tbh both of these lines hit me like freight trains so I don’t think I could have physically handled an “I love you” moment anyway
they don’t say it, but they show it, over and over and over again
i’m content with that. I don’t feel cheated in the slightest.
Content with it doesn’t even begin to cover it for me. I’m grateful. It’s so much better as it is. “You go too fast for me” or “to the world” (especially given the way he says those lines) knock “I love you” right out of the park.
Before Good Omens happened to me, I was in the place of accepting that love stories aren’t meant for me. I never liked the romantic side arcs in movies or shows or books really. I could never get behind it, nothing ever clicked. It felt superficial. Hollow. Formulaic.
A lot of media is very bad at show not tell when it comes to relationships, especially the romantic ones. How often do you see characters hardly interacting, and then they suddenly kiss and say “I love you” and get married at the end of the tale? It leaves me sitting and scratching my head and wondering what happened. This way of showing relationships depends on us to see characters kissing, holding hands or saying their I love you’s and believing it without questions. It asks us to fill in the blanks. They kissed, it’s love, look at the cute ship.
But that doesn’t work for me. It makes “I love you” seem like empty words. Quickly said, quickly voided after, because there wasn’t much substance behind them.
Good Omens on the other hand is super show not tell about it. Through the entire timeline, from Eden on, in every single scene they’re in together, we can watch them grow closer. We watch them become friends, and by the time of the Globe scene, they’re just radiating fondness for one another. Their looks, their actions, it’s so obvious even without looking at a single line of dialogue. Just look at how Aziraphale’s entire face lights up at Crowley’s appearance in Paris, or the way Crowley looks after Aziraphale when he miracled the stain off his coat. Or, in what’s arguably their worst moment, look at Aziraphale’s face when he tells Crowley it’s over at the bandstand. He’s so close to crying. Look at that quivering lip and shining eyes. He’s hurting himself at least as much as Crowley.
And if you do look at the dialogue, you get so much weighty confessions of love, friendship, devotion, concern, care.
You get “you go too fast for me”. It’s a line I find more powerful with every rewatch, because there’s so much behind it. It’s not a rejection. Not at all. It’s “I need time”. It’s “I’m not ready now, it’s too much for me at this time, but I’ll be ready for it. I’ll get there. I want to get there.” It’s “please wait”. It’s “be patient with me”. I think it’s something that needs a lot of courage and trust to say, too. It’s not something you’re usually told is okay to ask for, but it’s such an important thing to feel like you can ask.
You get, a moment before, “I’ll give you a lift, anywhere you want to go”. This is the line that stood out to me more on my first watch of it. It’s an unconditional offer, and the way it’s said, you get the feeling that if Aziraphale asked to be driven to, say, Australia right then and there, Crowley would have dropped everything else and done it. This is “I’ll go anywhere, with you. I’ll do whatever you need of me, for you.” And he says it again, drunk and still not entirely over his grief in that bar. “Where are you? I’ll come to you, wherever you are.” “Wherever you are is where I want to be. Where I will be”. It’s a promise.
You get “We can go off together”. How much louder can you shout it, really? This is Crowley saying “you’re the one thing in this entire world I will pick to save if I can’t save anything else”.
You get Aziraphale’s “I forgive you”, right after Crowley tried to talk him into running off again and called him stupid. I think it’s not Aziraphale forgiving Crowley for calling him stupid. It’s Aziraphale referring to their previous conversation, to Crowley’s “Unforgivable, that’s what I am”. This is, even before Aziraphale gives up on Heaven (he still clings to hope at this point), this is Aziraphale saying “I don’t care if God condemned you, because I don’t. I forgive you.”
And “To the World” has to be the best of them all. To the World, to the world Crowley entire gave up on when he thought Aziraphale was dead, to the world they lived in together for six thousand years, to the world that’s the only place either of them fits in and the only place they can enjoy together.
