Incendere Librum

*A great day* Soho, London, Earth 1687

Aziraphale stood outside the building with a smile on his face. He could still smell the wet paint of the finished bookshop. The rooms inside were still fully of empty shelves, but the jitter of excitement he felt at seeing the place was an unmatched moment in his life. He took the hat off his head and walked inside, feeling each new surface with his fingertips. If he was going to start a new life on Earth, this was the perfect place to do it. Not that he felt the need to leave Heaven. But having something here that was his own was a guilty pleasure of his. He walked around the wood panelled rooms. he knew he would put a table and chairs in the back one, and a cot in the rooms upstairs.

He had big dreams for this place. Evenings he could spend in a comfy armchair reading quietly to himself. A place he could come back to and miracle away into a corner for days at a time. A place where no one could touch him. A place that would see him come and for years to come. A place that Crowley would stalk about it, debating his feelings one day, but Aziraphale didn't know that yet.

Little did he know, a few hundred yards away was the demon Crowley. Leaning against a carriage, his top hat tipped forward. He was always watching these days. Aziraphale seemed to keep popping up, so recently he'd taken on the pastime of watching him. It was like he could always sense he was near. He hated it sometimes, but today he begrudgingly smiled. The angel just looked so happy. The part of him he most resented, the part of him that was excited about creation, the part of him that never ceased to be when he was sent down to hell. That part watched Aziraphale and beamed. Crowley turned away from the future bookshop and strolled down the road. Today was the not the day to interrupt him with whatever Hell was planning. Today was a day let him be happy.


*The near future* Aziraphale's bookshop, London, Earth 2024

Aziraphale dashed around the bookshop. He had a big order of books arriving within the hour, and the nervous anticipation of waiting for the delivery van was driving him almost insane. He had burnt a ring into the carpet with his pacing that he'd had to miracle away. Crowley had come down into the shop a few times and immediately retreated back upstairs to have a smoke with his head out the window.

The doorbell rang out loudly for two or three rings before Aziraphale answered the door. "Delivery for..." A deep, hoarse voice declared, pausing to check the name on his clipboard. "Mr A. Z. Fell?" He questioned.

Aziraphale nodded violently with excitement and almost squealed his reply. "Yes, that's me. Just a normal human." Crowley was watching from the stairs, he had no idea why he'd added that last part. He couldn't help smirking though, and walking forward to hang around behind Aziraphale's shoulders. Nodding along with his husband's excitement and simultaneously checking out the delivery man to check he wasn't going to make a move on his angel. He knew about the human trait of being attracted to delivery men and was prepared to defend Aziraphale to the (almost) death.

"Thank you," Aziraphale replied, taking the various different sized boxes inside the shop and setting them down on the carpet. Crowley gave the delivery man one last death stare before closing the front door. He strolled casually back into the shop, Aziraphale looked up to him beaming. Too excited to question what in the actual (and very real) Hell just happened with the delivery man.

"What did you order now?" He whined. But he secretly enjoyed watching Aziraphale unbox books, because the angel became enthralled by such a sense of euphoria at the whole experience. He liked to see him happy. He sat on the floor beside the pile of boxes and watched Aziraphale pull each one out and hug it like it was a newborn baby.

"It's just a new selection for my modern classics shelf. Gabriel suggested I get more books that would appeal to the younger generation." He eventually answered after putting down his new bundle of joy.

"Screw the kids." Crowley replied, taking off his shades and scrunching up his forehead.

"Crowley," Aziraphale scolded, he could sense the agitation rising in his shoulders. The room was getting hotter. "Crowley?" He repeated when the demon didn't say anything. Then a thick orange flame leaped out of one of the smaller unopened boxes. He leaped up too, the fire taking him by surprise. His first thought was Crowley, but his second and arguably more important - there was a fire, in a bookshop. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." He said in rapid succession, flapping his arms around and panicking for a minute or so.

"Stop panicking." Crowley said calmly, standing beside him and grabbing his wrist. Aziraphale calmed and thought for a moment. Nothing was coming to mind. Nothing! "We need to pick up the box and throw it outside angel!" Crowley said next, in turn picking up the box and making the oddest expressions due to the heat. He threw open the door and tossed the box into the wider world. Aziraphale clutched him from behind and watched as the box engulfed itself finally, in flame. He rested his head on Crowley's shoulder and let a few tears fall from his eyes. It was the shock more than anything.

Crowley's fingers came up to wipe away the angel's tears. "What? How? Why?" Were Aziraphale's sobbing questions.

"I don't know, love. But the rest of the books are safe. Tucked away on their shelves." Crowley replied, turning into the shop and closing the door behind them.

"Yes, my beautiful books." Aziraphale mumbled himself as he put the rest of his precious cargo away. But the spark had been jolted a little from him. Like the once true excitement had been extinguished. Crowley's shoulders slumped as he walked over to the shelf Aziraphale was piling up. He put his hands on his shoulders and kissed his cheek lightly before popping back upstairs to plan some mischief.