The Doctor spun around the console, sulking as he looked over to Rose.
"How was I supposed to know pink was a color reserved for slaves on Maltovos Prime?" he said, shaking his head at Rose's bright pink jacket that now lay abandoned over one of the struts of the TARDIS. "I got you out before you were sold, didn't I?" he whined as he pulled a lever on the other side of the console, stretching over the controls to reach it.
He saw Rose glance at the offensive article of clothing behind her, rolling her eyes.
"Doctor, they made me do animal noises! I had to hop on one leg like a flamingo, and the whole time you were lookin' at the Hysesion birds they had on display. 'Oh, look! Aren't you beautiful! Rose, look at them! Aren't they gorgeous?'" she drawled, in her best impression of the excitable Time Lord.
"Oh, come on, Rose, it's not like anything happened to you!" he sighed in exasperation. "And I'll have you know, those birds were brilliant!"
He hesitated, knowing instantly from her frustrated expression that he had said the wrong thing.
"Alright, fine," he sighed. "I'm sorry, so how can I make it up to you?"
He grinned sheepishly at his companion as he prepared to set the TARDIS in motion.
Astonished by his finesse in diffusing the tension in the room, Rose glared at the Doctor once more, but gradually arranged a mischievous smile across her lips as she plopped down on the jump seat, twirling a bit of her hair between her fingers.
Typically, Rose Tyler did not forgive and forget so easily, a trait she must have picked up from Jackie. The Doctor glanced at her nervously; she had been properly upset just a few moments ago . . .
"Doctor, I want to go to Tunesia 42."
She met his gaze as the Doctor turned and looked at her, frowning with confusion at her bizarre request.
"Now why do you want to go there, Rose?" he asked, his hands already begun whizzing across levers and dials, programming the coordinates to the small planet.
She smiled innocently, letting her tongue roll out to brush against the edge of her teeth.
"Oh, it's just this beautiful place Jack mentioned to me once," Rose paused, checking to make sure the Doctor's attentions were focused entirely on her.
She strolled confidently—practically sauntered up to the Doctor—and leaned against the console to face him.
"He said it had a wondrous tropical atmosphere . . . Lush peppermint gardens, waterfalls that flowed pink and purple—oh, and th' food, he said! Mangoes that taste like strawberries, apples that taste like chocolates . . . Oh, and their cash crop. Wha' was it again, Doctor?" she looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before winking at the Doctor, tugging playfully at his tie. "Bananas, wasn't it?"
The Doctor blinked at Rose's sudden change in mood. What else did they do to her at Maltovos Prime?
"Well, that does sound lovely," he whispered, wetting his lips.
She was incredibly close. Even without his Time Lord senses, he could smell her, a sweet scent of strawberry shampoo and honeyed tea.
It was very distracting.
The Doctor had spent a copious amount of time pushing down his feelings for his young companion, yet she was still so adept at catching him off guard. A slight blush crept in to his cheeks, as he jumped back playfully, carefully putting some distance between him and Rose Tyler. He ran around the console, artfully yanking controls.
"Well then, Rose Tyler, Tunesia 42 it is! Allons-y!"
-oOo-
The Doctor landed the TARDIS a few minutes later with a wheeze and a soft thud, looking over at Rose with his hand outstretched.
"Shall we?" he beamed.
Rose wiggled her fingers in to his, glancing at the pink jacket that would forever remind her of her humiliating stint as a flamingo one last time before bouncing out of the ship, Doctor in tow. She didn't say a word, but held back the large giggle threatening to burst past her lips as they stepped out onto a field of soft, blue grass.
It was a beautiful day on Tunesia 42. A cool breeze ruffled the Doctor's already-messy hair, and as Rose tugged his hand, she heard him chuckle.
"In a hurry, Rose?" he teased, nudging her in the side with his elbow.
Rose stuck her tongue out at him and once again spoke in a mocking tone of the Doctor's voice.
"'Nahh, jus' look at this Tunesian sky! Isn't it gorgeous, Rose? Oh, I'd say we could live like kings here—well, king and queen, yes! Imagine us! King Doctah and Queen Rose Tylah,'" she laughed as she released the Doctor's hand to twirl and spin further away from where he stood.
