"Are you quite sure? You came all the way here, I'd just hate to have spoiled your evening, dear boy. I can amuse myself, I promise." Aziraphale assured, not wanting to steal the poor lad away from a night of fun because he was awkward. Should he deter him? Tell him that he didn't stand any chances with him? Seemed a little -- well, rude. And he didn't want to be rude. He always figured that instead of rejection, he could just run very, very fast.
As much as he wanted to put him off, Crowley seemed more determined and they were walking back to the table already.
Aziraphale was blushing. As always. A new shade, almost more pink than red. "Crowley wants to go and - and get food."
"Yeah, I'm going to buy Aziraphale some angel cake. Seems fitting." He turned his head to smile at Aziraphale, seeing that conflict on his face. Good for the ego, honestly, that he seemed to be winning out here. "You don't mind, angel, do you?"
Barty leaned back, hand on Bill's thigh still, and he gave a brief nod. "Have fun, Aziraphale. Don't let him take advantage of you." He was making fun of his brother there, but it was quite the funny image. Someone so full of swagger and his little brother.
"I'll behave," Crowley promised, looking at Bill. "You didn't tell me Barty had a hot brother."
"I didn't know he has one." Bill was still waiting to see a hot brother, he mostly saw a dork in a cream suit, looking so out of place, people kept gesturing at him. Honestly, better if he got out of here, it really wasn't his scene. "If you need us, call."
"I will keep in touch. Safe travels, Barty, don't be out too late." He was the younger brother, he knew that and yet, he was still worried and he still had to say something.
Looking a little unsure, he smiled sheepishly at Barty and then turned to Crowley. He really did feel dreadful, this poor boy could pull anyone looking like that. Why did he want to spend his time with him? Maybe he really did just want a quieter evening. Now that he could deliver. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Crowley agreed, taking Aziraphale's hand in his. He headed for the door with him and Barty watched them go, marvelling a little.
"Safe travels. Hm. Where does he think I'm going?" Honestly, he was more wondering just where exactly Crowley might be taking him. "You know him, right? I don't have to worry." From what he knew, Crowley was less dodgy than his apparel might suggest.
As Crowley and Aziraphale entered into the night air, he made sure to walk close to him and turn the right direction right away. "What do you think, should we go for cake right away or grab some sushi first?" There was a nice sushi bar close by, after all.
"Nah, Crowley is a good sort. Never much makes a move though. Guess his type is mormons." Bill mused as he knocked back his drink and held out his hand to Barty. "Let's go do something fun now. Please."
Aziraphale smiled excitedly at the food idea and nodded excitedly. "Oooh, yes, sushi sounds fun. And please, please, let me pay. Honestly, I can. I have a rather good wage and I would be happy to treat you. After all, you saved me from the loud music and cigarette smell. I feel I owe you one."
With a sigh, he relaxed in the night air and seemed to ease up a little. Less tense, less rigid, less awkward. "My favourite sushi place is this one spot in Soho I go to. Nitochi. The chef is from Kyoto! A fun place to practise my Japanese. I'm not the best speaker, my reading is much better."
"Japanese, yeah? Go figure. I'm lucky to be guessing my way through English." He supposed he shouldn't be surprised by any of this. Good wage, speaking different languages, all kind of to be expected from someone who dressed like that and who was Barty's brother. "I'm not sure the sushi bar is as fancy as all that, but they've got good deals on."
Which was mainly the draw for him. "My wage is shite, honestly, so if you feel like treating I'm not going to protest too much. The cake is on me though, I promised that." So he'd hold himself to it. "What do you do then? Are you a lawyer like your brother?"
"Oh, gosh, no. No, I couldn't do such a thing. I currently work at a library, though I yearn to do something where I don't have rental books. The condition of them makes me so sad. I would much rather sell books than loan them." He was hoping that he could somehow get himself a loan together and a business plan, open his own book store, hide there for the rest of his days. It seemed nice. Quiet. Easy going. Just work. No love, no people, no fuss or pride or any of that lark. He could just be alone with books all day.
"For now, I'm happy enough. I live near my work and I don't have too many expenses so I have a nice, tidy sum saved up." From before he left and after, he had always been a saver and now he was very fortunate to have as much as he did.
"I just work at a garden centre, not much saving up happening." That, and he liked spending. He liked his little luxuries, his car, his furniture, the sleek lifestyle. Well, it wasn't as if he had to save up for anything. "Books, eh? Never been too fond of those."
