A/N: Prompted on tumblr: " Young!River (Luna Uni young) and Young! Doctor (Early Season 5)- Fluffiest fluff and cute!" Head to my profile for links to my tumblr and Ao3 account! I really don't use FFN much anymore,
To Find Common Ground at the Start
The Doctor's fingers twitched as he thought of somewhere to take the Tardis, somewhere he could go without his companions along with him.
Rory had only joined he and Amy a few days before, just in time for the failed romantic holiday that ended up involving more Sexy Fish Vampires than any actual alone time for the soon-to-be-married couple. Since their days had been filled mostly with large-scale adventures and not so much of the small, quiet moments the couple seemed to crave, they had taken to spending their nights alone in their bedroom for even longer periods of time than his human companions usually did, sleeping or kissing or doing other humany things he found it best for his sanity to not think about.
Because of the couple's extended bedroom hours, the Doctor had found himself with much more time on his hands, time in which he found himself alone and with nothing to do. His usual tasks of reading or tinkering with the machinery were tempting (the new jump swing below the console was certainly a new favorite of his) but his still perfectly new body jittered with energy buzzing to be let loose. He needed to get out and do some thing, go somewhere that would keep him occupied and entertained for just a little while and yet, after the madness of the last few days, he wasn't particularly in the mood for one of his usual adventures that involved endless running or catastrophe. He just didn't know exactly what it was he craved, where it was he should go to keep busy for the evening.
"What do you think, Sexy? Any ideas?" he asked aloud to his ship, not really expecting any form of response.
He was surprised, however, when almost immediately, the ships's lights started to flash and the Tardis' usual comforting hum reverberated loudly through his ears. The time rotor started to movie up and down and the typewriter where he input coordinates started to type for itself. Having the Tardis fly itself without any input or direction from him wasn't unheard of but it certainly wasn't common either. It nearly always happened when there was somewhere he needed to be, some where or when that was important.
As he felt the Tardis land, his excitement levels rose. He hadn't been in the mood for something big before, but if his beloved ship was eager for him to be involved in something, how could that not make him eager to see what it was? He rushed to the doors, expecting to find himself in the middle of an alien ship or a war zone or some city or bustling crowd, ready to launch himself into whatever it was that was happening and relieve the restlessness within himself.
He bolted out before he even took a look around, getting about three feet before he actually took in his surroundings and stopped abruptly in his tracks. There was no ship or battle or crowd around him. Instead he saw only books. Books and computers and tables and chairs and nothing at all interesting or in particular need of his presence. It was just a library. (A normal library, not a planet-sized library like the one that had haunted a few of his dreams towards the end of his last regeneration and every one in the last week or so since the adventure with the Byzantium. He was fairly certain there were no flesh-eating shadows hidden here at least).
He turned back to the Tardis, finger outstretched accusingly. "What do you mean by this? There's nothing here! I don't-"
He broke off suddenly at the sound of a loud crash, followed quickly by a string of profanity coming from somewhere behind the bookcase to his left. His head shot around and it only took him a fraction of a second before he turned back to his ship and muttered a quick "Thanks, dear!" before sprinting around the row of shelves in search of whatever or whoever was there.
The library was dark and it was obviously night. There honestly shouldn't be anyone in here, judging from the way all the computers were shut down, the blinds on the windows closed, and there not being a single soul around, save for himself and the mysterious swearing stranger. So when he rounded the corner, all he could make out was the outline of a vaguely slight figure, humanoid and likely female, crouching low to the ground, busy in her quest to pick up whatever it was that had dropped and caught his attention. Whipping out his sonic, he shone the light at the end down towards the person, curious as to who and what could be going on that could cause the Tardis to bring him precisely here.
At the same time as the woman before him gasped in surprise at the sound of the sonic buzzing and jumped to her feet, the Doctor also jumped back, immediately recognizing the wild blonde curls illuminated by the light.
"River?" he gaped, staring with his jaw dropped at the woman who now seemed to be getting ready to attack.
Hearing his voice speak her name, she blinked, recognizing who it was in front of her, and dropped her offensive position. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Doctor? What are you doing here?"
"I-" realizing quickly he really had no explanation whatsoever for being...wherever it was exactly they were, he threw the proverbial ball back into her court. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? River! You – you're breaking into a library!"
