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It had been a few months since they had saved the world, and during their new-found peace, Aziraphale had had time to think. He had thought about himself, Crowley, and what they had together. What their future might look like.
During those months, the angel had reached a conclusion.
He wanted to get married.
Sure, it was a very human tradition, with certain aspects that didn’t really hold that much meaning to them, two supernatural entities. But Aziraphale loved weddings (his favourite romance novels may have had some influence in that), and when he was clinging to Crowley’s arm when they were on their walks, or cuddled with him in bed, he couldn’t help but dream about being officially married to his beloved demon.
So, he started dropping hints.
“You know, humans and their little traditions”, he said, quite out of the blue when they were having breakfast together. “They really can be quite lovely, can’t they? Like, weddings, for example. I really love weddings.”
“They’re alright”, Crowley said. Aziraphale studied his face, looking for signs the demon understood him, but his face was hard to read. He thought he saw the corner of his lips turn upwards slightly and decided to take that as a sign that he only needed to wait a little.
So, he waited. And waited. Weeks passed, and still no proposal.
Aziraphale thought hard about a subtle way to remind Crowley. If the demon was planning on proposing, maybe he just needed a little encouragement. The reminder, however, ended up coming from a stranger.
They were at Nina’s birthday party that Maggie had painstakingly planned and organized. At some point they were sitting on the sofa, just the two of them, and Crowley had just handed him the last piece of cake he had saved for him, and Aziraphale had rewarded his chivalry with a kiss on the cheek. That’s when an older relative of Nina sat down in an armchair next the sofa and beamed at them.
“I just have to say, you are such a cute couple”, she said sweetly.
Aziraphale giggled. “Thank you”, he said, pleased. “We get that a lot.”
“Are you married?” the lady asked.
“No”, Aziraphale said, glancing at Crowley meaningfully. “Not yet, anyway”, he said with a nervous giggle.
The demon gave him a sly smile, and this time Aziraphale was certain it was a sign that his wait would soon be over.
But it wasn’t.
Weeks passed, again, and still nothing. Aziraphale was getting a little impatient. He felt like he had to say something that would move things along, and he didn’t know how to do it. He wondered what was taking Crowley so long. It wasn’t like him to progress this slowly. He had always been the one who had gone too fast for Aziraphale, after all. Was he afraid that the angel would say no? In the past, saying no had kind of been Aziraphale’s thing, so that would be understandable. But surely the demon must understand that things were very different now? Aziraphale decided to make sure to erase any doubts Crowley might have.
“Remember when that sweet old lady asked if we were married?” he asked one afternoon when they were sitting on a park bench. Crowley had his arm on the backrest and Aziraphale was snuggled to his side, resting his head on his shoulder.
“Mhm?”
Aziraphale played nervously with Crowley’s bolo tie.
“I’m just saying… If you asked, there is a very high probability that I’d say yes”, he added, glancing shyly up at Crowley.
The demon smiled at him, but this time there was a certain level of unease in his smile. He shifted on the bench a little and cleared his throat.
“Er. I’m kind of… working on it”, he said quietly. “You know how I’ve been away lately? It kind of… has something to do with… that.”
The angel gasped and perked up. “Really?” he practically squealed.
Of course! Lately Crowley had vanished every now and then, not giving any explanation for his solo trips. He was looking for the perfect ring! Aziraphale wouldn’t expect anything less from this very romantic demon.
Crowley nodded, still looking a bit uncomfortable.
Aziraphale felt a little bad for pushing him now. He decided to drop the topic for good and willed himself to forget about it.
He did amazingly good job at forgetting about it, because a few weeks later, when they had arrived home from a dinner date, and he saw Crowley getting down on one knee in front of him, holding out a ring box, he did find himself genuinely surprised and overwhelmed with emotion.
“Aziraphale”, Crowley said with reverence in his voice and a look of pure adoration in his eyes that made the angel weak at the knees, “will you marry me?”
“Yes”, Aziraphale breathed out. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…”
The look that came over Crowley’s face upon hearing his enthusiastic answer was a look of pure triumph. It was the look of someone who had finally gotten what they had wanted for a very, very long time, and Aziraphale was more than happy to be the reason for that look.
The demon got up and scooped the angel up in his arms. They embraced each other for a long while. It was Crowley who finally pulled away, eager to slide the ring on Aziraphale’s exquisitely manicured finger.
“Oh, Crowley…” the angel sighed. “It’s breathtaking.”
It really was. It was white gold and it had a big, sparkling oval diamond that would have put most engagement rings to shame. Besides, it was obvious the diamond was a rarity: its colour was absolutely unique. It shimmered in soft hues of white and baby blue and something almost like pure light.
“Goes well with its owner then”, Crowley said and brought the angel’s left hand to his lips and kissed the back of his palm. He kept his hand in his as he led the angel to the sofa. They sat down, both staring at Aziraphale’s hand that was resting on Crowley’s palm, the ring being a proof that they were indeed very much engaged now.
“Oh, my dearest”, Aziraphale said, his voice a blissful sigh. “I’m so unbearably happy. I don’t know what to do with this amount of happiness. It’s… it’s unreal.”
