"Doctor."
He buried his head into his pillow. Well, technically it was Rose's pillow since he had snatched it from her room. Since he had been separated from Rose because he had to stay at Pete and Jackie's home for "observation"… and the fact that in the apartment where they were living there had been a fire in their apartment that had utterly destroyed the kitchen.
"Doctor. You have to get up."
"No." He said and pushed his head under the pillow.
He heard a sigh and felt the bed creak. "Come on Theta. You have to go to school." Someone kissed his temple gently and he felt that same someone settle their body on top of his. He knew that body anywhere. "Time to get up."
Opening a single eye he saw familiar strands of blond hair. "I have a better idea. I don't go to school and you get into bed with me."
Laughter rang in his ears as Rose nuzzled him. "We can do that when you get home. But you have to go to school. Dad pulled a few strings to get you in some of the more advanced classes." The Doctor frowned and silently cursed Pete for signing him up for school in the first place. "Don't make me pull the blankets off of you."
The Doctor responded to the threat by sticking his tongue out at Rose. He let out a yelp and grabbed at the sheets as Rose pulled them off and soon they were gone. His face and neck flushed as Rose cocked her head to the side and stared. "…Since when do you sleep naked?"
"I've always slept naked." The Doctor stood and searched for a pair of boxers. His banana ones would be perfect. "Since my last regeneration to until you left."
Rose blushed at the thought of all those missed opportunities. "Why only then."
"Where are those blasted boxers? Well, I was all alone on the TARDIS before you came and I honestly wouldn't have minded if you had walked in on me naked."
"I always knew you had it for my daughter."
"MUM!"
The Doctor grabbed the sheets from the floor and wrapped it around his waist before facing Jackie. "Hello Jackie. Do you know how to knock?"
Jackie rolled her eyes. "It's not like you have anything I haven't seen before." She handed a pile of laundry to him. "These just got done this morning."
The Doctor pulled out a pair of blue boxers with bright yellow bananas on them and a large, daft grin spread across his face. "You found my banana boxers! God bless ya Jackie!"
"Come on Mum. We'll see you downstairs Doctor, okay?"
"'Kay." His voice was muffled by the shirt he was pulling over his head.
Tony's eyes followed his older sister as she busied herself around the kitchen. All the food she was putting in the brown bag looked gross to him. It had a lot of bananas in it.
The Doctor walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Tony watched his sister stop and stare as the Doctor spun to show her the outfit that consisted of a maroon jumper, black jeans and a battered and worn leather jacket. Tony gnawed on his spoon as Rose hugged him tightly.
"So you like the outfit? I figured it would bring me luck."
Rose straightened his jacket out. "Very much." Grabbing the lunch bag she placed it in a messenger bag which he then slung over his shoulder. "There's your lunch and I will see you after school."
"Come with me Rose." He pulled her in for a kiss that lasted a very long time.
"Don't you two ever stop?" Tony lifted his head to see his father. "Hello there little man. What are you doing?"
"He's making a mess of his food. He's more interested in making art out of this food rather than eating it." Jackie entered the room, picking up plates and placing them in the sink. "Now, Doctor. You need to get going or you'll be late on your first day."
The Doctor scowled. "Way to ruin the mood Jackie." Kissing Rose one last time he left as Tony waved.
"Bye Doctor
The Doctor sat in his first class, on time and not late. Just like how he was rude and not ginger. Apparently he had been early and chosen a prime seat. Second row. Center seat. Close enough to see but not close enough to get constantly called on. Slowly people filtered in and took seats away from each other. On each side a being had an open desk. The same as in front and behind. Together, they created a funky looking check pattern.
While they wait for the teacher the Doctor tried to read the graffiti on the desk. 'Slitheen Suck!' 'For a good time call 888-138-2563'. Taking out his pencil he wrote out 'Time Lords kick ass.' He was going to leave it like that but he felt that he needed to add a bit more. 'Especially ones that have had a biological meta-crisis with a human. They are awesome and very foxy.' Although, as he sat back and looked at it, it just looked silly, so he erased it.
Finally the teacher arrived. He was a nervous looking man who did not want to be there what so ever. "Good morning class. How about we all introduce ourselves and where we are from."
The blue skinned man raised his hand. "Our real names or our new names?"
"Both. And you can start."
The man sighed. "My name is Anthony Parrulli. My real name is Drak and I am from the planet Ameop. I'm here because I attacked someone during a show."
Several were there due to either arrests, being new to the planet or their jobs required it. When it got to him he cleared his throat. "I'm Christopher Eccleston and my real name is the Doctor. Just the Doctor. I was signed up because I was, according to my Rose, my fiancé, companion, best friend whatever we are I was "being an idiot". Honestly. You get arrested a few times, lick a few random objects and get electrocuted and suddenly you are an idiot. And that stupid pretty boy sure had a gob on him."
"Where are you from?" A voice came from a woman in the back who was here because she was arrested for prostitution.
"Do you really want to know?"
"It can't be that complicated."
