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"Well, it's just us now," said Aziraphale as he put one of the now-empty books back on the shelf.
If they didn't have the end of the world – quite literally – on their doorstep, he would immediately try to somehow miracle the contents of the books back into existence, but as it was, he supposed that could wait a little.
It was eerily quiet. But it was also sort of peaceful. Neither of those two things should probably come as a surprise since the entire universe had just ceased to exist, but well. Neither of them had a second Armageddon on today's to-do list. Well, Crowley probably didn't have a to-do list. Anyway.
"Yeah, I guess it is," came the quiet answer from Crowley, underlined with some unidentifiable emotion – anxiety or relief – Aziraphale wasn't sure.
Just as their heartbeats started to settle, a third voice cut through the silence. "You guessed wrong."
They both turned toward the sound, mind and body on high alert again.
They stared at the stranger for only a few moments before Crowley pointed at him. "Wait. You seem familiar."
Just a second later, Aziraphale seemed to come to the same conclusion. "We have met before, hadn't we?"
"You're right, gentlemen, we did meet already. Though the last time my appearance might have been a bit more... striking with the horns and all," he said with a smirk.
"Ah, Satan," realised Crowley, somehow managing to sound both uneasy and utterly exasperated. To be honest, Aziraphale felt the same way. He really wanted this day to be over.
"Good to see you two again," said Satan, seemingly delighted that he could surprise them.
But Crowley was not having it – nope, he really wasn't in the mood for this. "Argh. We can't just get a moment alone, can we?" He threw up his hands and actually growled.
He had half a mind to just grab Aziraphale's hand, storm out the door, and just get away, when he realised that wasn't really an option this time. He didn't know what would happen if they went outside into space or the void or whatever, but it probably wouldn't be any good.
All the while, Aziraphale was silently hoping that Crowley would think of something, because he had about zero ideas as to what they should do now. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Crowley pacing in front of one of the bookshelves.
He was about to start small talk with Satan to at least buy them some time when Crowley suddenly stopped mid-step. He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, eyebrows pinched and mumbling to himself, before turning to the angel across from him and asking, "Angel, do you have a pen?"
Aziraphale almost asked why he needed a pen, but then decided against it. He trusted Crowley to know what he was doing. "Yes, of course."
He came back holding a ridiculously big box full of pens, and Crowley had to hold back a smile. Leave it to his angel to have a separate box for different types of fancy pens.
Crowley took the first pen he was offered, then said, "Give me a book."
"Which one?"
He had to hold back a sigh. "Doesn't matter. They are all blank, aren't they?"
Aziraphale decided not to dignify that with a response and simply went to grab a book from the shelf. Really, how was he supposed to adjust to all this so fast?
When one of the now-empty books was in his hands, Crowley started writing:
It was a nice day. There was a bookshop in a city called London, in a country called England, on a beautiful planet called Earth. Inside the bookshop, there were two individuals, a former angel named–
"What are you doing?" Aziraphale came closer and looked over the demon's shoulder to better see what he was writing. "That's not the Book of Life."
Crowley turned to him for a moment, and with a small smile, he whispered, "It is if we want it to be." He then continued writing: ...a former angel named Aziraphale and a former demon named Crowley.
But that sentence didn't go unnoticed, and Satan seemingly got a bit annoyed at being left out of the conversation. "Wait, what are you two morons doing?"
Both Aziraphale and Crowley chose to ignore him.
Which only worked for about ten seconds, since dear Satan here apparently had some main character syndrome. He stood up and started walking towards them. "I asked you: What. Are. You. Two. Morons. Doing?"
"Just writing a new reality, but don't worry, it doesn't concern you," replied Crowley with a barely hidden smirk. Now, he was the one feeling smug, and looking over to Aziraphale, he saw he wasn't the only one enjoying riling up Satan himself.
"How dare you? Of course it concerns me! I am a part of this world too, unless you wouldn't write me in–" Realisation seemed to dawn on him just as Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's arm and started to slowly walk them backwards. Luckily for them, the devil seemed to be rooted to the spot by the thought of having an end to his eternal life.
"You can't just leave me out. I have an important role in this. I won't stand for–"
"No, no, no, we are not leaving you out. That just wouldn't do, right, Angel?"
