AN: Aaaand again, after a looong absence, I'm back!
I'm so sorry for taking so long, but hopefully the length of this chapter will make up for that?
The next chapter will be up soon, since I've already written it ;)
Thank you so much to everybody that stick with me through this long await, it means a lot to me.
Reviews make my day!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the song mentioned here nor the characters.
Rose was speechless when, turning around, she was faced with a bunch of flowers where a face should have been.
She had been talking with Martha when she had heard someone (she was sure it had been John's voice) greet her and when she had turned around...
"Surprise!" The boy exclaimed, face finally peering out from behind the bouquet of pastel rainbow coloured tulips.
The blonde couldn't contain her joyous laughter, surprise indeed.
At John's answering grin she threw her arms around his neck (careful of not crushing the beautiful flowers) and hugged him tightly.
John answered in a half hug, chuckling quietly.
When they were face to face again, he handed her the flowers and leaned in, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her cheek and whispering, only inches apart from her skin "Happy Birthday, Rose".
His warm breath made her shiver and she forgot to breathe for a split second, remembering herself doing the same gestures not so long ago, but made up for it giving him a gentle smile and whispering back a soft 'thank you', eyes locking with his.
Both felt their hearts accelerate and their breath itch. Their gazes steady on the other, neither could do anything but stare, small, soft smiles forming on their lips.
The sound of a phone ringing broke the moment, but they didn't jump apart, just smiled gently at one another and shrugged: moments like this were becoming more frequent and neither minded it, choosing instead to enjoy them.
A quick glance at the clock and John face paled.
"Rose, we're late!" He exclaimed, picking up his bag and dashing to the changing room with a quick "See ya later".
The girl couldn't help but laugh quietly while getting her bag. Then her gaze fell on the flowers in her hands and butterflies sparked in her stomach: he had remembered her birthday and he had planned a surprise. Not only that, he had bought her her favorite flowers, and paid her back for how she had wished him a happy birthday.
If the day had started well, it seemed it was getting even better.
John was proud of himself: Rose had been surprised and she seemed quite happy, even now, minutes after, hard training breaking their breaths.
She still wasn't fast enough for the two of them to be close to talk, but she was close and he could see the brilliant smile and her twinkling eyes.
"That's the lass, huh?" He heard from his side and almost jumped at Mickey's question.
"Hmp?" He only asked, stare fixed on the birthday girl.
"You know what I mean, the one you fancy" Mickey snorted and John turned his eyes away from her figure to glare in disbelief at his friend.
"If you mean the girl I've become friend with then yes, it's Rose. If you really mean what you said then no, definitely not." He answered, spelling out every word carefully and sternly to Mickey.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that" was all he got before his friend moved away leaving him out of words.
"So... He's your boyfriend?" Martha asked Rose, some envy slipping in her words despite doing her best to mask it.
Rose was glad that her cheeks were already red for the fatigue, or else she would have blushed quite hard.
"No, he's not" Rose said embarrassed.
Martha frowned.
"Come on, you can tell me"
"No, really, he's not! We're friends, just that"
Martha was confused: Rose seemed honest, but...
"Then why did he bring you flowers? On Valentine's Day?"
Rose, that just now understood her friend's confusion, smiled sheepishly.
"Well, that should be because it's my birthday" she said, her voice getting softer and softer with every word, knowing what was coming.
Martha shrieked.
"What?! Really? Why didn't you tell me?" Rose just shrugged.
The brunette then pulled her into a hug.
"Happy birthday, Rose!" She added for good measure, and Rose couldn't help but smile: it seemed like she had a new real friend.
"Ehm, Rose? We have a problem..." John said sheepishly.
Rose shook her head smiling.
"What?"
"I may have forgotten your present at home" He smiled, hand tugging at one ear. It was a nervous habit of his, Rose noticed.
"Hang on, my present?" She asked surprised.
He only nodded in answer.
"I thought the flowers were my present..." She admitted, and John shrugged.
