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This afternoon, a couple days before Christmas, neither the angel nor the demon was out doing what they should have been doing, casting blessings or causing mischieves. In an ancient bookshop in Soho, two occult beings were enjoying each other’s company like they always did. It should have been a busy afternoon, it was a few days before the holidays after all, the time for frantic last minute gift shopping. Surprisingly, since Aziraphale dutifully flipped the opening sign that morning no human came through from the door. It was unheard of, unimaginable even. He knew Crowley must have played some tricks, but he couldn’t care less for the lack of traffic so he said nothing and considered it a thoughtful holiday gift.
Instead, the blonde angel sat in his favourite armchair with a small pile of books for him to bury his nose into, a cup of half-cold cocoa on the side table. The presence of a lithe figure on the other side of the sitting area made his chest itch with bubbly warmth, which the angel decided that he liked. With a comfortable distance between them, the intimacy was different from the usual urgent, almost violent, pull towards each other. Without the excited buzz of their bone-deep desire for each other’s touches and suffocatingly heated air that they shared, Aziraphale found new space to openly look at and study his favourite demon in detail. w They were allowed to do that now , he reminded himself. To learn the pattern of Corlwey’s breath, the impossible knot that the serpent could tangle his limbs into, and all the small knowledge of each other like these that Aziraphale had forced himself to look away from. Had Aziraphale paid more attention to humans than a serpentine demon, he would have known that arms shouldn’t be able to bend this way. But, he didn’t, so he simply found the ridiculous mess of limbs utterly adorable.
Crowley draped exaggeratedly over a worn couch. More precisely, Aziraphale’s couch which was well-used by a certain demon spending countless afternoons and evenings in it. He was lazily scrolling through his phone and stealing glances of the angel’s cherubic round cheeks and halo-like wild curls in the perfect winter afternoon light. To Crowley, the lighting on Aziraphale would always be perfect, because he was brightness itself, the one true flawless creature.
With their newly found freedom, the angel and demon began building a life together, which they had been both familiar with and inexperienced in at the same time. It was a process of unlearning their way of stealing touches on the fine line where lights faded into darkness, where no one bothered to look. As they turned their careful dance around each other into a romantic Waltz, the steps were still new and fresh and delicate between them. After millennia of chasing, staying inside the confine of the old wooden frame, Crowley felt a bit restless. Staying still made the demon worried about being left behind, which was crazy because he was in Aziraphale’s bookshop and the last thing the angelic bibliophile would do was run away from his precious books.
His phone buzzed and shocked him out of his contemplation.
Crowley wondered what people had thought about the stern nanny and the gardener who was all fluff and no edge. Now, without the fear that Warlock would suddenly manifest as the Antichrist and destroy the world, it would be nice to spend some time with the child Aziraphale and he had raised together. Crowley looked up to ask Aziraphale whether he’d like to go and saw him on the phone.
“Oh, Adam, that’s very kind for you to ask,” Aziraphale exclaimed brightly, picking up a pen and his notepad to scribble. Between strokes of his pen, he snuck looks at the demon not far away, looking increasingly flustered. “I’ll have to ask Crowley about this. Do you mind if I call you back later? Well, thank you for your advice.”
Crowley cocked an eyebrow at the angel, questioning silently.
“Adam asked if we’d like to go to Tadfield for the New Year’s,” Aziraphale said, running his fingers idly through the pages where he’d been taken away from. “What do you say to a short trip to Tadfield?”
“Sure, I’d go anywhere with you, angel,” Crowley shrugged and slithered over into Aziraphale’s lap. He murmured nonsense against Aziraphale’s soft belly, losing himself in the lovely warmth, and started planning out in his head what to bring on the trip to keep his angel happy. As a demon aiming for a sauve personality, Crowley never packed. He simply miracled up whatever he needed when he needed them. Aziraphale was different, however. The angel preferred things prepared the human way and Crowley liked to make sure his angel had everything he needed.
