Chapter Text
Nicholas D. Wolfwood got fired.
Again.
This time he flung a drink at a customer. A small caramel cream cold brew to be exact. The guy was bald, had rancid breath and had been leaning over the counter to shout his order. Nick had to lean back while taking his order, fighting the urge to gag from the smell.
“Sir, take a step back please.”
“Wah?! What for!?”
Nick took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. He already has three write ups against him and if he pulls anything else he’s done. Not that he would particularly care, he hated this job anyway and had been looking for a new one. Serving tea and coffee and stale pastries was not exactly what he wanted to be doing.
Another thing he did not want to be doing was inhaling this dude’s trademark stink. He took another deep breath, “I am politely asking that you stop invading my space so I can take your order more efficiently.” He said robotically.
This only made the customer move in closer, “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?!”
Nick squinted his eyes, “You, jerkoff. Your breath smells like your mama’s tit. Back off of the fucking counter,”
All heads in the shop were now turned towards Nick and the customer. He couldn’t find it in him to give a fuck about the attention right now. He was tired, pissed off, and nauseous from the man’s halitosis.
“Wha- Jerkoff?! I’ll show you a jerkoff!”
“Yeah, I bet you will, big man.”
One of the other customers standing in line looked at another and whispered “Did that bald guy just say he was gonna jerkoff?”
Baldy had been properly embarrassed at this point and was now beet red in the face. Angry and humiliated, he made a sudden move to get closer to Nick. In the blink of an eye, Nick grabbed a completed cold drink on the counter to his left and whipped it at his assailant.
He got called into the manager's office minutes later, turned his apron in, and the rest is history.
The rosary he kept wrapped around the rear-view mirror swings back and forth. Its beads made a soft tapping melody that joined in with the music from the radio. He would be lying if he said he didn’t regret what happened today. He fucking did. He lost another job because he couldn’t hold it together for two more seconds. It’s whatever now. He can just add this to his growing list of things he’s fucked up on, no big deal.
God, he fucking hated himself so much.
Nick lived a few miles outside of December. It was more rural and quieter furthest from the city, which was fine by Nick, he preferred it. His apartment was on the first floor of a navy-blue colonial house. Above him lived Meryl and Milly, a married couple that ran the local newspaper. Living in the basement apartment was the owner of the house and landlord, Milly’s uncle, Roberto. He got along pretty alright with them; they gave him no trouble, so he gave none back. Well, that was only true for Milly. He loved torturing the other two.
He normally drove the main road to and from the city but for whatever reason, he felt the need to take one of the back roads. As if the universe was giving him a gentle push to take it.
He drove for another mile when the radio started acting strange. The music either sped up or slowed down and it was switching stations on its own. The same phrase from different sources repeated over and over.
Can you hear me?
“What the fuck?”
Driving regulations state you should never take your eyes off the road especially in the evening, but Nick was terrible at following directions. He looked down to twist the dials of the radio to try and fix whatever was happening to it. It was now playing a new phrase.
I miss you.
Nick gave up and turned the radio off. He flicked his gaze back up to look at the road when a figure that seemed to be in a trance suddenly appeared on the road. A glowing figure. A glowing figure with wings.
“Shit!” Nick cursed and swerved to avoid whatever it was he was about to hit. The pickup truck went into the grass, kicking dirt high up into the air and rocking violently side to side. He turned the steering wheel to get back on the road and slammed on the breaks, stopping so hard that if it weren’t for the seatbelt he would have been flung through the windshield.
After the dirt in the air finally settled down and he got his breathing under control, Nick put the truck in park and left it running just in case he needed to bolt. He ran his fingers through his hair and screwed his eyes shut. Not only did he get fired today but he almost hit someone with his truck. Today is rising the ranks in the Worst Fucking Day tournament.
After another beat, Nick shifted his gaze to the rearview mirror and saw that the thing was still standing there looking up at the sky. He should just put the pickup back in drive, head home and never think about this again.
But he was full of bad decisions today.
Nick put his hazard lights on, unbuckled the seatbelt and got out of the truck. He slowly made his way towards the figure, making out features that made it look like a regular human man in appearance save for a few lightly obvious differences. The glow was coming from lines marking its face and neck. Its wings were so ethereal it was almost terrifying. Feathers so black that they almost disappeared against the darkening sky. There were small specks of purple that looked like stars and some even had lines that webbed out to other specks.
