Distance

Chapter 6-Call It Anything But Love

"A cone of pistachio ice cream, please." Clara Oswald said to the waitress. "Doctor, what do you want?" she asked the grumpy time lord sitting in the booth across from her.
The Doctor shrugged. "Whatever you're having, I suppose."
Clara smiled at him as the waitress left the table with their order. "Haven't you had ice cream before, Doctor?"
The Doctor frowned. "I have, but never on Earth." he said.
Clara's eyes went wide. "They have ice cream on other planets, too?"
The Doctor proceeded to tell her everything about Gallifreyan eating habits. A few minutes in, he was interrupted by the waitress coming up with their cones if ice cream. She handed them to the Doctor and Clara.
"Thank you." Clara told her. The waitress smiled and went to another table to take the order of others. Both the Doctor and Clara took to their ice cream as the Doctor continued to talk between bites. Clara had many questions, and they didn't leave the ice cream parlor until long after they finished eating. Clara stepped out onto the sidewalk outside the parlor, closely followed by the Doctor. She looked around the plaza they were in. Clara saw a men's clothes shop just across the street and dragged him towards it, insisting he needed new clothes. "Your clothes are getting too old and too small." she said, looking up at his scowling face. After many complaints and arguments, she was able to convince him to go and buy some new clothes. Grabbing him by the hand, she dragged him eagerly toward the back of the shop. A few people were scattered throughout the shop, but the Doctor had missed Saturday and landed on a Monday, so it was mostly empty.
"Come on, Doctor." she said, waving her free hand at a rack of dress shirts. "Which do you think you could try on?" The Doctor reluctantly picked out a black and white polka-dotted shirt and allowed her to pull him toward the dressing rooms and push him inside a stall.
"Control freak..." he muttered under his breath. He pulled off his hoodie and his jumper, leaving bare skin, and tried to put the shirt on. But he soon discovered that the buttons would not budge. Sighing, he called "Clara! I think I need a little help."
Clara poked her head into the stall and gazed at his bare chest before pulling her eyes back up to his eyes, blushing lightly. "With what?" she asked.
"These buttons will not unbutton." The Doctor said, frustrated. Clara stepped in and closed the door, unbuttoning the buttons one by one. Then she gestured for him to turn around. She pulled the shirt onto his lean frame and stepped closer to button it up. While she was doing up the buttons, she glanced up at the Doctor, who gazed right back at her. When she finished, he twirled around demonstratively. "How do I look?" he asked.
Clara hid her smile behind her fingers. "You look dapper." she admitted. "You should buy it."
So the Doctor tried to unbutton the buttons once more but again needed Clara's assistance. Clara stepped forward again and unbuttoned the stubborn buttons. As she was undoing the ones around the wrist of the shirt, the Doctor noticed she had a sprinkle from the ice cream near her mouth. Unable to wipe it off with his occupied hand, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth to get it off. Clara stepped back, shocked.
"What is it?" the Doctor said, frowning.
"Nothing," said Clara laughing. "It's just that you kissed my cheek, Doctor. It was unexpected."
The Doctor blushed. "I did not kiss your cheek. You had chocolate on your face."
Clara raised her eyebrows but said nothing as she undid the rest of the buttons and pulled the shirt off carefully. He slid back into his t-shirt and hoodie and the two emerged from the dressing room to get in line to pay. There was only one other person paying ahead of them. Clara gathered the Doctor's hand in her own. "I like it when you make physical contact, Doctor." she said. "It makes me feel safe."
The Doctor smiled blushingly, and bent down to kiss her forehead. Who was he to deny Clara Oswald what she wanted? Clara smiled and reached up to kiss his cheek in return. The Doctor touched the place her lips had been with his free fingers. She looked so beautiful standing there, so human and young and full of life. "Clara, I l-" the Doctor started. But the cashier had said "I'll take the next one down here!" before he could finish. The two moved forward, still holding hands, and the Doctor placed the shirt down on the counter and fumbled in his hoodie pocket to pay. The cashier smiled broadly at the pair of them as she rang the shirt up. She was a small Chinese woman, clearly advanced in years. "You two." she said in broken English, smiling. "In love?"
The Doctor opened his mouth in mortification.
"N-no." Clara stammered, red-faced. She glanced at the Doctor, who still had his mouth open in surprise. "Anything but that." she added.
The Doctor felt like he had been struck in the hearts as the cashier handed him the bag with the shirt. What he didn't notice was Clara glancing at him fretfully as they exited the shop. The two walked back to the TARDIS hand in hand.