“…God does not pay dice with the universe. I play an ineffable game of my own devising. For everyone else, it’s like playing poker in a pitch-dark room, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won’t tell you the rules and who smiles all the time.“
I feel like we don’t give God enough credit for telling us exactly who she is with this line. Yes, it’s funny and said in a breezy Frances McDormand voice, but it’s also kind of terrifying. That game does not sounds like a fun game for anyone but God, for whom it’s probably hilarious. And I think this really sets the tone for God in Good Omens (the TV series, at least).
Good Omens opens up the possibility that God is cruel. She is, at the very least, indifferent to a lot of human suffering, and is sometimes in the business of causing it. Her punishments are harsh, indiscriminate and irreversible. This is a God who drowns children to make a point. She admits that her creations fear her, and does not seem to have a problem with that. She’s capricious with damnation and forgiveness. (Crowley fell for asking a few questions and hanging out with the wrong crowd; Aziraphale straight up gives his flaming sword away and that’s fine.) She doesn’t seem to mind that her angels behave horrifically, from mundane bullying up to summary execution.
She is not merciful. She provides no answers, not even to the faithful. She does not come to the aid of those who call on her. Crowley tells Aziraphale that he shouldn’t count on God to come and fix things, and he’s right. At times, God seems downright sadistic. (Think about the plant scene as some kind of traumatic reenactment of Crowley being cast out of Heaven. Then think about the fact that God herself is narrating this scene in a tone of detached amusement. That’s fucked up!)
One of the reasons that Crowley is such a sympathetic character is that he asks the same questions that any person who has both faith and compassion would ask. (The idea that a demon is the moral center of the story is a think for another post.) If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, why is there so much suffering in the world? Is God actively causing the suffering? Why? Does she just not care? Why doesn’t she make it stop?
@inthroughthesunfroof reply: You said what I’ve been thinking, just, much more beautifully. I don’t know what Pratchett and Gaiman’s religious beliefs are, beyond both having a strong humanist streak. Good Omens doesn’t read like an athiest work, it reads like someone wrestling with the fundamental question that all Christians run into: Given an all-knowing and all-powerful God whom we are told literally is love, why does suffering exist? Why does this suffering exist? How can our God be so cruel?
It’s a question that has broken many people’s faith, including mine. Good Omens doesn’t pretend to answer why, but it does answer so now what with a resoundingly humanist perspective. Whether or not God loves us, whatever that means, the only reasonable way for us to live is to love each other.
It’s a surprisingly biblical answer. Matthew 22:36-40:
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a]38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
If the God of the Bible is real, I don’t know if They’ll forgive a loss of faith. I hope They won’t be too disappointed if people who fail to follow the first commandment hang onto the second.
@ilarualreply: This is such a good post, and really articulates a lot of the thoughts that serve as the backdrop for basically all my readings of the lead characters of GO (both the immortals and the humans). The point is not: is God there? will God save us? Instead, the point is: it is imperative that we assume that there will be no divine intervention, and that it is up to us to work our own interventions.
It’s interesting to me that the human characters do not seem to give a fuck about God. Adam and the Them care about their world, and they care about protecting it regardless of what anyone, divine or otherwise, has to say about it. Anathema, likewise, isn’t interested in anyone’s guidance but Agnes’s. As for Tracy and Shadwell and Newt… they’re just along for the ride, they’re not worried about big theological questions. They’re just humans, messy, lovely, ridiculous humans who are just Doing Their Best when they find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. And all of them have no truck with any Great Plan, whether it’s God’s or anyone else’s— the human characters just want their planet left in one piece. Humanity’s responsible for wrecking it, and humanity’ll be responsible for fixing it, thank you very much. It’s only Heaven and Hell who have any real investment in what God wants or doesn’t want. Squabbling children who are still, after millennia, vying for Mom’s attention no matter how silent and indifferent She may be.
And as for our show-stealing leads…
Obviously Aziraphale’s entire journey over the course of the story is about finally giving up the ghost and accepting what he’s known to be true, in his heart of hearts, for awhile now: God isn’t coming to help you. God isn’t going to tell you what the right thing to do is. You need to do for yourself, you need to speak for yourself, you need to take action, because if you don’t, then who will? Aziraphale’s story is about recognizing that maybe God really does have a plan for all this, but maybe it’s cruel and unjust. And, not knowing what the plan is, if there is one, it is imperative that we step up and act with radical kindness, because to do otherwise is unthinkable.
