#but it made me sad

[bronzeagepizzeria]

@tentoorosemicrofics 700 words tentoo/rose for the prompt 'duel' read on ao3

“Did you ever?”

Rose starts slightly, having almost forgotten that she wasn’t in bed already, her mind slow and hazy. Shifting against the headrest, she yawns. “Did I ever…what?”

The Doctor looks at her, as if to say you know. When she doesn't catch on, he huffs. “With someone else. While I was,” he swallows, “…away.”

“Oh. Well,” Rose says, considering.

“I told you about Martha. And Joan.” He smiles, tight and sheepish. “And Astrid.” 

Rose grins. “Feeling jealous?”

“No,” he says, albeit a little stiffly. “Just curious.”

She hums noncommittally, even as an odd flush of happiness goes through her. “You know Michael, yeah? In HR?” She waits for him to nod impatiently. “Well…we went on a couple of dates. Wouldn’t even call them dates, actually. Didn’t really go past that. “ Her cheeks tinge pink. “I’m pretty sure I spent them talking his ears off about you.” 

She meets the Doctor’s gaze then, expecting him to say something cheeky. Instead, his eyes darken, and he swears loudly, before moving so suddenly that Rose jumps. 

“Sorry, hello, Anderson—was it?” the Doctor demands, leaning forward to tap the cabbie’s shoulder. “Yes, right—mind taking us back? I’ve forgotten to do something.”

“Doctor,” Rose sits up, bewildered. “Wha—”

“I knew it,” he says. “Knew that slimy bastard had eyes on you. He still fancies you, did you know that? Couldn’t keep his eyes off you tonight. It’s indecent, it is, Rose—it’s not right. He knows you’re with me now.”

Rose tries to ignore the shiver of delight that travels up her spine at that. With him. “So he fancies me—so what?”

“So what?”  the Doctor snaps. “So…what? So I’m going to show him that, that’s what.” He straightens his collar, pulls back his sleeves, muttering furiously. “...does he think he is? Hovering all day…all those reports…touching your shoulder…And tonight. Bringing you that drink?”

“You’ve been watching him closely, then, have you?”

“It’s not funny, Rose.” 

“Going to duel him to win my hand?”

“I just might,” he says, and Rose realises the cab’s pulled up outside the pub they’d left minutes ago. The Doctor yanks the door open, stepping onto the pavement before she can yank him back inside. 

“Doctor, wait! “ she laughs incredulously, stumbling as she makes to follow him. She grabs his arm. “What’re you doing? 

“Nothing,” he says pleasantly, plastering a wide grin across his face. “Just going to give the gentleman a piece of my mind.” With that he turns to march back into the pub, only for Rose to pull on his arm again, anchoring him to her. 

“Doctor, stop!” she says, quite unable to keep the amusement out of her voice. “You can’t just–look. What does it matter? It’s not like he has a chance.” She lifts his wrist, waving it between them. “I’ve won the hand already.”

The Doctor groans, but his lips twitch. “Awful.”

“You love it.”

They stand like that for several seconds, Rose grinning, until he shakes his head in defeat, allowing himself to smile. “I know he hasn’t got a chance,” he admits somewhat gruffly. “Doesn’t mean I’ve got to let him try.”

“Doesn’t mean you can walk in there and deck him either,” Rose reminds him. “You’re in enough trouble with Pete as it is.”

The Doctor makes a noise of irritation.  Carefully, Rose tugs him in the direction of the cab again, as if to not spook him. “I like this look on you,” she tells him conversationally, her tongue poking out of her mouth of its own accord. “Green.”

“You would,” he says grumpily, but there’s no real venom in his words. 

She remembers suddenly, her first Doctor, and the way he would sulk when she so much as glanced at a “pretty boy”. An unbearable fondness suffuses her chest. “Hey,” she says, slowing to a stop. She leans in, pressing her lips to his jaw, to the slight stubble he’s got going nowadays, lingering for a few seconds before pulling away. “I love you.”

His cheek is warm, his gaze even more so. 

“Rose Tyler,” he says quietly. He glances away then, to a street lamp at the corner of the building, and then to the cabbie and then her watch, strangely, before finally flitting back to her. 

“What?” she asks him.

“Nothing,” he says, squeezing her palm ever-so-slightly. “Winning hands, indeed.”

[aromantic-and-aromatic]

Thought abt Kris resenting the control of the player but also not wanting to lose it bc it's what got them to have friends in the first place...

[shootinwebs]

( spoilers: helluva boss episode where i don't remember which one lol )

had a weird dream the other night that verosika complained about blitz being "shit in bed" and that he actually just hugged her with his head on her chest the whole time and didn't do anything else. but the whole reason was that he actually didn't want to sleep with her, she just somehow reminded him of his mom and how much he missed her.

[asiogie]

Hi I just saw the clip of q walking past Dream at la velada (?) and it's so sad. Anyway, read Lightning In A Bottle for handkink. The chapters are named after clouds iirc :)

Idk if this counts as dooming I just wanted to recommend the fic. It starts with "George likes Dreams hands. He likes the sun kissed colour," + something about veins I think I ended the quote bc I can't remember the rest. It's followed by "so what?" and then it continues. Very good, I think about it a lot.

yeahhhhh that clip made its rounds in the gc but for me the thing that was the saddest was the way sapnap was looking right at q

[attleboy]

TADC SPOILERS AHEAD!! //

don't forget

[poppy-purpura]

when when you want to see content but you are the only one who can create it

[gendernewtral]

gilbert baker designed his flag with the express purpose of it including every single queer person. baker was so dedicated to making sure his flag was inclusive that he added another stripe in 2017, lavender, to represent diversity. the concept that it’s for white gay men came around later and needs to be changed.

can we please go back to associating the original flag, and ideally the modern rainbow flag, with inherent inclusion of every single queer person? instead of deciding that the original wasn’t good enough? personalized flags are important for representing those who have typically been excluded from the queer community, but reclaiming the original flag as a symbol of inclusion is important too.

[skltart]

their version of having a cuddle

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[toughbunnyforever]

the beginning and the end

[saintundying]

armand really sat there and said i fucked all the members of the parisian coven, daniel. i fuck so hard, daniel. nobody out there is fucking harder than i am. people want me so much. don't you want me, daniel??

[sihtryggr]

[creative-clawmarks]

Just outside the [ANGEL]'s line of sight,

two puppets recognize each other.

[ribbittrobbit]

these kids are incredibly stressed out

[sprinklethetangerine]

I just put in my old wireless earphones.

Yikes.

[every-moment-a-different-sound]

I always found the scene where Edwin notices that Esther's cupboard is too far forward really convenient.

Because sure, some people that work in certain jobs will learn to identify if something feels off. But like, how often is Edwin installing kitchens? Why would he have that skill? But I always just brushed it off as needing to progress the scene.

Except today I realised that of course he does! Of course he knows when something isn’t proportionate to plans. Of course he has the experience and skill to know that.

He developed it while mapping out Hell.