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It was a nice day. A nice autumn day, to be exact. Red leaves swirled from the trees down on the grass. Some of the leaves landed on the tartan pattern picnic blanket. The angel wasn’t even paying attention to the things around him. The only things he was aware of, were the book he was reading and the demon who laid his head on his legs.
His fingers softly brushed through the red hair… If you watched them in this exact moment, the idea might arise that the two of them waited for this hundreds of years. Which wasn’t correct at all. They waited for this thousands of years. But I should probably start a little bit earlier. Not all those thousand years, but some hours earlier.
The bookshop door opened just enough for Crowley to step in.
“Angel?”, he asked while closing the door behind him again. The answer came almost immediately: “I’m here.”
Crowley followed the voice behind some bookshelves. And then, there he was, the person Crowley wanted to see. No, the angel, Crowley needed to see. Aziraphale looked up, away from the books he currently seemed to sort. As soon as his eyes met Crowley’s he lightened up. A cheerful smile was the immediate and almost unpreventable reaction to seeing the demon.
“Hello.”
“Hey.”, answered Crowley while taking of his dark sunglasses. Aziraphale placed some of the books on the shelf again, and then turned completely, to face the demon.
“You don’t have to take them off, we will leave again in some minutes.”, Crowley raised an eyebrow at his friend.
“We do?”, he asked, suspiciously.
“Yes.”
“Is everything alright?”, the longer he watched Aziraphale the more cautious his voice seemed to be.
“You couldn’t tell, just by… Tone of voice, maybe?”, Crowley raised an eyebrow, again.
Why did Aziraphale seem almost… Provoking?
“Yes, I could. You planned something, didn’t you?”, the longer he spoke the darker his voice sounded.
“Maybe.”, Aziraphale smiled at Crowley, as if he knew something extraordinary great, while Crowley had not the slightest idea. And then he walked through the rows of books back to the table. Crowley followed him, his snake-like eyes narrowed.
Aziraphale stopped in one fluent movement, with the result of Crowley almost crushing into him.
“Angel what are-“, Aziraphale held up a hand, and his opposite fell silent with his mouth open.
“You’re right, my dear. I planned something. What would you say about a… Small trip?”, Aziraphale reached behind him and pulled out a picnic basket. Crowley’s eyes widened, a flash of pure terror behind them. His friend noticed and said quickly: “Don’t worry. It’s not the antichrist again. Just a normal picnic basket.”, Crowley’s panic slowly faded again. “Yeah right… And..?”, he looked at Aziraphale expectant.
“Can you remember.. 1967, I said maybe we could go for a picnic one day… It’s a nice day.”, with every word he said, Aziraphale seemed more worried about Crowley’s answer. With every second he seemed less convinced of his own idea. As his friend didn’t answer he grew even more nervous.
“Maybe.. We could… You know-“, Crowley observed the scared look of the angel some moments, before he burst out laughing.
“Right. Off we go then.”, with one smooth movement he put his glasses back on, while still smiling at the slightly scared look of his friend.
“Oh really? You really think it’s a good idea?”, Aziraphale asked carefully, as Crowley already turned to the door.
“Oh no. I think it’s a great idea, angel.”, he turned back to his opponent and watched as his face lit up with pure joy. Aziraphale couldn’t see it through the glasses, but Crowley’s eyes had the exact same happiness in them. The angel and the demon both walked to the door, with just a few inches of space between them.
Crowley held the door open for his friend.
“After you.”, Aziraphale stepped outside and observed Crowley as if he never saw him before. It was one particular gaze, one that Crowley never saw. No one really knew if this was coincidence or Aziraphale was just very good at hiding his admiration for the demon. In fact, they both had this very special look, one that they only had for each other. But neither of them knew how loving the other looked at him. Not till this day, anyway. We’ll see if this fact will chance in the course of those events.
In this moment Crowley opened a door for Aziraphale again. This time it was the door of his Bentley.
