X Dancing X

Meredith sighed and leaned her face in her palm while her elbow rested against the table she was sitting in at a coffee shop. She was bored, she was over her mission. She had been on earth for three weeks now and she had enough! Not of earth, mind you, but of her job. She looked through the window beside her and over to the book shop across the street. Her dark pupils shrank as her vision stretched and she saw inside the shop, what she was able to see was Aziraphale standing at a bookshelf reading through a tome, while Crowley leaned back in his chair laughing at something.

She sighed again before raising her hand for the waitress. She wanted another coffee- she was glad that her side had invented it, it made her feel better about enjoying it so much. While she waited for her third coffee, she looked over to the booth at the other end of the cafe, the Angel was sitting there, he had been sitting there for the last three hours. This was routine now, they would each come to the cafe, sit in their respective spot, and ignore each other until the Aziraphale and Crowley left the shop to go wherever it was they wanted to go.

"You could go talk to him?" a voice almost caused her to jump. She looked over to see the waitress standing beside her with her coffee.

"Sorry?" she said with a raised brow while she accepted the hot drink. She smiled as her hands warmed at the touch of the drink. She missed the warmth of hell, London was just too cold. It was a lot more pleasant to live here than in hell though, even if it wasn't as warm.

The waitress gestured her head in the direction of the Angel who was drinking his own cup of coffee. "You two, every day, you sit in these spots and pretend not to watch each other but you both always leave not long after the other does-" she crossed her arms with a wryly grin. "Now the two of you are either doing something shady or are both really shy," she gestured to the Angel with a nudge of her shoulder. "you should go talk to him, it's sweet really, but also really sad." and with that said she left the demon to mull in her own thoughts.

Meredith blinked in bafflement. She could not believe what had just happened. Had that just happened? She looked over at the Angel and felt herself chuckling, how would he feel if he discovered that the human shop workers apparently thought that they had a thing for one another. She glanced him up and down, he wasn't that unfortunate looking. She stuck her tongue out in disgust as she realised what she had just thought. With grin she pulled herself up from the booth and lazily strutted to the other booth.

"What do you want?" The Angel did not look up from his note pad while he sketched what appeared to be the exterior of the bookshop.

Meredith slid into the booth and grinned as he slid away from her, his frown growing. "Apparently we like each other." she used her sing song voice and tapped her fingers against the table excitedly. Her grin widened when she saw him visibly shudder at her words.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked thinly. His dark eyes looked up at her from behind his spectacles and his fingers tightened around his pencil.

She glanced over at the waitress who was grinning at them. With a click of her fingers the waitress found herself lose her balance and fall to the side. The Angel's glare darkened but he did not comment. "That waitress," Meredith began, her eyes turning back to the Angel before her. "told me, apparently we 'watch' each other longingly all the time that we are here."

She watched with fascination as he lips curled downwards and he let out a sound of what could only be construed as disgust from the back of his throat. "If I were to watch you, it would only be to imagine how to kill you."

His words caused her to throw her head back in loud laughter. "Oh come on," her brow raised and she shot him a side grin. "you must have a little twinge of like for little 'ol me," she batted her eyes. "otherwise, you wouldn't come here- you'd find another spot to drink your coffee, you know we invented that don't you?" she leaned her arms on the table and inched forwards, her grin turned toothy.

His lips thinned and his fingers tightened around the handle of his mug. "The same could be said about you." he shot back.

She leaned back in the booth, her arms resting on the back of the seat. "Maybe this just happens to be the best place to watch our… charges."

"They're leaving." the Angel pulled himself up to stand and slid out of the booth. "Shall we?" he inclined his head.

Meredith felt her lips twitch upwards. "We shall."

X

"They're watching us again Angel." He heard Crowley drawl from the other side of the shop.

"They watch us every day Dear." Aziraphale didn't look up from his book. He turned a page and reached for his cocoa and took a sip. He really wished that Crowley hadn't detested Oscar Wilde the way he had, he really would enjoy this book. He put his drink down and continued to drink.

"Urgh!" Crowley made a dramatic movement that took his entire body, complete with arm flailing and foot stomping. He stormed towards the sofa and plopped beside the book reading Aziraphale. He looked at the book his companion was reading and pulled a face. "Still reading his stuff? man's been dead for years."

Aziraphale resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Is this what we're going to talk about today?"

Crowley grumbled(pouted) and leaned his head back, he slung an arm around the back of the sofa and his fingers brushed against Aziraphale's shoulder. "No… maybe… nah..." he pinched the bridge of his nose. "let's get out...go," he gestured vaguely with his spare hand. "..out somewhere, do something."

"What would you like to do, Dear?" he looked up from his book to the clock. "It's nearly five, we could go out for an early dinner?"

Crowley shrugged. "Yeah sure, why not?" he pulled himself up and held out a hand to the Angel. "Shall we, Angel?"

