A sort of prequel/companion fic to "Red."
Paper Royalty
He'd won his own red crown from Mickey with a swift tug and a crack. The paper hat now rested proudly upon his head, flimsy points drooping in some places. Apparently he was a man who enjoyed frivolity. He supposed he'd always been intrigued by the absurd and the incredible, so it wasn't too much of a stretch that he might become fixated on the insignificant as well.
The small table had been spread with a comforting array of steaming dishes. The turkey had been picked apart already by the time he'd arrived at the table, having taken his time selecting a new outfit, but he couldn't bring himself to mind. He was only here for Rose, after all. What was a bit of food lost when he could sit next to her in such a quaint little dining room and listen to the joy and wonder in her laugh? Her smiles and laughter had always been a much-needed balm, soothing away the hurts and the raw edges.
He was learning to appreciate her in a new way with these new eyes and ears. She was everything he remembered and some things he didn't. Her hair, her eyes, the way her tongue poked out between her teeth when she was enjoying a particularly good joke, he remembered it all from blue eyes and short-cropped hair. But the look in her eyes when they lighted upon him was different. New. It had been unsettling at first-even more unsettling than his new teeth, and he'd had to distract himself with the minor details of his own regeneration to keep the worry from his face.
Oh, he'd joked about her giving up on him when he'd first emerged from the TARDIS aboard the Sycorax ship, but he'd been far more terrified of her leaving him than he'd let on. Even now that look still lingered in her gaze when she thought he wasn't paying attention. As if she was afraid of him. He'd gone and changed on her, and she wasn't sure if he was still the same person. It's me. I'm still me, he wanted to tell her. I'm still the Doctor.
Changed a bit, yes, but the same two hearts beat in his breast, the same mind still whirred and clicked away behind his new brown eyes. This new body was all for her. Born from a kiss and the absorption of the Time Vortex, this body belonged to her, whether she claimed it or not. He'd never looked so young as he did now. His hands had never felt so empty without hers clasped within them.
He was pulled from his reverie when Rose offered him one end of cracker. Grinning at her, he grasped it without hesitation and gave a pull. With a crack and a puff of smoke, the cracker broke, revealing a paper crown identical to the one he was wearing but for the color. Still grinning, he plucked the pink tissue paper up from its resting place and unfolded it. She took it from his grasp and pulled it over her bleach-blonde hair. She joked to her mother about the color and said that it should have been Jackie's prize, but he disagreed. The way it rested upon her head mimicked his own crown, and their congruity pleased him more than he had thought it would.
He was a man who found pleasure in the small things. Small things like matching crowns and laughter and holding hands. She was laughing at some remark that Mickey had made, and he gazed on her with his new eyes and a new thought popped into his head.
She would always be precious to him. His pink and yellow princess, with a touch of gold still lingering behind her eyes.