Constellations of Their Own Making (The Galaxy’s Edge Remix)
Ten/Rose, Uni AU, remix of @perfectlyrose‘s fic Constellations of Their Own Making. John is That Guy in lecture, Rose is done with it, but maybe the stars have their own plans? ~4.5k.
[ AO3 ]
John had always loved the stars. His first telescope was a gift from his absentee father when he was eleven. He didn’t learn how to use it until he was thirteen - when Donna and her grandfather moved in down the road.
He and Donna were soon thick as thieves, but it was Wilf that took him out back, down to where the Noble’s property ran into the edge of a farmer’s field, and taught him how to find the stars and the planets and how to track their dances through the sky. Donna grumbled when John dragged her out of bed at three in the morning to look at the comet or see the planet but she could never quite hide the awe that crept into her face as they watched the moon eclipsed by the shadow of the earth.
Eventually, Donna grew up and stopped wanting to watch the moon or see the stars through the end of John or Wilf’s telescope, but they continued. John read books and papers and anything else he could get his hands on, and together, one memorable summer, they took an old telescope John had dug out of a relative’s attic and put it back together better than it had been.
When John decided to abandon a previous plan to get a medical degree in order to pursue astrophysics at university, no one was more thrilled than Wilf.
Two classes into Introduction to Astronomy later, John was bored. He could probably teach the class if he was honest, but the professor was interesting and interested. John had long since exhausted Wilf’s knowledge of space and time and gravity and planets and the movement of things through the heavens, and it was exhilarating to have someone to spar with about interplanetary alignment and the existence of dark matter.
Two weeks before midterms, John had managed, once again, to drag the professor entirely off topic. This time the subject was the prevailing theory of black holes and the exciting news of new data from the Chandra telescope. During a lull in their spirited back and forth, John wondered for a moment whether the rest of the class was as engaged as he was. He put the thought of out of his mind entirely, when the professor derailed their conversation with an excited detour into Frequent Radio Bursts and the recent discovery of repeating patterns within them.
Another student latched onto that topic and the professor ignored their syllabus entirely to spend the final twenty minutes of their three hour lecture on what these new repeating bursts of radio noise might mean for both the potential existence of intelligent life elsewhere and the possibility that it was the sound of a magnetar or other energetic body out in the depths of intergalactic space.
John was still turning over the tail end of the professor’s assertion that a magnetar was the most likely culprit when he was hailed from behind.
“Oi,” a feminine voice called, and John turned, messenger bag bouncing against his hip as he did. “We need to talk.”
“Do I know you?” John asked, eyebrows drawing down in confusion. He looked her over briefly; bottle-blonde, bitten off nails, and a pinched expression of displeasure.
“No, but everyone in that class knows who you are because you don’t ever shut up.” The acid in her voice sizzled against the pleasant warmth of stimulating intellectual discussion.
John rocked back on his heels. Well, he thought, she’s a bit feisty. He let his mouth curve into a slow smile. “Just trying to provide adequate discussion in class. Participation is important.”
The other student’s face darkened and John worried he’d pushed her too far. “Not when you’re keepin’ everyone else from learning anything!” She declared, stepping up into his space. “It’s an introductory astronomy class and your ‘discussions’ with the professor keep him from actually teaching everyone else what they need to know in order to pass the tests.”
She was a full eight inches shorter than him, John reasoned, but she didn’t seem to care all that much about how much of his space she was in as she looked up at him, eyes sparking.
“But, the discussions Professor Collins holds once I ask questions are so much more fascinating than the assigned material,” John argued. “Wouldn’t you rather know that there’s literally alcohol in the centre of our galaxy and how it could the answers to how the first organic molecules were formed?” That had been a rousing discussion, John remembered, and the memory suffused his voice with excitement.
“No!” The vehemence in her voice made John take an involuntary step back. “I want to know what we’re going to be tested on! Unlike some people,” she narrowed her eyes at John, “I’m serious about schoolwork and I need this class to keep my scholarship. I’m sure as hell not going to let some bloke with a big mouth ruin that for me!” Her speech finished, she sucked in a breath, chest heaving under the layered scarf she wore around her neck, and arms cross over her chest, holding her text book like a shield between herself and John.
For a long moment, neither said anything.
John opened his mouth to say something smart in retort, but thought the better of it, looking at the lines of angry defiance in her posture. He reached up and tugged on his ear. “Have I really been that disruptive?”
