The Doctor thought that taking in his old college pal Joe, a professor who is teaching at the same university and who is unable to keep his hands off the female students, was the worst mistake of his life. But then Clara Oswald sets foot into his class and he is torn between his personal ethics and making an even bigger mistake when the race for Clara's heart is on. . .
They Don't Teach You Love
Chapter 1
The alarm clock tore him from his peaceful dream about a holiday on a beautiful beach and the Doctor opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times to get used to the light. For a moment he thought his eye sight had gotten a little bit worse as he couldn't read the writing on the large print that decorated his bedroom wall. He was getting old as the grey hair on his head and the wrinkles on his face showed and his eyes weren't making an exception. Slowly the Doctor rose from his bed and made his way downstairs into the kitchen to start the coffee maker. Classes had started again this week and for some reason the Doctor wasn't enjoying teaching as much anymore as he once had. Currently he was still blaming it on being constantly exhausted and annoyed by his friend's presence at his house. Once Joe had moved out again it could all go back to normal. If he ever moved out again.
Yawning the Doctor entered the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the outline of a woman sitting at the table. He squinted his eyes.
"Good morning," the woman waved at him and only now the Doctor realized that he was wearing nothing but his underpants, "I'm Susie, I'm in your class about the writings of James I."
He blinked a couple more times, making sure that Susie wasn't just the product of his imagination and when the Doctor had determined that she wasn't he started yelling angrily.
"JOE!"
"What are you yelling at?" Joe asked him when he walked into the kitchen a few moments later and his face lit up at the sight of Susie, "Oh, you've made coffee. Excellent."
The Doctor wanted to wipe that ugly sneer off his friend's face as he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the living room.
"How many times have I told you," he spat at him, keeping his voice low enough so Susie wouldn't hear it, "You don't bring students into my house!"
Joe frowned at him. "Susie is still living with her parents and I could hardly fuck her at the university. You know Miss Saxon's views on that sort of thing."
"I don't give a damn where you. . . do it. But not in my house. It's the first week of college. How do you even. . . no, wait, I don't want to know. Get her out of here!"
"You can't just kick her out, Doc. At least let her finish her breakfast, her thighs are as thin as matches. Have you seen those thighs?"
When Joe's face had taken on a dreamy look the Doctor gave him a soft smack on the back of the head. "You're a fucking pervert and I will personally report you to Missy if that girl isn't gone in 30 minutes."
"Oh man, not Missy Saxon. You know she has hated me since the first week of college."
"And with good reason and now get rid of Susie or you'll have to find yourself somewhere else to stay!"
Before Joe could even protest the Doctor had turned around and headed back upstairs to take a shower, hoping the student would be gone by the time he was done but once he stepped into the bathroom he realized that the shower was taken. With a sigh he bent down and picked up the large, white Maine Coon from out of the shower.
"Hey Yoko, do you want to shower with me?" the Doctor asked gently as he stroked the cat's fur. She meowed at him in response, "Yeah, I didn't think so."
He carried her into his bedroom and sat her down on the bed where the cat immediately curled into a ball to continue her nap. In the past six years Yoko had been the Doctor's only companion – at least until his college friend Joe had showed up in front of his doorstep about half a year ago. They had met in their first semester at college and become friends immediately, probably due to their names. John Smith and Johannes Schmidt, it had been a good and funny joke back then. Even at college Joe had been a bit of a jerk, especially towards women. That was why the head of staff, Missy Saxon, another former college friend, was still mad at him to this day.
The Doctor hadn't really heard from Joe in years, he only knew that he had gone back to his home town Vienna to teach – at least until he had been fired for immoral conduct, or to put it plainly, for sleeping with his female students. Luckily he had found a job at the same university the Doctor was teaching at and that was how he had one night opened his door to see Joe standing in front of it. And now it seemed his friend wasn't especially eager to leave. The Doctor was somehow torn about the matter. A part of him had been lonely for quite some time and thankful for the company, and another part couldn't wait to finally have the house to himself again, especially since Joe had a habit of bringing home women that seemed faintly familiar from one class or another.
Luckily the kitchen was empty save for his friend when the Doctor went downstairs after a long, hot shower and tasty looking breakfast was waiting for him. It wasn't always a bad thing to have Joe living with him. But still. . .
"Joe, I think it's time you had another go at trying to find a flat. Or a house," he said casually before taking a sip from his coffee. It was cold. "You can't keep bringing students into my home and I can't expect you to change, so the simplest solution would be for you to move elsewhere."