As soon as he sat next to Aziraphale he looked at the angel. Almost observing.
“So… You said you’ve got a plan?”
“I most definitely do, yes.”, Crowley started the car.
“Then, where are we going angel?”, Aziraphale seemed to think about it for some seconds. But the answer sounded like he never had a second thought about it.
“I was thinking… Tadfield.”
“Tadfield?”, Crowley repeated. He raised an eyebrow again and looked at the picnic basket which Aziraphale carefully placed on his lap.
“You’re sure this isn’t the Antichrist again?”, he asked suspiciously, while still looking at the basket. Not the street. As Aziraphale pointed out now.
“Crowley, could you please keep your eyes on the road?”, some cars were almost brushed by the Bentley and one or two.. Maybe three pedestrians could just dodge the speeding black thing.
“I know where I’m going!”, but with a exhausted sight he did what the angel asked for.
“Well thank you.”, Aziraphale finally seemed to relax again.
“So,”, the demon pointed vague at the basket again. But this time he didn’t even look at it for a second.
“You can guarantee no Antichrist then?”
“Of course not! Why would I do that to you?”, Aziraphale seemed honestly offended by the idea that Crowley actually suggested such a thing.
“Well.. As you once said, were technically still hereditary enemies.”, the angel looked at him, as he tried to understand what Crowley just said. And especially what he could answer to make clear, that Crowley was most definitely wrong.
“Crowley… Would hereditary enemies go for a picnic together? I mean, I asked you especially for this.. And as you know, lying is… Not one of my great talents.”
The demon sighted softly before he answered: “Point taken.”
It stayed silent for some time, but then Crowley came back to the first question.
“So… Why Tadfield?”
“Oh.”, Aziraphale’s glance wandered out of the window.
“No… No particular reason.”, Crowley narrowed his eyes and turned his head to the angel. He inspected Aziraphale, his stare wandered over the angel, for almost too long. He knew this wasn’t-
“Crowley! The street!”, the angel pointed in front of them, anxious.
His friend growled a little, as he did what Aziraphale asked of him. Not without rolling his eyes of course. For some minutes it stayed silent between the two of them.
“Angel?”, Crowley finally broke the silence.
“Yes my dear?”, Aziraphale answered, seemingly without thinking about it. This time Crowley was more than glad that his friend couldn’t see his eyes. He was a hundred percent sure that the angel would’ve seen the surprise, but also the delight about his answer in them.
“You really are a terrible liar.”, the angel swallowed and stared out the window again.
“You won’t tell me the real reason why we are going to Tadfield right?”, the demon asked again.
“As I said… There is no particular reason.. I just thought, well the weather should be nice, and we both know a little bit about the place, you know. Also would-“ Crowley interrupted his friend.
“It’s okay. Keep your secrets angel.”, for some seconds Aziraphale actually thought about telling Crowley the truth, the real reason, as he saw the demon smile. And for some seconds his hand was close to touching his arm too, but he could stop himself, with both. So the only thing that happened was, Crowley switching on the radio.
One or two hours later, the angel and the demon sat on a tartan pattern picnic blanket. As they arrived they searched for a perfect spot. And pretty soon they found it. So now, they sat under an apple tree, and almost all the other few trees around them slowly started to loose their leaves. Aziraphale and Crowley both leaned against the broad tree. It’s save to say that the relive on Crowley’s face, when Aziraphale opened the basket was more than real.
There had been no Antichrist at all, just the blanket, food and, if you’d ask Crowley, most importantly, alcohol. So, as always, they sat next to each other and Crowley watched Aziraphale eat, while he drank his wine. As someone watching this scene, it was almost impossible not to see the admiration Crowley had for his angel.
Especially as his thoughts always returned to the fact, that Aziraphale planned this all. That he planned to come here with him. He wanted to spend time with Crowley. The knowledge of this, and the feeling which came with it, was one of the most special things Crowley ever had or felt.
