It was always the little things. The lights on the tree were shining and Crowley felt a headache coming on just looking at them. It went from fire hazards to fire hazards and energy waste, so that had always been a bolster in his spirits. But then Aziraphale wanted to go and look at all the lights and then Crowley was dragged into the mess.

Too many lights. He couldn’t understand the appeal. He kept his tongue in his mouth, trying not to hiss up at the other lights* and disappear when the angel had his back turned.

“I do say.” Aziraphale looked thoughtful at a new rendition of the nativity scene. It was done with various figures of Santa Claus, filling in for every role.

Crowley coughed and looked away. “Right up there with the Batman one.”

“People do seem to enjoy it,” Aziraphale commented, in that way that Crowley couldn’t tell if Aziraphale was giving humanity the benefit of the doubt for their creativity or if he actually liked it once the shock had passed.

“Inventive little buggers.”

Crowley saw some children inside one of the houses, faces pressed up against the windows. He thought of doing something to surprise them** when he noticed they weren’t looking at him and Aziraphale. They looked up.

With a slight glance of his own, Crowley gave the stars a dark look.

“What has your attention now? Are you done already?”

“I’m fine, angel.” Crowley shrugged it off. “I’m looking at the lights.”

“Then you’ll like the next set, it looks like they forgot that it wasn’t Halloween.”

Crowley had to say he liked all of the skeleton lights. Partially because they were skeletons, partially because whatever they were made of made them less glaring as the rest of them. He considered making it so that the lights would flash weirdly after they were gone when he realized he’d lost Aziraphale.

He panicked. Then remembered himself and looked around, finding Aziraphale back at the previous house, in front of the one with the children. He was staring at their roof, which only had lights of blue and red in a not quite alternating pattern. It was horrible, but the parent who put them up probably worked two jobs and didn’t want to, but the children did and their spouse was taking care of them and that was how it would be.

Crowley snapped.

It wasn’t amazing. But it was better. Plus, the lights didn’t hurt as much.

Aziraphale gave him that smile. The smile that Crowley almost couldn’t look at for too long, for fear of making a fool of himself.

“It’s going to break right before-“***

Crowley couldn’t finish his sentence when the first snowflake of the season hit his tongue. As soon as his brain finished registering that, he realized that Aziraphale had his hand in his.

“It’s lovely, dear.”

Perhaps they spent much longer looking at the lights than Crowley would have wanted. But it was hard to argue with the cheerful looks from the window behind them.

*Which were always around, because that’s what stars did. They always shone.

**Their parents would think they made it up, but the children would likely be thrilled.

***Christmas, he would have said, despite how that was a lie because he couldn’t be bothered to plan it out that much. But he had an image to live up to.