Chapter Text
It was a nice day, all the days had been nice. There had been rather more than 730 since Asa Fell and Anthony Crowley got married.
The clock struck a little over 8 AM when Asa woke up. He slowly uncovered his legs from the blankets that were over him and slid his feet in the two fluffy slippers that he keeps beside their bed.
Asa walked into the kitchen, stretching out his arms to reach for the cocoa powder on the highest shelf. Preparing hot chocolate in the morning had turned into a habit for Asa, he would serve some for himself in his favourite white mug, and then save a little in the thermos bottle with tartan print for when Anthony got home.
And, of course, he read the small note that his husband left on the fridge door every day before work.
Good morning, my Angel.
Our movie night was incredible, even though I almost couldn’t pay attention to what was crossing the screen. I could only look at you, at your shining blue eyes, couldn't help but stare at your lips, wishing to kiss you. It was incredible. I hope to take you to lunch today. I'll be leaving the university at around 12, be ready so I can pick you up at the bookshop at 12:30, see you there.
Yours,
Anthony.
Despite the smile on his face, Asa noticed something different about the note. "My Angel" was new, he wasn’t complaining, of course, Asa loved the little nicknames Anthony used on him. Usually “my dear”, “my love”, but “my Angel” was unusual, he liked it though.
Asa kept the note in the same folder as all the others. 1094 little notes in his nightstand drawer since they started living together. Every day, even when they argued. The ones written in the morning after a bicker were especially sweet, that’s why they couldn’t stay mad at each other for long.
After his delightful breakfast, Asa went back to their bedroom to get dressed. He picked the same variation of clothes he wore everyday: white button up shirt, light brown woolen vest and beige trousers.
With his clothes and hair ready, Asa put on his shoes and headed to the front door. He called a cab to drop him off at Derek's bookshop so he could help there until Crowley left the school and came to pick him up. Where would they grab lunch this time, Asa wondered. Probably at some sushi place, he has always loved Japanese cuisine, and Anthony knew that quite well.
When he arrived, Derek was writing something on a piece of paper that he couldn’t quite see, probably the chores that were remaining to do at the bookshop. Oh, Asa totally forgot that Derek was grabbing his medical exams today. Maybe he needs to cancel lunch…
Even before he could start typing on the phone to let Anthony know, Derek handed him the tasks to be finished in the shop.
“Aren't you going to say ‘good morning’ to me, Asa?” Derek laughed. ”Don't even think of cancelling your lunch with Mr. Crowley, you know what happened the last time you did that.” He added, noticing Asa’s phone in his hands.
Asa dropped the phone back into his pocket with a quiet laugh, picked up the paper and glanced at it. Not much, he could get it done in no time!
“Oh, you're good at reading situations, aren't you, Derek?” Asa smiled, placing the paper on a visible place. ”Well, when is Michaela coming to pick you up?”
“She's probably already around the corner; those medical exams are complete nonsense!” He scoffed, crossing his arms defensively, “I'm perfectly fine.” He finished while lifting a stack of books so he could move it from one place to another.
Asa intervened, taking the stack from Derek's hands and carrying it himself.
“She's asking you to do it for your own good, don't blame her for it.”
As soon as Asa finished his sentence, a woman walked in through the door, making the bell over it ring.
“Oh, hello, Mich,” Asa waved, “You better take your uncle before he runs away.” He laughed and Derek rolled his eyes.
“Good morning, Asa!” Michaela said, “Come on, old man, we're already late.”
Derek cursed under his breath as he left the bookshop with an offended face.
Soon after they left, the first client of the day came in and Asa happily went to help them with their wishes.
—
He leaned carelessly on the wall as he waited for Joshua outside of his classroom. Adam was thoughtlessly picking on the skin beside his fingernail, a bad habit he had since always, whenever he had nothing to do.
Joshua has been Adam’s best friend since they started college, even though they are in completely different degree programs; Adam is taking astronomy, while Joshua is more of a psychology kind of guy.
After a few minutes of waiting, Joshua came out of the classroom. With his backpack slug over one shoulder, his many keychains dangling and clashing on one another as he walked.
“Oh, hello there, Sir. Brian May,” Joshua said and touched Adam’s shoulder. He felt the warmth of Josh’s hand running through his body as an electric shock. It was ridiculous, really, the way a simple touch could throw Adam off balance like that. He was pathetically in love with Joshua, and moments like that made that painfully hard to hide. ”So, do you have therapy today or are you going to work on that project?”
He wasn't listening very well, his attention was directed to the silly little star on Joshua's ear, Adam who had given it as a gift.
“You're wearing the earring I gave you…” He ran his hand across his neck, accidentally ignoring Josh's question; he was too busy trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.
Joshua seemed confused at first, but then smiled and grabbed Adam's arm to walk and get out of the busy hallway. Josh's hand was so warm. Adam felt like he was going to explode; it was always like that with the slightest touch, the few seconds they held eye contact, always those damn butterflies in his stomach.
