It was supposed to be a fancy dress Christmas party - Gabriel had insisted it was - and yet, when Aziraphale arrived, everyone around him was dressed in casual clothes, save for a few elegant sparkling dresses. He was the only one wearing something ridiculous.
Aziraphale was dressed like an angel, complete with little wings and a halo. Gabriel had commented that he looked like a kid at a school nativity, which certainly hadn't helped him feel any better about the situation.
The party was taking place on a Friday night – the first Friday in December - in Gabriel's large and fancy apartment, across several rooms. Aziraphale was currently in the one furthest from the loud music so that he could actually hear himself think.
He was hunched on the sofa with his fake wings digging uncomfortably into his back, a glass of sub-par wine in one hand and a paper plate of crisps – flavour unknown – in the other. He tried to look like he was having a good time while wondering how early he could leave without it being rude. He'd thought that his friend, Tracy, was going to be here but he'd just had a text from her saying she couldn't make it.
There were a handful of other people in the room – a couple in the corner bickering, which Aziraphale did his best to ignore, and a small gaggle of people talking about a TV show Aziraphale hadn't heard of.
Aziraphale felt horribly alone. He should've stayed in with a book instead.
"So I'm not the only one who missed the memo then," came a voice from the doorway.
Aziraphale looked up from where he'd been eyeing the bookcase and saw a red headed man leaning against the door frame, a glass of red wine in one hand. He was wearing a red and black onesie with a scale pattern on it. A long tail came from the rear, which was casually draped over one arm, making him look like a giant lizard. He looked utterly ridiculous, and yet, at the same time, the outfit emphasised his slender frame and long, elegant limbs. Aziraphale realised he was staring and quickly forced his eyes up, only to flinch when he found himself confronted by yellow slitted contact lenses.
"Why are you dressed like a lizard?" Aziraphale asked.
The man's face dropped and Aziraphale wished he'd said something friendlier.
"I'm a snake, aren't I. Not a lizard. Why does everyone keep saying that?"
Aziraphale considered pointing out that it might be the scaled arms and legs, but he didn't want to pour salt in the proverbial wound. "Snakes aren't very festive either," he replied in what he hoped was a playful manner.
"Oh, I dunno about that. They make good tinsel."
Aziraphale didn't know how to respond to that strange and worrying comment.
The man stepped closer and thrust his phone at him. Aziraphale found himself staring at a picture of a black snake that was slithering across the branches of a Christmas tree, its little face reflected in a bauble. The man swiped the screen and another picture appeared of the same snake in a tiny Santa's hat.
"Oh! How adorable! Is that your snake?"
"Yeah. She's a ball python. Her name is Crawly." The man laughed and Aziraphale joined in, though he didn't get the joke. Perhaps he had named the snake after one of those pokeymons which were all the rage right now.
"Well, Crawly is certainly in the Christmas spirit," Aziraphale said with a smile.
"Yeah," said the man, and tucked his phone into a pocket of his onesie. "So I guess Gabriel forgot to include you in the mass email as well then? The one saying it wasn't fancy dress anymore. I bet he forgot me on purpose, the knob."
"Email? Oh. I don't work at your office. Are you on Gabriel's team?"
"Nah. I'm with HR. Though Gabriel treats me like his own personal secretary! Heh." He gave him a conspiratorial wink. "That's why I'm drinking all his wine. Who are you here with?"
Aziraphale realised that this man must think he was partnered with someone from his work. "Oh, I'm not here with anyone. I'm Gabriel's brother."
The man's eyes widened in mute horror as he realised he'd just been bad mouthing Gabriel to his brother.
Aziraphale continued quickly. "And I'm quite miffed with him, I can tell you. He insisted that I come here and that I dress up, and then 'accidently' failed to tell me that it was no longer fancy dress. The halfwit."
The man visibly relaxed.
"I'm Aziraphale. But everyone calls me Zira. It's easier to pronounce."
