Ah New York. The lights and signs trying to get him to buy otherwise useless things as the people rushed through the streets and each person they knocked over saved them five minutes. It was a beautiful city if people just stopped to look at it one and a while. But then again, it was human nature because although he has all the time in the world, you would think these people who could be hit by a car as the crossed the street or shot down in a dark alleyway would stop to smell the flowers at least.
Thank Gallifrey, the Doctor wasn't human.
He didn't get a chance to even feel someone knock him over before he was on his back. He cursed as he tried to get up and fell backwards again. Everyone around him seemed to ignore the crazy man laying out on his back on the sidewalk by stepping over him or walking around him.
"Damn humans." He mumbled as he tried to get up a third time.
"Are you alright there, sir?" A voice said, causing him to look up. He saw a hand outstretched and he took it, pulling himself upward toward the kind human.
He felt the human pull him away from the sidewalk as the Doctor turned back he laughed at the crowd that resembled a school of fish. He didn't notice til he turned back that the human was brushing off his jacket for him. The Doctor took this chance to really look at the boy standing before him.
If any human had looked at him, they would of thought the boy was just at the end of his teens but the Doctor had a sight for these kind of things and knew he couldn't be any older than sixteen. He had hair that was black as coal that hung over his forehead, a little curls falling on the side. His hazel green eyes sat a little lower on his face than the Doctor would have guessed.
He stood fairly tall, maybe about 5'9 or so. He had a blue t-shirt on with dark blue rings around where the sleeves ended and the head hole was and over that he had a blue jean jacket and his jeans matched it. He looked like the average teenage boy minus the acne. "Thank you, for helping me."
"If you're not important to them, then they'll run you over. That's why we overlooked people got to stick together." The boy laughed, taking a leaf off the Doctor's shoulder.
"I've never met a person who wasn't important." The Doctor said.
"Well now you have." The boy said, patting his shoulder.
"But-" The Doctor said.
"Hey I've got to run, but you try to stay on your feet alright?" The boy said, raising his eyebrow before merging back into the giant crowd of people. That's when the Doctor noticed it, there was something on the boy's shoulder. It was flashing bright red. Catching up to him, he grabbed hold of his shoulders from behind leaning his head to whisper in his ear.
"I can't explain right now, but you're going to turn around and follow me. Got that?" The Doctor whispered, and when the boy nodded he turned the boy by pushing his shoulders, and then laughed really loud.
"Come on sport, let's go get a cup of coffee." The Doctor mustered his best New York accent, although it sounded a bit more like he was from Boston, but who cared. He felt something following them, as they turned down the alleyway.
"Now, you want to tell me what's going on?" The boy asked.
"What's your name?" The Doctor asked.
"Atlas." He replied, looking oddly at him.
"Well Atlas, prepare to have your world rocked." The Doctor said, impressed with how well that line worked. He had just spotted his blue box, and looked around before opening
the door. He pushed the boy in first, and then shut the doors tightly behind him.
"What is this place?" Atlas asked, looking up and around him.
"This is the TARDIS. Now, how about we see about getting that tracking device off you." The Doctor said, reaching down into his pocket before pulling out his sonic screwdriver. With a few clicks, the thing unlatched itself from his jacket and fell into the Doctor's hand.
"Tracking device? Why would anyone want to track me?" Atlas asked, looking at the piece of fabric on his jacket where the tracking device had just been moments ago.
"That's a very good question." The Doctor said, bringing it over towards his control center. He didn't pay attention to the boy as he walked around the room, tracing his hand across the metal railing or scanned his eyes over the things that hung from the ceiling. Some of them, the Doctor didn't even use, they were just decoration.
"What's that?" Atlas asked as the Doctor started poking at the device.
"This? This is my sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said, waving it a little in the air.
"What's it do?" Atlas asked.
"Everything. Well almost everything." The Doctor shrugged, poking the device again. Atlas walked around to look at all the parts of the control center, brushing his hand underneath it gently.
"What are these buttons for?" Atlas asked and the Doctor sighed.
Turning to the boy in his midst, he smiled lightly. The boy's hand gracefully traced over each button without putting any pressure on it in case he accidentally pressed one, his mouth hung slightly agape, and his eyes traced over every inch once, twice, and then a third time like he was trying to perfectly remember each little detail.