There were three pairs all together; the smallest pair grew out from behind its ears and were closed around its face, covering its eyes. The next biggest pair was on its lower back, about the same length as the creature’s legs. The largest were the wings sprouting between its shoulder blades. This pair’s wingspan had to have been at least twenty feet.
The closer Nick to this creature- no, this angel-, the more features he can make out. Blonde undercut that caught the light from both the marks on its body and the stars in the wings. The angel also had on regular clothes as compared to the white robes like one would imagine an angel wearing. The outfit consisted of a pair of black joggers, scuffed up red high tops, and a red techwear jacket that was lifted up in the back to accommodate the two pairs of wings. He noticed that the left sleeve of the jacket was tied off above the elbow. It must have been missing the limb.
Nick stood in front of the angel and waved a hand in front of its face to try and get its attention before remembering it can't really see anything. Maybe it was best that it couldn’t see him. Any sane person would have run off by now but as the days previous events have shown, Nick was not exactly a sane person.
Suddenly, the wings on the angel’s head burst open. “Hey man, can I help you?”
“Fucking Christ!” Nick screamed out and slammed his fist right in the angel’s face.
Blood immediately exploded from the angel’s nose, staining its upper lip crimson. This caused the wings to start disappearing as well, disintegrating feather by feather “OW! What the hell’s your problem?!”
“What the fuck are you?!”
The angel held its nose and frowned, “Wow, you're one of those? I’m a guy, I use he and him.”
“I didn’t mean your fucking pronouns! I don’t care about those!” The angel shot him a pointed look, “Okay, no, I mean I do care, just not in an asshole way, like genuinely I do. I mean what species are you, dipshit. Are you an angel?”
“Kind of but not really? Similar. Do you want me to tell ya ‘be not afraid’? If anything, I should be more afraid of you, you totally rocked my shit.”
Now that it was mentioned, Nick wasn’t actually afraid in the slightest. Freaked out but definitely not afraid. The angel actually felt deeply familiar to him, he just had no idea how or from where. He felt so inexplicably drawn to this person, this divinity, this heavenly being. He wondered then if this is what the ice and rocks surrounding Saturn felt as they were pulled in by the grace of their planet. Then he wondered where that corny thought came from.
Despite the darkness surrounding them, Nick was able to make out the features of the angel's face perfectly due to his markings. He had to be the most beautiful thing Nick had ever laid eyes on. Full, pink lips that were currently streaked with blood and downturned eyes that were a brilliant blue hidden behind tacky orange sunglasses. His face was clear of any blemishes save for the bruise that was already blooming around the nose and a beauty mark underneath his eye.
The idea of someone so beautiful being afraid of Nick put a tightening sensation in his chest. To him, it wasn’t unheard of; people being afraid of him or having some sort of disdain for him in general. He made it very easy to be unlikeable.
“Are you afraid of me?”
The angel gave him one of the warmest smiles he ever witnessed and said, “Not at all.”
Nick felt his face heat up and he turned away, “I think I broke your nose. Let me take you to the hospital.”
“No! No hospital, please! I’m fine!”
“Your nose-”
“I can set it back myself and then it will heal in a few hours! I’ll just use your headlights or whatever to see. Please, just don’t take me to a hospital.”
Hospitals were not exactly anyone’s favorite place to be so the hesitancy was perfectly understandable. It didn’t change the fact that the nose needed medical attention. Then again, Nick did not have a human being in front of him, making him understand the angel’s reaction even more. He also wasn’t going to let this guy set his broken nose using dingy headlights in the middle of the street.
“Alright, whatever. You can fix it yourself at my place. I have a first aid kit at home anyway.”
The angel’s eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open. “Really? You don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind if I’m offering, dumbass? Just don’t get blood in my truck.” He turned and strolled towards the pickup.
He took his place in the driver’s seat and unlocked the passenger’s side. He watched the angel in the rearview mirror. He was running off to the side of the road to pick up what seemed to be a large duffel bag. Thankfully it was the side Nick didn’t swerve on so there was no chance anything was damaged. Talk about luck.
After dropping the bag in the bed of the truck, the angel hops into the passenger’s seat and fastens his seatbelt. He turns slightly and shoots Nick a bright smile, “Hey, you’re a really nice guy, you know that?”
Nick’s grip on the steering tightened just for a split second before relaxing again. He said nothing, put the car in drive and drove towards home.
If someone were to describe Nick’s apartment using two words, those words would be ‘depression nest’. It wasn’t completely unlivable and didn’t provide any immediate health hazards, but it was still beyond regular disarray.