“Of course I'm wearing it. You gave it to me.” That smile again, it killed Adam inside, like a supernova in his chest. It was impossible, but everything seemed possible with Josh around. “So, what is it today? Project or therapy?”
“Would you still come if I said both?” Adam spoke sincerely, but it elicited a laugh from his friend as they walked to the Student Center, straight to Dr. Device's office.
Every day was the same; Josh would always wait for him at Dr. Device’s office, or at the library, when he was working on his projects. At the moment he was specially focused on the spectroscopy one.
He was waiting outside the office now, listening to music, probably The Beatles. Adam glanced briefly outside.
“So, Adam... How are we doing today?” Dr. Device, or Anathema, as Adam was used to calling her, asked. She has been his psychologist since before college, always helping him immensely, but by now she must be tired of hearing Adam's drama regarding Joshua. “You look happier.”
“He's wearing the earring I gave him… Oh, my God, I feel so…” He gestured vaguely something in the air, trying to express how he felt about it all.
“In love?” Anathema guessed, sighing while taking off her glasses.
Adam nodded, he could no longer even focus his gaze on anything.
“I know I only talk about him, but you told me to say everything I had in mind, and all I can think right now about is him, his beautiful hair, his soft hands, his smile…” He leaned back in his chair, now staring at the ceiling, his leg tic deciding to come up again. “It's ridiculous how much I like him.”
Anathema stared at him with that look; he already knew what she was going to say.
“And why don't you tell him all this?”
Adam raised his head, shrugging.
“I told him.”
Anathema raised her eyebrows, stretching to grab Adam's file.
“According to you, you said: 'Maybe I like someone, and maybe that someone is a guy.'. And then you proceeded to spend 50 minutes crying in the bathroom, before calling me at 1 a.m., almost vomiting your own intestines out.” She turned the pages without taking her eyes off Adam; she didn't judge him, though, she only tried to help in any way she could. “Does that look like confessing feelings to you?”
Adam sighed; he wanted to lie upside down in the chair, he liked feeling the blood rushing to his brain.
“I tried… I really did.” He spoke softly, wanting to cry. “I like him, I really want him to know that, even if he doesn't feel the same way about me, but it's hard. Every time I try, I think I might lose his friendship, and I don't want that.”
He looked outside again, seeing Josh holding a notebook against his knee while winding his earphone around his finger.
—
Anthony Crowley was, by what his students called him, “The Greatest Professor”. Was it true? He really didn't know, he was just doing his job, his classes were just not as boring as those of the other teachers. The students loved the Queen albums playing in the background, they loved the way Anthony walked through the room, and the comments that helped them memorize the material faster.
The subject he would be teaching in the next class was one of his favourites, so he was going to enjoy it more than the other days.
“Hello, my beloved students! Excited for today? I doubt anyone is more excited than me.” He announced, already plugging the music box into the socket while selecting the playlist. The students laughed; Some of them were already in his class last semester, but some were new, and he still had to learn their names.
He clapped once the playlist he had chosen started, the panel already connected to the slides prepared the night before, while he was resting on the sofa with his husband. He pressed the button on the remote control, a slide with the words 'CHARGE -> FIELD -> FORCE' showed up.
“Electromagnetism! This is the bit where physics decides that gravity isn’t already enough and starts throwing in electricity, light, and magnetism,” he’s gesticulated tiny explosions with his hands, “into the same family just to confuse us.” He sat on the table dramatically. “Let's start with the basics, because you, mere mortals, oblivious to the wonder of the universe, have this annoying tendency to think the universe works by ‘intuition’. It doesn't. It works by rules. Actually, I doesn’t give a flying shit about intuition. The rules are what matter.”
He began his explanation by walking theatrically, simulating how magnetic opposites attract each other and how equals hate one another.
“And no, it's not ‘opposites attract’ in a romcom kind of way, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Anthony tried to joke “It's magnetic interaction. F = k q1 q2 / r^2.” He recited the formula. “Please write this down, it’s important.” He waited while watching the students open their notebooks, twirling a pen in his fingers. “Ready? The good part is coming up now, any questions?”
Some raised their hands. Anthony pointed to one of them, allowing him to speak.
“If Gabriel’s location is defined as force per unity charge, is that a definition or an experimental consequence?” Asked the boy, somewhat blond, with long hair... Where did Anthony remember him from?
He found the question strange and frowned.
“Pardon me, what?”
“I asked that if the electric field is defined as force per unit charge, is that a definition or an experimental consequence?” He repeated.
Anthony shook his head, nodding frantically when he understood the question. He was really sure he heard Gabriel… maybe the student was just trying to prank him in someway.
