This story/arc thing was all planned out before the new Flux series started, and so will probably take nothing in to account. Basically I started this arc directly after 13 gets put in to the Stormcage, and everything else after is just my line. (I looooved the Flux season though!)
And honestly this is just me having some fun with my disaster threesome.
-DW-
The Doctor paced the halls of the TARDIS, having woken up too early to hang out with the fam but not early enough that there was time to enjoy the other two people in bed with her. Though they got along a little better each day (and much better than when the Master would only refer to River as 'the mongrel'), River and the Master still insisted on her sleeping in the middle. Which she was fine with. Frankly, she was still stunned the Master slept in the same bed as her and River. Voluntarily. With zero attempts to smother anybody in their sleep (granted, he still had the inhibitor in).
"Tea!"
She said to nobody but herself, and set off toward the kitchen, smiling to herself at the decision. As the water heated, she wondered idly if her bedmates were going to continue to spend the day in bed. The Doctor was a little jealous at the idea, but a thought of hanging out with her fam again soon had her smiling. Her days were for adventure, and her nights... well, those were between herself and her conscience.
With nobody around to stop her, the Doctor dumped a whole packet of biscuits in to a bowl as company for her one cup of tea, and kept an eye on the door in case anybody approached (and the TARDIS didn't warn her, for the ships own amusement at a Time Lord being scolded over her love of sweets). The first cup of tea became a second, and the bowl was empty before anybody else joined her. Graham and Ryan were both a little groggy as they headed to make their own drinks, and Yaz trailed in soon after.
"Morning Doc."
"Yeah."
Were the only words spoken by Graham and Ryan until they had their first drink in hand. The Doctor had found Ryan a spill-proof mug while they were out shopping once, and he had been very appreciative. As she was sometimes clumsy in her over-exuberant energy herself, the Doctor sort of understood how Ryan felt and she wanted to make it easier on him if she could. Especially since he climbed ladders for her. Yaz eyed the bowl full of crumbs, then raised an eyebrow at the Doctor.
"How many biscuits did you eat?"
"Just one... packet. I don't suppose I can pull the two hearts, fast metabolism excuse again. They were there, and delicious!"
The Doctor defended, and her companions shared a chuckle amongst themselves.
"Dunno how you aren't feeling sick."
"Oh, she has an apallingly high sugar tolerance. Good morning."
River's voice floated in, melodic and instantly brightening the Doctor's mood even more than the biscuits had. She looked lovely, hair still a little mussed from their luxurious pillows (River had a taste for finery, and the Doctor liked anything cosy) and her black silk dressing gown tied loosely over a red nightgown. That was definitely for the benefit of the humans, the Doctor knew, because River hadn't been wearing anything when they were in bed earlier... She shook herself mentally and pulled her mind from that avenue of thought. River busied herself with filling the coffee pot and switched it on, then turned and leant against the counter top, somehow looking devastatingly attractive in such a casual way. She was good at that.
"How did you know about the biscuits?"
The Doctor pouted. River let out a light laugh, then tipped her head upwards.
"You know she likes me."
The Doctor rolled her eyes up at the ceiling, but she was feeling too good to truly mind. The only sounds for the next couple of minutes were slurping of tea and the hum of the coffee machine, and the Doctor simply enjoyed looking at her wife for those moments. When the coffee was sufficiently brewed, River turned and picked up the pot, then slid her fingers through the handles of two empty mugs - one was the Master's, the Doctor noted.
"Where's the other one? The grumpy, inappropriate one?"
Well, that was pretty polite from Graham - he tolerated the presence of the Master, for the Doctor's sake, but he definitely did not like the man in any way. River smiled.
"Waiting for me to join him. We'll be in the library if you need us."
The Doctor stamped down on that ache in her hearts at those two words - the library - and reminded herself River just meant the TARDIS library. Not... she shoved the thoughts away, and gave her wife a smile before River got suspicious. Marriage of time travellers. It was hard work.
"So, any plans for the day?"
Yaz asked when River had left, and the Doctor shrugged.