"Well, that's going to take forever. What do you say we go somewhere in the meantime?" The Doctor said, and the boy's brows seemed to almost connect in it a curly wave.
"Like to lunch?" Atlas asked.
"Are you hungry, I'm a little hungry. Hm, what about-oh no you got any allergies?" The Doctor asked.
"Bees." Atlas shrugged.
"Well that cancels out that option. Oh you know what there's this cute little place on Mars, oh its adorable." The Doctor said, turning to the steering controls.
"Like the planet?" Atlas asked.
"Well certainly not like the god. I don't think he'd let us eat on him, all though he was always a bit odd." The Doctor said, scrubbing his chin a little as he saw the his eyes light up.
"You can go to Mars?" Atlas asked, stepping forward with an excited look on his face. The Doctor turned to see the familiar impressed look in the hazel eyes. He smiled, grabbing hold on the lever as he typed in the coordinates.
"Hold on." The Doctor winked, pulling it quickly as the boy gripped hold of the control panel. His hands slipped though and as they stopped, he looked down to see him facing upward on the ground. The Doctor lifted him upwards, pulling him into the side room with the space suits. Handing him one of the smallest sizes, he instructed him to put it on.
As the Doctor turned around he smiled at the sight of the teenage trying helplessly to get the suit on. Reaching over he showed him how to put it on, and the boy smiled. "You never even told me your name."
"They call me the Doctor." The Doctor smiled.
"Interesting name." Atlas said, biting down on his lip. The Doctor held back a laugh as he placed a helmet over the boys head. Stepping outside he could hear the muffled sounds of awe coming from the boy. Humans had colonized the planet and it was really cool to look at.
As they stepped inside the restaurant the boy was already asking a million questions. However when the Doctor reached up to lift his helmet off the boy tried to stop him. He laughed, pulling his own off and then the boy's off. The boy's hands flew up to his neck as if to check if he was still breathing.
"But how-" Atlas asked.
"Well you see, there's this force field like thing that surrounds the buildings and homes. It makes it so humans can breathe without having these damned suits on all of the time.
"I think I'm going to faint." Atlas said as a blue skinned woman with all sorts of inked markings across her face passed him on the way to the kitchen. The Doctor stood behind him with his arms out stretched just in case as he spoke.
"Now, now. They're more scared of you then you are of them." The Doctor said, directing him to one of the tables.
"That's what my mom says to my sister about dogs." Atlas said and the Doctor laughed, sitting down across from the boy. As one of the waitresses came by, Atlas stared at her with wide eyes. She had long green hair and her skin was a sun-like color, with a long red snake across her arm.
"Hello again, Doctor. Still running around with your little pink and yellow humans I see." She said.
"Still serving people I see." The Doctor laughed.
"Is his face stuck like that?" She asked.
"Don't mind him, it's his first planet." The Doctor said, patting Atlas' shoulder. The Doctor ordered for the both of them, and then when the food came they dug in. Atlas stuck the fork in his mouth and moaned, making the Doctor laughed.
"This is the best food I have ever tasted." Atlas whispered looking up at the Doctor. The Doctor watched him carefully, he was smiling back at him, but something about him tugged at the Doctor's heart.
"What is it?" Atlas asked, lifting his eyebrow. The Doctor sighed, leaning forward on the table to get closer to him. He watched the young man with serious eyes.
"So what's your story?" The Doctor asked in a very low tone.
"What?" Atlas asked, swallowing a gulp of food.
"You know the stuff that makes you who you are. Whose your best friend or why is your favorite color red?" The Doctor asked, moving his hands around in a circle.
"It's not, it's blue." Atlas said as if he had just told him that two plus two was seven, and the Doctor threw his head back in laughter.
"That's a start." The Doctor said.
"And to answer your other question, I don't really have a best friend." Atlas shrugged.
"What am I chop liver?" The Doctor mocked being offended.
"I just met you." Atlas said.
"Right, right." The Doctor nodded, placing a piece of food in his mouth.
"What about you?" Atlas asked.
"I'm your everyday time traveler." The Doctor shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure that's an oxymoron." Atlas said, laughing. The pair laughed, and then went silent as they ate their food. The Doctor kept trying to figure out what about this boy made the Doctor have difficulty taking his eyes off him. They finished their lunch and headed back out to the Tardis.