First Date
Featuring: Tenth Doctor and Ninth Hatter.
The Hatter nibbled on a breadstick, feeling slightly nervous as she sat across from the Doctor in the Italian restaurant that he had taken her to. The room was filled with rounded tables and fake olive garlands were hanging around the room, each table covered by a red check table cloth and with a small lit candle sitting in the middle of the table, the rest of the rooms lights dimmed to set the mood, so to speak. The Doctor looked very handsome this evening, his spiky hair seeming to have been combed back so that it didn't stick up as much as it usually did, looking quite neat. He had clearly gone to a bit of effort for the evening, which only made her all the more nervous as she shifted slightly in her chair, trying to pull the hem of her far too short shift dress down, feeling strangely exposed.
It really was quite absurd for her to be feeling like this, after all, she had known the Doctor for so long now, you would have thought that there was nothing that they could do together that would feel uncomfortable or awkward. And yet, here she was, sitting across the table from him in the little Italian restaurant that he had suggested they go to, the candle light illuminating their faces in the dim lighting of the room. But it was their first proper date, their first time out together as boy and girlfriend without Martha being there and she was really starting to feel the presser. Dating wasn't something that Time Lords usually did, courting was always very formal and strict with at least two chaperones there to watch over them and insure that nothing 'improper' occurred that could damage either parties reputations, quite like the Victorian human's own courting customs. But she didn't even have the experience of courting someone, her marriage had been arranged before she was even born and she hadn't even met her betrothed until the day of the wedding. For the first time in quite a while, she felt very unsure of herself. She hated feeling unsure of herself.
"The…er, pasta sounds nice," the Doctor's voice sounded over the faint music playing in the background of the room, his voice cutting through the chatter from the rest of the customers enjoying their own meals.
The Hatter startled slightly, well, actually, that was probably putting it lightly. She accidently dropped the rest of her breadstick in her lap at the sound of his voice. Her nerves truly were shot even worse than if she had to deal with the Dalek's right now, that in its self said quite a bit about her lack of romantic experience. Thankfully, the Doctor was polite enough to pretend not to notice her little…accident or glowing pink cheeks, tactfully keeping his eyes fixed on his menu. She cleared her throat, hastily putting the breadstick aside on the table and brushing the crumbs off her lap.
"Oh…I haven't even looked at the menu yet," she confessed, hating how high her voice sounded right now. She needed to get a grip on herself, this was just ridiculous. It was the Doctor, for goodness sake, why would she ever feel nervous around him? Taking a shaky breath and releasing it, she reached out for her own menu and unfolded it, running her eyes down the list of dishes available, most of which being pasta, though there was several pizza's for selection and a couple of seafood dishes that sounded nice enough.
The Doctor cleared his throat after a moment, closing his menu and sitting it back down on the table before him, his eyes moving to rest on her…well, on her forehead, since that was the only part of her face that wasn't hidden by the large menu, "Hatter…" he began, his voice sounding quite nervous, "This really is silly, isn't it?" he laughed a little weakly as she lowered her own menu, raising her eyebrows curiously, "I mean…we shouldn't be this nervous, we've known each other for centuries now and yet, here we are, acting like a couple of teenagers out on their first date".
Relife washed over her and she felt a smile tugging on the corner of her mouth, suddenly all the nervousness of before fading almost completely. So she wasn't the only one feeling nervous, that made a heavy weight lift off her shoulders almost instantly. She ought to have known that he was feeling just as nervousness as her, he had been oddly quiet since they had first sat down and had been looking at the menu for quite a while, but she had simply been caught up in her own emotions that she hadn't noticed. She sat her own menu down and laughed slightly, earning a wide smile from him in return.
"Oh, thank goodness, Doctor," she breathed, leaning over the table towards him, mindful to keep her hair away from the open flame of the candle. She really didn't wish to burn her hair, the smell alone was horrid and she rather not have to cut it any shorter than her shoulders, "I was so nervous, I thought I was going to fall off my chair at the slightest noise".
He laughed, his eyes lighting up in delight, "We're being idiots again, aren't we?'
"Well, why break the habit of a lifetime?" she retorted, winking at him.
"There's no reason to be nervous. We're just…two very old friends out on a date, that's all".
"Yes, exactly," she nodded, feeling herself relaxing, her shoulders actually a little sore after having held herself so rigidly for the past fifteen minutes. She laughed again, shaking her head at how silly they truly were being, "We weren't even this nervous when we admitted our feelings for each other".
"Well…" he paused, dragging the word out as this regeneration had a fondness for doing so often, his eyes sparkling playfully in the candle light, "We didn't exactly have much of a chance to get nervous. It just sort of…happened".
