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Aziraphale looked in the mirror, trying (and failing) to get his curls to cooperate. He didn't understand why today (of all days!) one rogue curl was jutting straight out at the top of his head. It looked downright silly, but no matter how he tried to hide it--coiling it tighter and tucking it underneath other curls, joining it to another curl, even pinning it down and using a liberal amount of hairspray (which he borrowed from Maggie, bless her soul)--the curl popped back up as soon as he moved his head. Now he reeked of chemicals and he looked entirely unpresentable. He couldn't go out looking like this, especially to his first date with Crowley.
He swallowed hard as he looked into the mirror, both of his hands in his hair as he attempted to carefully pin the curl down (again). It would help if he had newer pins. He scolded himself for turning down Maggie's offer of a few of hers. They were too dark for him, but at least he would have more than one. He hadn't even purchased this one, someone had given it to him: a woman many years ago now with the same incredibly light hair color. She was so excited to share the pin with him--they were difficult to find, she said--that he didn't have the heart to tell her that he didn't use or need one. And now, here he was, wishing that she had given him at least one more. If he had another, then he could pin down his rogue curl with one and hold that pin down with the other.
He secured the pin in the curl and carefully pulled his hands away, watching intently, holding his breath as if even the act of sucking in air would cause it to come undone. After a long moment, it stayed. He let out his breath.
Now I can finally get dressed, he thought. He checked his pocket watch for the time.
"Good heavens!" he exclaimed aloud. His hair had taken far longer than he had thought. Now he only had ten minutes to get ready!
Aziraphale rushed to his closet and pulled out the outfit he had set aside the other day when Crowley had asked him on this date. Well, Aziraphale thought it was a date. Crowley hadn't used the word "date" but he had made his intentions clear, at least to Aziraphale. It was going to be a night just for the two of them. They didn't have to worry about Heaven or Hell. "Just us and the stars," Crowley had said.
Aziraphale's mouth melted into a lopsided smile. He didn't know what was in store for them this evening, but he knew it would be lovely.
Aziraphale quickly dressed, ensuring that his golden tie was flat and his cream vest wasn't wrinkled. Just as he worried that his gold angel wing cuff links were too much, the chimes went off, signaling that the front door to his shop had opened. Crowley was here! Aziraphale smiled, his worries forgotten as he went downstairs.
"Ah, you're here!" Aziraphale exclaimed as he came down with a smile. Crowley was wearing a black pinstriped suit pants and jacket with a deep green dress shirt underneath, the top button undone, showing the base of his long neck and just a hint of the skin beneath. Aziraphale brightened. "You're wearing color!"
"Ngghk," Crowley began, taking his glasses off and placing them in their designated spot near the door. "I am."
Aziraphale chuckled as he reached the bottom of the steps. "I think it looks quite lovely," he said, placing a gentle hand on Crowley's chest just beside the open top button, his eyes resting on the small patch of skin for just a moment before he looked up at Crowley. "Well, I'm ready to go whenever you are."
Crowley's yellow eyes were just a bit wide and his cheeks were a bit pink, as if he hadn't expected Aziraphale to pay him such a direct compliment. Instead of responding, Crowley just picked up his glasses and turned back towards the door as he put them on.
They went over to the Bentley parked across the street and got in. Aziraphale watched the world go by with wonder (once he was sure that they wouldn't crash into anyone) as the cramped city fell way to trees and grasses and open sky. The evening was just beginning, the sun descending further down until pink and orange began to flood the sky. They stopped then, in a mostly empty field. There was only a small cottage nearby, and even that was not close enough to see or heart them as they walked further into the field. Crowley had grabbed a few things from the boot of the Bentley: a picnic basket, a picnic blanket, and a rather nice silver candelabra. When they were right in the middle of the field, Crowley stopped and handed Aziraphale the basket and candelabra while he unfolded the blanket and began to spread it out for them. Once the blanket was ready, Crowley took the candelabra from Aziraphale's hand and set it in the middle, pulling a lighter from his back pocket and lighting the candles.
Aziraphale sat on the blanket with the basket, watching Crowley with a soft smile. He had gone through all this trouble just so they could have this moment. It made Aziraphale's stomach feel like it was filled with butterflies.
"This is...marvelous, Crowley," Aziraphale said once Crowley had lit the candles and was holding his hand out for the basket. Aziraphale handed it over. "The candlelight. The sunset."
"Wait until you see the food," Crowley said with a smirk. He opened the basket and began to pull out sliced meats, cheeses, dried fruit, crackers, and bread, all wrapped up in plastic. From the bottom of the basket, he pulled out a large wooden board and began to unwrap the food to place on the board.
"My..." Aziraphale looked excitedly at all the food. "A charcuterie board? Where on earth did you get all of this?" He took a closer look at the label on one chunk of cheese. "Is this Pule?" His eyes widened.
"That it is," Crowley said nonchalantly. "Woman at the market said it was rare and expensive. Thought it might be just to your taste." He pulled out a little cheese knife and held it out to Aziraphale.
"Oh Crowley, the cost of-"
Crowley held up his hand. "Don't worry about the money. I'm not doing this every day. Just this once. Consider it a special occasion."
Aziraphale's shock melted back into glee. "Well, if it's a special occasion..." He took the knife and daintily removed the wrapping to cut a piece off the soft white cheese and picked a plain cracker to put it on (to better taste the cheese flavor on its own). He smelled it a bit, finding it grassy and buttery. How pleasant, he thought. As he chewed, Aziraphale closed his eyes and savored it. It was crumbly but soft, nutty and earthy in its taste, and even after he swallowed it, he found new flavors in it: floral notes and sweet grass. "Ohh, it's simply divine."