Having spent thousands of years together, Aziraphale knew exactly what Crowley was getting at. He pointed a finger at Satan as he continued Crowley's train of thought. "We are not leaving you out. Instead, we explicitly write in the book that you shouldn't be here, that you shouldn't exist!" The angel couldn't help the excitement in his voice, because this was truly the best idea Crowley ever had!
Satan – not like they could blame him – wasn't as excited. He looked a bit red now as he raised his hand and neared their cosy universe-rewriting spot next to one of the many bookshelves. Oh boy, he was tomato-red now, shouting, "DON'T YOU DARE KILL ME, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT–"
Crowley and Aziraphale looked at each other for only a moment, a silent understanding passing between them. Crowley was already at the end of the sentence, only holding back the dot at the end.
"Yeah, no, we really don't want you here," he grinned as he put the dot on the paper. "See you in Hell! Oh wait– no, we won't," laughed Crowley almost hysterically, and Aziraphale found himself grinning too.
This was all quite scary, but it was also kind of fun.
As Satan started turning to dust, Aziraphale couldn't help waving. "Bye-bye!"
"Yeah, bye-bye, Satan. You won't be missed!" shouted Crowley as he joined in with the waving.
And as suddenly as he had appeared minutes before, Satan vanished, leaving only a handful of dust behind him.
They needed to dust the place anyway.
"Well, that was easy," said Crowley as he shut the book and went to set it down on the desk.
Aziraphale followed him over there, feeling more nervous now that the fun part was over. "Won't we get in trouble for doing this?"
"With who exactly, Angel?"
"Well, with God maybe." And surprisingly – or actually not so surprisingly – that had absolutely no effect on Crowley, as he only said, "Oh, right. We don't need God either."
"Crowley, wait–"
"No. Nope. I've waited long enough. Do you want to be free, Aziraphale? Actually free?"
"Well, yes, but–"
"But we can't be free, and the humans can't be free either until there is a God, right?"
Okay. Crowley did have a point there, and Aziraphale didn't have a better idea either. They probably shouldn't drag this out until God noticed what they were doing and decided to do something very unholy to them both. Surprisingly, he felt like he didn't mind the idea of a godless world very much. It's not like She was ever really kind to him or Crowley. Or anyone else, for that matter. Overthinking never did him much good, so he decided to go with the flow. Just this once.
"Okay, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you are right. I suppose it's better if we don't have a God either."
"Of course I'm right. We never really needed them anyway," Crowley said with a wave of his hand, as if he were discussing some of the more useless human inventions, like fake plants. Or automatic cars.
He did have a lot of opinions on those.
"So, what do we do now, Angel?"
Aziraphale sighed. "Do you really want me to say it?"
"Yes. It's the first step toward healing and moving on." And Crowley actually made a face at himself for sounding like some human therapist.
Aziraphale really couldn't fight that, and he found that he didn't really want to. Time to be brave. "Okay," he nodded. "We erase God from existence."
"That's my angel!" And said angel couldn't help but blush at that. That was the first time Crowley had called him his angel.
Crowley was now holding the pen out for him to take. "Would you like to do the honours?"
He didn't hesitate, not this time. Crowley was right; they would never be truly free until there was a god above. He took the offered pen and, with surprisingly sure steps, stepped over to continue Crowley's paragraph: There is no Satan in this universe.
He took a deep breath and, with slightly trembling fingers – that for the first time trembled from excitement instead of fear – he wrote: There is no God in this universe either.
They were both waiting for something big to happen. A lightning strike, a flash of white, or the rumbling of the earth beneath their feet– but there was nothing of the sort.
The only thing Aziraphale felt was as if a weight he had been carrying for far too long was suddenly lifted, not only from his physical body but from his soul as well.
He looked at Crowley and asked, "Do you feel it?"
"I think I do. Ugh. Weird. God really was all over the place if I can feel her disappearing."
It felt pretty great, though. He felt like a snake shedding its old skin and starting anew. Damn, they really should've done this sooner.
Crowley then was walking over to the drinks cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine because of course he did.
But he had the right idea, so Aziraphale helped out with the glasses. He had just turned back from the cupboard, glasses in hand, when Crowley suddenly wahoo-ed and held up the bottle like someone would hold up a trophy after winning the most important race of their life – and wasn't that fitting?
"We are free, Angel! How's that?"
