Falling in Chocolate

Crowley is Unhelpful, So Aziraphale Decides to Put Him in His Place

The angel and demon are at it again, Crowley chopping up nuts, and Aziraphale ready to knock the chocolate out of the molds.

Or at least he thought he was ready, until he’s proven wrong when only a few chocolates fall out, some of them even breaking off.

“Oh dear…” Aziraphale exclaims. “Something’s gone wrong. What have I done?”

Crowley slams the knife on the counter, and replies in a no nonsense tone,

“Angel, you and I both know it’s because once again, you’re not tempering the chocolate the way I showed you. That’s the only way anyone gets a clean separation from the mold.”

Frustrated, Aziraphale decides to take it out on the mold in question, as he keeps slamming it down repeatedly, trying to get more to separate.

Which Crowley won’t stand for, “Hey, hey, no. Don’t do that.”

The angel reminds him, “This is attempt number 7! And I almost never mess up this badly!”

The demon replies, “So now you know. It’s not as easy as hobby baking.”

And of course, Aziraphale’s not about to let him get away with that, “I beg your pardon? When was the last time you baked for the fun of it?”

Crowley opens his mouth, but whatever he was going to say dies on his tongue, and just admits vaguely, “Long time ago.”

Aziraphale pushes, “And you probably struggled just as much as I am right now, didn’t you?”

“Doubtful, angel.” Croelwy replies, as he uses the bench scraper to scrape off the hardened chocolate.

“Is that a promise?” Aziraphale challenges. “Because if I may, what do you say to a little game?”

That gets Crowley to stop and look right at the angel, “A game?”

An hour or two later, in the hotel kitchen, Aziraphale’s mixing cupcake batter, and Crowley’s still putting his ingredients together.

“Scuse me, angel.” The demon says as he reaches past him for the vanilla. 

“Oh I can see it now. It looks...” Aziraphale teases.

“I’m getting there. Shut up.” Crowley says good naturedly.  

Aziraphale tries to gesture with his elbow, “You need to stir it in.”, right as the demon scrambles to do so.

Then he asks, “Sorry, how much salt do I add to this?”

Aziraphale supplies, “Only a tad.”

Which the demon apparently doesn’t find helpful, “What the bloody heaven is a tad?”

Aziraphale tries again, “A little.”

So of course the demon has to ask again, “How little?”

Aziraphale keeps trying, “More than a pinch, less than a smidge.”

The demon calls him out, “Alright, now I know this is just you getting a little payback while proving you were right.”

“Oh no, not at all my dear.” Aziraphale says quickly, then shows the demon his own bowl of batter. “This is.”

When he sees the exasperated look on Crowley’s face, Aziraphale can’t help but giggle, before he goes to grab the flour.

Behind him, he hears, “Tell me, angel. How long have you been baking like this?”

As Aziraphale comes back, he admits, “Oh, well, I owe it all to being demoted from Principality.”

Crowley tries to trip him up, “Oh, so you’ve always known what a tad is?”