Chapter Text
“The Magical Mystery Tour
Is coming to take you away
Coming to take you away
The Magical Mystery Tour
Is dying to take you away
Dying to take you away
Take you today”
The crowd at the 56th Annual Drama Fest burst into applause as Will, Ryan, and Dan finished their set and took their bows. Campbell gave a thumbs up from the sound table and the Beatles tribute band quickly exited the stage as Roger stepped forward grinning like a maniac.
“Well, well wasn’t that just a rip roaring good time?” Roger called to the ground who cheered back. He let out a chuckle as the crowd began to quiet down and brought the mic back to his lips. “We got a rip-roaring finale for you fuc-”
“ROGER.” Crowley yelled in the wings, raising an eyebrow over his sunglasses.
“Fabulous! I was going to say fabulous!” Roger claimed. The demon rolled his eyes.
“Remind me again why we let him take the MC role?” Miles muttered to Barry as he wound up Rose’s lights from her stage costume.
“Would you rather him lick guitars and hump the stage?” Barry hissed.
“-please put your hands together for Sunlight Sisters!” Roger yelled to a roaring crowd. The hyperactive man quickly bowed out as three girls with multicolor hair ran on stage. The lights went down, Ryu gave Campbell a thumbs up, and the music started.
Ugh, you came at a bad time
But you just crossed the line
You wanna get wild?
Okay, I'll show you wild
“Hold the camera STRAIGHT.” Logan hissed in the back of the theater, trying to adjust the video camera while Willow tried to record.
“Hey! Mr. Crowley gave you the chance, and you wanted to focus more on your stupid villain song!” Willow hissed, pushing Logan away. She turned the camera towards her, checking to make sure it was on.
“You getting this Muriel? Mr. Fell?” Willow called.
In SoHo, London in an antique bookshop that pushed out more customers than it sold books, Muriel waved at the live stream beaming.
“Muriel here! The sound is great!” Muriel confirmed giving a big thumbs up. “Mr. Fell is across the street at Justine’s for a very important meeting.”
“Oh yeah we know what that means.” Logan snickered standing back up. “Bad French and more French pastries for the bookshop.”
“Shame. He really loves the Sunlight Sisters.” Willow muttered before focusing the camera back on stage as the three girls performed.
Yeah, something about when you come for the crown
That's so humbling, huh?
갑자기 왜 그래? 먼저 건드려, 왜?
이제야 포기해 what?
Nothing to us, run up, you're done up, we come up
From sunup to sundown, so come out to play
Won either way, we're one in a million
We kill 'em, like, really? You want it? Okay
Heels, nails, blade, mascara
Fit check for my napalm era
Need to beat my face, make it cute and savage
Mirror, mirror on my phone, who's the baddest? (Us, hello?)
The crowd was going wild in their seats for Ryu, May, and Rei performed, their beats and mixture of pop and rap filling up the auditorium and bursting through the doors. Originally transfer students from South Korea, the girls jumped at the chance to join Crowley’s Performing Arts Club, finding their own niche as a k-pop girl group. It was just what the club was missing and throughout the start of the year, they had been winning competitions left and right (not that Wonderland High School paid them any mind).
“Heh, I knew adding chains to that skirt was smart.” Joann said with a smile watching the girls dance center stage.
“I’m still confused why you had those in the first place.” Jean said softly putting her hair in an easy bun to give it a break from the pigtails from her performance.
“It’s necessary for my art!”
We hunt you down, down, down, down (down)
We got you now, now, now, now (got you now)
We show you how, how, how (show you how)
Sunlight don't miss, how it's done, done, done
The crowd erupted into cheers as the girls finished their performance and all three took their bows. They waved off stage and brought out the rest of the Performing Arts Club who took an equal amount of bows before going backstage and letting the real MC finish up the show and award the clubs.
“That…was…EPIC!” Rei squealed, jumping up and down.
“I’m so excited I can barely function.” May said sullenly.
“You guys did amazing!” Campbell announced coming backstage with Roger hanging on his shoulders. “I could hear the crowd through my headphones.”
“What did Aziraphale say about the performance?” Crowley asked Willow and Logan who joined the crew backstage.
“Sorry Mr. Crowley, Muriel said he was at Justine’s for a meeting.” Logan explained. Crowley groaned and rubbed his forehead.
“I really hope that doesn’t mean more French pastries.” He muttered.
“Guys quiet! They’re announcing the winners!” Barry hissed, making the group go quiet.
“Third place prize goes to Southband High School for their abridged version of Grease!” The MC announced to mild applause.
“You ever realize how rape-y Grease is?” Rose asked, clapping politely and making Crowley jump.
“I thought you were washing off your face paint!” Crowley gasped.
“I finished!”
