Tumblr prompt that got a bit longer than expected: "summery platonic Clara/Bill fluff"
The invitation comes the way it did the last time - mysterious letter through the door, older than every other bit of mail by a noticeable amount, yellowing with age.
Uphill Slipway beach, Saturday, noon.
Bill grins.
Come Saturday, she takes the bus from Bristol to Uphill, just under an hour and a half, and enjoys the peacefulness of the journey that gets her through her weird playlist that's just a mix of David Bowie and Hayley Kiyoko.
It's a beautiful day, with just a right amount of wind and plenty of sun. Bill smiles into the breeze and basks in the feeling of the sun on her face.
A familiar diner is perched just on the edge of the dunes, but none of the locals seem to be paying it any notice. Bill heads inside, and sees a familiar face - the shorter brunette with the nose piercing, who is always rolling her eyes but never at Bill.
She's nice to Bill, actually. There's something compelling about her, a weight to her eyes and her words, that almost reminds Bill of the Doctor.
Not to mention, she tends to flirt with Bill at the most surprising moments, which is fun.
"Hey, Me," Bill says.
"Hello Bill," Me says, from where she's perched on the counter painting her toenails a deep purple colour. "She's out on the beach, not too far off. Green sundress, you won't miss her."
"She's a bit hard to miss," Bill replies, and Me indulges her with a nod, and a small smile.
"You look nice," Me says, eyes trailing over Bill's colourful jumpsuit (the one she had worn on her first trip to another world) and the denim shorts it was tucked into.
Bill tries not to blush. "Thanks. You look nice too." It isn't surprising that Me's beach getup is more sophisticated - a wrap dress over what looks like a modest swimsuit, as well as a large floppy hat.
Me smiles again. "Thank you."
Bill lingers awkwardly, her stupid little crush making her want to prolong the conversation. "So I'll, uh... go see her, then."
Me nods.
"See you out there?" Bill asks, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"Perhaps."
There's something to Me's soft eyes and the curl of her smile that makes Bill think Me is all too aware of Bill's little crush, but it doesn't feel like it's returned so much as a source of flattery and faint amusement. Not in a cruel way, though. It's like... it's like Me is just in a level that Bill could never comprehend. That's what it feels like.
Bill ducks out of the diner and heads for the beach, and sure enough spots a figure in a green sundress.
Clara Oswald stands at the water's edge, with her feet in the sand, letting in the waves come in and cascade over her feet and ankles. Her face is tilted up to the sky and her eyes are closed, a content smile on her lips.
"You made it," she says, as Bill approaches, without looking around.
"Seriously, how do you do that? It's like him all over again," Bill says, amazed, and Clara just laughs a little, but in that way that is always a little bit sad whenever the Doctor is brought up.
She finally turns to look at Bill, and Bill has to stop and take a moment, like she always does, at just how beautiful she is.
Like, the oh my god I'm so gay how do girls do that, how am I standing in front of an actual goddess right now. Thatkind of taking a moment.
Weirdly, Bill is more in awe of Clara than crushing on her, unlike with Me. She's not quite sure why that is, but she suspects it's because Clara always feels like the Doctor's, like she's out of Bill's reach in a way that's impossible to describe.
"Hey," Clara says, more softly. Those huge eyes of hers are warm, like they always are, but with that hint of sadness too.
"Hey yourself," Bill says, swallowing. "Look, I've still got my shoes on, so could we maybe walk or sunbathe instead of standing by the water? If we're gonna talk?"
Clara loops her arm through Bill's and they start walking along the water's edge.
"How have you been?" Clara asks.
"Yeah, good. I mean it's been completely mental, but it's been good. How about you?"
Clara nods. "Well enough, yeah." She grins, genuinely for the first time. "Me and I have been hanging out with Queen Victoria."
"Firstly, I will never get used to how weird your sentences sound when her name is Me, like seriously how have you not lost your mind yet?" Bill asks, amazed. "But also... Queen Victoria?! Seriously?! What's she like?"
"You know, she's surprisingly good company," Clara says with a grin. "And she lets me try on her dresses sometimes. I actually got mistaken for her, once."
"That's insane," Bill says. "I wish I could meet someone cool from history."
"Who would you want to meet?"
