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“This is nice,” said Aziraphale, as she looked around.
They were sitting on the top floor of a double decker bus, that was completely unoccupied, much to the angel’s delight and relief. She needed it to be empty.
Crowley, sitting to her left as always, nodded. “Mmh.”
Aziraphale smoothed her skirt. She looked at the demon next to her. Swallowed. Looked across the aisle and out the window. Smoothed her skirt again. Swallowed. Took a deep breath.
“Crowley.”
“For someone’s sake, Angel, just spit it out.”
“Hm?”
“You’ve been meaning to talk to me all morning so just say what you need to say.”
“Oh. Erm…”
Now that the moment was here, Aziraphale didn’t know what to say.
“I—“
Crowley looked at her. She could just barely see their eyes through their sunglasses. Aziraphale looked away.
“Well, I… I just wanted to…” she took a deep breath in. And out. “We need to talk, Crowley.”
She paused. Crowley looked at her. She looked at them. They shifted in their seat.
“Nina and Maggie gave you the talk too, eh?”
“Yes. It was—“
“Eye-opening?”
“—embarrassing.”
Crowley looked surprised.
“I didn’t realize… Oh, Crowley. I feel so stupid. I haven’t talked to you—really talked to you—in our entire relationship and— and—“ she could feel tears wavering on the edge of her eyelids. “I’m so sorry.”
Crowley looked at her. They could see the heartbreak. It wasn’t just underneath anymore. It was there for all the world to see. And Crowley almost understood.
“Why are you apologizing? I didn’t communicate either.”
“Yes, but… but I’ve read all those books—this is exactly what happens in all of my books—the two…” she swallowed, “lovers… don’t communicate about their feelings for one another and everything falls apart. I’ve read those books hundreds of times and I never realized…” the tears started to fall.
And Crowley understood.
“Oh, Crowley!” She sobbed into their chest. Finally, and freely. Wave after wave of sobs came and Crowley wrapped their arms around their angel and held. Held on tight. As if the world was ending—and it almost had (twice).
It wasn’t ending at that moment. And after all they had been through, both the angel and the demon really wished that it wouldn’t for a very long time. They had had enough of that for a while.
As Crowley held the shaking Aziraphale in the empty top floor of the double decker bus, they wondered what came next. Their question was about to be answered.
The last few sobs echoed from Aziraphale’s wet face and she sat up. She reached up to wipe her eyes but Crowley’s hands got there first.
They ran their thumbs along her sweet, round cheeks, and brought her head to their lips, pressing a soft kiss into her white hair.
“It’s okay, Angel…”
They looked into her shining eyes and smiled. (Not a cheeky one, or a fake one, but their real, genuine, full-of-love-and-life smile.)
“…I forgive you.”