Crowley isn't going to stop now that he's gained momentum.

The angel moves his hand from his chest to the base of his neck, half instinctively. He might say it's to stop him...

He's not going to stop him; he starts to close his eyes and part his lips.

No, he's not going to stop him. In fact, he's not even going to try really. He starts to part his lips and looks at him, without closing his eyes. Maybe he was going to be condemned, but this... to him... seemed like the least aberrant thing in the universe.

It's good that no one's trying to kill him right now.

Is it okay? Yes. That's always okay. Or why do they say it?

For a change...

Crowley pressed him against the bathtub with the kiss.

Aziraphale placed a hand on his cheek and finally closed his eyes. Finally. The kiss, so ridiculous and human for everyone else, was absolutely perfect for him.

Because today, they deserved it after everything they had been through.

They both deserved it. Um... well, Aziraphale more, he says.

Well, Crowley agrees! Although he's been terrified!

Crowley will have a chance to deserve it later. For now, Aziraphale holds him close to dispel all that infinite fear he must have experienced.

The cold is taking its toll.

Oh... considering that Aziraphale today... will have considerably fewer problems than Crowley, but I don't think he won't have any. He might be a little surprised when he notices.

In fact, it's more a need for affection and physical contact than anything sexual...

Yes, absolutely. It seems like it's going to be... a side effect, not particularly unpleasant, but definitely not the main focus for either of them.

Exactly. Still, it'll be useful that they can't be seen in public.

Will it prevent anyone from interrupting their kiss this time?

Yes, because these things don't happen at the Ritz.

No, nor will they.

Here we go with the rules again...

Well, yes, very strict ones!

Now we don't know if he wants them broken or... how.

We knew that was going to be a big problem. Now he's going to want to break all the rules!

Well... it's not like he's ever paid much attention to them anyway.

But now it's going to seem like he enjoys breaking them! And he doesn't... almost never.

Yes, he does.

No, he doesn't! Just like he doesn't like him.

Exactly.

No! Although, Aziraphale, darling... honestly, your current position doesn't help your argument at all.

Not what? We're agreeing with him.

But we know them! And they're agreeing with us in a way that says, "of course, they don't like it," and that's not true!

No, we're agreeing with him that he doesn't like it, just like he doesn't like him.

Right, but that seems to imply that he does like him.

That depends on how you want to read it. If he believes that's how it should be read, it's for a reason.

He... tolerates it. Like a necessary evil.

Of course... And Crowley loves him...

Wants him.

He presses harder against the bathtub.

Come on, now he's trying to drown him.

Nah.

We were thinking that... since they DON'T have to breathe... this is going to be an extremely long kiss. Aziraphale... misses Crowley's long hair, by the way. He could tangle his fingers in it right now.

In fact, he changed it in Vegas, because we're not in the nineties anymore. It was long on top like to wear in a ponytail and short on the sides with a beard. I mean, it's got to be embarrassing in ten years.

Still, okay, he's seen him in so many, SO many ways that... pff. One more. He looks so cute. He tangles his hands in the hair; you have to take advantage when he wears it long, he'll happily mess it up.

Well, in summary... Don't think he doesn't look handsome like this, it's just that in ten years, it'll be embarrassing.

Just like every time. Maybe his M25 moustache doesn't do it.

Absolutely, or his Shakespearean beard, or his John Lennon cut, or the sideburns... although Aziraphale also has sideburns.

Aziraphale steals the scene with his hat with curls.

Well, Crowley's Bastille look is terrible. And then there's Aziraphale's shoes in the Bastille, which have a patent leather power.

We were talking about the hair! It was the fashion of the time! Crowley has two curls over his ears!

That was also fashion. In fact, it was probably more extreme and sophisticated.

Aziraphale pulls away from the kiss after an infinitely long time and simply embraces Crowley, burying his nose in his neck (before they're thrown out of here, he wanted to do that). Crowley hesitates for a moment and then hugs him back.

"Thank you..." the angel whispers.

"A-Are you... alright?"

"Better than ever, my dear..."

Crowley smiles a little, relieved, unaware of the tension because he still believed he was going to say no.

"Are you okay?"

He nods gently, Aziraphale smiles a little and touches his chest gently.

"Has... this... been enough to earn you the title?"

"We can repeat it to try and improve it..."

"I knew it..." the demon laughs.

"You didn't seem to know anything, don't pretend like you did. What do you think you knew?" he asks, stretching his legs a bit, still leaning into his neck.

"Insatiable," he whispers in his ear, accusing him.

"It's not... ugh." He blushes deeply, making him laugh more. "Don't you want to repeat it? Maybe... we should leave here. In fact... you're trembling.

