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"Since we're here, maybe you can find another suit to never wear," Rose teases. She still cannot get over the massive wardrobe in the TARDIS. Last night she had been looking for a new pair of shoes since the last pair she had just got destoryed running through forrest mud on a planet she can't pronounce the name of.
It was then that she stumbled across the Doctor's suits.
Plural.
Now she understands why he never has to do laundry. Rows upon rows of the same brown suit he always wears, followed by a smaller row of the same suit, but in blue, had taken her by such complete suprise that she couldn't stop laughing, holding onto the rail for support.
She had questions. Did he buy them all? Did he make them? Duplicate them? But when he walked in she could barely form sentences with how hard she was laughing until he pouted, put his hands on his hips, and walked back out and left her rolling around on the floor cackling.
"It's not that funny!" He'd shouted from the console room, only lengthening her laughing fit. "You haven't even seen the worst of it."
Snapping back to the present, one of her hands is firmly in the Doctor's, the other inspecting the various bits and bobs on display before them at the outdoor market. Holding back a snort, she covers her mouth with the back of her free hand and focuses on picking out a souvenir her mum might actually use.
The sky above them is clear, not a cloud in the lavender sky. Far from home. She picks up a pair of earrings and feels her eyes go wide when they start to glow bright orange then turn warm to the touch in a way she has never felt before.
The Doctor makes an interested sound, the tips of his fingers brushing against hers to feel, "These are bezoollium! Haven't seen that in quite some time. Brilliant little things, they are. You'll never get caught in the rain again with those."
Not bad, but her mum always loses earrings.
"But I like getting caught in the rain."
The Doctor grins, squeezing her hand. "I know."
Her heart skips a beat. His proximity is becoming unbearable, and she wonders how long she can keep this up, how long until she breaks.
Around them, creatures of all colors and sizes are chattering and shopping. It's so crowded that she feels a bit like a sardine, but she doesn't mind it one bit when their thighs press together. She doesn't even mind when a tall alien, who she can only assume is male, shoves past them in a rush and she falls forward, crashing directly into the Doctor's chest.
"Oi!" He calls behind him, more affronted than she is, and she grips his arm so he doesn't go after him and say something that'll get them running toward the hills. When he relents, muttering rudely under his breath, she drops her head forward, smothering her smile into the fabric of his tie. His scent fills her nose. It's here, now, little moments like this, that she knows she will never leave him.
Her feeble human heart skips another beat, then kicks up speed when she feels his hands slide down her arms and come to rest at the dip of her waist. One of his eyebrows is raised when he looks down at her. "You alright?"
She doesn't dare breathe when he reaches up to brush the hair out of her eyes with one hand. They've never been afraid to touch each other. Never. The first thing he ever did was hold her hand. But lately it feels different, like something has shifted and become something else, but they don't dare name it.
Instead of replying she licks her lips and nods, wondering if he can feel her erratic pulse somehow.
"Yeah," she finally murmurs, trying not to sound as breathless as she feels. Some days, the loud and chaotic ones mostly, she can live with the fever he puts inside her, with the need she has for him to give her more— and some days it's all she can focus on. Days where he feels like... God, when he feels like her boyfriend and nothing else.
But he's not.
(Is he?)
Her hands shift until she can curl them into the lapels of his jacket, underneath his coat. Her thumb brushes the material. Want curls in her gut. From here, she can feel his cool breath against her mouth, and is painfully and wonderfully aware, of how easy it would be to kiss him.
In her mind she let's it play out. It unfurls before her like an old movie: herself as the star, bravely bridging that small gap and brushing her lips against his, feeling the tingles all the way down to her toes. The tension between them would release, but not snapping like an elastic, instead like a silk ribbon coming undone. Maybe he'd freeze at first, and that's okay — she knows he's scared, of this, of them — but he wouldn't push her away. He'd kiss her back. She knows he would. Once she started, she wouldn't be able to stop, kissing him until his glasses fogged up, her fingers knotted in his hair.
She'd kiss him until she couldn't breathe and she wouldn't care who was watching.
He'd crush her to him too, fingers digging into her ribs, before ripping his mouth away when she brushed her tongue against his.
And well...
It's still just a fantasy.
"The blue suit—" Her voice is a little shaky, but she pushes past it. Shaking the daydream away, she forces herself to look into his eyes. She clears her throat. "The blue suit, it's nice. It'd look good with the coat."
The Doctor's hand slides down and rests on her shoulder, playing with the hem of her light blue jumper. His eyes linger on her collar bones, his long fingers jittering like they want to move there, but don't. "You like blue, eh?"
"Not as much as pink," she says, eyes bright, wishing this moment could last forever. "but yeah, I do. One of my favourite colours."
He hums, then looks around as if pondering, bouncing on his toes slightly.
Then, "In that case, I will wear it on our next adventure."
"Really?"
He smiles, almost as wide as she is. "Oh, yes. Just you wait, Rose Tyler. I'll be a different man in that suit, just for you. I'll be a vision in blue, just like the TARDIS. That's why I got it, you know?"
I love you, and I want this to go on forever, she thinks. His hand finds hers again, and she traces the contours of his palm. What comes out instead is, "I'll hold you to that."
He winks, and her stomach flips. "I'll make it worth your wait. Wonder if they sell any ties around here. Mind you most of the population have no necks, but you never know."
The crowd dissipates a bit, so she grabs a different weather thing for her mum and they move to another little stand, him two steps behind.
She doesn't have to look back to know he's looking at her.
He doesn't have to say it to know he loves her.