She folded her arms across the front of her chest and rolled her eyes. "Yes, a library located at my university, where I've come to get some noise-free studying done before my final tomorrow and told no one that I was coming to. I'd say I was doing a pretty good job at not getting caught before you turned up."
He did his best to hold back a snort of laughter and failed miserably. "Sorry but it was you who dropped whatever it was you dropped that made enough noise to wake the entire campus? You did that before I showed up – or at least before you knew I was here!"
She glared at him and huffed impatiently, ducking back down to fumble on the dark ground.
"What was it you dropped anyway? You don't seem the sort to just drop things to me," he asked shifting the light of the sonic lower, getting his answer before she even answered.
"Textbooks," River answered harshly, gathering book after book into her arms, struggling to get them all situated neatly before even glancing at the fallen notes around her.
Feeling useless just standing there watching her scramble around on the floor, the Doctor dropped to his knees, gathering up the fallen notebooks and stray sheets of paper before reaching over and taking half the stack of heavy books from her arms. She looked at him, slightly surprised but grateful, as she stood up easily, arms no longer bogged down with the weight of so much reading material.
"So," the Doctor said as lightly as he could, considering the sudden awkwardness of the moment, "when you said you were studying, you meant for a class? You're in university? As a student?"
"Of course I'm a student," she told him matter-of-factly, looking at him with confusion briefly before making her way over to the nearest table and placing the books down. "Why else would I be here?"
He looked her over, dropping the books in his arms next to her on the table and really took her appearance in as best he could considering the darkness. She looked the same to him – glorious blonde ringlets cascading down around her shoulders, ever-present and slightly naughty smirk gracing her lips, and curves that even while she was seated stood out to him in a way that made him very determined to not look. Looking would be bad for oh so many reasons and it was grossly inappropriate, considering, well... just considering. He didn't know who she was to him (his subconscious berated him for the flimsy lie because of course he knew- who else could she be? - but the longer he lied to himself, the longer he could go without facing the truth and ramifications of it).
He mentally shook himself. The point was, she looked almost identical to the way she had each time he'd seen her before but looking at her face and the brief interaction they'd shared thus far had alerted him to the fact that the River Song sitting in front of him certainly was young. Younger than he'd ever seen her before and that filled him with an insane and inexplicable sense of glee. She was a student, not a professor or even a doctor or in prison, but a university student. She spoke more harshly and he wasn't sure if she was angry with him for some reason or if it was the prospect of being taken by surprise – which he imagined didn't happen very often – or if she was just harder and angrier when young. The way she was looking at him now, however, open and hesitant and even pleased to see him, proved that however harsh her words may have sounded in the last few minutes, this young River was just that – young and vulnerable and maybe even, if he was lucky enough, just as in the dark and clueless as he was.
He realized he must have been silent for a very long time because her voice interrupted this thoughts. "Why haven't you asked me where we are yet? When I saw you last? That usually comes before anything else," she asked him quietly, avoiding his eyes for a moment as she spoke and flipping instead through one of her books.
He grinned and sat down opposite her, excited and relieved to have finally found a version of her that while maybe not spoiler-free, was most certainly much younger than he'd ever seen her before and not quite as frightening as her future self with all her spoilers and all-knowingness and flirtatious looks-
He glanced up at her. All right, well maybe that last one was still there because she was certainly staring at him will a rather terrifying gleam in her eyes. He cleared his throat, trying to remember her question.
"I – er – well it's always you that asks that..."
She narrowed her eyes. "Well, I'm pretty positive that it's always you that asks. Unless..." she gasped lightly, "you're young aren't you?" Her eyes, which had been narrowed in suspicion and confusion now shone in excitement and he couldn't help but think that she was excited for the same reasons as he.
"Yes!" he giggled, then clapped a hand over his mouth, embarrassed by the undignified sound. He looked over at River, expecting to see her rolling her eyes or with a look of annoyance or other form of un-amusement but instead she shocked him by bursting into laughter herself.
"How young are you?" she asked him eagerly between giggles, draping her elbow across her books as she leaned forward, towards him. He followed suit, leaning across the table, a grin wide across his face.
"Oh, well, not at all really – I'm nine hundred and seven! But in regards to – well...you – very. I've only met you a few times. Only once before in this body, with Amy. Do you know Amy yet? And how about you? How long-?"
