dollsome: (doctor who ♦ river + eleven)
[personal profile] dollsome
This was written before I'd seen "A Good Man Goes To War" (which I just did! At last!), and my mind is still a little too oOooooOoOoO! to be able to tell whether it works in the context of all this shiny new canon knowledge. OH WELL, it was fun to write; these two, in their infinite awesomeness! ♥ This was another one for the first kiss fic meme.

Also: the Doctor, though rockin' another face in this one, is so clearly Elevenish, because how does one resist the power of Eleven/River-style banter? They do not! I am just going to say ... being around her makes him feel inescapably Eleventastic. Also, I am not creative enough to write a version of the Doctor that doesn't even exist yet. And there are few joys superior to imagining Matt Smith saying stuff.


Your firsts are my lasts Doctor Who | Doctor/River | 960 words | not much in the way of spoilers, but much in the way of vague speculation! (That's how I roll.)




Here when I say "I never want to be without you,"
somewhere else I am saying
"I never want to be without you again." And when I touch you
in each of the places we meet

in all of the lives we are, it's with hands that are dying
and resurrected.
When I don't touch you it's a mistake in any life,
in each place and forever.


(Bob Hicok, 'Other Lives and Dimensions and Finally a Love Poem')





They're not dead; she decides this is ample cause for celebration, after the day they've had. Though to be fair, anything seems like ample cause for celebration after two glasses of -- well, whatever it is they're drinking. This planet's unpronounceable answer to champagne. It changes colors every few seconds, which she likes. It also makes a tiny sparkly noise, a more evolved version of fizzing, sounding like a busy wind chime; that, she gets sick of within thirty seconds. The Doctor seems delighted by it. Of course he is, the silly old man. (By 'old,' she doesn't mean old, necessarily; just old enough that they tend to draw a few bemused looks when they're out together, even when they're not on planets where the norm is four eyeballs per face. He's assured her that he's got a more youthful visage up ahead, and that she's going to love it, and that she probably ought to start cultivating a keen appreciation for bowties, oh, nowish. She thinks it might break her heart a little bit to say goodbye to this face, but she's certainly not going to tell him that. She thinks bowties are ridiculous. She has told him that.)

She watches him and he watches the space champagne shift from chartreuse to fuchsia. He laughs, tickled; the Doctor, with all the wonders of space and time at his disposal, thinks that there is nothing more thoroughly splendid than a drink that changes color. Oh dear, she thinks, I believe I might love you a little, and that seems as good a reason as any to lean forward and kiss him.

He kisses her back for a couple of seconds -- kisses her exactly right, if that makes any sense (and to her it does and doesn't, all at once) -- and then he seems to realize what's happening. His arms go a-flailing; his fingers brush her hair, just briefly; then he topples off his bar stool.

It's intensely unromantic. She can't stop laughing as she pulls him back up.

"Why are you always doing that??" he grumbles, straightening his jacket.

Intriguing.

"Always? So I've kissed you before."

"Not telling."

"Oh, come on. It's obvious I have. You've just given it away."

"No I haven't."

"Yes, you really have."

"No I haven't. And even if I had, well, don't get the idea into your head that you, Miss Song, are the sole snog instigator in this relationship. If it was a relationship, which I'm not saying it was. Is. Will be. I'm simply saying that, in this theoretical relationship that you and I do not have in the past -- future -- my past, your future -- mostly -- still trying to puzzle out what can be done about that, but -- point is: it's not like I haven't been known to knock your socks off with a nothing-short-of-fantastic, no, epic (let's say epic, shall we?, that sounds nice) kiss. Theoretical socks, of course. Except for that one time ..."

"You madman," she says delightedly.

"That's me," he admits, more easily than she's used to. His madman ramble seems to have taken a lot out of him. That's new; they usually don't.

"This is the strangest relationship of all time," she declares. And can't help laughing a little. To be honest, she likes the sound of it.

"Didn't say it was a relationship," the Doctor reminds her.

"Well, I did," she says firmly. She thinks he needs a bit of that; sometimes he's so skittish around her, so damned exhaustingly careful. I don't want to take your future from you, he said a year ago, when she finally got him to tell her just why he seemed to know her so well. It's very sweet that you think you could, she answered then, and she stands by it now. She knows herself well enough to know that there'll be no regretting this, regretting him.

"You did," he acknowledges with a sigh. Surprising; she certainly doesn't hate it. "I suppose it must be, then."

"That was easy," she marvels, laughing a little, reaching for his hand. "You know better than to fight with me."

"Yeahhhh, that development's going to take awhile," he informs her, tugging on one of her fingertips affectionately. She laughs, and so does he, and then it's nothing besides twinkly champagne noises. He just looks at her. It's not uncommon, men looking at her (she's got a knack for drawing attention), but he does it differently. She knows he loves her -- that much, even he can't keep secret -- but it's not often he lets it show this plainly.

"What?" she prompts gently, squeezing his hand.

"Look at you," he says, smiling a little. "River Song. Barely twenty. The world's your oyster." She doesn't like oysters, and she's about to say so, but: "No, wait, scratch that, scratch oysters, how 'bout clams? The world's your clam."

She snorts. "That's lovely."

"It is," he says, earnest. "It truly is."

Bless him. "Do I make you miss her?"

"What?"

"The me that's coming." She thinks the space champagne's to blame for this one.

