"He gets confused between seven and eight when he counts to ten." Seemed like valid information to add there. Adam looked so happy about the stupid library card, Crowley couldn't even mind that he'd dragged him in here with his antics, even if it led to him mortifying a librarian. "You'll be a proper bookworm, getting bookmarks and what not. Gonna show me up soon."
Odds were. With the way things were going, he wasn't going to manage to scrape by his own GCSEs until after Adam graduated. Probably best to simply retire that idea now. "Hey, since we've been keeping you here this long, do you want us to drop you off anywhere? It's pissing down out there and my car's right outside."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly trouble you with such things! I live about 20 minutes from here. It takes at most 30 minutes if the bus is late. It's honestly fine." Aziraphale didn't know if he could handle getting into a car and embarrassing himself any further with this very sexy man that knew he was gay. And now he knew that Aziraphale was - that thing - and Aziraphale knew that he knew, the pressure was on to not be the gayest thing in the whole damn world for five seconds! "I don't want to make you go all that gay."
...
No. No. That did not just happen. No. Oh no. This was mortifying. This was the worst. His face fell and his eyes widened as he slowly started to realise he could not, in fact, magically take a word back. And there it was. Hanging right there. Between them. Why. Why, God?
"...Way." He cleared his throat. "I meant to say--"
"Uncle Crowley is gay." Adam helped. "It's not weird."
"Yeah, Adam, that's right. I'm here I'm queer and gay all the way." At this point, he decided to simply embrace the mess. He raised his eyebrows at Aziraphale, opening up his arms a little to beckon him to simply give in. Well. Give in and accept a ride in his car. "Come on. You even get the front seat, because Adam here rides in the back. Got his own fancy children's seat, he has."
Really blew Adam's little mind with that, because apparently every other adult in his life so far had been completely irresponsible. Big shock there. "You can't say no now. We'd be insulted."
"We really would be." Adam said as he hugged onto Crowley's leg and yawned sleepily. It had been a long day and he was very excited for bathtime, story time and then sleep.
"Oh. Oh-- dear." Well. Great. Great - more time together. More time to embarrass himself horrifically with every passing second. Fantastic. Aziraphale looked at the boy and then Crowley and then he lost his nerve and relented, nodding slowly. "Well, I don't wish to offend anyone. It will take me a few moments to turn everything off, is that okay? And I don't have my things ready." Darn, he awkwardly stumbled and nearly knocked over his own desk chair as he hurried to the back to get his bag. "I'll be ready in just a tick!"
Adam put his fingers in his mouth and listened to all the chaos in the back office as Aziraphale attempted to hurry. "He's a strange nose eater, uncle."
"Is he? That's quite the category of people to be a strange one in." Not that he personally knew a lot of nose eaters, but he felt that they were bound to be a little odd just by definition. He grabbed Adam to pick him up and set him down on the counter, getting a tissue out of his pocket and using it to clean the boy's face and fingers. How was he always sticky? it had to be an especially useless and disgusting superpower. "Don't tease the man, yeah? He's probably not used to the likes of us."
Kids and gays in leather jackets taking care of said kids.
"I like his bowtie." Adam sniffed as he let Crowley clean his face. He was a bit snotty and sticky but full of love so hey, it made up for it. Hopefully. "He should come over and play. Do you think he's as good with legos as Bill?" Probably not. No one could be. Bill was amazing.
"Okay, just need to turn off the power and we're all set." Aziraphale called out as he switched off the computer and pulled out his keys, his satchel and coat on. "Let's get a wiggle on, shall we?"
"Probably not. Bill's kind of a wiz with those legos, ain't he?" Crowley nodded his head, satisfied that Adam looked somewhat presentable. He lifted him off the counter, just in time to hear Aziraphale say that. Let's get a wiggle on? He mouthed it to himself with a bit of a smile and a shake of his head. Who said that? What even.