As Aziraphale finished eating, he just looked at the sky. Crowley wanted to do the same, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the angel. The love for Aziraphale was more than obvious if you looked at how he gazed at him. But, as previously stated, Aziraphale didn’t seem to notice any of it.
For some minutes they stayed exactly like this. The angel looking at the sky, and the demon looking at him. Both seemed more than happy. With the situation. But especially with the presence of each other.
After all those time they seemed to stay in this moment, the way Aziraphale turned his head to look at Crowley was almost surprising. The demon looked away immediately, because of that, he didn’t see that Aziraphale opened his lips to say something. But Crowley already stood up and faced his friend again. If you looked closely you could still see the love in his expression. But the angel didn’t seem to notice anything.. Again. Frustrating, isn’t it?
“You know… I’ve actually… Forgot something. In the car.”, Aziraphale never heard him that nervous before, so he tilted his head a little. But before he could say anything at all, the demon already rushed back to where he parked the Bentley. Fortunately it wasn’t far away. But still…
“Crowley?”, Aziraphale called, seeming almost scared. His friend turned back to him. Impatient.
“What?”, he answered.
“Just… Just to be sure. You’re coming back right?”, Crowley looked at Aziraphale. For some seconds he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even comprehend what Aziraphale just said.
“Of course. What do you think? That I’ll leave you here?”, before the angel could open his mouth again he already added: “I won’t. I’ll come back to you. Just give me a few seconds. Don’t worry angel.”, without waiting if his friend would answer anything, he turned back to walk to the car.
“I’ll never leave you.”, he added, silent. Knowing and hoping that the angel would not hear him.
Aziraphale, in fact, did not hear what Crowley said. He just watched him walking away. He tried to turn his head again, but his eyes seemed to be glued to Crowley. At the same time his thoughts always wandered back to the last few moments. Did he do something wrong? Was Crowley mad at him? As his friend was finally out of his sight he took a deep, almost shaky breath. He had planned this day since years. No matter what happened, or which problems they faced, Aziraphale’s thoughts always came back to the hope that this would happen someday. He wanted to ask Crowley for something like this for years. But he never had enough confidence to do so. He was more than once close to it, but until today, it never happened. And now there was no way he could have ruined it and not even knew how. Before he could torment himself more, Crowley stepped back into his field of view. A relieved sound came from his lips as he watched the demon walking back towards him. The smile on the angel’s face came without him even noticing it. Once more, it was unpreventable. As Crowley came closer, Aziraphale could see that his friend was hiding something behind his back. He tilted his head a bit to the side. Curious. The demon stopped some steps in front of his friend and began to speak: “Look I… I just wanted to… I mean… I..”, Crowley looked in the air, almost helpless and growled a little. Aziraphale smiled softly.
“I just thought that… That maybe. I don’t know. I.. Well you-“
Aziraphale stopped him.
“Crowley.”, the demon who’s eyes had wandered restless over anything but Aziraphale stopped in it’s movement. Slowly he looked back at the angel.
“What are you trying to tell me?”, his voice sounded soft as he asked.
“I…”, Crowley took a deep breath. “I got you something.”, Aziraphale blinked amazed.
“I don’t know if you’ll like it. But I… Found it, accidentally of course. And I thought, maybe you’d like to have it. It’s a first edition, obviously. I mean.. I.. Yeah, just… Just take it.”, he held out a book. Aziraphale blinked at him again. With accidentally found, Crowley, of course, meant, he went into a bookshop, and searched for a book he thought Aziraphale might like on purpose. He even asked the bookseller what the rarest book is, that they currently have. Which, needless to say, wasn’t the easiest thing to do for him, and also wasn’t as cheap as you might think.
“Oh Crowley…”, Aziraphale said as he took the book carefully.
“That’s such a-“
“Don’t say nice.”, Crowley snapped, with a threatening tone. Aziraphale looked up to the demon and smiled at him. Apparently the demon doesn’t have the best eyes, if he did, he surely would have seen the love in his friends gaze.
