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The first few days of their move to South Downs were exhausting and Crowley and Aziraphale barely slept as Crowley was rushing to unpack. The lack of rest and sleep was starting to get to them, and their bickering became a daily occurrence. Maggie had called via Face Time one day to check in on them and Aziraphale immediately groaned.
“Maggie, dear, we have not rested since we got here. The man I married is determined to unpack everything we own in record time.”
Maggie was about to respond until Crowley came up behind Aziraphale and said, “Yeah? Well, the man I married has 200 years’ worth of books, thank you very much!”
“Crowley, I will unpack the books. Your plants are all over the place. I’ve tripped over more Philodendrons than I care to count!”
His husband sneered and walked away, picking up a large moving box from the kitchen island that was labeled BLANK CANVASES. “If you watched where you stepped…”
“There’s a plant every step I take!” He sighed and turned back to his mobile. “Maggie, we are so tired. We have been at each other since we got here.”
“You could always take a sleep aid,” said Maggie.
“Oh, I don’t know if it would work on us. Crowley hit his head once and I gave him headache powder and it gave him hallucinations. Poor thing was fighting off flying elves all night.”
He grinned when Maggie laughed and she said, “Well, you could try a natural supplement. My auntie used to take three milligrams of melatonin every night and it worked like a charm.”
“Really?”
“Slept through the night, she did.”
After their phone call, he went to the room where Crowley had declared as his art studio. “Dear, could I borrow the car, please?”
Crowley didn’t look up from the box he was unpacking. “Nope.”
“I’m not going far. I’m going to the chemist.”
He then turned to him. “For what?”
“Maggie told me about some sort of natural supplement that will help us relax and go to sleep.”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I am not taking a pill, angel. Need I remind you of the elves?”
Aziraphale squeezed the bridge of his nose and groaned. “Please, love. I need to rest.”
“Then rest.”
“Your constant moving about and unpacking is quite stressful! I need a break, Crowley!”
Crowley sighed and stood up to take his keys out of his pocket. He jerked them away as the angel tried to take them and said, “No changing the color.”
Aziraphale rolled his eyes. “That was one time.”
“Promise.”
Aziraphale grabbed the keys and stomped down the hallway and out the front door.
Crowley sighed as he turned back to his boxes. “Bitch.”
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Aziraphale had read the label to find that one pill twenty minutes before bedtime would be enough, so he put it in the pantry next to the sweets for later. He went to Crowley’s studio and tossed his keys where he was sitting.
“Thank you. Your car has been returned…in its original factory color.”
Crowley glanced at his keys. “Ta…”
Aziraphale huffed. “Ta, indeed.”
“Angel.” He stood from his spot on the floor and approached him. “Look…I know I’ve been a dick this week.”
“Couldn’t have said it better.”
Crowley grinned and brought his husband close. “I just wanted to get settled, you know? Stuff always seems to happen when everything goes right for us, and I guess that’s why I’m rushing.”
Aziraphale frowned. “Oh…darling.” He sighed as he hugged him. “I didn’t realize. I’m sorry for being a bitch.”
Crowley winced but acted quickly with a kiss on his cheek. “Hey, I’m tired too, love. You know it’s always hard for me to sleep when I’m tired. I don’t know why.”
“That is a puzzler. Well, I got the supplement Maggie suggested and the label says one will do the trick. We should try it tonight. A cup of tea sounds nice, too, I think.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know. You know how I feel about medicine.”
“It’s natural, love. Couldn’t hurt.”
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Aziraphale could barely keep his eyes open as they had sat at the kitchen table eating their Chinese takeaway. It was the first time the cottage had been quiet since they got there, and it relaxed him so much that his mind kept wandering and becoming hazy. Crowley, on the other hand, was still wide awake and was now sitting on the sofa watching their giant TV.
Aziraphale went to the pantry and retrieved a pill for him. He didn’t think that he himself needed it as badly, but he knew that Crowley would be up all night again if something wasn’t done. He took the pill to his husband.
“Here you go, love.” Aziraphale handed it to him when he held out his hand, and then went into the kitchen.
Crowley was about to put it in his mouth until he looked at what was actually in his hand and frowned. “Um…angel? What did you just give me?”
Aziraphale replied as he was making their tea. “What’s that?”
“What did you just give me?”
“I gave you that pill that’s supposed to help you sleep. You promised you would take it.”
“Why is it purple?”
“What?”
“This pill is purple!”
Aziraphale rubbed his temples. “Okay…well, the bottle has purple on it. Maybe that’s why?”
He sniffed the thing in his hand and started giggling.
Aziraphale heard him and asked, “What is it?”
“I’m asking you! Will you get back in here?”
“You’re delirious! Just take the pill and go to bed.”
Crowley stared at the item in his palm and couldn’t help but giggle again. “Angel, this isn’t a pill you just handed me. Get in here.”