"Yes, I do want to."

He stretches a bit and gives him a little kiss, sorry, but he's been wanting kisses for a long time.

"You're cold." Um, or maybe it's not cold that's making Crowley tremble.

"And yet the idea of the bath was splendid."

"Like almost all ideas."

"Especially mine."

"I was talking about mine, obviously." He gives him another kiss, on the cheek, and hesitates, because if he moves away, it's like breaking the spell and going back to the point of being so close... it's hard work, but Crowley is trembling.

Snakes are cold-blooded creatures, so yes, he's cold.

A snake feeling cold.

Well, they're always cold.

Yes, yes... but Crowley doesn't always tremble.

It's fine, really, come on. He sneezes.

Alright, with a little reluctance, Aziraphale kneels between his legs to help him up. And hello, little angel!

Crowley turns, rubbing his nose a bit.

Crowley doing cough cough cough... embarrassed. Ha.

Aziraphale raises his eyebrows and covers himself with his hands a bit. Come on... heavens. Um... the male indicator of sexual pleasure works for him, and he didn't know.

Huh? No, it's because of the sneeze. Ahh! Um... alright.

"God bless you," Aziraphale responds without thinking, also getting up.

"Aaaaaagh!" that's... almost killing him.

"Oh, oh, oh... forgive me," he asks, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to get out of the tub and actually slipping a little clumsily.

The other brings his hands to his face because that hurt him a bit and tries to hold him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Come on... let me help you up."

"If you're seriously trying to kill me, just tell me now and save us the trouble."

"Don't be dramatic. Come on, give me your hand."

"Dramatic me? Who goes around blessing everyone left and right?" he gives it to him.

"I said it without thinking," he pulls him. They must look absolutely adorable there, both naked... undoubtedly.

Aziraphale raises his eyebrows when he glances at him and notices that the kiss has affected him, he can't help but look at him a bit more intensely than he should, before blinking and clearing his throat.

"Nothing left but for you to have said it outright!" exclaims the other, oblivious to his own matter.

"O-Outright. No. No. Come on... get a foot out, I don't want to not kill you but also have you become disembodied while naked and... you'll look very cute in hell doing all the paperwork."

"I'll give you all the credit," he responds, doing it.

"They probably already imagine it by now... if they don't already know with what happened today..."

"They might, I don't think they care anyway."

"Well, this... has been an interesting experience. It's been a while since I had new experiences on Earth... but the things my colleagues accomplish..." Aziraphale smiles a little, releasing him as soon as he has both feet on the floor.

"Bloody hell," Crowley protests, because that definition... has put more passion into sushi a few times. He's heard it. And then he snaps his fingers and gets dressed because he's cold.

He raises his eyebrows. You're such a drama, Crowley! And after everything that happened today, at least he considers that he can dress with a miracle and tell Gabriel to shove it. He makes a hand gesture and a snap... he's already dressed.

"Bloody hell?"

"In the dessert ranking..." yes, he knows you have it. We all know it, so don't act stupid now. He takes the blanket and wraps himself again.

"Um... I'm not going to tell you that," the angel blushes a bit, but smiles foolishly. Rolling eyes. "But I know you're expecting to hear crepes..."

"I know that battle was lost many years ago."

"There's a serious problem with assigning... crepes to any level."

"To anything... really."

He looks into his eyes; Crowley is teasing him.

"To special and beautiful things, like you," there's the comeback.

He blinks and the angel smiles more, because now he's teasing him back.

"W-What? Don't be... ridiculous." Play it cool, play it cool, Crowley, don't tremble.

Aziraphale raises a hand and caresses his cheek. He turns his face away a bit because he's blushing and he knows it.

"The problem with what happened today being 'crepes,' my dear... is that there's nothing better than crepes. And... I have faith that there will be many more moments like this, perhaps even better... you never cease to amaze me," he gives him a little kiss on the cheek.

"It might even be above crepes."

Aziraphale laughs a bit, thinking that he's always WAY above all crepes, sushi, wine, and books. Crowley has a separate scale, better than all the other scales put together.

"Maybe," he replies, the very cynic, nodding a bit.

"Well... who cares, anyways? I don't, certainly."

Aziraphale laughs a little, because he's tremendously happy at this moment, moving his hands to adjust the blanket and wrap him up well.

"And in the Queen songs scale?"

The demon looks at him because he didn't even know there was a ranking of Queen songs. I mean, surely there was, at some point. And then it stopped being, and cyclically it changed and... the point is dolphins. The point is that he has no idea what the angel thinks the ranking is.

