#bonding fic

“Draco.” His name, gentle and cajoling, chills him. It was his mother who said it last, wasn’t it? I love you, Draco, half caught on a sob as they passed each other between trials “Something has happened to your magic.”

Was that really necessary 😭😭😭

Where the rest of the world still feels a touch too much, this is a too much he craves.

Draco bby 🤍

Potter’s anger flares into the room suddenly and Draco shivers at the heat it sends over his skin. Finally. “Why do you keep following me around?” “As it so happens, I’ll die if I don’t.” Potter’s jaw ticks. “You know that’s not what I mean.” “Then use the proper tense, Potter. I know you’re a bit dull, but—” He has Draco by his shirt collar in the next second, and Draco can’t help but grin. “There you are.”

*Soft Dom!Draco has entered the conversation*

“What are you looking for in the Forest?” “You cry in your sleep.”

Communication skills at your finest Harry, good job xd

Draco is on the cliff edge again. His bed is behind him, lonely, safe. Cold. And in front of him, staggering, terrifying: Potter.

Jump baby jump!!!

„No one to tuck you in and tell you how special you are?” Potter’s face falls, silence with it. Draco feels a sudden chord of pain in his magic. He swallows down the need to fix it.

Yes, please, fix it!!

They don’t breathe a word of it during the day, but the bags under Potter’s eyes are finally fading. Now, Draco simply lifts his duvet in offering when Potter comes out of the bathroom and he crawls in without a word, always a careful distance between them, always a studied silence until they both fall asleep.

Oh my, the “all is normal in daylight as long as we don’t talk about the in between ” 😅

„He doesn’t want to be whole if whole means not with Harry.”

-

Eventually they reconvened with Algy in the dining room, settling in for lunch.  The third time the server gave Rose a nervous look, she snapped.

“What?!”  Her tone drew the attention of the other three quickly; Algy looked panicked, Mo worried, and Jackie suspicious.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, I was just wondering if your companion would be joining you for luncheon?”  The maid asked, eyes wide.

“No,” Rose bit out.  “He won’t.”

“Certainly, ma’am.  I only ask because he’s been sitting outside for hours, and it’s freezing cold.  The butler was worried.”

There was a dull rushing in Rose’s ears.  “Outside?  He’s been outside for hours?”

“Yes, ma’am, down at the gate.  Reggie, the butler, tried to talk to him but he, uh, wasn’t receptive.”  The girl’s attitude relaxed when Rose’s tone lost its bite.

She sat there for a moment, frozen, as she tried to process what the girl was saying.

“Rose?  What’s going on?”  Her mother’s voice broke the fog, and she shoved her chair back to all but leap across the room.

“Thank you!” she called over her shoulder, dashing out the hall, through the door, and down the drive without stopping for a coat.

Skidding to a stop at the gate, her heart pounding had nothing to do with the cold or exertion, and everything to do with the Time Lord sitting on the low brick wall surrounding the property.

She didn’t say anything, just staring at him as he resolutely ignored her.

Finally, perhaps understanding it was up to him to break the silence, he spoke.  “Couldn’t do it.”

He laughed bitterly, breath puffing in the frigid air.  “Ironic, isn’t it?  Me, unable to leave.  It’s all I’ve ever done – for centuries.  Pop in, try to help, make a mess, and head off before anyone starts the cleanup.  Just a drive through.  And yet I can’t seem to make myself leave here.”

“I don’t expect you to marry me,” Rose finally said, hopping up next to him.  It was even colder with nothing to block the wind, but she was too stubborn to jump back down.  “Everything was fine, until Algy proposed.  Are you thinking I want that?  Because I don’t, not really.  I mean, sometimes I think it’d be nice, but it’s really the partnership I want.  I mean it – I want what we have.  I want you.  Whatever relationship form that takes.”

He made a strangled, choking sound.  “Oh, Rose, don’t you understand?  I wasn’t running because I don’t want to marry you – I was running because I do.”

