#doomed_spectacles

Ok, getting back to the story, where were we? Oh right, the demon Crowley was in his car on the way to the Bookshop (capitalized because there are a lot of bookshops in the world, but only one Bookshop. Important enough to deserve the capitalization). He had been planning a surprise for his Angel since the Not-Apocalypse as a way to celebrate, well, everything. Not dying, surviving an apocalypse, paying a surprising small price for having lost the Antichrist and completely screwed up the one job they had, humans being their most human selves, and the World. The World included not just the present physical planet with 7 billion humans and several more trillion animals and other living organisms. The World was the philosophical, and if you asked a certain Angel, the spiritual concept of a place filled with hope and goodness, alongside evil and greed and lust and all the other deadly Sins. It was a place that created wonderful artists, a place filled to the brim with people who if they were called on to help, would help a stranger just because they were in a position to. Humans were created in Her image, but in Crowley’s opinion, they excelled even Her expectations when they chose to be kind. It wasn’t always, hell could attest to the amount of humans who were depraved and evil, and those who just made their short lives even harder for their fellow men. But when it truly counted, humans could also be capable of the most astonishing acts of kindness.

So yes, these were things all worth celebrating. Grated celebrating them closer to the date would probably have been more appropriate, but it hadn’t occurred to the demon at that point. But tonight was December 31, and the humans were gearing up to celebrate the start of a new year, and a new decade. He had been inspired by all the different lists and podcasts, and other various decorations that had been popping around London in preparation for the event. Well, that isn’t fully accurate, but it works for the story.

All of that had resulted in him working to make a special event for this angel so they could usher in this new year in a special way alongside their humans. As 6000 year old creatures, time ran differently for them, and neither put much value in celebrating these measly transitions in time that the humans insisted were important. Also hard to take the new year celebrations so seriously when you have lived through so many different calendar systems, including pre-Gregorian calendars.

He pulled into his spot in front of the shop , hitting the brakes a little to late and nearly driving over the curb and hitting the pedestrian on the crosswalk who shouted at him and gave him the middle finger. Crowley waved him away and snapped his fingers to make sure the Bently was parked correctly before exiting the vehicle. The shop’s door showed a ‘Closed’ sign as always, but that sign never applied to him. He snapped his fingers and walked through the newly opened doors, calling out to his Angel.

“Aziraphale! Where are you?”

“Just a second my dear, I will be right out!” came a muffled reply from upstairs on the second floor.

Shrugging, Crowley sauntered on to his normal sofa and sank down on the seat, spreading his legs and lounging comfortably. He was trying to subtly take deep breaths so he didn’t give himself away too quickly to the angel. If he ruined the surprise now, he would never forgive himself.

“Ahh Crowley, there you are. How are you doing?” Aziraphale asked as he rounded the corner and made his way to the loveseat opposite the demon.

“Ehh, same as always. Listen, do you have any plans for today?”

“Today? I don’t think so, why?”

“Well today is New Year’s eve.”

“Oh! Oh look at that, it is! I had noticed the decorations going up but completely missed the date! Oh how wonderful Crowley.”

“Yes, yes it is great and everything, but look, well…” And then Crowley got stuck. See he had this whole plan in his head about how he was going to be so smooth, how he was going to sweet talk the angel into coming with him on a drive to the countryside, how they were going to have that picnic that Aziraphale had proposed all those years ago. But now, when the time came to actually get the words out, he felt them stop and choke him. There were so many things that could go wrong. What had he been thinking? What if the angel said no? Just because they were good friends and spending so much time together did not necessarily mean the Angel would just go along with all his schemes. What if he thought it was a scheme? And that Crowley was trying to get something from him? Oh Go- Sat- Someone, what if Aziraphale thought Crowley was crazy for doing this?

He was brought out of his panic spiral at a soft touch to his forearm. He blinked a couple times and startled to see that the Angel had moved to hover nervously over him. “Crowley?” Aziraphale asked, and his tone suggested this was not the first time he had called out to him.

“I um-”

“Dear what happened? You were saying something and you froze…”

“I…” Damn it, he hadn’t even gotten the question out and he had already ruined the evening!

“You?”

Crowley wanted to yell, or bite his tongue, or at least give his head a good slam against the wall. He was an idiot. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Just ask the angel the question. And if the worst case scenario happens, well then, go home and lick his wounds. And possibly sleep through the next week, or month maybe. He hadn’t had a proper long nap in years.

“IwasthinkingwecouldgoforadriveoutofLondontoescapeallthehumanssinceIknowyouaren’tthebiggestfanofalltherackettheymakeatmidnight.” Was what ended up spilling out his mouth in a single exhale. Fucking hell, he wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole already.

“What?” Aziraphale asked as his face shifted from worry to confusion, and he backed away to stand straight. Crowley instantly missed the delicious warmth of the angel from the point of contact that he hadn’t even noticed until it was missing.

Taking a deep breath, Crowley tried again. “I said, I was thinking we could go for a drive out of London to escape all the humans since I know you aren’t the biggest fan of all the racket they make at midnight. The countryside will be a lot quieter since there will be less people, and if we leave now, we might even get out of London before sunset.”

