Chapter Text
Angels, the real deal, not the cute little porcelain figures that would adorn shelves over shelves in only millennia, were known to be creatures of grace, infinite love and sometimes terrible wrath.
That was only partially true.
Most people had never met an angel, only heard of their powers trough tails, of the way they walked through heaven, bathed in light.
That was, as the previous statement, also only half of the truth.
Some angels did walk trough heaven, some were also bathed in light. Most angels, though, spend their time fine-tuning and overseeing everything that made up a vast universe, including a rotating blue ball filled with all kinds of animals and interesting phenomena, such as wind and the newly developed rain.*
*Still going through rigorous beta testing, but having been deemed a success so far
Only one angel was permanently stationed in a completely different surrounding, having been send down to earth, walking amongst humans and all of creation.*
*Well, most of it. Some of it. Travelling did take up a lot of time, and ways to get around were still limited. There was enough time to get to it eventually though, so a slow start like that wasn't too horrible of a start, and better than no start at all.
Aziraphale had been on earth for a short time, a few decades, maybe a bit more, and so far he had done absolutely nothing.
Not nothing as in standing motionless in one spot, not blinking or breathing as time passed. He did move about quite a lot, following Adam and Eve as they went into the world, watching them bear children and lose them again (thankfully only the first went in such a bloody and terrible way, that had not been a pleasant business).
But so far that had been it. Watching. Watching as humans explored the world, tasted, smelled, felt it. Aziraphale knew it wasn't incredibly angelic of him to want, but he did feel a spark of that whenever he observed humans discovering something new. He did want to experience what they did, experience what God had created here, experience the things that brought out such interesting reactions like moans of pleasure and squeals of delight. (He could live without experiencing the things that made them scream in terror though, thank you very much).
It was running into an old acquaintance, (not yet friend, never an enemy), that changed things up a bit, slightly for the better and also slightly for the worse.*
*A rather good combination in theory, but not in this case. Not at first, at least.
"Orange."
Aziraphale startled so badly, he felt himself shift a few, rather embarrassing, millimetres out of his cooperation.
"Excuse me?", he said, turning to the demon behind him. Of course, he had felt him, but they crossed paths rather often looking at how they both stayed close to the ever-growing group of humans. They didn't speak as often, though, and Aziraphale simply hadn't expected today to be any different.
Crawley only held a round, definitely very orange ball up to Aziraphale.
"A new thing those humans ran into a while ago. Oranges. You peel them 'n eat them...and..yeah. Pretty alright, even though I'm not really into the whole sticky sweet stuff thisss got going on."
Aziraphale eyed the ball.
"Ah."
"Thought you might wanna try some. Not really much to do anyway, so why not enjoy yourself a bit."
Moving his gaze from the orange up to equally round and almost as orange eyes, furrowing his brow, Aziraphale tutted softly.
"Is this the usual way you tempt others? With fruit?"
Crawley scoffed.
"Tempting? This' not tempting", he threw the orange into the air, catching it again, before giving it a look as if it had offended his entire family.*
*Not that Crawley had one. Not anymore at least. Demons didn't see each other as siblings after all. They did have the urge to kick and hit each other as often as siblings did, though.
"Just nothing better to do. And humans are going pretty wild on all of this new fruits and..uh..those other things. So why not try some yourself."
It wasn't as if Aziraphale hadn't considered it himself, especially in the past few years. He did get reprimanded for the whole deal with the apple and Eve, but it was merely a formal letter informing him to stay and 'keep any more of these things from happening'.
He had refrained from doing anything that might provoke a more..severe punishment in the time after that, but so far there had been none. Heaven was watching, Aziraphale was sure of it, and he should keep strictly to his duties in that case.
"Well, I really shouldn't."
Crawley's mouth twitched.
"Suit yourself."
The orange was thrown up again, but Crawley turned to leave, making no move to catch it again. The fruit fell into the dry grass with a soft thud.
What a waste, Aziraphale thought. Lying there it would just slowly rot in the grass, never having been tasted by a living things tongue.
