Title: Briefest Salvation
Author: RavenWolf
Pairing: John/Gabriel, just slightly.
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Summary: Gabriel just wasn’t meant to be human.
***
They fought a lot, back when Gabriel was an angel. Not physical violence, because Gabriel found it too plebian and useless, and because John didn’t quite care enough to hit him. But something close.
Half the time, if Gabriel’s honest, he wasn’t sure whether they were fighting or fucking. It would have been mostly the same to him, as angels don’t have the necessary sex organs for what humans would call sexual intercourse. The shiver up his spine makes him think they’re fucking. The ache in his heart makes him sure they’re fighting.
Gabriel used to be the one holding all the keys. Now it’s John, and all Gabriel’s got are painful bloody wing stumps hidden beneath a hideous parka. It weighs them down and hurts him, but he has to wear it, because he can’t afford to be noticed anymore.
John’s probably still a little angry at him for killing his friend. That’s fine; at least it means he’ll be in to see Gabriel at some point. He couldn’t bear it if he just faded into the masses now, just another dirty, sinful, ignorant human.
But John doesn’t come, and he doesn’t come, and it occurs to Gabriel that he doesn’t have eternity anymore. And he’d give anything if John would just punch him, one more time.
So, somehow, he drags himself to the apartment over the bowling alley, the one that smells like cigarettes and a little of blood, and he waits, because he can’t, can’t go any further.
***
Eventually John comes home. He looks at the mess of human on his front doorstep, and is immediately suspicious. But when he rolls the body over and checks for a pulse, he finds none.
“Poor girl,” he says, not recognizing the angel,
covered in ash and blood as he is.
Then, he takes out his keys and opens the door, leaving the nameless, faceless body on his doorstep.