“Ah, yes... Good question.” He put the pen down on the table, raising up his hands to make exaggerated gestures to explain, as always. “It's an operational definition based on experimental observation. We define the electric field as E = F/q because force alone doesn't universally describe the system. You need to normalize it.”
He went to his computer and switched to the correct slide that showed the equations, he went back to his explanation and kept talking for about 2 hours more. Half of his class was asleep at that point.
—
Anthony crossed the parking lot towards his car. The 3.5 Litre Bentley was once his grandfather’s. After his death, it passed it down to Anthony’s father, who never had much interest in restoring it. Years later, it was now in Anthony’s possession, he decided to bring the old car back to life by restoring it.
The restoration took a lot more time and money than Anthony had planned, but now at least the family memory was alive, and Anthony had a sick car to drive around the city. And only around the city, any farther place he needed to go, he’d take a train. An old Bentley is not really the ideal car to drive long distances.
It was already 12 o’clock and Anthony promised to be at the bookshop door at 12:30. Considering the distance between the university and the bookshop, he had plenty of time and could drive without breaking any speed limits.
Anthony threw in his Best of Queen tape and started the engine.
He arrived at the shop five minutes early, Asa was already turning the sign on the door from ‘Open!’ to “Closed!”. He stepped outside, grabbed the keys from his pocket, and locked the door. Derek had a copy of the keys, of course. When he returned he would simply reopen the store for the afternoon costumers.
Anthony observed through the windshield as Asa walked towards the car, the cassette was halfway through Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy when his husband grabbed the handle to open the door. Anthony couldn’t help but smile at the perfect timing.
“Hello, dear,” Asa said as he took his seat on the car and turned to look at Anthony.
“How are you, my love?” Anthony grabbed the side of Asa’s face and laid a soft kiss on his lips.
“Even better now,” Asa smiled, “how was the morning in the school today?” He continued while pulling the seatbelt across his chest and buckling it with a bit of difficulty.
“Oh, it was fine. Same as always, explaining a bunch of complicated stuff to a bunch of sleepy students,” Anthony laughed and placed both hands on the wheel, ready to start driving again.
“May I ask where we’re going today?” Asa questioned when they were already half way to their destiny.
“I made a reservation at Sanjugo Shoreditch. It’s a Japanese place I thought we could try.”
Asa was always open to new possibilities, trying a new restaurant would be great to discover more places in the area.
—
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. Do you have a reservation?” The waiter that stood on the door asked, Anthony pulled his phone from his back pocket and showed the waiter the confirmation.
“It’s in the name of Anthony Crowley.”
The dark haired man standing on the door checked an online list on his tablet and nodded.
“Perfect! Table 3, have a nice lunch!”
Anthony grabbed Asa’s hand and they headed inside, looking for any type of sinalization on the tables indicating where they should seat.
Finally, they found their place: a table for two, set against the wall. The plates, cultlery and menu were already placed, just waiting for them to arrive. Asa sat on one of the chairs and Anthony took the second, they were sitting across from each other, so they could talk while looking in each other’s eyes. They preferred it like that.
They both looked through the menu and called a waitress over when they had chosen their dishes.
“Good afternoon, are you ready to order?” She asked, with a little note pad in hands.
“Yes, please,” Anthony turned the menu in her direction so she could see what he was pointing at, “I’d like this chicken karaage please, and you, love?”
Asa thought for an extra second and then decided, “I think I’m going with this 6 pieces nigiri set, please.”
“Great choices!” The waitress said, “And to drink?”
Asa looked at Anthony and then back to the woman.
“Bring us a bottle of whatever fine wine you’ve got there” He decided.
“Awesome. I’ll be back in just a moment.” She grabbed the menus from the table, turned around, and returned to the kitchen.
“Hey, so about your note today…” Asa started, “You called me angel, you never did that.”
“Oh, I know, just felt like it this morning.”
“Well, why an angel then?”
“I don’t know, you just look so angelic”
Asa smiled and placed his hand over Anthony’s, a light blush appearing on his cheeks.
After a few minutes of silence, Anthony spoke:
“So, angel,” he grinned, the nickname had already grown on him, “do we know a Gabriel?”
Asa furrowed his brows trying to remember, but nothing came to his mind.
“Well, I believe not… Why?”
“I’m so sure that one of the students today asked me about something related to ‘Gabriel’.” Anthony leaned back on his chair, stretching his legs.
“Maybe you misheard, dear. Or maybe it was just a silly mischief. Who knows.” Asa suggested.
“Yeah, maybe…” Anthony said, his voice trailing off at the end.
“You know, I met a Gabriel once, in Prague.” Asa remembered
“Was he your boyfriend?”
“Oh, not that again…”
“No,” Anthony sat straight on the chair again, looking deep into Asa’s eyes, “I’m just asking.”
“You can’t hate every past boyfriend I’ve ever had, dear.”
With genuine laughter, lunch was peaceful, just like the rest of the day, and just like all the days had been, for now.