"Nice outfit." Dorky, but it fit him. he was a librarian, what else was he going to wear? Crowley offered his hand out to Adam and waited for Aziraphale, heading to the car. "I'm Anthony, by the way. I guess you know, you saw my ID. And also, that's nonsense. No one ever calls me that." Why had he even said it? Must be something about how proper the guy looked, made him go weird too. "I'm Crowley. That's what people call me."
"It's nice to meet you, Crowley. And young Adam, I believe it was. You're both quite delightful." Aziraphale praised as he made sure both the boy and his father were in the lobby before he shut off all the lights. Adam tightened his grip on Crowley, he was quite scared of the dark and it was scary when all the lights turned off. Even with uncle there.
As they shuffled out, Aziraphale locked up and the rain was really coming down. The bus stop was five minutes from here, there was no way Aziraphale wouldn't have been drenched on his way. Honestly, this was the better option, even if Aziraphale was a little anxious about it all.
"I'm Aziraphale. I know, I know. It's a mouthful." Aziraphale clarified with a sheepish smile. "It's, uh, it's an angelic name. My father had a bit of a theme." He gestured for Crowley to go ahead. "Lead the way, my dear fellow."
"A theme, yeah? The boy's father's called Lucifer, so..." He knew about themes, although it was quite entertaining to encounter someone saddled with the directly opposite theme. And, honestly, he considered himself lucky that his father had never delved deeper into demonology, or he'd have ended up with something much worse than Anthony. Crowley picked Adam up and tucked him against himself, trying to drape his coat somewhat around him. Didn't have to let the boy get more wet than necessary.
He turned to look at Aziraphale, smiling brightly. "Off we go then, angel. Car's right over there."
By now one of the few cars left in the car park. He made a run for it, then unlocked and got Adam into his seat first. By the time he'd strapped the boy in, his hair was wet, his shirt was wet, his entire being was wet. He hoped that Aziraphale might have fared better, having gone right for the passenger's seat.
Whatever. He decided to embrace it, closing the door and taking a few steps away with his arms spread out, looking up at the sky. He ran his hands up his face to get his hair combed back, pushing his glasses up momentarily to do so. Then he got in the driver's seat finally, only to immediately take off his jacket and toss it behind himself, next to Adam. At this point it was just wet leather, more squeaky than sexy. The red shirt he was wearing under the jacket was clinging to him uncomfortably and he had to take off his glasses to find something dry so he could see through them.
Oh, right, he should explain. While he found a pack of tissues and started wiping, he looked over at Aziraphale. "Don't worry about the shades, I can see with them on. Better than without. Says so on my driver's license." He doubted Aziraphale had looked that closely at it, so he explained. "It's a thing, I got bad eyes. I'm not just a total tool who wears sunglasses at night."
Of all the things he expected, he expected to get somewhat wet (and he had) and he expected for Adam to be awkward to get into the car (not so much) but he had not expected that. Whatever that was. Good lord, the clinging, the wet fabric, the definition behind the soaking shirt. It was -- it was a lot.
While Crowley explained his glasses, he couldn't even focus on whatever it was, he was just unable to look away from his beautiful eyes. The way his beautifully red hair was dripping beautiful water on his beautiful, flawless face.
"...Oh. Oh, sorry, I was staring. It-it wasn't anything bad. It's just your eyes, they're--" Enthralling. Beauty incarnate. Dazzling. "They're so golden. They're really rather nice. Like honey." He giggled awkwardly and then realised how bad that sounded and his eyes widened. Why did he say that aloud? This was not great. This was embarrassing. Aziraphale looked everywhere but Crowley. "We should, uh, we should get going. I'm sure young Adam wants to be in bed."
"No, I'm not tired." Said the sleepy boy as he rubbed his eyes.
"Yeah? I just think they look awful." Honestly. Colour of his eyes, hard to even focus on. There was all the redness around them, the itching, the tendency to be bloodshot, it was really a struggle to associate much positive with his eyes. "Adam says I've got demon eyes." Flatterer.
