SPN/GO drabble

[icarus_chained]

For a prompt by zekkass on comment_fic 

Title:  Pre-emptive Salvage
Rating:  PG
Fandoms:  Good Omens, Supernatural
Summary:  "So, where do you buy your books?" (Bobby, Aziraphale, GO!Crowley)
Wordcount:  500-ish (yes, my idea of 'drabble' is skewed -_-;)

Pre-emptive Salvage

Bobby blinked into the sudden, abrupt silence. Stared at the faint touch of pink that appeared in the angel's cheeks, the broad, wicked grin that crept across the demon's features. And blinked in confusion.

It had seemed an innocent enough question when he asked it. The angel had a library like none Bobby'd ever seen. It hadn't been that much of a stretch to ask where it had come from.

"Ah," Aziraphale said, still flushing. "Perhaps 'buy' is ... not the right word, really. That is ... 'salvage' might be better. Or perhaps 'acquire' ..."

"Or perhaps 'appropriate'," Crowley cut in, grinning ear to ear, ignoring the deadly look the angel shot him. "'Borrow without intent to return'. 'Steal', even?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" the angel shot back hotly. "I have never in my life stolen a book!"

"Really," Crowley drawled, looking over to wink at Bobby, who stared at him. "What about that Black Bible you took from that cult in the 16th century?"

"Confiscation," the angel answered immediately. "Far too dangerous a thing to leave in those poor children's hands. It was entirely for their own safety."

"Uh huh. And the Ionan manuscripts?"

"Pre-emptive salvage," came the prompt answer. "Vikings are terrible about destroying books. I could hardly leave them there, knowing that longship was on the way!"

"I'm sure. Oscar Wilde?"

"A gift from a dear friend."

"Anathema?"

"The poor dear dropped it, and I was somewhat distracted at the time ..."

"Alexandria?"

"The place was on fire. I'm sure they would have been glad to know something survived ..."

"Those folios from the Vatican?"

"Dear, you stole those, remember?"

"Huh. Yeah. Okay, but what about ..."

"Alright!" Bobby cut in, before it devolved any further into what looked like a longstanding argument, resisting the itch in his hands and sudden urge to peek into his own library, make sure nothing had been 'salvaged', maybe. The pair of them blinked owlishly over at him, as if they'd forgotten he was there entirely, and Bobby felt his face settle into the kind of glare that previously only Winchesters could bring out. "Can we just go with the simple answer, over here, and say you've never actually bought a book in your life?"

Which was perhaps mildly hypocritical of him, but it made the angel flush to his ears, and Bobby was beginning to think that hanging around with Crowley for an extended period of time was starting to have an effect on him ...

"I have if the situation required it," Aziraphale said stiffly. And let a small smile creep sheepishly across his face. "It's just that, when you're an angel, such situations don't come up very often ..."

Bobby barked a laugh. "Amen to that," he said, and then stabbed a finger in the angel's direction. And the demon too, for good measure. "But if I ever find out anything of mine was 'pre-emptively salvaged', I've got a shotgun shell with your name on it! Understand?"

Aziraphale grinned, and spread his hands as innocently as an angel could. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said, and Bobby wondered if it was just hanging around with Crowley that made him think there was something far too smug about his tone.

Ah well. Angels. What could you do?