"Aziraphale," the man said. "That's a cool name. I don't think I've ever heard of it before."
"You won't have. My parents named my brother after a real angel, but then decided to make mine up."
The man smiled. "Well, you can't say it's not original. I'm Crowley, by the way. Well. Anthony, but I prefer Crowley. Do you prefer Zira or Aziraphale? Did I pronounce that right?"
"You pronounced it perfectly. I prefer Aziraphale, but I'm not picky. Oh! Crowley and Crawly!"
"Heh. Yeah." Crowley sat down next to him on the sofa. "So, what do you do?"
Aziraphale felt a thrill run through him that this handsome man wanted to sit with him and keep chatting with him. "I run an Antiquarian bookshop. I inherited it from my father. And I do book restorations too." The restorations were where most of his income came from, if he were to be honest. The bookselling side of things was more for show. He loved filling the shelves with beautiful, old leatherbound books.
Crowley looked surprised, and maybe even impressed. "The only thing I inherited from my father was the red hair. But I did inherit a classic Bentley from my grandad."
Ah, so he was a natural redhead then. His hair was beautiful, although Aziraphale didn't feel brave enough to tell him so. He decided to focus on the car instead. "Oh, how lovely. How old is it? Does it still drive well?"
"1933, and yeah, it drives great! My grandad took very good care of it. I do weddings on the side, at weekends. You know, the chauffeuring part, driving the bride to the venue, that sort of thing. There's this wedding car company and they look after the Bentley for me, and they get the work for me too. I'm good friends with the owner, you see. I really enjoy it."
They talked on the sofa until their wineglasses were empty, at which point they got up and went into the kitchen together. They stood in the corner, chatting while topping up their glasses from an open bottle on the buffet table. Once that bottle was empty, Aziraphale glanced at the other bottles on offer, but none of them were to his taste. He leant in towards Crowley and lowered his voice. "I know where Gabriel keeps the good stuff."
Crowley made a sound of interest.
"Follow me," Aziraphale said, and, giggling, he led Crowley back to the room they'd been in before. No one seemed to pay them any mind as they went over to the bookcase. The top few shelves were open and full of books, along with a few medallions which Gabriel had won for completing marathons, but the bottom half of the bookcase was a cupboard. Feeling outrageously mischievous, Aziraphale opened it and took out a nice bottle of red.
"I'll replace it when I next come over," Aziraphale whispered. "He'll never know!" He looked over at the sofa, but the couple that had been arguing were now sprawled across it, attached at the mouth. The window seat was free though, so Aziraphale led Crowley across to it and then poured them each a glass.
Crowley took a sip. "Oh my God, this is incredible."
"Isn't it just. I do enjoy a good wine."
Aziraphale took a sip, his eyes falling closed, a blissful sigh escaping him. When he opened them again, Crowley was looking at him with those strange yellow eyes, bright in the low light. There was a slight flush to his cheeks, no doubt from the wine. It was affecting Aziraphale too, making him feel fuzzy around the edges.
He leant back and hid the wine bottle behind the curtain, just in case Gabriel came in, and then he found himself staring out of the window, surprised by how dark it was.
"Wow, the sky is really clear tonight. Just look at all the stars," Crowley said. He pointed up into the night sky. "There's Orion's belt."
Aziraphale made a happy sound when he saw the three bright stars. "Oh, yes!"
The sound of the front door opening could be heard even several rooms away, and Gabriel's voice boomed out as he greeted the newcomer. A voice drifted in and Aziraphale recognised it immediately, his stomach flipping.
"Oh no. What's he doing here?" Aziraphale heard himself mutter. "Gabriel promised not to invite him."
"Who is it?"
It was his ex, Sandy. Not that they'd ever truly been an item. They'd only been on a couple of dates before Aziraphale called it off, but Gabriel kept trying to get them back together again. Aziraphale hadn't been sure about Sandy from the start, but the final straw had been when he proved to have a bit of a violent streak. He'd boasted about how he'd beaten someone up in a pub for looking at him funny.
