As the Doctor's hands waved about in her explanation of some space-y swirly whatchamajigger (which made little sense and caused you to zone out of her excited rambling quite some time ago), you noticed it again, glinting in the light. Your eyes focused on the small earring in the doctor's ear. It was simple, silver and gold. The Doctor's arms wildly waving about caused the thin, silver chain connected to it to swing back and forth. Your eyes followed the chain on its upward path to where it ended. A small cuff. Nothing extraordinarily fancy, considering. A few stars that wrapped around her ear. So why did it draw your gaze?
The Doctor turned towards you and your eyes snapped up to hers, feigning attention.
The TARDIS door had just slammed shut behind you, the inhabitants of the planet angrily banging on the blue box. Yaz had halted beside you, using your shoulder as exaggerated support. The Doctor continued her sprint to the control panel, nearly skidding straight past it, to push on various levers and buttons, the TARDIS making her usual whooshing noise signaling her departure from the hostile planet.
Once the Doctor had finished fiddling with the control panel she spun around to face you, the silver chain on her earring catching the light.
Your eyes linger on the metallic gleam.
I wonder how it would feel—
"(Y/N), are you okay?" The Doctor tilted her head slightly with her question, worry tinting her voice.
God that's adorable.
You shook your head. "Just a bit out of it from running across half of what was apparently a hostile military base," you teased lightly. Yaz let loose something halfway between a gasp for air and a snort before wandering off to the kitchen to fix a kettle of tea, Ryan and Gram in tow.
You were sitting and playing cards with Yaz and Ryan, Gram taking the momentary quiet to read a book he had found in the library. Some novel printed in the year 5 billion. (Though it looked oddly familiar, with a giant wasp on the cover. You couldn't quite place it)
Looking at the cards in your hand you gave a frown.
"(Y/N), you have the worst poker face," Ryan laughed.
Yaz just raised an eyebrow as a smirk edged up on her face.
Ryan pushed all of his salt, sugar, and pepper packets (a quickly thrown together replacement for betting chips) with a smug grin.
You looked over at Yaz, who seemed to be struggling to keep a straight face, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, holding her hands up in mock surrender. You pushed your own haphazard stack in the middle of the table. Ryan raised his eyebrow.
"You sure you want to do that?"
"Yup," popping the 'p' and leaning back in your chair, "besides, Yaz beat me the last four times, thought you deserved a chance."
Ryan snorted and rolled his eyes, "suit yourself." Ryan looked over at Yaz, waiting to see what she would do.
Yaz smiled as she placed her cards face down on the table, "I fold."
Ryan grinned and turned his hand over, displaying a full house of three aces and a pair of jacks. "What've you got?"
A full on smirk broke out across your face as you tossed your cards face up onto the table. "Royal. Straight. Flush." A small accentuating pause was placed between each word.
Ryan looked incredulously at your ten through ace of hearts staring back at him. "I thought you were bad at five card!"
"I am," you grinned, "but I hate preparing dinner for you people even more."
Yaz cackled.
Ryan let out a huff before sticking his hand out for a handshake. "Well, I lost fair and square."
You took his hand and shook it, the grin never leaving your lips. "Aww, don't feel too bad. I got Yaz pretty good last time, I wasn't sure if she was going to speak to me for the rest of the day."
Yaz mumbled "'mercy killing'" with mild resentment under her breath before looking at you. "Liar, you're good at this game, you just don't play well until you've got us hook, line, and sinker."
You stuck out your tongue in protest.
Ryan stood up from the table, "Well, I'm gonna go ask what me grandad wants. I suppose you two still want the same?"
A unified "yup" left both you and Yaz.
Ryan nodded and left the room in search of the library.
"It's nice that Ryan and Gram are getting on," you smile at the door where Ryan had exited.
Yaz glanced towards you.
"You like her."
"What?"
Yaz repeated herself, "You like the Doctor."
Your eyebrows came together as a confused frown graced your lips, "Of course I like her, she's my friend. I wouldn't be traveling with you guys if I didn't like her."
Yaz rolled her eyes, "I meant romantically, you moron."
A flush took to your cheeks, you refused to meet Yaz's eyes, "She's just a friend, Yaz. I don't like her like that."