“Oh, no. Hang on. Ah you sneaky bastard,” Crowley’s phone buzzed and he remembered the text he’d just got. Muttering and angrily writhing in Aziraphale’s lap, the demon wrestled his skin-tight trousers to retrieve his phone. “Warlock asked us if we’d visit him during the New Year’s.”
“Oh, that’s a pity,” Aziraphale’s excited posture sagged down. He had been so excited about the prospect of celebrating the new year with Crowley. It’d be one of the many things they finally got time to do together. “I suppose that means we each take care of one invitation.”
For a long while, ever since they’d both been stationed on Earth in fact, it had seemed that the universe had been pushing Aziraphale and Crowley together, having them doing assignments in neighbouring areas and Crowley always hopped up in the right place when he was in trouble. Not to mention they both settled down in London coincidentally.
And now, when they finally had freedom to do as they please, they had to spend their first holiday, the time when people surround themselves with their loved ones, alone. That made his chest tight. He wished so badly that he could have Crowley all to himself. But, couldn’t he? Aziraphale realised. Aren’t they free now? Couldn’t they turn down invitations if they didn’t want to go?
“My dear, I think I’d like to stay at home.” Aziraphale announced.
“Ah ha!” Aziraphale had just begun his endeavour to convince Crowley that instead of going to seperate New Year’s parties, he’d prefer spending time together in their home. But Crowley had been too pleased with himself for getting his phone out of his pocket to notice the contemplation that’d just gone through Aziraphale’s head.
“So, angel. Warlock said he’d be doing the countdown in Hogback hill, wait,” he froze as he read the text and Aziraphale froze at his words. Their eyes locked and they gasped. “Isn’t there where Adam lives as well?”
The angel frowned and picked up the phone to deliver the call he’d promised Adam. After several phone calls to Warlock and Adam, they had discovered that the New Year’s party was Armageddon-themed one, and the two Antichrists were indeed throwing it together, both shouting enthusiastically at the receivers about their plans and how they wanted Aziraphale and Crowley to come so their parents wouldn’t be breathing down their necks all the time. It was not until the Dowlings and Youngs decided that their sons had spent too long on the phone did the beings manage to escape the over-energised phone calls.
Great, now they have a night of discussion ahead of them . Crowley missed the time when they could just flip a coin and settle everything. He mostly meant he missed the time when he could play little tricks on the coin flipping and watch the angels’ face beam when he was welcomed back with some thank you gifts from Crowley.
“Well, ‘posed I’ll go,” Crowley shrugged when Azirpahale put down the receiver, earning himself a stare, which he had no idea what it was about. “Or we’ll just have to turn them down. For the record, I don’t think letting teenagers down is a good idea, especially when there are two Antichrists involved.”
“Turn them down? Why?” Aziraphale tilted his head to look at the demon.
“You said you wanted to stay at home,” Crowley frowned. “It shouldn’t take too long. I can be back before the new year properly starts.”
“Oh, well. That’s nothing to worry about now,” he chuckled, slightly embarrassed for his previously petulant behaviour. “Well, I thought we’d have to go to different places and I didn’t want to be apart from you.”
“And, now, we can visit the children together!” Aziraphale said cheerfully. Speaking his hopes and wants felt nice and honest and he decided that it’s something he could probably get used to. “How wonderful is it? I remember how much you loved Warlock.”
“Shut up, I’m just balancing out all the mushy affection you keep showering him in with some fierce nanny-ing. It’s disgusting, the whole Dowling household stunk of love,” the demon wanted to shove his dark lenses back up and protect his fond memories of the years.
“Well, you mustn’t blame me for that. I couldn’t help myself when I was staying with you for such an extended period of time.”
“Me? What did it have to do with me?” Crowley squealed indignantly.