"It feels rather... well, freeing." And as always, Crowley first poured the wine into Aziraphale's glass.
"Yeah, it does," Crowley said with a small smile.
He had just started to go over to the well-loved couch when Aziraphale put down his drink and stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"Crowley, before we start celebrating, we should talk about–"
Crowley put his own glass down, turned back to face him, and held up a finger. "Yeah, we should, but first, just– just come here, please."
He held open his arms because everything be damned, after all this, he really just wanted a hug.
The former angel only needed a second before closing the space between them and hugging Crowley as tightly as he could. "I really missed you, Crowley."
"I missed you too, Angel." And his voice might have been the most emotional Aziraphale had ever heard it to be.
They held onto each other for what felt like forever – and maybe it was forever, since time didn't really exist at that moment.
Aziraphale still had his face pressed into Crowley's shoulder as he said, "I'm really sorry. For everything I did and refused to–"
"It's okay. It's fine–"
Aziraphale pulled away, and were those tears in his eyes? "No! No, it's not fine. Let me apologize, please. You deserve that much."
Crowley couldn't ever not give in to those pleading eyes. "Okay, Angel. Go on." He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way.
But then his angel started wringing his hands, and that meant he was really anxious, and Crowley just couldn't have that.
"It's okay. Take your time. We have plenty of that."
That made him chuckle. Good.
Taking a deep breath, Aziraphale started, "I'm sorry, first of all, for leaving you here alone and going to Heaven. I really wanted to make things right, but I shouldn't have left like that. The second thing I'm sorry for is how I reacted after you– after you kissed me."
Oh. Apparently, they went straight to the point, though Crowley was secretly glad for that. He had been a depressed sack of a demon for long enough.
"It just– it was all too much, too fast. I was scared, Crowley."
"Oh."
And the disappointment he felt must have clearly shown on his face, because Aziraphale went on instantly, "No, wait! I put that the wrong way. I was scared of all the good things it made me feel. I was scared of Heaven and God and what they would do, and I was scared of messing it up." He let out a self-deprecating chuckle as he said that.
"But I was never scared of you. Never in six thousand years was I scared of you."
And he said that like it was the thing he was most sure of in the entire world, and just as Crowley felt like he might join the club of crying supernatural entities, he noticed the little smile that Aziraphale always had before he was about to tell a joke.
"Well, maybe I am scared of your driving. Really, my dear, you drive way faster than you should."
Crowley had to laugh at that because even though it was meant to be a joke, it was said so seriously, as if he were actually filing a complaint concerning the former demon's driving skills.
Aziraphale turned all serious again. "But really, Crowley, I was never scared of you. It's the opposite, really. When you are there, it just– it just all feels so safe."
Great. There go all your tears, Crowley. Easily sliding off your face like water slides off ducks. Oh well.
Crowley sniffed. "Okay. Okay. Now let me say my part too."
He braced himself and tried to keep his voice even. "I am sorry for going too fast, both with the car – though I hope you know I always drive slower with you."
Aziraphale smiled and nodded. Of course, he knew.
"But seriously, I'm sorry for going too fast with this other thing, too. With the idea of being an us. Maybe I was too much, and I'm sorry I didn't give you enough time, and– and I'm sorry it's hard to love me because I'm not an angel anymore–" He choked up and trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
Aziraphale grabbed Crowley's hands to hold in his own and interrupted before he could continue, "No, you are not. And I don't want you to be. I liked you as an angel, yes, even though I barely knew you. But the Crowley I love is you. The nicest, kindest, and the best demon I've ever known."
He smiled at him so lovingly that Crowley needed a minute to comprehend what he'd heard.
"Do you really love me?" he asked with a sort of disbelief that Aziraphale didn't like at all.
"Of course I do. I think I always did. I know I realised it too late – well, the idea got into my head in 1941 when you saved my books – but then I only properly realised it, well... recently." He stopped rambling and squeezed his hand. "But I do love you. I really do." And it was his new mission from now on to make Crowley believe that.
Crowley nodded and blinked through the tears clouding his vision. "Okay. Okay. I believe it." He sniffed. "I love you too. I mean, if you didn't already know."
Aziraphale chuckled. "I know. It still means a lot to hear it."
Crowley couldn't do more than nod and smile back at him. They were silent for a few moments before Crowley caught up with the rest of the things his angel had said.
