A/N: Hi guys! So now that my story "Rassilon, What Is She Doing?" has ended, I needed a story to fill up my Wednesdays and thought this would do perfectly! I know it's a bit cliche, having a bug that makes people fall in love, but hopefully I added my own twists well and it's a fun read! Also, please note this is un-beta'd. Hope you enjoy and please leave a review! :)
"But Roseeeeeeeeeeee..." the Doctor groaned, tugging on her arm and extending his lower lip just the right amount while making his brown eyes as big as possible. The perfect puppy-dog stare. "It'll be so fun! There's balloons and cotton candy and ferris wheels and roller coasters and-"
"Doctor," Rose replied with a sigh, pulling her arm away gently and frowning, "that sounds like loads of fun, honest, it does. But right now I need to get breakfast, I'm starving! And cotton candy for breakfast may be fine for your diet, but not mine!"
He raised his arms in mock offense, "Rose Tyler if I didn't know any better I'd say you were calling me fat!"
"You're as skinny as a pencil!" She poked him in the side and folded her arms across her chest. "Go have fun and I'll join you later, alright?"
After trying the puppy-dog look one more time, he accepted the fact that it was of no use and exited through the police box doors to the planet of Aswion. Well, he walked out expecting to see the planet of Aswion with it's endless amusement parks and parties, but it didn't exactly go as planned. Instead he was met by the sight of a huge sandstorm, with minuscule grains flying to the right, knocking him in the face and getting his entire body covered instantly. He spat the sand out of his mouth and frowned, shutting the doors behind him as he marched deep into the sand.
The Doctor walked and walked until his TARDIS wasn't even in sight anymore, but the sand just kept flying. Eventually he saw a tiny light out in the distance and sprinted towards it, wanting to get into any kind of shelter as soon as possible. In his mind, he was considering what planet he had ended up on. Surely he had to be close to Aswion, his flying wasn't that bad, and this time around he was sure he had hit all the right buttons. There weren't any sand planets near Aswion that he knew of, which was strange because he had memorized every planet in this area of space.
The light got closer and closer with his every step, and he swept sand off his pinstripe suit even though it was of no use. The very second he reached the light he practically leaped into the purplish tent he saw, falling face-first onto the carpet set up in the large tent. "Hello!" he said, coughing out sand and looking up at the structure's occupants. The first thing he noticed was several huge nails holding the tent in its place on the ground.
Two humans stood there, staring down at him with tiny grins on their faces. "Get stuck in the storm, mate?" one of the men laughed, nudging the other in the side and chuckling. Both of them had heavy white suits on with glass around their heads like astronauts. The one who spoke had an open can of beer in his hand and an extremely noticeable crooked nose.
"Pretty nasty out there without a suit," the other commented.
The Doctor stood up and brushed some of the sand off of his pinstripes, "What planet is this?"
"Welcome," the first man gestured towards the outside and paused for dramatic effect, glancing at his friend. "To Aswion, planet of fun and games for children of all ages. Great, isn't it?"
The Time Lord tilted his head to the side and frowned, "What happened? I went here in my... Er... Fourth regeneration? This place used to be brilliant!"
"Where've you been, mate?" the man with the beer questioned, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "The swarming? You've never heard of it?"
The other man snatched the beer out of the first man's hand, "Maybe he's drunk like you're about to be. You can call me Etheridge, and this here's Bunting."
Bunting scowled at Etheridge before turning back to the Doctor. "Happened about... Oh, two years ago? Have you been on vacation or something? Got one of those the other day, came in here like a freak-show, muttering something about the chimney of his house sticking out of the sand when he got back."
"Something like that," the Doctor sighed and looked towards the tent flap, wondering whether or not Rose would come looking for him soon. "But a swarm of sand? That can't exactly happen."
The two men laughed uncontrollably, until Etheridge spoke. "Attack of the sand? Nah, mate. It's the Cupid Flies, ever heard of 'em?"
"Of course. But they don't live here, they're not even from anywhere around this system."
"Some bloke came by two years ago, brought two of the bugs. They made babies rapidly, fast as a hunted gazelle. So, soon enough, the bugs are biting everyone. You know how Cupid Flies work, I'm assuming?" Bunting took the beer back from his friend and sipped it loudly.
The Doctor nodded. "Cupid Flies, tricky little things. They bite you anywhere and they die instantly, but the bite causes you to instantly worship whatever living being you see. Named after the Cupid legend, obviously."
"They bit everyone, people were starting to shag their best mates, their siblings... Even..." Etheridge shuddered a little, making a disgusted face at the Doctor that told him he really didn't want to know more. "So those of us left who weren't crazy devised a plan... But it went a little overboard, as you can see outside."
"The sand got everywhere," the Doctor finished for him, "and the bugs are wiped out."
Bunting smiled mischievously, "Well, not all of them. We captured a few specimens, figured maybe we could make a cure if we had the bugs themselves." The man gestured towards the corner of the tent where several glass boxes were held with a tiny fly in each. "Though it was a dumb idea, neither of us have any idea what to do with them and we're too scared to let them go or take them out. They still haven't died, survived two years without food, water, or even air. That's pretty much the only thing we've found out, Cupid Flies can't die unless they bite someone or something."
