1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

disclaimer: crowley and azirapale belong to neil gaiman and terry pratchett, not me. one day, i might accept this fact.

a belated birthday present for my friend, lili; some slash! it's my first attempt at deliberate slash, so please to be excusing the suck. hopefully, this'll get me out of my writer's block funk of doom.

happy birthday, lili!

crowley's grin was maddening, in more ways than aziraphale cared to admit, and when he spoke, aziraphale realized that he was much too close.

"i do trust that you're familiar with the term 'ineffability?'" he jested.

aziraphale felt something deep and sacred in the very, intrinsic, angelic core of him twitch.

"well, yes, but one can't keep using that as an excuse to do just anything one pleases," he blurted. "it's not 'oh, fancy that, i've bludgeoned an infant, must be some unexplainable part of god's mysterious plan.' in the end, the big picture will inevitably be part of the heavenly design, but that doesn't excuse one from trying, you know. the effort, the intent, is what really matters. one has to try. that's the whole point." he looked at crowley doubtfully, as though asking 'isn't it?'

crowley shrugged and fixed aziraphale with a look of amusement.

"be that as it may," he said. "i would just like to point out that there is a very big difference between infanticide and a kiss."

"yes," said aziraphale. "well."

"isn't there?" persisted crowley.

"yes," snapped aziraphale, a blush creeping up the back of his neck. "yes, i said there is."

crowley slid casually onto the sofa, draping a careless arm around aziraphale's shoulders and pulling the angel toward him as if taking him into strict confidence.

"and in comparison to your example, a kiss certainly seems the lesser of two evils, doesn't it?"

aziraphale's attempt to respond was thwarted as crowley's finger traced a teasing line down the side of his neck, and his throat clamped shut. steadying himself with a deep

eath, aziraphale gripped the demon's wrist and pulled the offending hand away.

"be that as it may, my dear," he said, his voice strained with forced calm. "the lesser of two evils is still an evil." he shot crowley a quick, pointed look before turning his attention to the book on his lap, if only because he didn't trust his eyes not to meet the slices of gold currently peering at him over crowley's sunglasses. nothing good could come of that—after six thousand years of accidental eye contact, aziraphale knew well what it did to his resolve.

crowley frowned. it occurred to him that it might not have been his wisest decision to grant something the title of "evil" while trying to persuade aziraphale to do it. but, ah well, hindsight was always 20/20, wasn't it? not that crowley saw any point in lingering on the past. he sighed, shifting on the sofa in a slow, deliberate manner that pressed his arm flush against aziraphale's for longer than was essentially necessary. he noted the way aziraphale's entire body stiffened, though that might have been nothing more than annoyance.

aziraphale noticed, then, that he had been staring determinedly at the same sentence for a good two minutes. when crowley let out another heavy, long-suffering sigh, he glanced sideways and asked, a little irritably,

"what are you sighing about?"

in response, crowley scowled at him. "nothing," he said. aziraphale raised a meticulously groomed eye

ow. crowley couldn't be…pouting, could he? it was the angel's turn to sigh as he returned his attention to his book.