Disclaimer: Once again, Good Omens is not mine.
Author's Note: This one's short, although I feel that the 'end' befits the end of a Chapter. Please review :)
ALL IN A LIFETIME'S WORK
Chapter 2
Aziraphale looked up irritably from his desk and silenced the alarm clock blaring out 7:30am with a glare. He sighed and laid down his tweezers and brush, took off his white latex gloves and covered the book he had been religiously repairing. After Crowley fell asleep on the sofa, Aziraphale had disentangled himself and tucked him in with a blanket the demon wouldnt have been caught dead using.
The angel had been holed up the rest of the night in his makeshift workroom just as he had in his old bookshop, hidden away in the deep recesses of the absurdly large walk-in closet that came with the flat. He sighed, turned off the desklamp, morosely stepped out of his secret cubby and covered it with his coat rack. He flipped on another light switch and a warm glow illuminated the rest of the closet. Aziraphale plucked up a list taped among others on his mirror at random.
Lucky outfit #056. It outlined in great detail complete with illustrations what Aziraphale was to wear for the day, Gabriel - to Aziraphale's surprise - was much more obsessive compulsive than the Principality. He would not leave anything to chance, not especially Aziraphale's public image which only took the will of Heaven itself to implement. Aziraphale eyed the rest of the indexcards and considered for a second if #063 looked more appealing. Nope. It was just as 'modern' as everything else. Didn't matter really. So he went on to pick out the items in the list, putting them on exactly as the card illustrated. Crisp white shirt #24, Khaki pants #11, red belt with unusually large buckle (Aziraphale thought that it was ridiculous, but nonetheless put it on. Things were hard enough as it is, and nobody wants an irate Archangel breathing down your neck over a stupid belt), red chuck taylors pair#2. The only thing he really liked were the sneakers. Aziraphale made a mental note to keep a couple of pairs for himself as soon as this assignment was over.
Assuming it would be over soon. Where the term 'soon' hopefully only equalled 3 or 5 years more. But Aziraphael was no fool. Up There can and will continue this assignment for as long as they wish. Its so easily remedied, just a new face, a new body, or they can simply make Aziraphale 'age' indefinitely. With things going as well as it was now, this work will easily last a human lifetime.
Maybe longer.
That thought depressed Aziraphale even more, as he sullenly studied his reflection a last time before stepping out into his never-been-used bedroom. The sheets have never been touched, nor sat upon. The angel simply refused to believe that this assignment would take longer than he mentally accepted, and therefore only allowed himself to use this space as a temporary home.
Crowley must have sensed this deep depression last night, Aziraphale thought. The old snake had none of his usual sass and seemed almost... caring. He had to smile at that and walked into the living room only to find the demon missing. The blanket was thrown aside, glasses and wine bottle the only evidence Crowley had been there.
Aziraphale tried not to be too disappointed and headed out, a limousine was waiting for him. He expected as much anyway.
*******
Today, he had a photoshoot and a meeting with his producers.
The meeting went well over brunch; Gabe did most of the talking, Aziraphale did his best to smile through everything. The only thing he remembered was that the tea was exquisite and the devil's food cake divine. At the very least, he liked the perks of this job.
Photoshoots on the other hand, were in Aziraphale's least-liked 'perks' of the job list. It involved tons of people, long hours dealing with a moody photographer, 'emoting' in front of the camera (angels weren't exactly known for their skills in acting) and most of all; finding ways to avoid lying in the endless small talk the stylists, make-up artists, directors, producers, photographers and assistants just had to make.
Aziraphale let himself be ushered into hair and make-up and let the stylists do their thing. At least his manicurist was a welcome sight, Aziraphael was beginning to mentally phase out when Gabe appeared next to him.
"Your new personal assistant is here, baby." he had a grin un-befitting of an angel at the moment.
"What? I don't need a PA, Gabe. We talked about this before."
Gabe's grin grew wider. "Oh no, no. This one, you can't refuse."
Aziraphale's eyes widened when he spotted Crowley's familiar frame appear next to Gabe's.
Crowley's mouth was twisted into a sly smile. "I would have picked a different position, angel. But Gabriel here drives a very hard bargain."