#trm23d1

Story

“So, what actually was our first date?” Rose suddenly asked, laying down a red six from her deal of Uno cards on top of the Doctor’s yellow six. He was too frazzled and shocked by the question to become irritated by Rose’s derailment of his carefully planned tactic, having been eagerly ready to shed himself of all of his yellow cards and get back to a singular card after Rose had slammed him with three instances of add four earlier in their game.

Rose quirked a brow in question as the Time Lord stared back at her with a gaping, gold-fish-like expression on his face, eyes wide and bulged in horror. 

“Date?” he squeaked out like a teenager going through puberty. “First date?” he reiterated. 

Rose felt just a little bit of embarrassment surge up through her, doubting whether bringing this business up had been a good idea after all. However, he hadn’t protested or corrected her when she labelled their visit to the year five billion as their first date. Rather, he’d encouraged the context, reminding her of the chips they’d shared. She remembered the amused and slightly bashful look on his face when she’d called him a cheap date, and knew that she wasn’t wrong to point out the romantic air of their mateship. There was something more than friends between them and she wasn’t interested in dancing around it anymore —- not after everything that happened on Station Five, with him trying to send her away and all.

“Yeah. Was that viewing platform and you flirting with a tree really our first date?” she questioned teasingly, giving him her classic smirk. “Or maybe it was running away from Autons; me getting dolled up for Christmas Eve in Cardiff. Or, just even, it might’ve been our recent visit to New Earth — lying on the apple grass felt quite cosy, if you ask me,” she drawled on, watching him carefully behind her strategically relaxed and eased persona.

He continued to gawk at her, but after a moment, he gathered his wits and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Well, I don’t really think any of those were… Oh, blimey — of course they were dates, Rose,” he smirked, his cheeks tinged with pink. “But they were a bit rubbish, don’t you think? What would you say to my offer of giving us an actual proper first date, eh?” he suggested, wiggling his brow as he lowered his deal of cards to the grating before him, which revealed to Rose that she could’ve easily beat him, and leaned over to take one of her hands into his, entwining her fingers with his. She felt her breath hitch at his display of boldness, and he could hear it, which excited him. “I can give you the best time of your life; whatever your heart desires. A romantic walk on the longest beach in existence that has an eternal sunset; a dinner reservation in the finest restaurant in the galaxy that knows your dream, perfect meal; or perhaps a bonding exercise in the most difficult escape room in the world, with real consequences if you don’t complete it in time? The world is your oyster, Rose Tyler,” he drawled, his widened, chocolate eyes gazing at her deeply. Her lips were softly parted, nervous puffs of air escaping her throat as his burning focus lingered on her.

She licked her lips, and it reminded the Doctor of his rash, spontaneous act of affection in Rome when she brought him back to life. That memory spurred on a need, a desire to change the dynamics of their relationship.

“What do you say, Rose?” he purred, rolling her name around in his mouth like a hard-boiled lolly as he rubbed his thumb against her skin. “Life is all about taking risks and shaking things up, eh?” he proposed, quirking a brow and letting a smirk settle on his face. Her pupils were slowly dilating, and the sight drove him wild. The continuous, rhythmic, unending kneading of his digit against her palm was making her go crazy. Her own eyes flickered to his lips and also recalled just how fantastic their kiss had been. 

“As long as you pay for the chips,” she managed to murmur after a still, tense silence, a grin appearing on her face. His own smile intensified.