They were both silent for a moment, then John took a deep breath and asked.
"Would it be okay if I dropped by at your house later?" He asked timidly.
"Of course!" She answered, offering a sincere smile in answer.
"See you later then, doll" he winked, leaving an astounded Rose behind, wondering about him and his many surprises.
Earbuds in place, John set off walking to Rose's house.
Only he could forget a present at home even if it was the only thing he needed to remember, he thought shaking his head.
He focused again on the song playing and found himself sing along inadvertently.
"I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now" he sang quietly, his thoughts inevitably drifting back to his blonde friend.
And just like that, he was startled: it was true. The words of this song were true, very much too: he felt in a way that was so strange about Rose. Damn bloody Liam Gallagher for hitting the nail right on the head
Rose was probably was his best friend, and he really cared about her, but it wasn't just that. It wasn't a crush either: he had had plenty of them, but none felt like this. He was just... happy when he was with her and even when he thought of her. And he thought about her a lot.
And just like that, he knew that their relationship was special, something unique. Something he didn't have a label for, but didn't want to lose.
"'Cause after all, you're my wonderwall" he sang softly, smiling at the truth in the words. That's what she was: his wonderwall. Or maybe the girl he was irrevocably in love with, not that he'd ever admit that of course.
Her house came into view and he readied himself: headphones back in his coat, bag with her present securely in hand, he took a deep breath and ringed the bell.
"It's for me!" He heard shouting from inside the house and smiled slowly.
When a breathless Rose, with her hair tidied up in a loose ponytail opened the door his smile widened.
"Hey there.." He hummed.
"Hello" She said, tongue catching between her teeth in the way that drove John crazy.
Immediately, she stepped aside and let him in, leading him to the already known living room.
Nobody was there, luckily, John noticed.
"Make yourself at home" she threw in, making her way to the couch.
John took off his couch and draped it over a chair before making his way to her and plopping down on the couch next to her.
He then handed her the wrapped present with a tentative smile.
"Hope you like it.."
Rose stared at the beautiful wrapping and chuckled at John's idea: of course he would use a pool printed paper.
"Open it!" John urged smiling.
The girl, shaking her head happily at John's impatient behavior, started tearing the paper just in the right places so it wouldn't be ruined.
The boy huffed.
"That's not how you open a present" John pouted and Rose couldn't help but laugh.
"Shush, I wanna keep the wrapping!" She bit back and could see John barely keeping from jokingly pulling his tongue at her.
When a rectangular jewelry box came into view, she threw a suspicious glance at him and he just smiled innocently.
Almost reverently, she put the paper aside and took the box in her lap. Slowly, she opened the lid and revealed a silver chain (a bracelet, probably) with two charms: a rose (to which the girl couldn't contain the smile), and...a police box? She frowned at this: was it the same one he had on his backpack? And what did it mean?
She lifted her eyes to his and the confusion must have been written in her eyes, for John nodded understandingly.
"I owe you an explanation, I know" He said and was opening his mouth when a loud voice shut him off.
"John! It's you! Why didn't you tell me Rose?" Jackie came into the room and John caught Rose cringing before turning completely to the older woman.
"I just came by to give Rose a present I had forgotten earlier" John answered sheepishly.
He saw Jackie's eyes narrow curiously and focus on Rose's lap, but the girl had already closed the box and put it in a corner where her mom couldn't see. He half chuckled at that, immediately hoping the older woman didn't hear it.
When she finished the fruitless inspection of the room, Jackie shook herself and smiled again at John.
"Are you staying for dinner? I made chips especially for her birthday" Jackie winked pointing to the girl sitting next to him and John was torn: he wanted to stay but...would he be really welcome? Wouldn't he bother them? Would Rose want him here? Christ, he had to make a choice rather sharpish too.
This last thought made him turn to her, throwing a questioning gaze in her direction.
Rose smiled shrugging.
"I'd love for you to stay. If you don't have other things to do, that is" She said softly.
