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Aziraphale had been happy to close the bookshop - another plague was the perfect excuse. But he'd incorrectly assumed it wouldn't be for too long. He almost missed one or two of the customers who would come in, treat the books with reverence, then leave with a polite nod. But obviously not the ones who tried to buy anything.
The angel prowled the shop floor, peeping out of each window. 'There's another one!' he exclaimed with frustration. 'Why won't they stay inside?'
'Humans, angel,' said Crowley, not looking up from his phone. He was reclining happily on the sofa, scrolling through snake memes. 'You can't just tell them what to do. You have to at least make them think it's their idea.'
Aziraphale tutted. 'They can be so frustrating sometimes. They have no idea what's good for them. I'm surprised they've lasted so long. I should give that young man a piece of my mind.'
Crowley looked up over the top of his phone to regard his angel. 'If you try to leave this shop for any reason...'
'Oh yes,' said Aziraphale with a tetchy wave. 'You've said.'
'Just relax. Put your feet up. There's nothing you or I can do. One of those events where they have to sort themselves out.'
The angel continued to peer through the window, glaring at anything that moved.
'Angel,' prompted Crowley, a note of warning in his voice.
'There are three of them on bikes! And they are not two metres...'
Crowley snapped his fingers and every blind in the shop immediately fell and concealed the windows. Aziraphale jumped back with a start.
The demon was on his feet and sashayed over to his friend. 'Leave it,' he said sternly, taking Aziraphale by the hand and leading him back to the sofa. 'You know we've both been told to keep our heads down, and not interfere.'
'We can't just do nothing!' whined the angel.
'Yes we can,' hissed Crowley, eyes flashing, and Aziraphale quickly took a seat in his chair. 'Angel, it's not worth it. Going against instructions like this will give them every excuse they need to drag us back to hell - or in your case, heaven.'
Aziraphale pouted miserably.
Crowley tried not to be distracted by the big, soft lower lip, or the suddenly huge blue eyes. It was like disappointing a Disney bunny. 'There's plenty we can do, angel. We've got wine, we've got books, we've got each other.'
'Don't think I don't know about you sneaking off into the Bentley,' snipped Aziraphale.
Crowley glared. 'For emergency provisions, angel.'
Aziraphale looked away guiltily. He knew he was being irascible. He fiddled with cuff.
It was quite strange. Crowley had assumed he would be the one climbing the walls during lockdown, but his love of snoozing, and well, Aziraphale, made for a rather comfortable time. The angel on the other hand, had far too much nervous energy, not to mention compassion, to cope well. He was continuously fussing and worrying. Crowley had already caught him providing care packages of vegetables and paracetamol to neighbours in the dead of night. Aziraphale simply said he was setting a good example. Crowley countered that the humans needed to think of these things for themselves, and frogmarched him back to the bookshop.
The demon sighed. It was time to indulge his friend. 'Aziraphale,' he said softly. 'Remember I told you I'd left some instructions for a tasty meal on the fridge.'
Aziraphale fidgeted and frowned. 'I told you I'm not hungry. How can I eat? Those poor humans.'
Crowley took a deep breath. 'Most of those poor humans are completely fine and have everything they need and are living in luxury.'
'Not all of them!' Aziraphale was on his feet. 'The poorest will suffer, and the hardest working, and the good hearted, and...'
'And there's nothing you can do to change it!' shouted Crowley, also now on his feet.
Aziraphale's eyes got even bigger, and they shimmered. Tears, thought Crowley. Oh Heaven, no. He sighed. 'Aziraphale,' he cooed, so very tenderly. 'It's Easter Sunday. It's a good day. Jesus came back and everything.'
'Wish he bloody would,' grumbled the angel crossly.
Crowley put his hands on his slinky hips. 'Oi! We don't know how long we're going to be holed up like this and if you don't stop this behaviour I will go back to mine until the plague calms down,' he scolded.
Finally, a suggestion of recognition crossed the angel's face. 'Oh,' he murmured sheepishly. 'I am sorry. Of course. Forgive me.' He looked adorably chastened, then glanced about the shop. 'It's just, I've never found it so hard to read before.'