"You said the best demon you've ever met, but I was never really good at it – angel or demon, it doesn't matter – I wasn't a good one," Crowley said quietly as his gaze moved to their joined hands.
Look at them, finally holding hands after only six thousand years.
"No, you weren't. But neither was I a good angel." Barely a moment passed before he continued, "But then, I'll say the best person I've ever known."
He said that so sincerely that Crowley couldn't argue with it. He even believed him. So he just nodded and replied with a small smile, "Thanks, Angel."
For everything, he didn't add, but he had a feeling Aziraphale heard it anyway.
They looked at each other with so much love, so much adoration in their eyes that for a minute even the dark nothingness that was wrapped around their bookshop, their safe haven, seemed to glow.
"Are we alright then, Angel?" asked Crowley when he felt like his voice wouldn't break again.
"Yes. I think we are. We are us," he said in a way that made it feel like simply being them would mean the solution to all the problems in the universe.
And maybe it did.
"Yeah," replied Crowley, "we are us."
Heartfelt conversations were done, and loose ends were tied up, but it still felt like something was missing. A dot at the end of the sentence.
Aziraphale was the first to break the silence. "Actually, we still have one thing left to solve."
"Which is?" Crowley said it in a way that meant he knew exactly what he was referring to, but wanted him to say it out loud anyway.
"Well. Our first kiss wasn't exactly the happiest moment of our lives."
The ex-demon snorted. "Yeah, no shit it wasn't."
"So, should we try it again? Properly this time?"
"Thought you'd never ask," muttered Crowley as he moved to cup his angel's face just as Aziraphale's hands snaked their way onto his shoulders. And this time, they leaned in at the same time to close the gap between them.
Even though the kiss was a result of thousands of years of longing, doubting, hoping and just sheer wanting, in the end, it was just a slow and oh-so-very soft touch of their lips, a gentle proof of love.
A very human thing that seemed to answer all the questions they ever had.
They barely pulled apart to look each other in the eye before going in for another hug, because apparently that's what you do when you are stupidly, ridiculously in love.
"I love you, Crowley. I love you so much," Aziraphale said as he hugged him even tighter, and Crowley did the same.
Crowley smiled. "I love you too, Aziraphale. More than anything. More than any of the stars in the sky."
"I always had a feeling you would be a romantic at heart."
"Yeah, well, have you met you? You are like a fluffy ball of sunshine, causing me to lose all my leftover demony-ness."
But he didn't mind it. No, he didn't mind it at all.
They didn't need to see each other to know they were both smiling like the fools in love they were. They also could've stayed there forever – literally – but there was still one problem that needed to be solved.
"Crowley, as much as I wish we could stay like this forever, the world still needs to be saved."
"Oh, right. The world. Humans. Stuff," sighed Crowley happily, but didn't let go.
"Crowley? We need to–"
"I knooow. I know, Angel," sighed Crowley. "We need to bring them back." With that, he let go and went over to the abandoned glasses of wine.
He took a sip and then – if you asked Aziraphale – scrunched up his nose in the cutest way possible as he said, "Ugh. Too warm now."
Before the glass even touched the table again, the sound of a miracle was heard as the angel made sure their celebratory wine was the perfect temperature again. Crowley just smiled, took the glasses, and motioned for Aziraphale to make his way over to the couch.
"Okaay. What now?" Crowley asked as he draped himself over the sofa in the most snakey way possible.
"Well. We write it all back?" Though the moment he said it, Aziraphale made a face, because that would take forever.
Apparently, Crowley felt the same way because he let out a long-suffering sigh. "Everything? Really?"
"Well, not necessarily everything. Maybe we can leave out some of the useless things."
Like e-book readers. Oh, how he hated those. They did nothing but take away the beauty of reading – the touch of the paper and the smell of a new book! No fancy screen makes up for that.
"But think about it, Crowley. Who better to rewrite humanity than us, who watched it grow from scratch?"
Crowley just muttered, "Fine."
And so, all settled and comfortable with their arms around each other, they started to write good old humanity back into existence.
It might take ages and almost all the books from the bookshop, but that didn't mean they couldn't have fun. They loved humanity, yes, but they always loved each other more. So they took plenty of breaks from writing to just talk, joke around, or cuddle in silence and to simply exist.
For the first time in their lives, they weren't running out of time, and they made sure to live every single moment to the fullest.
