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Aziraphale was reading in his armchair when the jingle of the door made him look up from his book.
He saw Muriel come in smiling as they exclaimed, "Good morning!"
Aziraphale scrambled to his feet and murmured with a finger over his mouth, "Shhh, Crowley's still asleep. He pointed to the ceiling."
Muriel, a little confused, observed, "Oh, that's right, I didn't see him sleeping in his car this morning."
They looked around and pointed to the plants, which remained in the same place he and Crowley had left them the night before.
Muriel exclaimed, "Oh!" before whispering again, "Oooh, his plants are here too?"
Aziraphale coughed and said in a low voice, "Um...about that. Crowley's going to live here now. He and I... well, he and I are..."
Muriel nodded, "I know, I know, Maggie and Nina explained it to me."
Aziraphale sighed with relief that he didn't have to explain any more. He was still having a little trouble putting it all into words, even though he was absolutely sure of himself.
"Ah... uh, very well. So..."
He took his wallet out of his drawer, handed it to Muriel and said, "I won't ask this of you every day, you're not... how shall I put it... my servant, but could I ask you to get an espresso and some Eccles cakes from Nina's and then run the shop for an hour?"
Muriel's eyes lit up, "An hour? All alone here?"
Aziraphale smiled, amused, because the other angel had obviously only retained the second part of the sentence.
He replied softly, "Well, I'll just be upstairs. That way you won't be completely alone. Now, before you go, remind me of rule number one."
Muriel stood almost at attention and recited aloud, "We don't sell books. To anyone."
Aziraphale applauded and congratulated them, "Perfect! I'm reassured now."
He watched the other angel go into the coffee shop and waited until he saw them head for the bookshop before he climbed the spiral staircase that would lead him to the room where Crowley would still be sleeping.
As he entered the room, Aziraphale couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight of the tuft of red hair sticking out of the duvet.
He sat down quietly on the edge of the bed and waited for Crowley to wake up. The angel never slept, but for the first time, contemplating what he could see of the sleeping demon, he wished he could, if only to lie beside him.
Lost in thought, he didn't immediately notice that Crowley was now awake.
The demon said to him in a drowsy voice, "Morning, Angel."
Aziraphale pulled the blanket back a little to get a better look at him and replied softly, "Good morning, my dear."
Crowley sat up a little and looked around before putting an arm over his eyes and whispering, "So it is real?"
Aziraphale chuckled softly, "What?"
Crowley reached out and grabbed Aziraphale's hand that was resting on the mattress before answering, "I don't know. It all happened so fast yesterday, at first I thought I'd woken up in my car surrounded by my plants."
Aziraphale, a tender expression on his face, leaned over and kissed teh demon's forehead before replying in a serious voice, "It's real. Everything is real."
"Are we doing this then?" Crowl asked cautiously.
"Doing what?" asked Aziraphale, looking puzzled.
Crowley intertwined his fingers with Aziraphale's and replied, "Well, you and me...here, together?"
"Looks like it," Aziraphale replied softly.
Crowley looked up at him and asked quietly, "Is that really what you want? Because I can still wait, you know..."
"Not me. I don't want to wait anymore," Aziraphale replied firmly, knowing that Crowley needed him to say it, even though he would never ask.
Because Crowley never asked for anything for himself. As if he didn't think he had the right to. Subject to Aziraphale's goodwill.
Aziraphale realized how unfair their encounters had been to Crowley, and yet the demon had always been there. Whatever the state of their relationship.
That's why Aziraphale thought it was time they were truly equal and asked Crowley in a firm voice, "Is that what you want?"
Crowley nodded and replied, "Yes, of course I want it. He added in a lower voice, "For so long."
"Then it's perfect," Aziraphale replied before leaning over and kissing him tenderly on the lips.
When he got to his feet, Crowley held him back and said playfully, "That's what I want, angel, if you wake me up the same way every day."
Aziraphale replied with the same playful tone, "That's no problem at all, my dear."
Then his expression turned serious again and, brushing the demon's hair back, he said gently, "Promise me to think of you more, Crowley. Stop putting me first. Take. Demand. Dare. Refuse. Don't hold back because you think that's what I want. There are two of us, not you and me or me first and you second, but just us."
“We need to get away from them, just be an us.”
He saw in Crowley's eyes that he had gotten his hint as the demon nodded. Then Aziraphale leaned over and, after giving him a lingering kiss on the forehead, said softly, "Thank you."
"Thank you for what, angel?" asked Crowley, confused.
"For forgiving me, again."
Crowley merely nodded and slid his hand behind the angel's neck to pull him closer, forcing him to lie down beside him. Then he buried his face in Aziraphale's neck and the angel chuckled softly against his hair, "My God, Crowley, you're a real cuddler, it's unbelievable."
Crowley murmured into his neck, "Angel, if you tell anyone about this, I'll never take you to dinner at the Ritz again."
This prompted another laugh from the angel.
Everything was still so new between them, even though they'd known each other for millennia, now that their relationship had changed, they had so much to learn from each other, about each other.
Aziraphale playfully replied, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that Anthony J. Crowley is ador-"
The demon straightened, put his finger on the angel's lips, and grumbled, "I'm not adorable, I'm a demon."
Aziraphale smiled under Crowley's finger and replied softly, "My adorable demon."
"Angel!!!"
Aziraphale chuckled, and Crowley moved closer to wipe that smug expression from his face in the most efficient way he knew how, when a voice called out, causing them to freeze.
"Aziraphale, it's been an hour! And there are two customers who just came in."
Their lips inches apart, the angel and the demon looked at each other for a second in silence before bursting into laughter.
Aziraphale exclaimed, "I'm coming!"
He started to get up when Crowley stopped him and said, "Don't, I feel it's my job to show Muriel how best to get rid of unhappy customers. You're too kind."
Crowley stood and, with a gesture, dressed before heading for the stairs, Aziraphale close behind.
The angel glanced around before descending, and at the sight of the unmade bed, proof that Crowley had slept here, he felt a gentle warmth inside.
He walked down a few steps and stopped to look at Crowley, who had his arm around Muriel's shoulders and was whispering something in their ear, pointing at the two customers.
Muriel put their hand over their mouth to stifle their laughter as each time the customers tried to pick up a book, it slipped out of their hands and flew back to the shelf it belonged to.
It didn't take long for the unhappy customers to leave the store, and as Aziraphale came down the last few steps and joined them, Muriel, still with Crowley's arm around their shoulders, said proudly, "We didn't sell any books."
Crowley put his other arm around Aziraphale's shoulders and continued, "To anyone."
Aziraphale couldn't hold back his laughter, which was soon joined by Muriel's and Crowley's.
And as he watched their laughing reflection in the shop window, he realized that this was their life now.
It was real.
And it was perfect.