Chapter 2 - Honey Honey
Back to present time
[The Doctor grumpily mumbled something incoherent, before waving his hand off in annoyance in the direction Clara had been standing just a few seconds ago. "Impossible." Mumbling to himself again, he closed the door to his own flat. That girl was just impossible.]
Leaning against the wall he sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. That girl could really take a walk on his nerves. There have been nothing but fighting on the 4th floor since she moved in and the Doctor was not at all used to this type of woman.
There's just something about her, something feisty and sassy. A fiery passion. He often found himself smiling while thinking of her.
Although, he couldn't help but feel guilty for all the fighting, because who else but the Doctor would enjoy provoking Clara Oswald. Being the feisty woman she is, Clara would always respond with that sas of hers. And for some odd reason, maybe a strange fetish he didn't know of, the only thing he could think about when the petite brunette was in her moments of anger was how cute she looked scolding him with furrowed brows.
The Doctor always found himself wanting her attention. He quite liked seeing that passion of hers. Whether it was her getting angry at him or when he found her sitting in the coffee shop down the street grading papers.
But don't get him wrong, the Doctor could throw a cow at Clara sometimes. Their fights were usually "under control", but from time to time the two of them would start a riot up there. They barely knew each other, yet they seemed to know exactly what to set the other one off.
He sighed yet again and pulled his shoes off. The lanky man walked into the living room and switched the lights on.
The layout of Clara's and the Doctor's apartments were pretty much identical, except for the fact that they were mirrored. Not like it mattered anyway. But he swore that he could sometimes hear her bump into the wall of her bedroom at night. Maybe she was a sleep walker. Or just a very violent sleeper. That wouldn't be surprising.
Stepping into the closet he undid his bow tie and placed it in one of the small drawers for all his bow ties. They were neatly arranged in size, colour and fabric. He smiled down at them, gave one of them a rapid pat and closed the drawer. As he made his way to the bathroom he began to undress, leaving a trail of clothes after him while whistling the tune to Beyoncé's Single Ladies. He was sort of into Beyoncé lately. Probably Amy's fault.
With a swift motion, he turned on the shower and stepped inside.
Clara kicked off her shoes angrily, leaving them forgotten by the front door. She really couldn't care less at the moment.
She was tired, outraged and frustrated after being in the presence of a certain Doctor and the only thing that could soothe her right now, or at any other given time- was tea. Tossing her coat on the couch, she took a deep breath to calm herself down before making her way to the kitchen.
"I am so tired of his shit." She mumbled with poison in her voice.
The thing is, she wasn't sure how he could get her so worked up. She wasn't usually like this. In fact- she was often seen as a very tolerant person. Clara used to be a teacher for high schoolers, she knew very well how to put up with people who got on her nerves. Yet, she always seemed to let him get the best of her. And that only set fuel to the fire.
She sighed, something she seemed to be doing a lot ever since she got here. Putting the kettle on, she roamed the cupboards for tea and honey.
After a few moments of struggling due to her lack of height, she finally found the tea she wanted but something that still hadn't been in sight was the jar of honey. Clara furrowed her eyebrows and went as low as taking a stool to dig through the cupboards properly.
"No no no no! Please no!" The woman let out a loud groan and the fluffy cat that had been peacefully lying by the window jumped down with a hiss. "Sorry, Dodgers." She shot the cat an apologetic look and almost as if he understood, he gave her what looked like a nod before he trotted into the bedroom to continue his slumber.
"Ugh, why does everything have to mess up tonight."
It was official.
She was out of honey.
Clara looked at the clock on the wall and frowned. It was already getting late and she really didn't feel like driving all the way to the store. Or walk for that matter.
Which lead her to one choice.
"Oh no no, I already sunk as low as taking a stool to look for the bloody honey." She stood face down with her head on the counter. At this point, she was very well aware that she was arguing loudly with herself and if the people in the building across the street could hear her, they were probably conemplating whether they should call the mental hospital or not.
"Fine. I will ask. But only this once. It's getting late. I'll take the honey and leave. No harm done."
She sucked in a breath of courage. Tea was important to her. And honey in her tea was even more important- and if she had to face the mongrel himself to get it, she would.