“My dear, you were breath-taking in those corsets and pencil skirts! It’s a miracle that I wasn’t glowing all the time in the garden,” he thought for a second and giggled. “Oh, Warlock would havelove it, wouldn’t he? Having a gardener glowing between bushes.”
“Ngk…” Crowley just gaped. He couldn’t do much else. What was he supposed to do with the knowledge that the love flooding the Dowling mansion was from Aziraphale?
“Oh, I’m sorry darling,” Aziraphale fretted at the lack of response from Crowley. “I went too fast for you, didn’t I?”
“You? Going too fast? Pfff...” Crowley squealed in too high a pitch than he would ever admit. But he had to. How else was he going to deal with all the emotions now? He couldn’t cope. He couldn’t make sense of the vibration under his skin. So he sighed resignedly like he always ended up doing when it came to a certain angel. “Yeah.”
The demon squirmed awkwardly under Aziraphale’s gaze. The angel was up to something, he knew that for sure. Then the space between them began to light up, filled with soft and warm brightness that Crowley had always imagined Aziraphale’s essence would feel like.
“My darling, come,” Aziraphale whispered and Crowley shivered under being called his darling. He climbed into Azirpahale’s lap, sinking into the soft give of angelic flesh and the glow that he’d never thought he would be able to feel on his cursed skin again. “We’ll visit them briefly and come back to enjoy our first holidays together.”
“Together? You’re spending your holidays with me?” Something clicked in Crowley’s mind and he realised they’d never spent holidays together. He didn’t want to delve too deep into the implication, but he supposed he could let himself preen a bit.
“I thought that much was clear, demon,” Aziraphale ruffled the red hair tickling his neck and smiled mischievously. “Who else would I spend them with? Gabriel?”
“For fuck sake, angel. Don’t mention that prick’s name, We were having a moment here.”
So, that was settled. Aziraphale began packing for the trip. He always loved some classics to read on a trip, but he’d also want to be as present as possible with Crowley. It’d be their first trip as a couple. He wanted it to be special. Then he looked at the pile of books on the bed, which would most definitely not fit into his travel bag and he considered miracling it larger than it should have been. But then he thought about the smirk Crowley would sport had he realised Aziraphale was indeed in need of those modern suitcases with wheels at the bottom.
They crawled into the Bentley on the morning of the day before Christmas Eve. Aziraphale clutched onto the handle of the door immediately, even before Crowley took off. Crowley groaned.
“Come on, angel, have a little faith in me, alright?” Aziraphale simply huffed.
The trip to Tadfield was uneventful, other than Crowley trying desperately not to combust out of embarrassment at Bentley’s choice of songs and inflamed by his deep love as Azirapahle sighed happily at the sight of a proper winter.
Anathema welcomed them at the Jasmine Cottage, as she was the only trustworthy adult who had basic understanding about who they were and the averted event. Newt stood timidly beside her, still very unsure about the two man-shaped beings that seemed to have stopped the end of the world. On their way to the Hogback hill, Aziraphale asked after Anathema’s velocipede, as any healer would for their patients. Crowley snorted but said nothing.
Wensleydale was tasked to hold the entrance of their fortress, questioning the visitors before letting them in. It was a thorough questioning, all the four visitors had to agree. In fact, it might have been more comprehensive than their trials in Hell and Heaven, the angel and the demon thought.
“They’re my guests, Wensleydale,” behind what appeared to be a snow-made fortress, Adam walked out, clearing his throat to make his voice lower than usual. “Let them in.”
Wensleydale nodded and stepped sideways to let them in.
“Hm, well it’s very nice to meet you again, Adam. It’s an honour to be invited to your...hm...place,” Aziraphale did an exaggerated bow, unsure of what to call the white looking architecture in front of him.
“It’s an igloo, stupid! I thought you were better than this! Nanny!” Another voice came from behind the apparent igloo, mockingly speaking in an inaccurate posh accent, and Crowley’s entire face lit up. Anathema and Newt looked at the demon with a very confused frown, but Aziraphale just opened and closed his mouth several times and shook his head at them.
