(no subject)
world of your own, ten/rose, g, 1,300 words
Rose Tyler makes two different trips to two different amusement parks in two different universes.
Sometimes it seemed it must be stamped on her forehead. Rose Tyler: Out of Place.
It was hot.
It was hot, and everywhere there was the suffocating atmosphere of excitement and perspiration and sugary foods that always enveloped amusement parks. Rose rolled to the tips of her toes, trying to see over the sea of people. Mickey was in that crowd somewhere, if she could just find him…
“God, it’s busy here, isn’t it?” her mum said, shifting Tony in her arms. “You go on, sweetheart. Tony’s tired, we’re gonna go get a drink and have a seat.”
So Rose set off on her own, worming her way through the crowd and doing her best to ignore the whispers she heard whenever someone recognized her. Two years, and being Rose Tyler: Vitex Heiress still felt like a Halloween costume she couldn’t seem to take off.
Rose looks at the machine, looks at the Doctor, and shakes her head.
“You can’t be serious.”
The Doctor looks affronted. “Of course I am.”
But Rose is far too clever and knows him far too well to think that looking sincere is the same as being sincere. She’s still cataloguing the ins and outs of this Doctor, with his brown suit and big grin and bigger hair, but she’s confident now that he can’t have changed that much.
“No way,” she says, resolutely shaking her head. “Absolutely not. You’re having me on.” She raises her eyebrows and jabs her finger in his direction. “Don’t think I don’t know when you’re having me on.”
“Oi, Rose! This way, babe!”
She turned her head to see Mickey with a teddy bear nearly the size of him. Rose snorted. For all that he’d matured in the years she’d known him, Mickey Smith had never really changed.
“Won it in a ring toss,” he told her proudly, once she got close. He shifted the bear in his arms. “Gonna give it Tony. Think he’ll like it?”
Rose reached out, poking the teddy bear’s eye experimentally. “Yeah, it’s great.”
“Great.” Mickey grinned at her goofily, then suddenly lit up with excitement. “Oh! I found the greatest ride back there, babe, it’s…”
But Rose had stopped listening. Just over his head she could make out a different ride, spinning around and around.
“I am not having you on!” he insists, though this time he sounds amused as well as put out. “Why would I be having you on?”
“Because,” Rose says firmly. “You? Great big manly Time Lord adrenaline junkie? Your favourite’s probably the Drop Zone or the big backwards rollercoaster or the thing that spins you upside down a billion times.”
“Nope.” He sticks his hands in the pockets of his coat, wearing his smug I’m-a-brilliant-Time-Lord-amused-by-lowly-humans smile. “Those are all right, sure, but that one?” He gestures with his head toward the giant lit-up contraption in front of them. “That’s my favourite.”
She frowns dubiously at the ride. It looks like it might be exciting - if you’re five years old. She imagines him, gangly limbs and all, squeezed into a lawn chair on a ride populated by children. “It’s a bunch of chairs on chains.”
“It’s brilliant,” he insists stubbornly. Then he reaches out and grabs her hand, racing towards the queue and dragging her with him.
“Yeah… sorry,” she said when Mickey’d stopped talking. “I’m gonna go on that one.” She pointed.
Mickey looked over his shoulder, then sent her a perplexed look. “The thing with the chairs? Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“Isn’t that a bit… boring?”
Boring, she almost said. Adrenaline junkie like me ought to like the roller coaster or the the thing that spins you upside down, yeah?
“I like it,” she said firmly. She walked around him, sparing him a brief wave over the shoulder. “You go on your ride, I’ll catch up later.”
The Doctor looks utterly ridiculous on the ride.
She isn’t sure whether it’s because he’s kicking his legs, or if it’s the gleeful way he tips his head back, or the fact that she keeps trying to picture him striking a similar pose with big ears and blue eyes. Whatever it is, she can’t stop herself from giggling madly.
“You’re such a kid,” she calls, shaking her head and grinning.
He looks at her and shrugs. “What’s wrong with that?”
Then he gives her that big grin that does funny things to her stomach no matter which set of teeth is behind it. He stretches out one arm towards her and wiggles his fingers and Rose does the same. She just barely manages to brush the tips of his fingers with hers before she dissolves into giggles.
Mostly everyone in the queue was under the age of twelve or escorting a child, Rose noticed.
She decided she didn’t care.
She chose the first seat she came upon. Most of the chairs around her were the last to be filled. She wondered sometimes what it was about her that scared people off - was it the wealth and the mild celebrity, or did they know somehow, instinctively, that she didn’t belong. Sometimes it seemed it must be stamped on her forehead. Rose Tyler: Out of Place. She supposed it wasn’t far from the truth.
She kicked her feet as the ride took off and tilted her head back, appreciating the breeze. She held her arms out on either side of her, wiggled her fingers against the open air and closed her eyes, swallowing around the burn in her throat.
“It’s brilliant,” he tells her later, over a bizarre brand of ice cream that comes in tiny little balls, “because of the effect it creates. Look left or look right and you’re spinning, sure, but stare straight ahead and it’s like you’re not moving at all. You’re removed from everything.” He pops a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and carries on, his tongue an unpleasant shade of blue. “You’re in your own little world, just for a while. A quick little escape.”
Rose blinks at him, surprised by an admission that suggested he put far more thought into carnival rides than she ever had. Rose bites her lip, wondering if she ought to say so, and the Doctor, suddenly awkward, looks away, peering out at the rest of the park.
Escape, she thinks. She wondered how often he still feels like he needs that.
Eager to lighten the tone, she grins. “Still think you’re just too chicken for the Pirate Ship,” she says. Then she takes advantage of his indignation to swipe a spoonful of his ice cream.
“You shoulda come with us,” Mickey told her when they reunited, still beaming with the after-affects of adrenaline.
Mickey went on about roller-coasters and loop-de-loops and Rose listened as he went on, her hands wedged in the pockets of her jeans. She smiled at the right spots and ooh-ed and ahh-ed when he wanted her to, but Mickey was far too clever and knew Rose far too well to be properly deceived.
“Something’s wrong,” he said, leaning in close and bumping her shoulder with his. It wasn’t a question; he didn’t need to ask. “You’re missing him again.”
She thought it was funny the way he said it, missing him again, like it was something she ever stopped doing. “Yeah,” was all she said, accompanied by a nod.
For a long moment Mickey was silent. He looked her up and down, as if deciding something. Then he said, “You know what I reckon? I reckon you’ll see him again some time. I reckon you saved this universe and that one an awful lot of times, and one of these days it's gonna have to do you a favour.” He nodded to assert his point. “The universe owes you.”
Rose laughed, a slow smile stretching across her face. “Yeah, I think it does.” She looped her arm through his and tugged him forward. “C’mon, I want an ice cream, and then we’re doing the Pirate Ship.”
Rose Tyler makes two different trips to two different amusement parks in two different universes.
Sometimes it seemed it must be stamped on her forehead. Rose Tyler: Out of Place.
It was hot.
It was hot, and everywhere there was the suffocating atmosphere of excitement and perspiration and sugary foods that always enveloped amusement parks. Rose rolled to the tips of her toes, trying to see over the sea of people. Mickey was in that crowd somewhere, if she could just find him…
“God, it’s busy here, isn’t it?” her mum said, shifting Tony in her arms. “You go on, sweetheart. Tony’s tired, we’re gonna go get a drink and have a seat.”
So Rose set off on her own, worming her way through the crowd and doing her best to ignore the whispers she heard whenever someone recognized her. Two years, and being Rose Tyler: Vitex Heiress still felt like a Halloween costume she couldn’t seem to take off.
Rose looks at the machine, looks at the Doctor, and shakes her head.
“You can’t be serious.”
The Doctor looks affronted. “Of course I am.”
But Rose is far too clever and knows him far too well to think that looking sincere is the same as being sincere. She’s still cataloguing the ins and outs of this Doctor, with his brown suit and big grin and bigger hair, but she’s confident now that he can’t have changed that much.
“No way,” she says, resolutely shaking her head. “Absolutely not. You’re having me on.” She raises her eyebrows and jabs her finger in his direction. “Don’t think I don’t know when you’re having me on.”
“Oi, Rose! This way, babe!”
She turned her head to see Mickey with a teddy bear nearly the size of him. Rose snorted. For all that he’d matured in the years she’d known him, Mickey Smith had never really changed.
“Won it in a ring toss,” he told her proudly, once she got close. He shifted the bear in his arms. “Gonna give it Tony. Think he’ll like it?”
Rose reached out, poking the teddy bear’s eye experimentally. “Yeah, it’s great.”
“Great.” Mickey grinned at her goofily, then suddenly lit up with excitement. “Oh! I found the greatest ride back there, babe, it’s…”
But Rose had stopped listening. Just over his head she could make out a different ride, spinning around and around.
“I am not having you on!” he insists, though this time he sounds amused as well as put out. “Why would I be having you on?”
“Because,” Rose says firmly. “You? Great big manly Time Lord adrenaline junkie? Your favourite’s probably the Drop Zone or the big backwards rollercoaster or the thing that spins you upside down a billion times.”
“Nope.” He sticks his hands in the pockets of his coat, wearing his smug I’m-a-brilliant-Time-Lord-amused-by-lowly-humans smile. “Those are all right, sure, but that one?” He gestures with his head toward the giant lit-up contraption in front of them. “That’s my favourite.”
She frowns dubiously at the ride. It looks like it might be exciting - if you’re five years old. She imagines him, gangly limbs and all, squeezed into a lawn chair on a ride populated by children. “It’s a bunch of chairs on chains.”
“It’s brilliant,” he insists stubbornly. Then he reaches out and grabs her hand, racing towards the queue and dragging her with him.
“Yeah… sorry,” she said when Mickey’d stopped talking. “I’m gonna go on that one.” She pointed.
Mickey looked over his shoulder, then sent her a perplexed look. “The thing with the chairs? Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“Isn’t that a bit… boring?”
Boring, she almost said. Adrenaline junkie like me ought to like the roller coaster or the the thing that spins you upside down, yeah?
“I like it,” she said firmly. She walked around him, sparing him a brief wave over the shoulder. “You go on your ride, I’ll catch up later.”
The Doctor looks utterly ridiculous on the ride.
She isn’t sure whether it’s because he’s kicking his legs, or if it’s the gleeful way he tips his head back, or the fact that she keeps trying to picture him striking a similar pose with big ears and blue eyes. Whatever it is, she can’t stop herself from giggling madly.
“You’re such a kid,” she calls, shaking her head and grinning.
He looks at her and shrugs. “What’s wrong with that?”
Then he gives her that big grin that does funny things to her stomach no matter which set of teeth is behind it. He stretches out one arm towards her and wiggles his fingers and Rose does the same. She just barely manages to brush the tips of his fingers with hers before she dissolves into giggles.
Mostly everyone in the queue was under the age of twelve or escorting a child, Rose noticed.
She decided she didn’t care.
She chose the first seat she came upon. Most of the chairs around her were the last to be filled. She wondered sometimes what it was about her that scared people off - was it the wealth and the mild celebrity, or did they know somehow, instinctively, that she didn’t belong. Sometimes it seemed it must be stamped on her forehead. Rose Tyler: Out of Place. She supposed it wasn’t far from the truth.
She kicked her feet as the ride took off and tilted her head back, appreciating the breeze. She held her arms out on either side of her, wiggled her fingers against the open air and closed her eyes, swallowing around the burn in her throat.
“It’s brilliant,” he tells her later, over a bizarre brand of ice cream that comes in tiny little balls, “because of the effect it creates. Look left or look right and you’re spinning, sure, but stare straight ahead and it’s like you’re not moving at all. You’re removed from everything.” He pops a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and carries on, his tongue an unpleasant shade of blue. “You’re in your own little world, just for a while. A quick little escape.”
Rose blinks at him, surprised by an admission that suggested he put far more thought into carnival rides than she ever had. Rose bites her lip, wondering if she ought to say so, and the Doctor, suddenly awkward, looks away, peering out at the rest of the park.
Escape, she thinks. She wondered how often he still feels like he needs that.
Eager to lighten the tone, she grins. “Still think you’re just too chicken for the Pirate Ship,” she says. Then she takes advantage of his indignation to swipe a spoonful of his ice cream.
“You shoulda come with us,” Mickey told her when they reunited, still beaming with the after-affects of adrenaline.
Mickey went on about roller-coasters and loop-de-loops and Rose listened as he went on, her hands wedged in the pockets of her jeans. She smiled at the right spots and ooh-ed and ahh-ed when he wanted her to, but Mickey was far too clever and knew Rose far too well to be properly deceived.
“Something’s wrong,” he said, leaning in close and bumping her shoulder with his. It wasn’t a question; he didn’t need to ask. “You’re missing him again.”
She thought it was funny the way he said it, missing him again, like it was something she ever stopped doing. “Yeah,” was all she said, accompanied by a nod.
For a long moment Mickey was silent. He looked her up and down, as if deciding something. Then he said, “You know what I reckon? I reckon you’ll see him again some time. I reckon you saved this universe and that one an awful lot of times, and one of these days it's gonna have to do you a favour.” He nodded to assert his point. “The universe owes you.”
Rose laughed, a slow smile stretching across her face. “Yeah, I think it does.” She looped her arm through his and tugged him forward. “C’mon, I want an ice cream, and then we’re doing the Pirate Ship.”