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🪶 A GO Regency AU - Rated E - for @addledmongoose via @fandomtrumpshate

🪞 Chapter 3 of 11 - “The Waltz” (8.8k)

🎩 Completely written (around 80k in total) | Updates every Wednesday | Fake/Pretend Relationship | There Was Only One Bed

💜 Beta: the one and only @beerok23

1811. Returned to London after the death of his father, infamous rake Anthony ‘Crowley’, Duke of Morningstar, has three months to restore his tattered reputation and secure himself a proper match, on pain of having his title stripped from him. Enter the irreproachable Lord Aziraphale, newly minted Viscount Eastgate, who would very much like to discourage his many suitors from lining outside his door in Mayfair so he can go back to enjoying his peaceful existence on the shelf. After a chance meeting at a gentlemen’s club, it appears the two may lend each other a helping hand after all. While a fake engagement will not solve their problems once and for all, it should buy them enough time to put their respective affairs in order. If only the ultimate goal of their Arrangement would remain as clear and unchanging as it should…

🪞Read it here on AO3 🪞

🪶Or Start From The Beginning 🪶

Excerpt from Chapter 3 - “The Waltz”:

“Dancing requires practice.” “All the more reason for you to acquire some.” Besides, despite the viscount’s many excuses, Crowley had yet to hear him say he did not wish to dance. “I fear you are not getting my meaning,” he insisted, his eyes betraying his exasperation. “I am awfully out of practice, Crowley.” “Afraid you’re going to step on my toes?” As the viscount looked down at their feet, Crowley instinctively followed his lead and was faced with the stark contrast between their outfits. The pearly white of Aziraphale’s stockings and breeches, the pitch black of Crowley’s pantaloons and boots. “And ruin your brand new Hessians?” Aziraphale’s expression turned even prissier as he pointed one of his impeccably manicured fingers towards the front of his left boot. “I have been meaning to ask, is that a heart?” “That is most definitely not a heart.” “Well, it looks like a heart.” “It’s clearly an upside down spade. And you know what they say about spades…” They should always be called what they are, and certainly not be accused of being hearts of all things. Aziraphale slowly arched an eyebrow. “I see.” “Circling back to dancing–” “No.” “You’re wasting a perfectly good chance to mark your territory and signal every unmarried person here tonight that you are taken.” “I rather think that being seen together will do the trick without me making a complete fool of myself.” “Pity. I’ve been told that to be fond of dancing is a certain step towards falling in love.” Aziraphale turned to him, expression once again going from elated to suspicious to confused in the blink of an eye. “That does not sound like someone you would speak to.” “On the contrary, she’s a very skilled diamond robber I–” “A dia–” The viscount cut himself off with an irritated scoff and a truly remarkable eye-roll. “I shall not entertain your nonsense, Crowley.” “You did for a second, though. Should have seen your face.” He downed half of his ratafia in a single gulp, grimacing at the cloyingly sweet taste. “Let me tell you, Miss Jane would not appreciate your disbelief.” “If she has any common sense at all, this so-called and not at all imaginary Miss Jane would agree with me about you being exceptionally rude.” “Which doesn’t prevent me from being correct as well. Dance with me and I assure you there will be nary a suitor darkening your doorstep tomorrow.” Hope flickered back to life in the viscount’s eyes. “You cannot possibly know that.” “Are you brave enough to find out?”

🪶 A GO Regency AU - Rated E - for @addledmongoose via @fandomtrumpshate

🪞 Chapter 2 of 11 - “The Arrangement” (8k)

🎩 Completely written (around 80k in total) | Updates every Wednesday | Fake/Pretend Relationship | There Was Only One Bed

💜 Beta: the one and only @beerok23

1811. Returned to London after the death of his father, infamous rake Anthony ‘Crowley’, Duke of Morningstar, has three months to restore his tattered reputation and secure himself a proper match, on pain of having his title stripped from him. Enter the irreproachable Lord Aziraphale, newly minted Viscount Eastgate, who would very much like to discourage his many suitors from lining outside his door in Mayfair so he can go back to enjoying his peaceful existence on the shelf. After a chance meeting at a gentlemen’s club, it appears the two may lend each other a helping hand after all. While a fake engagement will not solve their problems once and for all, it should buy them enough time to put their respective affairs in order. If only the ultimate goal of their Arrangement would remain as clear and unchanging as it should…

