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Crowley hadn’t seen Aziraphale since that night in his car, when the angel did him a favor that might have cost him their friendship. Running into him on the street had not been part of the plan.
No, the plan had been to talk a shopkeeper into handing him a bottle of something strong and expensive with a demon voice no one could refuse, and then go straight home before the snow reached pants leg soaking height. He’d recently returned from business overseas, and was looking forward to getting back to his recently acquired flat where he could fend off the cold and drink himself into a pleasant stupor to fend off the thinking too much.
He was regretting not taking the car, and he regretted it even more when when he saw a familiar figure helping a woman load groceries into her car.
“Oh no…” Crowley groaned, wondering if it would be better to just turn around and walk the other direction or walk by with his hand held up to his forehead while praying for the best.
Well, praying wasn’t really on his list of options either way, and Aziraphale spotted him before he could make his retreat.
“Crowley,” Aziraphale greeted him with a cheery wave that froze halfway through, as if he was only just remembering their last conversation. The angel seemed to push past the memory though, saying goodbye to the woman he’d been helping and quickly making his way to Crowley’s side.
“Hey, angel,” Crowley said, drawing his coat a bit tighter around himself.
“It’s been some time,” Aziraphale said, a bit awkwardly.
“Yeah, it has,” Crowley replied, equally as awkwardly.
There was a silence between them before Aziraphale spoke again, a smile tugging at his lips.
“I like the earring,” he said, gesturing to the dangling silver snake that appeared to be striking through Crowley’s ear.
“Oh, right, yeah,” Crowley said. “It was the eighties, I just sort of got fond of it after awhile, I dunno. Might get rid of it soon.”
“I think it makes you look rather dangerous,” Aziraphale said with an excited chuckle and a hand gesture that must have meant ‘watch out! Demon on the loose!’
Crowley laughed despite himself, though the laugh was cut off by a violent shiver as the wind picked up.
“Oh, you must be miserable in weather like this!” Aziraphale said. “Look, my bookshop is right around the corner, I’m sure you remember, why don’t you stop in and warm up for a moment?”
“Well… alright, sure,” Crowley agreed, feeling as though he had just put an experimental toe into shark infested waters just to make sure the temperature was right.
The bookshop was as warm as Aziraphale promised, the fireplace sprung to life the minute the angel crossed the threshold and Crowley was quick to make his way over to it.
“Can I take your coat?” Aziraphale asked.
“Yeah, and take this too, might as well break it out,” Crowley said, passing Aziraphale his recent purchase along with his coat. Aziraphale looked at the bottle of scotch appreciatively, before going to find some glasses.
Crowley found himself a seat, and looked around the bookshop. It had hardly changed since the last time he was here, though he suspected a great number of books had been added to the collection.
“Are you in London long?” Aziraphale asked as he returned.
“No plans at the moment,” Crowley said. “What about you? Seems like you’ve put up roots.”
“Of a sort.” Aziraphale smiled, and poured them their drinks. When he passed Crowley his glass their hands brushed for a moment, and Crowley found himself dizzy before the drink even got to his lips.
“What have you been up to?” Crowley asked, drinking quickly.
“Minor blessings here and there,” Aziraphale said. “Jobs are coming in more slowly these days, not that I mind. Gives me time to catch up on reading.”
“Oh, so you actually read these things, you don’t just collect them all in a big hoard?” Crowley asked, raising an eyebrow at the piles of books.
“Yes, I read them, you old serpent!” Aziraphale laughed.
“I figured you were just going to wall yourself in with them,” Crowley said, cracking a smile. “You’ve got the makings of a decent barricade here.”
“Not with those Virginia Woolf novels,” Aziraphale said critically. “The one weak point in my book fortress.”
“See, this is why you should actually sell a few of these!” Crowley said. “Sooner or later someone is going to realize this is less of a bookshop and more of a dusty old library for one.”
“I beg your pardon!” Aziraphale huffed. “There’s no dust!”
Crowley held up his hands in a gesture of peace, which ended the book talk for awhile. Instead they drank and caught up on their years apart, laughing whenever it turned out they’d been within miles of each other messing up the others plans. At some point Crowley had moved from the chair over to the couch with Aziraphale, under the guise of getting up to pour himself another drink. It was warmer by the angel’s side, and their laughter now included slaps on the shoulder and light touches on the arm.
“Yeah, well, I was still in LA with uh… the one guy… had a number in his name… I dunno, one of that strange group,” Crowley rambled. They were several drinks in and the world was becoming pleasantly slow and golden. Crowley was leaning heavily on Aziraphale, and he couldn’t seem to remember why he’d wanted to run away at the sight of him before.
“I must have gotten carried away, because they ended up planning this… drumset roller coaster thing…” Crowley said, leaning forward to set his glass on the table. As he did he lurched slightly, and ended up steadying himself with a hand on Aziraphale’s chest.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, not moving.
“S’alright,” Aziraphale said, also not moving.
“... I think… I might have missed you,” Crowley admitted.
That’s when Aziraphale leaned forward and cupped Crowley’s face in his hand, and ran his thumb softly over his lips. Crowley stayed as still as he could, while Aziraphale’s eyes flicked up to Crowley’s and then back down to his lips.
“... angel,” Crowley said quietly, prepared to give him an out.
Aziraphale closed the distance between them, and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Crowley’s mouth. It was his turn to test the waters, waters which Crowley found were not so dangerous after all. Or at least, if they were dangerous it was definitely worth the danger.
“Is this alright?” Aziraphale whispered against Crowley’s skin, and the snake shivered even though he was the warmest he’d been all night.
“... it’s alright,” Crowley answered.
Aziraphale kissed him again, a little closer to the mark. He was creeping his way over with feather light kisses that kept asking the same question Aziraphale was.
“Is this alright?” Aziraphale asked again, fingers tangling in Crowley’s hair.
“Yes,” Crowley breathed.
Aziraphale finally kissed Crowley’s lips open, sliding a tongue past his teeth in a way that made it clear he was done asking questions.
Crowley suddenly became glad he hadn’t gotten that haircut after all when Aziraphale tugged at the curling red locks, pulling him into a better position. His other hand slid under Crowley’s thigh, and lifted him fully into the angel’s lap.
“Angel!” Crowley murmured with surprise at the forcefulness.
“Doesn’t mean I have to act like one,” Aziraphale said as his fingers dragged down the length of Crowley’s spine.
Crowley marveled at how eagerly Aziraphale proved that point, and how quickly he found himself lying back against the arm of the couch without his shirt but with Aziraphale over him. Crowley threw a leg up over the angel to drag him closer, and Aziraphale made a scolding tsk noise before kissing the breath out of him.
Waking up on Aziraphale’s couch had not been part of the plan.
The plan had been to get drunk alone in his flat, under a nice layer of blankets to block out the cold. Now he found himself resting on Aziraphale’s chest.
Too fast… Crowley scoffed, Hypocrite.
It appeared the angel had fallen asleep too, and watching him sleep Crowley came to a decision.
He decided to get dressed, put his earring back in, and press one last kiss to Aziraphale’s forehead. This could be part of their arrangement, sure. Maybe it would even work out, stranger things had happened.
Didn’t change their nature, or hard it would be to hide a demon in the closet everytime heaven came a-knocking.
“...sneaking out, I figured as much,” Aziraphale muttered with a tired smile, eyes still closed.
“... well, is that alright?” Crowley asked, fixing kiss tousled hair as best he could, combing his fingers through the tangles.
“Yes, Crowley,” Aziraphale sat up, taking Crowley’s hand and pressing one last kiss to it. “It’s alright.”