"Oi! I do not talk like that! Besides, Tunesia doesn't have a monarchy. It's a democratic government. In fact, it's the first planet in their system that is! Modeled after United Earth in 2348 to be exact!" he shouted after her with a grin.
He chased her, his pinstriped jacket flapping out behind him. He caught up with Rose quickly and smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.
Rose giggled, "Oh Doctor, trus' me. Y'sound exactly like that."
She swung their hands between them as they strolled through a little grove of trees.
"I'm just excited to be a free girl and do what I want again! Better than being paraded on a stage and forced to make animal noises. I mean really! How was I supposed to know what sound a flamingo makes?" she pouted, reminding him that she was still cross with him.
The Doctor rolled his eyes but at least had the decency to look a tad guilty as they ambled past the peppermint pansies and swinging cherry vines hanging from the trees above them. Rose clicked her tongue as she carefully stood on tiptoe to pick at the wild mangoes closest to her.
Peeling back the skin gently from the stem, her tongue darted out to catch a drop of juice that had fallen on her finger. "Mmm! Definitely strawberry."
-oOo-
The Doctor had a hard time tearing his eyes away from her lips as she bit into the fruit, catching the trails of juice at the corner of her mouth with her tongue before licking her lips. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, mentally shaking himself. He shouldn't be looking at Rose that way. They were friends, best mates even, but nothing more. Besides, he was 900 years old and she was only 20. Even by Earth standards that was young.
Too young.
He quickly pushed the thoughts from his mind and plucked what looked like an apple—save the violet skin—from a nearby tree. He sniffed it and took a bite, grinning as the taste of chocolate washed over his tongue.
"Brilliant!" he beamed, walking over to Rose.
He might have been standing a little closer than was strictly necessary, but who was he to judge?
"May I?" he asked, gesturing to the strawberry-mango fruit in her hand.
He could hear Rose's heart rate increase as she cautiously stepped closer. Pulling her lip between her teeth, she flashed him a warm smile, raising the plump fruit cupped in her palm.
"You most certainly may, your Highness," she teased.
He watched her for a moment, mesmerized by the way she was biting her lip. Had a smile ever looked so enticing? He blinked again and lifted his hand to take the fruit from her, his fingers brushing Rose's gently as he did. The Doctor's stomach knotted as he resisted the sudden urge to lick the trail of sweet juice from her finger.
Instead, he took a breath, steeling himself before taking a bite of the pink fruit's flesh. It was sweet and tangy, exactly like a ripe strawberry. The Doctor winked down at Rose.
"Definitely strawberry."
"Strawberry," she cooed, and the Doctor could have sworn he saw a look of slight disappointment in the anti-climactic moment, but perhaps it was just his imagination.
"Well," Rose cleared her throat, "Ehm . . . Let's check out those banana gardens, yeah?"
-oOo-
A short walk and a few more bites of strawberry mangoes later, the two of them arrived at the banana grove. Rose strode ahead, letting her skirt swish to and fro. The Doctor was playing perfectly into her hands, and she wasn't about to stop now. Finding what she was searching for, she yanked the prized fruit unceremoniously from a low hanging branch. Turning back to the Doctor, she presented the orange-colored banana with a smirk on her face.
"Now, Doctor," she smiled coyly, "how much do you know about Tunesia?"
The Doctor grinned at the fruit in her hands, and Rose could see his interest growing as he tilted his head before he answered.
"A bit. Came here once before—during the civil war that resulted in the planet-wide democracy. Lovely folk, really. One of the leaders of the rebellion was a big fan of Earth. Did you know, quite a lot of Tunesian culture stems from some sort of hu—" he was cut short when Rose placed her finger on his lips.
"Actually, Doctor," she smiled, a slight blush high on her cheeks. "I did. In fact, I have a slight confession to make—bu' I want you to close your eyes first!"
He looked at her, bewildered. However, Rose knew his curiosity would get the better of him, and true to form, the Doctor closed his eyes after only a moment's hesitation.
Smirking wider, Rose closed her eyes as well and took a breath.
