Ineffable Husbands One Shots

long for your touch

~!~ Today's Good Omens Celebration prompt was Future. This one is in two parts, I hope you enjoyyyyyy :) ~!~

1536

Aziraphale had dragged Crowley to a very busy market. Not literally dragged; he'd excitedly invited him to come along, Crowley had agreed, and then he'd practically bounded off toward a throng of people, expecting the demon to follow. He had, of course.

So, now they were a part of the throng. Aziraphale was bouncing and wiggling and excitedly telling Crowley about all of the foods he'd never heard of. Crowley was just taking it all in - literally. So far Aziraphale had had him try papaya, guava, prickly pear (which, in Crowley's opinion, was much better than the non-prickly variety), pomegranate, and mango.

"Have you enjoyed the fruit?" Aziraphale asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"Mmm!" Crowley nodded in agreement, mouth still occupied with the extremely sweet mango.

Aziraphale clapped his hands. "Wonderful! I had assumed as much. I know you prefer fruit to other foods," he spoke the last sentence softly, as though that fact was their little secret.

"Mm," Crowley agreed again, although by now he'd finished the mango, his mind just seemingly wouldn't conjure any words suitable for a response to that.

"That is why you may not enjoy these next few stalls as much as I will. They will be primarily baked goods!" he clasped Crowley's arm in a moment of enthusiasm. The touch lasted but a second, but the demon was quite sure he'd give up both his legs to have that small point of contact return. It's not like he needed legs anyway; he was a snake for Hell's sake.

Nonetheless, he walked behind Aziraphale (fully utilising his legs). The angel led them to a stand that smelled strongly of sugar and cinnamon and began to order a long list of items.

Crowley looked around at the crowd of people slowly making their way through the market. There was joyful energy permeating the entire area. Aziraphale would probably say the place was brimming with love, and, although Crowley couldn't sense that, he could still tell everyone was very happy. It was in the smiles they wore, the laughter that came easily, and all of their tender touches.

Now that Crowley had noticed it, he saw that nearly everyone was touching in some way. There were arms slung over shoulders, hands touching the smalls of backs, people walking arm in arm, and, most common of all, people holding hands. It made sense actually, keeping a hold of those you were with in order to prevent accidentally going astray in the sea of people.

Crowley glanced at Aziraphale, still talking animatedly to the vendor. His gaze traveled down to his hand, which was currently holding a container of something that looked sickly sweet.

It really wouldn't be a big deal. He could easily just slip his hand into his when he returned. Or place an arm around his shoulders, or loop one through the angel's arm. It would be simple. And it would be for a completely innocent reason as well. Just so they could stay together, not get lost. It would be fine. In fact, it was a good idea.

Crowley attempted to convince himself of this the entire time that Aziraphale talked with the merchant. Fortunately for him, Aziraphale was quite friendly, so he had plenty of time to talk himself up.

But that's all it was. Talk. Crowley couldn't manage to entirely convince himself that Aziraphale would welcome any physical contact with him. He was a demon; he was dirty, undesirable.

But... Crowley wanted this so badly... and his intentions were pure! It couldn't hurt to try, right?

Just then, Aziraphale returned, easily wiping all thoughts from Crowley's mind with his beaming smile. "Sorry, that took so long, dear boy! We can continue now."