He kneeled down, hand closing over a rough but smooth surface, giving away ever so slightly under the tips of his fingers.
Aziraphale sighed, lifting the fruit closer, running a thumb over its skin.
Heaven couldn't say anything against him simply taking a closer look at some of creation, could they?
His fingernails, blunt but clean, dug into the fruit, right where it had once been connected to a branch, the same way he had seen the humans peel it, before.
It was a bit tricky to pierce the tough, thick skin, and Aziraphale grimaced as he dug to deep, sticky, cool juice running over his fingers. He was not a fan of that, he knew that much.*
*Many years later, Aziraphale would be delighted by the invention of cutlery. Sadly the invention of the napkin was even further away.
The inside was shimmering with moisture, where the juice had spilt, dry in other places. A thin layer of something white, thin and translucent covered slices of orange flesh. Interesting.
Aziraphale sniffed, a powerful, mouthwatering aroma hitting his nose. It was sharp but fresh, a sting to it but sweet at the same time. Swallowing, Aziraphale licked his lips.
Smelling seemed to be alright, so tasting had to be as well. This senses seemed to be linked, after all, so there he simply had to use the other after already using one of them.
Carefully, Aziraphale pinched the top of one of the slices with deft, soft fingers, separating it from the rest.
He lifted it up to lightly parted lips, pushing it between them, sliding it slowly inside, onto his waiting tongue.
It was..underwhelming at first. The white layer was dry and almost tasteless, sticking to the wetness of his tongue, sliding over the fruit it covered.
Aziraphale moved it around his mouth experimentally, trying to mimic the way he had seen humans eat. He himself had never used his mouth that way before, or honestly any way that involved having other objects inserted into it.
Chewing. Yes, he should try that.
Moving his jaw in a rather unnatural chewing motion, Aziraphale managed just to save his tongue from getting caught between his teeth, trading its place with the slice of orange.
"Oh."
He had no words for what he felt as a wave of juice exploded through the holes in the slices skin, his teeth pushing sticky, sweet, incredibly sweet liquid out of the fruit, flooding his tongue.
It was unlike anything he had felt before, a tingling pull at the back of his tongue from the slightly sour note, a flavour that was only recognizable as orange, sweetness in just the right spots, the feeling that always came with something that quenched once thirst.*
*Of course, Aziraphale had no idea what any of those taste were named, not yet at least. It was his first experience tasting anything at all, after all. He needed some time to get over the shock of it all first.
Aziraphale couldn't hold back a hum of delight that bubbled up straight from his core. This was simply delightful.
But what now?
He chewed a bit more, getting impatient to try another slice.
Swallowing was...harder to understand then chewing. A complex play of throat and mouth muscles, both not once Aziraphale had put to use as often as other creatures did on a day to day basis.
After a few tries, he had finally figure out what most other living beings were able to do from birth. Or so he thought.
Angels and Demons alike didn't need to breathe. Their bodies were only as human as they had to be, able to do enough to almost be a regular body, fragile enough to be cheap and easy in their creation. (Both Heaven and Hell didn't want to waste too many resources on something mundane as bodies).
But if one suddenly finds, let's say a piece of fruit, stuck in their airway, and if that person has gotten used to breathing rather freely for close to a century, the panic alone was enough to kill a grown man. Add the simple but interesting fact that ethereal and occult beings influenced their surroundings and themselves simply by believing something strongly enough, it was no wonder that Aziraphale found himself suddenly choking in a rather real way.
And as a being as unused to choking as he was to chewing or swallowing, he couldn't do much as his vision grew fuzzy, his body collapsing to the ground, dropping the uneaten rest of orange.
As Aziraphale felt himself being pulled upwards to Heaven, he wondered how he was going to explain this to Gabriel.
It had been worth it though. The taste of that one fruit alone had been worth a dozen discorporations. Aziraphale couldn't wait to get back down and try some more.
He just really had to get a hang of the whole swallowing thing.