“I won’t. But should I say… Thank you?”, Crowley shrugged his shoulders as he sat back down.
“If you insist to.”, but he didn’t look at the angel again.
“Well then. Thank you Crowley. I appreciate it. Really.”
“Yeah.”, the demon twitched his nose and continued to stare into the sky.
“Crowley?”, Aziraphale asked carefully. His friend looked back at him, not without raising an eyebrow of course.
“Seriously. Thank you. It means a lot to me.”, for some seconds they just looked at each other. Until Crowley nodded.
“Yes. I know that angel.”, his eyes wandered down, because he couldn’t watch Aziraphale longer. But what he saw surprised him. A lot. The angel reached out to his hand which laid on the blanket. Aziraphale almost touched him, as he noticed that Crowley knew what he wanted to do. In the next moment, it seemed as if he woke up. He pulled his hand back and turned his head away from the demon. Crowley swallowed the disappointed sound he wanted to make. Why didn’t he do it? It was everything Crowley wanted. He turned his head away now too. What did he expect anyway? For some seconds it stayed silent. Crowley thought about how he could get Aziraphale to try something like that again and Aziraphale asked himself why he was that close to taking Crowley’s hand.
After a few moments, the demon looked back up at his friend.
“You know, you can read it if you want to. It wouldn’t bother me at all.”, Aziraphale finally looked back at Crowley too.
“Really?”
“Of course angel.”, without saying anything else Crowley turned his head away and seemed awfully interested in the trees.
Aziraphale on the other hand didn’t think about it twice and opened the book. Again, the silence returned for some minutes. Minutes which were filled with the rustling of the pages and the soft sound of falling leaves. Crowley’s thoughts wandered back to Aziraphale’s hand. And it occurred to him that Aziraphale won’t try something like this again in foreseeable future. He eyed his friend carefully. If anyone ever dared to think that Crowley wanted to be near Aziraphale, nearer as he was now, that person would be more than right. But would probably also have a good reason to be scared of Crowley. He would never admit it, not with words anyway, but he wanted the touch of his angel. But, he decided, he couldn’t demand this too. Obviously Aziraphale already did more than he could ever wish for, just with this picnic. So maybe… It was Crowley’s turn to… Make a move. Before he even admitted this thought some minutes passed. And then, as he finally decided what to do, he anxiously took his wine glass and took a large sip. He could blame his actions on the wine after all. Aziraphale looked up for some seconds and Crowley prayed, to whoever was listening, that his friend would not see how much his hands were shaking. As the angel looked away again, Crowley put his glass back down and swallowed nervously. Now or never, he decided and with one smooth movement he laid his head on Aziraphale’s legs.
Technically he would’ve looked in the sky, but as soon as he touched the angel he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could.
Still, he felt Aziraphale’s stare. A seemingly endless time passed, in which not one of them said or did anything. Just complete silence.
Crowley opened his eyes again.
“Is… Is.. This.. Okay?”, he asked, his voice shaking.
Aziraphale didn’t answer. Crowley moved his head a little to look at the angel.
Aziraphale stared at Crowley. Stunned. Seemingly not capable to do anything. It was a look somewhere between scared to death and happier than he ever was.
But Crowley only saw one of those things. Of course not the good part. He swallowed and began to sit up again. But, faster than anyone could ever comprehend it, Aziraphale laid a hand on Crowley’s chest and pushed him back down again.
“Stay.”, he whispered still scared. But also with an unmatched happiness.
“Are… I mean.. You… Really?”, Crowley’s desperation was more than obvious.
“It’s okay.”, Aziraphale’s hand still laid on Crowley’s chest. And it didn’t seem like he wanted to move it. Not ever again.
“It’s actually more than okay, my dear.” But the demon didn’t seem to believe it. He opened his mouth a few times, but couldn’t make a sound.
