John practically jumped out of his skin when the knock at his door echoed through his flat. It was a Friday night and he was already a drink in and had a pizza in the oven and was most decidedly not expecting company.
He pulled on the blue jumper he'd left on the back of the couch and ambled over to the door, hoping that he wasn't going through the effort of getting off of his sofa for a salesman. He swung the door open without the pretense of peering through the busted peephole and promptly froze as he caught sight of who was on the other side.
Definitely not a salesman.
Instead it was his neighbor from across the hall, the one who he'd been crushing on since she moved in six months ago despite the fact that he rather thought he was well past the age of having crushes. The blonde from 4D was apparently his exception.
"Umm, hi," she said, biting her bottom lip as she took him in.
As her eyes swept over him quickly, he really started to wish that he hadn't changed into his flannel pajama bottoms and that he wasn't wearing the jumper that had been on his couch for multiple days.
"Hello."
"I'm Rose, from across the hall?"
"I know who you are," he said before he could stop himself. "I mean, I've seen you around and all and you came 'round to introduce yourself when you moved in."
She laughed and pushed a piece of hair back behind her ear. "Yeah, just didn't think you'd remember is all."
"Good memory, me," he bragged with a hint of a smile. The fact that his memory was significantly more reliable where his neighbor was involved was something that could remain his own little secret.
"John, right?" she asked, waiting for his nod of confirmation before continuing. "Well, I promise I'm not interrupting your Friday night at random," she started.
"It's no bother," he assured her quickly.
"Thanks for that," she answered with a quick grin. "The thing is, my shower broke last night and you know the super refuses to fix anything once he's decided it's the weekend."
"Need me to come take a look?" he guessed.
"No, no, not hitting you up for repairs. Not just yet at least," she said, tongue peeking out the corner of her smile. "It's just that I have a date tonight and I really really need to shower after spending the day getting sneezed on by little kids and I was wondering if I could use your shower?"
An agreement along the lines of "Of course you can use my shower," was out of his mouth within a second. She flashed him a brilliant smile and thanked him before disappearing back into her own flat to grab her things.
The second she was out of sight, John let his head thud against the doorframe. It was honestly just his luck that the first conversation with her that had lasted more than sixty seconds was all because she had a date with someone else that she needed to get to.
And that the girl he'd been valiantly attempting not to fantasize about would, in less than five minutes, be naked in his shower.
This was not good.
Leaving the door ajar so Rose wouldn't have to knock again, John walked back into his sitting area and downed the glass of whiskey he'd been nursing.
"Mmm, smells good in here. What's on?"
John spun around and found Rose standing just inside the doorway, dressing gown slung over one arm and a bag in her hands.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Figured you left the door open on purpose."
"I did. Just not used to other people being in here." He cringed internally but it was too late to take his words. Normally he had no problem controlling his mouth. Hell, people called him taciturn on a regular basis, just… Rose was once again proving to be an exception.
"Would've figured a good looking bloke like yourself would have company all the time," she commented.
"Nah, this daft old face doesn't get much attention," he deferred, watching with interest as her cheeks tinged pink. "And the smell's just a pizza I threw in a bit ago."
"Well it smells divine. Would probably be having the same if I wasn't going out." Rose smiled that peculiarly entrancing smile with her tongue visible again. "It's my normal Friday night fare."
"Glad I'm not the only one." He swallowed hard and glanced away from her before gesturing down . "The shower is this way."
Rose shot him a grin over her shoulder as she sauntered towards the bathroom and shut the door.
John bit back a groan and trudged back towards the sofa, trying not to pay any mind to the fact that the water was starting and that, presumably, Rose was disrobing not ten meters away from where he was standing.
Ignoring that tiny little fact was going to make tonight a very interesting one.
He poured and finished another drink in the time it took for his neighbor to shower and was taking the pizza out of the oven when he heard the creak of the bathroom door opening.
"John?" Her voice floated through the flat.
"In here," he called back.
He thought he was ready to see her again, thought he was going to be able to play it cool and pretend that he was completely unaffected by her presence in his space.
He was completely and totally wrong.
Rose washed clean of makeup, skin glowing from the warm water, and clad only in a dressing gown was far more than he could have ever been prepared for.
"Thanks for the loan of the shower," she said after a few moments of silence. "I really appreciate it."
"Anytime," he choked out.
She stayed in place, shifting her weight from foot to foot and worrying her bottom lip as she watched him stand motionless in the kitchen. "Guess I should go finish getting ready now."
He nodded brusquely and watched her as she walked slowly to the door.
"If your date doesn't go well, you're welcome to come have some of my pizza," he blurted out just as she put her hand on the doorknob. He shrugged in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner when she looked back at him. "If you want. I'll be here just watching Netflix probably."
"Okay," she said with a smile that seemed more tender than the ones he'd seen and catalogued previously. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."
With that she slipped out the door, leaving John to his pizza and movie night and to his dissecting of every word they'd both said.
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It was two hours later that the movie he'd picked at random on Netflix was interrupted by another knock on the door. He didn't even bother pausing the movie before hauling himself off the couch to answer the door.
"Rose!"
His mouth dropped open slightly as he took in his neighbor clad in a pair of very tight jeans and a blue top that somehow both flowed and clung at the same time. She was sporting an almost nervous smile, although what she had to be nervous about he couldn't tell you.
(Genius, him. People always told him so, but this blonde with her smiles and her…her-ness seemed to put him on the same level as the rest of the apes he knew.)
(Rose Tyler was going to be the exception to everything he thought he knew, he thought briefly.)
"Hi. Your offer for pizza and a movie still stand?"
"Absolutely," he said, swinging the door open wider to invite her in. "Date not go according to plan."
Rose groaned, making him twitch slightly. "It was a blind date that my mate Shareen set up because she got it into her head that I don't go out enough. The bloke never even showed up so I'm starved and kinda annoyed that I went all the way across town just to get stood up."
"Well, whoever it was doesn't know what they're missing."
"Got that right!" she said with a laugh. "Now, feed me and I'll watch whatever horrible thing it is that you have on."
John's smile felt like it was going to crack his face in half it was so big. "I've been watching it for an hour and I still don't know what's going on. Picked it at random."
"Well, go pick something else out for us to watch from the beginning while I grab pizza.
"There's beer in the fridge and whiskey on the counter if you want a drink," he said, moving to snatch up the remote and start scrolling through the viewing choices. "Any preference on genre?"
"I promise I will absolutely make fun of your taste in movies no matter what you pick," she said, grinning.
"Fantastic."
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One movie turned into two and sure enough, Rose made fun of both selections even though she'd helped pick out the second one.
John didn't mind at all though, especially when she had curled into his side halfway through the first movie and had continued to cuddle him for the rest of what he was starting to think was an impromptu date.
(That suspicion was confirmed when he walked her to the door of his flat at the end of the night and she took it upon herself to lean up and softly brush her lips against his in a goodnight kiss.)