“Ah, my little hellhound!” Crowley welcomed the excited dark-haired boy who headbumped his stomach. He allowed his muscle memory to take charge and reached out to catch Warlock’s face but only got hold of his shoulder. “You’ve grown, like, a lot, huh?”
“You’ve grown something out yourself, nanny,” Warlock smirked and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Does it work?”
“Ugh…I did not raise you like this,” Crowley had to rub his face in embarrassment, not wanting to admit that he’d raised this nightmare in human flesh. Warlock seemed extremely pleased with the reaction he got.
“Well, young man,” Aziraphale snorted and decided to step in. While seeing Crowley groan in indignation was great fun, it’s the kind of entertainment Aziraphale preferred to keep all to himself. “This is not how you should talk to your former nanny!”
“Woah! Brother Francis! I didn’t recognise you without those teeth!” Warlock exclaimed and rushed over to hug Aziraphale, who grunted at the blunt force that was a sprint by a thirteen-year-old. That was when Aziraphale remembered how helpless he was in front of this particular kid. “And these clothes are so much better than your hideous shirt!”
“Come on in,” Adam laughed and interrupted just when Aziraphale wanted to protest against Warlock’s judgemental comment on his gardening clothing.
The seven of them ducked their heads to enter the space that was apparently made of snow. Aziraphale looked oddly giddy, beaming at the pure white interior and praising the boys for their hard work. Crowley was cautious about the whole situation. Children like Adam and Warlock should not be capable of building an igloo in the woods in England. There shouldn’t be enough snow and they shouldn’t even know how to build it.
“Adam,” Crowley cleared his throat solemnly. “I need to talk to you about your power. You shouldn’t be using it like this. You could draw suspicion and we’d have to go through the Armageddon situation all over again.”
“We made this with scientific knowledge and plans,” Adam responded challengingly at the demon, who sighed and continued eyeing his surroundings suspiciously.
“Crowley,” Aziraphale frowned. “You shouldn’t fault them for knowing science!”
“This is not science, angel. This is the Antichrist wanting a house made of ice,” Crowley gestured at the white dome around them exasperatedly. “And his power made it happen!”
“Crowley, I’ve seen the children work hard on this for days,” Anathema interrupted, stepping beside Adam and Warlock protectively. “Newt worked with them to come up with the design!”
“The guy who shut down the nuclear system around the world by accident?” Crowley yelled sarcastically, shooting daggers at Newt. “You’ll have to forgive me for finding it unbelievable then, ma’am .”
“Ugh, you are impossible! Crowley!” Aziraphale huffed. “We’re safe now! The children are just trying to have some fun. Where’s the harm in it?”
“You think there’s no harm in this, angel? Having a little igloo here, a barn there? How about we let Adam here build a spaceship? Is there harm in that?” Crowley pulled on his hair, annoyed. “You’re so clever, angel. How do you not see how Heaven and Hell might pick up on things like this and try to restart the War?”
“Children can be smart and capable! Adults are the stupid ones!” Adam yelled frustratedly above all arguments in the space. With the announcement, Adam stomped out of the igloo, taking three other humans with him. Crowley sneered and turned away from Aziraphale. He was disappointed. He had thought the angel was now on his side. On their own side. He had thought he wasn’t the only one to want a peaceful life on earth. But when the time came, when there was another side, Aziraphale chose it in a heartbeat. Crowley was on his own again.
Aziraphale, on the other hand, did not understand Crowley’s reactions. He’d expected some fun time with his favourite demon. It was what Adam said he had planned––a scavenger hunt in the snow. It had been a long time since Aziraphale participated in one. The angel watched Crowley fume at a certain spot on the spotless wall. He would give the demon time. Crowley never reacted well when countered with argument.
