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Somewhere in the future, maybe even a different universe, an angel, Aziraphale, and a demon, Crowley, sat side by side on the dark leather seats of a 1926 Bentley. The duo traveled down a windy road, Crowley being extra careful to keep his foot light on the pedal.
Aziraphale, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to keep his foot still. He was feeling a bit skittish after he had, essentially, told The Metatron to ‘go fuck himself’ after the mention of the Second Coming, whatever that was going to be. The angel had just almost followed The Metatron into the elevator to Heaven, but with the last glance back to Crowley, he knew where he really belonged.
He realized his heart belonged to Crowley after the church bombing in 1941. Soon after this, Aziraphale had come to the realization that his heart had actually always belonged to the demon. Ever since before the universe was even created; ever since a beautiful angel had lit up a nebula with the simple hand gesture, and again when a serpent slithered beside him in the Garden of Eden. At the time, he couldn’t quite remember the last time someone had smiled so astonishingly at him. Now, he can connect that smile to the angel he couldn’t stop ogling at while the universe was being created before him.
Crowley might even argue that he was absolutely smitten with the angel the second his gaze fell upon him. And, maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he really had fallen in love with Aziraphale when the angel flew into the galaxy to help him wind up the engines. However, he is a demon, and demons lie, and the new universe was absolutely gorgeous, so could you really blame him?
And now, here they sit, both nervous to cross into the boundaries they thought were impossible. They were slowly approaching an empty, grassy field, one they could stay in all through the long night and not be bothered. A place where the duo could finally give each other all the time in the world, with no interruptions. One where the stars could twinkle above them and not be mistaken for lights on busy streets.
They arrived as the moon was reaching the peak. Crowley pulled the parking brake, while in the same moment, stealing a glance through his sunglasses at the angel on his left.
Aziraphale gave him a soft smile, which, in turn, made Crowley’s entire heart melt into his stomach.
“Ngk–.” Crowley shifted his gaze back through the windshield, the eye-contact making him feel a little queasy. This time, as he looked back at the angel, he managed to avoid the soft, blue, star-shaped eyes that were burning their way through his thick skin. He thinks the gaze might actually shatter him from the inside out if those eyes stare for any longer. “You ready, Angel?”
Crowley shut off the car with a snap of his fingers and scrambled out of the seat as gracefully as he could, given that his knees were just about to buckle in on him. He quickly ran to the passenger side, where Aziraphale was struggling to open his door. Crowley’s lips tugged into a smirk as he whispered a quick thank you to his car. He gripped the passenger door handle and pulled swiftly, his cheeks heating up a little when the door gave no resistance.
Aziraphale stepped out of the car, exerting zero complaints when neither of them made efforts to move out of the other’s space. He let out a soft chuckle, “Ah, your silly car. Mind of its own, hmm?”
Crowley smiled. “No, no, no. Door was really stuck, then–” Aziraphale had made a soft step forward in an attempt to stand a little more loosely, bringing them even more into each other’s space. Crowley’s eyes widened and he shifted nervously. “–Um, it was super stuck and I guess when I pulled it you had already loosened it–” he might accidentally perform a miracle with the way his hands are moving in an attempt to calm his nerves. “–and it just came free and now–.”
Aziraphale cupped Crowley’s cheek in his right palm, ultimately cutting off the demon’s word vomit. The angel smiled as he smoothed his thumb over Crowley’s cheekbone. “Silly car, my dear?”
Crowley chuckled quietly as he leaned into the touch. This was definitely new territory. He nodded slowly, “Yes, it was my silly car.”
They relished in this feeling for some time, neither feeling any desire to end a new moment between them.
“Take those off.” Aziraphale whispered softly into the air between them.
“What?” Crowley raised his eyebrows slightly, feeling quite dazed while the angel still stroked his cheek. “Take what off?”
“Your glasses, please. I want to see your eyes.”
“You–...” Crowley coughed out. “Okay… sure.”
He lifted the hand opposite of Aziraphale’s and tugged off the glasses, folding them up into his hand. “Better?”
“Much better.” Aziraphale removed his hand from Crowley’s cheek, and Crowley could feel himself chasing after it. “Shall we, my dear?”