Crowley… well… OP said it all. Crowley understands this. He is the only character in the entire series that actually addresses God directly, and we know She hears him. She sees, She hears, and there’s a distinct possibility that Crowley and Aziraphale were Her answer all along, but whether that’s the case or not, She’s not telling. And that indifferent silence? Crowley knows that’s cruelty, and that’s why Crowley so thoroughly rejects the false dichotomy of Heaven and Hell. He knows, has known for millennia, that it’s all bullshit. And he knows Aziraphale knows it too, it’s just a matter of getting to admit it.
In the novel, we’re left with absolute silence from God. Maybe God is there, maybe not, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter because we’ve got to take care of each other regardless. But in the show? God is there, God is watching, and God is a smug asshole.
It would be easy to confuse omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence with perfection. But God, it is said, created humanity in Her own image, and if you look at what humanity is like, capable of both extraordinary good and extraordinary evil… well, I think that says just as much about God as it does about us.
#god is human but on a cosmic scale #is basically my praxis both within the context of GO and within the context of just like… religion in general #either god is imperfect & fallible or god is unceasingly cruel #it’s up to the individual to decide which interpretation they can live with
@pisces-atdcomment: also worth noting the somewhat humorous line in the end of the series, in which gabriel states “god does not play games with the universe” and crowley responds “where have you been?” crowley and aziraphale have been living on earth for so long that they’ve SEEN things. think about it: they were the only ones actually THERE right before God literally drowned everyone except for Noah and his family. they’ve seen the type of things god is responsible for. every time aziraphale says “god’s plans are ineffable”, crowley is right there to jump in and ask “why?” which honestly is probably what got him thrown out of Heaven in the first place. eventually, aziraphale stops saying that. he never truly turns his back on heaven, not until the very end, but that’s not because he LOVES heaven or even god. he keeps his foot in the door out of fear. and crowley never truly aligns with hell, but he’d rather be on his own side with aziraphale than ever go back to heaven and work for god again. being on earth for so long, crowley and aziraphale side with the humans more than anyone else. they question hell and heaven, and more importantly, they question god. there’s literally a scene in crowleys office when he’s talking upwards, toward god, and asking “why? why does it have to be this way?” the angels and demons never ask, because for the most part they don’t CARE. the ineffable/great plan is just about a power struggle to them. also worth mentioning that god, in this situation, is about as chaotic as a 13 year old angsts fanfic writer. loving the beauty of suffering for the sake of the story, loving the heart wrenching plot twists, loving to panic and fear and chaos caused by her “ineffable” plan. fine in writing, evil when playing with the lives of real beings. but god has never seen it that way, in the same way angels and demons don’t value human life. I mean, they don’t really give a shit about killing 7 billion humans (not to mention the plants and animals) and of course, to mirror the scene in crowleys office where he’s speaking towards the ceiling to god, there’s a scene later where aziraphale literally calls god and asks to speak with her directly. both of them asking the same thing: “why? does there really need to be a war? can we stop this?” in conclusion: god is cruel and aziraphale and crowley are the only two on either side who understand this concept.
I find it interesting how, as Gabriel is arriving with his thunder and lightening, Crowley is the first to react well before everyone else.
This is everyone at the very first frame of Gabriel making his way to the everyone.
This is five frames later. Everyone else is reacting to the loud thunder that claps around them.
Any theories on why Crowley reacts to Gabriel’s presence much quicker than literally anyone else, even Aziraphale?
My favorite theory is Crowley has probably the highest level of Self preservation on this side of Heaven, hell and earth.
He is looking out for himself and an angel who was probably created to run face first and defend against danger as a Principality (who as shown in the show is way more concerned about Crowley’s death then his own). So Crowley’s thresh hold for ‘what in the room is going to kill me’ is probably Spidey-sense level or stronger. So An Archangel is probably high enough on that list that Crowley could feel The momentGabrieldecides he is going to come down to earth. Hell Crowley knows when Hell is checking up on him and when they aren’t looking at them. He knows when Aziraphale is in trouble. Crowley is ready for attack at any moment.