“Look, I… I won’t be mad.. If you told me to… Move away again.”, Aziraphale still looked at Crowley. His hand hadn’t moved one inch. The angel saw right through the words. He saw, or better, he heard what his friend actually meant. He was scared. He was scared that he did something wrong. Just like Aziraphale was, some minutes ago. He said that he wouldn’t be mad, and Aziraphale knew that this was the truth, but he also knew that Crowley actually feared exactly this. That he would send him away again.
Aziraphale smiled softly at the demon. And now, in this moment even Crowley saw the love in his eyes.
“I won’t tell you that. I don’t want you to, to be honest.”, he leaned a bit forward, to get closer to him.
“I like it, a lot.”
“You do?”, the answer was immediate and a lot more insecure than Crowley ever wanted to sound.
“Haven’t you said, just some hours ago, I was a terrible liar?”, Crowley nodded faintly.
“And… Did it seem like a lie?”, Aziraphale leaned back at the tree again. Not taking his eyes away from the demon of course.
“It didn’t.”, Crowley had to admit.
“Then it has to be the truth, hasn’t it?”, his friend nodded, again, almost shy now.
Aziraphale still smiled at him, which helped him a lot to calm down again. Crowley took a deep, shaky breath and finally closed his eyes.
Just now, that the fear of being rejected faded, he began to comprehend how beautiful Aziraphale’s touch felt. A lot better than he imagined. The demon loved every second of it. Especially as he heard the rustling of the pages again. Aziraphale went back to reading, but his hand, the one on Crowley’s chest, stayed exactly where it was.
For some minutes, the angel couldn’t bring himself to start reading again. He tried to, but his eyes always wandered back to the demon. He was so much more than glad that Crowley decided to do that. Aziraphale had waited for this moment, so much longer than he would ever admit. And he loved every second of it too.
After some time, he could finally start reading again. And he never had felt more comfortable. Through the glasses he couldn’t see if Crowley looked at the sky, or if he had his eyes closed. Either way, he seemed more than peaceful.
But this one thought, lead Aziraphale to putting his book to the side for some minutes.
Without doubting his actions, he moved his hand away from Crowley’s chest, to his glasses. Slowly, and especially more careful than I could ever describe, he took it away from his friends eyes. He laid it next to Crowley who opened his mouth this second: “What? What are you doing angel?”, he looked at his friend, confused.
“I..”, Aziraphale started. Now he was the nervous, almost scared one. He hoped that Crowley wouldn’t sense it. The words he wanted to say were so clear in his head. But to speak them, out loud, in front of the demon, was a whole different story. He swallowed his tension, before he said: “I don’t want you to hide. Anything.”, Crowley stared at him. His snake eyes gleamed. Almost incidental and of course with no hidden agenda of any kind, Aziraphale laid his hand in Crowley’s hair, which currently reached almost down to his shoulders.
“Are you serious?”, the demon asked, and for some seconds his friend didn’t know what he was talking about. But he concluded that Crowley probably still was talking about the glasses.
“Did it sound like a lie?”
“No.. No not.. Not really. I guess.”, the demon shook his head a bit.
“I just… Couldn’t believe you really.. Meant it. I guess.”, Crowley looked at his friend, a questioning look in his eyes.
“I did mean it. Crowley, we know each other such a long time. Why should I want you to hide anything from me? I really lo-“, horror flashed over Aziraphale’s face as he understood what he almost said. He wanted to pull back his hand from Crowley’s hair, but the demon reached for his hand and kept it in place. Crowley smiled. It was a perfect demon grin. And it was fair to say that Aziraphale was equally glad to see it again, and terrified of what it probably meant.
“I will forget what you wanted to say, if you forget that I noticed your hand in my hair and didn’t do anything against it, because I actually like it. Deal?”, Aziraphale nodded, fast.
“Deal.”, he repeated. Crowley let his hand sink again. But the angel didn’t move his. Instead, he carefully stroked the red hair.
Some seconds later, they both started to laugh at the same time.
