Page 52 of How Not to Date an Angel

“You should visit sometime.”

Rami sputtered until they spun on their heel to continue laying out the cheese cuts. An angel in Hell! Imagine.

Julian’s grin was wicked as he brought a bowl over containing the cucumbers, peppers, and carrots he’d sliced into discs and thin sticks.

“Excellent, thank you,” Rami said. “I’ve got a compost bin right on the counter, if you would just drop the remains of the vegetables in there.”

“Of course you compost,” Julian grumbled.

“It’s better for the environment,” Rami returned.

Julian hummed and was quiet for a moment. “It’s not your job to fix the Earth, you know?”

“Reduce, reuse, recycle is an important part of the human experience,” Rami informed him, and carefully placed the veggies in their respective spaces on the board.

“I think humans stress too much over it. Recycling your milk jug isn’t going to cancel out all the rich fuckers with private jets.”

Rami nodded their head. “I do understand where you’re coming from, but I still want to do my part. The Earth was made for the humans, and I’m going to treat it with care while I’m here.”

Julian was quiet for a moment before he eventually offered a murmur of agreement, and then the sink turned on as—

Rami glanced over at him. He was cleaning off the cutting board and knife before placing the board in the drying rack.

“I know better than to argue with an angel,” Julian muttered.

Moments later he returned to Rami’s side, dish towel crumpled in his hands as he dried the board. Rami watched from the corner of their eye with a soft kind of awe as the demon handled the knife, drying it carefully before placing it back in the block. The demon folded the dish towel when he was done, and Rami felt warm at the sight.

Which was preposterous, really.

So what if the demon had manners? So what if he took care to prevent rusting on Rami’s favorite knife?

“There,” Rami said, and spun the boardaround so it could be admired from all sides. “The white wine probably isn’tverycold yet, but…”

“It’ll be fine, Feathers,” Julian said.

The board was a work of art, every piece with its own place and clustered together in a tasteful manner. The crackers were fanned out around some of the jams in a perfect circle.

“This might be my best one yet,” Rami said proudly. “Why, this belongs right next to some of those photos I see online. I’ve taken my inspiration from many videos.”

“Of course you watch platter organization compilations,” Julian drawled. Rami chose not to engage with that comment.

“It’s certainly got a lot going on. I’m impressed,” Julian said.

The sun was well past set now, and as Rami carried the board out to the living room, Julian followed behind with two wine glasses and the bottle of wine, which…

“It’s chilled now,” Julian said, and waggled his eyebrows.

Rami rolled his eyes, but sat back and watched Julian open it.

His arms flexed as he spun the corkscrew in, stretching the fabric of his too-tight tee shirt, and… Rami was staring again.

The cork released with a dramatic pop and Julian looked awfully proud of himself. Rami was helpless but to return his beaming smile.

Rami took a seat on their couch, relieved to relax for a bit. The day had seemed so long, for once.

First the aquarium and then the grocery store.

“I can’t believe I almost had to rescue you from that large human,” Rami said. They hadn’t meant to say it, and flushed beneath the narrowed gaze the demon settled on them.

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