He tries to serve her crab for dinner one night, when they're dining on an island in the middle of the Caribbean, and she wrinkles her nose at him in disgust.
He pulls the plate back and apologises sheepishly. "Ah, yes, sorry. Probably a bit insensitive of me. Never have been the best with.. marine… things." He clears his throat awkwardly and stares down at his own plate, piled high with sea food, as though unsure of what to do with it.
"You can eat it," she says plainly, sensing his moral dilemma. "But I won't."
He pushes his plate to the side and says, "Yes, well.. It's lost a bit of it's appeal now, hasn't it?"
She should feel guilty for putting him off his dinner, she supposes, but she can't quite bring herself to. She asks, "Am I the first mermaid you've met?"
He thinks for a moment and then shakes his head. "No, I've met a couple of merfolk. But I think they might have been a different… breed. Met King Neptune, once, a long time ago."
"You met Grandfather?" she exclaims, leaning forward in excitement.
"I met -" his smile slips as he processes her words. "Grandfather? You're Neptune's granddaughter?" She nods enthusiastically. "But that would make you… well, royalty."
Her excitement dims, and she looks vaguely uncomfortable. "Yeah."
"You're a princess," he says, dumbfounded. She doesn't reply, so he just keeps talking. "You're a princess! I can't just have a normal mermaid for a companion, can I? No, I have to take a mermaid princess!"
The other diners are turning to look, and she quickly shushes him. "Not so loud!"
He almost dives forward, leaning right across the table and hissing, "You didn't tell me you were a princess."
She shrugs innocently. "I didn't think it was important."
"Didn't think it was – Ariel, you need to tell me these things if we're going to travel together."
"Why?" she asks, looking every bit as young as her sixteen years.
"Because if you're royalty, then there's going to be an entire kingdom searching for you."
"You said you can get me back to the night we left, make it so I wasn't even gone five minutes," she replies. "You do have a time machine."
"Well.. yes.. but…" he flounders, and then scowls at her. "You still should have told me."
She fires up, pushing her shoulders back and pointing a finger at him accusingly. "You keep a lot of secrets from me," she retorts. "I know hardly anything about you – I don't even know your name – so don't yell at me for not telling you something."
He softens, scowl melting into a tired sigh. "I'm sorry," he says, and he sounds genuine. "I am, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have got upset with you, you're right. It was hypocritical of me, and it won't happen again."
She shifts in her chair and mumbles her own apology, not quite willing to let him off the hook for his indiscretions.
"You know," he says coyly, "I met a doctor once who was masquerading as a mermaid on a stranded pirate ship. Or maybe she was a siren… what are the technicalities there?"
She can't help but giggle. "You're really not good with 'marine things', are you?"
"Well at least I've got you to teach me, now." He smiles at her.
"And you can keep teaching me about human things… Time Lord things… spacey things," she replies.
His smile blooms into a grin, and he reaches across the table to take her hand. "Spacey-wacey."
"Time-wimey."
They both laugh, and when the Doctor lets go of her hand he knocks his plate off the table with his elbow. It clatters to the floor, and all the two of them can do is laugh harder.
a.n. thank you so much for all the favourites/follows and reviews. i'd really appreciate it if more of you could tell me what you think of the story, i need to know what you like/don't like/want to see more of! also, the first doctor did really meet king neptune once, that's totally canon. thanks for reading, please review!