Act IV: Friendship!? Love!? Where are we, in a Shojo manga?? (yes)

Honestly, Horknath couldn't say that his life had ever gone better. The dinner at Carleen's parents' had been nice, both her mother and father had been extremely kind (and tolerant, he guessed, since he had been a nervous wreck for the first part of the evening). And most important, carleen had told him that she loved him. She loved him! He still felt giddy at the memory, a whole three days later.
He was sitting at his usual table at the cafeteria (he had arrived earlier as per his usual) and was now waiting for Castiel to come over and have lunch with him. He hoped his friend would arrive soon - he was starving.

On the other side of the world - quite literally - a nervous Aziraphale was trying to find his way to the custom office of the airport through a thick crowd of people. He huffed and puffed, hating the very fact that he had to abandon his bookshop for the afternoon to go fetch Anthony's luggage - but just thinking about the other man made his sour mood soften, and his stomach flutter nervously. He couldn't be angry with him now, could he - especially since he had been asked on a date, and he was definitely looking forward to it! He finally arrived at the desk of the officer appointed with giving out luggage expeditions from abroad and showed his documents with a smile on his face. "Hello - I'm here to retire some luggages. Here's my documents, and the signed permission of the owner." He hesitated. "There should be an... exotic pet among them."

Horknath waved back at Castiel, making space for him at the table - he had put his bag of books on the chair beside his, to keep it occupied. Not that there was any need, but well. "It was alright", he hummed as he grabbed his cutlery. "I'm not the greatest at English lit yet, but I'm getting better now that I'm used to how this professor teaches." He held back a small grin thinking about Carleen making it a point to sit by his side in every class they had. "And Carleen's been great with me so far", he decided to add a bit shyly. Yeah, he had fallen hard. He coughed. "What about your day?"

Aziraphale eyed that particular box with a certain apprehension, but still thanked the employee, signed whatever documents he needed to sign - that was the most tedious part of that whole ordeal - and finally put all of Anthony's belongings on a cart, to push it to his car. He had been careful to put the snake's box on top of everything so that the poor thing wouldn't feel stuffed among all the other things.
The trip back to his place was nothing exciting - and he hated every single second that he had to spend in the traffic, and every subsequent second he had to use to bring all of those things up in his apartment above his bookshop. He still put the plants in places where they could get sunlight, though. because he was a nice person. And then, when he finally flopped on his couch... Well, alright, alright. He was curious. He looked again at the box as it lied on the little table in front of the sofa and decided that he had all the right to peek inside. He slowly reached for it and carefully, extremely carefully, opened it, to try and see the snake inside. "Hello there?", he murmured, feeling a little silly.

Horknath coughed again, embarrassed by Castiel's mention of their... side-jobs at the strip-club. "Yeah, I guess", he answered, starting to eat his pasta, playing a little with his fork in his plate. "Carleen's mother knows I'm working there. She saw me", he added suddenly. "She works with the police. With... with your uncle." He threw a glance at Castiel.

Aziraphale let out a little gasp when he saw the snake's tongue darting out like that - probably smelling the air around. It was in a new environment after all, and it had been closed away in a box for quite. He tried to relax a little, even though those unnervingly reptilian, yellow eyes on him made him feel more than a little nervous. "Ah", he said simply, looking at it a bit closely. "Well - you seem to be alright", he added with a little, unsure smile. "Anthony told me you're well behaved, so... uhm... I'll trust him. You look cute, I'll grant that much - I was expecting something bigger and scarier, so... it's a pleasant surprise." He tilted his head. "Your owner forgot to tell me how you're called. I guess I can call you Anthony until human Anthony doesn't get to London", he joked. He felt more than a little silly now.

Horknath shook his head. "Not at all. She was... unbelievably nice", he said, letting out a small chuckle. As if he still couldn't believe that himself. "She recognized me from Carleen's descriptions, I guess. I assured her I just... work there temporarily. It's to pay off the expenses of the University, I'm paid well, and the hours don't clash with my schedule." He sighed. "She believed me, so I guess I'm alright for now." He threw him a glance. "I covered for you, though. Don't worry, I don't think anybody saw you in the club." He just hoped he wouldn't have to lie again to Hanakael. That man was way too intimidating for him.

