[A hug is one thing, it's another entirely to have Aziraphale so close, looking right at him. Crowley is sharply aware of how easy it would be to lean in, close that tiny amount of distance to claim a kiss and he can't, not now. Maybe not ever. Aziraphale's just had his world turned upside down in more ways than one, Crowley isn't going to take advantage of that.
So he keeps still, and he watches, and he doesn't whine when Aziraphale pulls back. He wants to reassure him that it isn't about being soft or strong or anything, that they don't have the same control they had back home, that it isn't a failure to give in.
But he feels untethered, with Aziraphale out of his space, as though he's the one hit with some compulsion to stay close, and he moves without thinking, bringing his hands up over the angel's, holding them against his own chest.]
You couldn't be a burden, Aziraphale. Not to me.
[He's meant that more than he's meant anything he's said in his life, except maybe his desperate pleading for Aziraphale to run away with him.]
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So he keeps still, and he watches, and he doesn't whine when Aziraphale pulls back. He wants to reassure him that it isn't about being soft or strong or anything, that they don't have the same control they had back home, that it isn't a failure to give in.
But he feels untethered, with Aziraphale out of his space, as though he's the one hit with some compulsion to stay close, and he moves without thinking, bringing his hands up over the angel's, holding them against his own chest.]
You couldn't be a burden, Aziraphale. Not to me.
[He's meant that more than he's meant anything he's said in his life, except maybe his desperate pleading for Aziraphale to run away with him.]