The sixth collection of some of my favourite fics since the release of Good Omens 2. All ineffable husbands/spouses and includes post-season 2 fics, AUs, missing scenes, canon divergence and some spanning the entire show. Some novel-length recs in this one! As always, all are completed.
Please remember to leave comments and kudos on AO3! I've tried to include tumblr handles where they were mentioned. Feel free to drop me a message if you're included and want your handle added.
Previous volumes can be found here.
the best of the world in the palm of our hands | middyblue (daisyblaine)
Crowley seems to be going through a bad breakup and Maggie just wants to help. Apparently, the world is also ending.
How has this not got more comments?!? One of the best post season 2 fics I’ve read. It’s epic in scale, I adored Crowley and Maggie’s friendship and them running about the country trying to save humanity. Such a fantastic fic with brilliant characterisation.
affection and other cravings | JustStandingHere @sightofsea
But you admit it! You did tempt me!”
“I offered you warm food during a storm,” Crowley argues. “If you call that temptation, I’d hate to see you talk to an innkeeper.” Aziraphale scowls some more. Crowley shrugs. “Besides, no harm done. You seem to be enjoying yourself.”
He has Aziraphale there. “Still,” he says, spreading his hands wide. “It has to be said—” He glances up to the sky. “—for anyone listening, that I am not at fault for my appetite.”
“Never said you were,” Crowley says. “Just said you liked the oysters.”
or, an examination vis-à-vis food and forgiveness
I adored this. The longing over millennia, the parts that expand on times we did see and the times we didn’t. Aziraphale’s journey of questioning heaven and coming to terms with that is so brilliantly written. And this interaction gave me such major Everything Everywhere All At Once’s ‘In another life…’ feels:
As if Aziraphale could ever be sick of him. He’s gotten sicker from the distance. Even now they stand four feet away from each other, and it’s too far. “You could've stayed longer than that,” he confesses.
Crowley blinks. “Could I have?” he asks, voice soft.
Aziraphale swallows thickly. He smiles ruefully. “Yes,” he says. “I imagine I would have been happy spending the rest of my life with you.”
Postcards From Paris | ghostrat
Crowley has just moved into his Mayfair apartment and finds a postcard addressed to the previous tenant. With no return address, he's left to collect and read the mysterious A.Z.F.'s adventures across Europe, where he hunts for bizarre bibles and rates ridiculously expensive wine in his free time. The question is: How will A.Z.F. react when Crowley finally gets his return address and writes back?
---
It was different, he knew, to accidentally read someone else’s postcard versus intentionally perusing one in place of good newspaper over coffee. Crowley decided he was allowed that indecency, to balance out the good deed of safeguarding the mail in the first place.
He kicked his feet up onto his desk, scooped up the takeaway coffee that was brought around by their newest intern, and settled in to read some of the most densely crowded handwriting he’d ever laid eyes on.
Coziness is very much a theme in this fic and it’s the perfect word to describe the fic itself. So warm and the perfect fic to have chosen to hunker down with on a miserable day.
Stolen Moments | LyricalKris
Did it really take six thousand years for Aziraphale and Crowley to figure out they were made for each other? Or did they stumble onto the truth, again and again, only to be thwarted by meddling forces for ineffable purposes?
Gabriel and Beezlebub are really the worst.
This was such a unique premise - that Aziraphale and Crowley repeatedly get together over the centuries only to be caught and have their memories erased. Really enjoyed how it expanded on moments we say in the series and added times we hadn’t, and ultimately tied into where we’re at in canon post season 2.
Haunted | TawnyOwl95
Professional skeptic Anthony Crowley is down on his luck. Broke and lonely it's hard not to feel jealous of famous medium Aziraphale Fell, especially when Crowley knows it's all a hustle.
The problem is, Crowley feels a great many things for Aziraphale. When they agree to spend a night together in Britain's most haunted hospital, it gets increasingly more difficult to hide them.
This was great - always love a good ghost hunting AU and this is such a fun twist. Would love a sequel!