Aziraphale took the offered hand and felt his cheeks redden. Crowley was such a sweetie, even if he wouldn't admit it. "The Ritz?" he suggested rubbing his thumb against Crowley's, his eyes gleaned like stars when he felt the Demon return the gesture.

Crowley hummed and pulled out his keys before glancing at Aziraphale with a brow raised above his glasses. "Why don't we drive for a bit? See what we feel in the mood for?"

"Why not?"

With that said the two left the shop and climbed into the Bentley- Aziraphale knowing better than to comment when Crowley held the door for him, instead opted to give his companion a bright smile which Crowley pretended to not notice, or enjoy. Once they were in the car and driving through streets, Aziraphale looked through his side mirror and frowned.

"They're managing to keep up with you in their… whatever automobile that is..."

Crowley looked through his rear mirror. "…It's a Moke..." his brow creased. "Why would you drive a Moke in London of all places?" He shook his head and turned the car left into a street, an action which caused Aziraphale to fling into the door and gasp.

"You go too fast!" the Angel gasped.

"I go too fast for you?"

Aziraphale let out a sound of annoyance. "You drive too fast for me."

Crowley let out a chuckle before turning down another street. He noticed, with a frown, that the Moke was still keeping up with them. It was while he was planning his next turn he noticed what appeared to be some sort of festival happening down one of the streets. He slammed the breaks on, and tried not to chuckle at the sound Aziraphale let out. "Hey, what's that?" he pointed to the people dancing and wearing a rainbow of colours.

Aziraphale leaned forward in his seat to get a better look. "It appears to be a festival of some sort."

"Shall we, scope it out?" Crowley suggested with a hand gesture.

"Yes, lets."

Aziraphale and Crowley pulled themselves out of the car and took a quick glance at the angel and demon who were 'discretely' hiding by the corner edge of a building, before heading off into the fray of brightly coloured people.

X

"How do you propose that we follow them?" Meredith asked as they left the shop, she had yet to get herself a means of transport, she had instead been opting to miracle herself to wherever she needed to go- but getting a car was on her 'to do' list.

"I have an automobile, you could… ride as passenger." he said the last words with disdain as he gestured for her to follow after him.

While tempted to retort with a witty quip, Meredith chose to remain silent and instead followed after the Angel. The pair didn't have to walk very far before they were met with the sight of a 1968 mini Moke, the red car stood out like a sore thumb.

Meredith felt her brows raise high. "What in Satan's name is that?"

"This is my vehicle." The Angel replied climbing into the car.

Meredith was struck by the sight of the angel in the small 'car', he was so tall and lanky, how he managed to fit inside the thing was a miracle- her mouth opened in an 'o' shape as she realised that it was a miracle that he was able to get his long legs inside it. She clutched the 'roof' bar and climbed in. she was impressed that she did not have to use magic for her to fit inside, the car had more room than she had thought it would.

"You in? Good, they're getting away." with that said the car reversed out onto the street before speeding after the Bentley.

"Goo- fuck you go really fast!" she gasped as she was jostled. "I didn't think angel's drove like this!" she watched as the Bentley went faster and somehow, this car, whatever it was, was managing to keep up. The angel, was… quite the driver. She tilted her head and watched him with thoughtful eyes. "You're a good driver..."

The angel kept his eyes on the Bentley and still managed to avoid other traffic and pedestrians. "...I… thank you..." he said quietly.

"Don't than-" Meredith was cut off as the car came to a screeching halt, jostling her roughly. "The fuck are you doing?!"

"They've stopped."

"Huh?" Meredith watched the Bentley that was parked down a side street. There appeared to be some sort of party or something happening. She climbed out of the car and dashed to the building at the end of the side street, she felt the angel beside her as they leaned over the edge and watched as Aziraphale and Crowley climbed out of the car and headed into the mass of colours.

"Well now..." she tilted her head back and almost jumped at how close he was, they were literally nearly touching. She hoped that his good smell didn't rub off onto her- it would take ages to miracle off her. "Shall we follow?"

With a nod she and the angel followed after the two and were struck with how… colourful everything was, it was almost like steeping into a rainbow kaleidoscope. People were wearing coloured beads as well as passing them out. There were also people waving rainbow flags and- from what she could see, there was an awful lot of kissing and dancing going on.

"Would you like some beads?" a woman walked up to her and before she had the opportunity to reply, she felt the beads being placed around her neck. She flinched, expecting something to happen to her, but when it didn't, she looked down at the beads and fingered them.

"There is so much love in this place… between these people..." the angel beside her said quietly while he watched people dancing together.

"They certainly seem to be having fun." Meredith felt herself smiling. The energy of this place was certainly something, she couldn't sense the love. Not the way that she angel could, but she could certainly feel something special about the area. The energy of the place was filling her with an excitement and an emotion… an emotion that she could not remember feeling for an age.