"True," she agreed, blushing faintly as she recalled that day. It hadn't been very long ago now since that day in the TARDIS, the moment that they had finally admitted to each other that they were in love with one another and had been for centuries, but they had both been fools, her managing to convince herself that any feelings she might have once felt for him as being nothing more than a childish crush, while the Doctor had spent centuries trying to build up his courage to tell her. They truly had been fools. They could have been together for centuries, perhaps even back on Gallifrey, but she liked to believe that there was a reason behind everything and if she had known about his feelings for her, then she never would have had her children and that was something she would never ever regret, regardless of all the pain and heartbreak.
Silence fell over them, though it wasn't like before, this time they were both comfortable with one another, but regardless of what they might have both said, there was still a tinge of nervousness in the air surrounding them. This was, after all, still their first official date.
"So…" the Doctor trailed off, searching for something to say. He met her bright green eyes and they both smiled slightly embarrassedly at one another, realising that quite possibly, for the first time in centuries, they actually had nothing to say to each other when they were meant to be talking. Why did that always happen? They could spend hours talking and bantering and yet, right now, he couldn't think of a thing to say, "How about we play a game?" he suggested after a long moment.
She raised her eyebrows, curious, "What game do you have in mind?"
"What if we pretended not to know one another? We're just…a couple of strangers, out on their first date".
"You got that off a TV show, didn't you?" she smiled, amused.
"Maybe…"
The Hatter laughed at that, shaking her head fondly, "Alright, then," she said after a brief pause, still quite amused, "Let's play your little game, shall we?"
His eyes lit up again before he forced his expression to grow serious, the little lift on the corners of his lips giving away his true feelings, "John Smith," he introduced himself, holding his hand out over the table towards her.
She struggled to hide her smile, reaching out to shake his hand, "Hattie Sm-Jones," she quickly corrected herself, thinking that it might work better for this little game if she didn't go by 'Smith,' like she usually would have.
"Lovely name, Hattie Smith," he grinned at her, pretending not to notice her little slip, for the benefit of the game, "You don't meet many Hattie's".
"A relatively uncommon name," she said casually, shrugging, "I personally prefer 'the Hatter'".
"Ah, well, then call me 'the Doctor'. Everyone does".
"Oh? Are you a doctor?"
He smiled widely at her, clearly enjoy the little game, which she had to admit, she was too. It was fun to act like they didn't know each other, amusing to be able to completely make up their lives and still find ways to have little inside jokes that only they would understand, "I'm a doctor of everything," he replied offhandedly.
She laughed faintly before forcing herself to try and grow serious again, nodding, "Fascinating".
"And you?"
"Oh, I dabble…" she winked at him, making him laugh. She shrugged, reaching out to toy with the edge of her napkin, "But I'm a bit of an adventurer, travel around a fair bit".
"Me too!" the Doctor said brightly, making her laugh again at how happy and excited he looked. He really did seem to be sincere, except for the fact that she knew him and knew that it was just a game, "So…favourite colour?"
She paused, seriously considering it for a moment. Each regeneration had a fondness for a different colour, but she supposed that this one's favourite was probably pretty obvious, "Purple," she said with a little wave towards the purple shift dress she was wearing, "But I also quite like burnt orange. You?"
"Blue," he answered after a moment of thinking about it, flashing a knowing little smile, "But I'm a bit of a fan of burnt orange myself. Reminds me of home…" he trailed off, his expression growing more distant and sadder.
She swallowed hard, feeling the same grief as she thought about Gallifrey, "Me too," she admitted softly, reaching across the table to place her hand over his arm as it rested on the table.
He meet her eyes and they exchanged a long look, covering her hand as it rested on his arm with his left hand, squeezing it, before he took a deep breath and forced a grim smile onto his face, "Have you looked at the menu yet?" he asked a little overly brightly, trying hard to move off the subject of home, and she really couldn't blame him for that. She didn't really want to be thinking about it herself, not while they were on their first date.
"Right, of course," she nodded, reluctantly moving her hand away from his hand as he let her, both moving to pick up their own menus, hiding behind them, "Food, food, food…" she muttered absently to herself, her eyes flicking up and over her menu to see him looking rather amused, so she did the only thing that she could do in response: she stuck her tongue out.
"Cheeky," he said fondly, shaking his head with a smile.
"You love me for it".
His expression softened and grew serious, so much so that it almost took her breath away, "Always," he inhaled sharply, relief crossing his face, "You have no idea how good that feels to be able to say".
