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"Hello Maggie!"
Maggie had her back to Aziraphale and was humming along to the music playing on the shop's radio.
She turned and exclaimed, "Oh, good afternoon, Aziraphale! How are you?"
The angel smiled gently and replied, "Just fine. Good to see your usual cheerful self. Is everything going well with..." Aziraphale didn't finish his sentence and looked in the direction of the coffee shop.
Maggie didn't lose her smile as she replied softly, "It's going... at our pace."
Aziraphale nodded, fully understanding what the woman meant.
Maggie continued, "Anyway, I've got some good news, the store's finances are looking better."
"Oh really? I'm delighted!"
Maggie nodded and replied, "Yes, and I have to say it's largely thanks to Crowley. He's put me in touch with several collectors who have become regulars."
Azirphale was thrilled to hear Crowley spoken of in such glowing terms, and also pleased to know that he was so involved in the life of the neighborhood.
Maggie continued, "You know, he's very popular with the people here. Not everyone remembers much about the attack, but they remember that Crowley was the one who helped them. And we know that underneath that grumpy exterior, he's a very nice person. But we also know he doesn't like to be told." Maggie chuckled slightly before continuing, "Like someone I know."
Aziraphale chuckled with her, knowing who she was talking about.
They chatted for a while, both blushing as they talked about their respective beloved, and Aziraphale bought the records he'd come for before heading back to the bookshop.
The afternoon was well underway, so he decided he deserved a little snack and would make a little detour to Nina's to see what treats the coffee shop was offering today.
Arriving at the counter, he looked at the specials and ordered a slice of cheesecake.
"Oh! It's that guy from the Magic Shop, chatting with that weird red-haired guy I noticed before. You know, the guy with the old car."
Aziraphale turned and followed the gaze of the person who had just spoken. He saw Crowley chatting with Mutt in the middle of the street. That was astonishing enough, but his astonishment grew when he saw Crowley start to laugh.
What surprised him even more, and not in the best way, was how he felt when he saw it.
He should have been happy to see Crowley thriving here, but instead he felt something ugly. So ugly that he refused to give it a name.
In that very moment, he hated himself for it.
"He's gotten popular, you know?"
Aziraphale turned to Nina and nodded.
Nina, as perceptive as ever, continued, "It doesn't seem to make you very happy."
Aziraphale tried to deny it, but something about Nina stopped him, so he said nothing.
Nina continued as usual, "Hoho... so there's a crack under that angel face? That's reassuring."
Aziraphale, confused, asked, "What do you mean?"
Taking advantage of the fact that no one needed her services, Nina leaned against the counter and replied, "Well, the day you asked me to come to the shopkeepers' meeting, he and I had a little chat."
Nina asked the red-haired man, "You've been together long?"
The man looked at her in silence, swallowed before asking, "Who?"
Nina replied, "You and your partner."
He denied it so quickly that it automatically made Nina suspicious and she continued, "It certainly looks like that from here. Oh, so you've just recently hooked up."
The redhead shook his head, "No, we..."
Ignoring his interruption, she continued, " You got a husband? Or a boyfriend? Is the bookseller your bit on the side?"
The red-haired man protested passionately, " He's not my bit on the side. He's far too pure of heart to be anybody's bit on the side. He's just an angel, I know."
"Did he really say that?" asked Aziraphale when Nina had finished telling him about the conversation.
Nina nodded.
Aziraphale said in a dejected tone, "Well, you may have noticed that I'm not so pure of heart."
Nina smiled indulgently before replying, "Don't be downhearted. It's for the best. Just make sure he knows it. It's no good putting each other on a pedestal."
Aziraphale replied, "I know, you already told me not to do that to him."
Nina smiled and pushed the plate of cheesecake toward him. Aziraphale grabbed it and walked back to the bookshop.
Crowley had seen him and they went in together.
With his conversation with Nina and his ugly thoughts in his head, Aziraphale didn't know how to talk to Crowley.
But wasn't that their main problem?
"Angel, I don't think staring at that piece of cake like that is going to make it float right into your mouth."
Aziraphale realized that, lost in thought, he was in the middle of the bookshop, still holding the plate of cheesecake.
Crowley's expression turned a little concerned as he asked, "Are you sure everything's all right? You've been acting weird since we met on the street."
The angel set the plate down on his desk, took a deep breath, turned to Crowley, and asked matter-of-factly, "Are you idealizing me?"