***
Some indefinite time later, the South Downs
They had just finished decorating their new cottage after what felt like days of work, because even though they used miracles for well... everything, it had still taken hours to make it all perfect.
And so they both agreed that the very successful cottage project required a celebratory something. What they didn't agree on was what that celebratory something should be.
The ideal location was the garden – there was no question about that, that was the place they both liked the most.
The problem was the question of when.
For Crowley, celebration meant late-night stargazing, while for Aziraphale, it meant a nice picnic at sunset.
But neither of them would budge and give in to the other – not this time – so they settled on a compromise, which ended up being a stargazing picnic way after the sun had set.
Although reaching that compromise had more to do with the sun literally going down while they were arguing about the advantages of their respective ideas, and less to do with them actually agreeing.
The stargazing picnic was now set up on a tartan blanket under their very own apple tree, with lots of food and some hot cocoa for both of them.
They were sitting leaning against the tree and just enjoying their new lives in silence when Crowley suddenly exclaimed, "I know what we forgot!"
He startled Aziraphale so badly he almost spilled his drink, were it not for a fast miracle to keep it in the mug.
"That startling someone with loud exclamations is not good for said someone's heart?" he almost shouted, because really, there was no reason for Crowley to do that.
"You can't get a heart attack, Angel, and you know it," pointed out Crowley, completely unfazed by his angel's reaction.
"I can still get scared, so my point stands. But go on then, what did we forget?" sighed Aziraphale.
"One of the most important things when it comes to the perfection of existence." Crowley stopped for a few seconds of dramatic silence. "DUCKS. We need ducks!"
"Yes, ducks. How could I have ever imagined eternity with no ducks?" Aziraphale said with all the sarcasm he could muster.
"Don't be so sarcastic, you like watching ducks too."
He just glared at Crowley for a minute, then gave in. "Yes. Fine. I'll bring the book."
He got back with one of the books that was part of the "Book of Life series," as they now called it, and dropped it in Crowley's lap.
Crowley was quick to miracle a pen and start writing. "Ducks. There we go." He snapped the book shut, then leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. "Everything is fine now."
Aziraphale just hummed and was about to do the same when he thought of something. "Actually, we still need one thing." He picked up the book and wrote the one thing he thought would really make all this perfect.
When he put the book to the side and didn't say anything, Crowley only got more curious. "What did you write?"
"Wait and see!" He smirked, and oh, he was being annoying on purpose to get back at Crowley for the earlier duck-related scare.
Crowley allowed himself a small, proud smile, but patience was never one of his virtues –except when it came to waiting for Aziraphale to catch up on the feelings Crowley had already dealt with for centuries – but other than that, no, he was never good at being patient.
"Don't you 'wait and see' me again, it's still irritating–"
But then he thought he heard something. Something familiar that he had last heard so long ago, he wasn't sure about it at first.
But no, those were definitely– "Nightingales?"
Aziraphale just nodded and beamed at him.
Crowley just shook his head fondly. "Nice one, Angel."
Without knowing who moved their hands first, they linked their fingers together and just held on to what was theirs now.
They didn't need to say it, but they both knew what the other was thinking. It was a low chance that they could hear nightingales again, and a lot of things could've gone horribly wrong.
But they didn't. They made it, and it didn't need to be said out loud that they would appreciate the nightingales more than they ever did before.
After a few minutes of looking at the stars, Crowley softly said, "You know, I still really want to go to Alpha Centauri with you."
Aziraphale chuckled, then squeezed his hand. "Okay. We can go. Maybe for a little vacation next week?"
"Sounds perfect to me," answered Crowley, though he didn't expect Aziraphale to agree that fast. Or at all. Which probably wasn't very optimistic of him, but to be fair, he had his reasons. His earlier attempts at convincing him to go to Alpha Centauri weren't very successful.
Though now thinking of it, he realised that he only ever really asked him to go when the world was about to end, which probably wasn't great timing-wise. Anyway. It seemed like they would finally be going, so he decided not to dwell on it anymore.
But not a minute later, Aziraphale surprised him once again. "Can you tell me about it? Can we see it from here?"
Now Crowley was truly touched. His angel agreeing to a vacation to Alpha Centauri was one thing, but being honestly interested in it was another.
Either way, Crowley was more than happy to indulge him.
