A Bottle of Wine

Quiet, steady breathing. A chink of glass.

'They weren't all bad,' came a drunken slur from off to Colin's right.

The demon boy turned his head, but Crowley had already put his face back over the wine bottle they were sharing. There came the sound of noisy gulping, ending in a cough. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Crowley offered the drink back to Colin, who declined. 'All the more for me, then,' he muttered, fingers slowly caressing the bottle neck with clumsy motions. He really was drunk.

'...What're you talking about?' said Colin, after a lengthy pause.

Crowley's soft chuckle seemed loud in the complete stillness of the deserted bar. He inverted the wine bottle over his mouth again, taking a messy swallow. Colin pulled a face as he watched dark liquid trickle unnoticed down the other boy's front and onto the tabletop.

'What WAS I talking about, CC? Oh yeah, I remember. My crappy, good-for-nothing parents.'

He spat the last word like it was a curse.

'You just said they weren't that bad,' said Colin warily. He wasn't sure how to deal with Crowley when he was in one of THESE moods.

'I said they weren't ALL bad. I guess they were decent parents, at first. Until that little sissy rat-faced fluffball came along and both my mum and dad decided they liked him more than me. Ha!'

Crowley looked troubled. He gazed down at the bottle for a moment, then shrugged and tipped the remaining contents down his throat.

Colin said nothing. He'd always known that Crowley hated his little brother, Lucifer, but he hadn't known that the reason behind it was nothing more than jealousy. His fear that his parents didn't love him enough. Looking at Crowley right now, watching him stare morosely into an empty wine bottle with his mouth half-open and eyes unfocused, he had to wonder if anyone really understood the crowdragon - or his motivations - at all.