THE PENTHOUSE - EVENING
Picking up where we left off, (because I can't help myself) Crowley and Balthazar continued their smoochies. To them, it was a steamy, epic make-out session, but from the outside, it was light-headed, clumsy drunks pawing weakly at each other for sleepy kisses. Cute, but hardly the stuff of music videos.
"Do I stay?" Balthazar asked, grinning between kisses. "I feel like staying."
Crowley smiled, nuzzling in blissfully. "Mmm, yeah... No!" His eyes snapped wide and he fought to get upright on his knees. "We can't wake up together."
"Mm?" Balthazar grunted, but began getting up with him. "Right, no, you're right. We can't. That would imply naughty."
Crowley braced himself on Balthazar. "We have to think about Sober Us," Crowley said, doing his damnedest to wake up. But the heat between them was building. "Sober Us... would be cross."
"Well, Sober You," Balthazar said with a conceding nod, "but when Sober You's in a fit, he makes it bad for everybody." He took Crowley's face in both hands and looked him in the eyes, super serious. "We're friends. Just friends. Just two good, friendly friends, who work and conquer the planet together, enjoying their unchecked power and celebrity and can I nibble your neck?"
Crowley glared at him. "No. Well,... real quick."
Balthazar sunk down, breathlessly kissing and biting Crowley's neck like it was a contest. Crowley gasped and let his head loll to the side, one hand clutching at the back of Balthazar's shirt, the other raking fingers up through the back his hair. He got a handful of hair, keeping Balthazar's head where it was.
"We're such friends right now," Crowley panted.
"Quicker?" Balthazar asked in a growly voice.
"Slower," Crowley said. "Stay with me. Stay 'til I'm out."
Balthazar sobbed a fake sob. "Don't pass out on me again, Mignon," he whined. "You never remember."
"I will this time," Crowley said, petting Balthazar's head reassuringly, "just stay with me."
He kissed Balthazar's forehead. Balthazar pointed to his cheek and Crowley kissed him there, too. They went on like that for a minute, Balthazar pointing to various spots on his face and neck, and Crowley kissing them.
"You'll remember how good this feels?" Balthazar asked, sounding a little evil. "To let that Hell baggage go and just have at it? Will you remember how much you love me?" He sat back, cross-legged, pulling Crowley with him.
Crowley responded by wrapping his legs around Balthazar's hips. "Who says I love you?" he asked, smirking.
"No one," Balthazar said, "I can read minds."
"Oh, can you?" Crowley rested his head against Balthazar's, very amused. "That's handy."
"Mm-hmm. Remember all those souls you loaned me for our first deal? And how I didn't seem any mightier for them? Well, it turns out my powers increased laterally. I can be inside anyone's thoughts. That's how I found out where the angels were, how I kept us from getting canceled back in season one - you'd be surprised. I've been reading your mind for three years now. I could even tell you the exact moment you fell in love with me. Isn't that awful?"
After a moment, Crowley's smirk faded at Balthazar's words sunk in. Frowning, his eyes slowly widened, lips pursed. He looked like he might've strangled Balthazar... for a few seconds. Then he busted up laughing. Balthazar laughed with him. The whole thing was so absurd.
"Let me guess," Crowley said, "halftime show?"
"Raphael," Balthazar said.
"That early?" Crowley couldn't help a chuckle at that. "You must've been wearing your deepest of v-necks. And what about Taz, when did you fall for me?"
Something sincere crept into Balthazar's smile. "The wine cellar," he said.
Crowley squinted at Balthazar incredulously. "Three months in?"
"Two," Balthazar said. "Couldn't be helped."
Crowley hugged Balthazar, chin on his shoulder. Drunk and slumped, humming with satisfaction.
"I win," Crowley sighed. "You fell first, I win a pony. So you like me best when I'm hammered? You're not alone."
"Well, you're more fun this way," Balthazar said. "Less prickly." And then he had a giggle, because he was drunk enough to think 'prickly' was funny. "Getting you squiffy was the only way to get to know you. Well, before I could, you know, pop your head open and take a peek. It was so bizarre, though. The only one who understood what I was going through was the Devil. There's an eye-opener. Everything you said... About wanting the fighting to stop. And all the pressure on you to be this perfect, heartless machine. Never feeling safe. Losing all your friends. Being the only one who..."
He was getting a bit choked up now, and hugged Crowley tighter as he rambled. Yes, it was the maudlin monologue portion of the evening. That's what you get when angels start drinking at breakfast.
"Being alone," Balthazar said. "Cut off from everyone and everything. I felt it. I felt it all so bastardly. I tried to just chew it - angels are supposed to be tough. But I was terrified." He stroked Crowley's hair. "The very idea, that someone as clever as you was just as lost as I was. And you needed me. Me. I wasn't just some goon you brought on for the heavy-lifting. I'd never had that before." He kissed Crowley's earlobe. "The way we fit together, it was destiny. And - oh, lord - normally I can't stomach that stuff. But how many things had to break just the right way for you to find me?"
Balthazar pulled back from the hug to look in Crowley's eyes. "When I think of how close we came to missing-." But Crowley had passed out quite a while ago, a small smile lingering. Balthazar shook him a bit, but he was out cold. "You bitch."
He groaned a whiny, little groan and let Crowley sag back onto the bed. It took a moment for Balthazar to untangle himself, but he managed. He rolled Crowley onto his side for safer night-vomiting.
"You're so much cuter when you're unconscious," Balthazar whispered and kissed his jaw. "Don't forget this time." He gave Crowley a parting swat and shuffled for the door, bracing himself on furniture as he went.
When he opened the door, Balthazar found himself face-to-face with Shipley and Lydecker, both looking thoroughly annoyed.
"What's phase two?" Shipley asked.