Work Text:
Aziraphale worked at his desk, reading glasses on the tip of his nose. When the vintage, Middle Eastern style oil lamp on his desk let out a low hiss, he didn’t pay it any attention. Less than a minute later, a tall red-haired man stood next to the desk. He wasn’t completely transparent but not completely solid either.
“What are you doing?” the man asked.
“I’m working, Crowley.”
“Uh-huh. Is there anything you wish me to help you with?”
“No,” Aziraphale said, making another mark on the page. “It’ll only be a moment.”
Aziraphale finished his notes in blessed silence and then looked up. Crowley hadn’t moved from his position.
“You are allowed to do other things while I’m busy. You know that, right?” Aziraphale asked, putting down his glasses.
“I’m not. I’m tied to my master’s will and service. I’m tied to my lamp. The only way for me to do anything in the world is for my master to command me,” Crowley said. “If you wish to send me away, you have one more wish left.”
That was true. Aziraphale could send the djinn away whenever he wanted. The problem was that he’d grown fond of Crowley, more than fond in fact. Aziraphale didn’t have many friends, and Crowley was great company. Using his last wish would mean losing Crowley and that was the last thing Aziraphale wanted.
It was incredibly inconvenient to be in love with an immensely powerful being who was in his service. The power imbalance implications of the situation were terrible.
“If you could, would you choose to be free?” Aziraphale asked.
“Yes,” Crowley whispered. “You’re a kind master and a good friend. But other people— Being free would make me more vulnerable, shorten my existence. But I would still choose to exist free for one human lifetime rather than be a slave for a thousand years.”
The guilty conscience flared up in Aziraphale’s mind. He was being selfish keeping Crowley trapped in his servitude. Aziraphale’s loneliness would be a small price to pay to give Crowley his freedom.
Aziraphale took the brass lamp from his desk and got on his feet. He weighed it in his hand and placed it back on the surface.
“This is my third and last wish. I wish for you to be free,” Aziraphale said.
The impact was instantaneous. The lamp rattled and let out a loud whoosh. Crowley’s eyes widened and he fell on the floor, gasping for air. Aziraphale could only look at the scene and wonder whether he’d made a terrible mistake. The lamp on his desk fell on its side. When Aziraphale glanced at it, there was a faint stream of smoke coming out of it, and it looked dimmer and older than before.
“Crowley?” Aziraphale asked. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Crowley gasped. “That was unexpected.”
“My wish or what followed from it?”
“Both,” Crowley carefully got back on his feet. He looked more solid than before. Crowley touched his body and then gazed at his hands. For a few seconds, Aziraphale saw flames forming on Crowley’s palms, until Crowley suffocated them again.
“My magic is still intact,” Crowley said, sounding pleased. “That’s good. I wouldn’t like to face the human world without some advantages.”
“What do you plan to do now?” Aziraphale said. He was aware the being in front of him was now free of his control and many times stronger than Aziraphale. If Crowley wanted to hurt him in any way, avenge all the millennia he’d been a slave to humans, there was nothing Aziraphale could do about it.
“Fill some of my own wishes,” Crowley said. “What do you think about a nice cottage by the sea?”
“That sounds lovely. Better than the busy city, I think.”
“That’s what I thought,” Crowley smiled. “Aziraphale.”
“Yes?”
Crowley watched him intensely for a long moment before leaning down to press a kiss on his lips.
“Would you like to live with me in the cottage? Not as my owner or master, but as equals?”
“You’re a lot more powerful than I. We wouldn’t be equals.”
“Aziraphale. I would never use my powers to hurt you,” Crowley said, taking Aziraphale’s hands in his. “I— I love you, I think.”
Aziraphale caught the djinn around the shoulders and pulled him into another kiss, deeper and longer than the first one.
“I would like that, my darling,” Aziraphale beamed. “The feeling is mutual.”
“There are other human things I’d like to experience for the first time too, now that they would be out of my own free will,” Crowley let his hands slide to Aziraphale’s hips. Aziraphale’s heartbeat quickened.
“Is that so?” Aziraphale said. “Anything I can help with?”
“Yes,” Crowley pressed their bodies together. “I believe so.”
“Well then. Whatever you wish, my love.”