Aziraphale backed off when he saw the snake raising its head, still feeling wary. "No no - where are you going", he reproached it softly, gesturing with his hands to try and make it go back in the box. "Look, I know you probably want to stretch and all, but - no offense, I have a lot of nooks and crannies around here, and I wouldn't want you to get stuck somewhere - what would human Anthony say?" He carefully lifted the box, walking away from his living room. "But you're in luck, my little friend - I have a guest room that I've secured just for you and your little snake needs", he huffed as he opened a door. Indeed, he had made sure to tape every hole and to close the window as well as he possibly could. "That way even if I let you out of the box, you won't go around too much, eh?" He put the box down on the bed.

"It's alright - I would've done the same thing, if I had been in your situation", Horknath answered with a smile. "I'm sure you would've covered for me too, if that were the case." He finally managed to ate a large mouthful of pasta, and tilted his head when Castiel murmured something about not having been alone that night. "A colleague?", he asked with his mouth still half-full. He doubted it could be the case, Castiel rarely hanged out with colleagues from the club. "Or - someone I know, anyway?"

Aziraphale chuckled when he saw the snake happily slithering on the bed and apparently stratching. He guessed that it really wasn't pleasant to be stuck in a box for such a long flight - sedated, even! Terrible. "Well - do as if it was your own place", he exclaimed then. "I'll close the door, that way you won't get a chance to sneak on me while I sleep." He shyly reached out, trying to pet the snake's head a little. or at least poke it. He was ready to retract his hand as soon as he deemed it unsdafe, though.
Rodent instincts.

Horknath seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh - yeah, wait, now I remember. that night I saw him coming in, he was with a friend of his." He still felt extremely grateful to him for agreeing not to tell Carleen exactly where he worked. He looked a little alarmed when Castiel mentioned an incident - but relaxed as soon as he was assured it had been contained quickly. And then, he beamed when his friend mentioned the chance of dating Dean. "Hey - that's so nice! I'm happy for you", he congratulated him with a hearty pat on the shoulder. perhaps too hearty.

Aziraphale looked positively bewildered in front of the rather strange behavior of that snake. "Aw - aren't you friendly", he chuckled. He seemed less wary now as he gently rubbed the palm of his hand against the scaly skin of the animal. He saw the tongue darting out, though, and he decided it would have been wiser to retire his hand. "I know, I know. I smell of rodent", he sighed. "Well. Anthony told me you don't eat other people's pets, so I suppose you shouldn't be trying to bite me either." He raised up on his feet (he had knelt to be able to pet the snake) and patted his knees to clean his pants. "I guess I should go and eat something before going to sleep." Between the trip at the airport, the return, and placing Anthony's things around, time had really flown by quickly. He sternly pointed at the snake. "Be a good boy", he warned him like he would have a dog, and then he finally made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Horknath scoffed. "Why should it impact that?", he answered, after shooting an apologetical look at Castiel when his fork clattered on the table, followed by a quick 'sorry'. He tended to forget himself when he was around Cas. "'sides, you're so nice and all - Dean should consider himself lucky. And he better not break your heart, or I will have a talk with him, and Carleen won't be able to stop me!"

But Aziraphale didn't go to bed that soon after all. He ate, of course, even though not as much as he'd usually do - he was too tired to think and cook himself something that would require too much effort. Then he flopped down on his couch, turned on his old television on a random channel - it was a movie, he didn't really care enough to look it up - and in a blink, instead of a plump, nice man sitting on a couch, there was a peaceful-looking capybara, calmly minding its own business as it relaxed among the pillows.

Horknath grinned. "Hey, I'm glad you're my friend too!", he answered. "Don't worry - I'm not going to go around talking about your private life", he added then with a small nod. He could understand that there were still a lot of people that were uncomfortable about the idea of opening up about their sexuality. Dean was probably one of those people. He just hoped it wouldn't end up hurting Castiel on the long run, if this was going to become a serious relationship!

Aziraphale could feel the snake slithering closer before he could see it, and he froze. What - how was it possible that it had managed to escape from the room? Had he forgotten to close it? Oh, bother. And now what? He tried to relax, thinking about the best course of action he could take - and decided not to morph back. The snake could've gotten scared if he suddenly turned into a human being, and he didn't want for it to get stressed and mauìybe attack out of self-defense. The best course of action was probably to just sit around, try to calm down, and wait for the snake to just slither away again. He'd try to catch it later, and he'd definitely give it a proper scolding!