Her answer was a matter of fact affirmative and it made John pause. He had been a bit of an idiot, hadn’t he? He cast back to other lectures he’d asked questions in, and realised that as soon as the professor got onto the topic John had brought up, those conversations had derailed the entire class. Even though he found the material easy, other people might not, and John could hear Donna in his ear sniping about how he was always so prone to forgetting about other people’s needs in his pursuit of knowledge.
John rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m honestly only in the class to fill my schedule,” he admitted, sheepish. “I tested out of it a few semesters ago.” She waited for him to go on, book still pressed to her chest. “I was trying to make things more interesting for everyone, not interfere with the class.”
“Well, you did,” she shot back. “The mid term exam is next week and I still have questions from the problem set we did in week one that I never got the chance to ask because Professor Collins was too busy talking to you to explain the assignments.”
Oh, John thought. Well, that was absolutely not on of him, was it, and a very unforeseen, though completely foreseeable consequence of his desire to push the professor off syllabus for more interesting conversation. The woman’s demeanour changed, her shoulders slumping forward in defeat.
“I, um,” John began, haltingly. He gathered up the shreds of his previous confidence and pushed on, “I could tutor you?” It came out distinctly more interrogative than he had intended but John pushed on, “I mean, if you want. I’m really rather good at explaining the basics and it’s the least I can do for distracting Collins during class.”
Her eyes widened, mouth dropping open in shock before she snapped it shut. “You’re seriously offering to teach me three weeks of material in the next week?”
John made a show of pursing his lips in thought. “Yeah, I think we could do it.”
“Seriously?”
Had no one ever offered to help her in her life before this, John wondered. “I offered, didn’t I?” he replied, testily.
“Yeah, but, blimey, I don’t even know your name!” Her face had gone from shocked to embarrassed enthusiasm. She did have a point though, John thought.
“Right,” he said, sticking out his hand, “I’m John. John Smith.”
“Rose Tyler,” she said, taking his hand in hers. Rose held his hand for a moment, before letting it go and then reaching up to hook a lock of hair behind her ears. She looked up at him again, whiskey eyes searching his face. “So, you’re really going to teach me astronomy?”
“Looks like, Rose Tyler,” John answered, bright. He could feel his mouth widening into a grin. “This is going to be brilliant!”
Rose didn’t look convinced. “You can’t go off on tangents about like you do in class,” she said. “I wasn’t kidding about needing to learn the material that’s gonna be on the test.”
“If I get you caught up before the test, can I tell you about some of the more interesting aspects of deep space?”
Rose giggled. “You know,” she said, flicking her gaze back up to John, “that almost sounds like a line.”
“No! No, I wasn’t trying to–” John rushed to say, his heartbeat skittering under his ribs. “I just want to make astronomy more interesting.” He paused. “And that sounds like one too. You, Rose Tyler, just have your mind in the gutter.” Rose’s laughter warmed the air around them, and John thought he might have to figure out how to keep her laughing from now until heat death.
“Guilty as charged,” Rose admitted, her face flushed prettily and her eyes sparking with mirth. Then she smiled, tongue in her teeth, and John knew he was ruined for all other celestial phenomena. He couldn’t look away from her mouth, though he did try. The way her eyes sharpened when he managed to drag his up to them again ensured that John knew he’d been caught.
The beep of his phone alarm in his pocket made John start. “Right,” he said, “well, I’ve got a lab in twenty, so I better go.” He took a couple of steps back. “We’ll get started on your tutoring as soon as possible.”
“Wait!” Rose called, still laughing, before John could turn to go for real. “I don’t have any way to contact you.”
“Oh! Right.” John’s steps back to her were hurried. Rose’s phone lay in the palm of her hand. John grabbed it and entered himself into her phone, before handing it back. “There,” he said, “now you have my number. I’ll be in the lab ‘til five, but I’m free after that, if you wanted to get started tonight?”
Rose pocketed her phone. “I get off work at seven. I can meet up after that.”
“Brilliant!” John beamed, rocking back on his heels. “Text me me and we’ll work out the details.” His phone pinged again and John rocked forward onto the balls of his feet, spinning in a circle and lifting a hand in Rose’s direction before taking off at a jog, messenger bag banging against his hip with each step.