Good Neighbors | Linebreaker
Aziraphale stared down at the assembled collection of white, tan, and silver before him and tried to feel anything other than nervous. When he spoke, his voice was deep and authoritative.
“All right, this is how this is going to go: We are all going to work together on this. You will do as I command. If you listen and obey, rest assured that I will help you through this. In the end, you will become more than yourselves. You will become something extraordinary.” He held up a clenched fist, brandishing a whisk like a sword. “Do you understand?”
The assortment of flour, sugar, eggs, and other baking ingredients lined up on the counter gave no indication that they heard him or cared about what he wanted.
Aziraphale looked over at Crowley. “Does this normally work for you?”
Part 5 of Raising Adam
Loving this series where Crowley kidnapped the antichrist instead of doing the baby swap. Fully recommend going back and reading it from the start. Such a fun idea for an AU and love how everyone is written.
trajectory | lupinely
After Aziraphale leaves, Crowley gets on with things. He reads one of Aziraphale’s favorite books. Every now and then, Aziraphale calls from Heaven. Sometimes they even talk.
---
Crowley awoke later that night to the sound of his telephone ringing. He fell out of his armchair, stomped over to the phone, and picked it up. “Muriel?”
“Who? Oh, no.” A pause. “Crowley? Is that you?”
It wasn’t Muriel. “The one and only,” Crowley said stupidly.
There was a long silence. “Oh,” said Aziraphale on the other end, at last.
“You sound very surprised about that for someone who called me.”
“I thought I would get your answering machine.” Aziraphale sounded quite far away, farther than usual when they spoke on the phone. Perhaps Heaven’s connection wasn’t very good.
“Well, you’ve got me,” Crowley said, without thinking about it.
Oh, I loved this. How measured Crowley is about the whole situation and how Aziraphale’s reading choices help him cope with his perceived duty.
Something Missing | fishey_me
"See, I manage the records in Heaven, and I found a… problem. They're… wrong?"
Crowley blinked. "You're asking me?"
"Yes. No. No, sorry. It's hard to explain. I think there's been a murder. In Heaven."
He sat straight up. "A what?"
Or: Aziraphale gets erased from the Book of Life. Can a Crowley and Muriel who never knew he existed solve the mystery of what happened and save the lost angel?
This was a really fun take on Aziraphale being struck from the Book of Life. I loved his appearances throughout the story and how Muriel still came to Crowley for help without knowing either of them.
Illusion | ddagent @ddagent
Retired illusionist Aziraphale Crowley now spends his days hyping up his boyfriend, the Amazing Mister Fell.
I just love Aziraphale being terrible at magic but Crowley being so besotted that it doesn’t matter one bit. It’s the kind of thing I’d find annoying in real life but with these two I find utterly charming 😂
More Than Shades of Grey | Excalibruh
The world is full of colour. Crowley thinks he has no choice in his shade, and Aziraphale knows there's only ever been one side.
Sometimes, the Bentley is yellow.
Really enjoyed this fic but I adored the epilogue chapter. I could picture them so clearly at a town meeting and I love the idea of people intuitively being able to tell they’re not human.
Eggnog and Effervescence | RepQueen15
Crowley turned so as to be able to watch the rest of the movie, and his ear pressed against Aziraphale’s thigh. He felt the angel tremble a little, as though this weren’t just some small service to him either, though that was nothing short of ridicule.
Or perhaps…?
No. This was just Aziraphale being his perfect, soft self.
Though maybe, just maybe, Crowley wasn’t the only one who needed a little more physical contact in his life.
***
Crowley and Aziraphale spend a quiet Christmas Eve putting up fairy lights, getting tipsy on eggnog, watching ridiculous Christmas movies and... cuddling.
It’s never too early for a Christmas fic and this is delightful. Loved the intricate rituals to get close without fully admitting the reason why.
love is going to lead you by the hand | mygalfriday (BrinneyFriday)
In all their time together, Aziraphale has grown used to the many and varied ways Crowley looks at him. Mercurial creature that he is, Crowley never runs out of emotions and his face displays them all so clearly. Never, in the whole history of their long acquaintance, has Crowley ever looked at Aziraphale the way he looks at him now.