A loud noise from the entrance of the room suddenly drew their attention. When the angel and demon rushed to see what happened, they saw the doorway filled with ice and snow.
“Great. Isn’t this wonderful?” The demon groused immediately, throwing his hands up. “We’re now stuck in the middle of giant ice cubes made by the Antichrist.”
“Crowley, come on,” Aziraphale sighed. “It’s not that bad. Adam and Warlock must be looking for ways to get us out now.”
“Uh uh,” Crowley sighed. He pulled out the phone which had just buzzed in his back pocket and showed it to Aziraphale. “See, they’re up to no good.”
“My dear, what did Warlock mean by ‘go get him, nanny!’, an eggplant, a peach and three droplets of water?” Aziraphale squinted at the glowing screen.
“What?” Crowley yelped and yanked his phone out of the angel’s sight to look at the text. How is Warlock not the real Antichrist? This child is a nightmare! Crowley stared at his screen, contemplating how he’d gotten into this mess.
“Nanny! I thought you were the brighter one!” He heard Warlock snicker on the other side of the wall.
“Oh, Warlock baby,” Crowley gritted his teeth at the opaque surface. “You think you’re clever, huh? When I burn through this stupid icy room with hellfire, you’ll understand what I meant by crushing creatures with heels.”
“You will do no such things, Crowley!” Aziraphale gasped at Crowley, horrified.
“Take it easy!” Adam yelled, too excitedly, and rumbled the entire structure. “We’ve prepared activities for you to do! They’re hidden in the snow! You can start with a scavenger hunt! I’ve told Aziraphale about having some couple activities for you to enjoy while you’re here!”
“Sorry guys,” a higher-pitched voice joined. “I was against playing matchmaking without people’s consent, but then I thought, why not? Women have been subjected to unwanted marriages for centuries! You might be partially to blame for that. You’ve both lived through the eras, after all.”
“How is this connected to that?” Crowley screamed, frustrated. “You guys are ridiculous. Locking an angel and a demon in a dome made of ice?”
“It is a very well-constructed igloo!” A voice which sounded like it came from a sticky mouth said. “It’s a great place to keep ice cream!”
“Crowley,” Aziraphale whispered. He sounded so broken. Crowley had to turn back to face him. However angry or distracted the demon might be for other things, he couldn’t stand Aziraphale sounding like that. He had to soothe it, Crowley’s inner voice screamed in distress. “I’m sorry. I should have turned this down. I thought, very foolishly, if I may add, ‘what’s the harm of having some scavenger hunt with the kids.’ I would have never agreed with Adam had I known it’d cause you such distress.”
“Kiddos!” Crowley heard Anathema yell outside, but he couldn’t care less. He had an upset angel to take care of. The angel was looking at him with watery eyes and that broke Crowley’s heart. He watched Aziraphale’s lower lip wobble and felt as if his chest were crushed. He wanted to reach out but he didn’t really dare. Crowley turned to guide Aziraphale into his arms. The angel was shaking and his arms clung to Crowley’s frame the moment he was pulled towards the demon.
“Shh, I love spending time with you. All I wanted to do with my time is to stay beside you,” Crowley hummed while pressing gentle kisses on Aziraphale’s temple. He loved the shorter curls there, how they felt on his lips. He pressed Aziraphale tighter against himself, their chests flush together. “Come on, angel. Breathe with me here.”
Aziraphale knew it was silly, but he felt calmer as soon as Crowley held him tightly with those elegant arms. He knew it was stupid fear, but he couldn’t understand how someone as brilliant as Crowley would stay with him after what Aziraphale had put him through for millennia.
He let himself be guided to take deep breaths and into a cosy couch which most definitely hadn’t been there when they entered. Crowley arranged their limbs to make Aziraphale lay comfortably with Crowley perching on one of the handrests. As a being with no correct knowledge of how to use his limbs, Crowley had been talented in knowing how Aziraphale’s limbs should be used.
