Just a heads up: yesterday I dropped the new chapter of Pages About You, Pages About Me! The human AU where Aziraphale is a bookseller and Crowley a comic book dealer, and together they are two lovely morons who are experiencing the sloooowest of burns.
Hope you like this chapter at least half as I enjoyed writing it. ☺️
As always, I hope you have a helluva read!
“Mr Fell? Are you alright?”
Aziraphale looked up, startled. He looked around and suddenly realised that the rush hour had passed. The café was practically empty, with a couple of customers sitting at a table. It was Nina who had called him, as she was cleaning the table next to his.
How long had he been sitting there, lost in thought?
“Oh, Nina… I would like to say yes, but I would be lying,” Aziraphale replied, distressed.
“Yeah, I figured,” she responded, then sat down across from him. “You’ve barely touched your food. Your scribbles are indecipherable. What’s happened?”
Aziraphale started wringing his hands, nervous. He paused for a moment, contemplating whether he should talk to Nina about Crowley’s invitation.
But she beat him to it: “Is this about Mr Crowley?”
Aziraphale stared, stammering something inarticulate, surprised that his mood could be connected to Crowley. Was he really that much at the mercy of his feelings?
Seeing his reaction, Nina grew more serious, almost angry. “Did he do something to hurt you? If so, I swear…”
Aziraphale hurriedly raised his hands to stop Nina from saying something unpleasant. “Oh, no, no! He hasn’t done anything harmful. I assure you.”
Nina paused, but remained visibly sceptical. “So what’s he done, that idiot?”
The bookseller was gripping his hands so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. His face, however, was turning crimson. He felt terribly embarrassed at the mere thought of explaining the topic of his last conversation with Crowley. He hesitated. “Well…”
Nina leaned forward, resting her arms on the table, but waited patiently. “Well?”
“…He invited me to go with him to a club to see a show.”
