Crowley wandered back inside his house, slumping into the plush recliner, his feet up, letting his eyes close. Sleep was a need for him, especially for keeping up appearances; for the serpent, it was a drain on him at all times. Crowley dreamt for only a moment, long enough to feel the area around him, felt the pulse run through, sunlight filtered in disturbing him, he heard a scream. Golden eyes flashed open, cursing the light as it beamed on him. Pulling his glasses down from the top of his head, he single-handedly pushed them up the bridge of his nose while flipping off the sun.
A full stretch later, a few muttered curses, and he found himself in his kitchen making a coffee. Crowley could have miracled one. However, it just didn't have the same flavor or the heat. Waiting, he heard noises coming from his new next-door neighbor, the good scientist. A smile crept across his face as he considered everything he had learned the day before, the pulse that ran through Ezra's house. It was Sunday, so no one would be at Eden working the serpent could sleep, and he could get to know his neighbor a bit better.
Watching out his window Crowley saw the telltale signs that Ezra was out and about in his back yard. A halo of divinity bobbed around back there, Crowley could see him peeking over the cleared fence into a yard that was overgrown just the day before. A cherubic face looked over towards a cottage he had only seen being strangled by the vines and trees that slowly were absorbing it. Crowley stealthily watched. Ezra felt someone watching him, looking up, he caught Crowley in the window, and waved, a smile brighter than the central spire came with that wave. "That man is going to blind me with that smile." Crowley waved back and watched as the angel next door vanished, only to hear a knock on his door moments later.
Crowley hollered back towards the door in the front room, he was still waiting for his coffee, and neither hell, heaven, or angel was going to move him from his station. "It's open, come on in!" Ezra slowly opened the door peeping in, and from Crowley's point of view, he resembled a fluffy mouse peering in the doorway. White fluffy hair, two very big bright blue eyes, and just the tip of a rather adorable nose. "Oi, come in. I'm in the kitchen." Ezra eventually entered his house and walked to where he had seen the man pop out and back in, he could hear him humming. Crowley had his back to the door filling his coffee cup, with a graceful turn, drained half of it before saying anything else.
Ezra had already ceased breathing when he saw the color of Crowley's hair, the shape of him, it brought a recollection of him helping last night. In the light, the color of his hair was beautiful, fire. Crowley hadn't looked up yet from his cup when he did, he stopped as their eyes met. Of course, he had seen Ezra's eyes, as a serpent, the vision was different for him there; this was clear and right in front of him. Never had he noticed that those strikingly blue eyes had stars sprinkled in them, of all colors, the added colors against the blue made them stirring and moving. There was recognition, as soon as it was noticed it left, Ezra radiated a smile at Crowley, who in turn quickly drained his cup of coffee and whirled back around for another.
"So, I do believe, dear boy, you helped me last night? That was you, was it not?" Ezra waited, Crowley, let him, for just a moment, long enough for a blush to bless Ezra's cheeks. "I did, just had completed moving in, went for a stroll, and there you were. Names Anthony J. Crowley, though you can call me Crowley." Crowley smiled knowingly as the flush on Ezras face deepened. "Ah, yes, that, I do remember you mentioning that. I do hope you don't have a bad impression of me. It's not something I frequently do, well walking home inebriated, that is. I hope I didn't put you out!" Crowley observed the scientist wring his hands in worry, he could feel the anxiety pulsing off Ezra. "Ngk. Good thing I was in the area." Ezra's eyes dropped from Crowley's sunglasses and then quickly back up, "I should thank you for the rescue then!" Crowley shook his head, "No, no, don't do that, ngk; it's fine, really."
With coffee in hand, Crowley directed them back out into the front room, extending the recliner to Ezra, Crowley spread out on the couch. "So Ezra, what do you do? You started to mention something last night but stopped." Ezra looked around the front area, his eyes settling back onto Crowley, who was smirking at him. "Oh, I work down the street at Eden Labs, I am a scientist there, nothing exciting I am afraid, or well, no, just more along the lines of I can't tell anyone, but very exciting, beautiful really." Ezra beamed at the thought of what he was doing in the lab, Crowley secretly was very charmed, his serpent form was being admired, praised, as it should be, in his opinion.
