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Crowley had a plan, and he was going to finally put it into place. Today.
It had been about a year since Aziraphale was back from Heaven. Long story short, things had gone…. not to plan, and Aziraphale was ‘forcefully relieved’ of his position of Supreme Archangel. So, he returned to his shop and things returned to normal.
Normal wasn’t enough for Crowley.
Normal meant their usual dance. It consisted of lingering touches and sneaking peeks at each other. Stumbling around the word ‘friend’ and wishing people would stop asking what they were. Neither of them having the courage to talk. Crowley intended to put an end to that today.
He walked into Aziraphale’s shop, immediately finding him at his desk. Aziraphale looked up at him and smiled. “Hello,” he said in that way that made Crowley want to melt.
“Hey. Uh, there’s a new bakery a few blocks from here. Fancy taking a lunch break?”
Aziraphale gasped and set down whatever he was working on. “Sounds lovely!” He started walking towards Crowley, then stopped. “Muriel!” he called, turning around. Muriel appeared from the back room holding a book. “Can you look over the shop for a little?”
“Of course!” they said with a grin.
Aziraphale smiled and turned back around to Crowley. “Shall we?”
The walk to the bakery was nice. They even stopped for a few minutes to watch the ducks.
Aziraphale was talking about a new book he got and Crowley couldn’t stop looking at him. The look Aziraphale got when talking about something he loves- Nothing could rival it. Crowley thought about how he’d faced Heaven and Hell for Aziraphale and he would do it all again if need be. (Though right now there was a mutual agreement between Heaven, Hell, and them to stay out of each other’s way for a bit. Of course, Heaven and Hell kept with their thwarting, but Crowley and Aziraphale stayed out of it.)
“This is the place,” Crowley said, stopping in front of the shop. It was a nice little place. It had pastries, housemade candies, coffee, and everything else a nice little place has. They walked in and were immediately hit with sweet scents. Towards the front, there were tables where people sat and enjoyed themselves. The counter was by the left wall, where a large menu above showed all the available drinks. The half of the counter away from the front had candy-making equipment, abandoned as the two employees worked on taking orders. On the right wall and back part of the space, there were shelves and buckets of candy. Some recognizable brands, while others were made by the shop.
“Crowley!” Aziraphale half-whispered, holding up some chocolate candy. “It says there’s chocolate, caramel, pecans, and sea salt!”
Crowley joined Aziraphale by the small buckets and admired the candy. He didn’t care much for them himself, but ever since the angel had that taste of ox ribs he’s wanted to try everything.
They picked what each of them wanted (Crowley did end up getting a few pieces of taffy) and got in line. It was good there were a few people in front of them, as the shop had a lot of options for drinks. (‘Look! Cotton candy flavored syrup!’ ‘Isn’t that just sugar, Angel?’) Their candy was put in a small paper bag and they each got tea. Aziraphale tried the cinnamon roll flavor while Crowley tried cinnamon spice.
They left the shop with candy and teas in hand. “Wow! We really must come back!” Aziraphale said, tea already half empty. Crowley agreed with a hum. He had somewhat taken a risk with the new shop. The second part of his plan was yet to take effect. If the shop hadn’t been good, it wouldn’t have spoiled the second part, but right now seemed best case scenario. Crowley had kept his hopes low for the shop, but it really exceeded his expectations.
They finished their teas before long and threw away the cups. Aziraphale opened the bag and looked through the candy, giving Crowley his pieces. “Did you get the lemon taffy, or is that mine?”
“I believe that’s yours, Angel.”
“Look! They managed to get it to look like a lemon slice!” the angel said, holding it out so Crowley could see. Crowley looked and impressively hummed; it really did look like a slice. “It’s sour and sweet!” he exclaimed as he tried it. “Is it getting darker?” he asked, looking up.
Crowley looked to the sky and feigned surprise. What was once a clear, sunny day had turned overcast, and was getting cloudier by the minute. Time for part two. “Looks like it is. Did you see if there was rain forecasted?”
“No, I’ve been wrapped up in restoring that book all day.”
Crowley slipped his remaining candy in his pocket. He cursed his nervousness.
“Is it about to rain? It was clear a while ago!”
Sure enough, small raindrops began falling. It was getting heavier by the second. “Up ahead! There’s an awning!” Crowley said, taking Aziraphale’s hand and speedwalking. The minute they were under the awning, the rain intensified. He looked up and down the street, no one around. The building the awning was attached to was for lease, no one inside.
“Six thousand years and I’m still surprised at how fast rain can arrive,” Aziraphale said, straightening out his clothes and standing close to the building. Crowley stayed by the edge and reached his arm out, feeling the rain.
“It’s sort of beautiful, isn’t it?” Crowley asked, joining Aziraphale by the building. “Tomorrow the trees and grass will be greener. Birdbaths refilled.”
“That’s a very nice way of looking at it,” Aziraphale said, smiling at Crowley.
“What’s your favorite part? Of Earth, I mean.”
“Oh, well, I’m not sure. There’s so many great things. I suppose how sustainable it is. So many cycles in place to keep everything running. I mean, we’ve seen forests burn down, yet return mightier than before, haven’t we?”
“We have, Angel. We have.”
“What about you? What’s your favorite part?”
“Me? Well, I suppose the noises are nice. Everywhere you go, noise. Right now there’s rain, but soon there’ll likely be birds and wind rustling leaves. Remember how the ocean waves sounded? Just nice and calm.”
“I do remember that, Crowley. The waves were so nice.”
They both looked out at the downpour for a while. Water was starting to collect on the street and sidewalk around them, yet they stayed perfectly dry. At some point, Crowley started looking at Aziraphale.
At some point, Aziraphale started looking back.
They looked at each other for a while. “Did- Did you do this?” Aziraphale asked.
Crowley blinked out of surprise. “Did I what?”
“Did you take me somewhere nice, then create a storm to force us under an umbrella?”
Crowley blinked again. Aziraphale just read him like one of his books. “What- Well, I-“
“Crowley,” Aziraphale started, turning so he was completely facing the demon, “Did you do this to kiss me?”
Crowley was lost for words. This had gone perfectly to plan, but Aziraphale knew him. He turned towards Aziraphale. “Angel-“
He was cut off as Aziraphale carefully reached to take off Crowley’s glasses. He set them aside the candy without taking his eyes off Crowley. Then Aziraphale grabbed his collar and pulled him in for a kiss, just as Crowley had done to him so long ago. Aziraphale set the bag of candy on the windowsill as he pulled away, returning his hand to Crowley’s collar. He smiled and- oh, he was tearing up. “You didn’t have to do all this to kiss me. You could’ve asked.”
Crowley smiled back, eyes watering. “Angel, you know words have never really been my thing.”
Aziraphale pulled him in for another kiss, and when they separated the sky was sunny and the concrete was starting to dry. “Care to stay at my shop for a while?” he asked, grabbing the candy and giving Crowley his glasses back.
“Sounds like a plan,” Crowley said, putting his glasses on. He grabbed Aziraphale’s hand and they started off towards the shop.