SUMMARY: What happens if the Tenth lets Rose pick out a new outfit for him? Utter AU but my readers expect that from me...ONESHOT
CHOICES
"It doesn't work like that, you know." He told her. "My official outfit for each body influences my choices...so it has to be just right."
"You keep telling me I know you better than you know yourself...maybe you made a mistake, that's all I'm saying." Rose tossed over her shoulder as she headed out of the console room toward the kitchen. "Though, I dunno why you keep trying to compete with the past anyway, doesn't make much sense, does it? Last you told me you were supposed to remake your sonic for each body, too...and you haven't done that either. Maybe you just need some down time to get your ducks all in a row, so to speak."
Rose paused at the doorway. "And if you don't mind, I'd rather not go to some great, dead, hulking, empty spaceship for a look-see when we've got a perfectly good living one right here. Find me a pretty nebula instead, old girl? His travel plans leave something to be desired, this go...so far at least." She suggested, then quit the room while patting the wall affectionately.
He spluttered for a few moments after she left the room, no companion had ever been like Rose, speaking to him of things that were just so himself that none other had ever dared. But Rose, as he full well knew, was usually correct and he didn't really need a new disaster to drive the point home. His eyes flickered to the Nav readout and he huffed as the numbers changed...the TARDIS had changed course to one of the best clusters of nebulae in the universe. A tickle in his mind told him the timeship was laughing at him.
"Okay, fine. No France on a spaceship." He grumbled. "But my clothes, old girl? Nobody but you has ever helped me find the perfect outfit for a regeneration before! That's personal!"
The ship just laughed at him again, she knew he'd give in...and he knew he'd wear anything Rose suggested. Though, what had the Timeship laughing was just how many things Rose was telling her she intended to have the Doctor try on before she settled on something for him. Not that Rose didn't have some ideas, because she did, but she wanted to try a few things first. Trying things on was why the Doctor, as the TARDIS was well aware, avoided clothes shopping.
"What do you mean, 'try things on'? If I wanted to try things on, I'd go shopping. I hate trying things...ah hell." He had noticed the way her happy eyes had suddenly become not happy ones and he sighed. "Okay, fine. Whatever."
What followed was nearly a week, relative, of Rose's 'research', during which he learned more about matching his body to clothes than he'd ever known...and it all made sense. At the end of it, though he still had the leather trench-coat, that was all. He had brown leather hiking boots on, high tops, actually. Quite comfortable, plenty of support, looked good. Something Rose called 'tube socks' which were thick, comfortable and were made of nice, breathable cotton. they had no heel, as long as the seam at the end went straight across his toes, she'd said, he had them on right. His trousers and suit jacket were corduroy, of all things, in a somewhat darker color that otherwise matched the boots, and he now wore a suit vest.
None of these were skin tight the way the pinstripes had been, they were looser, more comfortable, and much easier to move or twist in...and he had to admit that with his lifestyle, these were all good points. She'd also put a blue feather in the hat band of a dark brown fedora and put it on his head...grinning her tongue touched smile as she pronounced him 'perfect'. He had yet to be allowed anywhere near a mirror, so he couldn't really say.
The suits, she had told his ship, should come in four weights, depending on the temperatures involved. The heavier the corduroy, the warmer it would be to wear.
"So...we're done, right?"
"Oh, no...not quite, but you need to do this bit in your room. Alone. Unless you want me to help...I can, you know." She handed him a stack of underpants.
He stared at them, flushed bright red and replied, "Um, no...I think I can manage this part on my own."
"Find out what feels best, support and all that, I picked only the softest, though most durable. So, put some pants on and then get dressed and I'll let you have a good look in one of those multi-directional, full length mirrors." She told the flush faced Doctor as she handed him the stack. He didn't bother to argue. "The TARDIS left mine in my room when she hid your's, you know."
He groused about it but pretty soon he had the underpants situation sorted and was entering Rose's bedroom door, headed straight for the mirror. He finally sighed..."Okay, you're right. This is better...by several orders of magnitude."
"Yeah, like most males, you need female help in dressing yourself. Don't worry, Doctor, it's a gender thing, not a species issue. You can't really help it."
"OI!"
~END~