The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed as the room nodded. He started to walk towards the board. "Do you mind if I use this?" At the teachers shake the doctor erased the board and shrugged off his jacket. "First of all, let me explain a little bit about parallel worlds. "
45 minutes later
"And that is how I ended up here." The Doctor set down the chalk and turned to his classmates. The chalk board was filled with pictures of planets, daleks, cybermen, little stick figures and the TARDIS.
His classmates had varying reactions. Some were rocking back and forth or slaming their heads into the desks, the Doctor having completely broken their minds. Some were nodding in other standing and the rest had sort of a blank look on their faces.
"So, you are a Time Lord from a parallel world where your planet was destroyed. You also had a biochemistry something – "
"Biological meta crisis. Yes I did."
"Yeah that. It made you half human and now you are living with your girlfriend from your original universe after saving all the parallel universes from some crazy fuck named Davros."
The Doctor beamed. "You understand."
The woman shook her head. "You are right. We didn't want to know."
The Doctor stood awkwardly at the entrance to the courtyard. The last time he had been in school this was easier. All he had to do was sit down with the Master and everyone would split. No one liked the "troublemakers".
"Doctor!"
Swiveling his head he spotted some of his classmates from his Advanced History and Technology class where he had made an utter fool of himself. "Over here!" Heading to the table in the Northwest corner he seated himself on the bench.
Once he was seated a man with dark glasses leaned foreward across the table. "Is it true?"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow as he reached into the lunch bag. "Is what true? Ooh, jelly babies!"
The man blinked but was undeterred. "Is it true that you can explain the basics of interdimensional travel between alternative universes?" All eyes turned on him, waiting for an answer.
"Does anyone want a jelly baby?" The Doctor offered the bag around. A few took some, most refused. "And yes I can. I just need a piece of paper."
30 minutes and half a banana sandwich later
The man with glasses, Daniel, stared at the calculations. In awe of all that is the Doctor's great and powerful wisdom he said "You. Are. God."
"Oh please. Its simple really."
"Are you kidding me?" A green skinned man named Walter from his Advanced History and Technology class exclaimed in equal awe. "These are some of the most complicated equations I have ever seen!"
A blue haired woma, what was her name? Oh, Kate. That was it. Kate. "We should invite him to our game."
A chorus of agreement echoed around the table and the Doctor looked around excitedly. "What game? Is it fun?"
Walter reached into his bag and pulled out a few books, a sheet of paper and some dice. "Come one Doc. Lets roll you a character."
The Doctor was in the middle of his last class when realization doused him like a bucket of ice water.
He was a nerd.
When had that happened? When had he gone from being a badass rebel to a nerd? He didn't remember becoming a nerd.
The Doctor didn't remember getting back to the Tyler mansion but he was greeted by Tony wrapping his arms around the Doctor's legs. This was their routine. "Doctor!"
"Hello Tony. How was day care?"
Tony turned his big brown eyes that looked just like his sister's "It was fun."
"What happened?"
"We had a snack and played a game."
"And then what did you do?"
"We had nap time."
"Did you take a nap?"
Tony giggled. "No." He looked around and after making sure his mother and sister were not there he whispered "I was kissing Amy Smith under the table."
"Well aren't you lucky. What did she say?"
"She said that I was her boyfriend now."
"And what did you say?"
"I told her that I didn't know what a boyfriend was."
"Doctor. Tony." The two males jumped as Rose appeared in the doorway. "What are you two talking about?"
The Doctor stumbled over his words as Tony hightailed it out of the hallway and to the back yard. "Boy stuff. Whats with the outfit?"
Rose tugged at his hand and led him into the kitchen. "I figured that you would need a little pick me up after your first day of school. So, while you were out, I prepared a feast of ice cream."
His face broke out in a daft smile as he looked out at everything. "Rose. You are fantastic." He moved, carefully choosing each component and than adding it with abandon. When he finally stopped the Doctor's bowl was overflowing with ice cream, whip cream, bananas and chocolate sauce. As Rose began to make hers the Doctor thought of his epiphany.
"Rose."
"Yes Doctor?"
"Have I always been a nerd?"
"Yes." The Doctor's mouth hung open as Rose added the final touch, sprinkles and a cherry to her bowl. "Ever since I met you. You can hide it under flashy clothing as much as you want, you cannot escape your inner nerd."
"Than why do you love me? Not that I'm fishing for compliments or anything."
"I love you because you are kind, you care about everyone, you have saved so many peoples lives not to mention the fact that I find nerds very sexy."
The tone of her voice on the last "nerds are sexy" part sent a thrill up his spine. "Why?"
She ate her ice cream in a way that should be illegal. "Because they are great in the sack. Also," She eyed him in a way that made the Doctor thankful he was sitting. "All that technical jargon turns me on."
The Doctor leaned in closer. "Today when I was sitting with a group of people at lunch I explained the basics of interdimensional travel between alternative universes."
"Care to give me that lesson?"
The Doctor stood up with his bowl. "Of course I will. But there are rules for the Doctors Academy. First: no clothes allowed."
Rose followed him and took his free hand in hers. "Any other rules I should know about?"
"You have to feed the teacher ice cream."
Rose laughed as they made their way up the stairs. "You are such a dork."
"Even dorks need love."