She inhaled sharply, bowled over by the confession.  “But then why-”

“I’m nine hundred years old,” he interrupted.  “Probably more, I lost track a good long while ago.  You, your species – you’re lucky to make it to ten percent of that.  And I’m still young, relatively.  Only about middle age for a Time Lord.  The problem isn’t that I don’t want you, it’s how badly I do.  Because today, in a year, five years, if you live to be a hundred – it’s still a fraction of my remaining lifetime.  The blink of an eye.  I don’t know if I can survive losing you then.  Blimey, I can’t even survive it now, and I was only a thousand feet away.”

“So what’s the answer?” she asked quietly.  “What happens?  You can’t go, you won’t stay – what am I supposed to do with that?”  A sharp wind blew, and she couldn’t contain the shiver.  Turning to her for the first time, his eyes widened as he took her in.

“Bloody fucking hell, Rose, it’s below freezing out here and you’re not even in a coat!”  He quickly shrugged off his leather jacket, helping her into it and zipping it up.  It helped block the wind, but he’d been out here for ages and didn’t have much in the way of body heat to begin with.

“Don’t yell at me,” she ordered through chattering teeth.

The Doctor shook his head in fond exasperation.  “Come on, let’s get you inside.  You dying’s not on my must-see list, but if you’re going to pop off at least do it when I’m out of range of your mother,” he complained, jumping down before turning to help her.  He led her up the drive and back into the house.

Jackie was waiting just inside the door, and he pushed past her.  “Not now, Jackie.”

Never one to listen, the woman followed him up the stairs, nagging.  “Where’ve you been?  What’s wrong with her?  What’s going on?”

He’d never been so glad to see their bedroom door, and he managed to get Rose and himself in without Jackie following.

“I’ll take care of her,” he snapped, before slamming the door in her face and turning to Rose.  “Come ‘ere, love.”  He guided her to the floor in front of the fire, stoking the flames quickly before pulling the duvet off the bed.  His superior senses could still smell the sex on it from their morning romp, though it felt like centuries before.  Wrapping it around Rose’s shoulders he curled behind her, pulling her into his grip.  Kissing her forehead, he sighed in relief.

“You’re not hypothermic, but you would’ve been given another ten minutes.  Why would you be so reckless?”

Rose shrugged, the movement almost lost beneath the heavy layers.  She nestled her head below his chin.  “I didn’t want to wait,” she murmured, staring into the fire.  “What if you were waiting for me, and gave up?”

His breathing hitched.  “I will never give up,” he promised softly.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered in response.

He nuzzled his cheek against her temple and she gasped, jerking upright.  “What was that?”

The Doctor stared at her, perplexed.  He’d brushed his mind against hers just as a surface check, but she shouldn’t have been able to feel it.  It happened accidentally, sometimes, usually when he lost control as they made love.  She’d never noticed before, or at least had never said anything.

“What was what?”  He played dumb, hearts racing.

“It was like- it was like- did you hear singing, or somethin’?”  She screwed up her face, the memory of it already fading.  “It was like I could, I dunno, feel you.  Like when we make love.”

That answered that question, and he was momentarily annoyed she’d never told him until he considered all that he’d never told her.  “Rose…”

“Aren’t you telepathic?”  She finally connected the dots, scrambling up on her knees, back to the fire.

“I…”

“You are!”  She gasped, and he grimaced.  Her freakout on Platform One rushed to the forefront of his mind, and he prepared himself for a repeat.

“Am I?”

That was unexpected, and he marginally relaxed.  “What?”

“Am I telepathic?”  She demanded, eyes wide.  “Is that why I could feel you?”

“Yes, I’m telepathic,” he said carefully.  “I don’t think you are – you shouldn’t be, at least.  And you shouldn’t be able to feel me, either.  Not that I’m in your head ever; it’s just sometimes my control slips when I’m…”

“About to orgasm?”  Rose provided helpfully, and altogether too calmly for the subject matter.

“Yes.”

“What does it mean, that I can feel you?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, distracted.  There was something about her question, tied to the way she almost glowed golden in front of the fire that tugged at his time senses.  They weren’t nearly as strong as his previous body, but something told him this was a point in flux that could have far-reaching repercussions.