"Sandy. I went on a couple of awkward dates with him before telling him we weren't right for each other, but he's rather insistent. And Gabriel keeps inviting him to things!"
Gabriel and Sandy were good friends, and they were currently laughing together in the hallway, their footsteps approaching the kitchen. Aziraphale felt sure that Sandy was going to come in here looking for him. He was bound to scare Crowley away and ruin whatever chance there was of something happening between them.
Turning in his seat, Aziraphale yanked open the window, sliding it up and letting the cold air blow in.
Crowley let out a disbelieving laugh. "What are you doing?"
"There's a stairwell that goes up onto the roof. We could go up there and stargaze?"
Crowley stared at him with wide eyes, and then he looked out of the window at the wide landing just in front of them. "How did I not notice the stairs? I thought the railing was for a balcony or something." He poked his head all the way out of the window and looked up. "Woah!"
Aziraphale worried that he was asking too much, that he was being weird, but Crowley was already enthusiastically sliding out of window onto the landing. Aziraphale grabbed the wine bottle and handed it to him before scrambling out himself. He closed the window and then they were both dashing up the stairs, which zig-zagged from side to side.
They reached the very top and Crowley stepped out onto the roof, looking all around him. "Wow."
"I've been up here a few times with Gabriel," said Aziraphale. "We had a BBQ up here in the summer. And we came up here more recently on Guy Fawkes night to watch the fireworks. Some of his neighbours came too."
There was a table with a collection of plastic chairs around it, and a few large potted plants which a neighbour must have brought up here. In the centre of the wide space there was a little building which housed the internal stairwell, and next to it was a little room which served as a maintenance shed. During the BBQ, Gabriel had found that the maintenance shed's door wasn't locked, so they'd taken a peek inside. It was mostly full of cleaning supplies, like a mop and broom, but there was also a fire extinguisher and a few tins of paint. More recently, the residents had started storing their own things in there. The last time Aziraphale had been up here, he'd taken a peek inside and found a large freestanding BBQ with a bag of charcoal hidden under it, a wooden chair complete with a cushioned seat, and a big fleece blanket, neatly folded.
Even at this late hour, the city around them sparkled, but Crowley's face was tipped upwards towards the Heavens. Aziraphale followed his gaze and saw that the stars were even more stunning from this new vantage point.
"I must confess, I haven't star gazed since I was a child," Aziraphale said. "Can you see any more constellations?"
Crowley bit his lower lip and then he pointed upwards. "Over there. That's the Pegasus constellation."
"Oh, I've not heard of that one before. Sorry, where is it?"
"See those four stars that make a perfect square? That's the body. But the legs and hooves are a bit too faint to see from London. Too much light pollution."
"Oh, yes, I can see it!" Aziraphale clapped his hands.
Crowley looked down at the bottle in his grasp. "Shit, we forgot our wineglasses. Shall we share?"
"Yes, I'm happy to pass the bottle back and forth."
Crowley grinned, and then he took a sip directly from the bottle. He wiped the top of the bottle and then passed it to Aziraphale who took a long swig. Crowley's attention had returned to the night sky, his arms wrapped around himself as he shivered slightly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I've brought you out into the cold."
"Nah. M'fine."
But Aziraphale was already making his way hurriedly to the nearby maintenance shed. He swung open the door and was relieved to find that the blanket was still there. He shook it out and then raced back to Crowley, wrapping the feather-soft material around his shoulders. "There you go."
"Thanks," said Crowley with a lopsided smile that made Aziraphale's heart swoop.
They went over to the set of plastic chairs and settled down. Crowley shuffled his chair closer to Aziraphale and rearranged his blanket to drape over Aziraphale's shoulders too, being careful of the little wings on Aziraphale's back.
Crowley leant in close, eyes sparkling. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Aziraphale nodded, feeling warm now despite the chill in the air.