“Oh!” Aziraphale exclaimed before looking around as if considering his decision. He only looked away for a few seconds before a satisfied smile settled on his lips, making Crowley’s heart thunder. “You know what, I think that is an absolutely splendid idea. Give me 10 minutes to get ready alright.”

The thundering was so loud, Crowley could barely hear him. “Whatever you need ‘Ziraphale.”

Go-Sat-Someone help him, a smile should not be able to be so bright, Crowley thought.

His hands had started to shake again, and he used the time to take deep breaths and get his nerves under control again. Ok, everything was going well. The angel didn’t hate him, and he was even looking forward to this. Part 1 of the plan was a success. On to Part 2.

As promised, Aziraphale was ready to leave in 10 minutes, and the angel and demon exited the Bookshop and entered the Bentley. As soon as they started driving away from the shop, the car’s radio crackled to life and Queen started to blare through the speakers. Crowley turned it down a couple notches so that they could still talk, and zig-zagged his way through London’s traffic, using a minor miracle to get out of the city.

His hands tightened on the wheel and he accelerated even more when they got to the M25, memories of the ring of fire, and subsequent drive still relatively fresh on his mind. As such, they were out of the city fast enough, and they sped through the English countryside in peaceful quiet. It was a quiet neither was particularly used to, and cherished all the more for it. Quiet moments were usually always filled with anticipation or tension, fear of being caught saying something they weren’t supposed to or getting caught exchanging glances that might reveal too much. So peaceful quiets were actually a relatively new occurrence between the two, silences where they were allowed to just bask in the comfort of their companion and enjoy living life not looking over both their shoulders.

At one point, Aziraphale cranked the window on his side down a bit, letting the faintest of breezes flow through the car, and they would almost swear they could smell the earth preparing itself for a new year, it was so full of promise for a new beginning. He leaned against his door, allowing himself to drop his usually rigid posture, and enjoyed the view as their chosen country zoomed past him. Glancing to his right quickly, he ducked his head as a desire suddenly overtook him, making his blush.

“Everything alright angel?” Crowley murmured, not wanting to break the delicate quiet.

“Um yes, everything is perfect my dear.” Aziraphale said hurriedly, not wanting to get caught.

The demon hummed but it was with a note of disbelief.

Biting his lip, Aziraphale looked to the sky before deciding to make a brave choice himself, and he reached out to tentatively set his hand on top of the demon’s hand on the gear stick. He heard rather than saw the sharp gasp from the demon, and felt the hand below his twitch for a second. Afraid he had a made a mistake, he moved to take his hand away, but was quickly stopped when said hand gripped his wrist. He turned to look at Crowley, but he was still looking at the road, and anyways his eyes were hidden beneath his sunglasses, making it impossible to tell what was going on in those beautifully expressive eyes of his.

Without saying anything, Crowley twisted his hand to twist his fingers through Aziraphale’s and settled their joined hands over the gear stick. His face twitched slightly but he gave nothing away as he kept looking forward but Aziraphale would swear the demon’s face and ears were slightly redder than before.

Aziraphale’s own lips twitched into a satisfied smile, and he leaned back in his seat to keep looking at the view, heart beating happily as he fought to not smile like a maniac.

They had been driving for nearly two hours when Crowley finally pulled up his car in the middle of seemingly nowhere. He didn’t say anything as he parked the car, but they both stifled a small noise when he had to untangle their joined hands to get out of the car. Aziraphale followed him out, and saw that they were in a hilly area, and the closest sign of humans was a small cottage building barely visible from where he stood.

“Where are we exactly Crowley?” The angel asked, more out of curiosity than because it really mattered. Anywhere that had the demon in it was a good place as far as he was concerned. Even crowded London.

“It’s a surprise angel. Come on, we need to hike a little bit.” Crowley said as he came around to his side, a basket in his hands that was not there previously. Aziraphale raised an eyebrow at him, but Crowley just shrugged helplessly at him. Aziraphale settled for his normal smile and nodded his head once, gesturing for the demon to lead the way. The demon started walking ahead before slowing down, and glancing at his hands hesitatingly.

“Crowley?” Aziraphale asked as he stood close enough to brush shoulders with him. The demon took a fortifying breath, and blushed fiercely as Aziraphale felt fingers coming to entwine with his. A glimpse downward made the angel’s breath hitch as he saw they were holding hands, and that happy feeling from before returned 10 times stronger than before. Despite the cold air, the gesture made Aziraphale feel warmed from the inside out. He smiled widely as Crowley, and felt it widen even more as he saw the demon blush even redder, face twisted in embarrassment. He decided not to say anything, best not to tease the already embarrassed demon. He gave their hands a squeeze, and could make out the demon’s shoulders tensing slightly before relaxing completely.

Coughing slightly, the demon started to walk, and led the angel up a couple of hills till they made it to the peak of what was probably the tallest hill in their radius. Aziraphale’s eyes widened as he took in the view. It was sunset, and the sky was painted in the most wonderful colors. The air was crisp at this height, and so far from human civilization, it felt like they had been thrown back through the ages to a time before the humans had conquered the world.