She smiled broadly, feeling her cheeks flushing and her hearts racing, "Almost nine hundred years," she murmured, but he could still hear every word, "We truly are the most idiotic people in the Universe, aren't we?"
"Yes," he laughed, nodding, "Yes, we are".
The Hatter shook her head at, her cheeks actually starting to hurt from all the smiling, but she wouldn't have wanted it any other way. This was exactly what she had been wanting ever since she and the Doctor had admitted their feelings for each other, a chance to sit down and speak to each other, freely and with their customary banter. She went to tell him that, how much fun she was having, when her eyes fell on something else, "Doctor, your menu…" she began urgently, her eyes widening.
The Doctor gave her a slightly confused look and glanced at his still open menu, only for his own eyes to widen in alarm at the sight of the bottom edge of his menu alight with flames, having accidently lowered it a bit too closely towards the candle. He cursed rather colourfully in Gallifreyan and accidently dropped the menu on the table, the table cloth almost instantly catching alight too. The Hatter gave a yelp of alarm, dropping her menu as she almost toppled her chair backwards in her hast to jump onto her feet. Before they knew it, the room was in chaos, people running and yelling in terror as the entire table went up in flames, patrons running for the door while the staff came running from all directions, trying to put the flames out, the air filled with shouts and smoke.
The owner of the restaurant was there, too, a rather rounded, balding man who was shouting and cursing furiously in Italian while his staff worked to try and stop the fire before it could grow any more, throwing pots of water over the flames from the kitchen. The Doctor and the Hatter tried to help, but they could barely get within two steps of the table while the owner shouted and cursed them, waving his hands around furiously. Apparently, from what little the Hatter was able to make out from all the swearing, the restaurant wasn't insured and possibly, judging from the lack of fire sirens or a fire extinguisher, not completely up to code, even in the 1960's.
"Get out!" the owner was yelling with a thick accent, actually grabbing the back of the Doctor's coat and half marching him towards the front door, "Get out, and never come back!"
"Come on, Doctor," the Hatter said hurriedly, coughing slightly on the smoke filled air as she threw the fire a worried look, but the staff had managed to put it out by now, the table nothing more than a wet, badly charred mess now with smoke still swirling into the air from it. Goodness, what a mess and without any aliens involved…well, technically she supposed that it was still an aliens fault, but she didn't think that the Doctor actually intended for that to happen.
She gave herself a sharp shake and grabbed the Doctor's arm, half-dragging him over towards the door so that they could try and escape from the rather frightening owner. Luckily they did, too, because just as they opened the door, the owner decided to throw a heavy pot at them, which sailed completely over their heads and out the door, landing in the empty road with a noise like a gun going off. They didn't wait to see what he might try to throw at them next, instead taking off in a run out the door and off down the footpath, still distantly hearing the furious shouts from the man even as they reached the corner and set off down the next street.
"Sorry, Hatter," the Doctor said rather sheepishly after a long moment, their pace slowing to a casual walk once they were sure that the owner wasn't chasing after them with another pot. He sighed heavily, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, which had grown quite spiky again since all the chaos had happened, "This really wasn't…I didn't mean to…"
"Its fine," she cut across him, breaking into a small smile as she glanced at him, "What a good story we'll be able to tell in years to come, about how our first real date resulted in you almost burning down an Italian restaurant during 1969".
He groaned, closing his eyes as they paused in the middle of the footpath, "You're never going to let me forget this, are you?"
"Never, ever," she promised, her smile widening and a slightly whickered glimmer appearing in her eyes, making him feel quite nervous. She held out her hand, wiggling her fingers at him, and he smiled and took it, entwining his fingers with hers.
Well, he supposed that it really was quite a funny story, maybe not now, but in years to come he imagined that he would probably look back fondly on this night and how, just like it always seems to, chaos broke out on their first date together and they wound up running for their, well, maybe not their lives, but certainly from physical harm.
"Next time we go on a date," he looked back to her with a bright smile, "No fires".
"No fires," she agreed with a large grin, "I can't believe I even needed to say that".
He leaned forward and captured his lips with hers, wrapping his arms around her waist as he did so. In the end, he supposed that the date had turned out quite well. Sure, they might have almost burnt down a restaurant, been knocked out by a pot or two, and they never did manage to eat, but in the end, he still got his kiss and a chance to spend the evening with the Hatter. In his mind, that was all that mattered.
So this is set during 'Blink'. I mentioned during that episode that the Doctor and the Hatter went out on their first date while they were stuck in the 60's, so here is what happened before they wound up in a park during the chapter. Honestly, these two couldn't possibly have gone out on a date without something being blown up or set of fire, that's not how their luck works, I'm afraid. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)