fandomtownies | The Perk after dark

It had been a fairly warm day - for January - but Kiki had been outside on a long walk for most of the afternoon, and the temperature had dropped. Shivering and hungry, Kiki decides to stop by the bookstore for a cup of tea, a scone, and a chat with Mr. Aziraphale - but the shop is dark still; the angel not home. She sighs, and turns to cut cross-blocks to the Perk and the promise of some hot chocolate. Her broom was back in her room, so there was no choice but to walk, her shoulders hunched against the cold night air.

The Perk is a welcome sight - and even more welcome is the sight of Mr. Crowley whom Kiki spies as she walks in. She grins and crosses over.

"Good evening, Mr. Crowley," she says politely. "How are you?"

[Heh, Kiki's in a bit of a mood herself. This should prove interesting!]

"Oh for the love of...kitties and cute things. Brat, I've had quite enough torment for one night."

Folding his paper, he leans forward to set it down, clearly interested in talking to her, despite his words. The side of his neck is charred black, but he barely seems to notice it as her picks up his tea.

"You've been lax, pest. I haven't seen you in an age."

"If an age is two weeks," Kiki answers, sitting down opposite him without invitation. "Not since New Years Eve." The words hang there, and Kiki doesn't elaborate further.

"Truth is," she confessed, "I promised that I wouldn't. It was a sort of resolution for the New Year. I think lasting two weeks is generally longer than most people's resolutions, anyway, so I don't feel so bad about dropping this one. Besides, I made a promise to you, too."

Kiki pulls out a bag of peppermints, tied with a red ribbon (what else?) and places it in front of Crowley.

"Ah, disgusting. You'll never let this go, will you?" He gingerly opens the bag and takes one, offering them to her.

"And did you enjoy the Ball, witch? Had a spot of fun, yes?"

"Not as long as you keep enjoying them," she replies, taking one. "Thank you."

"The Ball was-" Kiki pauses. She can't lie, really, so she finishes, "yes, the Ball was fun. I think. Fun at the time, I guess I would say. It's been less fun since it's over."

"Why is that, pet? Regrets? Troubles?" He leans forward, his chilling grin falling upon her. "Do tell."

"What?" Kiki colors a little. "You can't possibly want to hear me whine about all of that!"

He sits back, his tone flat and dry. "Every time you speak it grates upon my very brain. At least it might make for an interesting cacophony."

Kiki looks a little puzzled, not sure how to proceed.

"It's my fault, really," she says finally. "Although it's partly Harry's - or I think it is, anyway. He left - took off without a word, and never even said goodbye, or that he was leaving, let alone if he were going to come back. So, fine. I figured he was gone, so there was nothing wrong with going to the Ball with John. Then Harry came back - and the first I even knew of it was when he called just to schedule a delivery - he didn't even see fit to say hello, but I guess he expected I'd just wait for him the whole time he was gone. And now he's hurt and mad at me for kissing somebody else, when it's not like I made him any promises, or he any to me -" Kiki breaks off.

"Mr. Crowley," she observers, "You're a man - or man-shaped anyway, so maybe you can tell me: why are boys so stupid?"

"Ah, the question of the ages, pet. Well..." He leans forward, his elbows on his knees and his chin on his fists, "...boys are stupid because girls are their downfall. They are torn between what they want desperately, and what they know they should run far from."

"So they always want what's worst for them? I guess I lived up to that for Harry," Kiki sighs. "Although he was the one that did the disappearing act first," she adds defensively.

"Maybe he ran off because you're frigid." he smirks, or maybe he's just moving his mouth to loll the candy around.

"No more so than he is himself," Kiki snaps. "He's only got himself to blame for that."

Already Kiki is feeling better - or at least, like it's not so much her fault. There's enough blame to dump it on someone else, too, which is pretty comforting.

"Maybe he's scared of you. Maybe he doesn't have the machismo to take on such a...whatever you are." His tongue flickers out, tasting the air. "Perhaps the Connor boy is more prepared to club you over the head and drag you home by your hair. I imagine it must be quite flattering to have the attentions of two, uh, fine fellows."

Kiki snorts, a surprisingly derisive noise for her. "Not as much as one might think. You try it for a day or two and see how much you like it. I'm wondering if it just wouldn't be better to throw in the towel on the whole absurd relationship...thing. It all seems more trouble than it's worth."

"But love makes the world go 'round, pest. It's like...oxygen. It's a many spleanoured thing. All you need is love." The sarcasm with which he spits the words out chokes off any sentimentalism at all.

"I thought that was money?" Kiki asks. There's a bitter note in her voice that obscures the usually innocent tone. "Besides, I didn't say love, I said 'relationship.' I'm sure you already know there's a big difference."

[*giggle*]

"Oh, yes. To feel like you belong. Like everything you see can be shoved though their eyes so they share your thoughts. Bodies and touching and fire and passion and friendship."

He snorts and sips his tea.

"I've been around a long time, my little brat, and I can tell you with absolute honesty...the only relationships that last are the ones based on mutual loathing...lever mutual care."

That's a new perspective for Kiki. "I guess," she muses, happy to have something she can think about academically rather than personally, "that with dislike you always know exactly where you stand. It's pretty above-board, isn't it? People only start really doing horrible things to each other when it's in the name of some noble ideal or cause, don't they?"

She shakes her head brusquely. "No, that can't be right!"

"Of course it's right, don't be a twit." He quirks his mouth to the side and sucks hard. Following immediately is a distinct crunch of a peppermint meeting its untimely end.

