Shamelessly inspired by the song "You Are In Love" by Taylor Swift and a friend's tags on a tumblr post. Title comes from the song.
Also because I know there are a few of you who wish I wrote more canon compliant things (looking at you randomcat1832. this is partially for you). So you get another canon-compliant ficlet inspired by a tswift song because I'm nothing if not predictable and cliché when it comes to my love for Taylor Swift.
They slept curled around each other more often than not. By morning they were a mess of tangled limbs and blankets but they wouldn't have it any other way.
It wasn't really a platonic situation, their sleeping together. It wasn't a sexual situation either though.
It was intimate. That was the best word for it.
They shared space at their most vulnerable and woke each other up from nightmares and dreams. They stared at each other, breathing in the same air, aware that if one of them leaned forward an inch they would be kissing and neither of them would stop it.
But neither the Doctor nor Rose took that step. These moments they had together felt sacred, precious, and the two travelers wanted to just stay, not to move forward or backwards.
So they didn't. They slept and talked and cuddled and laughed and fought and dreamed. Everyone assumed they were lovers and they stopped correcting people because...well the word felt right even if neither of them voiced the opinion, even if they never crossed the lines into a physical relationship.
Rose woke up one night to the Doctor propped up on his elbow staring down at her, strange expression on his face. His other hand was hovering near her face, like he had just finished tracing her features while she slept.
"What's wrong?" she asked, voice rough with sleep as she blinked up at him.
He made a strangled noise, jerking his hand up to further mess up his sleep-tousled hair.
"Hey, whatever it is, you can tell me." Rose soothed, rolling over on her side and resting a hand on his chest.
"You're my best friend, Rose," he whispered finally.
"Well...yeah. You're mine too, you know."
"No, I mean I've had so many friends over the years. I've lost so many people I..." he trailed off, hand leaving his hair and coming down to rest on her waist.
"I know, Doctor, and I know it hurts but for now I'm right here and 'm not planning on going anywhere. Stuck with me, remember?"
"That's the thing, Rose. You want to stay. You always understand what I need even when I don't, even when you shouldn't because you don't know everything I've done and seen. But you always still know what to say or do. You see me. Past the face and the quirks and everything. You seem to see me and you still want to stay."
"Course I do. Just told you you're my best friend and I'm not giving that or you up for anything."
"No one ever wants to stay, not forever. And I was saying that I've had so many friends who meant so much to me but you...I want to tell you everything, Rose, because I know you'll listen and just let me talk. You make everything easier."
Rose stayed quiet as he struggled to find the articulate he wanted to say. "It scares me sometimes," he finally whispers. "All the time. I'll lose you one day and it'll be like losing part of myself. We're...we're..."
His mouth opened and closed a few times as he floundered for the right combination of phonemes and morphemes, the right words, that could somehow convey what they were.
"We're us. The Doctor and Rose," she finished for him quietly. "Best friends, stuff of legend, et cetera." She maneuvered so she could take his hand in hers. "Our hands fit."
"We fit," he said, squeezing her hand. "Somehow in all of time and space we found each other and we fit. Best friends."
"Mhm. Now you're getting it." Rose failed to bite back a yawn. She scooted closer to the Doctor so she could use him as a pillow.
"Go back to sleep, Rose. Sorry I woke you up." His voice was tender as he looked down at the top of his companion's head.
"Not a problem. You can always wake me up for stuff like this. Just not for weird adventures or pancakes or something. Those can wait until morning."
The Doctor couldn't help the sappy smile that spread across his face at Rose's mumbling. Her breathing evened out within two minutes, indicating she was asleep once more.
In a barely audible whisper he told her the three words that her native language deemed adequate to express the way his hearts felt so full and yet so light around her.
One day he'd tell her while she was awake. Until then, he was confident that she knew. She understood him, she had to have understood what the underlying emotion was when he rattled on about her being his best friend.
Oh, she knew. She knew.
She had to.