"Mind if I take one?" the Time Lord asked nonchalantly, itching to get his hands on one of the bugs. "I can take you both back to my ship, if you'd like. I can get you out of here easily."
"A ship?" Bunting scoffed, "Sorry to tell you, mate, but any ship you landed on this planet is long gone by now. Besides, believe it or not, me and this idiot are actually pretty happy here. Had a private wedding two days ago."
The Doctor's eyes widened when he realized they were married, "You... Two are married? But..."
Etheridge laughed and put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder, sensing his problem. "Our marriage has nothing to do with the flies, don't you worry. Go find your ship and take the flies, however many you want. We have no use for them."
The Doctor said his thanks to the two men before taking one of the glass boxes and facing the sandstorm again, it's winds just as powerful. He marched in the direction of the TARDIS, since he had memorized where it was carefully. As he approached the police box he fumbled with the key and fell inside, slamming the door behind him and setting the box on the ground, panting. Immediately he cleaned himself of sand again and launched the TARDIS into the time vortex, careful not to get the sand all over the ship since he was already on her bad side lately.
"Now... What are we going to do with you, little one?" He stared curiously at the glass box.
Inside the box was a fat Cupid Fly. The fly was about the size of the Doctor's thumbnail and was quietly resting on the bottom of the glass, though it was very obviously alive. As he leaned in closer he could see it's many eyes and tiny twitching antennae popping out the top of its head. Although the fly was mainly black, a few strands of pink could be spotted on its sides. The Doctor grinned at it, picking up the box and walking towards his lab. "You are beautiful," he told the fly. "Just beautiful."
Upon reaching his lab, he set the box down and frowned, unsure of what to do with it. Like Bunting and Etheridge had said, it wasn't like he could risk taking out the fly, or even opening the box at all. Deciding to scan it, he put it on the medical bay and ran several scans, frowning at the unhelpful results. "If I let you out will you run away, little fly?" he mused, staring at it. "Of all the thousands of languages I know... Why can't I speak yours?"
"Then again..." the Doctor continued speaking to himself, scratching the back of his neck. "It's not like I'd let you bite me. I'd see you coming. Besides, how strong could you possibly be after being in a box so long?"
He contemplated this for many long minutes before the overwhelming urge of examining the bug got to him. He searched the box for an opening and slowly lifted the lid off the glass, prepared to put it back on at a moment's notice if necessary. However, to the Time Lord's despair, the second the glass was lifted, the bug was gone. The Doctor put the lid back on the box and searched around the room frantically, terrified for where the bug may have gone. It was nowhere in sight. "Where are you hiding?..." he muttered a little, searching the room carefully.
The Doctor stood up on a stool to check on top of the cabinets that were attached to the wall above for the fly. The lab was rather small, mostly filled with cabinets like these and several scientific instruments. He looked around the perimeter on top of the cabinets three times, and just as he was about to get down from the stool he saw the fly sitting on his nose, right in between his eyes. "Ahh!" the Doctor let out a high-pitched shriek and fell backwards off of the stool, straight into the door.
His body crashed into the lab door with a loud bang, causing the door to unhinge, crack, and fall down from the blow. He rubbed his bruised head and groaned in pain, propping himself up on his elbows to look for the bug. His hand flew to his nose as he checked for a bite or any pain, there was none. When he had recovered enough to stand up he noticed the door was wide open, well, technically it was on the ground, but either way it was open. The Doctor ran out and looked to his right and left down the hallways, looking for the Cupid Fly.
When he turned a corner he was relieved to see the fly sitting on a wall, it's antennae still twitching and it's tiny expression saying 'Come catch me!' The Doctor ran towards it, hoping to be faster than it was, but in a millisecond the fly was sprinting down the hallway towards the kitchen.
Oh, Rassilon, the kitchen. Wasn't that where Rose was getting her breakfast?
The Doctor sprinted faster than ever before and shouted, "Rose! Rose get out of there!"
Rose dropped her fork and stood up from the table, going out the kitchen door and looking down the hallway where the Doctor was running like a maniac towards her, spilling sand all over the floor where his feet hit. "Doctor? What's wrong with you?" she asked, looking him up and down and frowning.
"There was a..." he began, panting and looking all around to attack the fly if he saw it, "fly... It was... Cupid fly..."
"Doctor, calm down," Rose demanded, grabbing his arm and forcing him to stare at her. "What's this about a fly?"
The Doctor went cross-eyed as the fly landed on him again, and he began to swat at it and scream loudly, tearing away from Rose's grip. He fell on the floor as the fly toyed with him, hopping from his right arm to his left to his right and back again. It landed on his nose and chin, not biting him, just sitting there. Rose was staring down at him, unsure of what to do as he squirmed on the ground fighting what, to her, looked like a common household fly. After the fly had had enough fun, it landed on the Doctor's nose and bit him hard, before flying away to die on its own.
"It bit me!" he shrieked, hands flying to his nose as he felt the tiny indent. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, Rose! It bit me! Go trap it! Hurry!"