Maybe that wasn't a good thing to admit to, so Crowley justified himself a little. "It's the eyes, reading puts a lot of strain on them, starts to really hurt after a while." Also, it was pretty dull. He didn't read, he was too cool to read. But he didn't want to tell Aziraphale that. "Are you going to be all right selling books, when you own that bookstore?" If he was that saddened by bad book treatment, was bad book ownership any better?
"That's fine, books aren't for everyone. I think it's better that you know it than waste money on trying to like it. That is something I will... grow accustomed to when I own my store." He found books were something that only a select few should own but he knew that are a controversial thought. "Must be such a shame, with your eyes and all. There's always audiobooks, I suppose. Though I'm sure you have many other hobbies, a lad your age and all."
He imagined Crowley loved clubbing and drinking and seeing friends. That was what people did at his age. However old he was. It was normal.
"I was never the sort to get up to mischief. I'm not one to dally around and do such fancies. I suppose I'm a bit of a dork in that sense." Aziraphale laughed at himself awkwardly and looked away from Crowley, a little embarrassed. "I suppose it's very obvious."
"It's obvious, but you have the outfit and the charm, you're pulling it off. When a kid is a dork, they get bullied. You are a gentleman." Clearly. Anyone with money and a customised suit was a bit of a level on a normal kind of dork. It was working for him, made him seem classy.
"Audiobooks, maybe. Honestly, I kind of have a thing for theatre, don't tell my friends. Now there's a dorky hobby." He was joking mostly. For one thing, his friends knew he liked the theatre, so it wasn't as if there was much point hiding it from them.
"Oooh, I love the theatre. I didn't get to go for most of my youth but I recently started going to more and more plays and musicals. It's amazing. I enjoy it that vastly more than whatever it son the telly. Not that I don't love BBC Two." Aziraphale admitted, just excited to share things and talk to someone outside of his brother who seemed to be, well, not overly judgemental. Some of the people at his work could be a tad mean to him about his lack of knowledge and he knew Billy teased him often too. Only Barty had the time for him and his gaps of pop culture knowledge.
"Perhaps one day we could see a play! Not that -- Not that I'm being forward or anything. You never have to see me again but-but, well, perhaps one day we will see each other at the theatre or something." There. That sounded way less forward and needy.
Crowley stopped, rather theatrically, as befit the conversation they were having. He turned to face Aziraphale, bowing playfully. "It'd be my honour." After saying that, he raised the man's hand to his lips and kissed it, before letting go of him entirely, for the moment, so he could hold the door to the sushi bar open. "Shall we?"
He was hungry and apparently it would be Aziraphale's treat, so the evening was looking up. As Aziraphale passed him, he said, quietly but loud enough. "I wouldn't mind you being forward."
Crowley really was something else. Like something out of a daydream. The way he dressed, the way he acted, the way he talked to him. As if he actually liked him or something. He was baffled but excited. He wished he could have been about ten years younger and less awkward - then maybe this could be something.
As they took a seat, Aziraphale smiled at Crowley. "I can't promise that but I can promise I will make sure your time is well spend with me. Pick whatever you want to eat! It's always exciting, watching what others pick and trying new things." He never had experiences like this until he was an adult so to him, it was exciting.
"Er, I usually just get whatever's cheap." If he had to be honest here. Given that Aziraphale was promising to be exceedingly generous and also seemed intent on Crowley enjoying himself, he walked up to the counter and asked what they recommended, so he could pick that. Seemed nice, getting a selection of stuff. "They have sake. It's pretty good, actually, you should try some. I got drunk on it once, no hangover."
"Oh no, you can but I don't really drink. It's just a left over piece of me from -- before. I don't know, it's silly. Maybe it's just... in my head." He didn't know why he was still following their rules when he left for a reason - so he could live his own way. he looked at the sake again and then remembered that he was out here with a boy who was into him and he could do whatever he wanted. "Actually, well, perhaps tonight is the night to break an age old tradition of mine."
He laughed a little to himself and then looked at Crowley, sheepish yet happy. "Would you drink with me?"
"Of course!" Crowley asked for some sake as he led the way to the bar, sitting down and gesturing for Aziraphale to settle in next to him. Now that there was proper lighting, he looked younger than he'd assumed he was. Well preserved, Crowley assumed, but it was difficult to really gauge. He looked the way he was, truly, which he felt was kind of comforting and also amusing in a way. "To the breaking of old traditions and the making of new ones."
The sake was poured for them and he slid one cup over to Aziraphale before emptying his own. "Cheers!" Or whatever they said in Japan, he didn't know.