"Anywhere in particular you three wanna go? Past? Future? Aliens? Ooooh, we could go to the planet of theme parks!"
Graham shook his head, looking a little green at the thought.
"Life with you is enough of a rollercoaster, thank you very much. What about somewhere with good grub? We miss a lot of meals and I haven't had nearly enough fancy food out of this exploring malarkey."
Ryan rolled his eyes.
"All of time and space on offer and you're thinking about lunch?"
"Besides, you always complain when they don't have chips on the menu!"
Yaz tacked on. Graham shrugged.
"I like chips, what's wrong with that?"
The Doctor smiled, leaning back in her chair.
"We could head to the 1860s, back when fish and chip shops first became popular. Amazing that such a staple British meal is a result of immigration. The fried fish part came from Jewish immigrants. Lovely man, Joseph Malin. Always gives me extra chips when I stop by. So, 19th century Earth for lunch?"
Graham blinked.
"How does he recognise you? I mean, you said you used to be a man! Still not sure I believe it. Even if they both vouch for it."
The Doctor shrugged.
"I was! River probably has pictures. And I just say I'm the Doctor when I go in, and he gives me a nod and extra chips. I haven't been there like this, but he's very nice so I doubt he'll mind. I better go find my old currency, they don't take contactless back then."
"You have money?"
"Of course! I just never remember to take it. I go all over, even with my pockets I couldn't be prepared for everywhere. Certain places and times, I can just carry credits, which are a bit of a universal currency at various points. But for fish and chips? I need my old English coins. I've already eaten, you guys have breakfast and then we can talk about lunch!"
She left them to finish their morning routines, and skipped off toward one of the many places for storage on the TARDIS. The Doctor knew she had a stash somewhere - she had everything! - but it was a big ship and so she had to go for a good look. Her feet wanted to carry her to the library, but she knew she'd get distracted.
After a couple of incorrect guesses, the Doctor finally tracked down her boxes of Earth currency.
"I really need to sort these by time period at some point."
She muttered to herself as she dug through, discarding digital currency from the future before she landed upon the right coins. They were scooped up and dumped in to a purse - if she put them in her pockets loose, they were likely to be lost forever.
Graham was on his second plate of toast and third cup of tea by the time she got back, and Ryan was cleaning up spilled milk from his cereal. Yaz reached up and plucked an old white five pound note from the Doctor's hood - how it ended up there, she had no idea.
"Blimey, how old are these?"
"Ask grandad here."
Ryan joked, which made Graham tut.
"Behave yourself! I think they stopped circulating a couple of years before I was born, but I think my grandad had a few of them in the house he never threw out or turned back in. We used to have one pound notes as well. I was still a kid when the ten shillings note was stopped!"
Well, he had clearly woken up with breakfast in his system, the Doctor noted, as Graham went on about the currency changes he'd lived through. Ryan and Yaz let him ramble for a few minutes, then turned back to the Doctor.
"We'll go get dressed, then head off for a walk around before we stop for lunch?"
"Sounds good!"
"What about River and the Master?"
Yaz asked, and the Doctor hummed.
"I guess I'll ask if they want to come along. There was some racial diversity in England at the time, though I can't promise the locals will be terribly friendly."
"We survived Montana. Didn't we, Mexican Yaz?"
Yaz rolled her eyes.
"Absolutely. Do we need to dress carefully?"
"I rarely do. You can wear a dress if you like, there's plenty in the TARDIS wardrobe. You boys will be alright with a waistcoat and shirt."
The three nodded, and once they were done with breakfast they set off in search of period-appropriate attire. The Doctor decided not to bother - if nothing else, she was going to distract anybody from paying too close attention to her non-white companions if they were too busy being aghast at her trench coat and rainbow shirt. As she headed off to the library in search of her... lovers? Maybe? the Doctor pushed open the door and wondered if she was about to find them... not reading. Only a little disappointed, she found both River and the Master engrossed in books. Empty coffee mugs sat on the table nearby, with a couple of discarded titles they had obviously not found riveting enough. Both looked up when she walked in, and the Master in particular seemed amused as she stopped to enjoy the view of both.