"Are you sure I won't be a bother, Miss Tyler?" He asked addressing her mother.
"Of course not!" She answered, looking almost offended.
John hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Let me just call my mum.." He added, getting up to retrieve his phone.
While John was not looking, Jackie threw a wink at her daughter.
"Great! I'm going to add another plate. Dinner will be ready in half an hour." She said, heading back to the kitchen.
Rose used the opportunity to speak up.
"Would you mind if I went change while you call your mum? I hadn't the chance before you got here and I really want to get out of these jeans" She added.
"Go ahead, I'll be waiting right here!" He said smiling softly.
"Nice hoodie" was the first thing John said upon seeing her.
She had donned her new favourite jumper, jogging bottoms and had let her hair down. Finally.
She smiled widely making her way to the couch. She sat down close to John, feet tucked underneath her.
"Thanks. It's a birthday present, actually"
John looked at it curiously: it was dark blue and had the whole gang from "the Big Bang Theory" printed on the front and just "Bazinga" on the back.
"I take it that you're a fan, then?" he asked, even though it was more of a statement than a question.
She nodded in answer.
"You?"
"Yep, me too" He grinned, then added "Sheldon is a genius" excitedly.
Rose laughed.
"So says Time. I think that he has a tad too many OCDs, though" she said, eyes twinkling.
"Oh, so Time gave it to you" John half asked.
"Are you deducting?" Rose asked playfully.
"I think I am." John followed up
"Copper's hunch?" She bit back.
"Permission to follow it up, Sarge?" He said, the glint in his eyes giving away his serious face.
Rose huffed and finally answered.
"Yes, she gave it to me. It was actually kinda funny when we found out we were both fans."
John seemed to already have an inkling on what that might be, but nodded, letting her do the explaining.
"Well, one of our teachers had said a joke that he obviously found funny, even if it was the kind that are only hilarious to teachers, you know?" She asked, waiting for confirmation.
When she got it, she went on.
"Anyway, we both sighed and said «Bazinga» simultaneously. At that we turned towards each other and burst into laughter. Of course the teacher was very pleased that someone understood his joke" she finished snorting.
John was smiling widely shaking his head: he could listen to Rose talking for hours. She had this really melodic voice, everything she said was laced with excitement and her laugh...god her laugh. It was infectious and breathtaking at the same time.
"We should watch it together, the three of us, sometimes" John offered and Rose's brilliant smile was a gratifying answer.
"Yes, we definitely should" she answered softly.
Just then, Jackie's shout came again "I'm sorry, there's been a delay. Dinner will be ready in half an hour from now!"
Rose started laughing and John soon joined her.
"Does she always do that?" He asked after they had calmed down.
"Only when guests are around" She winked at him.
They sat in silence for some minutes, enjoying the quiet presence of the other and drifting in and out of their thoughts.
"I think you owe me an explanation" Rose said suddenly, turning to him, echoing the boy's words from earlier.
He nodded, still looking in front of him, and gathered his thoughts before looking at her.
"Well, you know that I have quite an obsession with police boxes" he started sheepishly.
Rose nodded, not wanting to interrupt him.
"There's actually a reason for that. My father and I, we...loved to stargaze, and theorize about aliens and other life forms in the universe." He said, his eyes looking so far away, lost in memories.
Rose was touched that he was trusting her with something that meaningful for him and reached for his hand, taking it in hers cautiously.
John's lips lifted slightly at the gesture as he continued to speak.
"He had this crazy theory that was my favourite: he thought that police boxes where alien ships." He said, and looked at her in the eyes, not surprised to find confusion and amusement.
"Not every one of them, of course. But he thought that it would have been the perfect camouflage, in any period of time. Used to mutter something about «humans not noticing the things that were under their noses»" he chuckled at this, and Rose did too, finding the courage to finally speak up.
"Well, it does make sense" she piped in, squeezing his hand lightly.
John smiled and nodded.
"And that's where my obsession comes from. One of my favorite memories of my dad" he concluded, still smiling softly and squeezing Rose hand back.