"Kanpai." Aziraphale raised his glass and then took a long sip. Huh. It was strong, very intense at first but he liked the aftertaste. He huffed out an amused little noise and then smiled at Crowley, amazed that he had broken a life long rule so swiftly. He was being impulse - how thrilling!
"Interesting. I like it. I never thought I'd drink, not sure why but I just never considered it. I know Barty does but he always found breaking the rules easier than I did." which was why Barty left at 17 and he left at 34.
"Yeah, you two seem very different. You're less scary, for one thing." Which he approved of. Barty was cool, which Crowley admired to a certain degree - when he'd been younger, he had more or less subconsciously tried mimicking it a little - but he was also enigmatic and only Bill seemed to understand him and not find him unsettling. Aziraphale was not unsettling in the least, if anything he was the opposite.
"You grew up with strict rules, right? Bill's told me a bit." It sounded oppressive. "The only rule at my home was to not get decked." At least that was the rule he'd tried to live by.
"Yes, well, I suppose. We were raised as Fundamental Latter Day Saints. I suppose most people call us Mormons these days." Only mormons had nothing on what they experienced, the FLDS was as extreme as it could get sometimes. "Barty fled when he was young, he had no desire to be a part of it. I always admired that about him. He didn't keep his faith. I did."
Aziraphale realised how it sounded to people who didn't know him and instantly held up his hands apologetic. "Not in the mormon sense, in my own person sense. For myself. I find organise religion is a bit of a scary beast."
"It is, innit? I've never gone in for it." Some of his siblings liked to style themselves as satanists, but for his money they just felt it was another excuse to act like a berk, as if they needed one. "I think it takes a lot of courage to get out of that kinda thing, especially if you still believe in any of it. Good on you."
It was impressive, thinking about this mild-mannered man doing something so radical. "I'm not much of a believer in anything. Never made much sense to me why any god would make the world only for it to go so wrong all the time."
"I suppose I just think that it's comforting to imagine someone who could be involved in your life from afar and love you no matter what. Even with your mistakes and flaws. I think the concept is something that could be beneficial to people, whether or not it's real. It's sort of like - love personified." And as someone who planned to never really date or find love, had no affection from his parents and no real friends, the concept of unconditional love from afar was very comforting.
"In the end, it was an easy decision. I didn't do it for myself. God knows, I don't think there's much from the world I can really get these days but I did it because I don't want people to a part of something so negative. People who see God as punishment and use it to hurt others." It just seemed so wrong.
He sighed and looked away, feeling a little awkward. "Sorry to ramble on, it's not the most interesting. All these years and I still find a way to talk about religion of all things. I'm so sorry!"
"Big part of your life, so it makes sense. You sound a bit like Holden, he's a friend of mine. He grew up Catholic, he wanted to be a priest for a while." Which maybe Holden still wanted to be? Crowley wasn't sure, though he thought perhaps it was better not to become a priest when so clearly in love with someone, but what did he know? "I like the idea of love, but I don't think I believe anyone's loving me from afar."
He certainly never felt that had shone through much in his life. "Love's not always a good thing either. Gets to be toxic quite often." And the love God seemed to have appeared to fall into that category frequently. "But there's things you can get from the world, Aziraphale. We'll get cake, for one thing. And now we're getting sushi."
Which was indeed placed in front of them just then, as their sake was poured again as well. "Enjoy."
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As much as he wanted to put him off, Crowley seemed more determined and they were walking back to the table already.
Aziraphale was blushing. As always. A new shade, almost more pink than red. "Crowley wants to go and - and get food."
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Barty leaned back, hand on Bill's thigh still, and he gave a brief nod. "Have fun, Aziraphale. Don't let him take advantage of you." He was making fun of his brother there, but it was quite the funny image. Someone so full of swagger and his little brother.
"I'll behave," Crowley promised, looking at Bill. "You didn't tell me Barty had a hot brother."
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"I will keep in touch. Safe travels, Barty, don't be out too late." He was the younger brother, he knew that and yet, he was still worried and he still had to say something.
Looking a little unsure, he smiled sheepishly at Barty and then turned to Crowley. He really did feel dreadful, this poor boy could pull anyone looking like that. Why did he want to spend his time with him? Maybe he really did just want a quieter evening. Now that he could deliver. "Shall we?"
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"Safe travels. Hm. Where does he think I'm going?" Honestly, he was more wondering just where exactly Crowley might be taking him. "You know him, right? I don't have to worry." From what he knew, Crowley was less dodgy than his apparel might suggest.
