It was July, and a rather warm one at that. Warm, but not too hot; just enough to be pleasant.
At least, that was the weather in Canada.
“I still don't quite get why you wanted to visit Canada, angel,”
Crowley inquired with his hands in his pockets. They were standing on the sidewalk, watching a festive but quaint parade march its way down the street.
At least, that's what Aziraphale was watching happily. Crowley, however, was thankful that his dark glasses hid the little glances he kept stealing.
“Well, what's not to get, dear boy?”
Aziraphale responded, smiling at the floats of cheerful folks followed by a spirited marching band.
“It's fun! Look at all the culture we get to enjoy!— You know, I heard that there's no real standard celebration in Canada for their independence day. Isn't that charming? Why, it's a whole country of people just…happy to celebrate and be themselves, even just for a single day.”
“Well, when you put it like that …”
Crowley made a sort of mocking expression, caught somewhere between wanting to look cool and indifferent but also being completely moved by his angel's words. After all, it was hard to remain unswayed when Aziraphale spoke like that.
His smile was like the gentle sunshine of a spring day.
“Alright, guess we might as well enjoy this Canada Day business. Where to next, angel?”
Aziraphale turned away from the parade to think for a moment, scanning the different stands which had taken over the sidewalks and street a bit farther down.
“Hm, let's see… Do you think they have anywhere that sells books?”
“Mmm, dunno,”
Crowley replied, looking around for himself.
“Looks like it's mostly carnival games, kiddy rides, ‘n confections.”
“Confections, you say?”
The demon immediately knew he'd said the wrong thing when Aziraphale turned to look at him with excitement and eyes as bright as stars.
Crowley's biggest weakness.
~~
Before long, the two had acquired a handful of Canadian sweets to keep them company as they perused the various attractions.
“Oh, these are simply wonderful!”
Aziraphale exclaimed as he bit into a small butter tart. He had an order of about five of the sugary treats in a small bag, with a moderately sized Nanaimo Bar at the bottom saved for later.
“But terribly sweet. So, so sweet.”
“Well, s’long as you like it, angel,”
Crowley replied, taking a lick of his strawberry cheesecake lolly. He never entirely understood how Aziraphale could love nearly every food he came into contact with, but it still always made the demon happy to watch. After all, it was thanks to Crowley that Aziraphale came to love food in the first place, and that was something he was always quite proud of.
“So what do you want to do from here? Anything catch your fancy?”
“Hm? Mm…”
Aziraphale was admittedly half distracted by the sticky-sweet treat, attempting to draw his attention back to the various attractions.
“Oh! Crowley, dear, are you any good at ring toss?”
“Hm, I reckon pretty decent at it,”
That was a lie.
“Want me to win ya something, angel~?”
Crowley smirked, which made Aziraphale start to stumble over his words. That wily serpent…whenever he acted so cool and confident like that, it made the angel feel things he couldn't even attempt to describe.
“Oh! Uhm.. Well, ah… I, I don't suppose you have to. If you… don't want…”
The stammering only made Crowley more confident. He was already sashaying to the ring toss stand with that ridiculously smug smirk, causing Aziraphale to hurriedly trot after him.
However, the game they were met with was … much more challenging than originally planned.
“This isn't bloody ring toss!”
Crowley griped, holding up a plastic “ring” that was actually shaped like a maple leaf.
“You can't just put a hole in anything and call it a ring!”
“My dear boy, calm down!”
Aziraphale attempted to calm Crowley. Though, as he knew that wouldn't go anywhere, he instead turned to the young woman attending the attraction.
“I'm terribly sorry, miss.”
“Oh, don't worry! It's fine, rea—”
“Don't apologize for a shitty game, angel!”
Crowley interjected, even more furious as his twelfth toss had kissed the rim of the pole and skipped away. Under any other circumstances, the demon couldn't have cared less about playing the game, let alone how good he was at it or how much miracled money he wasted on it.
But this was different.
This was for his angel.
And he'd be blessed if he didn't win that silly life-sized plush rabbit for Aziraphale to pull out of a silly magician’s hat, just for Crowley to see the silly smile on his silly angelic face.
Seeing as Crowley was clearly losing his mind over this, Aziraphale couldn't bear it any longer. He sighed, watching his demon begin to smoke (quite literally!) and performed a sly miracle of his own.
Suddenly, all of Crowley’s shots were perfect. Even the ones that seemed impossible.
“Congratulations, sir! Guess the 20th time's the charm, ey?”
The attendant giggled as she presented Crowley with a white rabbit plush, bearing a red maple leaf on each side.
“Yeah, yeah. Come off it. Thanks,”
Crowley took his prize, hiding his giddy bashfulness under layers of swank and swaying hips as he left the attraction. Aziraphale followed him, incapable of keeping his own smug grin to himself.
“See? If you just keep trying—”
“Here, angel,”
The demon interrupted Aziraphale, nonchalantly handing him the rabbit.
“You can...use it for your magic act or something. ‘s real soft.”
Aziraphale looked at Crowley with surprise as he took the plush, as if his heart was touched in the softest way imaginable. Crowley could never tell if the angel was genuinely that dense or if it was all an act, but it still never ceased to give him flutters in his stomach.
“Oh, Crowley… You were doing all that for me? Is that why you were getting so ruffled?”