“Angel, I want nothing except you,” Crowley reached out to ruffle Aziraphale’s curls. He looked very soft like this, gazing at his angel with eyes made of molten gold. “All I was trying to do was make sure that everything was safe and we’re not drawing unwanted attention to ourselves.”
“I love you, Crowley,”Aziraphale sighed, feeling his chest weighed with his love for the demon, grounding him back to the world that they’d protected. Crowley slithered inhumanely to lay atop of Aziraphale’s plush body, his short red hair tucked under Aziraphale’s soft chin. “I think we’d better get a wiggle on, lest we get frozen to death in this igloo. I think the children said something about completing missions.”
Crowley snorted, knowing full well that it’d be near impossible, but untangled himself good-naturedly from Aziraphale nonetheless. He pulled out his phone to check if there were more instructions from the kids.
“Bloody Antichrist,” Crowley muttered.
“Crowley, I think what he meant was to look at the ground,” the angel pointed at a bump on the ground. He went over and pushed the upper layer of snow away, revealing the brown package underneath. He happily unwrapped the package and squealed. “Look! They left some cocoa for us!”
If Crowley had any doubt about whether this had been a setup all along, he had no doubt now. And that meant there must be a pot of warm milk somewhere in the annoyingly perfect igloo. He looked around and found a thermos in another pile of snow, carrying scalding hot milk. He growled but dutifully began making hot cocoa for his fussy angel.
When he handed over a mug of good cocoa, the angel beamed at him. “Oh thank you, darling. You’re so thoughtful. Let me make this a little better for you,” Aziraphale gasped and retrieved a flask from his breast pocket, putting a generous helping into the mug in Crowley‘s hands and a smaller portion into his own mug.
They settled down into the miraculously appeared couch once again. Now calmer and chatting easily. Crowley almost didn’t want to leave. He almost wanted to pretend that they’d got nowhere else to be.
“My dear, what else do you think they’d prepared for us?” Aziraphale thought out loud after some companionable silence. “So far, I think this is a rather pleasant experience.”
“So far? It’s just the first thing, angel,” Crowley groaned. “The nice part about the cocoa was the booze and you brought it yourself!”
“Don’t be so difficult, foul fiend,” the angel scolded playfully, excitedly rubbing his hands together. “Let’s see what’s next!”
Crowley’s heart would stop at the sight of the pink tip of Aziraphale’s tongue poking out of those lips in excitement, had it not been crashing itself violently on the walls of Crowley’s ribcage. He tried to focus, he really tried. But it was just so goddamn difficult with Aziraphale being all sweet and smiley beside him.
“Oh! This is clever, Crowley,” the angel squealed, holding a split package of the cocoa powder in his hand. The inside of the package was filled with words, more specifically, instructions to their next activity. “Look!”
They found themselves an odd-looking package of gingerbread house next. Well, it was more of a bag of unevenly baked gingerbread bricks. Crowley sighed and laid them all out for Aziraphale to look over them. The angel was beaming. He had a thing for human entertainments, magic tricks and puzzles and the like. HIs enthusiasm annoyed the demon to no end.
The items of the package looked weirdly small and scattering. After some arrangement, Crowley yelped. “For fuck sake, angel! It’s an igloo. How would I bloodly know how to build an igloo!”
Aziraphale’s eyes widened slightly in amazement. “Well, that’s rather interesting! We shall figure out how to build an igloo, then. It couldn’t have been so difficult! We’re in one built by the children, after all.”
Crowley felt himself wanting to pull his hair out. Gingerbread houses shouldn’t be about exploring the unknown and testing one’s architectural knowledge. He’d know, of course, since he was the demon who brought the mess of giant cookies and ridiculously sticky icing into the holiday activity repertoire in the first place. Gingerbread houses were meant to leave crumbs and icing over every inch of the house and give the parents headaches over their kids screaming at the falling apart edible walls.