There was a trail of dirty clothes from the bedroom to the bathroom, dirty dishes were piled high in the sink. A tower of empty pizza boxes sat next to the trash bin alongside six full bags of garbage that he had been meaning to take out. Kitchen counters were stinky with stains and crumbs that he never bothered to wipe away. The coffee table was covered with beer bottles, some completely empty and some half full. Plus an ashtray that had not been emptied for some time,filled to the brim with cigarette butts.
To say that Nick was embarrassed would have been an understatement. He had completely forgotten about the state of his home. Now he had a holy, supernatural being walking into this chaos with him.
Too late to turn back now.
Nick looked down to the floor and kicked at an imaginary beer can, “Uh… sorry for the mess. No one comes here so I don’t really bother.”
That somehow sounded better than “I hate my life and I hate myself so I can’t muster up enough self-worth to keep my living environment clean.”
The angel's cheery demeanor didn’t falter, “No worries, man! Do you mind pointing me to your bathroom?”
Nick nodded toward the hallway, “Down that hall, to the left. Got a first aid kit under the sink.” He prayed he at least left the bathroom in a better state.
The angel gave a two-finger salute and bounded down the hallway. The guy sure did act strangely human for someone that wasn’t human at all. Nick still couldn’t shake the feeling that they’ve met before.
Nick entered the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. It was mainly empty save for the drinks, a gallon of water and leftover take out from two weeks ago that was starting to get a funky smell. He was going to have to stop eating out and go back to ramen to save on funds until he found another job. He would worry about that later. He twisted the cap off of the bottle and gulped down some beer.
A few minutes passed and Nick could hear the bathroom sink running, signaling his guest had finished fixing up his nose. He can’t believe he punched an angel. Fuck, now he was definitely going to Hell.
The sound of the angel's voice broke Nick out of his thoughts, “All done! My bruising should go down in a little bit. Injuries like that aren’t too bad for me.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Also, I kinda sorta almost hit you with my truck.” Nick awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
“That's what that noise was? I had my eyes covered so I couldn’t see. Ya know, you shouldn’t make a habit of narrowly committing vehicular manslaughter.”
“Yeah, well don't make a habit just standing in the middle of the road looking creepy, Blondie.”
“I was trying to get a hold of someone far away. I thought that the road wouldn’t be busy and no one would see me.”
Nick opened another bottle of beer and offered it to the angel, who gave him a sincere smile and thanked him. Nick had to have met this guy before, he was sure of it. But he would remember if he met someone like this before. This definitely explains why he isn’t as freaked out as he should be under these circumstances. The guy just has one of those faces.
“Did I miss any blood on my face?”
Nick must have been spacing out because he realized he had been staring. “What? N-no sorry. Look, I gotta ask, what are you doing here?”
The angel’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion, “Bro, you just brought me here?”
Nick gaped at him, “What- No, dumbfuck, I know why you’re here. I’m asking why are you here ? With humans?”
“Oh. I fell.” He said it as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
“So why not go back?”
“Can’t.” the angel's voice had a clipped edge to it, making it known that this was not a topic he wished to discuss with a stranger.
Nick took the hint and awkwardly shifted his weight back and forth. He had more questions, tons of them, but didn’t even know where to start.
Nick had grown up around religion, he even followed it willingly as a kid. He had always been told that if he was good and put God above all else then he would get into Heaven. And he had believed it wholeheartedly. However, that love he had for it and for God dwindled away to basically nothing the older he got. Especially when he was figuring certain things out about himself.
He wanted to believe that the grace of God and his angels were real, that He truly was what Father Conrad and Miss Melanie made him out to be. That there was a place for him up there when he died.
He just…couldn’t.
Nick had complicated feelings about death, especially now. Part of him had still wanted to believe that there was something after all of this noise. Another part of him was afraid that it would just be nothing. Not even darkness. If it weren’t for that fear though he would have went through with-
No. Not now. Push it back down .
But now?
Now he had an angel in his living room, turning his world upside down. He could ask him one more question. Just one more and maybe he would be better? Just one more question.
“You okay? You look like you have another question.”
Once again, his guest had read his mind and ripped him from his thoughts.
“Is- is there like…an afterlife?” His thumb played with the rim of the bottle, “I’m just curious cause, ya know, you're an angel and I stopped believing in you guys until today and…” he trailed off when he realized he was starting to ramble.
“Like where does your consciousness go after you die? Your soul?”
Nick gave a quick nod and tried to look at everything but the angel.