Every time they seemed to stop, one of them started again, and the other just couldn’t do anything against it. Some minutes later, Aziraphale whispered: “You like it?”, Crowley eyed the angel, threatening.
“This wasn’t the deal.”
“Of course. I’m awfully sorry, I’ll forget it again.”, he closed his eyes for a second or two, and then opened them again.
“What did we talk about?”, he asked, with a surprising sassy smile.
“Nothing important.”, Crowley answered, and closed his eyes. Aziraphale softly ran his fingers through the demon’s hair again. A more than pleased smile appeared on Crowley’s lips. He moved his head a little, and the angel tried to fight against laughing.
He really likes it! He thought triumphing. Aziraphale was sure he had never been happier than in this moment. He didn’t knew it, but Crowley felt exactly the same.
Now we’re at the point where this story started. But I think it would be interesting to continue on the events which happened next.
To be fair, for the next few hours nothing happened at all. Aziraphale started reading again, with one hand, because the other one still laid in Crowley’s hair and softly played with it. And Crowley was… Just laying there. It was hard to tell if he fell asleep in the meantime or if he just closed his eyes. Either way, Aziraphale had never seen his demon this peaceful.
But after some time, right as the sun started to sink, Aziraphale looked up at the sky and realized that there where some dark clouds coming.
“Crowley?”, he asked softly. But the demon didn’t show any signs of having heard anything.
“Are you sleeping?”, questioned Aziraphale. Still no reaction. The angel sighted softly and looked at the sky again. The dark clouds were coming rather fast now.
“Crowley?”, he tried again. For a second the demon’s face twitched a bit, but he still didn’t seem to properly wake up.
Aziraphale slowly pulled his hand out of his hair. Without hesitation, and with an unhappy sound Crowley reached for Aziraphale’s hand again.
“No Crowley. You need to wake up now.”, his friend said, he tried sounding somehow sternly, but his smile wasn’t helping at all. He pulled his hand away again, but the demon reached for it again. The angel laughed softly. He already knew how embarrassed his friend would be if he found out about this. Once more Aziraphale tried to free his hand, but Crowley’s grip was more solid then he thought.
His eyes wandered to the clouds. The rain could start any moment. He had to think about something to wake Crowley immediately. In this second the demon twitched his nose in his sleep, and for some seconds Aziraphale doubted if he even wanted to wake him up.
But then again, the rain would most certainly do it for him.
His gaze wandered to Crowley’s hand. Which still held his. With a surprising certainty.
Aziraphale couldn’t think about anything else this instant, so he did one thing he would never dare to do if he wasn’t sure Crowley wouldn’t remember.
He leaned a bit forward and pulled his hand nearer. As he hoped, Crowley still didn’t let go. Carefully he placed his lips on the fingers of the demon. Just for one or two seconds, but Crowley started to move his head. Aziraphale immediately dropped his hand again, but he still didn’t let go of Crowley’s. So the first thing the demon saw, when he woke up, was his hand intertwined with Aziraphale’s.
“Good Morning my dear.”, the angel fought hard to hold back his laugh.
“I didn’t sleep.”, Crowley growled. His voice told a different story.
“Of course you didn’t.”, Aziraphale smiled at him. Crowley looked back at their hands.
“Uhm… Angel. Why-“, before he could continue to say anything, his friend interrupted him.
“Not important right now. Look, I think it’s going to rain any second now. We need to have a-“
“Don’t you dare say a wiggle-on.”, Crowley copied Aziraphale’s voice.
“I won’t. But we probably still need to hurry.”, with an unsatisfied sound Crowley sat up.
For a few seconds both seemed to have to reorient themselves. But, and they both would deny it, they didn’t let go of each others hands.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier angel?”, Crowley tried to sound like he was mad at Aziraphale, but he couldn’t. They both stood up, their hands still intertwined.
“I tried to. But, you really were sleeping.”, it was Aziraphale who let go of Crowley’s hand to pack his things.
While Crowley just stood there, trying to understand how he possibly could have fallen asleep, Aziraphale handed him his sunglasses.
