then what is it? Why do you keep spending time with this little shit? Don’t you remember that he’s one of them? Of the people who wanted to burn you alive? How can you?!” Crowley was already yelling.
“They are not all like that, Crowley!” Aziraphale shouted, almost pleadingly. “Some of them are still trying to help people!”
“Ha! Dream on!”
“Well, I didn’t expect you to understand,” Aziraphale said sounding as if he’d very much expected that.
“He did.” Warlock decided to point it out in case Crowley hadn’t noticed. Aziraphale went red.
Crowley threw his hands into the air as if giving up.
“I don’t. Uh-uh, I don’t understand you, angel. You’re digging your own grave, and you want me to stand by and watch. I’m not going to.” With these words, he stormed out of the bookshop.
Warlock glanced at Aziraphale. He looked defeated. And that expression made Warlock remember where he’d seen him before.
“I remember! You were the magician on my eleventh birthday! You were rubbish.”
“Yeah… I think now it would be a great time to make me disappear.” Aziraphale sighed.
Next: Part 3!
(no subject)
Date: 2019-12-17 01:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-12-18 12:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 04:50 am (UTC)And Warlock decided to forget his problems by solving not so unusual problems of this odd couple.. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-08 01:55 am (UTC)'“No. No, no, no, no, no!” Crowley said looking at the ramp that dominated it. “I don’t even want to look at this madness, let alone participate in it!”' << A very healthy reaction, imo XD Sometimes the price of coolness is simply too high...
"They’re like metal horses. I hate horses – you can’t trust them.” << lol!
“I’m afraid to fall. ’S not like I’ll be able to spread my wings if I do.“ “You aren’t going to fall, Crowley! And if you do, you won’t die.” << Now there's an exchange with some subtext!
"You know, they say, during a fire one grabs the most precious thing in the house and runs out with it. For me, he was the most precious thing. I was ready to grab him and run away. Only he didn’t go ... But he didn’t stay with me, and he didn’t return to me either ... We became free from Heaven and Hell, and I thought that now we could belong to ourselves. And to each other... And I hate it that if Aziraphale does this, it sort of implies that I must also be what I am. A demon. ... that he wanted us to be on opposite sides." << :(((( Oh, poor Crowley! Great meta here, though!
'“Hi, angel!” Crowley said as nonchalantly as possible.' << Surprisingly smooth for someone who just spent the last hour dithering around worrying himself to death. XD Perhaps Crowley's skill at hiding his emotions has been doing him a disservice... (not unlike Jane in Pride and Prejudice, actually)
'“They’re trying to lure you back up there, aren’t they?” Crowley asked, his breath catching. He sounded angry, but also – Warlock suddenly realised – scared.' << :( but also take a moment to imagine what would happen if this was the case. To go through it all, all six thousand years, and then have the big showdown and all sorts of suddenly-rekindled hopes about What Could Be...and then for Aziraphale to just voluntarily give it all up, and leave Crowley all alone at the end of this road they paved and walked /together/. Crowley's well within his rights here too, to be scared out of his mind. D:
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 10:39 am (UTC)"A very healthy reaction, imo XD" << I also think so! XD My brother is a BMX rider, so I could consult him, but I'm always scared when I look at him and his friends riding! :)
"Oh, poor Crowley! Great meta here, though!" << What a compliment, aaw! :) It was interesting to explore my personal headcanon about post-TV-canon, btw, because before I'd always had a very strong headcanon that they both just continued to work for their respective head offices like nothing happened. :D But now, with their retirement, I had to think of something else entirely!
"Perhaps Crowley's skill at hiding his emotions has been doing him a disservice" << So true!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-10 02:38 am (UTC)"my personal headcanon about post-TV-canon, btw, because before I'd always had a very strong headcanon that they both just continued to work for their respective head offices like nothing happened" << Really??? (again!) Was there something specific about TV canon that makes you think this, or is it the same for book canon for you?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-10 04:51 pm (UTC)"Was there something specific about TV canon that makes you think this, or is it the same for book canon for you?" << No, no, that's specifically my headcanon based on the book. I think it's because of that last meeting of A&C in the book, in St James's; they are talking about "your" people and "mine", about how Heaven and Hell tried to pretend that nothing had happened. And so, when Crowley says that "the big one" will be "All of Us against all of Them", his "Us" (for me, in book canon) means 'Heaven and Hell' and "Them" means 'Humans'.
Whereas in TV canon it's all slightly different because they don't have sides anymore. So when Crowley says "All of Us against all of Them" it might just as well mean "All Humans, you and I against all Heaven and Hell". :) This is all very interesting to think about. :) Besides, although in my book headcanon A&C remain the representatives of Heaven and Hell on Earth, that doesn't mean that they would be like that forever.;) I just like the fact that it gives more room for interpretations: what can they do next? Because after the TV show I feel like they are just going to retire to the South Downs after that dinner in the Ritz and this is it. XD
Oh Gosh, I thought we've already discussed everything about them, and look at us! XD