Crowley rather felt he was handsome enough to make up for it in other areas though, so it wasn't as if it destroyed his self-esteem too much. He put the glasses back on now, looking at Aziraphale properly again.
Who seemed a little weird, but that might just be how he was. Adam had a point. "Where are we dropping you off then, angel?" Might as well stick to that. Aziraphale was a mouthful.
Aziraphale cleared his throat and gave out his postcode, hoping he wasn't too familiar with the area. "I'm across from a big white building and -- well, you'll know it when you see it. Then you can drop me off. It's quite close by car." Aziraphale assured him, not wanting to take up too much of his time or petrol.
"What is an angel?" Adam asked innocently as he picked up his stuffed bear and started to play with it's loose eye.
"Well, it's like a spirit, in a sense. Some believe they work for God. They have wings and a funny little yellow right over their head called a halo." Aziraphale attempted to explain without accidentally forcing any religious 'truths' on anyone. "They do good deeds and help humans."
"You've seen some on the funny pictures I've got on the wall. You know, that big one with the black winged people and white winged people fighting. That's demons and angels." Bit on the nose, or so it seemed right now, but hey. He had been an edgy teen with eccentric tastes, money at his disposal for the first time of his life finally living alone. Décor had been a series of choices he made. Bold choices.
"And if you call someone an angel, it usually means they are a good person. Nice. Like Aziraphale is." That much seemed obvious. Crowley considered it while he waited at a traffic light for it to turn green. "I guess it's also a pet name. Lovers may use it."
"NO! No, no, no. No. We are -- no." Aziraphale clarified very swiftly, totally baffled as to how Adam had drawn that conclusion. "We only met about half an hour ago, remember?"
"Ariel loved the prince right away." Adam argued. "Uncle likes to date boys. You're a boy." So logically, uncle had to date Aziraphale. And any other nice man they met.
"Ah." Aziraphale had to laugh, it was quite funny. He smiled at Crowley. "He must be quite the source of conversation out in the wild, hmm? He is very... curious."
"M-hm. Yeah. He's been wanting me to marry the cashier at the supermarket, the bag boy, some horrified lad in a queue at Primark and that was just today. Doing wonders for my social life, this boy is." Which was also why he had by now reached far beyond his threshold for embarrassment. "At least this time you're trying to hook me up with someone my age who's attractive, Adam, so you are getting better. We'll fine tune the wingman act one day."
Here was hoping. "Stop scaring Aziraphale, yeah? You're making him uncomfortable."
Was the attractive thing a very elaborate joke? He also called him Adonis. Definitely 'trolling', as it were. He did not imagine anyone would ever describe him as that, let alone someone like this. Way out of his league, all hot and a bad boy. And there he was, in his tweed, with his stupid curly hair that never settle into any other kind of hairstyle. "I'm not uncomfortable, I promise. Mostly tickled." Amused and flustered in equal measure. And 100% unsure about all of this too.
Was this gay flirting or gay teasing? How did one know? "I can imagine a man like yourself, you would not have a hard time finding your own dates. I'm sure you don't need a wingman."
"I got a kid, angel. That's basically the death sentence for anyone's gay dating life." Which, evidently, Aziraphale didn't know, given he was a recluse who was in the closet. Crowley wondered whether Aziraphale knew he was gay. He had to know, didn't he? He really felt he had to know. "Anyway, not as if I've got the time. I'd just fall asleep mid sha--"
Wait. He glanced at Adam momentarily, then corrected himself. "Mid meaningful conversation."
"I'm sure there's plenty of gay men who like kids. You mustn't generalise." He liked kids and hated clubs and he was gay. Apparently. He didn't know why but he was. He had tried really, really hard but that part of him didn't want to go away. "I suppose it's just hard in general, however. Dating with children. It'll be easier when he starts going to pre-school. He's quite young still."
Three, almost four - he should start nursery school in a year. Then Crowley might have time to mingle once more. "Though I don't think I'm an expert. In what people want - dating wise. Perhaps I know nothing. More than likely, honestly."
