Aziraphale plans to avoid any holiday traditions that bring back memories of his late husband until he receives a gift from a handsome shop owner. To move on from his loss, Aziraphale works for a balance between his memories and finding a future.
Aziraphale flips the sign on the bookshop’s door to “Closed”, then locks up for the night, giving the shop’s entrance a wistful glance before he heads upstairs to his flat above the shop.
But even so, he still catches a glance out the window, and of course Shadwell is out there, walking by, when he looks up and offers a wave towards the angel.
Said angel replies with a polite wave back, but otherwise just makes the rest of the walk up in complete silence.
Even the festive Christmas lights hanging on the neighboring shops can cheer him up, which is a shame, because those used to never fail to make him smile.
The angel opens the door and walks into his nearly empty flat, with the exception of appliances and stacks of books everywhere, and not a Christmas decoration in sight.
Kokabiel would’ve seen it as a golden opportunity to outdo themselves from the previous year. There was a time when Aziraphale and Kokabiel had gone over every damn surface in their old godforsaken flat, which somehow was even smaller than this one, looking to maximize the Christmas experience, and every year, they got better and better.
Now, Aziraphale can only see it as the perfect place to forget the holiday exists altogether.
He goes over to the answering machine, which has a blinking light telling him there’s a message, not that there’s a phone up here to return the call.
As the message plays, Aziraphale just sorts his daily mail on his bed,
“Mr. Fell, it’s Mr. Young. Just thought we’d ask what your Christmas plans were. We’d love to invite you for our festivities. We understand if you have other plans, or are too busy to make any, but we thought we’d just extend an invitation anyway. Tadfield’s not all that far from Soho. All us Youngs here hope you’ll be alright. Happy Christmas, Mr. Fell.”
Right as the message ends, Aziraphale pulls out a decorative holiday card with the family on front, which makes his eyes go straight towards the empty corner, where there’s a handmade sign declaring,
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
When Aziraphale had presented it to him, Kokabiel had gotten all teary eyed and wrapped him in a bone crushing hug that nearly discorporated him, before hanging the sign on the wall, declaring it the best Christmas present ever.
But that corner would never come to be used for its designated purpose, as the following January turned out to be the fateful one that snatched his husband away from him forever, and the last time Aziraphale ever saw him was the night before, when Kokabiel had declared he needed to go to his old Mayfair flat to catch some rest away from the city noise.
Just as quickly, Aziraphale closes the lid on those painful memories, wipes his eyes, and makes the flat go dark for the night.
The next morning, Aziraphale’s back at the rink for his daily recreation.
