Hellfire and Holy Water (A Good Omens Fanfiction)

Chapter Four

 A short time later, Crowley put the car in park outside a relatively new restaurant he had heard Aziraphale mention once in passing before. As they pulled up he muttered, "I probably should have checked to see if you were all right with coming here. This all right?"

Aziraphale seemed to only just notice where they were, and a delighted twinkle in his eyes convinced Crowley more than any words would have. But he said anyway, "Why, of course! You know, I've been meaning to come here for weeks and never found the time to do so."

"Oh, really?" the demon asked, as if he hadn't been completely aware of this fact from the last time they'd had drinks together.

Almost from the moment they entered the building Aziraphale took on a new life, talking animatedly to Crowley about all manner of things as if they were lifelong friends who had to be caught up on each other's lives all at once. The demon was more than content to listen to every word, simply enjoying hearing about the things the angel was passionate about, even if he didn't personally relate to much of what he enjoyed. Occasionally he interjected with a small thought of his own, but for the most part he was happy to just listen to Aziraphale's voice. It was only when their food came that Aziraphale seemed to sober up about his rambling.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the angel said with a dismissive shake of his head. "I seem to have dominated the conversation. We're supposed to be talking about Warlock's progress, aren't we?"

"Right," Crowley said with some reluctance. He had rather started to enjoy watching Aziraphale's eyes light up as he gushed over the things he loved. "Do you have anything to say about it?"

Aziraphale dabbed his face with a napkin politely before answering, "I had assumed you had more to say on the matter. That is why you asked me here, I should think."

"Of course," the demon assured smoothly. "I just wanted to make sure you are comfortable...interfering from your position."

"How do you mean?"

Crowley sighed, "Are your heavenly influences working?"

"Er, yes," Aziraphale said. "And the, uh, hellish ones?"

"Going well, I'd say. Hard to tell when he's still so young, so it might make the most sense for us to meet again to discuss," Crowley boldly suggested.

It was a relief when the angel agreed, "Yes, that does make some sense. Perhaps weekly, just to be sure we stay on top of the matter."

"Of course," Crowley agreed with a satisfied smile.

They ate in silence for a while after that, simply enjoying each other's company as they ate for the most part. Aziraphale was soon lost in thought, so much so that he wasn't entirely focused on his food like he would have wanted to be. He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Crowley...and it wasn't really all that bad, so long as he wasn't doing anything inherently wrong. They were helping each other to stop the end of the world. If he enjoyed the meetings and interactions that came with that, well, that wouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

If he had allowed himself to actually think more about how he felt and less about what heaven felt, he might have taken the time to truly admire many of Crowley's respectable traits and redeeming qualities. But of course, such thoughts were dangerous in a number of ways. It was easy for him to just take their mutual understanding at face value and avoid assigning any unnecessarily complicated labels. Deep down, though, Aziraphale's heart seemed to have a mind of its own and it was not too keen on the idea of rational, safe thinking.

For now, however, he was perfectly content with enjoying their time together, pretending for all the world that they were a couple of good human associates who were doing nothing wrong whatsoever by catching up after a long and trying work week.