"Seems like you don't, given your shock every time you get a compliment. Get out among the people, handsome. You've some catching up to do, I can tell." And, just then, as he looked ahead and saw that white church building pop into view, Crowley connected the dots. Oh. Ohhhh.
Damn. That explained it all. Well, he supposed he should be grateful Aziraphale hadn't tried to convert him yet. "Though, you know. Whatever works for you."
He didn't want to get into a religious debate. He really, really did not want to have to kick the nice man out for being a bigot either. And he felt bad for him, because all that repression? Suddenly made sense.
It was hard to miss the way Crowley's face changed and the tone he had taken. Aziraphale looked down sheepishly. And he really did think he was attractive? How? Why? He had no idea what to do now. "Getting out is more complicated than it should be but I--I am a man of faith in many ways. I have faith that things will work out the way they are supposed to and that the way is full of happiness and love."
Aziraphale knew that in this situation, he was obligated to clarify himself. He owed that to Crowley, Crowley didn't owe it to him.
"And all love is good love, is it not? How could love ever be a bad thing?" Aziraphale smiled at Crowley somewhat sadly and then looked out of the window to try and spot his house. "I'm the stop by the white car just ahead. That would be Gabriel's car. Oh... good." He was home. Fantastic.
"Yeah. All love is good love." Although, honestly, Crowley had some doubts there. There was a lot of toxic love out there, like whatever Bill was chasing. Like whatever kept Holden waiting for what Felix was likely never going to be able or want to commit to. Like whatever made Lucifer decide that he loved his youngest brother so much he had to stick him with his kid. Crowley was determined not to let that toxicity seep into Adam's life any more than it already had, but still. He saw toxicity here too, with a religion that trapped Aziraphale in this way, where getting out was complicated. That made him smile so sadly and hate seeing the car of whoever Gabriel was supposed to be.
Really, Crowley wasn't sure he'd come across much love that was good. Maybe that was one reserved for movies and books. "We'll be by to bring back the book."
He frowned as he looked at Aziraphale, kind of feeling awkward with the many things they had just brushed upon and not voiced. Quite a lot there. "I got no problem with people who have faith. Just. For the record."
He felt it was a bit of a shit deal to be stuck with, however. "Wouldn't help anything, would it, if the faggot's prejudiced against the-- faithful. Gotta break the cycle."
Yeah, delving too deep there. "Sorry, angel. I'm bitter, makes me bitchy. 's nice meeting you. I mean that. Ignore the rest."
"I think it's fait to be cynical, the world is difficult and people like to trivialise it. I'm just glad that Adam has such a wonderful influence in his life, I'm sure he will grow up well." The poor boy had dozed off in his car seat, clinging to his bear, mouth open. It was very cute.
Aziraphale undid his seatbelt and clutched his bag.
"Thank you for the ride, Crowley. And for the entertaining evening. It was a lot nicer than I had expected." And it was good. Good to meet him. Good to be reminded of what he wanted. Good to push himself. To allow himself to feel the guilt and shame. Maybe he could channel it. "I will see you next week for the book."
He smiled and then gently slid himself out of the car, not wanting to wake Adam.
"Get a wiggle on," Crowley said to Aziraphale, after Aziraphale had already closed the car door and walked off. He watched the man, mostly because he was still in thought. And partially just because. "Nice bum."
That was said to no one in particular, just a necessary observation. Then he sighed, glanced back at Adam, decided against putting music on and started driving down the road.
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thearrangement2023-04-13 06:20 pm
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Odds were. With the way things were going, he wasn't going to manage to scrape by his own GCSEs until after Adam graduated. Probably best to simply retire that idea now. "Hey, since we've been keeping you here this long, do you want us to drop you off anywhere? It's pissing down out there and my car's right outside."
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...
No. No. That did not just happen. No. Oh no. This was mortifying. This was the worst. His face fell and his eyes widened as he slowly started to realise he could not, in fact, magically take a word back. And there it was. Hanging right there. Between them. Why. Why, God?