“Thank you Southband High! Second place goes to Ayer High School for Fifteen Minute Hamlet!” The MC continued to more lively but still mild applause.
“One of his gloomy ones.” Crowley muttered, rolling his eyes. Barry and Miles eyed the demon confusedly but chose not to question it.
“And now, the winner of the Drama Christmas Ball 2025 is…..WONDERLAND HIGH SCHOOL!”
The crowd in the auditorium went wild. The kids in the Performance Arts Club cheered and hugged one another while the adults high fived. They tumbled onto stage and rushed to the MC who handed off the award to Crowley who held it up to the roar of the crowd.
“Thank you, thank you so much!” Crowley said with a grin. “Of course we couldn’t have done it without our wonderful teacher assistants, Barry and Miles.” Barry and Miles gave a big wave to the crowd with big grins.
“And of course my wonderful students who, if they weren’t so talented they wouldn’t be here!” Crowley announced standing aside and letting the kids take their bows.
“And uh….fight the power, thank you!” Crowley finished to more cheers as he and the kids rushed backstage to celebrate their victory. Hugs and tears of joy were exchanged as everyone talked excitedly about their plans for their next performance as the adults looked on in pride.
“It almost makes the eight o’clock practice worth it.” Barry said with a happy sigh.
“I’m going to miss them over break.” Miles added.
“No you’re not.” Crowley countered. “You’re going to be in Wales, land of the dragons. You won’t even think of them.”
“Well I can pretend can’t I?”
“Mr. Crowley, we should take a picture for the yearbook!” Rei suggested bouncing up and down with the kids nodding next to her. Crowley huffed out an exasperated sigh with no heat beside it and tossed his phone to a passing PA.
“Everyone huddle!” Crowley ordered. All the kids and adults squeezed together as the beleaguered adult quickly snapped a couple of pictures before handing the phone back to Crowley and hurrying away.
“Looking good.” Crowley announced to the cheers of the kids. He held up his hand quieting the kids only for a moment. “Go pack up and find your parents, happy Christmas break!”
“Happy Christmas break!” The kids chorused back before dispersing leaving the adults behind.
“Welp happy Christmas break.” Miles said with a smile patting Crowley on the shoulder. “I assume you're off to London for the week.”
“For a bit, we’re off to look at cottages at the Downs after Christmas.” Crowley explained adjusting his tie feeling all warm thinking about it. Even though the pair loved London, Aziraphale and Crowley had begun longing for a spot of their own to escape every once in a while. One night over the summer, after several bottles of wine, they decided to start looking at cottages as their permanent home and slowly give day-to-day operations of the bookshop to Muriel.
(Aziraphale would still own the bookshop outright of course, but Muriel would mostly run it.)
“Well I better rustle up my wife and kids.” Barry announced giving a mock salute to his fellow teachers. “Merry Christmas lads.”
“Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas Crowley.” Miles added smiling at the demon before going his separate ways with Barry. Crowley nodded at the two of them before adjusting his shoulders and raising his hand in a snap.
“I’m coming home angel.” Crowley said softly before snapping and popping away.
It was later that night, and the Macdonald household was quiet for the time being, a rare occurrence. The house was decorated to the tens for Christmas, and a roaring fire in the fireplace complimented the warm atmosphere of the living room as Barry and Jenny cuddled on the couch with wine.
“Y’know, we’ve got a lot of gifts to wrap.” Jenny teased swirling her wine in her wine glass.
Barry shrugged. “They’ll be there tomorrow. Tonight is just for you and me.” The two smiled at one another before placing their wine glasses on the table and began kissing softly. Their soft touches and gentle pecks were becoming more heated, and Jenny had removed her sweater when the doorbell rang and she stopped.
“Oh ignore it, it’s probably the Amazon man.” Barry begged kissing Jenny's cheek. The doorbell rang again.
“It could be my parents dear.” Jenny pointed out, resisting her husband's kisses. Barry rolled his eyes and stood up, marching to the door frustrated at being interrupted. The doorbell rang again.
“I hear you, I hear you.” Barry called before throwing open the door. “This better be go-oh. Hello.”
Standing on the front steps were Aziraphale and Crowley; Crowley was shuffling his feet and looking slightly embarrassed while Aziraphale looked downright jolly as he gave a small wave to the history teacher.
“Good evening, I hope we aren’t interrupting.” Aziraphale said softly as Jenny came next to her husband, sweater on.
“Oh Anthony, Aziraphale. What are you two doing back here, I thought you two were in London?” Jenny asked.
“Well we were, but you see a situation has arisen and we’re in a terrible fix and really this couldn’t of happened at a worst time-”
“We’re in trouble.” Crowley cut off his husband's rambling. “And we may need your help.”