Theory to Reality

Ariana felt his gaze on her, she felt it prickle along the back of her neck, that little warning that one was being watched, even though every time she did peek upwards it was to find him utterly engrossed in his own reading, she still knew for certain that he was looking at her, when he thought she was least likely to glance up...Eyes darting up again over the edge of her text book, but still, he was utterly entrapped by the long scroll he was working his way through, eyes slightly narrowed at the tiny, slanting text scrawled down the parchment. She wished he would stop the pretence already; it grew tiresome after a time. deep blue eyes turned back to the book in her hands and she heaved a sigh, teeth briefly tugging at her bottom lip as she fruitlessly turned to the next page, sparing the neatly straightened blank sheet of parchment laid out against the polished wood surface of the desk before her a frustrated glance.

She just couldn't concentrate. Of course, she blamed it entirely on him for his staring and whatever game he was playing with her, but he had only joined her twenty minutes ago and she had been sitting at this table for forty two minutes before that, all by herself, so really there was no excuse. Her mind just didn't want to focus on her homework today, try as she might, her brain felt rather like an overly rung-out sponge. Perhaps she was just over tired from a long week of preparing for an impending astrophysics exam that she had due in two days time, then there was the whole practical test she and Theta had coming up next week, which they were still yet to fully sit down and practice for, but Ariana was tired. She was tired of studying and reading and spending all of her free time in the library or her bedroom, she felt as if the walls of the very school were starting to press in upon her, but there was no escape from it.

The only highlight and distraction had come from the curious locked door that she and Theta had stumbled upon a few days ago, but even that had proved to be a minimal distraction to her. She and Theta had agreed to keep it between themselves, their own little secret that only they shared, and as oddly thrilling as it was to think that she and Theta shared something only they knew about in this school, it didn't exactly provide her with a complete distraction from her studies and classes, something she craved desperately for. It was rather shocking that she found herself feeling so restless, but yet, here she was, just about ready to throw all of her homework and books into her bag, and retire to her room for an early night in the hopes that the coming morning might prove more fruitful. She doubted it.

Rassilon, maybe she was sick? Something was definitely wrong with her, but she didn't know what...

"So did that parchment insult you that terribly, or do you simply find its yellow hue that offensive?"

"What?" she gave a startled jerk and blinked rapidly, looking up with tired, puzzled eyes to see Koschei still sitting across from her, scrawl in hand and gaze seemingly fixed upon it.

"You look rather as if you wish to set it on fire," he elaborated with a slight curl to his lips, snapping his grey eyes off his own work to meet her gaze, "I'd happily give you a hand, if you want".

Ariana sighed, tiredly, "That won't be necessary," she muttered, shutting her textbook, giving that up as a bad go, for the moment. Her mind and heart just wasn't in for it, "I just can't concentrate today".

"My, my, what a first," he flashed her a mock shocked look, widening his eyes just slightly, "Are you ill?"

"Perhaps I am," she sighed, feeling oddly glum and just...off, leaning an elbow on the edge of the desk and dropping her chin into her open palm.

"You're not ill, you're overworked and burnout. Is it any bloody wonder, too, when all you ever do is study and go to class?"

"That is not all I ever do..."

"Practically is," he cut across, giving her flat look, "Even a prodigy like yourself has to take breaks and do something fun, from time to time, or else you'll end up going mad and probably turn into a hermit, or something".

Ariana processed that for a moment, her expression lightening with amusement, "I was not aware that was how one became a hermit," she said slowly, voice full of humour.

"What's this about becoming a hermit?" Theta asked as he suddenly joined them, seemingly appearing from nowhere as he came to stand at the end of their little study table, smiling lightly and an eyebrow raised curiously, looking between his two friends, floppy brown hair dangling over his forehead and into his eyes. He needed a haircut.

"Ariana is on the brink of a metal break down," Koschei explained to the other boy, glancing over to him...Ariana sighed and rolled her eyes at how bluntly he made it sound.

"Right..." Theta nodded slowly, levelling him with a slightly wary, mocking eye, "And you were talking her off the brink or right over the cliff with yourself, were you, Koschei?"