"You know that Wedding Car Company I chauffeur for? Well, they have an office job going and I had an interview for it last week. I really hope I get it. It involves answering the phone and managing the website. And they said they'd rota me in for days I wasn't chauffeuring, which means I wouldn't be limited to only driving on weekends anymore. Currently, Adam drives the Bentley during the week if it's needed. I think I'd enjoy it a lot more than my current job. It'd be really nice to work full time there. I've not told anyone at my current work about it though so please don't tell anyone, especially Gabriel."
"Good luck, my dear! I really hope you get it. And don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks, angel."
Aziraphale's face flushed with heat at the pet name.
"Your halo is wonky," Crowley said, and Aziraphale kept very still, stomach fluttering, as Crowley readjusted it for him.
There came the scraping sound of a distant window opening, and then drunken shouts as people emerged onto the fire escape. Aziraphale's heart sank. He'd been enjoying having this time alone with his new friend.
"Wait… Are they coming from Gabriel's window?" Crowley said. "What if your ex is among them?"
Aziraphale's chest tightened at the thought.
Crowley leapt up and grabbed Aziraphale by the arm, pulling him to his feet. "Let's go hide in the shed thingy."
They fled to the maintenance room, the blanket flapping behind Crowley like a cape as he ran. They closed the door behind them, but there wasn't a key to lock it with, so Aziraphale grabbed a chair and wedged it under the door handle while Crowley found a camping lantern and put it on a low light.
They exchanged conspiratorial looks, grinning and stifling giggles as they backed away from the door.
Three or four people by Aziraphale's estimation had settled down on the plastic chairs, and it sounded like they were passing a lighter between them. They'd come up here to smoke then. Aziraphale couldn't make out any words that were being said, but Gabriel and Sandy's voices weren't among them so that was a relief.
There was a metallic clank behind him, and Aziraphale turned and saw that Crowley had set down the half empty bottle on the BBQ, using it as a makeshift table. Their eyes met and Crowley grinned at him, the blanket half fallen from one shoulder.
They made shushing gestures at each other, both of them stifling giggles as they gravitated closer to each other. When Crowley smacked him playfully on the arm with his long snake tail Aziraphale snorted and then retaliated by slapping him gently on the arm. Crowley was suddenly very close, and Aziraphale's gaze dropped to Crowley's parted lips and then back up to his yellow eyes.
"Aziraphale." Crowley's voice was quiet, barely above a whisper, and then his hand touched Aziraphale's arm.
Before Aziraphale knew what he was doing, he was holding onto narrow hips and pressing their mouths together. Crowley's lips parted in a silent gasp and then he was kissing him back with a feverish kind of urgency.
Aziraphale couldn't believe he was really doing this, but Crowley was so warm and real beneath his hands. Crowley was growling against his mouth, and suddenly Aziraphale was being pushed backwards until his rear hit the wall.
A glance at the door confirmed that the chair was still firmly in place, that no one could disturb them, and then Aziraphale's hand slid around to grab at Crowley's arse, only to get a handful of ridiculous snake tail instead. He pulled Crowley close all the same, letting out a shuddering breath when Crowley's hardness pressed against his own.
It was jarring, scandalous, but then Crowley's hips started to roll against him, and Aziraphale instantly melted. They shouldn't be doing this, they barely knew each other. They were in a shed on a rooftop, for Heaven's sake. But all those thoughts vanished under the wonderful friction and suddenly his own hips were moving too.
Crowley's hand slid between them and Aziraphale's breath hitched as he felt fingers press against his arousal through the material of his white robes. He moaned, trying and failing to keep himself quiet. He bit his own lip.
Crowley felt out the shape of him, groaning hungrily. "Fuck, I can feel how big you are. I want to see it," he whispered in his ear. "Can I?"
Crowley was still stroking him, teasing him, and all Aziraphale could manage was an unintelligible sound of encouragement. Crowley was beautiful and he was fun, and Aziraphale wanted him more than he'd ever wanted anyone. He couldn't believe this gorgeous man wanted him too.