As Crowley and Aziraphale entered into the night air, he made sure to walk close to him and turn the right direction right away. "What do you think, should we go for cake right away or grab some sushi first?" There was a nice sushi bar close by, after all.
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Aziraphale smiled excitedly at the food idea and nodded excitedly. "Oooh, yes, sushi sounds fun. And please, please, let me pay. Honestly, I can. I have a rather good wage and I would be happy to treat you. After all, you saved me from the loud music and cigarette smell. I feel I owe you one."
With a sigh, he relaxed in the night air and seemed to ease up a little. Less tense, less rigid, less awkward. "My favourite sushi place is this one spot in Soho I go to. Nitochi. The chef is from Kyoto! A fun place to practise my Japanese. I'm not the best speaker, my reading is much better."
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Which was mainly the draw for him. "My wage is shite, honestly, so if you feel like treating I'm not going to protest too much. The cake is on me though, I promised that." So he'd hold himself to it. "What do you do then? Are you a lawyer like your brother?"
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"For now, I'm happy enough. I live near my work and I don't have too many expenses so I have a nice, tidy sum saved up." From before he left and after, he had always been a saver and now he was very fortunate to have as much as he did.
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Maybe that wasn't a good thing to admit to, so Crowley justified himself a little. "It's the eyes, reading puts a lot of strain on them, starts to really hurt after a while." Also, it was pretty dull. He didn't read, he was too cool to read. But he didn't want to tell Aziraphale that. "Are you going to be all right selling books, when you own that bookstore?" If he was that saddened by bad book treatment, was bad book ownership any better?
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He imagined Crowley loved clubbing and drinking and seeing friends. That was what people did at his age. However old he was. It was normal.
"I was never the sort to get up to mischief. I'm not one to dally around and do such fancies. I suppose I'm a bit of a dork in that sense." Aziraphale laughed at himself awkwardly and looked away from Crowley, a little embarrassed. "I suppose it's very obvious."
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"Audiobooks, maybe. Honestly, I kind of have a thing for theatre, don't tell my friends. Now there's a dorky hobby." He was joking mostly. For one thing, his friends knew he liked the theatre, so it wasn't as if there was much point hiding it from them.
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"Perhaps one day we could see a play! Not that -- Not that I'm being forward or anything. You never have to see me again but-but, well, perhaps one day we will see each other at the theatre or something." There. That sounded way less forward and needy.
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He was hungry and apparently it would be Aziraphale's treat, so the evening was looking up. As Aziraphale passed him, he said, quietly but loud enough. "I wouldn't mind you being forward."
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As they took a seat, Aziraphale smiled at Crowley. "I can't promise that but I can promise I will make sure your time is well spend with me. Pick whatever you want to eat! It's always exciting, watching what others pick and trying new things." He never had experiences like this until he was an adult so to him, it was exciting.
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Seemed magical to him.
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He laughed a little to himself and then looked at Crowley, sheepish yet happy. "Would you drink with me?"
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The sake was poured for them and he slid one cup over to Aziraphale before emptying his own. "Cheers!" Or whatever they said in Japan, he didn't know.
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"Interesting. I like it. I never thought I'd drink, not sure why but I just never considered it. I know Barty does but he always found breaking the rules easier than I did." which was why Barty left at 17 and he left at 34.
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"You grew up with strict rules, right? Bill's told me a bit." It sounded oppressive. "The only rule at my home was to not get decked." At least that was the rule he'd tried to live by.
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Aziraphale realised how it sounded to people who didn't know him and instantly held up his hands apologetic. "Not in the mormon sense, in my own person sense. For myself. I find organise religion is a bit of a scary beast."
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It was impressive, thinking about this mild-mannered man doing something so radical. "I'm not much of a believer in anything. Never made much sense to me why any god would make the world only for it to go so wrong all the time."
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"In the end, it was an easy decision. I didn't do it for myself. God knows, I don't think there's much from the world I can really get these days but I did it because I don't want people to a part of something so negative. People who see God as punishment and use it to hurt others." It just seemed so wrong.
He sighed and looked away, feeling a little awkward. "Sorry to ramble on, it's not the most interesting. All these years and I still find a way to talk about religion of all things. I'm so sorry!"
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He certainly never felt that had shone through much in his life. "Love's not always a good thing either. Gets to be toxic quite often." And the love God seemed to have appeared to fall into that category frequently. "But there's things you can get from the world, Aziraphale. We'll get cake, for one thing. And now we're getting sushi."
Which was indeed placed in front of them just then, as their sake was poured again as well. "Enjoy."