“Are you sure?”, he asked while watching the angel as he carefully tucked the book into the blanket.
“Quite sure dear.”, Aziraphale replied and eyed Crowley just for a second. Technically he, of course, knew that neither demon nor angel actually needed sleep, but in this second Crowley really seemed tired. Aziraphale glanced at the sky. Mad at it for getting dark.
And right as he packed the last thing into the basket the raindrops started hitting the ground. Crowley looked around them and seemed to search something. Then he pointed at one of the only trees, which hadn’t lost most of his leaves. It was proper, hard rain. And they both knew that, even if the way to the Bentley wasn’t long, they would be completely wet until they reached it. And the apple tree wasn’t helping much either. Without thinking about it twice, Crowley grabbed Aziraphale’s hand and started to run through the rain. Aziraphale followed him until they both stood under a bigger tree with a lot of more leaves, to protect them from the rain.
It rained so much, that even those few seconds had been enough to let the water drip from they’re faces.
Now, as they stood in front of each other, glancing at each other, they started to laugh. And, I have to add, they still held hands. It would be a lie if I said they forgot about it, because they most certainly did not. But they both hoped that the other would forget it.
After some minutes, in which they just stood there laughing, Crowley started to shake his wet hair.
“When do you think it will stop raining again?”, Crowley asked and glanced at the dark clouds.
“I actually don’t know. But, I think it can’t rain that hard for a much longer time.”
Aziraphale was incorrect. It could. And it did.
So the angel and the demon stood under a tree together, holding hands, and watching the rain. After some time Aziraphale noticed that Crowley started to shiver. He looked at the demon and didn’t think twice. Crowley watched as Aziraphale turned to one side a bit and pulled something out of the picnic basket. But as the angel turned around again Crowley narrowed his eyes under the sunglasses. Aziraphale held a blanket. But Crowley was sure it wasn’t the picnic blanket. It was another one.
“How did you do that?”, he wanted to know, as Aziraphale let go of his hand.
“Oh… That?”, the angel held up the fabric a little. Crowley nodded.
“Just a… Tiny miracle really.”, his friend raised an eyebrow at him.
“Now..”, Aziraphale laid the blanket over Crowley’s shoulders.
“What are you doing angel?”, the demon snapped.
“Well, you’re getting cold, aren’t you?”
“I’m a demon!”, was the growling answer.
“Yes. But you also were a snake, Crowley. Snake’s can’t properly warm up alone, am I right?”, for some seconds, the demon just stood there. Speechless. The warm blanket wrapped around him. He suddenly lost all his scariness.
“Oh aren’t you clever.”, he whispered, almost mad. But Aziraphale seemed very pleased with himself.
Again some time passed. The rain didn’t stop. It didn’t even get weaker. And soon Crowley looked over to Aziraphale. Now Aziraphale was the one who shivered. Crowley started grinning. It was a particular demon-like one. If there wouldn’t be the blanket wrapped around him, he could almost look scary again.
“Are you cold, angel?”, he asked, with a false sweetness which lead to Aziraphale turning around and glancing at Crowley suspiciously.
“No. I’m fine. Absolutely tickety-boo.”, the demon raised an eyebrow at him.
“Terrible liar.”, he whispered. Aziraphale shook his head smiling and wanted to turn again, as Crowley did something that his friend didn’t see coming. He opened his arms. Aziraphale just blinked at him.
“This isn’t about you at all.”, Crowley claimed.
“But, tell me, snake expert… Wouldn’t body temperature help to raise my temperature again?”, some seconds passed, Aziraphale wasn’t able to do or say anything at all. And then he finally answered, rather helpless.
“Oh I… I actually don’t… don’t really… You know. Know that. I mean… I haven’t… Uhm. Heard about… That..”, Crowley fought back a smile and tried to look as if he had to think.
“Hmm… Hard question.. But..”, he glanced at the angel.
