supernova (11th doctor)

The Hungry Earth (pt 1) / Tests (pt 2)

It's not like I've never been on a date before. Hell, it's not even like I've never had a boyfriend before. However, I couldn't remember the last time I went on a date because it had literally been years, and I definitely have never been on a date in Area 51. So as I sat there in the theater chair of the planetarium next to Dylan, you couldn't blame me for having absolutely no idea how I felt.

Part of me was excited. Part of me was happy. Part of me was nervous. Part of me was worried. Part of me felt like this was right. Part of me felt like this was wrong. But mostly, all of me was completely distracted and over-thinking.

"You alright?" Dylan asked me, taking my hand. I tried to wipe the thoughts of the last person whose hand I held out of my mind. Of course, Dylan could see right through me.

"Yeah, just... I don't know, this is different," I tried.

If I didn't know Dylan so well, I might not have noticed the slight flinch in his face, which would be the normal-person equivalent of their face falling. However, Dylan was a field worker. He was trained not to show an emotion if he didn't want to. "Good different? Or..."

"Just different." I stated, truthfully not knowing the answer myself.

Dylan smirked. "Look, this isn't over yet," he reached into his pocket and took out a remote-looking object, pressing a set of buttons.

When he did, the planets and stars we were staring at on the ceiling slowly... fell. The 2D projected images slowly faded down into 3D holographic ones, and I stood up as the stars fell around me, morphing through the space around us like clouds, or a video in slow motion. I smiled in awe. "This is Holographic Intel. This software isn't authorized for another year! How did you—"?

"I have my ways," Dylan stood with me, grabbing both my hands. "Which may or may not involve a short blonde girl named Meredith..."

I giggled at that, and he reached out one of my hands he was holding towards one of the holographic planet. When we touched it, the planet spun around, and froze in place, revealing a box of information about it along with it that had its galactic coordinates and said, "touch to find out more."

"Go on," Dylan said to me, leaning close enough to whisper, "Find out more."

I raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously, biting my lip to hide my smile, and letting go of his hand to touch the box. I didn't even bother reading any further than the planet's name: Scarlette Rivera.

"Dylan!" I breathed in shock. "You named an entire planet after me."

"That I did," he laughed at my surprise, and I looked at him when he stopped, noticing he wasn't bothering to hide the seriousness that grew over his face.

"Dylan? Are you—"?

"Scarlette, there's something I have to tell you." He grabbed my other hand again, holding them both up, and stepping closer to me so his forehead rested on mine. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before stepping back again. "You don't have to say anything. Actually, I don't think I want you to. It's just... I care about you. A lot. Probably more than you think I do."

I gulped, and nervously moved a hand out of his grip to tuck my hair behind my ear. For the first time in my life, I had the premonition that Dylan thought of me much more than I thought of him.

"I just wanted you to know that," he added, still holding up my other hand that I hadn't taken away to move my hair. I didn't know what to say back. I couldn't say anything back, literally. My mind wasn't in the right place. It was wandering to a million other subjects that had nothing to do with the present moment, and nothing to do with Dylan.