"Um... Killer Queen."

"Killer... queen?"

"She keeps her Moet et Chandon in her pretty cabinet. "Let them eat cake," she says just like Marie Antoinette," he sings a bit, so he knows which one it is. "Um... right?

"Am I a killer queen?"

"What? No!"

"I don't... know... what... you mean by that song. Is it good or bad?"

"Well, you asked for the position in the ranking. Didn't you?" truth is, he told him the most random thing that came to mind.

"I don't think that's remotely your favorite song."

"And what is?" there it is. The QUESTION.

Aziraphale should know... No, he doesn't, not even Crowley. That's why it's THE question.

"Fat Bottomed Girls."

But whatever he says, if it's not too random, the... oh. Forget it.

"Wait a minute!"

Aziraphale doesn't look at him, turning a bit.

"Since when do you know the title of a song by... whoever, post seventeen hundred?"

"You ALWAYS think I don't listen to you..."

"Because you don't."

"Yes, I do. I've heard you SING that song," and actually... he finds it funny when he does.

"Well, so what?"

"What place is the one you said in?"

"I have no idea," he smiles sideways.

Aziraphale pouts because that's not even remotely... similar to crepes. It's not even tiramisu.

"Well, so it could be the last one."

Rolling eyes. I can't believe you're rolling your eyes when you just got jealous of some crepes. He goes back to sit on the couch again, the angel frowning and going after him... because he is...

"I can't believe..." he protests.

Crowley curls up again in the blanket and sneezes. He squeezes his eyes... that's a VERY good move.

"Do you ever get sick?" he asks, going for another blanket to put it over him.

"Nah..." no, of course, this now is normal, you mean there are demons who don't get an exorcism every week?

"You're sneezing..." he puts it over him.

"Yeah, well... something must have gotten into my nose," he settles into the second blanket, closing his eyes.

Aziraphale picks up one book and then another... and then one more, bringing it closer to the table. And... he sits on the same armchair as Crowley.

It's almost automatic that he falls onto him. Eyes closed. The angel smiles a little, hugging him and raising his feet a bit on the armchair to get more comfortable.

"Just because you're not feeling well..." he justifies.

"Eh?" he moves with him without knowing what he's talking about and he's starting to fall asleep again.

He suspected as much. If he brought books for that. Although he can avoid it... for now he just cuddles him, blushing a bit and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're not going to fall asleep for a century, are you?"

Sound of satisfaction as the only response. Eyes closed.

"Because if that's the case, you're making it very easy for me to kill you," he removes the hairband that holds his long hair halfway, running his fingers through it... and blushing again. He doesn't even protest anymore. "Crowley? Are you really going to fall asleep?"

"Nnn..."

"Ugh"

"Mmm?"

Aziraphale considers giving him another little kiss... ahem, just to see if he wakes up. He blushes. But... this isn't going to last forever, and when the charm breaks, they won't be able to see or talk to each other until who knows when. Crowley can sleep as long as he wants then.

"We should plan what else we're going to do. And maybe you could tell me The Sound of Music, because I don't see when we'll be able to finish it and..."

Justify yourself as much as you want, you bastard.

Ugh, he feels guilty for not letting him sleep.

And Crowley... Damn it! Crowley shuts him up with a kiss... Eyes closed and all, apparently it's a new skill.

Look how quickly he's found a way to use this to his advantage!

Buuut, guess who has a customer.

Aziraphale didn't expect him to shut him up like that, honestly. A c-customer?!

I'm sorry, lad, you set such bizarre opening hours to scare off customers, but some are so persistent they don't get the hint. So...

Noooo! We're closed! For... inventory.

You still have to go out and say it.

And mid-kiss? Really?

Did you think that since... once, now we were going to allow it?

"W-Wait... there's... someone," he separates and sits up, scared, also thinking it might be someone coming for them again.

"Eh?" he leans back to give him space.

"There's someone!" he whispers a bit panicked, getting up altogether. "Stay here."

Crowley blinks and rubs his eyes a bit, kneeling on the couch, inside the blankets.

"Hello?" Aziraphale comes out all flushed... and you're disheveled too, dear, whether you believe it or not. Oh well, but he always is.

"Ah! Hello!" greets the guy outside, young and university-looking. "Thank goodness! I've been trying to figure out the business hours of this shop for a week!"

The relief on the angel's face at seeing it's just an ordinary guy.

"Ohh... actually, um... I had already closed. What do you need?"

"Nooo," he almost whines a bit. "Please, I promise it'll be quick. I'm studying literature and I need this bibliography for my thesis, and this seems to be the only place in London where I can find these titles," he explains desperately, looking for his bibliography sheet.