She tried to calm down as she made her way towards the door to not risk getting so worked up by his stupid face. She didn't even bother putting her shoes back on, they were the only people on the floor anyway.
Her legs almost hestitantly carried her out of her flat and into the hallway and towards the door next to hers. Clara was just going to ask for honey and quickly dash back into her flat before he could open his stupid mouth and utter another stupid comment.
Taking another breath, she gingerly knocked on the door.
She waited a few seconds and got no answer. Impatiently, she rang the door bell.
"If you like it then you should've put a ring on it oh oh oh OHOHOHOOOW-"
Ring Ring Ring
The Doctor stopped dead in his one man show and waited half a second to decide whether to leave the person at the door or to get out and answer it. It could potentially, hopefully, be Clara Oswald afterall.
He quickly jumped out and started for the bathroom door when he realised he was completely naked, and wet for that matter. He threw himself after a towel and wrapped it sloppily around his waist as he hurried to the front door.
Just before opening the door, he tried to calm down and look as cool as possible.
The door swung open and revealed a half naked, dripping wet Doctor with a, dare she say, surprisingly impressive torso. She stared, almost blushing, as the Doctor cocked an eyebrow at the sight of her. Regaining her senses, she spoke the one word she had in mind.
"Honey."
Neither of them said anything until the Doctor showed a crooked smile. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. He spoke with an incredibly obvious sense of mischief.
"Yes, honey?"
Clara's face went all eyes.
"No! No, not that honey! No- honey! The sweet honey-"
"I can be your sweet honey, honey." He flashed her a dashing smile.
"NO, stop it! Sweet honey, bee honey, tea honey-" She spoke rather quickly like she always found herself doing when she was nervous. "Honey honey!"
"Oooh." The Doctor showed a face of realisation and laughed. "Bee honey, honey honey. That honey." The Doctor nodded and Clara exhaled.
When neither of them had spoken nor shown any sign of movement for a moment Clara furrowed her brows at the man. She made a movement, trying to signal a question of what are you doing? The man furrowed his brows in return while making his own movement of what do you mean?
"The honey. May I have some?" Clara explained while tapping her foot.
"Oooh, right!" The Doctor exclaimed and Clara nodded. She couldn't help looking at his bare torso. His big, wet chest muscles were after all, right at her eye level. With a grin, he replied.
"No."
"No?!"
A few seconds passed while the chin boy's grin grew wider and wider.
"You may have some honey for your tea, honey, but only if you'd have that cup of tea with me."
Clara stood, dumbfounded. Chin boy had an awfully annoying triumphant look on his face.
"Forget it."
Clara turned on her heel and walked back to her flat. The man smiled at her stubborness, but didn't doubt for one second. The door to Clara's home was shut with a slam, but he still didn't move an inch from his doorframe. He looked at the puddle he'd made on the floor when the door to Clara's flat opened again. The Doctor looked up and as he expected, she came back. But this time with a cup in her hand. She closed the door to her flat and went straight to his, determined to get her tea with honey.
"Fine." She growled as she walked past him, stepping in his puddle. She groaned and looked at him.
"Whoops."
The Doctor's flat had a completely different feel to it. Instead of the warm colours of crimson, mahogany and cream like in aunt Margaret's home, the place had a clean look of white, navy blue and light grey.
Clara scanned his home while he prepared the tea in the kitchen. The first thing she'd noticed upon entering the flat was the trail of clothes on the floor, which chin boy had quickly picked up. She was happy to see the amount of books in the shelves, but was surprised when she noticed the unused bay window and the lack of pillows on the window sill.
"Hey!" Whining, she went to stand next to it. The Doctor swirled around to look at her. He raised his eyebrows when she looked up at him.
"Why haven't you used this? Why doesn't it have any pillows? Can't you see its potential?"
The Doctor looked innocent and oblivious as usual but Clara didn't give him a chance to explain himself.
"Come, boil the water and come here." She motioned towards the window sill. "We will drink our tea while sitting here."
"Alright then. If you say so, boss."
