Snarky Aliens In Love
Inspired by this post:
post/51101493204/shaestel-shh-im-wondering-i-dont- know-if
Spoiler alert: I've fallen back in love with classic Who, since I've given up on the new stuff. It's terrible. My love for Turlough has been rekindled and I've also really fallen in love with Adric, too. He's precious. My babushka.
I did not do this justice, but hey! At least I'm the first T/A fic to be posted! I wrote this while I was half asleep so I might wake up tomorrow and re-read this, wince, and take it down... maybe. Or I might just squee and leave it. I know they never met, shh! I'm omitting Nyssa so pretend she was the one on the freighter or something? Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I'm off to go share headcanons about these two and cry a lot.
In retrospect, Tegan really should have seen it coming. It was a classic case of pulling pigtails then running away. Why she had not suspected it, she did not know, for in hindsight, the signs were all there and all blatantly obvious. She continuously told herself that she was not that oblivious, that she had simply been distracted by the fast paced adventures she had shared with the Doctor – and with the two guilty accused themselves.
She really had to wonder when exactly it had happened, though. For, as she'd just said, they were constantly running from monsters, discovering new planets, reversing the polarity of the bloody neutron flow, and not landing in Heathrow airport. Tegan could not understand how they had managed to get that close. But they had, and she should have really suspected it, because they were incredibly obvious about it now that she thought about it.
Her discovering their secret had been a complete accident. The TARDIS had landed in a Roman Londinium and the Doctor had gone out first to investigate, leaving her and the boys behind. She had very quickly realised that Adric and Turlough were not with her in the console room and had immediately assumed that they'd gone after the Doctor – which was not surprising behaviour for Adric, she thought, but not typical of Turlough – so she decided to check their shared room first.
Turlough had made such a fuss over sharing, when she first showed him to Adric's room. She reasoned (forcibly) that she and Nyssa shared, so there was no reason why Turlough should not. But Turlough had not been the only obstacle; Adric himself had argued against Turlough invading his space. Tegan had just told them that it was tough luck if they didn't like the new room arrangements because that was the way it was going to be whether they liked it or not. Remembering this, Tegan was conscious that she was most definitely a catalyst in the development of their relationship. Her intentions had only been pure and honourable, however. She had wanted to provide Adric with some male company that wasn't the Doctor (and also keep him busy with people that weren't herself because it was tiring arguing with Adric constantly, and the same went for Turlough.) And avoiding further wondering around the interior of the TARDIS also had something to do with it.
It seemed that now, however, the two boys were more than happy to share a room with each other. Tegan wasn't sure if she was amused by this, or incredibly guilty. She had not knocked on the door – a mistake she paid for rather quickly – before she entered. As she entered, her brain acknowledged two things in the following order: that she'd never heard a noise like that come from Adric before, and that said alien was currently wrapped up in Turlough's arms. The pair was facing away from the door, but at an angle where Tegan could easily work out what was going on, whilst they were completely ignorant of her presence. She'd never taken Turlough to be a cuddler, but then again, she'd never really seen him around people he was genuinely close to before. Adric was tucked up against Turlough's chest and was making sleepy, muffled sounds (that she realised were words, but spoken too quietly for her to understand from where she was standing at the door) against Turlough's collarbone. She could only see Turlough's face from the side, but even then, she could tell he had an amused, proud smirk on his face. She very quickly turned away and left as Turlough had moved to press a kiss to the top of Adric's head.
That had been an hour ago, and now she, along with the Doctor, and the two boys, were passing through Londinium, casually strolling through the ancient city, enjoying the change from the normal running for their lives from angry locals. They had even been able to dress up in historically accurate fashions (Tegan had suddenly grown very conscious of the fact that Adric's toga, being slightly too big for him, showed off his pale clavicle. She was also very much aware of the fact that Turlough's fingers had brushed across said exposed flesh as he'd helped adjust the fabric for the boy.) She was too distracted to appreciate the 'fine architecture' around her, for she was now hyper-conscious of all of Turlough and Adric's private gestures. She now could not help but notice the way Adric continuously glanced over at Turlough, as if to check that the other was still at his side, and she was also very much aware of the way Turlough constantly changed his pace to match Adric's as they walked.
Had they always done that? Now that she thought about it, she realised that this must have been going on for a long time – she could remember previous incidents that now made a lot more sense to her, such as that time Adric had suddenly grabbed Turlough's tie when the younger was caught off guard and frightened, or the occasion where Turlough had uncharacteristically burst into laughter with Adric over something the boy had said. Yes, she thought, she should have really suspected it, because they were incredibly obvious about it. Yet, somehow, nobody seemed to have realised what was going on. She was walking just behind them, now, and as Adric glanced up at Turlough once more, caught the others eye, and beamed, she realised how amusing the whole situation was.
The two boys were constantly going at it – they were always bickering, or at least that's what everyone thought. The sarcastic comments never stopped between them. It would be impressive if it wasn't so annoying. But, now she was aware of this relationship the two shared, she was conscious of the fact that it was just like pulling pigtails and stealing crayons. She found it almost cute. Almost. She still thought Turlough was a bit of an arrogant arse, and Adric was a bit of a petulant child… they were perfect for each other, if they didn't end up killing each other. She smiled to herself, as the two boys in front of her obliviously carried on walking, their hands brushing.