London bookshop owner and foodie Aziraphale is heartbroken when his boyfriend leaves him before their planned romantic getaway to Amsterdam for Halloween. Crowley and his fellow chocolatiers are in the midst of a competition to create the most roman...
“Right, so in this step, we’re filling the molds with a lemon jelly, which you’ll find in the piping bags right in front of you.” Crowley tells the group, holding up the chocolate mold. “Today, we’re making a classic lemon jelly filled chocolate bonbon.”
There’s a bunch of excitement as everyone picks up their piping bags, and starts to pipe the jelly into it.
“Good.” Crowley says to one, then turns to the other, “Careful, not too much. It’ll overwhelm the chocolate.”
But as he moves onto the next one, he catches the blonde haired angel doing something completely different.
“Excuse me, what are you doing?” The demon addresses the angel, who stops and looks up. “That’s the cayenne ganache.”
The angel smiles, “I know that.”
Seeing he has to explain himself, the demon claps his hands together impatiently, “Okay, so you see, we’re trying to make a lemon jelly chocolate bonbon.”
The angel holds up the piping bag, “Well, if you’d stop talking just long enough to look, you’d see I did both.”
The frazzled look from Crowley gets a laugh out of some of the people behind him, but the demon only asks, “And why would you go and do a thing like that?”
Here, the angel sets the piping bag down to look at him straight on, “Because I thought it sounded better than just one or the other.”
A group member speaks up, “No, he’s right! That does sound better!”, then proceeds to follow suit.
The now completely distraught demon tries to reel the group back in, “No, please don’t. Just stick to the recipe, alright?”
The angel, however, seems to be brave enough to stand up to him again, “Oh, now really. Don’t you know that some of the best recipes come from trying something new?”
And before long, the angel has started a trend among the group, despite Crowley’s weak protests,
“This recipe has been a part of my shop since...” he knows the angel’s too smart to miss how the demon has to catch himself before he admits something incriminating. “Since this shop was just an idea. It didn't become a success from experimenting. It came from being the best.”
But the angel doesn’t get upset at him, just offers a smile that’s really too nice for its own good, and says, “Suit yourself.”
Crowley walks over to Esther, trying to calm himself as she teases, “You look like you’re having the time of your life.”
The demon can’t speak for a moment or two, as listening to the angel’s laugh leaves him struggling to calm down, “Right, sure.”
Esther keeps rubbing his shoulders, “Calm down. He’s not trying to sabotage your chocolate.”
Crowley rolls his eyes, then replies, no real heat in it, “Could’ve fooled me.”
The group starts to file out of the shop, offering their thanks as they go, and just Crowley’s luck, the angel decides to hang back a moment longer, offering up a tray of chocolates.
On autopilot, Crowley takes them, asking, “What are these supposed to be?”
The angel’s smile hasn’t wavered, as he says, “Free samples. I had extras on hand. Enjoy.”, then turns to catch up with the rest of the group.
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Those parting words leave Crowley sharing a look with Tracy, who just shrugs and takes one for herself, biting into it while Crowley keeps watching the angel’s retreating back, then turns to hear Tracy’s thoughts.
“Mm.” she says, surprising him. “It actually tastes quite lovely.”
The demon has no time for this, and proves so by setting it on the counter and walking away.
“I sincerely hope you all enjoyed making chocolate this afternoon.” Esther tells the group, right as Aziraphale has still more chocolate in his mouth. “If anyone has more questions, feel free to direct them to me. And I hope you enjoyed exploring Amsterdam this afternoon. Anything you need, you have my number. Other than that, I’ll see everyone back at the hotel later.”
The group disbands, but Aziraphale stays, confused by something, “Wait, Esther?”
The young woman turns, smiling as she replies, “Yes?”
Aziraphale explains, “I’m sorry, I was told the tour ended at the Dutch Royal Palace.”
At that, Esther’s smile completely drops, voice completely remorseful as she tells him, “Oh, Ezra, I’m sorry. Unfortunately due to preparations for the royal wedding, the palace is closed to the public, cancelling all the tours.”
There’s no way the angel can hide his disappointment, “All of them?”
Esther nods, “I’m sorry.”
The angel sighs, “Sorry to hear that.”, but still puts on a smile for her, “Well, thank you for a lovely tour, my dear.”, then walks away.
“Crowley?” Tracy calls from somewhere to his right, as the demon in question uses a paintbrush to color in the molds with the ganache.
He holds up a hand, “One moment. Sorry. Need to finish this first.”, not even looking up as she moves closer. “Has to be perfect.”
Once it’s up to his standards, he sets the brush down, and looks at her, “What say you?”
The look on her face isn’t a promising one, “I just finished settling the cash drawer. It was slow. Again.”
The demon shakes his head in annoyance, but still smiles, even if it’s mostly fake.
Tracy continues, “The tours are keeping the lights on, but if we don’t find a long term solution, we’ll be closed before you know it.”
Crowley scoffs, “Tracy, really. I’m a demon. We don’t have to worry about things like that.”
Tracy calls his bluff, “Well if you want Hell to leave you alone, you’d better start worrying. You can only do so many frivolous miracles before they decide to investigate.”
Crowley tells her his plan, “Well, when we get crowned Royal chocolatier, we never have to worry about that ever again.”
Tracy apparently doesn’t share his enthusiasm, because she says, “And every shop with chocolate worth tasting is competing in that. How do you expect to win without demonic intervention?”
Now Crowley’s smiling, holding up a tray of chocolates, “Easy. We’re going to present them with something they’ve never tasted before.”
Tracy still looks skeptical, so Crowley urges, “Go on. Try one.”
She obliges, biting into it slowly.
“What you think?” he asks, watching for her reaction, and when her eyes light up for just a second, he gushes, “See, I told you!”
“It is good.” Tracy concedes, hoping her face and tone shows she means it.
But Crowley’s too smart for that, “We can’t settle for good. We need perfect.”, and leans against the counter, trying to think.
Aziraphale, after changing into bedclothes, folds the paper back up, then turns it around.
But as he does so, he sees something in bold above the couple’s picture.
Oct. 31: All Hallow’s Eve Gala by invitation only.
An idea starts to form in his mind, as he turns it back around, over to the front page article about the royal wedding announcement.
What if I could...no, I couldn’t. Could I?
But the more he thinks on it, the more it refuses to leave him alone.
Frustrated, he miracles the lights off, and gets into bed.
Nothing that more chocolate can’t fix, he resolves, then closes his eyes, and in seconds, he’s out cold.
