The next day, Crowley, resident demon and chocolatier, is putting assorted chocolates into boxes when he hears the door open, and hears the unmistakable shuffling of feet that can only belong to one particular angel.
This is confirmed when he hears Aziraphale call out,
“Crowley, I’ve got it! The perfect idea for finding the perfect combination!”
Crowley doesn’t react, just takes in the angel’s posture, the way he’s breathing heavily, like he just ran all the way here, and the shine in his eyes that Crowley’s slowly beginning to understand is the telltale sign of inspiration, and just grabs his coat and follows him out of the shop.
The angel winds up taking them back to Wertheim, but this time Aziraphale leads Crowley across the bridge as he tells him his idea, while the demon flips through the letters Aziraphale handed to him,
“So, I met Wilhelmina right here in Amsterdam. And she made me fall in love with her beloved kingdom and city. What if her words are what we need for inspiration?”
But suddenly, Aziraphale grabs Crowley’s arm, and pulls him over to a specific spot on the bridge.
“It’s right here.” The angel explains, while Crowley reads a letter out loud,
“My dearest and longest friend,
The sound of the water below, the scent of crocuses in bloom,
the taste of the sweet advocaat we shared as we discussed George Bernard Shaw
Delicious and meaningful, carrying the promise of even more engaging conversations yet to come.
All my love, W.”
Once he’s finished, Crowley looks up, and it was just fast enough to catch the sad smile on the angel’s face, before he looks back at the demon, and explains,
“She loved to tease me that that was the moment when she knew we’d always be friends, no matter where I ended up or what happened to her.”
The demon folds up the letter carefully, noting, “That easy, huh?”
Aziraphale’s too smart to not notice, “Do I detect a note of surprise? From a demon?”
Crowley winces at being caught, but Aziraphale doesn’t let him speak, as he adds, shake his head,
“Oh, I should’ve known. Of course a demon wouldn’t believe in the human concept of just knowing someone means something to you.”
Thankfully, Crowley finds his voice again, so he doesn’t have to listen to another second,
“Oy! You don’t know me, or what I’ve been through. And for your information, I am not in the habit of throwing myself at anyone who’ll give me the time of day. Particularly when that someone has a very bad habit of popping up everywhere I very much don’t want or need them to be.”
Aziraphale freezes as the demon spits the words at him, and tries to calm the distressed demon down, “Oh, Crowley, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”
Crowley’s already shaking his head and waving it off, “It doesn’t matter. Look, all you need to know is that if someone’s going to try, they’re in for a long wait. And that’s purely by design.”
But that, oddly enough, prompts the angel to realize, “Much like how you would design a chocolate, isn’t it?”
The unexpected connection prompts a noise that sounds like, “Ngk.” out of the demon, before he composes himself and says, “Yeah, I suppose.”
YOU ARE READING
Falling in Chocolate
RomanceLondon 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...