….but she wasn't ready to admit to feeling that yet.

"I see them." The angel pointed to the crowd of people and sure enough, there was Crowley and Aziraphale.

Meredith tilted her head and watched the sight before her. "What is he doing?" she watched as the Angel linked arms with two other men and seemed to be instructing them on how to do some sort of movements with their legs?

"He's…." she turned to the Angel. "He's dancing."

She noted how scandalised the angel sounded and found herself almost feeling the same way. Angels, as far as she knew angels couldn't dance, it just wasn't something they could do. But here was Aziraphale, doing some sort of dance with the humans. Could this be where they got their powers from?

X

Crowley resisted the urge to bury his face within his hands while he watched Aziraphale teach the two men how to dance the 'Gavotte'. Of all of the things that they could have been doing at a pride parade, he was instead stuck watching Aziraphale with exasperation… admittedly, it was amused exasperation. He took some beads when they were offered to him and continued to watch Aziraphale.

"How long have you been together?" he looked beside him to see a tiny blonde girl beside him. Although he could sense that she was human, he was still paranoid so he took a quick glance to check where his stalkers were. Once he had ascertained that they were still watching him he replied to the girl.

"Oh… a long time." he was vague and felt his lips twitch as Aziraphale let out a high laugh.

"You two seem to really love each other."

"What makes you say that?" he tilted his head to the side, his eyes never leaving Aziraphale.

"You two haven't taken your eyes off each other. It's nice, what this parade's all about. Stay happy." with that said she bounded off.

Crowley was… actually impressed at the girls observational skills. It was then that he noticed Aziraphale receive a hug from his two dance partners- which did not at all cause him to bristle- and was now making his way to him. "Having fun Angel?"

Aziraphale beamed. "Yes, you should have joined us!"

Crowley almost snorted. "In the Gavotte? No Angel, that's your thing."

A Wryly smile. "What about we do something that's your thing?"

Crowley took note of some of the couples around them making out. "In public Aziraphale?"

"What can I say Dear? The love around us has… had an effect..." and with that said he gripped Crowley's jacket and surged forwards.

X

"Oh my..." Meredith commented while they watched the two embrace.

"Do you think that this is where they get their powers from?" the angel asked, and at the look she sent him, he elaborated. "T-the dancing, I mean."

Meredith watched the human in their 'pride celebration' there was dancing and embracing and happiness. The dancing created so much energy between the partners that she could believe that the act would be where the pair received their powers. She glanced at the angel beside her. It couldn't hurt, could it? Dancing with the Angel? Crowley and Aziraphale did it and they hadn't died or had anything bad happen to them. She glanced to the other dancers, then back at the angel.

"Sure," she shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not." she turned and cracked her shoulders.

The angel shifted uncomfortably, as though he had not expected her to want to dance with him. "W-what, us?" he stammered, voicing his feelings.

She shifted from foot to foot and held her arms out. "Let's dance. Only way to be sure." and with that she pushed forwards, her arms wrapping around him and she clutched at his back like she had seen the humans do. She felt him stiffen. "Oh come on."

"I'm an Angel," he protested. "I don't dance."

"And demon's don't dance with angels, but here we are."

It could have been the sass in her voice, or it could have been the human couple who accidentally bumped into them. It was unknown what it was, but whatever it was he suddenly surged into action. His arms gripping her as he swayed awkwardly from side to side with her. She gasped and moved awkwardly with him, their bodies bumping into each other's awkwardly. They moved together for a little while before they felt their eyes closing, the energy of the place filling them with the feel for the dance.

"This is..." she began.

"Yeah..." he replied.

She felt her body tingle as his hands moved up and down her sides awkwardly. Angel's couldn't dance, what they did was often uncoordinated and strange but whatever he was doing… she found herself enjoying it… she was ready to admit to feeling that certain emotion, she was happy.. There was just one thing…

"Hey Angel..."

"Yes…?"

"You got a name?"

X

"Would you look at that?" Aziraphale practically swooned as they headed back to the Bentley. He gestured to their stalkers.

Crowley followed the angel's line of sight and his brows raised over his glasses. "I don't think Hastur would have anything nice to say about that." there was an edge to his voice, what the edge meant though was anyone's guess, but Aziraphale seemed to catch on.

"This may well be the start of something beautiful for them.." Aziraphale sighed blissfully as he opened the door to his side of the car.

"Don't go prattling on about sensing love." Crowley grumbled under his breath.

"Why not?" Aziraphale replied, feigning hurt as they slid into the car. "I can sense love."

"Took you six thousand years to sense mine." Crowley grumbled with a smile.

"Oh Crowley." Aziraphale reached over and touched the other's cheek. "Can you ever forgive me for being so stupid."

"Already have." and with that said they both leaned forwards, their lips touching in a gentle kiss.