Ruffled feathers 12th DoctorxReader (oneshot)

The First Time

You gaped at the Doctor, then. He'd just taken you back to the first place he'd ever taken you to officially. The first real world you'd ever stepped out of the TARDIS into besides your own. He'd remembered. It threatened to bring tears back to your eyes, but for both of your sakes, you held it together. The new Doctor reached his hand out toward you and you, with every single moment in the TARDIS with the Doctor as practice, placed yours in it. They still seemed to fit pretty well together. 

"Where to first, milady?" The Doctor grinned with his new lips. You took a moment to think back. To remember the best features of this planet. 

"Wait, Doctor." Your senses returned to you at full force. You couldn't be here. Not now. Not after the last time you were here. "Doctor, get us off this planet!" His brows twisted in confusion. 

"(Y/n)?" He questioned, but the TARDIS began to shake violently, as if even she knew this felt wrong. Maybe that's why she had been rough getting you here. She had been trying to warn you!

"Doctor, you don't remember because of some weird mind stuff, but you've been here three times before. You were engaged to the princess, and they don't like liars, and she was not happy that you skipped town every single time."

"Engaged?" He twirled about the TARDIS's console, trying to diagnose the issue. "I don't understand!" You took his matured face into your hands and made him look you in the eye. 

"Doctor, think." Just then, as he closed his eyes to think, the TARDIS grew eerily calm. 

"There... The last time... Er... That is... How did we escape last time?" You weren't quite sure if he was talking to you or himself, but before you could even respond, there was a knock at the door. A knock. You both froze and turned ever so slowly toward the noise. 

"Doctor! We know you are in there! We have seized your ship!" The blood immediately drained from your faces, and- for that matter- the rest of your bodies. The male on the other side shifted his weight and knocked halfway again, sputtering several times, as if deciding what he should say. "You are unable to fly away now. Please come out. Or we will use force!" The last sentence sounded as good as a half-baked afterthought. The Doctor turned to you.

"You have to hide in the ship. Safest place in the universe- they couldn't lay a finger on you. There is enough of everything onboard that you could probably survive for a very long time without coming out," The Doctor rattled off.

"Doctor,"

"Perhaps you could hide in the library, or the zoo. Oh, yes! Laufey knows you! She'll protect you. That is to say if the TARDIS can't keep them out by herself,"

"Doctor,"

"Or send them round in twists and turns down the hallways. She could create a maze! A labyrinth of sorts! She's certainly good at hiding things from me!"

"Doctor!" You shook him, his face still dormant in your cupped hands. He looked startled- much more startled than he sounded. "What about you?" He stared at you with those large, wise eyes that did not seem to have thought that part through. "If I go hide, what about you? The longer you're on this planet, the more you remember what happened here, but until then? They'll kill you if you say you don't remember. They don't know the truth like we do." You were trembling slightly, but it was enough for him to notice. Without warning, something changed in his eyes. His pupils dilated so gently and his lips curved into a small smile. He rose and took your hands from his face, still holding them gingerly between his own.

"Starlight, I can't risk getting you hurt. Hurting you," He looked away. "Again. You staying in the TARDIS is the only way I can ensure your safety. If we're going to be riding in headlong to an entirely dangerous situation, you cannot be at the forefront, understand?" You blinked away the tears at your old nickname and came to your senses. 

"You're here because of me, Doctor. You wanted to take me somewhere- to make me happy. It's my fault if anything happens to you. The least I can do is protect you with the memories I have of this place." 

"And what if I say no?" A bit of the fallen renegade rose back up within him. 

"What if I say yes?" The only response he gave was the gentle widening of his smile into a perspicacious smirk. It was hardly noticeable, but you noticed. It seemed that as much as you were learning you still knew about him, he was learning the same of you. 

"Incorrigible. Impossible. Quixotic girl." He whispered with an endearment that tapped into your very core. The very strings that held you together.

"That's a weird way to say I love you." You teased. 

"Hello?" The voice on the other side called out. It sounded like he was the only one next to the TARDIS. The only one in front of her, anyway. "Are you home?" 

Wordlessly, the Doctor turned and began walking toward the door, your hands still joined the way they always had been. He snapped, causing the TARDIS doors to fly open, and you were met with who you recognized to be one of the princess's brothers. He looked nervous, and as far as you could tell, he was the only one here. The street you were on was empty, too.

"I'm glad you're here, Doctor..." He glanced at you and then down at your entwined hands. "And human guest." You looked at the Doctor, his head tilted in that odd puppydog manner you were so used to. Whatever hesitation there had been in the brother at that moment dissipated, and there was only exasperation and fear left. "Please, sir. We need your help. The princess is sick."

"I thought you wanted to kill me?" The Doctor said incredulously, quietly guiding you behind his back, and out of the line of any foreseeable fire. 

"That depends on whether or not you can help." The brother threatened, turning hastily in what you could assume was the direction of the castle. "Follow. Your ship will be fine." The Doctor turned to you.

"This could be a trap."

"Yes, it could." You agreed. 

"But what if she's actually sick?"

"Then you do what you always do,"

"Are you two coming, or not?" He sounded aggravated. Pressed, even. 

"You help." You smiled and he smiled back.