Well that was not how he’d planned to spend his fifteen minute break between class and lab, John thought, skidding to a stop in front of the imposing set of double doors that would let him take a shortcut across campus to the annex where the astrophysics department had their lab space. He pushed open the door and stepped out into the early February sunshine. Compared to Rose Tyler’s smile, it was not even a contest, and oh, John knew he was ruined now.
––-
As it turned out, tutoring Rose was not a slog, nor was it overly difficult. She caught on quick, asked smart questions and did not let him get too far down a tangent before reeling him back in, if she needed him to answer her questions.
After their first, frantic, stretching into the late night, tutoring session, John walked Rose back to her dorm, leaving her at the door with a wish for good luck on the test the next day. Rose had smiled, and left him on the stoop, in the circle of yellow light cast by the outdoor light. John watched Rose climb the stairs, and headed back to his own flat, restless, giddy energy thrumming under his skin.
The following week, when the professor handed back their tests, John looked up from his seat near the door, and caught Rose’s eye. She flashed him a thumbs up and something unlocked in his stomach. He’d been worried for her, he realised, worried she might not pass after all their hard work, and oddly, he was still worried now. He dropped Rose’s gaze and stared down at his own test, nearly perfect score in bright red ink on the top right corner of the page.
He slipped out of the lecture hall, coat pulled tight around him to keep out the chill of the drafty old building their astronomy lecture was in. He was almost to the set of double doors when Rose caught up with him.
“Hey!” she called, grabbing his arm to stop him. John turned to face her. “No ‘congratulations, Rose Tyler’? Or, ‘you’re brilliant, you are,’?” She was smiling, but it was tentative, almost wary. John hated it. He rubbed at the back of his neck when she let go of his arm.
“I’m glad you passed,” he said, and he was, he told himself, very glad. She had passed, not that there had ever been real doubt, but now that she had, would she still need, or even, want, a tutor? John sucked in a breath to steady himself. “I’ve got lab–”
“I know for a fact that you don’t,” Rose interrupted, poking him in the chest with one finger. “You told me so yourself, last night. And anyway,” she continued, “I owe you for your help, so, chips? On me?”
Chips turned into more study sessions which turned into meeting for lunch on campus when they were free which turned into movie nights at John’s flat, sprawled on his sofa and throwing popcorn at bad B-rated horror movies from the 50s.
Near the end of the semester, John had spent too many nights with his arms full of Rose Tyler to not notice what was right in front of his face, but he had to be sure that she felt it too. Their last movie night had been a study in excruciating control on his part. Rose had toppled over into him on his sofa, hiding her face against his shoulder, while the Creature from the Black Lagoon stalks the hapless scientists that think they are stalking it. John had frozen, suddenly unsure of what he should do with his hands. He settled on wrapping one arm around her shoulder, and Rose had shuffled closer, her head against his chest. They’d stayed like that for the whole movie, John relaxing degree by careful degree, as the warmth of Rose’s body had seeped through his henley.
The next movie night was much the same, except Rose started plastered to his side, and John didn’t need to think about where to put his hands.
Late in the semester, when the weather was finally starting to warm, and exams began to loom, John texted Rose on a Saturday afternoon. The text itself was not unusual, but John’s thumb hovered over the send button for longer than usual. Their friendship had grown into something he was afraid of losing, and while he knew where he stood, he was afraid of what Rose might think, and worried she might not want what he wanted.
Rose’s response lit up his phone never even a minute later.
Text from Rose Tyler [3:25pm]: wine and crap telly, you got a better offer for me? ;)
Text from John Smith [3:25pm]: Don’t I always? Meet me outside the observatory around 7?
He waited. Two minutes went by and Rose still didn’t respond. John’s heart jumped into his throat.
Text from John Smith [3:27pm]: Feel free to bring the wine :)
Text from John Smith [3:27pm]: if you want
John turned his phone over on the arm of his couch. It pinged as soon as he let go of it.
Text from Rose Tyler [3:28pm]: i’ll be there
Text from Rose Tyler [3:28pm]: and i’m definitely bringing the wine
The breath went out of John in a rush, and anticipation fizzed in his blood. She’d agreed. He’d known she would, it wasn’t that unusual for them to hang out on a Saturday evening, but either everything was going to change tonight, or John was going to lose one of his best friends.