Crowley was glad he had on his sunglasses; it allowed him to take in Ezra, starting at his feet and gradually going up. The suit, he concluded, looked rather fetching on the man, and it was very much him, old style but him. Ezra was not a diminutive man, shorter than Crowley by a few inches, there was muscle under that light padding, Crowley thought plush to himself and smirked. As his eyes proceeded to slither up the front of Ezra, he took in the man's lines, the flow of his neck, to the line of his jaw, his eyes inadvertently descended to a full pout of a mouth, then as if his brain betrayed him plummeted lower. Crowley felt his face get rather warm, hastily adjusting his line of sight back to blue eyes that could easily penetrate through him.
It took Crowley a moment to discern that Ezra's eyes had dropped to the floor, and his face was rather flushed. "Are you okay, Angel?" Crowley silkenly purred out unintentionally, he watched as Ezra's blush deepened. "Tea?" It was a squeak of a voice. Crowley looked at his coffee cup and then at to Ezra's fidgeting empty hands. "Oh, shit. I don't get many visitors. 'course, I'll go get that. Sorry, sorry." Crowley got up, setting his cup on the end table, he walked by the recliner and happened to look down. On the back of Ezra's neck was a symbol, almost indiscernible, but there none the less.
Ezra could hear Crowley in the kitchen, "Can I be of service?" Crowley chuckled, "If you want to come back here, you can, my home is your home." Crowley leaned against the counter and looked at the door, and just as he thought, the little mouse popped into the kitchen. "So, question, couldn't help but notice, what's the symbol on your neck?" Ezra reached up touching it absently, his hand ran over it. "Well, strangely enough, I don't know." Crowley tilted his head just slightly, "How so?" Ezra shrugged, "I really don't know, I just don't remember." Crowley regarded him for a moment, trying not to get lost in those eyes, he sighed, blinked, and then internally screamed at himself.
Crowley handed Ezra the tea and smiled, watching him try it, "So Crowley, what is it you do?" Crowley hadn't thought that far ahead, but he was working on a much faster level of thought, "Botany.". Ezra now intrigued, "Oh, a scientist as well then? Are you going to be working at Eden?" Crowley couldn't help but laugh inside at the irony happening. "Yes, maybe we could walk together, I don't like starting somewhere new, and standing there alone trying to figure out what to do. Ya know, new job, new world, no friends, I mean I would have you." Crowley couldn't help the smile that kept popping up on his face, Ezra just seemed to drag it out of him. Then as if on queue, the angel beamed that smile. It made Crowley's heart-ache, and he knew at that moment he'd do anything to make him smile like that.
"Oh, of course, my dear, it would be a pleasure. I walk every day, though," Crowleys hidden and dead heart lurched at ~My dear?!~ Lifting an eyebrow over the rim of his glasses, "You always walk? You never drive?" Ezra shook his head, "No, have never seen the need really. Everything is here in the town." Crowley took that into consideration, nodded, and motioned to go in the backyard. "Want to see what I have done so far?" Ezra readily agreed and fell in behind Crowley, both men walked out into the back yard, Crowley heard a gasp behind him that sent a shock through his spine. Ezra walked out past him, touching and looking at the beauty of the back yard, Crowley's garden.
Ezra chuckled and looked at Crowley, "So, you have your own private Eden, hmmm?" Crowley was still trying to shake off the shock of Ezra's gasp, his eyes fell back to the man with a blank expression, at least to Ezra it was blank. Crowley was fighting back a single want to make Ezra gasp like that again. Ezra looked at the ground for a moment.."Well, that went down like a lead balloon..." The pout on Ezra's lips snapped him out of it, "Sorry, what was that?" Ezra smirked, "I said that went down like a lead balloon." Ezra sighed, shaking his head, "I am not very good at jokes."
Crowley watched Ezra take in the rest of the garden, there wasn't much he didn't touch or compliment. "What's that?" Ezra walked towards a tree in the middle of the garden, "Oi, yeah, don't touch that tree. It has some issues." Ezra stopped and looked at it from a bit back, "You should get a don't touch sign, I mean it is in the middle of your garden, and it looks lovely." Crowley smiled and stood next to Ezra, "Thanks, but it'll take some time to get that tree right." Crowley bent down to pick up a dying apple that had dropped from the tree, his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, slightly. Standing back up, Ezra caught a shimmer of gold, his breath caught for only a moment, Crowley noticed.