"Neither," Ariana said firmly, shooting Koshei a warning glare, seeing him smirk and open his mouth to reply, eyes glittering in a way that made her rather nervous, "Koshei seems to think that I am overworked with my studies, and that I have no life outside of my schooling and am therefore in danger of becoming a hermit in the future, as a result".

Theta, for his credit, barely battered an eye, "What's wrong with being a hermit?" he asked curiously, lifting an eyebrow as he looked from Ariana to Koschei, "I happen to know a very nice, friendly hermit who lives behind my family home. We used to have great chats..."

"That's what you got out of that entire sentence?" she frowned at him, bemused, "That becoming a hermit would hardly be a terrible life choice?"

"Well, not terrible, a bit odd and a shame, since I reckon you'd miss seeing my charming smile..." Koschei scoffed loudly and threw Theta an oddly knowing, if rather flat, look, not that Theta seemed to notice as he continued brightly to Ariana, "...on a near daily bases, but hey, no judgment. If the hermit life is for you, you go for it".

"Thank you...I suppose," Ariana laughed lightly, shaking her head at his antics. Theta had such a unique way of seeing things and handling situations, she liked it about him. Rather than fussing over her and being concerned, he managed to make her laugh simply by being himself.

"Charming smile?" Koschei repeated dubiously, still eyeing Theta with a flat, curiously knowing, glare.

"Dashing and handsome would also work".

"You're an idiot".

"A handsome idiot, yeah, I am," he agreed proudly, smiling widely and winking at him.

Koschei shook his head and rolled his eyes, though he smiled faintly as he sat back into his chair, considering the other boy. Theta merely smiled brightly and turned his focus back onto Ariana, giving her a hopeful grin.

"Mind if I steal you away from your hermit plans for a bit, Ariana?" he asked her, something serious glinting in his gaze as he looked at her, telling her that he really did wish to speak with her.

Ariana cast a glance at her homework, before shrugging, "Perhaps a distraction from this place would do me some good, after all," she spared Koschei a pointed look as she gathered up her books, parchment, and writing tools, "After all, the hermit lifestyle is simply so appealing, it would be perhaps wise to distract me from it before I make any rash decisions".

Koschei considered them with a calculating frown, "And where exactly are you two sneaking off to?" he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow, though his tone sounded slightly...off.

"We're not sneaking off anywhere," Theta said, perhaps just a little too quickly and very vaguely defensively, looking at Koschei with slightly wide eyes.

It was fooling no one, least of all Koschei.

"Pathetic, even for you, Theta," the other boy said flatly, narrowing his eyes and turning his gaze to Ariana, instead, quirking a pale blonde eyebrow at her curiously, "Care to share, Ariana?"

Ariana glanced sideways at Theta, who gave her a slightly tense look, though he seemed to be trying hard not to show quite how badly he didn't want to share their little secret with Koschei, eyes silently pleading with her to not tell him. She wasn't entirely sure what the harm would be in telling their friends about the door they had found, nor why Theta seemed so eager and delighted to have this little secret between them, but she also had to admit that it was kind of fun just having something between the two of them, after all, Theta had practically grown up with Koschei, they had so many little stories between them that she had no part to play in, it felt nice having something that was just her story with Theta.

"There's nothing to tell," she sighed slightly, looking back to Koschei and purposely meeting his grey eyes firmly, "Theta's just being over-dramatic, as per usual..."

"Excuse me? Over-dramatic, I take offence at that!"

"We have to practice for that test that Borusa is making us do next week," she continued calmly, ignoring Theta and his little outraged outburst, turning to unhurriedly pack her things away inside her satchel bag, "That's all. There is no great conspiracy at play, do you truly imagine that if there was one, Theta would be able to keep it secret from you for long, Koschei?"

Koschei seemed to debate that briefly, his gaze washing over Theta, who blinked innocently back at him and smiled subconsciously, reaching up to ruffle a hand through his hair, causing it to stand on end. Their friend seemed to sigh and roll his eyes, looking quite unimpressed by whatever he found, swiftly returning his gaze back to Ariana.

"You're right about that. Theta can't keep a secret to save his life".