Crowley's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "What?"
But Aziraphale continued, pacing in the middle of the bookshop, "Because Nina told me you said I was pure. And when I saw you on the street, laughing with Mutt, I can tell you there was nothing pure about me, I had really ugly thoughts. I know I shouldn't, but I couldn't help the way I was feeling. So if you think I'm a pure little angel, you're wrong and-"
"Wow, wow, wow. Stop, Angel! Time out!"
Crowley had grabbed his wrists to stop him, and when he saw he had the angel's attention, he continued, "Come here."
He led him to his armchair, made him sit down, then pulled out a chair, placed it across from Azirphale, and sat on it.
He took the angel's hands in his and said softly, "One thing at a time, okay?"
Aziraphale nodded.
Crowley continued, "You say that when you saw me laughing with Mutt in the street, you had ugly thoughts. Can you explain that?"
Aziraphale lowered his head and muttered, "I saw you laughing and I was not jealous of Mutt, I have no reason to be. That's not the point. But I was jealous because you were laughing and I wasn't there."
"Oh, Angel..." Crowley chuckled as he dropped his head onto their intertwined hands.
Aziraphale tried to free himself and as he struggled, he said angrily, "If this is just to make fun of me, then it's not worth it."
Crowley lifted his head and held the angel's hands tightly in his own, saying earnestly, "Angel, calm down. You'll understand why I reacted the way I did. You were the reason I laughed. Mutt said you seemed to have no talent for magic, but that your passion redeemed everything. And I'm sorry, Angel, but his description was so accurate that it made me laugh."
"Oh..." Aziraphale said simply, then pouting, he added, "You were actually making fun of me!"
Crowley raised his hand and, bringing his index finger and thumb together, said in a coaxing tone, "Just a little," then added, "But you see, there's no need to be jealous of that laugh."
Aziraphale replied earnestly, "Still, I should have been pleased to see you happy and not..."
Crowley shook his head, "I disagree. You feel what you feel. You have every right to. As long as we talk about it like this, to avoid misunderstandings."
Aziraphale sighed and replied quietly, "I guess you're right."
Crowley exclaimed, "What? I am right? Please say it again!"
The angel retorted, "I hate it when you do that."
"You adore me!"
"Unfortunately, that's the truth."
Crowley planted a quick kiss on the angel's pout before returning to a serious expression and saying, "Angel, I never told Nina you were pure. First of all, not everything I said was meant to be taken literally; she'd just made me realize how I felt about you, so it was all about getting away as fast as I could. But what I did say was that you were too pure to be anyone's bit on the side. Angel, I know you. I love you, but I'm not blind. Remember what I told you that night at the Ritz, that you were just enough of a bastard. Believe me, I know you can be one. A real one."
He grabbed the angel's chin and, with his eyes in his, said softly, "I see you, angel. I've seen you since that day on the garden wall, since the moment you confessed to me that you had given your flaming sword to Adam and Eve. For despite your fear that you had done wrong, you didn't hesitate to give it because your heart told you to. Just as you protected me from the rain. There was nothing angelic about it, it was just you. You're also the one who told me more than once that it's in my nature to do evil because I'm a demon. Sometimes you're as stubborn as a mule when you have an idea in your head, even if it's absurd. And you're jealous because I'm laughing with someone who's not you. I see you, Angel. And that's what I love, not the image of a pure, perfect little angel. I wouldn't want that, what a bore."
Aziraphale couldn't help but laugh at the dramatic air with which Crowley had finished his sentence.
Still laughing, he said, "I understand."
"Good," Crowley replied, nodding his head in satisfaction, then added, "Now will my less-than-perfect angel kiss me?"
"Idiot!" replied Aziraphale as he brought his face close to the demon's.
But just as he was about to press his lips to the demon's, the demon whispered, "When I tell you you've got something of a bast-..."
He didn't have time to finish his sentence because Aziraphale pressed his lips to the demon's. Sometimes that was the only way to shut him up.
As he pulled back, he asked, "What if that bastard of an angel poured you a glass of wine to drink while you watch me eat my cheesecake?"
Crowley stood, held out his hand, and said, "Temptation accomplished."
The irony of the words was not lost on the angel, who laughed softly as he reached for his demon's hand.
It had been a long time since either of them had fit into boxes made by others, and it was perfect as it was.
Both a little blurred at the edges, they were a perfect fit for each other.