The robes that hung down around Aziraphale's ankles were tugged up, bunched around his waist, revealing white boxers that he'd not thought anyone but himself would see tonight. His cock strained against the material, hot and aching. Long, elegant fingers pulled him out into the open, the heady scent of his arousal on the air. He felt a mixture of embarrassment and exhilaration. Crowley's eyes were focused on his cock, and then Crowley kissed him deeply before dropping to his knees.
Aziraphale gasped, watching as Crowley shuffled closer. He was on his knees for him, his mouth open for him, and then he was sucking on the head of his cock and swirling his tongue before taking him deeper. Aziraphale couldn't believe this was happening, and when he looked down the sight before him was so surreal, so erotic, that it made him feel weak at the knees. He'd never been the sort of person to have sex with someone he'd only just met, but this felt right, and he liked the way it made him feel - daring, desirable, and horny as Hell.
Crowley was bobbing his head up and down while Aziraphale ran his fingers through red curls, pulling them away from his face to get a better view of the way his mouth was stretched obscenely around him. Crowley tilted his head up, looking up at him with those unnatural golden serpent eyes. He looked like some sort of evil creature, a demon corrupting an angel, and Aziraphale whimpered at the thought of it. He felt close already, like a tightly wound spring about to explode.
Crowley was making wet sounds as he sucked on him, and he was moaning around his cock, the sounds muffled by how full his mouth was. Crowley had one hand on Aziraphale's hip while the other, Aziraphale realised, had pushed into the confines of his onesie - which must be a two piece because Aziraphale could see a stripe of skin above the tail. He was pretty sure Crowley was touching himself. Aziraphale couldn't see it, but he could picture it perfectly, and it had him trembling all over.
"I- I'm close," Aziraphale warned in a low voice, and Crowley let out a keening sound in response, his head bobbing enthusiastically, his hand moving furiously in his own lap.
Aziraphale came with a strangled sound. He bit down on his lip to try to silence himself, spilling into Crowley's mouth while Crowley continued to suck and lick, swallowing every drop.
Crowley still had his lips wrapped around him, his hand moving desperately between his legs, and then his whole body tensed. He whimpered around his cock, shuddering, and then he went still.
Aziraphale stroked Crowley's hair until Crowley pulled back, letting his cock fall from his lips as he panted, looking up at him with a mischievous grin.
"Did you..?" Aziraphale asked.
"Yeah, I did," Crowley said, and then he made a worried sound. "Shit. Now my hand is all sticky." He let out a little laugh as he glanced around the room, looking for something to clean himself up with.
Aziraphale couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him too, and he pulled a handkerchief from a pocket in his robes. "Here, you can use this. It's clean."
Crowley took the handkerchief gratefully and then cleaned himself up. He folded the handkerchief up but then his hand hovered awkwardly, unsure if Aziraphale wanted it back. "Er… It's probably not a good idea for you to put this in your pocket. Might make a mess."
"I have plenty more back at home. You can keep it - if there's room in your pockets. Or we'll hide it somewhere in here and I'll rescue it another day."
Crowley nodded. "Er. Maybe I could wash it and- and then give it back to you?" He was trying to sound nonchalant, as though this wasn't an attempt to see him again.
Aziraphale knelt down in front of him. "I'd like that."
Crowley gave him a lopsided smile and tucked the handkerchief into the pocket of his costume, looking unbelievably happy. Aziraphale kissed him, sighing in pleasure, enjoying the taste of himself on his lips.
They drank the rest of the wine while they waited for the smokers to leave, and then they went back down the fire escape. Aziraphale felt on top of the world, like they were partners in crime. He was unable to keep the smile from his face as he slid the window open.
There were people sat on the window seat, chatting away. They all got up and stood aside as Aziraphale climbed through.