"Yeah, we can see it right over there." He took his angel's hand and pointed it towards the sky where Alpha Centauri would be. "Can you see it? That very bright spot right there."
"Yes, I can. It's very bright, looks like a really nice star."
"Yeah, it does." Crowley smiled while looking at his favourite star, which had white curls and bright blue eyes, and was now staring in awe at the sky.
He turned back to the sky, put his arm over Aziraphale's shoulder, and pulled him closer, his other hand finding its way back to his angel's once again.
Hand-holding was now one of Crowley's favourite things, and he wasn't about to miss a single chance at it.
Aziraphale, too, seemed to be as happy as Crowley had ever seen him, if the way he dropped his head onto Crowley's shoulder and then snuggled into him was anything to go by.
When they settled against each other, he started explaining. "So, Alpha Centauri, my all-time favourite creation. It's actually not one star but a triple star system. It has two larger, bright stars: Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. There's also a third smaller one, Proxima Centauri, which is a red dwarf star."
"That is a weird thing to call a star. Is it even actually red?"
"You know humans and their weird naming practices. But in this case, they are almost right because these are the smallest and coolest stars, which causes them to have, well, not an obviously red colour, but a deeper, darker orange glow to them."
"But I can't see anything red. Actually, I can't even see three stars, just one." Aziraphale pondered curiously.
"I was about to explain that. So, Proxima Centauri is simply too small and faint to be visible to the human– or well, angelic or demonic – eye. As for the other two, Alpha Centauri A and B, they constantly orbit each other and are so close that we see them as one single, very bright star."
"Ah, okay, I understand." After a beat of silence he continued quietly, "They are sort of like us, aren't they? With all the revolving around each other and... completing one another."
Crowley felt a sappy smile forming on his face at that, because wasn't that a nice thought? That his favourite creation accidentally resembled them in a way nothing else ever could?
"Yeah, I guess they are. All the more reason for us to go there as soon as we can."
"We can go, I promise. We could even make it a tradition." Aziraphale looked up at him with a small smile.
Crowley hummed and squeezed his hand. "I'd like that."
***
Minutes – or was it hours? – passed when Aziraphale sighed, "I still can't believe that we are actually here."
At Crowley's confused look, he elaborated. "I mean not just that we are here – although that's also something worth appreciating – but I meant with no Heaven or Hell watching us either."
"Yeah. It feels weird for me too. A bit boring even."
"Are you actually bored?" Aziraphale asked, sounding a bit worried.
"No, no, no, I was joking. Of course I'm not bored. I'm with you." Crowley hoped that his words conveyed just how much that meant to him.
Because it meant everything.
Aziraphale knew he wouldn't actually be bored with him, but still, he felt relieved. "Well, I'm glad you are not bored. And I'm glad to be here with you, too." He pressed a kiss on his demon's cheek.
Crowley felt a blush creeping up on his face and decided to play it cool, as he always did. He was still a cool demon, no matter how many nice feelings he now felt, thank you very much.
"You'd better be, 'cause you're stuck with me now. Like Alpha Centauri A is stuck with Alpha Centauri B," he said jokingly, making them both laugh, but neither of them missed the meaning behind his words: their lives would keep revolving around each other, and they would stay so close together that they were seen as one.
"But for real, Angel, I wouldn't ask for anything else. I have everything I need."
Something like devotion softened his voice as he looked at him and continued, "I have you and a free universe. What more could I want?"
Aziraphale looked at him with so much wonder in his eyes that Crowley decided that yes, this was indeed all he ever wanted.
And his angel only proved his point as he – like the little bastard he was – answered with a wiggle of his eyebrows, "A kiss maybe?"
Crowley laughed, then grinned. "Oh, someone's getting cheeky."
"Well, I'm just saying, we can do anything now," said Aziraphale as he put his head back on Crowley's shoulder. After a beat, he added, "It's just us and no one else."
Crowley turned to kiss the top of his head, then after a moment quietly repeated, "It's just us and no one else."
They spent the rest of the night cuddling and silently watching the stars. There was no hurry to talk about anything; they had all the time in the world, after all.
And so they survived, as they always did. Not only that, but they got their happily ever after. Humanity was free, and there was no Heaven or Hell to interfere. But they had two special people, named Crowley and Aziraphale, looking after them. Just in case.