"People will find any reason at all to justify their hatred and violent urges. No one ever listens to me about this. Isn't it obvious? I can't possibly be the cause of all the evil in the world...you lot do it to yourselves."

Kiki stirs her hot chocolate thoughtfully. "Free will, right? It's as you said, you just tempt. All the bad deeds people do? That's their conscious decisions."

Kiki recalls some of her own conscious decisions from New Year's Eve and blushes.

"Well, I don't know. Sometimes I doubt people give it any thought at all. Just think with their urges. But...that's lust. I don't see a problem with it, really. I never saw anything wrong with a good snogging." He smiles at her, offering another peppermint as he pops a second in his mouth.

"Tell that to Harry," Kiki quips, taking another peppermint. "Because evidently, he does." She tosses the peppermint in her mouth and shuts her teeth on it with a snap.

"Oh, what does he know?If he makes you so upset, pet--st, perhaps you should just drop him. Agony is only so funny for so long. After a while it smacks of self-indulgence. Get on with it. Stop wallowing. Plenty of eligible fellows in the town, I'm sure." He leans back and kicks his feet up on the low table, sipping his tea nad wallowing the mint around as he watches her.

"Well...yeesss," Kiki says slowly. "That's true. And one of my resolutions was to put all the bad stuff behind me. This might shock you to the core, Mr. Crowley, but one of my resolutions really was to be more cheerful."

"To the very core indeed. You're already insufferable, why you'd want to be even more annoying is beyond me. No one likes an over-acheiver, poppet." He hisses out a soft laugh, genuinely amused by her confession.

"Depends on what you're trying to acheive, I guess," Kiki answers with a shrug. "Anyway, I've broken that resolution already, too. At least I've managed to keep the promise to bring you peppermints."

"Did I make any promises to you, brat? Any I've failed to keep?" Dropping his glasses, he looks at her intently.

Kiki looks back at him curiously. "Not that I can recall," she answers, thinking hard. "You just said you'd teach me to make a good peppermint cheesecake - and you did. And it was never a promise, anyway."

She puts her head to one side and observes shrewdly, "You're pretty careful about what promises you make and to who, I think."

"That I am. You're a cheeky one, telling me what I do like you know me."

He leans in close to look her in the eye. "You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you? If I made a promise, an honest to G--a real promise. To you."

"Only if you wanted to make one," Kiki replies, drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair. "Not because I asked you to. Besides, what would you promise me?"

It doesn't occur to her that this has the potential to be a very dangerous question.

"Well I already gave you diamonds, you greedy puss. What else would you like? A piece of me?" He grins enigmatically. "Yes, that's fitting. I promise, Kiki, I'll give you a part of myself."

Reaching his hand behind him, he brings it back around holding THIS (http://www.boukenshin.net/crowley/fanart/nicole_plushie.jpg).

Kiki eyes widen, her eyebrows shooting up to meet her hairline with a look of pure delight. "Why... it's you! It's so," she knows she's going to get in trouble for saying this, but she does it anyway, "CUTE! Thank you so much!"

"It's my good side." he says dryly, before erupting into rasping cackles.

She was surprised her description hadn't resulted in some snarky retort, and more than a little gratified. "Your good side is-" she refrains from using 'cute' again, and finishes, "-as flash as the rest of you."

"You're annoyingly sweet, like the raw spot the sugar of these peppermints raises inside my mouth." He sniffs and coughs and shrugs non-commitally. "You find me flash?"

"That's the right word, isn't it?" she asks, a trifle anxiously. "Or am I way off?"

"Flash is the right word, poppet. That's me. It means..." he scrunches his nose, "...cooler than cool. Better than the best. Stylish, handsome, and everything els with the prooverbial bag of chips and an extra pickle on the side." He grins and puffs up ever so slightly.

"Good, that's what I thought." Kiki grins, hugging the Crowley Doll. "Very flash."

"Mr. Crowley?" she asks after a moment, "are you sure you don't need those - um, that necklace back? I mean, it was really expensive, I'm sure."

She's not sure if she's more anxious that he'll ask for it back or that she'll be allowed to keep it.

"Oh, I'm sure it was very expensive, if I'd bought it. I just..." He snaps his fingers and a strand of pearls appears in his hand, and then he snaps again and they disappear, "...I can do that, you know. Keep them, brat. They're no good to anyone but you."

Whatever that might mean disappears into the long swallow of tea he takes.

"Well...all right then," Kiki agrees dubiously. She gives Doll!Crowley another small hug. "But I think I might like this better," she says, flashing him an impish smile.

"I can't imagine why. It's...cute." he sneers, setting his empty cup down. "But then, beign the devious little girl you are, you'll use the cuteness and twist it to your advantage. I like that in the female of the species."

"Probably," Kiki grins. She picks up her scarf and begins to tie it around her neck. "I should let you get back to your paper," she says. "And your peppermints," she adds with a wink.

[because mun is needing sleep liek whoa]

"And then you have to go and be considerate. My word, you are an infuriating brat." He smiles softly at her and gives her a quick nod. "Go on then. Take that ghastly thing away...and don't neglect me for so long in the future...my dear."

"I won't," she says mischeivously. "I promise."

Hugging Doll!Crowley to her chest, she fairly skips out the door.

[Woot, thanks!]

He opens his paper wide in front of him, so no one can tell if he's actually smiling happily or not.

The Perk after dark

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