Horknath frowned at the empty seat. "Oh, yeah she was at this morning's lesson. ... I think." With Michela, no one could be absolutely sure. That girl was like a cloud of smoke - you were sure she was sitting behind in the darkest part of the room and then suddenly you turned around when the bell had rang and she was gone.
"Thanks for noticing me", a drawling, low voice said - making Horknath almost jump on his chair. Michela chuckled and walked around the table, glad to see she had managed to startle Horknath. Not that it was a big feat, but still. She put her food trail down on the table, let go of her bag so that it fell at the side of her chair, and let herself fall on the seat. "Hey", she just said, greeting them both.

Aziraphale was indeed startled when he felt the cushions give in a little bit. He had seen the snake, and it definitely wasn't big enough to provoke that kind of shifting. He decided to open his eyes to watch at his side - and let out a scared squeal when he saw that Anthony was sitting right next to him. Human Anthony, not snake Anthony. How had he gotten inside!? Wasn't he supposed to arrive the day after? What was going on!!

Michela shrugged. "Just a regular day. Nothing interesting", she commented as she started to dig into her plate of meat and salad. "What about yours?"
"Nothing much too", Horknath commented. "Aside from almost getting a heart attack just five seconds ago, I guess."
Michela shot him half a grin, but didn't comment. "You?", she asked again, nodding towards Castiel.

Saying that Aziraphale was astonished was honestly an understatement. He immediately morphed back, jumping on his feet right away. "Anthony!", he exclaimed at the couch, not really knowing what else he could say honestly. "Come out right this instant!" If his almost-boyfriend-turned-snake was going to make him wait, he would've started to dig between the pillows to grab that unruly snake. Now that he knew, there was no way he was scared anymore!
Besides, they needed to talk this out before Anthony could think he had screwed up!

Horknath didn't yelp when someone laid their hands over his eyes out of a sheer miracle, probably - he did relax, however, when he heard the familiar voice of Carleen. "Well- since there's only one person in the whole school that calls me that, I'm pretty sure I can answer 'Carleen'", he chuckled, feeling a little embarrassed about the familiarity of this gesture.
He loved it, though.
Michela raised her brows, looking a little on edge about Carleen's sudden apparition. What was going on?

Aziraphale scoffed when he saw that black, noodly snake try to escape from his hands. Unfortunately for Anthony, he had a very solid grasp. "Anthony", he said, sternly. "I know it's you. I saw you. Could you just - please turn back?", he asked, a little more gently, laying the poor snake on the couch. "I promise everything is okay. I'd just like to talk to you."

"I don't", Horknath answered in a murmur, his face flushing a bit. From the way he looked at Carleen it was evident that he was absolutely smitten, and threw a glance towards Castiel, suspiciously eyeing his grin. Was he going to tease him? Who knew!
Michela held herself a bit stiffly, squinting at that beaming sunshine girl that had just decided to invade their table. "... yeah, uh... you're... Carleen, then", she said, looking wary. "You sit in the front, right." Well, it was hard not to notice Carleen - she was always dressed in the latest fashions, rocking it, and surrounded by people. Beautiful, popular and smiling Carleen! Of course. She did wonder how the hell she knew her name, though. That was bizarre.

Aziraphale sighed, a little relieved to know he hadn't imagined it all. He eyed Anthony's wary expression with fondness before clearing his throat. "Yes, I'm not freaking out. And, uhm... about that", he answered after a little, with an uncertain smile. "I guess I'd better come out as well then." He sat on the couch - but as soon as his body hit the cushions, the same capybara from before materialized in his place.

Michela made a face, as if trying to gauge wether or not she wanted to share her vital space with yet another human being - but she really had no reasons to say 'no' to Carleen, so she just shrugged. "Sure. Go ahead", she answered warily, grabbing her bag from the chair and letting it fall next to her feet instead. She kicked it under the table, so that she could keep it safe.
She didn't even try to hang it on the back of her chair.

The capybara looked at Anthony with a polite expression - how did a capybara manage that, nobody could ever know - and gently pushed his head against his hand. Aziraphale didn't really mind being petted, if he trusted the other person well enough. And he trusted Anthony - even a bit more now, since they apparently shared the same little 'problem'.