Meanwhile I really think Aziraphale is a 100% oblivious by creation to not think about his own death. He was created to protect. If you were terrified of your own death you wouldn’t be a good protector. He gave away his weapon because it would protect the humans, he has gotten himself into multiple scrapes, he let a demon under his wing and close to him. When him and Crowley fight it is never ‘Heaven is going to kill me’ it is ‘Heaven and Hell will hurt you’ this angel was sitting in a jail cell and he was more worried about paper work, he barely flinched at a gun being pointed at him. In the book he looked at Satan picked up his sword and prepared to for a Throw down with the devil even in the show his sword is up ready to launch at the devil if he tried to hurt Adam. So Gabriel isn’t on his radar like he is on Crowley’s. Because if it came down to it. Aziraphale would fight him too with out batting an eye.
Yesssss
A very interesting thing is that, according to the book and the tv script, Crowley basically runs on fear.
He’s deeply aware of the fact that he’s not a very powerful demon. He’s scared of Hell, he’s scared of Hastur and Ligur, he’s scared of Satan, and he lives in a world where the first old lady with a bottle of Holy Water could kill him.
Admittedly, he’s a bit more jumpy in the book, but I suspect he just hides it better in the show. A bit more “fight” on the “flight or fight” scale, but I think the essence is the same. This demon always knows where (and when) the threats are, because he was literally terrified into always knowing.
Meanwhile Aziraphale only ever brings up Crowley being destroyed or humans getting hurt. He brings up discorporation to criticize Crowley’s driving, but even then it’s more scolding than real, genuine fear of physical harm.
I don’t think we ever see Aziraphale scared of physical harm, in fact. And part of it it’s definitely that he used to be an angelic warrior and was created with little self preservation. And in the book that’s probably it.
But in the TV show, I suspect he actually… doesn’t think himself worthy of protection? Or, well, no, that’s not right. But it’s not just that’s he ready to throw hands, it’s that he genuinely doesn’t seem to realise that he doesn’t deserve to be hurt and get into trouble?
Like, he’s so happy when Crowley comes to the rescue. Is Crowley the only person who ever stood up for Aziraphale? How much of it it’s Aziraphale being created with no self preservation, and how much it’s Aziraphale not realizing he has a right to stand up for himself, after millennia of emotional abuse?
I am sorry, I am doing a terrible job at explaining what I am thinking, I just have lots of feelings right now
We don’t know much about how angelic/demonic perception works, but we see Aziraphale asking Crowley if anyone is looking before they swap back on the bench in the park. There’s an implication there that Aziraphale can’t check for prying eyes as well as Crowley, otherwise he could do it himself, i.e. there is the implication that Crowley’s senses for angels or demons being around is better/sharper/more sensitive in some way.
Crowley also always finds Aziraphale anywhere no problem, especially when he’s in trouble, and he can sense (smell?) the Hellhound having found his master all the way from London. Whether it’s a honed skill, built after centuries of fear, or at least partly an innate skill, a natural sensitivity, Crowley picks that sort of thing up much more quickly than anyone else. He is also the first to react to Satan’s arrival at the airbase, and his reaction is by far the most violent. He’s in stabbing pain, as the Script Book says.
Aziraphale is sensitive to Love. Nobody else among the angels or demons reacts to that.
We know that angels and demons’ miracles work based on belief and expectations. We know these expectations shape reality around them, unconsciously usually. How much do their expectations and emotions shape the angels/demons themselves? I mean, how much does Crowley’s state of constant terror, however much he tries to hide it under a helping of Cool, shape his very nature and how it interacts with the world? How much will Aziraphale’s focus on love being maybe The most important thing on Earth shape his ability to perceive it? Maybe Aziraphale feels the love in Tadfield so intensely because he believes love is so important, and this belief creates or at least greatly boosts the sensitivity?
And, in that vein, how much does Aziraphale’s belief he isn’t really worth saving inform his lack of fear to be hurt? You’re absolutely right, @whispsofwind, Aziraphale seems to have very limited self-preservation instincts, to put that mildly. Aside of his complaints about Crowley’s driving, he never seems to care for his own well-being? Saving himself from getting beheaded is a frivolous miracle. Being shot will be paperwork. Aziraphale worries for everyone else’s safety, very noticeably for Crowley’s (“they’ll destroy you!”), but not for his own.
And that’s entirely Heaven’s fault? I’m sure Crowley is indeed the only person to ever give any value to Aziraphale as a person, who tries to keep him from harm, who tries to help him. None of the angels care about him at all. He’s just a foot soldier, and his posting on Earth isn’t even considered active duty by Gabriel. Six thousand years of work, and nobody cares about the results for real, let alone about the hardships encountered on the way.
