Part 14 - John
The next few times they met, John and Rose very carefully avoided places where there weren't many people around. Sherlock had started following them, trying to figure out Rose.
They weren't sure that he knew they knew, but they suspected he did and that turned it into a weird, funny, game.
When they knew he was near enough to hear them, they talked about places like Barcelona (of course, they meant the planet, not the city), or New Yo'ak. Cardiff came up often, too (this time, of course, the city, not the star system).
They made a game out of talking about aliens as if they were ordinary people and hint at things they couldn't say out loud for the other to figure out.
And during all of this, things changed.
It was Rose, who figured it out, first.
They were lying on their backs on a blanket in Regent's Park, in the middle of the crowd of other people who enjoyed the blaring sun, rare as it was in London.
Sherlock was close by, but they were far enough away from any trees or tourist groups or other things he could have used to come near enough to overhear them.
They had talked about Barcelona (again), and now Rose was propping herself up on her elbow, looking at John, but saying nothing.
"What?"
Rose smiled and continued just looking at him.
"Do I have something on my face?"
Rose shook her head.
"Then what is it?"
John tried to sit up, but Rose put a hand on his chest and pushed him back down. John noticed that she kept her hand there, over his heart, like the Doctor had.
"It wouldn't be fair", she said then.
"What wouldn't be?"
"You know I love him."
"The Doctor", John clarified.
Rose nodded.
"Yes I know. So?"
"I really want to kiss you, you know."
John's eyebrows shot up. "You... do?"
"But it wouldn't be fair, because I know, and you know, that I would leave you the second the Doctor came back."
John nodded.
"But, you know..." he faltered, not sure if what he was going to say would ever become an option.
Rose made a questioning sound.
"It would be the same with me... and Sherlock." There. He had said it.
Rose smiled at him.
"I know."
"Oh?" John looked a bit miffed.
Rose laughed. "I know you try to hide your feelings for him, but sometimes, when you're sure he's not looking, it's there. Sometimes, you're just... so wide open."
"Oh."
Rose settled back onto her side, but left her hand on John's chest.
"Does he know you fancy him?"
John gulped. "I... don't know, really. He said that he was married to his work and, well, he is a sociopath, he doesn't fit all the symptoms, but the lack of emotion... that's there, it's either work or boredom, which leads to those experiments and I don't know if he'd even realise what my feelings for him were even if he'd noticed them or even if he knew that he would... he would... " He stopped.
"Love you back?" Rose asked softly.
John simply nodded.
"Then it'd be doubly unfair. I wouldn't be able to just leave you, should the Doctor come back..."
Her hand had started to draw little circles over his heart.
"Yes, you would. And it would be all right."
Rose looked up into his eyes.
"So..."
"I would really like you to kiss me. It would be nice, to be close, to someone you l..."
Rose nodded, not needing him to finish the sentence. It would have been a lie, had he said 'love' or 'like', it was something in-between, so she just leaned over and kissed him.
It felt good. Very good. She tasted of strawberry lipstick (of course), and he hadn't known he had craved to taste that lipstick again until he did.
It didn't matter, that she was so much younger than him. What they both had seen on their journeys with the Doctor made them both so much alike that age had no place in it.
Her lips moved against his and her tongue sneaked out and he opened his mouth and let her in. His hands were buried into her hair, and he had rolled around to pull her nearer and then had let himself sink down onto his back again, but this time with her half draped on top of him and it felt so good, too good and he had to stop to come up for air and before other things got... noticeable.
She leaned down to kiss him again.
"Stop."
Before that word could start to sting, he nipped at her lower lip and then bit his own.
"I don't want to stop."
John huffed out a smile and searched her eyes.
"Me neither, but this could get... weird, if we continue. Here."
She took a moment to process that, then grinned.
"Oh. That good?"
John blushed. "Well, look at us... young, beautiful girl like you, old, ugly bloke like me..."
She laughed at that and batted at his chest, sitting up.
"You're not ugly." She searched his face again. "You're kinda... cute?"
John blinked. "Cute?"
Rose nodded. "Definitely. So... wanna take this somewhere else?"
He was dumbstruck.
"You can't mean..."
She grinned. "Well, look at us, young, eager girl like me and handsome, experienced bloke like you... Baker Street is not that far away."
John gulped. "He'll be there."
"So what? Let him hear what he's missing out on."
"Oh God..." The thought of Sherlock listening to him and Rose getting off... it made his ears burn.
Rose had stood up and held her hand out to him. "Coming?"
John guffawed. "Not yet."
Rose threw her head back at that and laughed. "Oh, but I bet you will."