For a long minute, John sat on his couch, phone in his hand, staring at Rose’s response. Then he blinked, pushed himself to standing and fired off a text to his erstwhile roommate. Rory was rarely home, but his car was almost always parked in their flat’s spot in the lot downstairs.
Rory’s answer came while John was packing a basket of snacks.
Text from Rory Williams [4:37pm]: sure you can borrow the car, why?
Text from Amy Pond [4:38pm]: got a hot date? ;)
Text from Rory Williams [4:38pm]: Amy wants to know if it’s girl you’ve been tutoring?
Text from Amy Pond [4:39pm]: Go get ‘em tiger ;)
Text from Amy Pond [4:39pm]: We won’t wait up.
John sighed, and went back to slicing cheese without answering either of them.
The evening arrived, and the sky remained clear. John locked his flat’s door behind him, gripped the basket handle tightly and tromped down the stairs to the parking lot. He dropped the basket into the boot, beside the blankets he’d brought down earlier and set off for the school. He was determined to beat Rose to their meeting spot.
Parking the car, he got out and jogged to the observatory, leaning against the door to wait. The night air was cooling, sky darkening above him and the campus was quiet. He tossed the car keys between his hands, listening to the soft jingle of Rory’s keychain as he did.
John had just turned his wrist over to check his watch when he felt a pair of hands slip around his elbow. “Why, hello there Doctor,” Rose said, eyes catching the last golden flare of the setting sun. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“You know no one else calls me that, right?” John replied, grinning down at Rose. She tugged him in for a hug that he returned, arms tight around her.
Rose stepped back. “That’s just because they don’t know you dropped out of medical school to try and get a doctorate in astrophysics.” She smiled up at him. “What do you even do with a doctorate in astrophysics?”
“Be impressive?”
“You’re so full of it.”
“If you’re just figuring this now, Rose Tyler, I’m disappointed in you.”
Rose laughed. “Wanker,” she said, punching him gently in the arm. “I knew you were full of it before I knew your name.”
“Full of it?” John parroted, mock offense making his voice turn up at the end. “I was talking about how I am so impressive.” John winked at her and Rose rolled her eyes.
“Full of it,” Rose sing-songed. She bumped her shoulder against his. “So, why are we at the observatory?”
John tossed the keys into the air, caught them, and then dangled them in front of Rose’s face. “We’re not staying at the observatory.”
“Oh no?” Rose asked. Her smile was a tease of teeth and tongue and John couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from her mouth. “Where are we off to then?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see!” John pressed the button on the key fob and watched Rose’s gaze turn to the sound of a car unlocking in the car park. He watched her take in the blue convertible, top already stashed away and watched her eyes widen with surprise. “Come on,” he said, stepping around her, “adventure awaits!”
“Race you!” Rose called, pivoting on her heels and taking off at a sprint. John followed, laughing. He narrowly beat her, vaulting over the driver’s side door and settling into his seat just as Rose opened the passenger side door. “Alright, that was impressive,” she admitted, settling herself into the passenger seat. “Where in the world did you get a car?”
John turned the key in the ignition. “Oh, borrowed it from my roommate.” He reached up for the pair of sunglasses he had left hanging on the visor and dropped them onto his face before draping his arm across their seats and turning to back the car out of the spot. John caught Rose looking when he brought his arm back down to the gear shift, carefully shifting them into drive.
“Do you even have a licence?” Rose asked. John grinned, said nothing, and peeled out of the parking lot with the revving engine and Rose’s delighted shriek echoing in his ears.
Two hours later, after countless questions ignored, and ceaseless jabs about his driving disregarded, John pulled off the narrow two-lane road and put the car in park in the soft shoulder. He cut the engine and the night noise rose in its place - crickets, the breeze through the tall grass in the field next to the road and the long, mournful call of an owl rising from the copse of trees that marks the edge of the forest.
“We’re here,” John said, unclicking his seatbelt and pushing open his door.
“Where is ‘here’?” Rose asked, following him out of the car. John didn’t answer, merely walked around to the rear of the car and popped the boot. Rose came to join him, staring down at the blankets and basket of snacks. “John…” Rose started, uncertainty clouding her voice. The owl hooted again, and John felt Rose’s shiver.
Just another minute,” he promised, “and I’ll explain everything.” He turned to look at her, and Rose sighed.
“You better,” she said.
