Crowley stood under the rapidly cooling cascade and closed his eyes. His heart had returned to racing on that track laid by a priest's hands and holy glances, it was fluttering in a cacophonous symphony of birds once more, and their feathers swirled within the bony cage of his ribs as Crowley tried to calm them with the deepest breaths he could manage.
-Vine Slips - @depraveddame
You ever start reading a fic for the smut, and then get so enamored by the prose of it all that you become obsessed and have to draw something more closely adjacent to a fine art piece than you have in literal years?
Anyway so I think Vine Slips permanently altered my brain chemistry and all I can say is thank you for it.
This idea had been kicking around in my head for some time while reading through all three parts of said fic, and I finally brought it to fruition, to the best of my current ability. It quite possibly will not be the last of art that I create inspired by @depraveddame 's works, they may grow tired of hearing from me at some point :')
the greatest love can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places
Title: the greatest love can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places
Characters: AU!Crowley x reader
Fandom: Supernatural
Word Count: ~1.2k
Warnings: spoiler for s13, mentions of evil!AU!Cas
Summary: You wake up in the arms of someone special to your heart and reflect together how far you both have come since you first met.
A/N: Happy Birthday, @mathbymoonlight! Hope you’re going to have to most amazing day. All the love and best wishes possible! You deserve the world, my friend <3
You felt a warm hand drape over your waist. Instinctively you leaned back into the warm body attached to the hand. It was a solid presence and on your not quite awake face spread a small smile. This was your favourite way to wake up. Your first thought of the day was how loved the man behind you made you feel and how you too loved him to the moon and back. One might have argued it was fate for you two to be together, but considering your story it was the furthest from likely.
When you first met you had come from a different world. You had been a hunter in a world where the Apocalypse had always been narrowly avoided because of the Winchester wonder boys. You had teased Dean so often about how he should stop thinking they were the centre of the universe, but well if meeting god and his terribly written fanfiction novels about their lives didn't open your eyes, this universe did. A world without Sam and Dean that was stuck in an eternal war with heaven fighting pretty much everyone at the same time and winning. It certainly hadn't seemed like the place to find happiness.
A small kiss was pressed to your neck and a tingly sensation started to unfold in your stomach. The feeling was growing with the slow circles the hand on your stomach was drawing.
"What are you thinking about?" An accented voice asked close to your ear, unwilling to move too far from your exposed neck.
"I'm thinking about how lucky we are that we found each other"
"You sound like it wasn't obvious that you were smitten with me after the first five seconds of meeting me"
"Oh you mean the three seconds before I tried to stab you?”
You raised an eyebrow, slowly turning your head to meet his dark brown eyes. They were filled with so much love it took your breath away. He must have caught your breathless expression easily, mischievous smile forming on his lips before pressing them to your forehead. It was something he had become very fond of over time. And you had to admit there was a whole new level of intimacy and closeness to something as simple as those casual kisses to the top of your head. It was his way of silently promising that you were safe with him and always would be.
"Smitten before the stabbing" he declared "Hopelessly in love and mine slightly after."
"Crowley?" You smiled up at the demon "You are officially banned from telling our story."
"You wound me, darling" He didn't sound wounded, his smile was too fond "But go on then how would you tell our story?"
"Well I met the most caring and selfless demon I’ve seen in two worlds. And it did help that he had a great accent too. Though I only fell in love once we almost died side by side and all I saw in his eyes was concern for me."
"I sound like the hero in your story" He said surprised "I was the one who delivered you right into the waiting arms of the torturer Castiel."
"And you regretted it, didn't you?" You knew the answer, you didn't have to ask. But you knew he needed to answer, so he could for the millionth time make sure you knew he had changed from the power hungry and cunning ways he operated before. As if you wouldn't know simply by the endless love in his eyes.
"I regretted nothing more in my life" He swore and you kissed him passionately.
"I know" You replied in a whisper against his lips before pulling away enough to meet his eyes again "And I don't care how we got in there, all I care about is that you never left my side in there. Till we both got out."
You kissed him again decisively. You were still amazed at for how long a demon could feel bad about a mistake he made what felt like ages ago. Though you really shouldn't let him surprise you like that. After all this quiet way of caring was one of the reasons you fell for him. There was so much more to him than what met the eye, so much more than to any other demon.
"It was something in his eyes" Crowley explained quietly "There wasn't even happiness at getting someone to blackmail his enemies with or to torture till they spelled all the resistances secrets. There was nothing. His smile didn't reach his eyes. He was empty."
You stayed still and observed Crowley's emotions play across his face. He looked unsure, but also deeply concerned. It was the same concern you first saw when he brought you to the empty warehouse to make a deal with heaven's greatest torturer.
"You deserved better than that" Crowley added and you knew he meant it today just as much as back then, probably more so now.
"Humans deserve better" You said "Eternity often makes you forget that what life is about. But no one is invincible. The natural fragility of humans doesn't make them weak."
That brought a smile on Crowley's face. His hand tightened around your waist and pulled you closer. The look in his eyes told you exactly how he had enough of this seriousness so early in the morning. They were darker than usual, filled with desire and love. He seemed to remember his initial intensions as he guided your hips to straddle his. His hands held you firm and warm.
"What if I need a reminder just how not fragile humans are?"
"I think I can help with that" You tried for your most innocent smile as you moved your hips slightly, earning a soft gasp.
You would be willing to show him for the rest of your life how humanity was worth saving and how he made the right call in that warehouse. He chose to give saving people a chance. He gave humanity a chance. Something most angels in this world failed to do, the king of the crossroads managed. It didn’t matter who or what he was, all that would ever matter was that he made the right call that day.
You were convinced the Chuck of your old home world would be incredibly proud of both of you both. You chose love over war and power. You chose with your own free will a destiny that wasn't easy, but worth fighting for. And for the rest of your life you would wake up next to the man, who made sure you remembered each and every day why heaven could never win so long as you trusted each other and your special bond.
Sometimes the greatest love was found in the most unexpected places.