The girl sat in silence, hand tangled with his, taking in what he had just said.
"So the bracelet...that's you and me?" She asked slowly.
"Who's the one deducing now?" He asked playfully.
Then his face took a more serious turn, even though a soft smile was still present on his face.
"This way you can't get rid of me" John said, his voice teasing but his eyes conveying the meaningfulness of his words.
Rose was shocked into silence by his words: one sentence, that was enough to make her heart thump faster and take her breath away.
He had put so much thought in making her birthday special, and had added something so treasured as his best memory of his lost father.
Never before a single person made her feel so important and...loved.
That was the right word, what she was feeling right now.
A bit overwhelmed, she threw her arms around John's neck and hugged him tightly, her face on his chest.
John sneaked his arms around her waist, tucked her head under his chin and pulled her gently into him even more.
"Thank you" Rose whispered.
The boy bowed his head and kissed the top of her head, feather light, but they were so close that Rose felt it.
"You're very welcome" he said using the same ushered tone.
Then, they just sat there, tangled together.
Rose was surrounded by John's smell, his strong arms circling her and his calming heartbeat thudding softly underneath her ear and she could easily tell that this was her new favorite place. She could happily stay here forever.
Suddenly the front door opened. "We're home!" They heard Pete saying and suddenly Rose felt John tense.
At that she leaned back and looked him in the eyes, laughter on the edge of her vocal chords.
"You still scared of him?" She said, the last words mixing with laughter because of the quiet panic in the boy's eyes and his sharp nod.
At this John pouted.
"What? He's your father!"
Rose just shook her head, smiling at her friend's antics.
"Rose! Rose! Look what I made for you!" Shouted Tony running into the room.
Rose gently disentangled from the loose hug she had with John and turned to her little brother, noting the light blush on her friend's checks.
As Tony made his way around the couch and noticed the older boy, his face lightened up.
"John!" He shouted and threw himself at him.
He was cut off balance by the sudden movement, but the momentum was cushioned by the back of the couch and he hugged him back.
"Hey buddy" He greeted cheerily and saw the bright, tender smile on Rose's face.
"No hug for me?" She asked pouting instead.
Tony peeled himself off of John and turned to his sister, still on the older's boy lap.
"This first!" He exclaimed presenting to her a paper with two figures and a birthday cake.
"Is this you and me?" She asked smiling.
He nodded eagerly.
"It's brilliant! I love it champ!" She said excitedly and extended her arms to hug him.
This time it was John's time to gaze longingly at her: her relationship with her brother really was something special.
"Dinner's ready!" They heard and Rose immediately stood up and smirked.
"Race you two to the kitchen!" She stood up and started running, chased by Tony and finally by a laughing John.
"And that's the Warrior constellation" John said, pointing to a corner of the sky.
They had come out after dinner, taking with them two thick blankets, one to lay on the ground and the other to cover them because it was pretty cold.
Now they were laying next to each other, heads close together, and John was pointing to different constellations and sharing stories about them.
It was a clear night and Rose had turned off the lights in her back garden, so despite the light pollution a lot of stars were visible.
"If we are very lucky we could see a shooting star. We probably won't, because there are no meteorites showers around this time of the year, but there's no moon and a particularly clear sky, so..." He said and Rose smiled fondly at him in the darkness: he knew so many things about every subject and had a way to tell them that made you want to listen to him. Or maybe it was just her, she thought blushing. She did like his voice an awful lot.
John turned his head towards Rose to see why she had been silent for so long and caught a flash of her soft smile before she gazed back at the sky quickly.
He smiled to himself: she was still a mystery to him, one he would gladly spend a lot of time solving.
"It's beautiful..."Rose whispered, and John bit back his cliché answer "you are" because, even if it was true, it certainly wasn't the right time and well... He just wasn't sure what she would get from it. Good god, was he starting to overthink things?
"Everything okay?" She asked.
He probably had groaned out loud at himself, he figured.