When he opened his eyes, he realized Crowley watched him intently. This wasn't unusual, of course, but with the candlelight casting its shadows and the gorgeous sunset behind him, Crowley was a particularly pleasing sight. Aziraphale suddenly felt self-conscious. He hoped his curl was staying in place.
"It's the only fancy cheese I got, but it was worth about a hundred of these other ones," Crowley said, cutting a slice off a cheddar chunk and putting it on a cracker to hold out to Aziraphale. "Feel free to indulge to your heart's content on everything here."
As Aziraphale took the cracker, he realized that Crowley must have left his last comment vague on purpose. Indulge on everything here. Crowley was here. Did he mean for Aziraphale to indulge on him? Aziraphale ate the cracker a bit too quickly and accidentally inhaled a piece of cracker. He began to cough.
"Bugger," Crowley said. "Forgot the wine. Hold on a moment." Crowley waved his hand toward the basket and then pulled out two glasses and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. He quickly poured Aziraphale a glass and handed it over.
Aziraphale took a large sip to dislodge and soften the cracker, and a moment later, he found relief. "Oh my. Thank you. I didn't expect to inhale it."
"Course," Crowley said. "Although it is rather unlike you. Bit nervous?"
Aziraphale chuckled a bit stiffly. "I suppose I am. I know we've known one another for millennia, but...well, this is all terribly new to me. Being together like this, I mean."
Crowley nodded. "Right. Course. Makes sense."
Aziraphale looked back at the food and picked a nice sausage to open. "I don't suppose you're feeling nervous. Always calm and collected, you are." He cut off a slice of the sausage and put it on a cracker before cutting off another piece of the cheddar Crowley had already cut into and placing it on top.
Crowley looked at Aziraphale for a long moment before he looked out to the sky and saw the sunset was nearing its end. He turned back to Aziraphale and pulled off his glasses. His eyes were wide and entirely yellow, not a speck of white to them. "I'm terrified," he said quietly, setting his glasses down beside him.
Aziraphale, who held the stack up to his mouth, lowered his hand to look at Crowley with surprise. "I...Well, there's no need to be." Aziraphale put his free hand over Crowley's, rubbing a thumb over the back of his hand in an attempt to reassure. "There's nothing you could do or say that will scare me off. I'm afraid you're stuck with me."
Crowley's mouth cracked into a smile, genuine and relieved. "S'pose I can work with that," he joked. He began to open the bag of golden raisins, holding them out to Aziraphale. "Try these next with the goat cheese."
Aziraphale ate the bite in his hand and grabbed the raisins as he enjoyed the peppery, sharp, crispiness of his cracker, suasage, and cheese. "Mmh. Delicious. Mmmh. Does the sausage have sage in it?"
Crowley looked over the wrapping from the sausage, reading the ingredients. "Hmmm, yeah, it does."
"Wonderful," Aziraphale said. "And actually, the Pule is a goat and donkey cheese. I'm sure the fresh and tangy notes will compliment the sweetness of the raisins splendidly."
"Yeah, that's what the woman at the market said." Crowley smirked. "She told me all about how to pair everything, but I think she lost me about halfway through."
"Well, this is quite a lot to pair," Aziraphale pointed out. "It would be quite a feat to memorize it all in a day, although I do appreciate the gesture." Aziraphale pulled out a couple of raisins and popped one into his mouth. "Mmh. Oh yes, sweet and fruity. Almost as if it's candied. Mmmh. Absolutely delightful."
Aziraphale ate and ate, pairing everything Crowley recommended and then a few of his own. He got Crowley to try the Pule on a slice of bread, and they finished the bottle of wine just as the wind began to pick up as night fell, the candle flames dancing and flickering. When Aziraphale said he had enough, Crowley packed it all back up and blew out the candles before looking up at the sky and laying on his back. Aziraphale followed suit, their arms just barely touching.
Crowley pointed up at the sky. "I made that one," he said. "Another multiple star system like Alpha Centauri, but this one only has two stars."
Aziraphale follwed Crowley's finger and found the two stars he meant, so close together that they almost looked like one star. "I see it. It looks wonderful. So rare that we get to see the stars like this."
"Yeah..." Crowley agreed. "Light pollution and all that."
Aziraphale turned his head to look at Crowley, who looked back at him. "What other stars did you make?"
Aziraphale listened as Crowley pointed out a few different stars, some of them getting a short story and some of them not. When Crowley ran out of stars to point out, they laid in silence, just looking up at the night sky with awe and wonder. After a long while, Aziraphale broke the silence.
"Crowley, my dear, this has been a truly remarkable night. I...well...we have spent so many years here on Earth, carrying out the will of others, ensuring that humanity was following some plan that neither of us agreed to..." he trailed off for just a moment, his mind thinking of the times they met throughout time. "It's nice to make our own plan for once. To have something that is just for us, to do the things we enjoy and just enjoy one another's company."
Crowley glanced over at Aziraphale and smiled. His yellow eyes had gradually returned to their normal state throughout their evening, but now they looked fully yellow once again, but this time, Crowley looked relaxed rather than frightened. "I know exactly what you mean," he said. "And you are the only company I enjoy, you know."
Aziraphale beamed. "And you are certainly the most pleasant company I keep. Thank you, Crowley, for a lovely evening."
Crowley turned to face Aziraphale, and Aziraphale did the same. They faced one another, and Crowley extended his hand to grab Aziraphale's, and they spent a long moment, holding hands and looking at one another, unspoken words passing between them.
It was a lovely night indeed.