“Oh Crowley, how precious…” he mumbled as he moved forward to look around.

“I thought you might like it…” Crowley mumbled back as he shifted his weight from one leg to another. He removed his hand from Aziraphale’s and when the angel turned to look at him, saw him walking slightly away to place the basket on the ground. From it, he pulled out a red and black chequered blanket that he spread out on the grass. He reached back into the basket and started pulling out all types of foods, those vegetable sandwiches from the shop near Mayfair, mince meat pies that smelled exactly like those they had shared at a gala a couple centuries ago, a plate of apple slices, cake from his favorite bakery, a bread basket, champagne, red wine, white wine.

As the realization of what was happening settled, Aziraphale felt some tears prick his eyes, and turned quickly to discreetly wipe them with his handkerchief. It wouldn’t do for Crowley to catch him weeping and think he had done something wrong. As if he could. Oh how long had the angel loved this demon in ways he should never have been able to. Yes the night of the church bombing had made the feelings impossible to deny to himself any longer, but he had loved the demon a lot longer than he suspected even he knew.

And how could he not. Loving Crowley was a constant in his life for so long now, he could hardly remember a time before he did when he looked back at the past. His kind, gentle demon, who was so good with children, and wanted to save and help and save as many as he could despite being a demon. The one who never denied him anything, who gave him anything he wanted, who fulfilled any request he made. Just like now. A picnic.

“Aziraphale?” Crowley asked, and the angel blinked quickly to clear up his eyes and turned to look at him. The demon was standing next to the blanket, looking like an impossible mix of trying not to care and an anxious mess, sunglasses off so he could see those golden eyes he loved so. “You said we should have a picnic. I know it took about 5 or 6 decades, but would you please join me for one now?”

Aziraphale felt tears flood his eyes again, and burst out laughing as Crowley’s eyes widened in panic. The demon flailed briefly before coming right beside him. “No no angel, we don’t have to if you don’t want to, I am sorry this was a stupid idea, I can drive you back to London if you want-”

Aziraphale shut the demon’s rant but pulling him to his chest, taking the demon in his arms as he had longed to for so long. The demon inhaled sharply and stood stiffly in his arms for a good while before slowly, tentatively bringing his own arms to encircle the angel. When he saw no rebuke, he tighten his arms. The two held on tightly to each other, a silent confession of a love 6000 years in the making. By the time Aziraphale shifted enough to loosen his hold, the sun had set and the moon was casting a low glow over the whole area.

Feeling just a bit like a bastard, he held out his fingers and pulled them down. “Let there be light!”

“Argh, Angel!” Crowley growled at the sudden increase in brightness.

But Aziraphale was smiling his most innocent smile, the utter bastard, damn Crowley loved him so much.

“If we are to have all that delicious food my dear, we should be able to see it.”

“I know there aren’t that many humans around but that doesn’t mean they can’t pop up, and I for one have no desire to miracle away memories of the poor wanker that stumbles on us.”

“Well what do you propose then?” Aziraphale asked, eyebrow arched.

Crowley turned and walked back to the blanket in lieu of a reply and pulled out some candles which he proceeded to light and set around the blanket, but far enough away they wouldn’t accidentally set anything on fire. When he was done, he nodded at Aziraphale’s light. The angel conceded and snapped his fingers, casting them in a romantic glow of just the candles. The stars above them seemed to twinkle brighter, and the moonlight seemed softer.

The angel moved to sit next to Crowley, crossing his legs underneath him as he looked over at the feast his demon had prepared.

“How long did you take to plan all this my dear?” Aziraphale asked softly.

Crowley ran a hand through his hand as he murmured an inaudible answer. The angel chuckled softly and placed a warm palm over the demon’s closest thigh, and moved to press a soft kiss to his cheek. Crowley whipped his head to quickly the angel was concerned he gave himself whiplash. But the new position meant the two were sharing their breath, closer than they had ever been in life. When Crowley’s eyes darted down to his mouth, Aziraphale decided to be brave again, and moved to press his lips lightly to the demon’s. The demon gave another sharp gasp before moving one of his hands to cup Aziraphale’s cheek, deepening the kiss just so.

When they parted, they just looked at each other, love reflected to freely in both their eyes, hearts beating in sync as they felt the world tilt into a softer perspective.

“Thank you dearheart.” Aziraphale whispered, straightening his spine just slightly to rest his forehead on Crowley’s.

“Anything for you Angel. Always.” Crowley whispered back.

Aziraphale was the first to move, shifting to sit back down again, and pulled one of the plates to his lap. “This all looks delicious Crowley.”

The demon shrugged, trying to appear careless again, not that the angel didn’t see through it completely.

The two of them made their way through the feast, pace unhurried, they had the rest of eternity to look forward to and it looked more wonderful than it ever had. And as they kept sitting on that hill, the felt the stars start to almost twinkle brighter, and they shared another kiss when the first firework lit up the peaceful night sky.

It truly was the beginning of a new era.