Crowley straightened back out as more heat crept into his face. “Mm, yeah– Yes.” He clears his throat and sighs. “Yep,” he says, ending the word with a pop of his mouth.
Their shoulders brush together as they walk to the front of the car. Crowley continues on to the backseat of the driver side, opening the door and grabbing a basket from the floorboard.
“I thought we could have a–.” Crowley looks over to Aziraphale and his words get caught in his throat.
Aziraphale is already leaning against the hood of his car, looking into the night sky. When he no longer hears Crowley, he twists his neck back to look at him.
“Oh, for Satan’s sake–.” he mutters, shifting his gaze down into the grass quickly. Beautiful angel. He forces a breath out of his lungs.
“Hmm? What is it, my dear?” Aziraphale cocks his eyebrow.
Crowley snaps his head back up to the angel. “Oh! Nothing… you just–” He makes a weak attempt at catching his breath. “You look–” Stunning. Gorgeous. Handsome. Dashing. Charming.
He pauses and racks his brain for the right word that might soften how obviously, hopelessly in love he is. “You look…” There are no other words that can describe this angel the same way, he decides, “beautiful.” He finishes softly, giving in to himself. He doesn’t have to hide it anymore. Hell, he shouldn’t have ever had to hide it. He moves his eyes over the angel, finally meeting his eyes again after avoiding them since they’d arrived at the field. “You look beautiful, Aziraphale.”
Aziraphale sucks a breath deep into his lungs. New territory. “Oh… I–.” He blushes. “Me?”
The demon saunters back over to Aziraphale with the basket in hand. He’s suddenly feeling a little more confident as a smirk plays into his lips. “Yes, you idiot,” he says softly, “you.”
And God, he really does look beautiful… stunning, gorgeous, handsome–. Crowley really could go on forever (and then some). The demon watches Aziraphale intensely as his cheeks go red.
“I brought your favorite.” Crowley says softly, lifting the basket a little.
“Mm, did you? And what would that be?” The angel smiles.
Crowley sets the basket in the grass and begins rummaging through it. He pulls out a nice fleece, plaid-patterned blanket and stretches it out onto the ground. He lowers himself down onto the blanket, crosses his legs under him, and pats the blanket to the right of him. “Come sit, Angel.”
So, he does. Aziraphale copies Crowley’s actions, sitting a little closer to him than he normally would have before.
Before. Aziraphale reminds himself of how they actually got here and he sighs, picking at the grass that pokes out around the edges of the blanket. “Crowley…”
The demon immediately pauses his task, shooting a glance into the angel’s direction. “...Aziraphale? Yes?”
He drags a blade of grass between his fingertips before turning his head back to Crowley, “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Crowley’s eyes widened. “You’re not about to ask me to bring you back to that elevator, are you?” He tries to play it off as a joke, finishing the sentence with an emotionless laugh, but the widening slits in his golden eyes give him away very clearly.
Aziraphale smiles sweetly at him and tears begin to form in both of their eyes. “No, my dear,” he plants his hand on top of Crowley’s, rubbing his thumb over the demon’s knuckle. “I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry… for almost leaving you all alone here.” Aziraphale sighs, “I really don’t know what I was thinking. I mean, six thousand years with you on this planet and I–.” A tear rolls down his cheek. “I’m so sorry, Crow–.”
“Angel… s’alright–.”
“–ley. You’ve always been there for me, and you deserve to know that I will always be–” he sniffles, “–there for you, too. I’m so–.”
Crowley tugs his hand from the angel’s grip and quickly wraps his arms around him nervously. “Aziraphale, it’s alright, love. I forgive you.”
I forgive you.
Aziraphale’s breath catches in his throat, and he exhales as he slowly moves his arms around Crowley’s waist. He can hear Crowley releasing a shaky breath as his grip tightens on the demon. New territory.
They stay like this for a while, basking in each other’s warmth. Crowley rubs small circles into Aziraphale’s back until his little sobs grow quieter. “I brought you sushi, Angel.” He whispers into Aziraphale’s shoulder, “Your favorite.”
He pulls out of Crowley’s arms and attempts a small smile. “Have you? Well, we shouldn’t let it go to waste then, shall we?” He wipes his tears with the back of his hand, grateful for Crowley for giving him an out on his emotional break.
Crowley reaches back into the basket, pulling out a white take-away box and chopsticks.