“Time Lords are telepathic,” she said slowly, almost as though repeating it.  “You would hear other Time Lords in your mind – is that how your species married?”

“Yes,” the Doctor blurted.  He was too taken aback by her knowing that to obfuscate.  “Rose, what’s going on?”

She shook her head, and it seemed like the universe righted itself.  The strange feeling disappeared as quickly as it came, and she blinked at him.

“Doctor?”

“Marry me,” he blurted, and the timelines seemed to freeze, and then dance just out of his view.

“Wha- seriously?  Are you kiddin’?  Two hours ago-!”

“I know,” he admitted, “but I was scared.  Running’s my default, remember?  But I love you, and it’s worth it.  A day, a millennium – it’s worth it.”

“When you say marry, do you mean bond our minds together, like I felt a minute ago?”

“Yes.”  The Doctor exhaled a shaky breath.  “But closer.  We’d see each other’s very souls.  Our thoughts would be private, but… there’d be no hiding who we are.  Not really.”

Rose sat there quietly, staring at him with a thoughtful look on her face for several long minutes.

Just as he was about to change his mind, she said, “okay.”

“Okay?” he repeated, eyes widening.

She nodded.  “What do I need to do?”

“Do you realize what you’re committing to?” he asked desperately, hope igniting in his chest.

“You,” Rose said simply.  “For the rest of my life.”

The strange energy was building in the room again, and he rather thought time itself was invested in this moment.

He wouldn’t be the Doctor if he didn’t argue at getting his way, and he spent the next ten minutes trying to talk her out of it.

When she wouldn’t budge, merely smiling softly at him, he gave in to what he wanted; what they both wanted, apparently.

“If you’re sure.”

“What do I need to do?” she repeated calmly.

He rather thought he might be losing his mind, but if he was losing it to her it would all be worth it.  He settled two fingertips on either temple, and she copied him.

Carefully walking her through the steps, he marveled at every turn at how… clean her mind was.  He’d been in multiple humans’ minds along the way, but none had ever felt so, so… Time Lord-y.  Something nudged him away from that thought, and he realized that it was a puzzle only to be solved by living it.  Guiding her to the very core of them, he showed her how to bond their essences together.

It could have been seconds or hours, but eventually they each pulled back with a gasp.

“Did it work?”  Rose demanded, staring at him with wide eyes.  “Are we… married?  Bonded?  Whatever?”

Can you feel me, sweetheart?  He asked, stretching mental muscles that hadn’t been used since he’d ended the war.

“Oh!” she gasped, mouth dropping open.  Doctor?

Hello, he murmured in her mind, smiling at the awe she was projecting.

“What’s so funny?” she asked aloud, jaw dropping further when he giggled.

The Doctor giggled!

“I’m so happy,” he said softly, pushing the joy and wonder he felt to her.

She gasped again, eyes watering as she brought her hand to her mouth.  “Can you read my mind?”

He considered.  “Can you hear what I’m thinking?”

Concentrating, she could feel his giddiness, but hear nothing.  “No.”

“Now?”

She reached out again, not sure she was doing it right until she got a vivid image of their lovemaking from that morning from his point of view.  She moaned quietly at the vision, and arousal flooded through her as she felt his own grow.

“I love you,” she said clearly, sending the emotion towards him as well.

He shifted uncomfortably.  “This will take some getting used to, and we’ll have to practice for you to control it,” he said delicately.

Rose frowned.  “Have I already done something wrong?”

“Not… wrong,” he bit his lip.  “But, uh, I think you were trying to show me you love me?”  She nodded.  “You, ah, sent your love for… a specific part of me instead.  And how you, er, show that love.”

Suddenly she understood, and flushed.  “Well, I do, but I- that was supposed to be you as a person, not your…”

“I figured,” he smirked.

A pounding on the door interrupted them, and the Doctor shook his head.  “We should show her you’re all right,” he stood, offering her his hand.

“Oh, I’m fantastic,” Rose said confidently, rising to stand next to her- husband?!

Her delight filtering through the bond made him laugh with happiness.

“Me too.  Shall we?”

Arm in arm, they headed across the room to answer the door, and their future, the only way they knew how.