"Wellll . . ." she began, using her mock-Doctor voice, "I lied. Jack didn't tell me about this planet at all. I'd actually been doin' a bit of readin' in the TARDIS' library lately and happened to come across an article about Tunesia 42's agriculture. Would you like to hear about it?"
A smirk found its way on to the Doctor's lips.
"Yeah, Rose. Tell me about Tunesia 42's agriculture." He teased, a little condescending, but she knew it was all in good fun.
"Well, y'see, Doctor," she smiled, resting her hands on his shoulders, "the Tunesians, like you said, had a thing for Earth culture, yeah? They also had a fascination for Earth's abundance of fruit and vegetation, but they thought some of the flora lacked in, ehm—color! Tha's why we've got cherry vines and crimson water lillies . . ."
As she spoke, her fingers gently pushed the Doctor down to sit on the grass below the banana tree. With his eyes closed, he came down a little clumsily, but he seemed far too interested in Rose's words to care how ridiculous he looked.
". . . As a sort-of homage to Earth's fantastic vegetation, the Tunesians would genetically alter the colors and flavors of various things, in particular, fruits."
"Rose, I'm very impressed! You know, if you like stuff like this, there's an entire section on alien flora in the library. I could show it to you and take you around to some of the more interesting spots. Like a tour bus. Ha. Tour TARDIS!" he rambled.
Pretending to ignore the Doctor's invitation, Rose continued with her presentation, all the while smiling to herself.
"Now, not to be outdone by Earth, the Tunesians' prized fruit just so happened to be the banana. Long, rich in potassium, and very delicious, jus' the same."
She delicately peeled the orange fruit. "And, of course, to the typical banana enthusiast, such as you, Doctor, it looks like a banana—well, minus the orange peel, of course—smells like a banana . . ."
She pinched off a piece of the fruit between her fingers, kneeling down beside the Doctor to wave it under his nose.
-oOo-
The heady mixture of the sweet fruit and Rose's calming voice left his head swimming. His insides twisted, but not unpleasantly, as he parted his lips a fraction of an inch, in anticipation of her next words and perhaps a taste of the fruit she seemed to be teasing him with.
"Unfortunately," she whispered, her tongue dancing dangerously close to his ear, her thumb tracing along his lower lip, moving the fruit closer, "they do not taste like Earth's yellow version."
She popped the tiny piece into his mouth, her cheek brushing along the Doctor's light beard stubble as she uttered the final words.
"They actually taste like pear."
The Doctor was entirely distracted by Rose as she slipped the vile-tasting fruit in to his mouth, actually chewing once before her words and the taste registered in his brain. He blanched, and with a dramatic retching noise, spat the banana out on the grass and glared up at Rose.
"Who would do something like that, Rose? Ruin the best fruit in the world with pear. Oh, really! That is the worst idea ever!"
He stuck his tongue out, trying to shake the taste from his mouth as he scowled.
-oOo-
The laugh that had been aching to leave the pit of her stomach since they first set foot on Tunesia 42 finally burst forth as she collapsed into hysterics against the Doctor's chest. Tears leaked past her eyes, streaking her mascara as she giggle harder. The look of sheer horror on the Doctor's face was something she wished she had brought her camera for.
"Evil. You are evil," the Doctor huffed, smirking slightly at her, " and I suppose that's your payback for Maltovos?"
"Yes!" she gasped between giggles. "Now you know how it feels to have somethin' you like ruined on a single planet. Imagine how I feel! Every time I see the color pink I'll have to associate it with my humiliatin', animal-callin' enslavement."
The Doctor stood there for a moment, letting Rose have her fit of giggles. But the sound was contagious, and soon he was chuckling, too.
"Alright, we're even now, yeah?" he laughed, letting his arm fall casually across his companion's shoulders. "But, if it makes you feel any better, I thought you made an adorable flamingo."
[Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Special thanks to cantlivewithoutcookies for the collaboration and beta-ing! It was fun! Also, thanks to tulipsandrainydays for being perfect in general and helping with the details! I love to hear your opinions and critiques, so please review! Thanks again!]