Fic: Douceur 1/1

[wendymr]

Story: Douceur
Author: wmr wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, Ninth Doctor
Rated: PG13/Teen
Disclaimer: If these characters were mine, a lot more would have happened on screen than we saw!
Spoilers: None beyond Doomsday
Summary: They can only do this once, he knows that, and it’s going to be the experience of a lifetime.

Comments

[wendymr]

Thank you! :) Yes, there was so much that Nine really needed - deserved - to hear, but he never did. He heard it here, even if, as nina_ds points out, he doesn't get to remember it.

[nina_ds]

I - I'm not sure how I feel. I wanted it to be sweet and cathartic, and it has nothing to do with the way you wrote it, which was lovely as always, but it's the trap of canon. I cried all the way through this. All I could think was that it gave Nine one more thing to lose. He never gets to keep anything, and unlike with Ten, it's not his choice.

[wendymr]

I see what you mean, but you know what? I think that, in the moment when he took the Time Vortex from Rose, he remembered. He could see everything in that moment, and even if he didn't remember afterwards I think in the dying minutes of his life he would have remembered how loved he was. Does that help at all?

[nina_ds]

Y'know, I'm not sure. One of the main reasons I'm revolted by the idea that Ten somehow "imprinted" on Rose and became a pretty boy for her is that it means that Nine still felt in some way inferior (which he so very much isn't). I've been struck by the way that Ten has developed almost no relationships of his own. They are either inherited (Rose, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah Jane, the Master, Harriet...), deflected/denied (Martha), superficial/substitute (Astrid), or dominated by someone else's personality (Joan, Donna - although granted, those work better). Nine, on the other hand, was always making connections and taking the emotional risks, or at least dancing closer to them.

I don't know. I still think that in canon Nine does all the work and Ten gets to call the shots, and I think that would feel unfair, even if I liked him.

This has nothing to do with your story, it's just it hit a particular sore point that seems especially raw right now, and I'm not sure why. Part of it is the sloppiness of JE, I think. ::ponders::

[wendymr]

Certainly, Nine had more courage, even while pretending that he wanted nothing to do with other people. I think Ten, perhaps, while appearing to be past the Time War angst, started to withdraw into himself again, particularly once he was reminded rather forcefully, several times, that any relationships he forms will be very fleeting. He finds Sarah-Jane again and discovers her forty years older and somewhat bitter. He meets Reinette and - whether or not one believes that he fell in love (and I can't) - he loses her in a matter of hours. He meets and likes Mrs Moore, and has to watch her die. Then he loses Mickey, and later Rose and Jackie. That's when he clearly doesn't want to let anyone in again... and then he does, and he ends up losing more people and - as he believes - ruining Martha's life. He becomes attached to Astrid, and in the same few hours promises so many people that he'll save them, and he fails. Over and over again, he tries to stop himself getting attached, gets attached anyway, and loses. I'm coming around to the

[dameruth]

Aw. So sweet, it doesn't even "process" as remotely kinky, even though theoretically it probably should . . . ;) :D

[wendymr]

Thank you! Yes, it should be kinky, but my brain simply baulked at the thought of getting explicit as to body parts and reactions... ;)

[dameruth]

Well, I mean, the whole thing about a foursome where another version of yourself is one of the participants . . . if not "kinky" per se, that's definitely *different* -- but you made it all sound like a *good* thing. :D

[wendymr]

Well, yes, there is that question of whether the Doctor shagging one of his other bodies is masturbation or not ;) I kind of sit on the fence on that one; yes, each regeneration is the same person, but they're also different in so many ways, so it's like shagging yourself yet not :) At least, that's how I justified it when I wrote a fic that was all Ten shagging Nine!

[rallalon]

I was giggling by the second paragraph and then it was far, far too sweet for even that. Everything from the set up to the AU situation was so very them. From Rose prodding the Doctor into it to Jack hitting the randomizer at the end, perfectly them. And I have no idea if I've said this before, but I'll risk repeating it: you have an exceptionally fantastic Nine.

And then the proud, wounded face cracks, and the man in the leather jacket hauls Rose into his arms, hugging her as if he never wants to let her go. “Oh, Rose. I’m sorry I died. Sorry I didn’t say goodbye.”

That right there... Yes. Just, yes.

That was immensely, immensely beautiful. Thank you.

[wendymr]

Oh, phew!

I'm always terrified, with request fics, that I won't come close to what the requestor was hoping for, and you write such beautiful lovemaking (I would say 'for one so young', but honestly, you write among the best, most lyrical and poignant lovemaking that I've had the pleasure of reading in this fandom) that I thought this wouldn't even come close to what you'd want. So I'm delighted that you like the meeting of the four and my Nine :)

Thank you so much, and thanks also for favouriting this on Teaspoon :)

[rallalon]

...I thought this wouldn't even come close to what you'd want.

I honestly had no idea what could possibly come from that request (or even that you'd take it) and I was just blown away by how amazingly tender that crack idea became. The love beneath it all was so palpable. Yeah, definitely happy. Or gleeful. Let's stick with gleeful.

[wendymr]

Well, it was partly that I'd done the crackfic version already, so I was aiming for something a bit more serious this time. Serious as in not-crack; I think I was aiming for fluff/smut, but - as you see - I missed ;) But gleeful is good. Gleeful is most definitely excellent!

[bulky_monster]

hee. Mushy sex, and too many people in one bed. I love it.

I am now going to put a poll on my livejournal inspired by this fanfiction.

[wendymr]

LOL, I saw your poll, though I couldn't answer it as none of the options really did it for me. :( I don't see this as quite the same thing, though, because although the Doctors are the same person they're also different. Nine and Ten do have quite different personalities. So while in a way it's masturbatory (of course) in a way it's not. But that's just me, and I'm very amused that I inspired a poll!

And thank you :) I'm really glad you liked this!

[bulky_monster]

Yeah actually, after looking at it, I tried to add some more answers and it wouldnt' let me :(

Sad. But this question has been raised again and again in sci fi, and I was recently surprised by how many of my guy friends would not, in fact, experiment. So I thought I'd ask the internet. It's been fun so far!