"Ohh... goodness. Are there many?" he leans closer. Yes, they are, but more than two are for you, so... "Hmm... should I look for them for next week?" he offers.

"When could I come to pick them up? I still don't understand the hours very well."

"Ehh... we have flexible hours. But... hmm... next week at the same time."

"At three in the morning?"

"Um... a little earlier if you want."

The guy looks at him because... he never thought university life would be so hard. The angel's absolutely smug smile. He clasps his hands, looking at him.

"Come at ten."

"Oh... Oh! Thank you!" he smiles relieved, and suddenly music starts playing from inside.

The guy blinks at the music because he didn't expect that... I mean, did the radio turn itself on?

The absolutely idiotic smile of the bookstore owner might make you change your mind, guy.

"Oh, Wagner..."

"Ah... um... I didn't know you had company."

"Umm... I... um... N-No. Well no, it's not what... no. No, no. It's just an acquaintance, who came from afar and... we were catching up. Um."

"So... next week then?"

"Ehh?"

"You told me. Could you make sure if you have them all? That way I could look for the ones you don't have elsewhere."

Aziraphale takes the sheet... and he's 90% focused on listening to the music, 10% on paying attention to the guy.

"Hmmm... yes, if I must... well, most of them...

"Especially these," he points out. "I've been told they're very difficult to find."

"Um... these..."

There's a sound of something breaking back there. Aziraphale raises his eyebrows.

"Eh! Don't dismantle anything!"

"Oops! It's nothing, really!" Crowley responds from inside.

"What was it?"

"Nothing important, carry on," there's a slight pause. "Do you have something to... um... dry... let's say... something else? It's a question for a friend."

"Dry?!"

"No, I mean... hypothetically. Let's say... paper."

"What?!"

"And leather. Purely academic interest."

The guy blinks, looking at Aziraphale with this conversation, and adjusts his glasses.

"Leather! What if it was a first edition! I promise I'll... I won't talk to you again!"

"Actually, I'm not sure it's not one of those... what are they called. Inbacumbula or whatever."

"Incunabula!" the angel exclaims, looking at the guy. "I have them all. Next week. Will you excuse me?"

"Um... Y-Yes?"

Off he goes running inside.

What are you doing?!

Crowley is there wrapped in blankets, drinking wine and looking at his phone.

"What did you break?"

"Me? Break something?"

"Yes, about an incunabulum. With an N."

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

Aziraphale opens his mouth incredulously and raises his eyebrows.

"But just a second ago you... you were telling me! And then it sounded..." he narrows his eyes. Crowley tries not to smile, but it slips out, he can't help it. "I know you, snake."

"I still don't know what you're talking about... although that's not unusual."

The angel approaches him, searching around.

"Did you soak a book in wine and then snap your fingers and clean it up poorly, as always?"

"Of course not! Who do you take me for?"

"For Anthony J Crowley."

"You judge him very poorly, poor devil."

"Oh yeah? And how should I judge him?" he stands in front of him with his arms crossed.

"With... pity, mercy, kindness, and... love," he blushes at the last word.

"Love," he repeats, and blushes too. He could have repeated Pity, or Mercy... or kindness. But no. He chose to repeat LOVE. He uncrosses his arms.

"N-No?" with a face of false innocence.

"What do you think?" he asks, taking a step towards him. Sometimes, very often actually, he's grateful that Crowley can't feel him. Feel what he feels... because he would be surprised, or maybe not so much.

"That the judge should be God. Although for the last sentence..."

"God could rest easy."

"She seems to be despite everything, so... maybe she doesn't mind."

Aziraphale raises his hands and strokes his head a little.

"That's true," he gives him a kiss on the forehead.

Crowley smiles sideways because he's been spared the scolding.

"Hmmm..." It's not fair to go soft to get out of trouble!

The demon hugs him around the waist to pull him onto him, and the angel laughs a little, falling on top of him because... he's just too smitten. Crowley also looks into his eyes smiling.

"Oh, Crowley..." he laughs a little, stroking his cheek and feeling a bit like Adam in paradise, being seduced by Eve to eat the forbidden apple. But it's just... his eyes. And his closeness... and his smile.

"What?" completely lost in his eyes.

He smiles a little more because... he can't even explain what he feels and the love he feels coming from Crowley. It's...

"This is what's... ineffable," Aziraphale whispers while stroking his hair a little more. "You... and me."

"Ugh, don't be cheesy, angel," Crowley protests because you're making him blush.

"Oh, now who's complaining..."

"Listen to what you're saying!"