“That is a pill, Crowley! It’s just purple.”
“I think you’re wrong, love!”
“Because you’re always the right one, aren’t you?”
“Aziraphale!”
“Just a moment, I’m making tea.”
“Get. In. Here. Now!”
“I. Am. Making. Tea!”
Crowley groaned as he rubbed one of his eyes. His giggling was suddenly making it hard to speak clearly. “For Ssssomeone’s ssssake, angel, please come see thissss.”
Aziraphale tossed the box of tea onto the counter and rubbed his face as he went to the den again. Crowley offered his palm to show him what he had and Aziraphale stared at it for a moment, blinking his eyes and looking toward the kitchen and then back at Crowley’s palm again. He moved closer and took a better look.
“That’s a Smartie.”
Crowley cackled at his husband’s bewildered face. “Baby, I don’t think this would help anyone sleep.”
“I swear, I opened that pill bottle!”
“I don’t think you did. I think you’re the delirious one.”
Aziraphale went back into the kitchen as Crowley continued laughing. He opened the pantry door and groaned. “Good Lord…”
Crowley joined his side, his palm still opened with the purple Smartie, and shook his head when he saw the Smarties tube right next to the melatonin bottle. “Angel…take a good look at that. How do you get a cardboard tube mixed up with a white bottle? Are you okay?”
Aziraphale suddenly laughed. “You know…I think I went to open the bottle and saw the Smarties and thought, ‘oh those sound good’ and well…” He pressed his forehead against the pantry door and giggled.
“I’ll get it myself,” said Crowley. He gave his husband the Smartie, which he promptly ate, and picked up the pill bottle. He twisted off the cap. “The seal is still on. You didn’t even open it!”
Aziraphale’s body shook with laughter as he leaned into his husband who was crunching on his pill in his own giggling. Crowley put his arm around him and kissed his temple.
“So,” he said. “Was I right?”
Through soft giggles, Aziraphale replied, “Oh…Crowley, not tonight.”
“How many times have you done this little apology dance that was your idea from the beginning?”
“Stop!”
Crowley laughed again. “No, I shan’t!”
Aziraphale pulled Crowley’s sash of his dressing gown and pressed against him. He traced his lips along his jaw and said, in a flirtatious sigh, “Darling, I’m so tired. Can I admit you were right…another way?”
Crowley playfully gasped. “Angel! You can’t replace the sacred dance for sexual favors!”
“Says who?”
“Says I. It’s a new clause. Starting now.”
“Oh…shit.”
Crowley giggled and gave him a loving kiss. He ran his lithe fingers through his soft curls. “Okay…I’ll let it slide this time, due to the nature of your apparent exhaustion.”
Aziraphale gave him a smug grin. “Thank you. I’m off to bed then.”
“Good night, love.” He watched his husband walk down the hallway to their bedroom. The angel suddenly stopped and turned to speak to him.
“Will you, um…come to bed soon?”
Crowley could see his angel was still trying to tempt him with an alternative method of apologizing. “If this magic pill kicks in, yes. If you hear me screaming, however, that’ll be the elves again.”
Aziraphale nodded. “Right. Well…I can wait up if you’d like…”
There was a certain ‘come-hither’ gaze Aziraphale had perfected over the years that always lured Crowley to him like a puppet on a string; however, the demon just couldn’t help but toy with him, too.
“I thought you were tired, darling,” he said with a shrewd grin.
Aziraphale smiled. “Not that tired…for you…”
Crowley bit his lip and made a deliberate strut down the hall to fully meet his husband’s hopeful gaze. “Not that tired…eh?” he growled.
He gently set his hands on Aziraphale’s hips and pushed him back against the door frame. He pressed his lips hard against his, making the angel sigh as he grasped his shoulders. Crowley moved his lips along his jawline down to his neck where he grazed his teeth against his skin. Aziraphale wrapped his arms around his slender waist as Crowley’s mouth traveled to his ear.
“Then do the dance.”
Aziraphale huffed and nudged him away, closing the bedroom door behind him. Crowley chuckled. “S’fine, angel. You know I don’t mind the sofa.” He turned to go back to the den, but the door opened again, and Aziraphale stood there in his long nightshirt staring up at him with pursed lips.
Crowley gave him his full attention and a satisfied smile as he waited.
Aziraphale took a breath and held up his right hand and swayed his right hip forward and in a sing-song voice said, “You were right.” A skip in place. “You were right.” A slow twirl. “I was wrong.” Gracious bow. “You were right.”
Crowley clapped his hands as the angel gave him a glare good enough for a smiting if he so inclined.
“Never gets old.”
Aziraphale huffed. “Happy?”
“Beyond reason.”
“Good.” He grabbed him by the wrist. “Let’s go to bed."