“Don't think too hard about it, angel. Let's just move on.”
~~
The pair eventually came upon another carnival game during their walk, which made Aziraphale stop and stare for a moment. After walking past him a few paces, Crowley spun around and matched back to his angel's side.
“I say…. What exactly is this game? Whack-a-Beaver?”
“Mm? Looks like…humans are bludgeoning fake beavers… Seems fun enough.”
“Fun? What ever do you think is fun about hurting animals??”
“Ahh, c'mon, angel. They're not real! If you can't understand what's fun about it, then why don't you,” he made a flouncy sort of movement with his hands. “Ehhhhhh, you know. Try it out for yourself.”
“What? Try it out?”
Aziraphale made an expression that was somewhere between indignation, anxiety, and consideration.
“Ohhh, I don't know…”
“C'mon, Aziraphale! It's your turn to play a carny game!”
Unfortunately, Crowley was already shoving him to the stand.
Before he knew it, the angel was standing before a medium box with six holes where squishy, mechanical beavers would pop out and taunt him.
“So, if I'm not mistaken… Whenever a beaver pops out of one of the holes, I'm to give it a whack with this…comical mallet?”
Aziraphale honestly wasn't sure whether to be delighted or disturbed by this game.
“You got it!”
The gentleman manning the game smiled brightly, turning the machine on.
“It's as simple as that. Get ready, here they come!”
Crowley stood to the side and smirked as Aziraphale nearly panicked before the game even started. However, despite the incredibly campy Pop-Goes-The-Weasle tune playing from the game, the angel was able to compose himself. He was even able to whack a couple beavers!
Until it got faster.
“Uh… C-Crowley…? Crowley dear Lord, they're so fast!”
As Aziraphale struggled with his poor celestial brain being in panic-lock, Crowley couldn't help but chuckle.
“Maybe you should channel some of that pent up frustration with Heaven and whatnot? Hitting things is a great way to release anger.”
“Pent up frustration? I don't have any pent up frustration, I—”
Still attempting to whack all the beavers, and failing miserably at it, the angel’s protests were cut short.
“What about when the Gavotte went out of style?”
“Oh, that's just humans. I can't possibly be angry about that—”
“What about when Jack died in Titanic?”
“Well, that's really more sad than mad—”
“How about when Beelzebub tried to melt me in a bath of bloody Holy Water?!”
PING!!
There it was, the chord which struck Aziraphale’s sore spot. As soon as Crowley mentioned that awful day, he was able to hit the much faster beavers in the head. Suddenly, the concept made sense.
“Oh… Oh! I think I've got it now!”
The particularly unhinged look on Aziraphale's face was beyond unnerving for the nice man running the game, but even more attractive to the proud demon watching him.
He was starting to have a rather fun day.
~~
By the time night had descended upon the Canada Day festival, Crowley was lying on his back upon a picnic blanket, admiring the stars above. It was such a clear and beautiful night, but all Crowley could think about was the lovely day he'd had with his angel.
His angel, who was currently reading a book beside him as they waited for the festival’s fireworks show.
“Hey… Aziraphale?”
“Hm? Yes, dear?”
Aziraphale responded without looking up from his novel, instead carefully turning a page before taking a bit of the poutine between them.
“I uh…. I wanted to say, thanks for convincing me to come here. It's been fun.”
“Well, I'm glad you think so! I knew it would be fun. But, you realize it isn't over yet, right? I've heard their little fireworks show is simply magnificent.”
“Yeah, yeah. I'll see for myself in a bit. Couldn't possibly compete with the birth of a nebula.”
Fwoom… POP!
It was already starting! A burst of bright green consumed the sky, catching everyone's attention. Crowley sat up and Aziraphale set aside his book as the rest of the crowd uttered scattered “Oo”s and “Ahh”s. Another burst of color shot into the sky, this time bright orange. More followed, each firework vibrant and beautiful. Some of them erupted into various shapes, while others crackled across the sky.
Crowley was absolutely captivated by the fire in the sky, and when Aziraphale noticed this, he couldn't help but take a moment to admire it. It reminded him of when they'd first met, while Crowley was creating the stars. A lot of things had changed since then, but Crowley…Crowley was still always Crowley.
Aziraphale always loved that about him.
He loved that while everyone else was fooled by those dark glasses, he could still always tell exactly what Crowley was thinking behind them.
He knew what lies behind those glasses.
“Wh— Hey, angel?!”
Crowley was taken aback as Aziraphale suddenly lifted the glasses from his face.
“Dear, you deserve to watch the show with your eyes. Unperturbed.”
Aziraphale’s smile was so bright… Brighter than the fireworks. Brighter than all the stars in the sky.
“Beautiful…”
“S…sorry…?”
Shit. He said that out loud.
So soft and low yet so impactful.
Did Aziraphale's heart stop?
It felt like his heart stopped.
Ironically, it felt like Crowley's had too.
“Crowley… I'm going to kiss you…”
“Wait, what—?”
It was like magic.
So perfect… So magical… The way Aziraphale caressed Crowley's chin and tilted it up so their lips could meet. The way the fireworks seemed to burst in time with their heartbeats.
It left Crowley overflowing with passion. With love. Emotions which overflowed into their warm embrace, ignorant of the world which surrounded them.