River had discarded the dressing gown, leaving her only in the red nightgown beneath. It was... very nice. The Master had on only pyjama bottoms, and they were sat at opposite ends of the sofa, so River's legs were outstretched and on display. The Doctor swallowed, and managed to just about remember why she was there. (And also wondered if she was ever going to get used to the rush of attraction she felt toward them both... probably not.)
"We're off to the 1860s for fish and chips. Interested?"
"Oh, you know I never miss a chance to dress up."
River drawled, smirking. The Master rolled his eyes, and the Doctor fully expected him to say no.
"Fine. Don't expect me to be polite to anybody."
"What, really?"
"I know, I know. Terribly mundane, but I haven't left this accursed ship since the Harmony and Redemption trip. Even I need a change of scenery now and again."
The Doctor nodded slowly.
"Alright then. I do expect you to be nice to Mr Malin when we go for lunch. Otherwise, it's probably best you speak to as few people as possible."
"Ah yes, Earth's Victorian era. Imperialist white supremacy. Some things never change."
The Master flexed his legs out, then straightened up and placed his book down. River followed suit and rose gracefully from the sofa, a small smile on her lips as she watched the Doctor's eyes follow her movements.
"Shall we?"
"We shall."
River answered. The Doctor realised a little too late they weren't talking about getting dressed as both advanced on her. But in her defence, it was very hard to fight against both of them when they were plotting. She felt the slight scuff of stubble against her neck as the Master sucked a mark on her neck, one of her hands on his chest and oh, he was so warm... the other scrabbled behind her for purchase, and found only the silk-soft fabric of River's nightgown, teasing hands leaving tingles along her sides despite two layers of fabric between River and her bare skin. It wasn't long before she felt someone trying to take off her trench coat, and the Doctor was rapidly forgetting why that was a bad idea...
"Hey Doctor, did you... oh, sorry! Back up Gramps, you don't wanna see that."
Ryan's voice broke in to the bubble of the library, and it was just enough for the Doctor to pull away from the other two, her face already a little hot as her hearts pounded in her chest.
"Come onnn, that's not fair!"
The Master rolled his eyes, and the Doctor did her best to not stare at his arms when he folded them over his bare chest - why was she still so weak for both of them? It was annoying! - as River smirked at her.
"Oh darling, it's hardly our fault you're so easy to toy with. Come along now, we can let her entertain the humans for a few hours."
"Personally, I think defiling the library is a much better use of my time. And hers."
All the same, the Master followed River out. She looked divine, so the Doctor wasn't surprised. She took a minute to try and get her body under control before she headed out, finding Ryan snickering to himself and Graham looking a little disapproving.
"Sorry. They... it doesn't matter. They've gone to get ready."
"Not sure I believe that. Maybe we shouldn't go to the wardrobe any time soon."
The Doctor groaned and scrubbed a hand over her face, shaking her head.
"I'm sure that was entirely on purpose, somehow. Convincing them to behave appropriately is like herding baby dragons."
Graham raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you mean herding cats?"
"Of course not. I speak cat!"
"You... ok then. I'm not even going to ask. Come on son, let's go get ready. She obviously found them."
"I'll check the wardrobe. They should actually be looking. River does love to dress up!"
Graham's expression told the Doctor he had taken that in the wrong way, and Ryan continued to be amused by his grandad's reaction.
"We'll go with you. In case somebody needs a bucket of water chucking at them. I'll let gramps here do it, with my aim I'd be better off aiming at someone standing next to them!"
He joked, and the Doctor smiled. It was nice to see Ryan feeling comfortable enough to joke about his condition, as previously she'd seen him feel quite self conscious, especially about the bike riding thing.
Luckily, the other two non-humans on board were actually looking for clothes. Well, River was. The Master was complaining about the boring options of the time period. His current regeneration did like to make a statement with his outfits... though past incarnations had been just as dramatic. That was kind of his main personality trait. Outside of ego and evil.