🪞Read it here on AO3 🪞

🪶Or Start From The Beginning 🪶

Excerpt from Chapter 2 - “The Arrangement”:

One thing was for certain, if Crowley’s goal was to attract the attention of the poor dears still stuck in the marriage mart, his sinfully languid pose was surely doing the job for him. Come to think of it, was it not odd that the duke had resorted to their ridiculous ruse to make himself more palatable a match instead of using his dubious charms to have a proper lady or lord fall at his feet? Aziraphale did find such charms rather silly and overrated, but if the way Muriel had reacted to his presence was anything to go by, Crowley could have easily slithered his way into the waiting arms of whomever he set his sights on. Was there a chance he was not such a stranger to noble sentiments after all? Sensing the dangerous turn of his own thoughts, and at the same time rather powerless to stop himself, Aziraphale grabbed a piece of fine Italian cheese and asked, “So, what sort of match are you looking for?” The question shocked the duke enough to sit up and finally remove his top hat. “Wot?” “You said you came back to London to find yourself a spouse.” His hair is the loveliest shade of red, Aziraphale thought a propos of nothing, regretting not choosing a spot under the sun for their picnic. He would not have minded to see what colour it would turn under its rays as he remembered it being quite stunning from their first meeting at the apple tree. “Have you set your sights on someone specific?” Crowley made a face as he took off his gloves, which tragically resulted in Aziraphale peering at his long, elegant fingers and remembering how they had felt wrapped around his. “Not as such.” Not even that garish serpent ring with tiny ruby eyes could detract from them. “Why, do you have any recommendations?” “I cannot say that I have.” “Is there a reason you’re not married already?” “The same reason most people remain unmarried. No one has ever asked me.” Crowley tilted his head to the side, which Aziraphale supposed was one way to call out his lie. “Not for lack of trying.” Well, he did have a point. “No one I am interested in marrying has ever asked me,” he amended. “Not a soul in your hordes of suitors?” Aziraphale tutted. “I have standards.”

Meet the participants of the IPB!

Every day we're introducing a different membersof the IPB community alongside links to their stories and artwork. Today we have @anxietydrivenwriter2

and they've picked Marked In Ink as their fic to share!

It has been since the very beginning.

NG (fuck NG) thought of a book plot where a demon finds himself in The Omen movie. But he screws up the baby switch. And the Antichrist grew up as a character in a Richmal Crompton novel. He didn't know what to do with it next. TP offered to buy the story. He changed the demon into a demon and an angel defying their bosses on the earth they both loved. He added his smart whimsy and gave the story a moral core far beyond a silly spoof. When the story was written, queer kids saw themselves in the angel and demon based on the subtext. Because they lived in subtext. Gender fluid and trans readers created stories about an angel and demon for whom gender was a choice depending on how or whether they decided to make an effort. The strangeness of fitting into a planet dominated by beings the angel and demon differed from spoke to neurodivergent readers.

Religious readers found healing after years of struggling to make sense of doctrine divorced from morality. Some ace and aro readers saw the deep and meaningful relationship beyond romance between a pair together over 6000 years. And tons of horny people from all walks of life poured their hearts into smut that made the most of beings whose bodies allowed for a range of sexual practice that would never be realistic for humans.

🪶 A GO Regency AU - Rated E - for @addledmongoose via @fandomtrumpshate

🪞 Chapter 1 of 11 - “The Angel” (7.6k)

🎩 Completely written (around 80k in total) | Updates every Wednesday | Fake/Pretend Relationship | There Was Only One Bed

💜 Beta: the one and only @beerok23

1811. Returned to London after the death of his father, infamous rake Anthony ‘Crowley’, Duke of Morningstar, has three months to restore his tattered reputation and secure himself a proper match, on pain of having his title stripped from him. Enter the irreproachable Lord Aziraphale, newly minted Viscount Eastgate, who would very much like to discourage his many suitors from lining outside his door in Mayfair so he can go back to enjoying his peaceful existence on the shelf. After a chance meeting at a gentlemen’s club, it appears the two may lend each other a helping hand after all. While a fake engagement will not solve their problems once and for all, it should buy them enough time to put their respective affairs in order. If only the ultimate goal of their Arrangement would remain as clear and unchanging as it should…

🪶Read it here on AO3 🪶

Excerpt from Chapter 1 - “The Angel”:

