Aziraphale & Crowley: An Ineffable Love Story

That Celestial Spawn

Give me Coffee or Give me Death
(Nina's Coffee Shop)
Present

"It must be a surprise to find out right outside of the business I owe, wouldn't it?" she asked sarcastically

Crowley rolled his eyes. A few moments of silence followed and Nina's eyes filled with pity. Crowley's first instinct was to turn back around, get into his car, and drive out of Soho as fast as he could. However, he did find it consoling to run into people who knew Aziraphale.

"Any chance you would like a cup of coffee?" she broke the silence.

"It is getting rather late, I should probably go. Lots of stuff to attend to" he said.

He was immensely disappointed in himself because it had been the most unconvincing lie that had left his demonic mouth.

Nina frowned as she obviously did not believe him.

"I could desperately use the company. Maggie has been visiting her family for the past 3 weeks and I have been enjoying my closing-time coffee all by myself. You would be doing me a great favor" she said with the sweetest tone, which was a new skill she had acquired from dating Maggie.

"Oh, so you and Maggie...are...?" he asked while trying to desperately change the topic.

He liked Nina, but he was in no mood to have a multilevel interpersonal conversation with her.

"Oh yes, thanks to your meddling I suppose" she said. "We are quite happy you know, it has been quite fulfilling to love Maggie. And to receive the same amount of healthy love from her has just been..." she said without finishing the sentence, just weirdly gesturing and imitating an explosion with her hands.

Crowley smirked. He remembered that Nina was not quite good at expressing her emotions. He also remembered that she was good at setting and respecting boundaries. Perhaps a coffee wouldn't be such a terrible idea.

"So, about that coffee...?" she asked.

"Alright, since you insist" he said and followed Nina inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I have already gathered most of the chairs for closing, but there still is a table set at the corner. Take a seat, and I will be back with coffee" she said and disappeared behind the counter.

Crowley made his way to the corner table and sat comfortably in one of the two chairs. He had missed Nina's coffee. He had tried many different coffee shops over the years in Soho, but only Nina got the consistency of an espresso to his liking.

Nina comes back shortly and has two cups of coffee.

"This one is for you" she said and handed over the big cup to Crowley. "I put some oat milk in there to calm the nerves."

Crowley frowned.

"Oh don't give me that look. I saw you when you entered the bookshop you know? And that was several hours ago. I do think you need something to calm your nerves down" she said.

Crowley did not know how to respond.

"So, did you find what you were looking for?" she said.

The question took Crowley back.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know for a fact that Muriel wouldn't just sit and talk to you for several hours. You being a Demon and her being a law-abiding Angel. You know, I don't see you two having a lot to say" she said and took a sip of her coffee.