"Sappho," Bill says seriously. "God, I want to meet Sappho. I have no idea what I'd say, but to hear a full poem would just... complete my whole life."
"Why haven't you gotten the Doctor to take you?"
"He reckons me dying a gay death would be unproductive," Bill says, sighing as she recalls the conversation where he had expressed genuine concern for her wellbeing when she'd brought up the idea.
Clara bursts out laughing. "Well, he might have a point. You do have a bit of a tendency to, uh-"
"Get extremely overwhelmed by beautiful women, yeah," Bill says, snorting. "Kind of amazed I manage to keep my wits about me as much as I do when I'm with you, actually."
Clara lifts an eyebrow, and Bill blushes and pushes her with her shoulder so that Clara stumbles into the water.
"Shut up, you know what I mean," Bill says, "I'm not hitting on you, it's just a fact, you've got to be one of the most gorgeous people to exist on this whole planet."
Clara smiles, in a way that makes it look like her cheeks should be flushed with colour, but they aren't. In fact, Bill's never seen her blush, which is weird, come to think of it.
"Well, thank you," Clara says as she falls back into step with Bill, "you're fairly something yourself. Me certainly thinks so."
"Yeah?" Bill asks, possibly with a bit too much interest.
"Well, she paints a lot, and some of the figures are starting to look suspiciously like you. Unless she's become interested in afros for another reason."
"That's… encouraging," Bill says, surprised.
Clara glances at her. "You know that nothing could really-"
"Yeah, I know," Bill is quick to say, "I'm not stupid, I know a weird unavailable-and-possibly-alien figure when I see one." It's not like Bill has ever seriously thought something would happen between her and Me. Not even taking into the account the fact that Me travels around in a weird TARDIS diner, there's just something about Me. That idea of her being outside of Bill's comprehension, somehow. But it doesn't stop Bill from enjoying a harmless crush.
"She was human once," Clara says. "But that was... a very long time ago. And now she is something... someone completely different."
"It's alright, last person I had a crush on before her turned into a puddle and tried to kill me, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Clara makes a face. "That was rough."
They walk in silence for a while, just enjoying the beach and the weather. When the question finally comes, it's as cautious as it ever is.
"So... how is he?" Clara asks.
"He's good, I think," Bill says, honestly. "I mean, it's hard to know, because he's the Doctor, but he seems a bit better to how he was when I met him, you know? A bit lighter. Happier. I do catch him looking sad sometimes. Sometimes he's looking at those pictures on his desk - you know, the girl and the lady with the mental hair. But sometimes he's just staring off out of the window, and it's like he doesn't know why he's sad, you know?"
"Yeah, I do," Clara says with a sigh. "But he hasn't mentioned me at all?"
"Nah," Bill says, and the familiar mixture of relief and sadness takes over Clara's face. "Man, I hate having to tell you that. I know this is only the third time, but seriously. I know it's what's important, to keep him safe, but it's obviously killing you."
"It's the way it has to be," Clara replies, shrugging. "The main thing is that he's okay."
"Are you okay, though?"
Clara gives her a big smile. "I'm always okay." It isn't quite believable, but Bill nods anyway.
They head back the way they came, and come across Me lying on a blanket in the sun with a book.
"Everything alright?" She asks when they lie down either side of her.
"Still nothing," Clara tells her. "We're good."
"So when the Doctor asks me how my weekend was, I suppose I'll need to make something up," Bill says thoughtfully.
"Just tell him you went to the beach with some friends," Me replies, turning the page of her book.
"My weird friends with their TARDIS that looks like a diner, who know him but he can't remember because it was that or him tearing the universe apart to stay with Clara?"
"Probably leave that bit out," Clara says, smiling.
"... can we make a sandcastle? I haven't done that in years."
"I haven't done that in centuries," Me says, eyes sparking as she sets her book aside, and that kind of comment should really give Bill more pause, but it doesn't. "Clara?"
Clara doesn't look overly keen, but groans and gets up when they do.
"Alright!" Bill says enthusiastically. "Now, I read a whole book about sandcastle building once, so I know all the tricks. Between the three of us, we'll have something properly amazing. You've just got to follow my lead."
"Lead away, Miss Potts," Me says with a grin, and Bill grins back.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought!