[fanfic] the norse would be pleased
for vandonovan. fluff-slash. unbetaed, feedback appreciated.
"Doctor," Adric said for the third time. He waited a spell before losing his patience; he finally grabbed the man's coat-sleeve to tug like a child. Dire situations called for sleeve tugging.
The Doctor barely even tore his eyes from the massive ice sculpture before him. "Honestly, my dear boy, you can't be bored after ten minutes." The sculpture under inspection was a mermaid emerging from a conch shell twice her size. She rather looked like Nyssa, if a bit more naked.
Adric scowled and puffed out a visible breath. He drew his coat a bit more tightly around himself, bundled to the extreme and still not happy about that, either... and sidled closer. "I'm not bored," he intoned somewhere between sullen and dazed. He could have been blinking because he was stunned, or because the snowfall was getting a little heavier. It was hard to tell. "Doctor, someone... someone kissed me."
"Ah, yes, well." The Doctor smiled, turned back to the ice mermaid, and then did a double-take. "Pardon?"
"Someone... kissed me." Adric leaned in and whispered it, as if it were some horribly embarrassing and demoralizing thing which the Doctor must never repeat to anyone if he ever cared for Adric's good name.
Attention had been captured. "Humans do do that on occasion." the Time Lord peered about the parking lot. The people milled about through the makeshift maze of ice art, looking fairly innocent. No kissing booths to be found. But... "Ah."
"What?"
The Doctor's smile returned. "Where did she get you, Adric?"
"Sort of... at the edge of my cheekbone?"
"I meant where were you standing," the Doctor says, and is incapable of not adding, "at the time of this most grievous attack on your dignity."
Adric blushed a furius red. He gestured quickly to a spot not far from the giant and slightly melted shamrock. "Th-there."
"Viscum album!" The Doctor boomed with a wide grin. "Of course." He approached the spot pointed to, but is eyes were up on one of the strings of colourful lights that dangled just above. Something was hanging discreetly between the blue bulb and the yellow. They twinkled innocently beneath the two.
"Is it poisonous?" Adric ventured. He followed obediently behind the Doctor, stopping a few inches away and squinting up at it as well. "...an aphro...?"
"Not very poisonous, and no, not an aphrodisiac." The Doctor reached up on tip-toe and plucked an odd leaf from it. He rolled it between his gloved fingers for Adric to see. "European mistletoe. There is a predominantly modern Western custom of kissing people standing under bunches of it, when it is hung as winter holiday decoration."
It didn't strike Adric as terribly logical, or even wise. "If you have to kiss under it, why does anyone hang it up?"
"For the excuse, I suppose." The Doctor just grinned wider at Adric's obvious distaste. "Come now, Adric. Get in the Earth-holiday spirit."
"I thought their mating rituals happened primarily in February."
"They aren't a species to keep that kind of thing exclusively in one month."
Adric conceded that point with a roll of his eyes before narrowing them in thought. "Doctor, aren't we sort of..."
The Doctor was already getting distracted by the unveiling of a giant ice Prime Minister. The likeness was unflattering. "Yes, Adric?"
"...standing under...?"
"Oh! Yes, I suppose we rather are." The Doctor laughed cheerily and turned to get back to the safety of the merma-
"You said it was an important tradition!" Adric reached after him, scowling.
"A tradition, yes, but hardly important." He shrugged it off and continued the polite edging away. "It's usually ignored if there is a substantial age gap, or if the two people are of the same sex."
"That's silly." That crease was forming between Adric's eyebrows; the one that looked too old for him. "There are homosexuals on this planet, like most others. Wouldn't they also be interested in the traditional excuses to kiss?"
"Yes, but they're somewhat ignored by Earth-society when they aren't being actively excluded from things..." The Doctor trailed off and reluctantly noticed Adric's expression. "What is it?"
"Well, I'd much rather participate in silly Earth traditions with someone I know rather than... than some girl in braided pigtails I've never seen before."
The Doctor's voice stayed level. "You're saying you'd like to kiss me."
Adric was standing his ground despite any colour to the tips of his ears. "Viscum album is viscum album."
"Your sudden willingness to comply with Earth traditions is something of a worry to me."
Adric had no answer. He stood there, nose a warm pink from the cold as he rubbed the snowflakes from his eyes. Eventually the Time Lord sighed in resignation.
"Well, if it will make you happy, I don't see why not." The Doctor bent down at the waist and drew Adric's chin up with a finger. The boy seemed to redden even deeper - the Doctor smiled brightly in return and leaned in. "Happy Christmas."
Adric met him halfway, eager and pressing and delightfully warm. The Doctor had not anticipated arms flung around his neck, nor the novice but hopeful parting of chapped lips beneath his. So incredibly, irrefutably eager. His hearts sped and he broke away awkwardly to leave the boy wide-eyed and flushed.
"If I didn't know better, Adric, I'd say you were harbouring feelings for me."
"But you know better." His hands were on the Doctor's shoulders now, expression open and pleased and very worrying.
The Time Lord blinked some snowflakes from his eyelashes. "I'm not so sure anymore."
"Doctor," Adric said for the third time. He waited a spell before losing his patience; he finally grabbed the man's coat-sleeve to tug like a child. Dire situations called for sleeve tugging.
The Doctor barely even tore his eyes from the massive ice sculpture before him. "Honestly, my dear boy, you can't be bored after ten minutes." The sculpture under inspection was a mermaid emerging from a conch shell twice her size. She rather looked like Nyssa, if a bit more naked.
Adric scowled and puffed out a visible breath. He drew his coat a bit more tightly around himself, bundled to the extreme and still not happy about that, either... and sidled closer. "I'm not bored," he intoned somewhere between sullen and dazed. He could have been blinking because he was stunned, or because the snowfall was getting a little heavier. It was hard to tell. "Doctor, someone... someone kissed me."
"Ah, yes, well." The Doctor smiled, turned back to the ice mermaid, and then did a double-take. "Pardon?"
"Someone... kissed me." Adric leaned in and whispered it, as if it were some horribly embarrassing and demoralizing thing which the Doctor must never repeat to anyone if he ever cared for Adric's good name.
Attention had been captured. "Humans do do that on occasion." the Time Lord peered about the parking lot. The people milled about through the makeshift maze of ice art, looking fairly innocent. No kissing booths to be found. But... "Ah."
"What?"
The Doctor's smile returned. "Where did she get you, Adric?"
"Sort of... at the edge of my cheekbone?"
"I meant where were you standing," the Doctor says, and is incapable of not adding, "at the time of this most grievous attack on your dignity."
Adric blushed a furius red. He gestured quickly to a spot not far from the giant and slightly melted shamrock. "Th-there."
"Viscum album!" The Doctor boomed with a wide grin. "Of course." He approached the spot pointed to, but is eyes were up on one of the strings of colourful lights that dangled just above. Something was hanging discreetly between the blue bulb and the yellow. They twinkled innocently beneath the two.
"Is it poisonous?" Adric ventured. He followed obediently behind the Doctor, stopping a few inches away and squinting up at it as well. "...an aphro...?"
"Not very poisonous, and no, not an aphrodisiac." The Doctor reached up on tip-toe and plucked an odd leaf from it. He rolled it between his gloved fingers for Adric to see. "European mistletoe. There is a predominantly modern Western custom of kissing people standing under bunches of it, when it is hung as winter holiday decoration."
It didn't strike Adric as terribly logical, or even wise. "If you have to kiss under it, why does anyone hang it up?"
"For the excuse, I suppose." The Doctor just grinned wider at Adric's obvious distaste. "Come now, Adric. Get in the Earth-holiday spirit."
"I thought their mating rituals happened primarily in February."
"They aren't a species to keep that kind of thing exclusively in one month."
Adric conceded that point with a roll of his eyes before narrowing them in thought. "Doctor, aren't we sort of..."
The Doctor was already getting distracted by the unveiling of a giant ice Prime Minister. The likeness was unflattering. "Yes, Adric?"
"...standing under...?"
"Oh! Yes, I suppose we rather are." The Doctor laughed cheerily and turned to get back to the safety of the merma-
"You said it was an important tradition!" Adric reached after him, scowling.
"A tradition, yes, but hardly important." He shrugged it off and continued the polite edging away. "It's usually ignored if there is a substantial age gap, or if the two people are of the same sex."
"That's silly." That crease was forming between Adric's eyebrows; the one that looked too old for him. "There are homosexuals on this planet, like most others. Wouldn't they also be interested in the traditional excuses to kiss?"
"Yes, but they're somewhat ignored by Earth-society when they aren't being actively excluded from things..." The Doctor trailed off and reluctantly noticed Adric's expression. "What is it?"
"Well, I'd much rather participate in silly Earth traditions with someone I know rather than... than some girl in braided pigtails I've never seen before."
The Doctor's voice stayed level. "You're saying you'd like to kiss me."
Adric was standing his ground despite any colour to the tips of his ears. "Viscum album is viscum album."
"Your sudden willingness to comply with Earth traditions is something of a worry to me."
Adric had no answer. He stood there, nose a warm pink from the cold as he rubbed the snowflakes from his eyes. Eventually the Time Lord sighed in resignation.
"Well, if it will make you happy, I don't see why not." The Doctor bent down at the waist and drew Adric's chin up with a finger. The boy seemed to redden even deeper - the Doctor smiled brightly in return and leaned in. "Happy Christmas."
Adric met him halfway, eager and pressing and delightfully warm. The Doctor had not anticipated arms flung around his neck, nor the novice but hopeful parting of chapped lips beneath his. So incredibly, irrefutably eager. His hearts sped and he broke away awkwardly to leave the boy wide-eyed and flushed.
"If I didn't know better, Adric, I'd say you were harbouring feelings for me."
"But you know better." His hands were on the Doctor's shoulders now, expression open and pleased and very worrying.
The Time Lord blinked some snowflakes from his eyelashes. "I'm not so sure anymore."