No, “I love you” can stay right out of this. It’s been said a hundred times over, with looks, with actions, and with lots of better words.
do you think aziraphale recognised his own words during crowley’s execution? his own words that came from a place of love and that burning need to keep crowley safe, becoming a deadly weapon against the very being he has sworn to himself he would keep from harm? it must have hurt to hear michael unknowingly throw his own words back at him, tainted with cruelty and the intent to destroy, where aziraphale’s were only ever imbued with a fervent wish to protect, with love. heaven and hell don’t even know it, but they made crowley’s trial as painful for aziraphale as they could possibly have.
Yes, it must’ve brought back a lot of memories for Aziraphale at that moment, memories he could have probably done without having to deal with right then.
But imagine how it would have gone if they had not figured out the body swap. Imagine Crowley’s there, and this is what he’ll hear before he gets dumped in the tub.
Valid take: Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale since he said he gave away the flaming sword, and has been holding out for that love ever since.
Also valid take, but less talked about: Crowley slowly fell in love with Aziraphale over the millennia, the same way Aziraphale did. Maybe with sliiiiightly more awareness of what was happening, because he doesn’t have as much repression and denial to wade through. But it still caught up with him unawares.
Hottest of hot takes that my brain won’t stop screaming about: the full force of Crowley’s feelings didn’t barrel into him like a flaming Bentley until Aziraphale gives him the holy water. That’s when it’s pedal-to-the-metal, no-stopping-this-beating-heart, holy shit I love him and he loves me, that’s what this has been this whole time.
Which means….AZIRAPHALE HAD HIS OH SHIT MOMENT….BEFORE CROWLEY
!!!!!!!!!!!
ANOTHER TAKE I SAW RECENTLY AND COULDNT GET OUT OF MY HEAD was that Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale at the wall of Eden, but he didn’t realize it until the BOOKSHOP FIRE
Which… makes sense because of the music changing from You’re My Best Friend toSOMEBODY TO LOVE.
So yeah, he was totally pining the entire time, and it was probably agony, but he didn’t know what he wanted that he didn’t already have.… until he thought it had been taken away for good.
That would imply Crowley had yet to realise it when they were with Warlock. In this scenario he thinks Aziraphale is his Best Friend, right?
Cue Nanny being quite worried when Warlock begins school, because surely 6 years old Warlock is way too young to have that kind of intense relationship
See, I don’t think Crowley has a hard distinction between friendship and romance. Like. How much basis for comparison could he possibly have? To him it’s just one long increasingly intense stream of emotional attachment, which begins when the angel proves just how different he is.
But it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when anything shifts, partly because there are so many gaps in their onscreen history. Like, for my money, he’s showing full-on affection and is at least somewhat smitten by the time they’re at the Globe, but there’s such a gap before then, it could have happened any time in the last several centuries. But there are definitely romantic overtones by then. He’s just so damn weak to those puppy-dog eyes.
As to when he realizes it, that’s a whole other question. But personally… again, I don’t think there was actually a big ‘aha!’ moment for Crowley. I’m inclined to think that epiphanies are more Aziraphale’s thing, and that Crowley’s been low-key aware of how he feels for a long time. Like after he saves the books, he ducks his head and avoids eye contact before walking away. I think he’s well aware of the gesture he’s making there.
There is a huge impact to the holy water scene, though. Because I think - just my theory - that’s when Crowley realizes Aziraphale loves him back just as intensely. Az has always been so reserved about their relationship, keeping a distance, using euphemistic language, and rarely making the big leaps forward; it’s almost always Crowley making a move. And yet here he is choosing to give Crowley this immense gift, out of sheer concern for his well-being, in the most personal way possible (a fucking tartan thermos), before dropping that absolutely LOADED line. Yeah. I think that’s when it hits Crowley that his feelings might actually be reciprocated.