"...Way." He cleared his throat. "I meant to say--"
"Uncle Crowley is gay." Adam helped. "It's not weird."
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Really blew Adam's little mind with that, because apparently every other adult in his life so far had been completely irresponsible. Big shock there. "You can't say no now. We'd be insulted."
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"Oh. Oh-- dear." Well. Great. Great - more time together. More time to embarrass himself horrifically with every passing second. Fantastic. Aziraphale looked at the boy and then Crowley and then he lost his nerve and relented, nodding slowly. "Well, I don't wish to offend anyone. It will take me a few moments to turn everything off, is that okay? And I don't have my things ready." Darn, he awkwardly stumbled and nearly knocked over his own desk chair as he hurried to the back to get his bag. "I'll be ready in just a tick!"
Adam put his fingers in his mouth and listened to all the chaos in the back office as Aziraphale attempted to hurry. "He's a strange nose eater, uncle."
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Kids and gays in leather jackets taking care of said kids.
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"Okay, just need to turn off the power and we're all set." Aziraphale called out as he switched off the computer and pulled out his keys, his satchel and coat on. "Let's get a wiggle on, shall we?"
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"Nice outfit." Dorky, but it fit him. he was a librarian, what else was he going to wear? Crowley offered his hand out to Adam and waited for Aziraphale, heading to the car. "I'm Anthony, by the way. I guess you know, you saw my ID. And also, that's nonsense. No one ever calls me that." Why had he even said it? Must be something about how proper the guy looked, made him go weird too. "I'm Crowley. That's what people call me."
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As they shuffled out, Aziraphale locked up and the rain was really coming down. The bus stop was five minutes from here, there was no way Aziraphale wouldn't have been drenched on his way. Honestly, this was the better option, even if Aziraphale was a little anxious about it all.
"I'm Aziraphale. I know, I know. It's a mouthful." Aziraphale clarified with a sheepish smile. "It's, uh, it's an angelic name. My father had a bit of a theme." He gestured for Crowley to go ahead. "Lead the way, my dear fellow."
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He turned to look at Aziraphale, smiling brightly. "Off we go then, angel. Car's right over there."
By now one of the few cars left in the car park. He made a run for it, then unlocked and got Adam into his seat first. By the time he'd strapped the boy in, his hair was wet, his shirt was wet, his entire being was wet. He hoped that Aziraphale might have fared better, having gone right for the passenger's seat.
Whatever. He decided to embrace it, closing the door and taking a few steps away with his arms spread out, looking up at the sky. He ran his hands up his face to get his hair combed back, pushing his glasses up momentarily to do so. Then he got in the driver's seat finally, only to immediately take off his jacket and toss it behind himself, next to Adam. At this point it was just wet leather, more squeaky than sexy. The red shirt he was wearing under the jacket was clinging to him uncomfortably and he had to take off his glasses to find something dry so he could see through them.
Oh, right, he should explain. While he found a pack of tissues and started wiping, he looked over at Aziraphale. "Don't worry about the shades, I can see with them on. Better than without. Says so on my driver's license." He doubted Aziraphale had looked that closely at it, so he explained. "It's a thing, I got bad eyes. I'm not just a total tool who wears sunglasses at night."
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While Crowley explained his glasses, he couldn't even focus on whatever it was, he was just unable to look away from his beautiful eyes. The way his beautifully red hair was dripping beautiful water on his beautiful, flawless face.
"...Oh. Oh, sorry, I was staring. It-it wasn't anything bad. It's just your eyes, they're--" Enthralling. Beauty incarnate. Dazzling. "They're so golden. They're really rather nice. Like honey." He giggled awkwardly and then realised how bad that sounded and his eyes widened. Why did he say that aloud? This was not great. This was embarrassing. Aziraphale looked everywhere but Crowley. "We should, uh, we should get going. I'm sure young Adam wants to be in bed."