"I'm trying but have you seen the London realty prices lately?"
"I'm not saying you have to move out immediately or take the first best thing you can find. I just want you to look. This was never meant as a permanent arrangement."
"Why?" his friend chuckled, "Are you afraid I'll interfere with your love life? Don't worry. I'll give you and your hand as much space as needed."
The Doctor glared at him in reply, almost saying something back but decided to just ignore it. Joe had always been rude and inappropriate and it wasn't as if being single bothered him very much. He had tried serious relationships, he had tried casual dating but he had never been able to find the right fit. By now the Doctor thought he was better off alone than with the wrong person.
"Remind me again, why didn't it work out with you and Missy?" Joe asked, took a sip from his coffee and pulled a face when he realized the beverage was cold.
"She hates cats," the Doctor replied coldly.
Four years ago Missy had become the head of staff at the university and that was when she and the Doctor had met again for the first time since college. They had both been single, they had both liked each other enough to go on a date. And then another. But when he had finally taken her home and Missy had seen his pet she had made it very clear that she wouldn't put her clothes anywhere in the proximity of cat hairs.
"Maybe you should just go to work and look at what's right in front of you," Joe suggested with a wicked grin, "And yes, I mean the students."
The Doctor groaned in reply. "For the 50th time – I will not date a student. What do I want with a 20-year-old? Not to mention that it's just a little bit forbidden."
"Suit yourself," Joe said as he rose from his seat, "I have to go to work. Class about Napoleon's attempt to invade Russia."
The way he said it made the Doctor cringe. "Stop making history sound like it's something dirty."
"History is dirty. You're the Tudor specialist. Henry VIII totally knew what was up," he replied before the door closed behind him.
After finishing his breakfast the Doctor also decided that he might as well leave for work now as well. It was the first week of the semester and he hadn't yet memorized his classrooms and lecture halls and the campus was huge. On today's schedule were a 2 hour lecture on the history of the Tudors and Stuarts, followed by one class about the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn and another about Jane Grey. Today would be one of the more relaxed days and he hoped he would get at least a few interested and eager students.
He arrived at the lecture hall much too early and was torn between retreating to his office to have an actually warm cup of coffee and simply waiting. He chose the first option.
Finally, when the time he was due to start was drawing closer the Doctor walked back to the lecture hall, this time arriving just in time to start his lecture.
"Good morning, everyone," he greeted the sleepy looking mass in front of him, "Some of you probably know me already but for those who don't: I'm Professor Doctor John Smith. Yes, that's a long title so if you want to save yourself some breath you can call me the Doctor. Attendance here isn't obligatory but before you get up and leave you should know that I will not upload any files to this lecture except the texts I would like you to read. So if you're hoping to pass the exam at the end of the semester I would advise you to stay, listen, take notes – or borrow those of someone with a better handwriting – and actually read what I tell you to read and-"
The Doctor was suddenly interrupted when the door to his left fell shut and he turned around. And froze.
A small woman was standing in front of a door and the Doctor guessed that she was in her late 20s. He couldn't quite understand what was happening but all of a sudden his mouth felt a little dry, his palms were sweaty and his heart was attempting to jump out of his chest. He didn't even know what to say to her.
"Sorry I'm late," the woman bit down on her lip, smiling sheepishly at him in a way that made his knees feel weak, "It's my first week of college and I don't know where all the rooms are yet."
Still the Doctor couldn't find the words to answer her. This girl, woman, was so uniquely beautiful with her brown hair and her large, dark eyes, her round face and her tiny figure that it left him somewhat speechless. He hadn't felt like this in a very, very long time.
"Uhm," he spluttered. Why was he spluttering? She was only another one of his students, it shouldn't be a problem to just tell her to sit down. "It's okay, erm, just sit down."
The Doctor finally tore his gaze from her which lifted the spell to some degree and pointed at the many empty seats in front of him. But then he couldn't help but watch as the woman walked up a couple of steps and took a seat next to a redhead that seemed to know her already.
He knew he needed to continue his lecture, he had a schedule to stick to after all and he couldn't let a pretty face distract him. Something like this had never happened to him before and it unsettled him greatly. He had called his friend Joe a pervert this morning. Well, the Doctor guessed he was now a pervert as well for fancying one of his students. And fancy her he did. There was no denying that.