The water was ready and he brought it over on a tray along with the cups, the honey and some milk. He placed it on the coffee table and poured the water into the cups while Clara ran around him collecting all the pillows she could find. She even went and fetched all the pillows from his bedroom and placed them on the window sill.
"There, look! Doesn't it look wonderful?"
They choose the tea they wanted and Clara finally got her honey. With the cups in their hands, they sat facing each other on the window sill that was currently overflowing with pillows. It was spacious but they found their legs tangled up in one another in one big mess of limbs either way.
They sat in silence for a while, just sipping their tea, sometimes catching the other staring. An akward tension lingered through the air. Although it was awkward, it wasn't entirely uncomfortable. It was the first time Clara had ever been to his place. Then again, never did she think she ever would. Neither of them had really made any attempts to actually sit down and talk to each other like normal human beings.
All they've ever done is fight and quarrel, whether it was on the street, in the store, in the lobby, the elevator- oh, the elevator ride was always such a mess- or on the 4th floor.
"Why are you having tea with me?"
The man shrugged and spoke softly.
"Interacting with my new neighbour."
Clara looked down into her cup and smiled.
"We've been complete idiots, haven't we?"
"Yeah. Well, it's been a lot more excitement in the building since you got here." He snickered and locked his eyes with hers.
Clara raised an eyebrow suggestively. "You act like it's all my fault"
"It obviously is all your fault, it was nice and quiet before you came."
She kicked him. Hard.
"Oi! That actually hurt!"
"Just like you to spoil a moment!"
"Come on, Clara! I'm just fibbling with you."
Clara eyed him suspiciously while he raised his cup to his lips. He took another sip of his tea and mumbled into the cup. "Just pulling one of those short legs of yours."
The petite brunette nearly spilled his tea as she gave his leg a second hard kick.
After the minor fight, they both eventually calmed down. They continued to talk about anything and random things. He explained all about his relationship with aunt Margaret, or Maggie as he prefers to call her, and her cat Mr. Dodgers. He said that Dodgers and he had "a special something".
She told him about her hometown and the reasons, except for getting the job, for why she moved. They shared childhood stories and dreams and even deeper things like their hopes and plans for the future. Naturally, they couldn't talk without at least teasing or insulting one another every ten minutes or so but in the end, it wasn't that bad. Not bad at all.
They managed to drink four servings of tea and time just flew by. The two sat now in a comfortable silence. The sun slowly setting and although they couldn't quite see it behind the mass of buildings, the low orange light of the sunset lit up the entire place beautfully.
The Doctor watched from the corner of his eyes, she seemed so relax as she leaned her head against the wall and watched the people on the street. He too turned his attention to the window. The once green leaves were now the colour of autumn and he watched leaf after leaf escape the tree branch and fly where the wind took them.
It was so peaceful.
He placed his cup on the tray. "Clara?" The Doctor saw her head turn and strangely enough, he could feel his heart speed up. It was just the way she looked at him. She looked calm and peaceful. Her brown eyes looked like two roasted chestnuts and he was immedietly reminded of Christmas.
Clara was like Christmas. Or more so, a christmas gift. He'd spend days poking and watching her in hope to find out what's inside and it was all just so exciting.
The Doctor flashed her a gentle smile. "This is actually quite nice."
"Yeah. It is." She whispered, a shy smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
God. That dimple. He swallowed hard.
"You're not that bad once you keep your mouth shut and give me tea." A giggle escaped her, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
"Oh, I see. Just using me for my tea and honey, are we?"
"Hmm... maybe."
"Really?"
"Really."
What they hadn't noticed was how the both of them had inched closer with each word.
Clara's breath hitched as she felt the Doctor's breath brush against her lips. It was just a few inches. Maybe 2 or 3. She could easily just close the barely visible gap between them.
So she did.
The Doctor's eyes shot open in surprise, but it didn't take long for him to relax into the kiss. Their lips moved effortlessly against each other, savouring every little tingling feeling as the seconds ticked by. He wasn't sure what was happening, all he could think about was the delicious taste of cinnamon and apple tea on her lips along with something else he could only point out as Clara herself.
She sneaked her arms around his neck, only pulling him closer with her lips still glued to his. It was bliss. She was in complete and utter bliss.
With a man she fought daily.