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“A little to the left, the lighting isn’t quite… there, better. Now step a little closer together… closer… oh, good move with the arm. Yes, that’s it, perfect, now don’t move!”
Anathema fiddled with the camera controls, adjusting the zoom and angle. Finally, satisfied, she glanced over at Newt, who was watching the endeavor from a safe distance.[1] “Aren’t they cute?”
He nodded.
She turned back to the pair on the other end of the lens. “Confirmed, you two are cute. Okay, ready?”
Crowley tightened his arm briefly around Aziraphale’s shoulders, feeling the angel’s stance stiffen slightly beside him at the same time. “Easy there, angel,” he murmured. “You don’t have to be in parade rest for this. It’s just for fun.”
“I know that.” Aziraphale’s posture relaxed again. “It’s just…” He hesitated. “It’s very exciting.”
“Exciting,” Crowley echoed knowingly. “It sure is.” He paused, with a sudden twinge of anxiety. “You’re sure you want to do this, right? Because we absolutely don’t need to if you aren’t ready. Or heck, if we do it and then you change your mind afterwards, I can always just scrub the film.[2] Or, or if you…”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure. It’s all right, Crowley.” Aziraphale touched his back, hand steady and reassuring. “You can relax too, you know. You’re tenser than I am.”
“Touché.” Crowley huffed a sheepish laugh. “Just, ngh. You don’t have to go faster than you like. Want to make sure you know that. That’s all.”
“I know,” Aziraphale said softly. “And I appreciate your asking. And luckily, this isn’t too fast for me at all. It’s the good kind of exciting. All right?”
“All right,” Crowley said meekly.
“And you’re certain you want to do it, too?” Aziraphale checked. “This goes both ways. If you’d rather not…”
“What? If—” That, Crowley felt, was an absurd question.[3] “Of course I want to do it! It was my idea!”
“Technically Miss Device suggested it, didn’t she?”
“Eh. Nah. I had the idea first, I just didn’t say anything.”
“Ah. I see.” Aziraphale’s thumb traced a circle on Crowley’s back, gentle and understanding, and Crowley thought that the angel probably did see.
It was hard for them both, still, learning to push beyond the old boundaries. A work in progress. To trust themselves, to trust their new freedom. To try things that would never have been safe in the old days.
And yet here they were now, doing exactly that. Taking a photograph together, of their own free will, side by side and touching: incontrovertible proof of a relationship they were no longer trying to hide.
Anathema cleared her throat, exchanging glances with Newt. “Everything okay over there?”
One more look into his best friend’s eyes, sparkling with anticipation and a hint of deeper emotion, then Crowley gave her a thumbs-up.
“Ready,” Aziraphale confirmed.
“Great.” Anathema nodded. “I’ll count. Three, two, one… smile!”
They smiled. The camera flashed, and captured their image: safe, together, and beaming with real joy.