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"Give me a minute."
Crowley's expression faltered. "Have I… Have I said the wrong thing?"
Aziraphale shook his head, blinking furiously. "No. No, you've said the you thing and the you thing has always been better at being the right thing than whatever I've tried to do."
Frowning, Crowley stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well, the Aziraphale thing has always been better at trying than the me thing."
"It's not—" Aziraphale swallowed. "It's not a criticism of myself. I know the decision we've made is the right thing. I know it is and we have to… We're going to do it. I just need a minute."
Crowley watched, heart aching, as Aziraphale sucked in a trembling breath and nodded sharply to himself, turning to face Crowley again.
"Right. I have rather a lot to say and it's all being said a bit too late, I'm afraid," Aziraphale said with a watery chuckle. "We've been on this planet — or, on what was the planet — for a very long time and I've known you for even longer than that. And I have wasted years doing entirely the wrong thing and pushing you away and hurting you because I wanted to protect you. I've always tried to do the right thing and I always seem to somehow mess it up."
"Angel," Crowley interjected. Aziraphale shook his head again and held up a hand.
"It's alright. I did do one thing that I am absolutely sure was the right thing and that was become your friend. Your best friend. And doing that one good thing led to an array of smaller good deeds." Here Aziraphale choked back a sob and glanced away before returning his gaze to Crowley. "And it led to the second best thing that I'm absolutely sure was the right thing that I've ever done. It led me to falling in love with you."
Crowley was smiling a little now, broken and quivering but still there.
Emboldened, Aziraphale pressed on. "And you have to know. You have to know that there is no universe that could ever exist that would be able to capture… The extent of my love for you knows no bounds. I have loved you since before time. And I never said it." A sob broke free from his mouth, the sound ripped out of him. "And I never showed it. And I should—"
"You did," Crowley interrupted gently, reaching out and taking Aziraphale's hands softly in his. "You did show it. You showed it all the time."
Aziraphale sniffed harshly, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. "But I didn't. I never told you."
Crowley bit his lip to stop it trembling so harshly. "You didn't have to."
Inhaling shakily, Aziraphale nodded. "I do now. I love you. More than anything."
Crowley let out a breath, equally as shaky. "You know what we have to do? What I have to do?"
Aziraphale nodded again, smiling weakly. "I know. I love you. I love you because of what you're going to do. What we're going to do. Oh, come here."
He tugged Crowley into a hug, clinging on for dear life as he wept into Crowley's shoulder. Crowley clung back just as tightly, closing his teary eyes and swaying them both from side to side. They held each other for a long time, though to everything else it was no time at all.
When they pulled back, just an inch, Aziraphale lifted his hands to Crowley's face and cupped it with a reverence that was unmatched in the whole of time and the whole of before it.
"I love you," he repeated.
"I love you," Crowley said back, voice breaking. "You ready?"
Aziraphale nearly laughed. "I don't think I ever will be but yes. Just one last thing."
"Another thing?" Crowley said, cut off from teasing by Aziraphale kissing him.
Crowley gasped into the kiss, overwhelmed by the adoration poured into it. Every atom of his and every atom of Aziraphale's was tangled up in an indistinguishable mess of love. Aziraphale's hands were on Crowley's face, then sliding down to his shoulders to pull him closer, then one was travelling down to Crowley's hand to squeeze it in reassurance. Crowley, of course, gave as good as he got. He summoned every ounce of his being and gave it all to Aziraphale. Every part of him was the angel's. It was everything he'd ever wanted.
And this was the first and last time he'd have it.
When they broke apart, both their faces were stained with each other's tears.
It had been a very chaste kiss but that didn't negate the eternal flame that burned inside them both.
"Loving you has been the honour of my life," Aziraphale said quietly, still holding Crowley's hand and shoulder, squeezing again. "And I know it wasn't easy for you to love me but I—"
"It was," Crowley said, squeezing Aziraphale's hand right back. "Easiest thing I've ever done."
Aziraphale beamed.
Crowley cleared his throat but not harshly. "We should probably get back to God."
The bright smile on Aziraphale's face didn't falter. "Let's go give humanity another chance."
Hand in hand, they left the Garden of Eden and returned to the bookshop.