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"When is Crowley supposed to join us, Aziraphale?"
Aziraphale glanced at his watch before answering Muriel, "He should be here any minute, he told me he had one last flower delivery to make and would be joining us soon."
Muriel sighed, "My dear adopted brother has always been a workaholic, so you'd do well to remind him that there's a time for everything. Now that you're around, it's time he realized there's more to his life than his flowers."
Aziraphale replied indulgently, "But that's part of his charm. He's passionate about what he does, and he loves what he does, so I can be patient, you know."
He couldn't help but smile dreamily as he thought of the way Crowley's face lit up whenever he talked about his flowers.
Muriel shook their shoulders and replied softly, "When we talk about Crowley, you smile the same way he does when we talk about you. You're both very sweet. The only difference is that you don't hide it."
Aziraphale replied quietly, "I don't know how much Crowley told you about my past, but I've spent too long hiding who I am to feel like it now."
Muriel nodded and Aziraphale continued, "But what do you mean when you say he has the same smile?"
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed? As soon as you're in the same room, Crowley starts to smile. He really smiles. I'm not talking about that commercial smile he puts on for the customers, no, I'm talking about a real smile, a happy smile."
Aziraphale was about to reply that Crowley did indeed have smiles for him that were real and that he had never noticed the one Muriel was talking about.
Seeing his puzzled look, Muriel sighed, "He smiles like that when he thinks you're not looking at him. Or when he talks about you. You'll see it when he comes - in fact, you'll see it now, because he's coming." Aziraphale started to turn, but Muriel stopped him, "Do not turn and look at his reflection in the window behind me."
Crowley had just walked through the door of the pub, Aziraphale didn't turn to look at him and did as Muriel had just told him.
He saw his lover first search for them with his eyes before spotting them, and finally he saw it, the moment Crowley laid eyes on him, the smile Crowley's sibling had spoken of.
He heard Muriel murmur, "I told you so! Aziraphale, ever since we met, you've been saying how grateful you are to fate for putting Crowley on your path, but I assure you, I am the one who is grateful, for you are the one who brings such a smile to my brother's face. You make him happy, Aziraphale."
They watched as Crowley struggled to make his way to them, the pub being especially crowded that night, and Aziraphale still had time to reply to Muriel, "I promise I'll always do everything to make him happy."
Muriel smiled and whispered back, "All you have to do is be yourself."
Blushing at the direct praise, Aziraphale turned all the way around to see Crowley finally arrive at their table and saw that his smile had become a little less bright, more subdued, but the gleam of joy in his eyes was still there.
His florist, always so reserved when it came to showing his emotions. That didn't stop him from greeting his lover with a broad smile as Muriel argued with their brother about his lateness.
**********
Later that night, as he joined Crowley on the sofa in the bookshop, he thought back to Muriel's words as his lover smiled at him. Crowley smiled with the same joy, but not hiding it, for it was just the two of them.
Making someone smile.
As a child, the bookseller liked to make his mother smile, and now it was Crowley.
It was so gratifying to know you were the source of someone's joy, especially someone you loved.
Aziraphale thought he'd never done anything so extraordinary, just by being himself.
He felt himself melting at the thought.
He sat down next to Crowley, who opened his arm so that Aziraphale could rest his head on his shoulder.
After a few seconds of silence, Aziraphale asked, "Can I tell you something? "
"Why do you ask? You've never been shy about telling me anything before, have you?"
Crowley took Aziraphale's hand, which was resting on his chest, and pressed a kiss to the palm.
Aziraphale replied shyly, "You'll probably find it corny, I warn you."
"I'm ready to hear anything."
Aziraphale couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed as he said, "I like the way you smile." He could feel Crowley's lips curl against his palm as he murmured, "The way I smile?"
Crowley kissed Aziraphale's wrist softly and the bookseller could feel the smile against his skin again.
Aziraphale replied, his voice slightly hoarse with emotion, "I love the way you smile when it's about me or for me. You have no idea what it does to me."
Crowley lowered his head to meet Aziraphale's eyes and another smile appeared on his lips, literally a smile of adoration, "Tell me."
Aziraphale almost stammered, "When... when you smile, I fall apart."
Then he shook his head in shame and continued, "Sorry, I can't think of any other words." He laughed at himself and added, "I'm a grown, mature man and I'm as awkward as a teenager with his first crush. Forget it, all right. Just pretend I didn't say anything."
He hid his face in the crook of his lover's neck, feeling incredibly ridiculous.
He felt Crowley kiss his hair before his lover whispered in his ear: "It's the same for me, you know, my angel. If there's one thing that's drawn me to you since the first time I saw you, it's your smile. But the one you have when you see me, it's incomparable. So don't be embarrassed, because I feel the same way."
Aziraphale lifted his head to look at Crowley, and they both smiled at each other in the same way, then chuckled slightly when they realized it.
Crowley tenderly brushed his finger across Aziraphale's lips and said, "Then you must believe me when I tell you that I also crumble when you smile at me."
They stayed like that, smiling at each other, and to the world they probably would have looked like two lovesick fools, but that didn't matter to Aziraphale and Crowley.
For each of them knew that they were the reason for the other's smile.