[Team 1] A Nice and Accurate History Book

[green-eggs101.livejournal.com]

~1150 words of g-rated Aziraphale/Crowley from Good Omens. The ineffable husbands friends bring a little treat to the Them while also takeing maybe a small step towards the husbands part of their ship name.

“What do you think I was doing with all those popsicles?” Crowley asked, sticking the opened strawberry lolly in his mouth.

Aziraphale shrugged, “Something troublesome I’m sure. Sell them for twice the amount you paid and then pawn the used sticks onto some unscrupulous construction workers.”

The look Crowley gave him made heat rise to his cheeks.

“Popscicle stick construction workers? Really?”

“Well, demonic thoughts are your job,” Aziraphale reasoned. “Of course mine are rather—”

“Cartoonish,” Crowley finished, biting his lolly and slurping up some of the juice starting to trip down his hand. Aziraphale quickly averted his gaze, the blush on his cheeks now there for a different reason.

“In fact,” Crowley continued, “I’m pretty sure that whole plan is from an actual cartoon.”

“Possibly,” Aziraphale admitted. Probably the one Crowley made them watch last week. With no actual work to do they were taking their time going through an entire backlog of the ‘best and worst’ of humanity in terms of entertainment. Crowley insisted that for every book Aziraphale read aloud to him, they would watch two movies. It was a rather good system even if Crowley had a habit of falling asleep to books he didn’t particularly care for.

Not that Aziraphale would ever admit to tuning out some of the movies.

“So,” Aziraphale asked again, watching as Crowley finished off his own popsicle. “What are you doing with all those popsicles.”

“Thought the kids would like them.”

“The— oh you mean Adam and his gang?”

“Yep.”

A grin overcame Aziraphale’s features. “Oh, dear, that’s positively ni—”

Crowley stopped in his tracks, turning to Aziraphale with an eyebrow raised.

Aziraphale rethought his next word. “ — undemonic of you.”

Crowley’s mouth turned into one of those slow smirks. “Don’t know what you’re talking about angel. A popsicle worth of sugar at this time of night? They’ll be up for hours and then have school the next morning! The perfect temptation.”

Wisely, Aziraphale didn’t point out that the lollies didn’t have that much sugar. Crowley looked extremely proud of himself of thinking of someway to ‘demonfy’ his truely nice gesture, Aziraphale didn’t want to ruin his mood.

They reached the place in the forest where Adam and his gang were still hanging out in the final twilight hours. Dog relaxed nearby, though he did give a small woof of warning as Crowley and Aziraphale walked up. The Angel was never quite sure if Dog had retained any of his hellhound characteristics and Crowley never said otherwise, though he did give pause at Dog’s steady look.

“Just here for lolly delivery,” Aziraphale said, motioning to Crowley’s bag. Even in the cool autumn air, the popsicles shoul dhave long melted, but because Crowley didn’t expect them to, they remained frozen and perfect.

“Oh!” Adam grinned, motioning for Dog to stand down. Obediently Dog curled up and readied himself for a nap. “Perfect, I’ve been craving lollies all day.”

“I hope there’s lime flavored.” Pepper said as turned to grab at the bag. Brian and Wensleydale joined her while Adam held back just long enough for everyone to exclaim what flavor they wanted.

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow at Crowley and the demon shrugged as he held the bag out. Immediately the kids rushed over, pulling out their own lollies. Though Aziraphale could have swron there were only four extra lollies in the bag, he was surprised when there was still two left over Crowley reached into the bag and pulled out the last lolly for himself and, surprisingly, an ice cream cone for Aziraphale.

“Oh look at that, forgot I put that in there,” Crowley said, passing it over.

“Wiley serpent,” Aziraphale huffed, but took the ice cream eagerly.

“So what brought you guys all the way out to Tadfield?” Adam asked, taking a lick of his own lolly. His nose scrunched in dislike. Between one blink and the next, the lolly’s color changed, from the bright red of a strawberry to the slightly pinker hue of watermelon. Aziraphale found he couldn’t quite remember, but he was pretty sure the box Crowley had purchased had been entirely strawberry flavored. Looking over, Aziraphale found that the rest of Them also had a flavor of lolly other than strawberry.

Aziraphale shared another eyebrow raise with Crowley before answering Adam’s question. “Well, I asked Miss Anathema if I could take another look at that wonderful book of her ancestors. The one of prophecies.”

“If all the prophecies in a book come to pass,” Pepper wondered aloud. “Is it still a book of prophecies… or is it just a history book?”

Adam nodded in agreement. “Bit silly to continue calling it a book of prophecies.”

Aziraphale opened his mouth to explain obvious and important difference between the two, but was quieted by Crowley’s hand on his arm and his even softer chuckles.

“Let them be,” the demon murmured, “They can handle one of your literature lectures in like… ten years or so.”

Aziraphale deflated, but aquiesed. Quietly, he was just glad that the Them, as well as the rest of the world, would have ten— twenty, thirty, maybe thousands— more years. They came close to not having a next week, much less a next year.

“What’d you come up here early then?” Adam pushed. “Bit late for book reading?”

“Oh well, you know—” Crowley shrugged. “Figured we’d get away from the city for a bit. Maybe have a picnic.”

That caught the angel’s attention and he turned to Crowley. “A picnic? Really?”

Even hidden behind his dark glasses, Crowley seemed to avoid Aziraphale’s eyes. “Well. yah. Maybe. If you want.”

“I think it sounds wonderful, dear boy.”

“Ugh,” Brian groaned, “You guys sound grosser than my parents when they’re being all— in love and stuff.”

“You mean when they’re not having a row?” Wensleydale clarified.

“Yeah. you know. The other half of the time.”

Aziraphale blocked out the rest of the discussion between the Them, and carefully avoided Crowley’s gaze. Do he and Crowley really sound like an old married couple? He’s pretty sure they don’t mean to but—

“Problem, angel?” Crowley asked quietly, reaching out and gently brushing a hand against Aziraphale’s.”

Taking a deep, encouraging breath, Aziraphale reached out and took Crowley’s cool but comforting hand. “No, dear. I suppose not.”

Again, Crowley’s mouth curled into one of his smirks that was almost a true smile as he raised their joined hands to place a kiss on the back of Aziraphale’s hand.

Aziraphale giggled quietly, his heart beating faster than Crowley’s driving. “Well, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t find this outcome in any book of prophecy.”

(Of course, if Anathema had kept Agnes’s second book of prophecies intact, they would have found on page 71, prophecy 1320, that Agnes had, indeed, foreseen this, down to the detail with a kiss on the back of the Angel’s hand along with a line that may have been best paraphrased as “they lived happily ever after.” And the book of prophecies was never wrong.)

Next up is knittenkitten. your line is "And the book of prophecies was never wrong."