Dang it, sorry. Please ignore that last ask. I didn't realize there was a prompt list to prompt from! Can I get a reassuring kiss for Ineffable Bureaucracy?
There were days where Gabriel doubted his faith, where everything seemed bleak, and the world seemed beyond salvation. There were days when he wished the apocalypse had gone the way it had been planned for millennia, wiping out the Earth like God had wiped out the majority of life on Earth during Noah’s time.
Today, thankfully, was not that day.
The thing was, Gabriel hadn’t always been so pessimistic when it came to humanity. He used to love them and cherished them like God told him to. He still remembered one in particular; an illiterate man from Mecca named Muhammad, who stole Gabriel’s attention with all of his kindness and honesty. They had been friends… sort of, and in the beginning of their odd friendship, Gabriel even taught Muhammad how to read.
But then Muhammad died, like any mortals before him, and his so-called friends had fought amongst themselves for the power vacuum he left behind. Disgusted by this, Gabriel left the mortal plane behind and decided that humans were no longer worthy of his attention. Their scrambling for power seemed so pointless and petty, especially with how fleeting their lives were.
And that was the problem with humanity, wasn’t it? It was so fast and fleeting, like a rainbow after the rain. Gabriel could never understand how humanity could thrive when life was so short for them, how they could fulfill their purpose with so little time.
He didn’t know how Aziraphale could retain his love for humanity for millennia he was with them.
“Something on your mind?” a voice came in and broke Gabriel out of his musings. Gabriel focused his attention back to Beelzebub, who was sitting across him, with the slightest of curiosity on zir face.
“Just… some wandering thoughts about humanity”, Gabriel answered. Beelzebub tilted zir head slightly, an unspoken inquiry within the gesture, and Gabriel let out a heavy sigh. “It seems… unfair, for humanity, is it not? Their lives are so short, and yet they have everything going against them at every turn.”
“Are you going soft for humanity, now?” Beelzebub asked flatly, but Gabriel could hear the teasing in zir voice.
“Perhaps”, Gabriel answered curtly, then sighed again. “Perhaps I am. I definitely was, over than one millennia ago. But then I stopped.”
“Ah”, Beelzebub said. Ze did not pursue him with more questions, which Gabriel was thankful for. He didn’t think he was ready to open up about Muhammad. Not now, not ever.
Beelzebub leaned sideway and pressed a chaste kiss to Gabriel’s jaw, the place ze could reach without resorting to standing on zir tiptoes.
“Stop worrying now. The apocalypse did not happen”, ze said.
Gabriel smiled down on zir. Ze was right; the end did not happen, humanity still had another chance to redeem itself. Perhaps this time, he would assist them by guiding them into the Lord’s path himself.
Not sure how the Prince of Hell by his side would react to that, though.