Aziraphale takes delicate bites of the meal, savoring each bite while Crowley watches. “Would you like some?” He asks the demon, patting off his mouth with his napkin.
“No.” Crowley purses his lips and shakes his head, “Not a fan, thank you. All yours.”
“Come on!” He exaggerates the ‘o’, as he grabs a piece of sushi from his container. He places his hand under the chopsticks, carefully moving it to Crowley’s mouth.
Crowley can feel his face growing more and more red with each centimeter Aziraphale moves the sushi. Fuck it, he decides. He opens his mouth and leans forward to grab the sushi with his teeth, keeping his eyes locked on Aziraphale’s. He swallows the roll, and it’s actually quite nice.
The angel watches him closely for a reaction, whether it be good or bad, curious if his best friend enjoys his favorite food. Crowley smirks. “Disgusting.”
Aziraphale smiles wide, somewhat resembling a child who’d just won a pet fish at a fair. “Can I tempt you into another?”
The angel and demon smile at each other, and the Bentley blinks its headlights behind them, switching on the radio and playing “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” softly into the open air.
“Oh, shut up!” Crowley yells towards the car, with nothing but fondness in his voice. “Silly car.”
Crowley didn’t think he could fall in love with the angel any more than he already had, but he still feels the butterflies as turns back to the angel and sees another roll waiting for him. He opens his mouth to accept it from Aziraphale’s chopsticks. “Oh, it’s horrible,” he exclaims, rolling his eyes, hopeful to receive another smile from the angel in front of him.
Aziraphale lets out a small giggle, and his eyes soften more for the demon.
They continue this until all the sushi is gone. They crack jokes, they talk about the food, they talk about Heaven and Hell, and everything in between.
Eventually, they sit with both of their backs leaning against the bumper of the Bentley while Aziraphale points out different constellations above them. The Bentley has settled into playing love songs softly behind them, and neither of them seem to mind at all.
Aziraphale starts a tangent about how he wishes he could know all of the star’s names, “like that one there, what’s that one?”
Crowley’s gaze shifts from the sky to Aziraphale, wishing he could point out every star in the sky that reminded him of the angel. “And that one, what did you call that one?”
He watches the angel's eyes twinkle with each star he points at. Nothing has ever been more intriguing to him than watching the angel do, well, anything.
Aziraphale glances over to Crowley and scoffs sarcastically. “You aren’t even looking, my dear.”
Crowley’s eyes widen, and he twists his neck forward, squinting. Maybe if he looks hard enough, they’ll come back to him. He's tried this a million times already, but what's one more?
Aziraphale continues his rant about star names and shapes, “but you did do a wonderful job with them.”
And, it’s no use. The stars don’t come back, they never do. This time, though, he decides that’s quite alright. There’s an angel next to him that means more to him than the stars. The angel means more to him than having a space on ‘his side’. The angel who finally decided that it’s okay to fall a little. No black and white anymore, a blurred medium gray works well for both of them.
“Crowley!” Neither the angel or demon were looking at the stars anymore. “What are you thinking about?”
Crowley examined Aziraphale’s face for a moment. In a surge of courage, he loops his arm around the angel's, bringing their shoulders together. “I can’t see them anymore, Angel,” he announces. “I haven’t seen a star in the sky since I fell from Heaven.”
Aziraphale furrowed his brows, as if having to process the words one by one. “But… you love your stars.”
The demon smiles, “Yeah, I do.”
Aziraphale shakes his head softly and clicks his tongue. “Oh, Crowley… I’m sorry they took them from you. I remember how much you loved creating them.”
Crowley twists his neck in Aziraphale's direction, before looking back into the sky. “It’s alright. They won’t be able to take my favorite away from me, no matter how hard they try.” He turns his gaze back to Aziraphale, just as his spiked pupils catch some light.
It was true, really. They'd tried many times to take away the star that had flown into his universe all of those years ago. And, each time, Aziraphale had chosen Crowley instead.
He sighs and shifts to rest his head on Aziraphale's shoulder. Aziraphale drops his cheek on top, and they both gaze up into the dark sky.
Crowley feels Aziraphale's cheek tighten into a smile, and an arm snakes around his waist.
“My favorite star isn’t going anywhere, Angel.”