The same is true about Crowley and Hell. Crowley’s role, as we learn early on, is to be “a tool” (in the glorious destiny of bringing about Armageddon). A tool. Not a person. Not an instigator. Not an agent. A tool. A thing. That’s the value Crowley is given by his superiors.
It’s never said with those words about Aziraphale, but it’s obviously the same thing. Nobody cares about them as people. They only have each other.
This ties in to what I said the other day about different angels and demons having different gifts or knacks or tricks, however you want to put it. I think they vary as much as we do, regardless of their allegiance. Crowley and Aziraphale sense very different things, and have very different reactions to them.
Of course, in Crowley’s case I’m 100% sure his hypervigilance is trauma-induced. I doubt he’s always run on fear and prey-animal wariness. But he sure as hell does now.
In addition to this shot, we can also see it in his reaction to the gun going off, and in the background when Satan yells at Adam. (I’d love to be one of those awesome people who can string together a gifset, but alas.) He’s got a very strong GET AWAY response to anything that poses a threat. It’s completely reflexive. He doesn’t think about it, his cool guy mask is nowhere to be seen, he doesn’t even look embarrassed about it. He just throws himself away from danger with every noodle muscle in his body, and if he can’t (like with Satan), he jerks and flings his arm up as if fighting off the urge. This guy is a survivor. There’s a reason he suggests running away, when Aziraphale would never think of it. They’ve developed very different skills, and this is Crowley’s.
All of this makes it really amazing that Crowley is even capable of being protective of anyone else. But he is, he’s legitimately watchful over Aziraphale. Always tries to keep him out of danger as well. That’s not innate. That’s him fighting his baked-in self-preservation response because if he flees, if he escapes and Aziraphale doesn’t, then it’s not bloody worth it. There are worse things than pain or death, even for Crowley. He’ll run, yes. But he won’t run without Aziraphale. And he’ll stand next to him when he clearly wants to get the hell out.
(Also when he’s prowling the bookshop, he’s got the stone-cold wariness of someone who’s not only looking out for threats, but is prepared to do something about it if he finds one. That expression on his face kills me. If the bookshop isn’t safe, he’s going to make it safe. We almost never see him like that and I’ll never be over it.)
I find it interesting how, as Gabriel is arriving with his thunder and lightening, Crowley is the first to react well before everyone else.
This is everyone at the very first frame of Gabriel making his way to the everyone.
This is five frames later. Everyone else is reacting to the loud thunder that claps around them.
Any theories on why Crowley reacts to Gabriel’s presence much quicker than literally anyone else, even Aziraphale?
My favorite theory is Crowley has probably the highest level of Self preservation on this side of Heaven, hell and earth.
He is looking out for himself and an angel who was probably created to run face first and defend against danger as a Principality (who as shown in the show is way more concerned about Crowley’s death then his own). So Crowley’s thresh hold for ‘what in the room is going to kill me’ is probably Spidey-sense level or stronger. So An Archangel is probably high enough on that list that Crowley could feel The momentGabrieldecides he is going to come down to earth. Hell Crowley knows when Hell is checking up on him and when they aren’t looking at them. He knows when Aziraphale is in trouble. Crowley is ready for attack at any moment.
Meanwhile I really think Aziraphale is a 100% oblivious by creation to not think about his own death. He was created to protect. If you were terrified of your own death you wouldn’t be a good protector. He gave away his weapon because it would protect the humans, he has gotten himself into multiple scrapes, he let a demon under his wing and close to him. When him and Crowley fight it is never ‘Heaven is going to kill me’ it is ‘Heaven and Hell will hurt you’ this angel was sitting in a jail cell and he was more worried about paper work, he barely flinched at a gun being pointed at him. In the book he looked at Satan picked up his sword and prepared to for a Throw down with the devil even in the show his sword is up ready to launch at the devil if he tried to hurt Adam. So Gabriel isn’t on his radar like he is on Crowley’s. Because if it came down to it. Aziraphale would fight him too with out batting an eye.
Yesssss
A very interesting thing is that, according to the book and the tv script, Crowley basically runs on fear.
He’s deeply aware of the fact that he’s not a very powerful demon. He’s scared of Hell, he’s scared of Hastur and Ligur, he’s scared of Satan, and he lives in a world where the first old lady with a bottle of Holy Water could kill him.
Admittedly, he’s a bit more jumpy in the book, but I suspect he just hides it better in the show. A bit more “fight” on the “flight or fight” scale, but I think the essence is the same. This demon always knows where (and when) the threats are, because he was literally terrified into always knowing.