"Shut up and put some clothes on. If you really hate them, I'm sure River will rip them off later very roughly."
A strangled noise behind her reminded the Doctor they were not alone, and she turned to apologise to Graham. It did seem to do the trick though, as the Master finally started trying to find a suitable outfit. River had found a couple of dresses, including one she suggested would suit Yaz quite nicely.
"Class was as important as colour to the Victorians, your friends ought to have an easier time if they dress upper class."
Graham fetched Yaz, and River was in her element as Ryan asked for her advice on what he should wear to avoid some of the harsh words of those they would be mingling amongst. She delighted in getting to play dress up on somebody else, and flirted shamelessly with both Ryan and Yaz as she showed them her choices. Graham looked slightly terrified, but River just winked and reminded him he was white, and so unless he was in absolute rags nobody was going to take issue.
Ryan did seem to enjoy donning a top hat, and Yaz looked surprisingly at home after she'd been laced in to the Victorian dress and perched a little hat atop her hair.
"I feel fancy!"
"I know right? I want a walking stick, but I'm worried I'd hit someone with it by accident."
Ryan laughed as he shrugged on a jacket over a double-breasted waistcoat. The fam looked suitably middle-to-upper class, though Graham had turned down a top hat with the complaint he felt like he looked like a magician in one. The Doctor opted to just go as she was, of course.
River and the Master, though... they'd really gone for it. And by 'it', the Doctor meant they had gone for things they knew she liked on them. In a light brown shirt that he'd unbuttoned at the collar, with a dark plaid waistcoat over the top and black leather gloves on, the Master looked a mix of casual and upper class, and really unfairly attractive. And he knew it. He was visibly amused when the Doctor's eyes lingered at his open collar.
"I refuse to wear any sort of overcoat or cape for this. Much too formal when I have no plans of murder."
Well, that made it much easier to take her eyes off him, so she could roll them sufficiently. The Doctor turned her gaze to River, breath hitching as she took in the snug shirt and cinched waist and round hips, ruffled skirts designed to show off how much fabric one could afford falling to the floor around her legs. Her hair was swept up and tucked in to a fitted bonnet, which was the only downside - River's hair should always be free, the Doctor felt.
"Traditionally, I should be wearing wool stockings, but where's the fun in that?"
River's voice drawled, and she watched keenly for the Doctor's reaction. She intentionally looked away as River pulled on some pretty gloves, sure her mind would wander if she stared at River's hands too long.
"Right. Everybody ready? Did you go the loo before you put that on? That's the hardest part with those dresses!"
Reassured, the six of them headed to the engine room. The Master did sulk that he wasn't allowed to touch the controls, especially since River was.
"Don't blame me! The TARDIS remembers what you did to her before, you have to win her trust. And mumbling 'stupid machine' underneath your breath or in your head won't help. She's telepathic!"
The Master continued muttering, and since River was able to fly with a lot less turbulence for some reason, he didn't even have to unfold his cross arms to grab hold of anything.
"Why am I doing this?"
He complained as he watched the fam file out of the doors, and the Doctor shrugged.
"Why would I know that? You can stay here if you like."
She watched him waiver, and she was pretty sure he considered it. Then something in his face shifted, and he let out an audible groan.
"Let's just go before I change my mind. Perhaps I can find Jack... or has Vastra eaten him already by now?"
He strutted out of the door, River having already headed out (probably to brag she'd landed them perfectly). The Doctor blinked, then followed quickly.
"Vastra ate Jack the Ripper?"
-DW-
"How did you find him?" "Stringy, but tasty all the same."
(Now I'm thinking about Vastra making eyes at the Doctor and Jenny reminding her that they're married.)
Also the Doctor is very thirsty, please send water to her! I had fun with this, even if it's basically just a bit of TARDIS life fluff and 13 thirsting. We all need feel-good fluff. Don't worry, there will be smuts when I get around to writing the next chapter. And probably handcuffs. (Who am I kidding. Definitely handcuffs. River is there!)
