Queerplatonic
For the Ace Omens aro week prompts (this is the Tuesday one, but I'm behind).
~
“I found something,” Aziraphale said by way of greeting.
“Nice to see you too, angel,” Crowley said amusedly. “What did you find?”
“A word.” Aziraphale was flipping through a notebook now, filled with line after line of his neat, even handwriting. “It rang a bell for me.”
“Ah, dictionary angel strikes again.” Crowley slid his sunglasses off and perched on the arm of the sofa. “New book?”
“No, actually.” Aziraphale traced his finger down a page. “I have been finding there is rather a lot of interesting material on the Internet these days, and this one…ah! Here it is.” He held the book out to Crowley, finger pointing helpfully to a point about two thirds of the way down.
Crowley tipped the book so the light caught it better. “Queerplatonic, huh?”
“Yes, that one.”
Crowley read on, taking in the origin, definition, descriptions, all carefully compiled in one succinct paragraph. He looked up.
Aziraphale was watching him with a sort of guarded vulnerability that indicated this was very important indeed.
Crowley looked back down, found the section, and read it again. Slowly.
“I see what you mean,” he said when he finished.
“Do you?”
“Yeah.” Crowley closed the book carefully. “It’s us, isn’t it.”
“Well.” Aziraphale sounded a bit breathless. “I rather thought so. When I found it. It’s a very new word, there’s simply no record of it before a few months ago. But there’s a- a group of humans that seem to really like it.”
“Do you really like it, angel?”
Aziraphale glanced at the notebook, still held carefully in Crowley’s hand. “Yes.”
Crowley felt himself smile, something deep inside clicking into place as he thought back over those words on the page.
“Me too,” he said.