Meanwhile Aziraphale only ever brings up Crowley being destroyed or humans getting hurt. He brings up discorporation to criticize Crowley’s driving, but even then it’s more scolding than real, genuine fear of physical harm.
I don’t think we ever see Aziraphale scared of physical harm, in fact. And part of it it’s definitely that he used to be an angelic warrior and was created with little self preservation. And in the book that’s probably it.
But in the TV show, I suspect he actually… doesn’t think himself worthy of protection? Or, well, no, that’s not right. But it’s not just that’s he ready to throw hands, it’s that he genuinely doesn’t seem to realise that he doesn’t deserve to be hurt and get into trouble?
Like, he’s so happy when Crowley comes to the rescue. Is Crowley the only person who ever stood up for Aziraphale? How much of it it’s Aziraphale being created with no self preservation, and how much it’s Aziraphale not realizing he has a right to stand up for himself, after millennia of emotional abuse?
I am sorry, I am doing a terrible job at explaining what I am thinking, I just have lots of feelings right now
We don’t know much about how angelic/demonic perception works, but we see Aziraphale asking Crowley if anyone is looking before they swap back on the bench in the park. There’s an implication there that Aziraphale can’t check for prying eyes as well as Crowley, otherwise he could do it himself, i.e. there is the implication that Crowley’s senses for angels or demons being around is better/sharper/more sensitive in some way.
Crowley also always finds Aziraphale anywhere no problem, especially when he’s in trouble, and he can sense (smell?) the Hellhound having found his master all the way from London. Whether it’s a honed skill, built after centuries of fear, or at least partly an innate skill, a natural sensitivity, Crowley picks that sort of thing up much more quickly than anyone else. He is also the first to react to Satan’s arrival at the airbase, and his reaction is by far the most violent. He’s in stabbing pain, as the Script Book says.
Aziraphale is sensitive to Love. Nobody else among the angels or demons reacts to that.
We know that angels and demons’ miracles work based on belief and expectations. We know these expectations shape reality around them, unconsciously usually. How much do their expectations and emotions shape the angels/demons themselves? I mean, how much does Crowley’s state of constant terror, however much he tries to hide it under a helping of Cool, shape his very nature and how it interacts with the world? How much will Aziraphale’s focus on love being maybe The most important thing on Earth shape his ability to perceive it? Maybe Aziraphale feels the love in Tadfield so intensely because he believes love is so important, and this belief creates or at least greatly boosts the sensitivity?
And, in that vein, how much does Aziraphale’s belief he isn’t really worth saving inform his lack of fear to be hurt? You’re absolutely right, @whispsofwind, Aziraphale seems to have very limited self-preservation instincts, to put that mildly. Aside of his complaints about Crowley’s driving, he never seems to care for his own well-being? Saving himself from getting beheaded is a frivolous miracle. Being shot will be paperwork. Aziraphale worries for everyone else’s safety, very noticeably for Crowley’s (“they’ll destroy you!”), but not for his own.
And that’s entirely Heaven’s fault? I’m sure Crowley is indeed the only person to ever give any value to Aziraphale as a person, who tries to keep him from harm, who tries to help him. None of the angels care about him at all. He’s just a foot soldier, and his posting on Earth isn’t even considered active duty by Gabriel. Six thousand years of work, and nobody cares about the results for real, let alone about the hardships encountered on the way.
The same is true about Crowley and Hell. Crowley’s role, as we learn early on, is to be “a tool” (in the glorious destiny of bringing about Armageddon). A tool. Not a person. Not an instigator. Not an agent. A tool. A thing. That’s the value Crowley is given by his superiors.
It’s never said with those words about Aziraphale, but it’s obviously the same thing. Nobody cares about them as people. They only have each other.
This ties in to what I said the other day about different angels and demons having different gifts or knacks or tricks, however you want to put it. I think they vary as much as we do, regardless of their allegiance. Crowley and Aziraphale sense very different things, and have very different reactions to them.
Of course, in Crowley’s case I’m 100% sure his hypervigilance is trauma-induced. I doubt he’s always run on fear and prey-animal wariness. But he sure as hell does now.