A clear distinction between friendship and romance might not be sensible to a being of an inherently sexless species. Even if they can feel a human-like sexual attraction because of their human-ish bodies (which I’m not sold on at all), it’s probably not an instinct that comes to them naturally. They are clearly naturally affectionate, aka do form friendship bonds (at Eden they’re both still fairly uninfluenced by humanity, haven’t been incorporated long and both clearly show signs of liking each other one way or another), but does the distinction humans make make sense? What is a romantic relationship if you take away sexual desires and expressions of affection? People make it sound like friendship isn’t love. But it is. You love your friends, and you especially love your best friend. People who say a best friendship isn’t as close and intense as a romantic relationship might not actually have had a real best friend before.
But I want to make a point aside of frustration with our society’s looking down on friendships, and that point is that both “friendship” and “romance” are human labels, and what is considered appropriate under either of those labels has been changing alot in just the last couple of centuries of human history. Crowley and Aziraphale have been around for all this time.
Romantic relationships were not always the most intellectually and emotionally intimate relationship for people to have. For a long time, marriages were formed not by affection, but primarily by political and financial concerns. To make sure there were heirs, to combine two farms or kingdoms, that sort of thing. You could hope to get along well with your spouse, and some spouses certainly grew to love one another, but marriage was often a bond made for practical considerations, rather than emotional ones. If you were a king or duke or whatnot, you might have an affair with someone you loved. The normal peasant couldn’t afford that sort of thing in the long run. Lots of trouble. Friendships and familial relationships like those between siblings were what you got your closeness and support from, either instead of or in addition to your marriage.
For a long while, people romantised friendships the way today’s culture romantises romance. Have you ever read epic Irish folk tales, stories of blood brothers and what we today would probably describe as platonic soulmates? Or for example the late 19th century novels of German author Karl May, full of characters in life-long best friendships that today’s readers will interpret more as queerplatonic partnerships or as homoerotic subtext, depending on how they squint at the text? Or the full blown love letters adressed to friends they found from the 17th to 19th century? At this time, in Western culture the concept of a “romantic friendship” came up, a relationship type that some researchers think has existed before, but then became more visible, because romantic relationships (the modern interpretation of them) came more into focus and especially physical affection between friends started to be considered weird (a trend that ended in what we have today).
Today, if you want to cuddle a best friend or hold their hand or share a house and a life with them, you’ll have to negotiate the relationship terms, because right now these things are monopolised by romantic relationships. That was not always the case, and it’s probably worth noting that it isn’t actually very healthy for humans to live that way. We’re capable of lots of different loving bonds and to limit emotional intimacy to one type of them might be one reason we have things like today’s loneliness epidemic going on.
But the point was historical relationship types.
Some of these historic close friendships were certainly homosexual partnerships hidden in more or less plain sight, but that doesn’t change that for centuries, it was quite normal to be a lot more affectionate and emotionally open about your close friendships. Crowley and Aziraphale casually reference events from hundreds of years ago. Time means little to angels and demons. The by comparison rapid changing of human relationship labels must be all sorts of confusing.
Is it surprising that Crowley doesn’t have a clear distinction? Or, that he chooses to call his attachment to Aziraphale “best friend”? It’s the much more long standing term for what they have. Angels/demons seem to naturally form friendships, so it’s probably a concept he was familiar with already (there were probably friendships between angels in Heaven before the Fall). And as a being to whom human-ish attraction of a more sexual nature might well not come naturally, he’s stuck observing humans and their relationships to make sense of the terms they use. Now, especially considering the history, observe a close knit friendship and a romantic relationship. What’s the difference? It’s not the emotional closeness. It’s more like the physical expression (kissing, sex).
Crowley and Aziraphale don’t kiss and have sex. At least not on screen. Whether or not they will do so after Armageddon isn’t relevant to the time during the series. Crowley looks at his relationship with Aziraphale, and goes “yes, he’s the most important being in my life, I’d do anything for him, he knows me best out of everyone in existence, even if the whole world ends in a puddle of burning goo, he’s what I’ll try to save, without him my life is meaningless, but we don’t kiss and don’t fuck” and concludes “best friends!” It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Excuse me for rambling. The above points aside, I do agree that Crowley grows to love Aziraphale slowly and over time, but is definitely at a near present day level of affection for him at the globe. He’s looking at him so fondly, and yes, so weak for the puppy eyes. (Which isn’t necessarily a romantic thing either; I’m super weak for puppy eyes from my sister and my best friend, and reasonably weak for it from other friends, so weakness to manipulation by puppy eyes is probably individually different and Crowley might just have a bad case of it.)