"Yeah, sure. Don't worry" he said offering a reassuring smile and she didn't press further.
Silence surrounded them, broken only by some obnoxiously loud car driving by in the distance.
"Can I ask you something?" Rose whispered suddenly.
He hummed affirmatively in answer.
"Did you and your dad stargaze a lot?"
John was a bit surprised at this, but also oddly touched: it was the question of someone who cared to know about his past and the things that made him happy, and this was something treasured.
"Before my brother was born, we lived in a smaller house, just outside the city. It had this room, with a massive skylight. Looking through it you could see the stars as if you were outside, and we spent hours laying on the couches that were in the room, pointing at constellations and learning about things. Of course we did the same when we moved, but dad had less time and more children, so... It always was our thing, anyway" John said softly, his voice betraying the emotions he still felt: joy, enthusiasm and loss.
At his words Rose had moved closer to him, leaning her head tentatively on his shoulder and taking his hand in the dark.
He felt like chuckling: how she knew how to keep him grounded was beyond him, but he was quite happy that she knew him so well.
"Sounds like a fantastic hobby" Rose whispered.
"It is" He answered in kind.
Silence surrounded them again, peace washing over them with it.
It was in these moments that John treasured his relationship with Rose: the fact that they could just stay in silence, get comfort and happiness by just being together, connected by a barely there but always present physical contact, like holding hands, was what made them special. What made this unique.
The 'imperial march' broke the peaceful quiet and they both jumped.
"What time is it?" John asked panicking while fumbling for his phone.
"Past eleven, I think" Rose answered.
He cursed.
"My mum's gonna kill me" He said finally finding his phone and answering.
"Hey Donna" He said sheepishly.
"Where the hell are you? Mum will go crazy if she finds out you're not home yet!"
"Yeah sorry I know... I just hadn't seen what time it was"
"What're you doing with your friends of yours, eh Johnny boy?" Jack piped in and John groaned, but heard Rose stifle a laugh.
"Nothing you would do" He answered and was rewarded by a snort coming from Donna.
"N'aww, you're no fun!" Jack answered, clearly pouting.
Then John noticed something.
"Hang on, you said mum doesn't know anything yet?" He asked.
"Yeah, that's right. If you move your arse I'll keep her busy until you get here." Donna promised.
"Donna Noble, I love you."
"Yeah yeah, chop chop, Spaceman!" She answered laughing and hung up.
John turned his head to Rose, that was tantalising close to his but managed to keep any stray thought out of his head.
"You have to make me meet them someday." Rose said half laughing.
"Yeah, we'll see about that" He answered playfully.
"And you owe me a meteorites shower" She bit back.
"We have a deal." He answered.
Her eyes were twinkling in the darkness, shining as stars in the sky, and she was beautiful.
Coughing to compose himself, he spoke again.
"Well, really gotta go now" he said, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.
Slowly, he lifted himself taking the blanket with him.
As he stood up and started folding it, Rose swatted his hands and took it from him.
"Go, and be careful" She ordered.
"Yes m'am" he answered grinning and stumbled a bit when she leaned up and pressed a kiss on his cheek.
"Write to me when you're at home" She whispered pushing him towards the road.
It took him some seconds to understand what she had said, then he turned to her walking away.
"Will do, doll" He winked.
Rose was storing away the blankets in her room's wardrobe, dancing to the songs John had suggested to her. She shook her head to herself: she couldn't believe he was such a Taylor Swift's fan.
As she was putting her pyjamas on, her personal favourite song came.
"'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello." and your eyes look like coming home.
All I know is a simple name. Everything has changed."
She whispered along.
As she got under the duvet and turned to shut the music off, a text arrived.
"Made it home safe and avoided mum. Happy birthday again. Nighty night, shooting star. XO' was all it said, and she couldn't help but smile.
The last thing she thought before falling asleep was the last sentence of the song that described so well how her life was since John had came in it: "all I know since yesterday, is everything has changed".