A finale fix-it based on the ‘Do it again. Please’ quote. Really enjoyed this, it’s brilliantly in character.
whickber street hearsay | Odokuro
“Do you think they’re off on a romantic holiday, or do you think they’ve actually resolved it?”
‘It’ being the relationship that, to the poor knowledge of all the other shopkeepers on Whickber Street, is already established. Nina and Maggie seem to be the only ones who know what’s what, and even then, neither of them feel like they know what’s what.
Mr. Crowley chose an excellent time to walk into Nina’s café, alone.
-
In all the changing of names and faces on Whickber Street, Mr. A. Z. Fell and his husband are the one reliable constant. On a random day in an oddly rainy summer, that constant comes to an end.
This was extremely fun. I loved each of the local business owner’s views on what was going on and how the author fleshed them out as characters.
a rarer height | hyruling @hyruling
Perhaps it wasn’t sin that he’d tempted Eve with after all. Perhaps when she took the apple and chose free will, what she really chose was the freedom to love beyond the compulsory kind that was all she'd known. All because a demon had looked too long at an angel.
Aziraphale’s head falls heavily on Crowley’s shoulder, and he stops thinking about God and ineffable plans. He already knows everything he needs to know.
One of those fics that I’ve already read a few times. The narrative use of two timelines is great and I’ve got such a soft spot for fics where Crowley has already bought the cottage.
Tomfoolery and other ways to say It | DoonaRose
Aziraphale and Crowley settle into a relationship with all the frills. Aziraphale has his own ideas about how to refer to what they get up to in the bedroom. Crowley is not, at all, on board with these flowery euphemisms (Actually, he does not care, he's just disgustingly happy).
He didn’t have to wait long because the very next evening, Aziraphale was overly fidgety. He turned down a glass of wine and then opened and closed three different books without ever reading a page before standing up quite loudly to ask, “Shall we retire upstairs for some tomfoolery?”
Crowley’s face shifted automatically into a sneer which then tumbled into a grimace as his shoulders tightened with concern that Aziraphale would take his revulsion that wrong way. Crowley was very quick to say, “Don’t call it that.”
This was ridiculously fun and such a good exploration of the sheer number of euphemisms in the English language.
run across the river (just to hold you tonight) | hope_in_the_dark @hope-inthedark
In which their first kiss happens differently (and they have five percent better communication.)
Based on that one ask where Neil said he meant to give us a Wild West flashback but couldn’t because of budget reasons.
A lovely canon divergence with some incredibly vivid scene setting.
5 Milestones on Wickber Street | ras_elased
“How did you get a baby?" Nina asked.
“Long story,” Crowley said casually, tossing the diaper bag into the nearby armchair. “There was kidnapping involved.”
“Oh, tosh,” Mr. Fell chided, sounding scandalized. “I prefer to think of it as rescuing.”
Nina felt about a thousand new questions arising in her mind. “Seriously, do I need to be telling Inspector Constable over there to have you arrested?” She motioned to Muriel, who was copying Maggie and squeezing chubby hands and feet and whispering to the baby in soft murmurs.
Crowley looked over at Muriel. “Oh, we tried that once, it didn’t take.”
Muriel glanced up and smiled. “That’s true,” they said, helpfully.
“…I need a drink,” Nina said as she headed straight for the stash of alcohol.
OR
JC's first year from the viewpoint of 5 people who love him.
Part 3 of Ineffable Fathers
The third fic in a series and fully recommend reading them all. This is a lovely series of vignettes after Aziraphale kidnaps baby Jesus of his and Crowley’s first year raising him. There’s some lovely Vinylatte development and the last one leading into the South Downs is perfect.
The Subtle Electric Fire | Chash
It's a dark and stormy night, miracles are out of order, and Aziraphale and Crowley still haven't had a real conversation.
This is a lovely idea and lovingly executed. Plus I’m always glad to see good things for Muriel!