The angel tilted his head a little to the left, “There technically always is an ‘afterlife’. Your consciousness or your ‘soul’ is a form of energy, just like everything else is in the universe. I’m sure you know but energy cannot be destroyed, just changed. It just doesn’t disappear after you die, it becomes something else.”
“We just become something different? We don’t, like ‘ascend’ or ‘descend’?”
“Right! Your consciousness leaves your body and is still hanging around as a different form of energy. It's still you, just a different version of you. It’s the life after your current life,” he responded with this profound cheeriness.
“Like reincarnation?” Nick felt like a dumb little kid asking all of these questions.
The angel made a ‘so-so’ gesture with his hand, “Sometimes it can convert back into other living things, yeah. Other times that conscious energy becomes something ‘non-living’, like light or sound. It depends on the individual.” The angel had used exaggerated air quotes for ‘non-living’.
“Why the hell did you say ‘non-living’ like that?”
“Because it actually is alive! Everything is. The lightning when there’s a storm, the heat from a volcano, and even the wind. This whole universe is alive!” He gave Nick a soft smile, “it’s actually kinda wonderful.”
“So why do you exist? Why are there angels?”
“We don’t have a grand purpose to exist. We’re a species in the same way humans and animals are. We just know a bit more about the universe, is all.”
Nick drew in a long breath, “So… There’s no God?”
The angel shrugged and took a sip of his beer, “We were here before you guys thought up the whole religion thing. It’s entirely up to you if you want to think about that or not.”
In the span of a few hours, Nicholas D. Wolfwood met an angel, punched him, learned the secret of life after death, and had been told there is essentially no God. Jesus Christ. (If he even existed, too.)
Nick’s head felt like it was about to explode. This was too much for one depressed twenty-seven-year-old to handle at once. It made the room start to spin and he wanted to puke. What’s done is done, however. He asked for the information, it was given to him, and now he has no idea on what the hell to do with it.
One thing he was definitely going to do was figure out what to do with… with…
He doesn’t even know this guy's name.
“What’s your name anyway? We both went through a decent amount of shit in the last few hours, and I don’t even know what to call ya.”
He flashed another blinding smile, “Oh! It’s Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III!”
“That absolutely is not your fucking name, Blondie.” Nick deadpanned.
The angel clutched at imaginary pearls, “How dare you! You break my nose and next you insult my name!” He then put his hand on his hip, “Well, if you are so inclined to know, my family calls me Vash for short.”
Nick gave a grunt of acknowledgement and stuck out his hand, “Nicholas D. Wolfwood.”
Vash took the outstretched hand in his, noted the size of it to save in his brain for later, and shook. “That’s a pretty rad name, Wolfwood!”
“Yeah, well I’m a pretty rad guy.”
“You’re kinda odd, too. I was afraid you wouldn’t believe what I told you.”
“You were covered in glowy lines, and you had a shit ton of wings last night. Fully functional wings. I would believe anything that came out of your mouth.”
He needed a game plan on what to do next. And he had some semblance of an idea.
“Needle Noggin,” Vash pointed at himself in confusion, “Yes, obviously. Do you have anywhere to stay?”
Vash shook his head, “I kinda just go wherever. Camp out and stuff.”
“Alright. How are you on funds?”
“I have about $$3000 in my pack.”
“Here’s the deal. I’ll let you stay here with me, if you want. I just lost my job and I have enough saved up for only three months of rent. If you can help me out by just splittin’ food and bills with me until I get something, you can stay. Just gotta sleep on the couch, though. Only got the one bedroom.”
Vash’s mouth fell open. Humanity never ceases to surprise him. He’s seen what these creatures can do to the world and each other over the years, some of it awful and some of it wonderful. He’s seen human’s reach out a helping hand without even a second thought. He really did love them, despite everything.
And this man, Nicholas D. Wolfwood was truly one of the most compassionate of them all. He can feel it. He’s just been so kind in such a short amount of time. He wanted to repay it anyway that he could.
“I can get a job, too! I’ve been around humans forever now and I can blend in great! Please, we can job hunt together and we can be roommates! I don’t mind the couch at all!”
Vash dropped to his knees and bowed down.
“Whoa geez calm down!”
“Please, Wolfwood! I’ll stay and help with what I have but can I stay just a bit longer, even after you get a job? Please! I’ll keep helping!”
“Okay fine yes! You can stay for as long as you want.”
Vash shot up from the floor and jumped around the living room, whooping and cheering. Nick could make out Roberto’s muffled yell from the floor below giving them the order to quiet down.
This was going to be interesting.