"Terribly sorry," Aziraphale said, feeling self-conscious and embarrassed all of a sudden, like everyone was looking at him. Could they tell what had happened on the roof? He found himself pulling at his robe, worried it was dishevelled, but a quick glance in the mirror over the fireplace told him that aside from his rosy cheeks – which were understandable considering he'd just come in from the cold – he looked perfectly ordinary.
"No worries," said a woman with hair that was slicked back into a ponytail, and then she looked beyond him. "Oh! Crowley! I wondered where you'd gotten too."
"Dagon! Hey! I was just up on the roof with Aziraphale. We saw Pegasus! The constellation!" Crowley was slurring his words just a little. "Hey, your boots are awesome!"
"Thanks! An early Christmas present to myself."
"Nice!"
A young man with kohl around his eyes and his hair sticking up into two points spoke up. "What are you wearing, Crowley? Are you a Christmas lizard or something?"
"Imma snake!" Crowley cried, and then he jabbed the man in the arm with his tail.
The man laughed, and he seemed almost as drunk as Crowley.
Aziraphale was stood off to one side now, feeling like an outsider. He didn't know these people - he didn't even know Crowley, not really - and it was becoming painfully clear just how drunk Crowley was. The thought sobered him up.
Would Crowley regret what they had done by morning? He might regret it already. To Crowley, it might have been nothing more than a bit of meaningless fun, a one-night stand, and the idea of it made Aziraphale feel cheap and used.
Feeling awkward, Aziraphale wandered off, vanishing into the crowd while Crowley was distracted. He was scared of bumping into Sandy. He could hear him in the kitchen, and so he stopped in the hallway, feeling alone, and hurriedly ordered a taxi. He deciding to sneak out quietly, planning to wait on the curb, and he'd just reached the front door of the flat when he heard a voice behind him.
"Angel," Crowley said, racing towards him. "Are you leaving?"
"I- Yes. My taxi will be here soon..."
Crowley looked disappointed. "Hey. Um. If you ever wanted to... I dunno. Hang out. Gimme a call, yeah? Can I give you my number?"
"Oh! Yes, of course!" Aziraphale couldn't help the smile that spread across his face or the way his heart quickened, hope blooming again. He'd been too hasty and too hard on poor Crowley.
Aziraphale handed over his phone when prompted and watched as Crowley typed his number in, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth endearingly. The contact name was written simply as 'Crowley.'
Their hands touched when Aziraphale took his phone back and his heart fluttered, excited at the thought of seeing Crowley again – of the idea that Crowley still wanted to spend time with him.
Crowley swayed forward and kissed him on the mouth, the taste of booze serving to remind Aziraphale that Crowley was still inebriated.
Crowley winked at him as he took a step back. "G'night, angel."
"Good night, my dear."
Aziraphale left the flat, taking off his wings as he descended the stairs, loose feathers fluttering to the ground.
The taxi didn't take long to arrive. Or perhaps Aziraphale was too busy daydreaming about going on a date with Crowley to notice the passage of time. When Aziraphale climbed into the passenger seat, settling his wings on his lap, the driver looked him up and down – from his halo to his sandals – but he didn't comment.
Author's Notes:
The party in this chapter takes place on the first Friday of December (the 2nd) so I thought it would be fun to release this chapter on that same day in real life! I would have liked to post each chapter in the same way – and that was the original plan - but it quickly became clear that would make for a very strange and erratic posting schedule! (Although it's still pretty close on some chapters!)
I'm gonna post on Fridays and Mondays, which will take us through to Christmas Eve.
I found some info online about which stars are visible in the night sky above London, even with the light pollution, so hopefully that's fairly accurate, but I'm not a pro on constellations - nor am I in London - so if you happen to spot any of these in London, please let me know! Pegasus is visible all year around apparently, although it's most recognisable between September and March. Orion is seen from autumn to the end of spring, with it being most visible in January.
I went to the Christmas Market in my city yesterday, so I'm feeling very festive right now :)