'I know. I know this is hard for you. But that's why I've left you instructions.'
Aziraphale frowned and studied Crowley's face. He was missing something. A clue. A mystery. A... The angel's face lit up. 'Oh Crowley!' he cried, and ran into the kitchen.
'Finally!' said Crowley, flopping back on the couch. 'Jesus fuck that was hard work.' He then looked around the empty room. 'Sorry,' he said quietly, to thin air, and definitely not so Aziraphale could hear.
'An Easter Egg hunt!' announced Aziraphale theatrically, holding the note aloft. It was a few paragraphs of clever little riddles and clues.
'There you go, my angel,' said Crowley, looking at that sweet, delighted face, and forgetting everything else in creation. 'The Easter Bunny is an essential worker after all. I hope she's been good enough to leave you a good amount of eggs.'
Aziraphale beamed, then began the process of scuttling about the shop finding chocolate eggs. Crowley sank back into the sofa and resumed his mindless scrolling with intense relief.
-
An hour later, Aziraphale had amassed a heap of Easter Eggs. There was a large one wrapped in gold foil in the grandfather clock (Crowley miracled the clock to keep ticking despite this), a medium sized pink one behind the computer, eight chocolate bunnies within the nature books, a marzipan chick in the umbrella stand, and a large basket of countless little eggs (with various fondant and liqueur fillings) in the washing machine. Aziraphale had one more to find and was dashing about excitedly, now going from clue to clue after the final part of the note sent him on a trail.
A squeak told Crowley his angel had located the prize, and indeed, Aziraphale emerged from behind the hat stand triumphant. He had the black Louisiana fedora that was always there in one hand, and pulled a 2ft white chocolate bunny out with the other. Definitely a bit of a miracle involved. He carefully replaced the hat on the stand, and hurried over to his egg collection to give the big white bunny pride of place.
'Um, angel?' prompted Crowley.
Aziraphale turned to him with a big smile.
'Are you going to eat one?'
The angel looked at his heap of chocolate, then with a small apology to the bunny, snapped off a white chocolate ear, and went to his demon.
Crowley smirked, barely concealing a chortle, as he sat up straight and encouraged the angel onto his knee. So very sweetly, Aziraphale sat on Crowley's lap, shifting to get comfortable, before gnawing on the chocolate ear. Crowley cuddled his soft angel, who at last appeared contented. He placed a kiss on a pudgy cheek and Aziraphale wiggled appreciatively.
'Thank you,' said the angel, licking his lips. The remaining part of the ear was started to melt in his hand so he offered it to Crowley. 'Ahh,' he said as Crowley took a bite and grunted pleasantly. 'Didn't know demons like white chocolate.'
'Of course we do,' scoffed Crowley. 'It's not even chocolate. Just sugar and butter and shit. Pure evil, basically.'
Aziraphale popped the rest in his mouth, narrowed his eyes and swung his foot as the chocolate melted in his mouth. 'Crowley, I won't be cross, but did you invent white chocolate?'
Crowley swallowed quickly, then thought for a moment. 'Oh, yeah,' he said, as if remembering something very distant. 'Switzerland. That was a thing. Temptation went a bit sideways and I had to possess someone at Nestlé for a day.'
'Well,' said Aziraphale smiling through his disapproval and licking his fingers. 'We'll say no more about it. No complaints from me.'
'I was only doing my job,' said Crowley pointedly, wiping a bit of chocolate from the angel's lip with his finger.
His angel smiled back at him. 'I know, my dear. And you're very good at your job. And your angel-minding skills are rather impressive too.'
'Nanny skills,' said Crowley casually. 'It's the same as doing an Easter Egg hunt for an overactive human boy that you're trying to raise as the antichrist, only the clues aren't written in blood.'
Aziraphale frowned. 'Sometimes I think it's better if you don't tell me things,' he said.
'Told you I'm not good,' Crowley said, leaning in and pecking Aziraphale on the lips.
'But you are, my dear,' said his angel, pecking him back the once, then twice, then a third time. He beamed at him adoringly. 'You're a good egg.'
The next kiss went on for some time.