Looking at the apple, he tossed it over into Ezra's backyard, a shit-eating grin on his face, when he heard the gasp from Ezra. Crowley lifted his coffee cup and finished the last of it, his newly found grin never leaving his face. Ezra regarded Crowley for a minute, drinking his tea, hiding a smile behind the cup. Crowley caught a hint of something in those starlit blue eyes, he didn't know what it was yet, but it was something. Ezra, walked back into Crowley's house, placing his cup in the sink, calling back to the garden, "Heading home, you should come over later if you have a mind to have a drink, I have a lovely chateau neuf de pape!" Crowley ducked his head into his kitchen, looking at the angel, "What time?" Ezra smirked, "Oh when you can clear your schedule, I'm there all day." Crowley nodded and watched Ezra leave.
Slithering back out to his garden, he sighed, his mind wouldn't stop thinking, well viewing, a full scan of a particular scientist. Crowley was going to have to do some serious soul searching, the more he thought about Ezra, the more agitated he got. This was a human, an angel at best, what was wrong with him. As he internally reprimanded himself, an apple flew into his yard, landing at his feet. Turning towards the offender, an angel leaned on the top part of the fence, a shit-eating grin on his face. Crowley's eyes went from the apple to Ezra just in time to see Ezra fire a water gun at him. Ezra's grin couldn't have gotten any wider if he wanted it too.
Crowley stood there, slightly damp, a dying apple at his feet, standing in front of an apple tree, in a garden. Now, if he could have been in his serpent form, it would have been perfect. To top it all off, an angel was grinning at him, holding up a bottle of wine. Crowley couldn't help but laugh, he was just thwarted by an angel in the garden of Eden. The bastard. Shaking his head, he couldn't stop the smile that placed itself on his face, he hadn't smiled this much in a long time. Without so much as a thought, he walked in and out of his house until he crossed his wards. It felt like chains latched onto his shoulders, his wings, and started pulling him to the ground.
Backing up quickly he went to go back inside, he held onto the door, legs shakey, when an arm slid around his waist. "Are you okay, Crowley? Let me help you." Ezra had seen him falter from his yard and came rushing to help. Crowley stopped breathing, his eyes on the arm that was around his waist, the warmth that was at his back. "Couch, please." Ezra could barely hear him; he leaned closer, "I couldn't hear you, my dear." Crowley shuddered, feeling the trace of breath against his skin, the shudder didn't go unnoticed, Crowley just pointed at the couch.
Reclining on the couch, the strain of the curse was not what was making his head swim. Ezra looked at him before sitting on the recliner, "Are you okay?" Crowley nodded, not knowing what to say, his brain had decided now would be an excellent time to take a sabbatical. "Do you need me to get you anything? Do you have hypoglycemia?" Crowley looked at him and went with it, "Yeah, it's fine, really." Ezra got up and went into his kitchen, Crowley could hear cabinets opening and closing. "Crowley, you have coffee, that's it. No wonder this happened, have you eaten anything today?" Rolling his eyes, "Nope."
Ezra popped back into the front room with that breath-stealing smile, Crowley decided he should just discorporate, it'd be easier than this onslaught. "Let's have lunch!" Crowley looked at him, "I know a place, I am sure I can talk them into some crepes!" Shaking his head, Crowley relented and followed the angel to lunch. "My treat, I owe you." Crowley stated Ezra nodded, "Rather."
The following day, the two men had decided to walk into work together. Seeing as it was Crowley's first day there, Ezra thought he'd show him around, so the conversation had veered entirely about the building, some of the people, the Chief Director, and Gabriel. Now that was a topic Crowley needed to hear about, but just as he was about to ask, the waking sky opened up raining on them. Over Crowley's head, a white umbrella opened; he looked at Ezra, who smiled. "I might know the weather, I thought we might need it." Crowley had no words anymore, he just walked with an angel to Eden, to work in the garden.
