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“NO!” Yaz shouted at the top of her lungs, slamming her hand down on the couch arm.
“Oh, I see,” smirked the Doctor, a smug twinkle in her eye, “you’re a sore loser! You know, it’s really not the most becomin’ quality, bein’ a sore loser,” she added, obviously very pleased with herself.
“I just can’t believe you won again! Seven times in a row now, this is starting to get ridiculous,” huffed Yaz as she crossed her arms, a Wii remote falling out of her hand and onto the cushion beside her.
They had been playing Mario Kart for over three hours now, and for the majority of that time, the Doctor had been effectively kicking Yaz’s butt. At first, Yaz wasn’t sure exactly how the Doctor had gotten so good at the game, considering that although the Doctor was certainly very competitive in nature, she often lacked a certain coordination . But later she realized that the Doctor had probably had plenty of time to perfect her banana and shell throwing skills; hundreds of years in fact. And although Yaz hadn’t expected her to be this skilled at a Wii game (of all things), she’d be lying if she said that it didn’t, well...turn her on a bit.
“Nah, ya know what’s ridiculous?” the Doctor said from the opposite end of the couch. She turned towards Yaz, her crossed legs bouncing up and down in excitement. “That ya keep thinkin’ you can beat me. But, I s’pose, there’s a first time for everything,” she said as she grinned playfully.
Yaz blushed. There certainly was a first time for everything, and she could think of a certain something fitting that description right now that she’d like to be doing with the woman next to her that didn’t involve Mario Kart.
Not the time or place Yaz, she thought , this is Mario Kart time. Get your head in the game.
“Oi! I’ll have you know that back at home I’m the reigning Kart champion!” Yaz said indignantly.
“Well, there’s only one way to settle this,” said the Doctor matter of factly.
Oh, I can think of a few ways to settle it, thought Yaz. Yikes, she really needed to get her head out of the gutter.
The Doctor continued, and Yaz was ever so grateful that she didn’t have mind reading powers. “We’re going to have to do this this old-fashioned way.”
The Doctor grabbed her Wii remote and pointed it at the screen, flipping through the options until she landed on the most dreaded and feared course throughout all of time and space.
“Please, not that one,” groaned Yaz.
“Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t stay on the road! That’s what ya get when you play as Baby Peach ,” the Doctor said with fabricated disdain. “Honestly Yaz, I thought better of you.”
Yaz sighed in exasperation. “Oh, and you think Yoshi’s that much better? Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”
“My pleasure,” smiled the blonde, and selected Rainbow Road.
Needless to say, it was over as quickly as it had begun. By the end of the race, Yaz had fallen off the road three times, and the Doctor had remained in first place throughout the entire course. As Yoshi began circling for a victory lap, the Doctor turned and smiled at Yaz.
“Ok, ok! You win,” declared Yaz with a grin. “Not like you didn’t all those other times too, but I officially crown you the Mario Kart champion of the universe. I should’ve known you’d win this one too anyways, seeing as it’s a rainbow road and all, and that seems to be kind of a theme with you.”
“What ever do you mean?” smiled the Doctor, scrunching her nose slightly.
Yaz could feel a slight warmth spreading from the inside of her chest to the rest of her body whenever the Doctor scrunched her nose. Or made any facial expression for that matter.
A thought occurred to Yaz suddenly, one that she’d been meaning to ask the Doctor about for awhile now, but hadn’t gotten around to. Probably because she was afraid she wouldn’t hear the answer she wanted. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t resist asking it now; it seemed like the perfect time.
“Actually, Doctor, why do rainbows seem to be a recurring theme with you? At first I thought it was random coincidence that you had a few rainbow items, but now you seem to have quite the collection! It seems like you consciously make the decision to surround yourself with as many rainbow things as you can!” Yaz said.
The Doctor looked a bit confused, a small crease appearing in between her eyebrows.
“I thought it was obvious?” she replied.
“...Obvious? Nothing is obvious with you, silly.” Yaz said gently.
The Doctor opened her mouth to speak, and Yaz could tell that there was about to be a very long and rambling explanation coming.
“Ya know when we first went to get me some proper clothes at the store, and I got the rainbow shirt and the jacket? Well, that’s because they fit proper nicely, and when I saw the beautiful colors I just couldn't resist! My last body would’a hated the idea of all the clashin’ bright colors, but I could tell it were gonna be perfect for me. From then on I knew colorful things and I were gonna get along brilliantly, and what’s more colorful than a rainbow? And then when you gave me the rainbow scarf I absolutely adored it and then there were those rainbow socks…”
The Doctor continued speaking, but Yaz wasn’t really listening at this point. Instead, she was staring at the Doctor’s hands fiddling with her controller, wondering how it would if feel if they were fiddling with her instead. Her gaze slowly shifted up the Doctor’s body, settling on her lips, moving away as she spoke.