On The Side | FeralTuxedo
Aziraphale is far too pure of heart to be anybody’s bit on the side. Or so Crowley thinks. But when his friend starts seeing walking red flag Jim, with his dodgy smiles and mysterious past, Crowley does everything he can to protect Aziraphale from disaster. His own heart might just end up being collateral damage.
This was really fun! Loved how the other characters were woven in and how long it took me to realise who one of them was! So many nods to canon brilliantly woven in too and I adored where Crowley’s career ended up - would happily read a follow up of just that 😂
When Maggie sends that note to Mr. Fell, she expects to have a stern conversation about fiscal responsibility and unpaid rent. Followed by, possibly, her begging for one more week for her to pack her belongings and leave the shop.
She doesn't expect the wrong part of "A. Z. Fell And Co." to visit her.
Part 4 of Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeepers Association Daily Observations
A really sweet canon divergence to episode 1 of season 2. I love little slice-of-life fics like this and how clear it is that Aziraphale adores Crowley when he finds out what happened.
Normally I'm not one to throw out theories, but I just have to here.
As a writer, who also works in publishing, the first rule you learn is: No unnecessary details. Why? Because details cost money. Every word in a manuscript costs money, every minute in an Audiobook costs money and even more so, every second, every line, every prop on a screen costs money.
And there were just too many details. Sure, you need some detail to not let the story feel flat, details are important, always, but here it were just so many.
The line about the new boss, Rouge's lost partner, the ring (Prop!), the bouquet (Prop!)... Sure, all were wonderful, but ultimately not really necessary, what they were however doing, is building a deep, layered Character, and why would they need this, if they really were just going to use him once.
But most importantly, the tiny, "insignificant" moment, where the Doctor changes the Triangle to no longer kill, but transport. Why would they have added this, if not for a character they plan to bring back to get trapped in it. No, it needed to be changed, so that Rogue can realistically come back, so that he can be found.
And let's be honest, that chemistry was too good to just let it go.
Also, if Doctor Who loves one thing, it's closure. No unfinished business, by any means necessary. And the Doctor falling head over heels, accepting his ring, kissing him and then loosing him is not unfinished business, I don't know what is. (Also, "Find me"? Hello?)
I may of course be completely wrong, but let's remember that River died in her first episode and later came back because there still was a story to tell.
My theory, or hope, is, that Rogue becomes the new River/Jack. The Doctor's sporadic spouse, popping in and out of the plot.
Feel free to add to this, scream at me in the comments or prove me wrong.
So I know I’ve been AWOL for ages but had to come on to post to say - if any of my It/Reddie followers are still on here the Escape It escape room in Vegas is AMAZING.
They have what feel like almost full set recreations, including the sewers, the house Niebolt Street and Bill’s garage (there’s a separate tour for It Chapter 2 with the clubhouse, Jade of the Orient, and other parts of Niebolt). Pennywise is SO well acted and looks far more realistic than I expected (also feel like we bonded by the end - he’d just go round me to scare the rest of my group then come back so we could wave at each other 😂).
But what really made me want to go is that they have props from the films!! Wasn’t allowed to take photos during the tour due to the licensing agreement with WB (there’s some good videos on YouTube though), but here’s some of the prop displays.
is there anything more powerful than taking a chracter/historical figure that's tradionally been depicted as "straight cis man who can't show vulnerability because that would be considered a weakness" and not only making him gay but also making him cry and show vulnerabilty on screen without turning it into a sign of weakness? in fact, ed's vulnerability is repeatedly shown as a good trait and that's done so little on tv that it was almost startling to see. bless this show.
happy 2024! this month we will focus on arcs - a chance for you to gif about your favourite character development or even artistic growth of a musician that you enjoy listening to! this even runs from january 1st ~ 29th. the submission window closes at 11:59pm (pacific standard time) on january 29th.
to participate:
✦ join the network
✦ reblog this post
✦ make a gifset that fits this month’s prompt
✦ caption your post with: @pscentral event 23: arcs
feel free to message us if you have any questions about the event. we’re excited to see what you create!