"Cheesy stuff. One has a reputation..."

"Oh, come on, tough demon..."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Alright, I'll keep these comments to myself then," he protests a little, blushing.

Crowley moistens his lips because he doesn't want that either, and everyone already represses him enough for him to do it too.

"Do you feel better? You're not sneezing anymore," the angel decides to change the subject, better.

"Don't keep them to yourself..." the demon whispers.

The angel glances at him and blushes a little more, licking his lips. He nods, but hides a little in his neck because this is also complex for him. Crowley hugs him tighter.

"I'm sorry..."

"What are you sorry for?" Crowley asks, stroking his back.

"Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit..."

"About what?"

"I was just... going with the flow."

"It's okay, don't worry... I'm an idiot, I shouldn't have said that."

"Come on, you're not an idiot. This... is... different."

"After waiting for this for so long and now..."

"Have you been waiting for this for a long time?" Aziraphale looks at him, pulling away a little.

"N-Nah..." he blushes again.

"How long is a long time, Crowley?"

"Forget it."

"No. Now you're going to tell me..." He smiles and looks him in the eyes.

"Two... or three..."

"Millennia?"

Crowley squeezes his eyes shut because... yeah. Maybe more.

"D-Days."

"You forget one thing, my dear," Aziraphale smiles. He looks at him sideways. "I know what you feel..." he puts a hand on his chest, making him blush even more. "Although... you seem to handle the realm of desires better."

"Eh?"

"You said waiting... one thing is affection, another is... wishing for something to happen. That I don't feel."

Crowley moistens his lips because again, this isn't sexual desire, but a need for physical affection. Actually, Aziraphale wasn't thinking about it sexually either, but more like... wishing it was your birthday, or... wishing to go on a trip.

"Well... I..."

"Even so... I didn't... Know you wanted... something like this."

Crowley looks at him, now thinking that it was probably Aziraphale who was already happy as they were, and that's why he never felt that... desire that he was supposed to emanate from him. And not that he didn't know that he loved him, even without having that angelic gift, but...

And wait, now it seems to him that they've already come this far and that's enough. Honestly, it's not even malice, it's... lack of knowledge.

I mean, but it's just... he really didn't have that angelic sense, what was wrong with longing for physical displays of affection, like hugging on the couch or kissing in the bathtub or holding hands at a restaurant, there was nothing so impossible about that!

Nothing, there was nothing wrong. Come on, or everything was wrong.

"Why never... ?"

Crowley looks at him and "Because of you, idiot. Because of you. Because of heaven and because I respect you." Aziraphale presses his lips a little.

"I was supposed to... be doing the right thing," the angel whispers.

"I know..."

And it's a problem when you spend your whole life so sure that what you're doing is what you have to do and then you find out that... you've been wrong all your life.

Crowley looks at him and smiles. The angel smiles a little seeing him do it and stretches a bit... closing his eyes and giving him a kiss on the lips. The ACT OF REBELLION!

The demon raises his eyebrows not having expected that, but almost immediately closes his eyes to return it.

The whole heaven can go... very far! Today. At least today. The very... naughty ones!

To hell they can all go.

I think this time Aziraphale hugs him even with his legs. Alright, lucky demon, now you've done quite well.

Ha! He doesn't even know what, but ha!

I think they can stay there until Crowley falls asleep. If... Aziraphale knew how to sleep, I think he'd keep him too, because it's been an intense day.

Thank you.

Actually, he probably won't fall asleep, but for once... he won't stay up reading, but lying... there, hugging him and looking at him a little creepily.

It's almost daytime! But okay, okay.

It's going to be daytime. Besides, we insist, mornings are things that happen to other people, not to Crowley.

The odd one who wants attention is going to be reading all the time, although he admits that he doesn't mind reading like this at all.

It wasn't such a thick book!

When he finishes that one, he'll read another one since Crowley doesn't have mornings... Well, let's read the British encyclopedia again.

One that lasts until noon.

He's going to deny it, but he surely knows the number of pages the book must have to last a certain amount of time.

Well, of course he knows, he almost knows it as well as Crowley.

Ugh. Well, he needs several until noon. Or one quite thick one. At ten in the morning, he's going to give him some kisses because talking doesn't seem to work, but kisses are new.

Wow! Everyone using the same thing for their own benefit.

Of course! What else can be done? Other than seeing if the sleeping beauty wakes up.

He does wake up, although he might bite first.

Bite?! What?!

Well, he's not used to being kissed by anyone! It's like a... reflex, who knows what he was dreaming!

The unexpected squeal.

Crowley automatically releases him when he squeals, fully waking up.