A/N: a one-shot written by me to celebrate 42 tumblr followers. mostly fluff, the description says it all. Hope you guys like it, and if you don't follow me on tumblr and you want to, my url is the-tennant-obsession
EDIT: My beta informed me I mixed up some past/present tense at one point, I've fixed it now.
EDIT #2: OH GOD GUYS I'M SO HORRIBLE I FORGOT the idea for this fic came from someone infinitely more awesome than me. You can also find them on tumblr with the url parkourzebra. They're almost to 100 followers and I wanna be helpful, so I am encouraging you guys to follow the most awesome blog I've ever seen.
"You alright?" Rose asked, sitting in the pilot's chair in the console room. She was leaning forward, her hands gripping the edge of the seat on either side of her. She had been watching the Doctor and thinking about the recent change in his actions.
He turned his head to the left so he could look at her from where he was fiddling with the console, sonic screwdriver hanging out of his mouth. He removed it and put it into the pocket of his leather jacket before answering her. "Yeah, of course," he answered, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion, "why wouldn't I be?"
She raised her eyebrows, "You've been acting strange ever since we left Clom."
"Ah, Clom. Why'd we even go to Clom?" He asked, pulling a face to indicate his distaste for the planet.
She rolled her eyes, "It was your idea in the first place. Besides, at least they had a Disneyland." He gave a non-commital shrug. "And anyway, stop avoiding the question. What's up with you?"
"I'm fine," he answered.
Rose gave him a cheeky smile before her reply, "No one who dresses like that could be considered fine."
He pulled on the neckline of the purple shirt he was wearing under his leather jacket, "What's wrong with this jumper?" And then his face turned serious again, " There's nothing 'up' with me, and I haven't been 'acting strange.'" He made air quotes with his fingers and returned his attention to the part of the console he was messing around with.
She gave an exasperated sigh before speaking again, "Should I remind you of the ice-skating incident? Or would you rather talk about Twister?" The Doctor didn't lift his gaze from the console, but the look that crossed his face told Rose that he knew what she was talking about.
The "ice-skating incident" was the first sign of the Doctor's strange behavior. A few days after Clom, he had suggested they take a break from their normal adventures and do "human things" in the TARDIS. And then he suggested ice-skating. Rose didn't argue, but she didn't think she would argue with anything the Doctor suggested that involved them being together. So they went to a room in the TARDIS which turned out to be an ice-skating rink that looked like it went on forever. And judging by her previous experience with the TARDIS, Rose had a feeling it did.
Once they had gotten onto the ice, and Rose was managing to keep her balance, the Doctor looked like he was going to fall over and before Rose could react, his lips had crashed into hers. When he was standing straight again, he managed a quick (and clearly false), "Oh sorry I'm just really bad at ice-skating," before skating off. After he made it a couple feet, he had another clearly faked fall to support his excuse. Rose was still standing in the same spot, her eyebrows raised.
And Twister...It had started when instead of the red circle that was closest to his foot, he chose the one that forced him to cross his leg with hers. It escalated rather quickly from there, and ended with a lot more physical contact between them than normal. Not to say that Rose hadn't enjoyed either of these things, but it wasn't like the Doctor she knew. Her Doctor, she thought with a smile.
She was so busy thinking that she almost didn't notice that the Doctor had fallen over. "What happened?" she asked when she noticed he was on the floor.
"I, uh, I slipped." His answer was so quiet that if the TARDIS had been making any noise, Rose wouldn't have heard it. But it had chosen that exact moment to be completely silent. The Doctor glared at the center column for a moment, as if coming to the same conclusion.
"On what?"
"Nothing," he replied, but Rose saw him bend down to pick something up, and she didn't miss the flash of yellow before he stuffed it into his pocket.
She raised one of her eyebrows, "Why is that even there?"
"Because I like bananas," he said, crossing his arms. She couldn't help but laugh at his response, and he reluctantly gave her a smile in return.
"But something's definitely wrong here, because you're messing a bunch of things up and I've never seen you do that before."
He shook his head, "Rose, I have messed up so many things in my 900 years." His eyes darkened, seemingly heavy with everything he blamed himself for. Rose didn't know what exactly he thought he did, but she didn't need to, and she certainly wasn't going to make him talk about it.
She got up from where she was sitting, and walked over to wrap her arms around him in a hug. "Now I know something's up, because you're wrong, and you've never done that before either. I don't care what you've done, it's not your fault. If I've learned one thing from traveling with you, it's that all of time and space is a better place because you're here."
He sighed, "Rose Tyler, I don't know what I did to deserve you."
She smiled and ended the hug so she could grab his hand and link her fingers with his, leading him towards the hallway to the rest of the TARDIS. "Now, instead of doing more human things, I think it's time for you to show me some Time Lord things. It's my turn to mess up."