"Okay," Theta huffed, scowling with a small pout to his lips, looking truly disgruntled now, "You do remember that I'm still standing right here, right? I'm not invisible, am I?"

Koschei smiled slyly, not taking his gaze off Ariana, "He also has stupid hair," he added lightly, mockingly, "But you didn't hear that from me".

"Oh, like you're hairs so much better! Shut up, I'll have you know that girls love my hair".

"What girls?" he scoffed, loudly, and turned around in his chair to fix an incredulous glare on Theta, who blinked and looked briefly thrown, as if he hadn't expected that question.

Ariana also looked curiously to Theta, her eyebrows rising slowly, as if to silently say, 'Yeah, what girls?'

"Well, you know...girls," Theta shifted awkwardly on the spot, colour swiftly rising high in his cheeks and a slightly sheepish frown crossing his face. He even waved his hand around, slightly helplessly, to Ariana's eyes, as if trying hard to come up with a believable reply and failing. He huffed and rolled his eyes, when they merely stared at him silently, "Never mind, doesn't matter. You coming or what, Ariana?"

She shook her head and didn't bother hiding her grin, glancing at Koschei, who simply eyed Theta with amusement and something almost like affection, though it was more like the look one might give a puppy that had just performed a new trick. She grabbed her bag and moved to stand from her chair, slinging the bag over her shoulder as she looked up to Theta, still blushing very slightly and looking rather flustered.

"Yes, let's go," she said, unable to resist adding with a slightly teasing smirk, "It shall give you plenty of time to tell me all about these girls, Theta. I'm most intrigued".

Theta threw her a glare and huffed, "Well, clearly, you're not one of them," he sniffed haughtily, turning on his heel and marching away from her, leaving her to laugh quietly. He looked rather like an indignant goose.

"Yeah, right," Koschei muttered, rolling his eyes, though he was already reaching for his scroll.

Ariana cast him a glance, his words puzzling her very slightly, but he was already seemingly settling back into pretending to be doing his homework and she truly had no idea just where Theta intended to drag her off too. So, she shrugged it off and hefted her bag higher on her shoulder, turning to follow Theta...she swiftly caught up to the boy, who was smiling cheerfully and looking perfectly happy, once more, when he saw her nearing him. He was leaning against one of the bookcases when she rounded the corner and he pushed off from it to fall into step alongside her.

"Give me that," he held out his hand and wiggled his fingers at her, expectantly.

"What?"

"Your bag," he rolled his eyes at her, though he was smiling as he moved to grab the strap of her bag, before she even agreed.

She hastily slipped it down her arm before he could try ridding her of it, acutely aware of the fact that such an act in public could look rather intimate, to the wrong eyes. It would probably raise eyebrows Theta even carrying her bag around, but the thing was awfully heavy and she was relieved to not have to cart it around, having done so all day, already. Theta easily slung the bag over his right shoulder with ease, though he shot her a mock wide eyed, impressed look from the corner of his eye as he did so.

"Damn," he blinked, "How are you carrying all of this around and still walking straight? You must have half the library in this thing".

"Not half," she smiled faintly back at him, "Just a large third. Where are we going?"

"Somewhere magical".

…

Somewhere magical, as it turned out, was apparently the music room on the fourth floor of the school. It was a place that was rarely used; though most Time Tots on Gallifrey were given a basic education on music as they grow up, Ariana's parents had not been one of those families. Her mother thought it was a frivolous subject and her father had already felt that she was distracted enough, but she was something of an exception. She peered around the large, open space curiously, this room filled with many lovely instruments that she had seen drawings and pictures of from Earth, though it was slightly wondrous to her to imagine that the Time Lords had bothered to create a collection of Earth musical instruments and had stored them in the music corridors of the school.

"Magical, huh?" Theta grinned at the perhaps wide eyed, curious look on her face. He immediately crossed the large room to a large, black instrument, one of the largest in the room and shining beneath the bright lights of the room, the black paint glossy and shinny. He flipped a panel open to reveal black and white, almost teeth-like keys and began pressing the keys, emitting a lovely, cheerful little tune into the air, something light and bouncy.