It’s not that Yaz didn’t love listening to the Doctor ramble. In fact, normally, she drank in every sentence, cherished every word, hung on every syllable. But now, she couldn’t bring herself to listen to the Doctor explain why she loved rainbows, when it wasn’t for the reason she’d dared hope for.
That is, until she noticed that the Doctor had begun to assume a slightly worried look on her face as she continued to speak. Yaz thought this was a bit odd, as the Doctor was talking about something presumably lighthearted, so Yaz thought she’d better start listening again.
“...and then when I bought that cute ‘n tiny rainbow flag awhile back, the lady in the store explained to me why she had assumed I was buying it for myself or someone I knew who was gay, because the rainbow flag is often associated with being gay, and I don’t know how I hadn’t realized that before? I mean really, it’s not like I didn’t know that, but I didn’t really put two and two together? And at first, I was a bit sad, because I thought I should probably stop wearing so many rainbow things because, well I didn’t want people to assume anything...but then I realized, I still wanted to wear it? That is was actually...perfect? My obsession with rainbows? Because...well….I mean...”
The Doctor trailed off, looking down at her hands, still fiddling with her Wii remote. She seemed to have lost all of her previous confidence from winning hundreds of Mario Kart games (shockingly), and instead, seemed uncertain.
Yaz stared at the compact blonde in front of her, not daring to hope that what she’d just heard was indeed...what she’d just heard.
“Doctor,” Yaz said gently, leaning in slightly, “are you saying that you...like women?”
The Doctor looked up from her hands, and shyly glanced up at Yaz. “I think so? I mean, I’ve always liked women, and I’m pretty sure I still do. I mean, not that my past regenerations are all the same, I’m certainly different from them in many other ways! I just mean...well...no. Ok, I know I like women. In fact, there’s no way I can’t like women, because I definitely...I mean…”
The Doctor coughed nervously.
“Ok Yaz, this isn’t exactly how I’d planned on telling ya but... I know I like women, because I know I like...you?”
Yaz dropped her Wii remote.
The Doctor looked down again, and silence filled the room. Well, relative silence, as Yoshi was still taking his victory lap, and his small cheers quietly continued in the background.
After what seemed like millennia, the Doctor cleared her throat. Yaz continued to sit staring straight ahead, seemingly unable to move.
“I’m so sorry Yaz, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, it’s just that you’re so smart, and so beautiful, and so brilliant , I mean, I don’t really understand how anyone couldn’t be in love with you?”
The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Oh no. I didn’t mean to say in love with you, that just sort of slipped out...oh Yaz, I’m terribly sorry if I’m making it awkward for you, and here ya were just trying to enjoy a game of Mario Kart, and -”
“Doctor.” Yaz interrupted.
“What?” The blonde gazed back at her with reservation, her voice quivering slightly.
Yaz couldn’t resist any longer. Shifting her weight to lean towards the Doctor, she moved to close the gap between them, her hands resting on the couch on either side of the blonde’s slender body. She reached over with one hand to trace one of the Doctor’s earrings, fingers sliding past it and into the blonde’s slightly disheveled hair. The Doctor’s eyelids fluttered, and it was all Yaz could do not to moan audibly at the sight.
Yaz leaned even closer to the Doctor, her mouth as near to the Doctor’s ear as it could get without making contact. The Doctor felt Yaz’s warm breath against her skin, and a shiver ran down her spine. “Can I kiss you?” Yaz whispered.
Yaz could feel a hand lightly graze her waist, moving to rest on her back, pulling their bodies closer together. “Not if I kiss you first,” the Doctor murmured.
Their lips met simultaneously, and Yaz concurred that the Doctor’s lips were even softer than they looked. Yaz didn’t wait long before she parted the Doctor’s lips with her tongue, hand gripping the back of the blonde’s hair even tighter, the other hand beginning to caress the Doctor’s side lightly with her fingertips. The Doctor whined softly into Yaz’s open mouth, and they continued to make out until Yaz realized that they were, in fact, still in the game room.
Yaz drew back slightly, lamenting that they had to keep it at least PG-13, in case Ryan or Graham decided to inconveniently walk in.
“Can we continue this somewhere else?” Yaz gasped pleadingly, slightly out of breath.
The Doctor grinned, her face flushed but a glimmer in her eye. “Not until you beat me at Rainbow Road,” she winked.
No one in the history of the universe mastered Mario Kart faster than Yasmin Khan.