Her laugh faded somewhat but the amusement still shone from her eyes. "Yes, yes of course I know Amy. And I met you properly not too long ago, but you've dropped in more than a few times since. Just to be clear – when you said you'd only met me a few times – I mean you barely know me at all, do you?
"Well, just a bit, not very well. That's why this is so brilliant – neither of us knows the other very well! No spoilers at the moment! Well...I mean I've got some and I assume-"
"Oh, I've definitely got some spoilers for you," she said lightly but with a look of concentration on her face, obviously thinking over whatever tidbits of knowledge about his future she held.
He grinned, feeling more lighthearted by the moment. "Great! Then we're even. Let's just forget about them and get back to - what was it you were doing here again?"
Now she rolled her eyes. "Studying. Or I was before you swooped in and distracted me! And you never did answer my question. What on Earth are you doing here?"
He fidgeted awkwardly, not wanting to admit that he really had no idea. "The Tardis dropped me off."
She quirked an eyebrow. "The Tardis dropped you off? And why would she do that?"
He shrugged his shoulders and flapped his hands back down on the table helplessly. "No idea. Amy and Rory are off in their room doing...engaged-couple-things and I was looking for something to keep busy and the next thing I know, I'm here and she's practically shoving me out the door! Remind me to have a look at her controls later because that just isn't on – she's got no right to be dropping me off in strange university libraries in the dead of night!"
River laughed again, this time a great, booming laugh obviously in response to his rambling and ranting. Being so young, she probably wasn't quite used to it yet.
"Well, so long as she's making you stay here, you might as well make yourself useful and help me study."
"Well, I supposed I can do that," he said resignedly, reaching for the nearest textbook. "What are you studying? Archaeology, I know – rubbish by the way – but what exactly?"
She glared at him. "It's hardly rubbish, Doctor. And if you must know, it's twenty to twenty-second century Earth. A specialty of yours, I know. So keep you're ridiculous opinions to yourself and make yourself useful or bugger off." Her tone dropped back into antagonistic harshness as she snatched her book out of his hands.
Surprised by the anger at his comment, he decided to let the matter drop. He could always go tease older versions of her about her chosen profession – she hadn't seemed to mind too terribly on the occasion or two he had before. He grabbed the book back from her resisting hold. "All right, making myself useful. As you said, it is rather my area of expertise. It's the least I could do."
He noted her look of tender surprise as he started to flip through the book, scanning it quickly. His resolve to stay complaint-free, however, was tested quickly.
"All right, I was going to keep my mouth shut, but River, just look, this is wrong!" he cried in despair, shoving the book across the table into her face and pointing. "They don't even mention Jammie Dodgers in this list of most popular foods! Or fish fingers and custard! And everyone know those are simply the best!"
She huffed and rolled her eyes of course but he could see the hint of a smile on her lips as she pretended to be impatient with him, which really is what he'd been aiming for in the first place. She quickly put him to work having him read out passages and test her on what she could recite back, adding in little anecdotes of his own that he knew she was attempting to remember but file separately from the knowledge that would actually help her on her exam, since most of his facts sounded completely made up to her ears.
By the time morning rolled around, they were still sitting at the cramped little table and going through the last of her notes when they heard the tell-tale sound of someone unlocking the doors to the library. The library neither of them were supposed to be in at all. With only a brief shared look between them, them swiped up all of the textbooks and notes between them and dashed to the Tardis, where the Doctor sent them spinning into the vortex before anyone could see any sign of them. When he dropped her off in front of her dorm only minutes later, he let her go with a forlorn goodbye and a wish of good luck, which she cheekily insisted she didn't need before thanking him for the company and sashaying out of the doors.
The Doctor was left feeling a bit bereft. Each and every time that woman came barreling into his life, she seem to bring with her an undo amount of trouble, tonight's (or this morning's, rather) sprint from the oncoming librarian included, but each and every time she left a little more of a wistfulness behind with him. She'd told him, barely a week before, that she'd see him next when the Pandorica opened, which was surely code for something because of course that was a fairy tale, but then he saw her tonight. He assumed then that she meant that it would be the next time she saw him and Amy together. It made him hope (not hope – wonder. He definitely didn't hope anything in regards to River Song) that there would be other such meetings with the two of them before then. It was certainly a way to keep his companionless nights entertaining and much less lonely. And it was certainly something he could get used to.