Stormy grey eyes widened in surprise and then slowly roamed all over Crowley’s face, moving even further south, along his waistcoat, his pantaloons, down to the blood red tassels of his Hessian boots. Now, in polite company, such attention could only be described as rude. However, Crowley prided himself on being as far from polite company as one possibly could be and it was clear, at least judging by the unfocused intensity of the man’s expression, that he hadn’t quite realised what he was doing. Besides, Crowley liked to be ogled. Thrived on it. There was no other reason for wearing pantaloons that tight. In his experience, the more he could get people to concentrate on his appearance, the more successful his deceptions. So he grinned and folded himself on the chair with the snake-like gracefulness he’d cultivated over the years. “Am I more or less interesting than your book?” The angel frowned and drew back, cheeks pinkening and eyes blinking in sudden awareness. “Why, I never–” Crowley smirked and popped a roasted potato in his mouth. “Don’t answer,” he said, mouth full. “That was terribly forward of me. Rude, even.” A wrinkle appeared between the angel’s eyebrows, something akin to recognition not so slowly dawning on him as he straightened his back. “According to what I have heard about you, I should not expect anything less.” “Oh, my fame precedes me, then.” He speared another potato as obnoxiously as he could. “I am afraid it does, Your Grace,” the angel said, lips almost comically pursed in disapproval. “What are you doing at Angel’s?” “Same thing you are, I wager.” “Somehow I doubt it.”

But he could still convince himself that eating at London’s best restaurants every day is not only harmless, but actually Important to his job of blending in with and inspiring humanity. But then there was Crowley….

And on some level he always knew that being with Crowley and loving Crowley were the things that made him the happiest, but he also ‘knew’ that this was wrong, bad, evil. Crowley is supposedly his ‘hereditary enemy’ and Ontologically Evil. But as always, Aziraphale can’t keep himself away from temptation and joy, but it’s just that sense of guilt manifests as the self-righteous moralizing and the emotional distance he still put between them.

And then he finally got the reaffirmation that the supposedly ‘selfish’ and ‘unheavenly’ things he wanted, Crowley and also all of the earthly delights of the world and avoiding the War, were actually the real Good Things all along. And now he can live with Crowley in a… not exactly the Happily Ever After they 100% wanted deep down, but definitely the happiest and closest mutual co-existence they ever had.

There was still tensions, Aziraphale’s desire to do good still sometimes clashes with Crowley, the end of the world was coming up again and neither of them had a good idea for stopping it, and while Aziraphale’s indulgent selfishness is not as inherently bad as he always believed it was, it did have a dark side that was making him take Crowley for granted and ‘take’ too much in their relationship. But… it didn’t seem like anything they couldn’t resolve between each other eventually.

… Until the Metatron comes in with the temptation of a lifetime, what if instead of unlearning your shame and your indoctrination and needing to balance the Greater Good with your desire to be with Crowley Happily Ever After, you really could just have it all? What if you could make Crowley the Thing You’re Not Ashamed of Loving and the two of you could fix Heaven and save the world together? Maybe even make the world a Better Place? But by taking that bait, he just hurt Crowley and drove him away from him. But he still chose Heaven, over his actual happiness with Crowley, because he convinced himself that was actually the good, selfless thing to do.

He sacrificed everything that actually made him happy, again.

I think Aziraphale's GO1 Storyline makes for a perfect narrative all on his own. Unlearning guilt and embracing 'selfishness' only to realize your supposed selfish desires are aren't only okay, but are actually way more Good than the thing you were trying to 'selflessly' sacrifice for in the first place, is a very good throughline for this story about satirizing Christianity and embracing moral grayness and Queer Love.

But since GO2 really tried to make a Thing about the idea the amount of self-sacrifice in the relationship was unbalanced... I really wish Aziraphale’s arc could conclude with him being able to lean balance, some actual shades of gray, between the importance and beauty of his ‘selfish’ love for Crowley and also not expecting him to be the one who sacrifices everything in the relationship. Instead, by the time he finally embraces the fact that nothing makes happier than simply being with Crowley and learns to not take him for granted and actually give him something to show his love… apparently the one thing Crowley wanted, the actual ‘Greater Good’, not only requires them to not be together, but for neither of them to even exist.

Nonny, if you aren't picky you can simply sort on ao3 by word count. Here you go: completed English language Aziraphale/Crowley fics longest first on ao3. We also have a plentiful #long fic tag.