But I’ll buy Crowley being in love one way or another at the globe, and the thermos being his moment of “wow, he likes me back”.
Crowley glances over from his spot on the couch, his eyes the only visible part of him. ‘Shut up.’
Aziraphale smiles and looks down at his book. Three, two, on-
Another miracle. Looking up, Aziraphale isn’t surprised to see another blanket on top of the pile of Crowley. It has to be a least six blankets thick by now, and it’s still not even mid-December. Crowley’s can’t last this long like this.
‘Are you sure I can’t light the fire?’
‘No!’ Crowley glances at the fireplace like… well like it’s on fire but in a bad way.
‘My dear it would be so much warmer! And it’s contained, within the fireplac-’
‘Angel, please. No.’ Crowley looks devastated, and oh God above is he crying?
Something sinks in Aziraphale’s stomach, the utter heelness of his words echoing in his head. ‘Of course my dear. I’m so sorry I pushed.’
‘Angel-’
‘I shouldn’t have!’ Aziraphale says in a much louder voice. Crowley’s never told him what happened but there are enough clues around that Aziraphale thinks he has something of a picture.
Crowley wriggles a little, so more of his face is visible. ‘You don’t need to apologise.’
Aziraphale opens his mouth to protest that no, he really does before closing it. They’ve had this argument before and it’s an exercise in circular logic. Neither of them are willing to bludge.
Besides, it doesn’t solve the problem. ‘Move over,’ Aziraphale says, putting his book aside.
Blinking, Crowley shifts his pile down the couch. Aziraphale gets up and slips into what space is left, pulling at the blankets until he’s comfortable.
Then he pulls Crowley over, so the pile of blankets is on top of him, instead of beside him. So he’s holding Crowley, as he never could before.
‘This would be better with me under there but I doubt my body could handle the heat. So, we’ll warm you up a bit and then snuggle under a lesser pile.’
‘I am a demon,’ Crowley grumbles, ‘I do not snuggle.’
Undermining his argument, he snuggles into Aziraphale’s chest like a small dog seeking pats. Aziraphale places a kiss to the top of his head.
For other people, it’s as if unicorns had always been there, just another type of horse, hanging around through all of History. But Crowley knows. And he’d missed them.
–
@seaskystone wrote this heartbreaking ficlet and it hurt so good, but I like happy endings and I will abuse the powers of the antichrist to give Crowley a baby unicorn to hold.
I created a 3D model and floor plan of Aziraphale’s bookshop in Good Omens!
I really wanted one for reference and it seemed like many others did too, so I put together my best approximation of where everything is. Beneath the color version, you’ll see I’ve included two simplified, labeled versions of the plan. The verbal labels are so you know what the object is. The numerical labels are there to make it easy to find more information about the object. I’ve put a numbered index below the cut that features the relevant reference images I used for each object and some more information about why I put it where I did/why it’s relevant/etc. I want to be very clear that I did not add anything to this from my own imagination; every single item and feature represents something I actually saw in the shop.
If you have any questions or want more information about this, PLEASE do not hesitate to ask! I put so much time into figuring it out and I would be more than happy to be a resource for anyone who needs it. Also, if you notice any errors, let me know and I’ll update the post. I hope this is helpful!
Update:Here’s a link to an interactive view of the shop! It takes a moment to load. You can click the “3D” tab in the top right to view it in first person and walk around inside. Double click a spot on the floor to move there and pan around by clicking and dragging. The oval symbol next to the person walking gives you a birds-eye view.