"No, I'm not tired." Said the sleepy boy as he rubbed his eyes.
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Crowley rather felt he was handsome enough to make up for it in other areas though, so it wasn't as if it destroyed his self-esteem too much. He put the glasses back on now, looking at Aziraphale properly again.
Who seemed a little weird, but that might just be how he was. Adam had a point. "Where are we dropping you off then, angel?" Might as well stick to that. Aziraphale was a mouthful.
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"What is an angel?" Adam asked innocently as he picked up his stuffed bear and started to play with it's loose eye.
"Well, it's like a spirit, in a sense. Some believe they work for God. They have wings and a funny little yellow right over their head called a halo." Aziraphale attempted to explain without accidentally forcing any religious 'truths' on anyone. "They do good deeds and help humans."
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"And if you call someone an angel, it usually means they are a good person. Nice. Like Aziraphale is." That much seemed obvious. Crowley considered it while he waited at a traffic light for it to turn green. "I guess it's also a pet name. Lovers may use it."
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"NO! No, no, no. No. We are -- no." Aziraphale clarified very swiftly, totally baffled as to how Adam had drawn that conclusion. "We only met about half an hour ago, remember?"
"Ariel loved the prince right away." Adam argued. "Uncle likes to date boys. You're a boy." So logically, uncle had to date Aziraphale. And any other nice man they met.
"Ah." Aziraphale had to laugh, it was quite funny. He smiled at Crowley. "He must be quite the source of conversation out in the wild, hmm? He is very... curious."
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Here was hoping. "Stop scaring Aziraphale, yeah? You're making him uncomfortable."
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Was this gay flirting or gay teasing? How did one know? "I can imagine a man like yourself, you would not have a hard time finding your own dates. I'm sure you don't need a wingman."
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Wait. He glanced at Adam momentarily, then corrected himself. "Mid meaningful conversation."
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Three, almost four - he should start nursery school in a year. Then Crowley might have time to mingle once more. "Though I don't think I'm an expert. In what people want - dating wise. Perhaps I know nothing. More than likely, honestly."
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Damn. That explained it all. Well, he supposed he should be grateful Aziraphale hadn't tried to convert him yet. "Though, you know. Whatever works for you."
He didn't want to get into a religious debate. He really, really did not want to have to kick the nice man out for being a bigot either. And he felt bad for him, because all that repression? Suddenly made sense.
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Aziraphale knew that in this situation, he was obligated to clarify himself. He owed that to Crowley, Crowley didn't owe it to him.
"And all love is good love, is it not? How could love ever be a bad thing?" Aziraphale smiled at Crowley somewhat sadly and then looked out of the window to try and spot his house. "I'm the stop by the white car just ahead. That would be Gabriel's car. Oh... good." He was home. Fantastic.
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Really, Crowley wasn't sure he'd come across much love that was good. Maybe that was one reserved for movies and books. "We'll be by to bring back the book."
He frowned as he looked at Aziraphale, kind of feeling awkward with the many things they had just brushed upon and not voiced. Quite a lot there. "I got no problem with people who have faith. Just. For the record."
He felt it was a bit of a shit deal to be stuck with, however. "Wouldn't help anything, would it, if the faggot's prejudiced against the-- faithful. Gotta break the cycle."
Yeah, delving too deep there. "Sorry, angel. I'm bitter, makes me bitchy. 's nice meeting you. I mean that. Ignore the rest."
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Aziraphale undid his seatbelt and clutched his bag.
"Thank you for the ride, Crowley. And for the entertaining evening. It was a lot nicer than I had expected." And it was good. Good to meet him. Good to be reminded of what he wanted. Good to push himself. To allow himself to feel the guilt and shame. Maybe he could channel it. "I will see you next week for the book."
He smiled and then gently slid himself out of the car, not wanting to wake Adam.
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That was said to no one in particular, just a necessary observation. Then he sighed, glanced back at Adam, decided against putting music on and started driving down the road.