John reached in to the boot and pulled out the blankets, handing them to Rose. He grabbed the picnic basket, and then stepped back, slamming the boot lid closed. With his free hand, he reached out, waggling his fingers in Rose’s direction. She took hold of his hand with hers, and the slide of their palms together made John’s blood fizz again. They’d held hands before, he knew, racing across campus as he dragged her after him to the arcade, or on late night wanders home from the pub, Rose holding on for dear life while tottering on too-high heels that made her calves look ravishing. This time, though, it felt like the beginning of something, like a step off the edge and into undiscovered country. Rose squeezed his hand with hers and John stepped carefully down the gentle hill of the ditch and hopped across the narrow crick.
Rose didn’t let go of his hand, and followed him silently until they reached the middle of the field. John spared a glance up at the sky, and turned in place, letting Rose’s hand go. This was the place, he decided, and stooped to set the basket down. Rose waited, teeth worrying at her bottom lip. John smiled, and reached for one of the blankets in her arms.
Rose got the message without much prompting and helped to spread the blanket out on the soft grass. She set her bag down on one corner, and then sank down to sitting near it, crossing her legs. John joined her, legs spread out in front of him and leaning back on his palms.
“So, you going to explain now?” Rose asked, her voice hushed.
“This is tonight’s adventure,” John said, smiling when Rose rolled her eyes as he knew she would. He relented, and shifted his weight to allow himself to gesture up at the sky with his free hand. “This area is the best place for viewing the night sky within five hours of campus. We’re far enough away from major cities that the light pollution is negligible. I thought it might be nice to really see the stars after a semester of learning about them.”
Rose shifted beside him, and John knew without looking that she was copying his posture. “This is brilliant, John. Really.”
“Really?” John asked, turning his head to catch a glimpse of her. She’s in profile, the night dark enough that he can only barely see her, the starlight only barely bright enough to limn her skin and lend a gentle illumination to her eyelashes.
“Yeah,” she answered, eyes on the spill of stars above them.
John let himself fall back until he was lying flat on the blanket. Rose hesitated for a moment before joining him, the line of her body a steady warmth against his side. John tugged the other blanket up over them, and Rose sighed, turning her head a bit to fit it more snugly against his shoulder.
Silence bloomed between them, soft and easy and John let it grow, content to be beside Rose underneath the deep ink of a late spring sky.
“The stars are more than just the math and science we use to study them,” John said eventually, speaking softly so only Rose could hear him. “They’re wonder and the unknown and they’re beautiful. It’s easy to forget that when we’re buried in equations and problem sets.”
Rose turned over next to him, propping herself up on her elbow so she could look down at him. This close, even in the dark, he could see her face clearly. “Do you know what my initial impression of you was, John?”
“That I talked too much?” John guessed, wrinkling his nose. He didn’t like to remember how much an ass he’d been.
“No,” Rose said gently. “That came later. The first thing I thought was that you were obviously in love with the night sky. I loved your enthusiasm right up until it interfered with my trying to learn.” She paused, biting her lip and even though he wanted to rush to fill the silence, John forced himself to wait. Rose blinked down at him. “I love seeing how much you still love the stars.”
John took a deep breath. Rose’s hair, soft and slipping out of the hasty braid she’d pulled it into when they were flying down the motorway, framed her face. Her eyes shone. John’s stomach jumped, and he swallowed, jaw clicking. “You know,” he started, voice a rasp before he cleared his throat and tried again, “you know what I love the most about them right now?”
Rose’s gaze was steady, never deviating from his eyes. “What?” She asked, soft.
“That they brought you into my life,” John said, just as soft.
Rose’s eyes widened with shock. “John Smith,” she said, breathless, “it sounds like you’re giving me a line again.”
“Is it working?” John asked, surprised at how shaky his voice sounded. Rose’s mouth curved into her liquid gold smile, and John felt an answering bloom of heat under his ribs.
“I think it might be,” Rose whispered. She searched his gaze, looking for something. John hoped she’d find it. While she looked, John lifted a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears. Rose’s lashes fluttered, and she leaned in his touch. Her smile changed into something warm and secret, just for him. Like the edge-on view of a galaxy, John thought, it’s brilliant wonder held as a careful treasure that would only be discovered by those careful enough to explore.
Slowly, oh so slowly, Rose leaned down.
John met her halfway.
