Fell's Backroom

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my favourite thing about Crowley calling Aziraphale "angel" is how many layers it has. Because to us, the human viewers, "angel" is a term of endearment. But Crowley is a demon, for whom "angel" is akin to a pejorative, since angels represent everything demons despise. Except, as we know, Crowley doesn't have such a black+white distain for the chaps from upstairs, or more specifically he doesn't feel that way about Aziraphale. So it swings back the other way to something akin to an Insult of Endearment: "angel (affectionate)", like "little shit (affectionate)" or "seaweed brain (affectionate)" - but the key thing here is that (affectionate) still needs to be specified. The affection isn't implicitly understood. However, "angel" is also a statement of fact. Aziraphale is an angel. So Crowley can further obfuscate the presence of that (affectionate) modifier with the excuse that not only is "angel" simply the objective truth, it's also used dismissively, in place of actually using Aziraphale's name. And so ultimately the way he uses it is a reflection of the tightrope he walks with his and Aziraphale's arrangement - all of these layers give him plausible deniability if he's caught by other angels/demons. It's an insult, it's a statement of fact, it's a way to be dismissive. But we the viewer have enough insight into their relationship that we can circle right back to the beginning, to "angel" as an endearment because we understand the intimacy lurking under all of those layers