“Do you think… We could try it? Of course just, just to help me. I’m not thinking about you at all. Purely selfish action.”, Aziraphale eyed the demon unsure. But with a small sight, he made some steps towards Crowley.
As he stood close enough, the demon wrapped his arms with the blanket over them, around the angel. For the first few minutes Aziraphale just stood there. His arms hanging at his sides. He didn’t move. Not one inch.
“Purely selfish action, of course.”, he repeated. Crowley started laughing and Aziraphale felt his breath on his skin. But it made him smile too.
“You’re being silly.”, Aziraphale sighted, slowly.
“Oh now, be careful angel. I’m serious.”, the angel looked up at the demon and the second he saw his smile, he let his head sink against Crowley. He felt how the demon held his breath for some seconds. But after some minutes, he seemed to calm down again. Especially as Aziraphale wrapped his arms around him too.
They stayed like that quite some time. The rain falling around them. And the angel wrapped in a blanket and the arms of his demon, while laying his head on his shoulder.
The rain hadn’t stopped, but calmed down a lot, while they drove back to London. As the rain eased a bit in Tadfield, and the sun almost completely went down, they decided to go back. So the two of them gathered their things again and walked to the Bentley together. And you won’t believe me if I say it, but they held hands, the whole way to where Crowley left the car. Now, as the demon parked in front of the Bookshop, it was almost completely dark outside. They turned to each other in the exact same moment.
“Thank you.”, Crowley said, before Aziraphale could properly think about a thing to say.
“Hm?”
“Well you… You know.. For planning.. This, angel.”, Crowley suddenly seemed as if he couldn’t look at his friend again.
“Oh… But it wasn’t perfect. I mean, I didn’t actually plan the rain.”, Aziraphale explained. For some seconds it stayed silent. Until Crowley shrugged his shoulders and slowly answered: “I… Didn’t think it was a bad thing to happen. To be honest, it reminded me.. you know.”, Aziraphale nodded fast.
“I do know what you mean. I felt that too.”, Crowley looked back up at his angel.
“You did?” the demon’s voice sounded so hopeful and not demonic at all, that Aziraphale had to smile about it. Crowley heard his own voice too, and tried to cover it up with quickly speaking again.
“Anyway, like I said: Thank you angel.”, Aziraphale didn’t say anything. He couldn’t think about saying anything. Slowly his eyes wandered to the bookshop. And if he was honest, he didn’t want to leave. He could just sit here, in the Bentley, with Crowley for the rest of eternity.
But as he thought about it, it occurred to him that the place did not so much matter, as the demon. So he looked back at him and started to say: “Look Crowley… I thought.. Well, it’s late. You know and.. I think… You could as well… Just come in with me?”, Crowley glanced at Aziraphale. He slowly raised an eyebrow at his friend.
“To drink something..?”, he asked. Aziraphale nodded faintly.
“Yes, or… You know.. You could… stay?”, the angel looked away. Out of the window. He couldn’t look at Crowley.
“Are you actually suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“I think I am…”, Aziraphale slowly turned his head back to the demon. There was something hiding in Crowley’s words. And the angel was pretty certain that he had heard hope. While he looked at his friend he decided what to say.
“Yes. I am most definitely suggesting what you think I am suggesting. I want you to stay here for the night. I want to spend more time with you.”, for a few seconds Crowley just looked at him, not really believing what he heard. Especially because Aziraphale had sounded more determined than he could ever recall before. But without hesitation he opened the car door and got out. Then he walked around the car, to Aziraphale’s side and opened his door as well. He held out his hand as he said: “Come on angel.”, Aziraphale laid his hand in Crowley’s. The touch felt great. It felt like home. Like the purest and most honest love both of them ever felt. And for once they could see exactly how the other looked at him. Finally they saw the love they had for each other, too. They both waited thousands of years for it, and now they were sure that every day of waiting was worth it. More than worth it, actually.
Together the angel and the demon walked to the bookshop, closer as they ever were.