Ariana, slightly transfixed, wondered closer, watching his long fingers tap away, creating such a fun, lively little tune. She wished, then, that she had grown-up learning more about music and art, her parents, she supposed, thought she was already to imaginative enough and had hoped to steer her towards a more academic life then art, but her lack of knowledge on the subject had only born a curiosity that she had thought she might only have a possibility of discovering further once she had left her parents clutches. She hadn't thought that Theta might be musically inclined, he hadn't mentioned it before, but she supposed it made sense, given his talent for drawing. She reached out and lightly touched the glossy surface of the instrument, eyeing it with wonder.

"What is this?" she asked quietly.

"A piano," he replied brightly, still playing his little jovial tune, "Come here…" she edged closer and he stopped his playing, reaching out to gently take her right hand, moving aside to allow her to stand before the keys with him. His hand was warm and she blinked slightly, startled by the casual contact and closeness, but he didn't seem to notice as he gently poised her hand over a couple of the keys, "Press down on these two keys as I play these other ones, just keep pressing them down, yeah?"

She didn't feel overly confident by the idea, but she nodded, anyway, and tried to copy the same movement with her fingers on the keys he had indicated as he had done. He grinned and started tapping a couple of keys himself…and just like that, a little tune began to fill the air. Her eyes widened slightly and she laughed, looking back to Theta to see him grinning widely at her, looking proud.

"You're making music, Ariana," he laughed, too, lightly nudging his arm against hers.

"I didn't know you could play an instrument as a pair".

"Some you can".

They amused themselves for a time playing with the piano, Theta was a very good teacher, curiously patient and calm as he took her through the notes, and within forty minutes she was able to string together a very basic musical tune that vaguely sounded like a possible song, one that Theta assured her was a nursery rhyme on Earth for children, though he had forgotten the words. He promised her that they'd practice more and he'd find her some new songs to teach her.

"You didn't merely drag me here to teach me how to play the piano, did you?" she looked up to him from the small bench that sat before the keys of the piano, while Theta stood by the instrument, watching her with a smile.

"Not exactly, no," Theta agreed, "But it was a happy bonus, I'll admit".

"Why did you bring me here, of all places, then?"

"Well, pretty much no one comes up here, at least not very often, so we're less likely to be over heard".

Her eyebrows arched, eyeing him, "Is this discussion so secretive as all that?" she asked, dubiously.

"Maybe".

"And you took offence at being called over-dramatic".

Theta tried hard to keep a straight face, but it failed quickly and he laughed, throwing his head back and giggling, which naturally set her right off again.

"Guilty," he shrugged as he grinned widely at her, winking cheekily.

She rolled her eyes, playfully, "So why, then?"

He gave her a mock startled look, "Why?" he shook his head, "Because of out top secret plan, Ariana! Our trap door mystery, literally a trap door mystery!"

Ariana gave him an amused look, finding him oddly…cute. She mentally blinked at herself, somewhat shocked to find herself even thinking that, because she had never thought of anyone as 'Cute' before, let alone a boy. She felt an odd fluttering feeling in her chest and she had to drop her gaze from Theta as the feeling warmed all through her body, until her very toes and fingertips were tingling, and she felt oddly flustered, almost like how she felt when she got embarrassed, but…not, somehow. It was giddier. She had never felt it before…She cleared her throat, reaching up to awkwardly toy with the bottom of her long plait.

"You've obviously considered it," she said without looking up to him, not fully trusting herself to. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but she didn't want Theta to read it in her.

"I have," Theta said firmly, and she did look up, then, meeting his eyes. He looked eagerly back at her, eyes sparkling with brightness, "I think we should do it. Build a sonic screwdriver, a real one".

"That's…" she blinked very slightly at him, frowning slowly, "That's merely a theory".

"So?" he shrugged, smiling widely, almost buzzing with excitement, "Let's make it reality. If anyone can do it, it'll be us and we've got the motivation to do it, and the brains…" he winked at her pointedly, making that odd giddy rush wash over her again, "What do you say, Ariana? Let's give it a go".

Ariana stared back at him, slightly bewildered that he actually was serious…but intrigued, despite herself, and slowly, she found herself smiling back at him. Why not?

I hope you liked it. Tell me what you thought, please review :)