But Aziraphale looked too immersed in the experience for Crowley to interrupt, so he simply lounged beside the mess, obediently holding pieces of cookies and the bag of icing when Aziraphale instructed him to. As they pieced the chunks together, Aziraphale insisted on covering it entirely with an excess amount of icing, which Crowley was almost certain wasn’t included in the kit. He looked so pleased with his own handiwork, Crowley couldn’t help snapping a picture and sending it to Warlock.
A response came back immediately which Crowley replied to equally fast.
Warlock then sent him a picture of several bricks of gingerbread just like the countless pieces Aziraphale just put together into the miniature igloo. The children had decided to hide several pieces to make building an igloo an impossible mission, but it, being igloo, turned out just fine after some adjustments. Aziraphale, being Aziraphale, had never thought the children would be scheming behind his back so he expected nothing less than a collection of pieces that fit together perfectly and a perfect package it was.
Crowley shrugged at his phone, decided to take care of the overly-mischievous former-Antichrist later, and turned back to the fussy angel who was now studying the purely white dome he had just made to look for the next clue.
Suddenly, the peaceful quietness was interrupted by a snowball on Crowley’s back. Crowley snapped back and saw the children standing at the entrance with a wagon full of snowballs.
“Anathema helped with some of her skills,” Adam gestured at the suspiciously unblocked entrance and Crowley smirked. He could be a literal devil in a silly snowball fight if they decided to play tricks on him. He spared a glance at the still-in-deep-thought angel and walked out into the snow.
Sometime after that, Aziraphale was pulled out of his thoughts by high pitched squeals outside of the igloo and Crowley’s self-satisfied laugh. He’d recognised that delightful sound everywhere. Just when he walked out of the icey space, he felt a rush of air aimed at him, but no impact came. Aziraphale looked up at the surrounding and realised that Crowley had stopped time again. Now, a sinister looking snowball was a few inches away from his cheeks and Adam had a smug grin on his face. He could see the snowflakes in the air, delicately scattered.
In the middle of all unmoving things, Crowley moved. He sauntered towards where Aziraphale stood, stunned. Everything was silent when Aziraphale was pulled into elegant arms, possessively wrapped around his round shoulder.
“Did you have fun, angel?” Crowley hummed against his soft curls. His warm breath huffed through the silvery curls onto his scalp. Aziraphale hummed positively in response.
“I think we should pay them back. What do you say?” Crowley laughed, his voice rumbling around Aziraphale. It was hardly angelic to take revenge, but Aziraphale supposed preparing some fun activities in return wouldn’t hurt. He nodded, thinking back to all the tricks he’d picked up throughout his time on earth.
“Nope, we’re not doing magic tricks,” Crowley took a look at Aziraphale’s dreamy smile and groaned, interrupting his happy trip down his memory lane. Aziraphale pouted, and pouted harder when he realised the demon was not giving in. “We’re doing this my way, angel. We give ‘em something fun to struggle out of and we’re going home!”
Aziraphale giggled at Crowley’s icy lips pressed on his forehead. He’d very much like to do it as Crowley pleased and end their day with warming up his freezing demon in front of a crackling fire. He trailed behind Crowley as the demon walked towards the children and dropped himself suddenly into the blanket of snow, wiggling vigorously to form a snow angel. He then stood up, shook off the snow clung to his coat, and began working on another.
After forming five almost identical snow angels on the ground, Crowley began dumping the children into each hollowed-out space. Aziraphale smiled indulgently and worked on forming halos for the angels. When all work was done, they stood next to each other and grinned proudly.
“I think we did a rather good job, my dear,” the angel beamed. Aziraphale linked their arms together and Crowley snapped his unoccupied hand.
“That we did, angel,” Crowley pulled him closer, not wanting to lose an ounce of that brilliant warmth as they transported themself back into the bookshop, landing just beside the fireplace where a spark of tamed fire had burst into life to welcome its favourite beings.