a fem!Ten/Rose AU for dirty-brian. complete and utter fluff
Okay, she could totally handle this, Rose thought as she settled further down into the lecture hall seat. This was not the first time she'd had a crush on a teacher or professor, not by a long shot. This one wasn't even her professor. Martha had convinced her to come sit in on her astronomy class so they could leave straight from there for their monthly roommate night out.
So, here she was, the lone art student in a room full of scientists, way overdressed in her favorite red dress, and lusting over the professor who was rambling on about black holes or something.
Definitely not the first time she'd developed an instantaneous crush on a professor but it was the first time the professor had been of the female persuasion.
Doctor Smith was tall and willowy and her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she talked to the mostly apathetic university students sitting in her class. Her wavy brown hair was pulled back into a low ponytail but some pieces had escaped to frame her face as she lectured and Rose's fingers itched to go tuck them behind her ears. The woman could only be a few years older than her and Martha despite already holding a doctorate and a teaching position.
She was taking in the way her oxford was just the slightest bit too tight when Martha jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow.
"Ow!" Rose whispered, tearing her gaze away from Doctor Smith and turning to frown at her friend. "What was that for?"
"You're ogling my professor," Martha whispered back, not even attempting to hide her smirk.
"You didn't tell me your professor was gorgeous," Rose said. There was no way she could even begin to deny Martha's claim. "Would've been a lot easier to get me to agree to sit through this lecture if you had."
"Wanted it to be a surprise."
"You planned this?" Rose hissed.
"She looked like your type. God knows I'd be spending more time in office hours than necessary if I was into girls."
"So you just got me to come to your class so I could stare at your professor?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Martha's gaze turned back to the front of the room where she saw Doctor Smith's attention focused squarely on Rose who was still glaring at Martha. It wasn't the first time the good doctor's eyes had landed on her friend during the first half hour of class.
"You're not the only one who's distracted though," Martha leaned over and whispered once Doctor Smith was looking the other way. "She keeps finding you in the crowd."
Rose felt her cheeks turning pink. "That's what profs do though."
"Yeah, not usually this much though."
"Just let me ogle your professor in peace. Aren't you supposed to be actually paying attention or something?"
Martha's smile was triumphant as she turned back to the front.
The rest of the class flew by and before she knew it Rose was following Martha up to the front of the lecture hall so she could turn in an assignment as students started to file out.
Rose stood off to the side while Martha joined the queue. She was checking her email on her mobile and didn't notice someone coming to stand next to her.
"Bit late in the semester to be adding a class, isn't it? I know I haven't seen you here before."
Rose jumped, head snapping up to meet the curious look being directed her way by Doctor Smith.
"Might be because I haven't been here before," Rose said, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Not actually an astronomy student. My roommate dragged me along today because we have plans after your class."
Doctor Smith nodded, smile spreading over her face. "Knew I couldn't have missed you in the crowd for five weeks."
Rose's heart sped up a little bit. That had sounded remarkably like flirting. Maybe Martha had been right earlier about the professor paying more attention than necessary to her.
Really, she had nothing to lose so she grinned up at the woman. "Well, Doctor Smith, I might have showed up to one of your lectures earlier if I knew it was you teaching them."
The doctor's eyes slipped down to Rose's mouth as her tongue found its normal perch in the corner of her smile and Rose felt like cheering.
"Jane." The brunette blurted out, snapping her gaze back up to Rose's eyes. "I mean, my name is Jane. You're not one of my students so you don't have to call me by my title all the time."
"I do like your title though," Rose said. "Doctor seems like it fits you very well."
"Well, it is what most people call me," she admitted.
"I'm Rose." She held out her hand and had to fight back a shiver when the Doctor slowly wrapped her slender fingers around her hand, lingering longer than was necessary for a simple handshake.
"Nice to meet you Rose."
Rose really just wanted to jump her right then and there, butterflies in her stomach and people around be damned. The little smile on Jane's face, the one that was half confident smirk and half shy flirtation was just doing it for her.
"Rose?"
Martha's voice made Rose and the Doctor jump.
"Just a second, Martha." Rose said, shooting her friend a look and trying desperately to ignore the smirk and wink she got back.
"I'll be right outside when you're done," she said.
"Guess you have to go then," the Doctor said, not able to keep the note of disappointment out of her voice.
"Yeah, but maybe we could meet up sometime?" Rose asked, biting her lip. The butterflies in her stomach were doing acrobatics. "I mean, if you want."
"Coffee?" Jane ventured.
"Or chips. I never say no to chips," Rose said.
"How could I turn down an option that you won't say no to?" Her smile was wide and her eyes were sparkling as bright as the stars she taught about.
Rose held out her mobile. "Put your number in and I'll text you later."
The Doctor entered her info quickly and Rose slid her phone back into her pocket.
"See you later then, Doctor. Don't want to keep Martha waiting too long."
Jane just nodded and watched as Rose headed towards the door. Her eyes had to jump back up to Rose's face when the blonde turned around to give her one last smile before exiting the lecture hall.
Martha pounced on Rose as she soon as she came out.
"Okay, what just happened?"
"Oh, you know, just having a quick chat with Doctor Smith. Might want to take astronomy at some point," Rose said breezily.
"Come off it! The two of you were not talking about astronomy no matter how starry eyed you were looking."
"I was not looking starry eyed!" Rose protested.
"You so were. Now spill."
Rose couldn't keep the smile from blooming on her face. "Might have gotten your professor's number and set up a tentative date for the near future."
Martha stopped in the middle of the hallway, mouth agape. "You did not."
"I did!"
"Go Rose!" She high fived her friend.
"I'm so taking credit for this set-up, just so you know," Martha said as they started walking.
Rose just rolled her eyes good naturedly and pulled out her mobile to shoot the Doctor a quick text with her name so she had her number.
Hopefully they could find a time for chips soon because Rose was already dying to see Jane again.