In addition to this shot, we can also see it in his reaction to the gun going off, and in the background when Satan yells at Adam. (I’d love to be one of those awesome people who can string together a gifset, but alas.) He’s got a very strong GET AWAY response to anything that poses a threat. It’s completely reflexive. He doesn’t think about it, his cool guy mask is nowhere to be seen, he doesn’t even look embarrassed about it. He just throws himself away from danger with every noodle muscle in his body, and if he can’t (like with Satan), he jerks and flings his arm up as if fighting off the urge. This guy is a survivor. There’s a reason he suggests running away, when Aziraphale would never think of it. They’ve developed very different skills, and this is Crowley’s.
All of this makes it really amazing that Crowley is even capable of being protective of anyone else. But he is, he’s legitimately watchful over Aziraphale. Always tries to keep him out of danger as well. That’s not innate. That’s him fighting his baked-in self-preservation response because if he flees, if he escapes and Aziraphale doesn’t, then it’s not bloody worth it. There are worse things than pain or death, even for Crowley. He’ll run, yes. But he won’t run without Aziraphale. And he’ll stand next to him when he clearly wants to get the hell out.
(Also when he’s prowling the bookshop, he’s got the stone-cold wariness of someone who’s not only looking out for threats, but is prepared to do something about it if he finds one. That expression on his face kills me. If the bookshop isn’t safe, he’s going to make it safe. We almost never see him like that and I’ll never be over it.)
@krakensdottir you’re right about everything, including this, gotta take that out of the tags for a moment here: this difference between them is a good illustration of the different types of trauma they suffered?
Crowley got used to expect physical violence and abuse. It started with the whole falling into the sulphur pool thing (which sounds… OUCH no matter how you put it), and we are shown on screen what kind of an environment Hell is. Their paperwork burns you when you sign it. A higher ranking demon can and will without having to expect any complaints set his underlings on fire. The show is actually less open about it than the book and script book, but in there it sounds not only like they frequently threaten Crowley with torture, but also like it has actually happened before. Crowley’s trauma comes from being repeatedly hurt, being constantly in danger of getting hurt again, and having developed the according reactions.
The abuse Aziraphale suffers at Heaven’s hand is emotional. (Mostly. It seems like the physical violence Uriel and Sandalphon subject him to on the day of Armageddon is not the norm, he reacts very surprised and confused to it. With disbelief. This isn’t normal treatment.) Aziraphale is being belittled, gaslit, ignored, talked over. His contributions are never considered worthwhile, he never gets any recognition even for doing a good job, like in the deleted scene where he’s supposed to be recalled but Gabriel falls for Crowley’s ruse and believes Aziraphale to be the only angel capable of thwarting Crowley. They never tell him about this great job he’s doing.
He’s not consulted on any major decisions, he says so himself, although he’s Heaven’s active agent on Earth. They don’t even actually tell him about the Apocalypse. When it’s starting, Gabriel comes down, picks on Aziraphale’s food choices, says something cryptic about Crowley being up to something, and leaves without any statement along the even vaguest lines of “oh, Armageddon is coming”. Would anyone have told Aziraphale, if it wasn’t for Crowley? I don’t think so.
Of course he’s afraid of being a disappointment! That’s the only feedback he ever gets from Heaven.
And, look, the only one who encourages and appreciates Aziraphale’s hobbies, his interests and pleasures, his being a person, is Crowley. Consequently, Crowley is the only one Aziraphale feel safe around and let’s go of the Very Good Angel Trying Very Hard Mask around. His body language, his entire demeanor, are completely different around Crowley than they are around Heaven. In Heaven, Aziraphale is small, shy, anxious, wringing his hands and stammering through his reports. Around Crowley, he keeps himself upright, he openly enjoys his food, he talks about his interests, he talks about business with Crowley as an equal, he becomes an entirely different person almost.
Likewise, Crowley feels safe around Aziraphale. He trusts him with his vulnerabilities (let’s him see his eyes, tells him about his worries, asks him to run away with him when his panic gets the better of him). He even lets himself be angry around him. Crowley keeps his anger (and doesn’t anger almost always come from a place of hurt?) very close to himself. The only other beings he lets it out around are his plants, which are barely sentient and hold zero power over him. The plants can’t hurt him. Aziraphale could, but Crowley trusts him not to. They are each other’s safe space.
(This is another reason why the bandstand hurts so much guys. Because that’s what happens there, isn’t it? Aziraphale does hurt Crowley, and Crowley doesn’t listen to Aziraphale’s concerns and hurts him in turn, because they’re both so scared and at the end of their wits. Sniff.)
“I’m not safe with others but I’m safe with you and I trust you completely” is my goddamn storytelling WEAKNESS, OKAY