Yaz snorted.
"What!"
"You've been giving her those googly eyes and have been staring at her non-stop. If you're trying to be subtle, you're doing a horrid job of it. I'm surprised she hasn't caught on by now."
"I haven't been giving her googly eyes," you huffed out, "It's her stupid earring."
Yaz's eyebrows scrunched together, "Huh?"
"The Doctor's earring," you clarified, "It's weird."
Yaz was no less confused. "I wear earrings, are mine weird?"
You shook your head, "No, it's just that cuff and chain. It's really distracting. I don't really know what it is about it, it just keeps catching my attention. It's so odd, every time I notice it I can't seem to ignore it. I keep on thinking about how it might feel, or how the light keeps catching on it or something bothersome like that and I can't just look away." You concluded with a noise somewhere between a huff and a growl of aggravation.
Yaz's mouth dropped open as her eyebrows rose in shock before her cheeks settled in a grin. "Oh my god, (Y/N), you have an earring cuff kink!"
Your cheeks flared scarlet, "No, I do not! It's just distracting! That's all!"
The Doctor had taken team TARDIS back to Sheffield, everyone had wanted to get something from home. Mostly clothes that were clean and not covered in smelly alien goo.
(Y/N) had gone to and from her flat rather quickly, and was therefore first back in the TARDIS. After you had finished putting your clothes away in your room, you wandered into the console room, the Doctor nowhere in sight.
You had sighed and turned around quickly, nearly smacking straight into the chest of the excitable Time Lord that was right behind you.
"Oh good grief, Doc, Sorry!"
The Doctor had chuckled softly, "Ah, no worries." She pushed some hair behind her ear, "Shoulda given more warning."
You gulped.
"So," the blonde alien rocked on the balls of her feet, the small chain attached to her ear swaying loosely, "any ideas on where you'd like to go next?"
Your brain only processed half of the words that were just spoken to you. "I'm-I'm sorry, what?"
"Where would you like to go? We've got the whole universe, all of space and time! Except some places… can't go some places, very bad there, can't cross time streams… but other than that all of space and time at your fingertips. Just say the word and I can take you there. There's some great planets out there. How about Barcellona? Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona—"
The Doctor continued on her rambling as you zoned out once again, only half hearing something about dogs with no noses, all your attention on the shiny metal clasped onto the Doctor's ear.
The Doctor stopped suddenly, "(Y/N)?"
What was it about a stupid piece of metal that was so intriguing?
"(Y/N)?"
I mean, sure, earrings, in general, drew attention on themselves, it's what they were supposed to do.
"(Y/N), are you all right?"
But why were you paying so much attention to it?
"Can you hear me?"
Especially that chain and cuff, for some reason looking at it made your stomach start to feel warm.
"(Y/N—)."
Seriously, what was up with you? When you saw that small piece of metal wrapped around her ear, all you could think about was how it might feel. How she might react if you touched it, ran your fingers over the clasp, lightly placed your lips over—
"(Y/N)!"
You were jolted out of your thoughts, the Doctor right in front of your face.
"Wha-What?"
The Doctor looked at you with worry. "(Y/N), are you alright? You've been spacing out a lot recently. Have you caught something?" She took out her sonic screwdriver and quickly scanned you. She brought it to her face to see the reading, but frowned when nothing was recorded as wrong.
"I'm fine, Doctor. I'm probably just a bit tired, 's all right." You sighed, shaking your head dismissively.
"No, it's not," a frown still decorated the Doctor's face and her eyebrows creased, "This isn't the first time this has happened. It's hardly the second time, even. Is there something you're not telling me?" She bends down slightly to be eye level with you.
You swallowed thickly.
"I'm fine."
That seemed to only make the Doctor more stressed. "(Y/N), I need you to tell me what's going on. If there's anything I can do, I'll do it." The Doctor's eyes flicked across your face in search of an answer before her body went stiff and her jaw tensed shut. Some sort of thought or realization going through her head.
Ah, shit.
You were about to open your mouth when the Doctor's quiet (and strangely vulnerable sounding) voice broke through the silence, "Do you want to leave?"
You looked up in alarm.
"No!"
The Doctor startled by your sudden exclamation recoiled back a step.
