Fallen Angels (Ineffable Husbands/Crowley and Aziraphale)

9. A Marathon and a Question

 "You are about to embark upon one of the most wild and wonderful experiences of your lifetime," Crowley said, throwing a blanket over Aziraphale's lap. "By my calculations, this will take 3.27 days nonstop, and we have everything we could ever possibly need or want, although really everything is just a miracle away. I still can't believe you've never watched Friends before."

"I am sorry I haven't bothered myself with television, but I have other more important things to be doing. Spreading goodness and all that. Thwarting evil."

"Well, you can take three days off," the demon said, cuddling up next to Aziraphale under the blanket with a bowl of popcorn. They were in Crowley's apartment in front of his large flatscreen TV. Crowley had, as if by some miracle, never had to pay for Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. He had prepared at least twenty different bowls of popcorn, each a different type. He had regular popcorn, movie theater popcorn, kettlecorn, smartfood, some italian popcorn with seasoning, and various other popcorn recipes he had found. He had even cooked up some maple bacon popcorn, and had made homemade popcorn balls. He had a full array of chocolates, and several other treats.

Crowley had watched Friends more times than he could count, so he had to admit, he dozed off for quite a bit of the first season. He had underestimated how hard it would be to watch all 10 seasons nonstop. After the first season and several bowls of popcorn, Crowley, despite it being his idea, was unbelievably bored. He turned to Aziraphale, who was absolutely captivated by the show, and kissed his neck, his hand resting gently on the angel's thigh.

"I'm trying to watch the show," Aziraphale said politely. "If you haven't noticed, Phoebe married a gay ice dancer and I find it simply riveting."

"I'm glad you find it 'simply riveting'," Crowley said, mocking the angel's voice. He laid down on the couch with his head on Aziraphale's lap and his long legs dangling off the end. He looked up at Aziraphale with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

"This is what you wanted to do. You chose to do this."

"Yeah, well now I want to do this," Crowley said, sitting up and kissing Aziraphale as passionately as he could.

Aziraphale tried to maintain his composure, but it didn't last long. "I mean, when you do it like that ..." and Crowley kissed him again. "Wait," Aziraphale said," I don't want to miss anything."

Crowley groaned, snapped his fingers and the tv paused. "That better?"

"Definitely," Aziraphale said, grabbing the lapels of Crowley's jacket and pulling him close. "But not for long. I want to find out what's going to happen."

"What's going to happen if you're going to pry your eyes away from the tv and give your boyfriend some attention."

"About that," Aziraphale said hesitantly, but whatever he was going to say, he changed his mind. "Never mind."

"No, what were you going to say?" Crowley asked, curious, but Aziraphale kissed him and he forgot about it entirely.

A week later, Aziraphale pulled Crowley out of the bookshop for a dinner at the Ritz.

"What's the occasion?" Crowley asked.

"Oh, nothing, really. A table for two opened up and I figured we'd have some dinner. I hope that's quite alright."

"They just happened to have a table for two?" Crowley asked with a smile. "At a place like the Ritz, only a miracle could've done that."

"Okay, so maybe I had a little something to do with it. Please just humor me. For one night."

The two drove to the Ritz together in the Bentley, and got their usual table. Crowley ordered a red wine, Aziraphale a little champagne, and together, they dined. Crowley was a little concerned for his friend, as he had a harder time than usual holding conversation and was fidgeting more than he usually would.

"Would you mind telling me what's bothering you?" the demon asked.

"Well, I suppose it's why I brought you here anyway, so I might as well tell you. I mean, now is as good a time as ever, right? Unless I held it off for another year or too, but I spent so much time gathering the courage now, I might as well—"

Crowley put his hand on top of Aziraphale's. "Calm down. Now, what is it you wanted to say?"

"It's just ... it's just that we've been friends for so long, even though sometimes it was hard for me to admit—and I am truly sorry about that, I know my words have had a tendency to hurt before and—I'm sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I? What I'm trying to say, is, you've always gone too fast for me Crowley. It takes me a bit to catch up and now I'm scared this may be too fast for you, but really when you think about 6,000 years, it's almost like we've already ..." Aziraphale sighed and took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is," he said, getting down on one knee and fumbling for the ring he had in his pocket, "Crowley, you have been by my side for 6,000 years and through ups and downs, fights and literal wars, you have stayed by my side. We have been through so much together, you and I, and I don't want to go through any of my life without you. I know it's really a human tradition, but ... Crowley, will you make me the happiest angel alive and marry me?"

Crowley's face wore an expression more commonly found on Aziraphale's, blushing pink with a most true and honest smile. Aziraphale could have sworn that for a second, he had tears in his eyes. "Yes," he said. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Overwhelmed with joy, the two embraced.

The servers who had waited on them for years at the Ritz, who had also all placed bets on how long it would take for the two of them to finally get married, all passed around the money they owed to each other. Most had bet it would have happened a long time ago, at least one thought they still had another ten years to go before he thought one would finally propose, and one waitress had the date of the proposal exactly right, not just in the year, but the month, day, and even hour of the proposal, although she was off by almost seven minutes.

"I'll have you know," Crowley said, as they sat back down at their table. "You are definitely not going too fast for me." He pulled a shiny engagement ring out of his pocket. "I've been holding onto this baby since the 16th century."