“How do you think I feel?” Crowley said. “You said yes! To me! Yes! It wasn’t a no, it a was a yes!”
Aziraphale chuckled fondly at the demon’s triumphant expression.
“You knew I was going to say yes.”
“Maybe I did. But it was unreal, nonetheless.”
“I feel like this ring is unreal, as well”, Aziraphale said. “It must have taken a lot of effort to find something so exquisite and unique.”
“Well”, Crowley said, “it took a couple of years.”
Aziraphale looked up at Crowley in surprise.
“Couple of years? You mean months, right?”
He watched in confusion as a nervous look came over Crowley’s face. The demon avoided his eyes.
“Well… I might have bought it years ago”, he admitted uncomfortably. “After the first not-quite-Apocalypse, I mean. I knew you liked weddings, and I kinda hoped that… Well, I thought that if things progressed, between us, I mean, I might as well have one ready.”
Aziraphale could only stare in disbelief.
“It was stupid, really”, the demon went on, still looking anywhere but the angel’s eyes. “Kind of a spur of a moment idea, you see. But then I kinda got into it and kept looking, and I didn’t find anything good enough, so I had this one custom made. Was actually gonna give it to you that day when you- when we-“
Crowley fell silent.
“What?” Aziraphale said quietly. “You mean…”
“Yeah, I mean that day.” The demon sounded almost irritated now, like he didn’t want to talk about this but couldn’t help himself now that he’d gotten this far. “Was thinking that maybe if things went well, it might be the right time. But things didn’t go well, so.”
He fell silent again.
It was a lot to take in. Aziraphale could not believe that Crowley had been ready to propose years ago. And Aziraphale had left him. He felt the prickle of tears in his eyes and tried to blink them away.
He took Crowley’s hand into his and now it was his turn to press a soft kiss on the back of his palm.
“Things did go well this time”, he whispered.
At last, the demon met his gaze and smiled.
“Yeah. They really did, didn’t they?”
Aziraphale was still a little puzzled by some things Crowley had said.
“You said, some weeks ago, that you were “working on it”. If you had already gotten the ring years ago, what did you mean by that?”
Aziraphale hated to see Crowley’s smile vanish again and him averting his eyes.
“Uh, well… I kinda lost the ring for a bit”, the demon said after a short but uncomfortable silence.
“You… lost it?” the angel said, incredulous.
Crowley seemed to have some kind of inner battle with himself. He opened his mouth, closed it again. He suddenly seemed incredibly tense.
“Crowley?” Aziraphale nudged gently. “What happened?”
Crowley let out a long sigh, clearly having lost the inner battle, and spoke quickly, as if in a rush to get the words out of his system.
“Alright, I threw it into the Thames. Didn’t think I’d need it anymore.” He saw the look on Aziraphale’s face and hurried to add: “Took some time and a few demonic miracles to find it, but here it is. So, it’s all good.”
Aziraphale was dumbfounded. They had talked about that day, the day Aziraphale had left Crowley for Heaven, many times. Aziraphale was certain Crowley had forgiven him. And he had also been certain he had forgiven himself, but hearing this new information hurt. The thought of Crowley getting the perfect ring for him, only to end up tossing it in The Thames, while all alone and miserable and most likely very drunk, and then spending months looking for it to fish it out again, while Aziraphale was practically pressuring him to propose already, was just too much.
Tears welled up in the angel’s eyes.
“Come one, now, angel”, Crowley said, looking at him pitifully. “I wasn’t gonna mention it, because I knew you’d be like that.”
Aziraphale couldn’t help the tears that started falling onto his lap.
“I’m… so sorry…” he sniffled. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know how much pain I would cause you.”
“Come here, angel”, the demon murmured, pulling him into his arms. Aziraphale buried his face into Crowley’s shoulder and allowed himself to cry. He appreciated that Crowley allowed him to just cry for a while as well. The demon didn’t say anything anymore, just rubbed Aziraphale’s back soothingly. After a while, Aziraphale’s tears subsided and his breathing calmed down. Crowley offered him a tissue that he gratefully accepted.
“It’s all in the past”, the demon said tenderly as Aziraphale wiped his face. “It’s all forgiven.”
“I know, I know. But hearing about the ring and what you did… I just… got emotional. You’ve been nothing but kind and thoughtful, and so, so romantic, and I hurt you so. It makes me sad to think about it.”
“We both hurt each other”, Crowley says earnestly. “It’s not like I didn’t cause you any pain that day. I guess… love is like that sometimes. Painful. But now we’re here, we’re finally us, and you’re wearing the ring, so…” He gave Aziraphale a radiant smile. “Let’s focus on the now, shall we?”
“Now is good”, Aziraphale said, softly smiling back.
“I really like the now”, Crowley said. “Best time of my existence, so far.”
“And mine”, the angel whispered, before leaning in and pressing his lips to Crowley’s. It was a soft and tender kiss, one that seemed to say all the things that could not quite be put into words that evening. It felt like a promise, a promise of an eternity of choosing each other, of always being ‘an us’.