His eyes seem to darken. Not cruelly; but God, he is old after all. "Honest answer?"

She knocks her foot against his. "I'm a big girl."

"Yes," he says. She can tell how relieved he is to confess it. This strange, strange, strange romance. He loops one of her curls around his finger and looks right into her face, quite a searching look, and says, quieter, "Oh, yes."

She reminds herself how stupid it is -- to be jealous of herself. She reminds herself that the future is so bright. She lowers her voice, leans in close, smiles. "But I'll do for now, hmm?"

"Oh," he says, "River," and this time, the second time, he's the one to kiss her.




Date: 2011-06-13 06:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] copperiisulfate.livejournal.com
i have a bit of a hard time picturing her with anyone who's not eleven but this. just. yess ♥______♥ i love the flip. young river, old doctor. their relationship + how you've written it makes me swoon!

Date: 2011-06-13 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
ME TOO, OH ME TOO. (Haha, honestly, I think in my head Whatever # Doctor This Is just wound up looking like Matt Smith with a few more years on him.) I find myself grappling weirdly with the fact that, canonically, she has known and loved at least a few incarnations of the Doctor (... I'm remembering that right, aren't I?), because River/Eleven just sings with such eternal rightness! God, this relationship has the potential for brain-breaking and feelings like NO OTHER.

Thank you always for reading, m'dear! ♥

Date: 2011-06-13 06:55 pm (UTC)
ext_13288: pre-raphealite (drwho-river11-2)
From: [identity profile] paynesgrey.livejournal.com
Oh, brilliant job. You characterized them so perfectly, and totally nailed their chemistry. Simply wonderful. <3

Date: 2011-06-13 11:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! :)

Date: 2011-06-13 07:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] darling-ashes.livejournal.com
I love it!! Excellent characterization. I love the young River/older Doctor dynamic and her being slightly jealous of her older self.

Date: 2011-06-13 11:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Thank youuuuu! :D

Date: 2011-06-13 08:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thisissirius.livejournal.com
this is so PERFECT.

i am such a huge eleven/river shipper :>

Date: 2011-06-13 11:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
They are IRRESISTIBLE, good heavens! :D Thank you!

Date: 2011-06-13 10:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] claraon.livejournal.com
Very nice!

Date: 2011-06-14 12:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Thank you! :)

Date: 2011-06-13 11:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] minerva-fan.livejournal.com
Gorgeous--just beautifully done.

Date: 2011-06-14 12:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Aw, thank you so much! :D

Date: 2011-06-14 07:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hihoplastic.livejournal.com
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This is so perfect. The dialogue, the scene, their tones. Seriously. This needs to be in an episode. Yesterday. Right now. Timey-whimey whatever. Brilliant brilliant brilliant. BRB, rec'ing this all over.

Date: 2011-06-14 06:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Oh gosh, thank you so much! :D I am so happy you liked it!

Date: 2011-06-15 05:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ssw-loved.livejournal.com
Oh, this is beautiful. Heart-achingly beautiful. As in, oh, I'm sitting here and I should be going to bed but I'm just sitting here and staring like a gaping ... thing.

I think you need to write some River/Doctor hurt/comfort. I'd lie and say it was my birthday and that would be a great birthday present, but A) it's not and B) why would you give me a birthday present?

xD I'm a strange one, ignore me.

BUT I WOULD LOVE IT, OH YES.

Date: 2011-06-15 04:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Aw, thank you so much! Also: my brain is now pondering your theoretical birthday present! :D

Date: 2011-06-22 10:00 pm (UTC)
elisi: OTP for always (Time Love by kathyh)
From: [personal profile] elisi
Late here, but oh, this fic! ♥

This part especially just knocks me out completely:

"The me that's coming." She thinks the space champagne's to blame for this one.

His eyes seem to darken. Not cruelly; but God, he is old after all. "Honest answer?"

She knocks her foot against his. "I'm a big girl."

"Yes," he says. She can tell how relieved he is to confess it. This strange, strange, strange romance. He loops one of her curls around his finger and looks right into her face, quite a searching look, and says, quieter, "Oh, yes."


*picks up broken pieces of heart from all over the floor*

Date: 2011-06-30 02:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dollsome.livejournal.com
Aw, thank you so much! ♥

Date: 2011-07-09 06:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cinderbella333.livejournal.com
This is GORGEOUS. And it works very well with what we know about River so far in canon; don't worry about that. I'm not usually a huge fan of young!River/future!Doctor stories, but this was utterly brilliant. It felt like THEM. And there were so many lines to love in this. Like this one, "He laughs, tickled; the Doctor, with all the wonders of space and time at his disposal, thinks that there is nothing more thoroughly splendid than a drink that changes color." Such a good insight. Also, the kiss is reminiscent enough of their kiss at the beginning of the series to have symmetry but not to be repetitive. And the way you have this Doctor talk is wonderful, individual enough to sound like a different incarnation but still recognizably enough the Doctor. And then all the little comments he drops that link in to what we already know, such as when River says that he knows better than to fight with her and he replies, "Yeahhhh, that development's going to take awhile." And then the fact that River is jealous of herself a bit and the Doctor misses her even while kissing her. Again, symmetry and beautiful counterpoint to what we have already seen and know about them.

This was just brilliant. Definitely adding it to my LJ memories.

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