Here are some more recent long fics that won't already be on our tag...

writing on the pages of eden by Blue_Rose_1066, Ineffable-Shadow (E)

Crowley religiously listens to Guardian_of_Eden's sensual podfics while teasing the bookseller Aziraphale every day. What he doesn't know is that Aziraphale is Guardian_of_Eden... and that he's addicted to Snake_of_Eden's fanfics - Crowley's own pseudonym. Between passionate comments, hours of discussion, and mutual help, they become inseparable online. When Aziraphale illustrates Snake's fanfics and they get invited to the London Comic Con together, the long-awaited meeting approaches... and with it, the explosive revelation of their secret identities.

Do You Believe In Love Afterlife? by Letha (E)

Aziraphale comes into some money and decides to buy himself a bookshop to run. Unfortunately, it’s not long before he realises it’s haunted. Will the occult be the answer to his lonely heart’s need? (Think Just Like Heaven meets The Exorcist — ghost romcom with some extra spookies, you get the gist!)

No Nightingales at Whickber University by KC_Bonneville (T)

Crowley is a history professor at Whickber University, where the curious new literature professor, Dr. Aziraphale Fell, begins to instruct in the classroom across from him. However, when the two of them strike a wager to see whose teaching style is most effective, things become a bit more interesting between the two. Luckily, the mischievous students that share both classes, Adam, Brian, Pepper and Wensleydale, are scheming ways to bring the two together. Will the reclusive Dr. Crowley and optimistic Dr. Fell keep to themselves? Or with the help of their quirky coworkers and nosy students, will the two ineffable idiots find a common ground to allow something new to grow and flourish? Or, a story in which KC saw a tumblr post about a 'professor brickwall' and a 'professor overshare', and succumbed to the Good Omens brain worms.

Into the Wild by GlitteringPeanut42 (E)

London based Professor Aziraphale Fell is about to embark on a twelve week field expedition to take the final step in his current research project. This time, he will be joined by Anthony Crowley, a sought after wildlife cinematographer, so they can turn his research into what will hopefully be an award winning documentary.

It would be also so thematically funny if Aziraphale and Crowley ended up rewriting the universe into existence from the empty books in the bookshop.

Both beings who have been avoiding their job very successfully for thousands of years now having to fill every report about every little thing, and doing it with some semblance of gusto because the work finally means something.

That would give us:

1. The world being, as has always been , equally good and equally evil because it is written by an angel and a demon together.

2. The correct and accurate idea that books hold all the knowledge in the universe. Aren't there some occultist theories about infinite libraries?

3. The bookshop becomes the 'new book of life', the center of the universe, which would make every time they defended the bookshop with their lives even more meaningful.

4. This world is imperfect and messy but magical nonetheless as it is created from love. The things they know, the universe, the prophecies, action movies, bebop. All of it is now part of the personal collection of Mr. Fell & Associate.

5. Would make their work observing and understanding humanity for 6000 years absolutely crucial in retrospective. That they decided to enjoy the earthly delights would also be crucial for the world to come, a world were things are enjoyable.

6. They could make choices about what to do with heaven and hell. To what extent they are included and how, or if they retire the concept. Would even make sense if some thing just existed as a response to other things existing in a completely different book, everything is connected. It is ineffable after all.

7. They wouldn't even claim authorship, they are just recounting facts and Humans basically created themselves by they cancelling each other out for millenia.

... Make it all a montage or miracle ish in nature for the sake of sceeentime, with them doing it outside of time itself if necessary. To keep the music diegetic, we can have the old gramophone play 'I was made to love you' by Queen, a song that reflects their sentiments for the world and Vaboom!

And! I have the perfect ending:

You know how they ought to keep it safe? but also how much they would like to retire after all of that? Enters the snowglobe: As Angels and Demons are not restricted to the laws of physics such as size and matter, nor does the Bookshop now . They can't leave it lying around to be burned at a whim tho, London itself has burnt a couple of times, so it is miracled into a snowglobe to keep it safe and at hand on a shelf on a cottage in the British countryside.

Keep it visible but hidden.

(and how beautiful would the prop and promotional item be. Share the bookshop, share the world.)

Would it have been so hard to give us something like this? Give them this one, small moment to express their love for each other?

Don’t get me wrong, I kind of grew fond of the hand kiss gesture. But in the Bookshop Garden, when they had privacy - probably for the first time ever - I really grieve a heartfelt conversation; about the things they did wrong, about their affection, about their options. About the reasons why they decided to choose humanity over their own happiness *sigh*