"I don't want to stop traveling with you!" You continued, eager to say anything to stay, "I love being able to see all of the wonderful things you show us, all the excitement." Your voice became more meak.
"Hey, hey. It's okay. So you don't want to leave," in your panic of wondering if you were being asked to leave, you didn't notice the Doctor's sigh of relief or her mood become lighter. "If that's not it, then why have you been so distracted lately?" The Time Lord tilted her head slightly to look into your eyes, the silver chain reflecting the light within the TARDIS.
"'S your stupid earring," you mumbled.
"Sorry, couldn't quite hear that, what?" Confusion flickered across the Doctor's face as she leaned in closer to hear you properly.
"It's your earring!"
You didn't mean to shout.
The Doctor reeled back from the sudden outburst, eyes wide.
Unable to stop the words from spilling from your mouth, cheeks heating up from embarrassment and refusing to make eye contact, you continued, "It's been driving me insane. Every time I look at you and I can see it, I can't look away for some reason. It's like it keeps nagging away at my brain."
The Doctor's nose scrunched in confusion, "Is there something wrong with it?"
Your face was starting to burn, "No, nothing's wrong with it. It's just…" you trailed off.
"Just…?" the Doctor prompted.
You looked straight into her eyes, red painting your face completely, "I really want to touch it!"
Silence.
Oh God, you just screwed everything up, didn't you? Now the Doctor would think you were weird for wanting to touch her earring, of all things. She would think you were weird and then become uncomfortable having you around, but she would be too polite to show it. Then after a few weeks, maybe days, she would ask you to leave because she wasn't comfortable around you anymore because of your stupid outburst. Why did you have to say that? You should have just kept your mouth sh—
"Okay."
What.
"I said, Okay," the Doctor responded gently to the word you didn't realize was said out loud. "You can touch my earring if you like."
You paused before nodding slowly and the Doctor bent down slightly for you to touch the metal accessory.
You raised your hand up to her ear, hesitating before softly touching the piece in her earlobe.
You notice neither the Doctor closing her eyes nor the shaky breath she releases at your touch.
Your fingers trace along the shape of the silver adornment, your fingers momentarily brushing along the Doctor's ear.
The Doctor inhales sharply.
You continue running your fingers along the trail of the Doctor's earring, your fingertips tracing along the chain, all of your senses focused on the captivating piece of jewelry.
As the tips of your forefingers reached the end of the chain, you hesitated slightly before running them around the cuff. You swipe your thumb softly over the front, taking in all the smooth bumps and edges along the line of stars.
The Time Lord hoped you couldn't hear her hearts hammering away in her chest. (Of course you probably couldn't, you were human. Human hearing wasn't fine enough to be able to hear the pulse of another creature from so far away. It was just a figure of speech.) Having you so close, your scent completely surrounded her, and it was not doing good things for her self restraint. She was already having trouble with you living on the TARDIS. Constantly distracted. Wasn't good really. Even now, all she could think about was how would it feel? Your soft hair, your smooth skin, your plush lips—
You eventually pull your hand away, a bit regretfully, and slowly bring your hand to your chest, clutching it within your other unconsciously.
The Doctor took an extra second to savor the memory of your fingers so soft upon her skin. She finally opened her eyes slowly, pulling away, her ear still tingling from your touch.
The Doctor's eyes focused themselves on your face and swallowed, conflicting thoughts racing through her mind. Hesitating, leaning a few centimeters closer, hesitating, withdrawing, repeat.
You bite your lip looking at the Time Lord distracted by her own thoughts before in an instance of bravery—or possible stupidity—you took a few paces forward, rocked yourself onto your toes and pressed your lips right on the side of the Doctor's face, breath tickling her ear.
"Thanks, Doc."
You scurried away quickly back to your room before she could see the red taking over your face. You may still be distracted by it later, but at least you pulled together the courage to get closer, you would take your silver linings wherever you could get them.
The Doctor stood there in a moment of stunned silence before she touched her cheek, her finger then playing absentmindedly with the silver thread.
She refused to answer the rest of Team TARDIS's questions on why she seemed more happy than usual nor why there was a grin wider than normal seaming to be plastered to her face the rest of the day.