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A new dessert restaurant had recently opened in Mayfair. Near where Crowley’s flat had been. Judging purely by its menu this particular shop sold only chocolate desserts. Which was fantastic timing, as Aziraphale’s long-time favourite dessert shop had closed after not being able to pay their rent anymore, despite a few demonic miracles trying to ensure its survival.
Fifty-seven years in business was still impressive, demonic miracles or not. It had been closed for the last year for renovations but one day a ‘permanently closed’ sign had been put up.
Crowley had been meaning to take Aziraphale to a new restaurant recently, anyway.
“Angel!” they called out as they entered the bookshop. “How about I tempt you to dessert?”
Aziraphale emerged from the bookshop’s back room, frowning. “Didn’t that shop close down a week ago?” e asked.
“Found another one, near my old place,” they told er. “Seems very similar to that one, ‘cept they sell only chocolate desserts,”
“Do they have lava cake?”
“Yep,”
Well, that restaurant hadn’t sold lava cake, specifically, until a few hours ago, when the soufflé they had sold since their opening day just three days ago had been mysteriously replaced with lava cake.
The angel was hesitant, as it was a new restaurant e hadn’t been to before, but the offered possibility of dessert, and lava cake specifically, was too tempting to resist. E agreed and the two of them headed off in the Bentley to the new dessert restaurant.
Its interior was decorated in a lot of brown. While it wasn’t surprising for a dessert restaurant that sold primarily chocolate, it was certainly jarring.
Small tables made of the same wood that had been used for the floor were dotted around, with the counter in the middle of the space. There were large, cylindrical vats against the closest wall as soon as they walked inside. Which were filled with milk and dark chocolate, respectively, Aziraphale realised upon a closer look.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” Aziraphale asked as the two of them approached the queue at the counter.
“I’m sure,” they said. “I’ll be fine with a coffee or something,”
Less than fifteen minutes later, the lava cake was delivered to their table. It was soft but not too crumbly, and the way the thick but liquid chocolate core oozed out slowly after e cut into it with the fork made Aziraphale wiggle happily. The consistency of lava cake was hard to get right, e had learnt after trying to bake it himself, as the centre could be too liquid or not liquid at all and the cake could be too hard or undercooked. The perfect moistness of this particular one combined with the richness of the liquid centre made flavour explode across er tongue.
The extra liquid chocolate drizzled across the top meant that each bite that e took wasn’t too dry. Not even the first one, where e hadn’t even reached the core.
It seemed to be nearly identical to the lava cake that the other restaurant had sold. Except this one had a small bit of white chocolate hidden within the core.
While Aziraphale enjoyed the lava cake, Crowley held their mostly-forgotten coffee in one hand and watched their angel eat.
It didn’t matter that Crowley had seen er eat this particular dessert (one of er favourites) before, the way that the angel lit up with happiness after each bite was like right now was that very first time all over again.