"At least I get to be a teacher too, this time," Rose muttered, adjusting her pencil skirt.
The Doctor beamed at her. "You'll make a lovely English teacher, I'm sure of it," he said confidently. he adjusted his tie and opened the door to Jackie Tyler's flat. "We're off, Jackie!" he shouted over his shoulder.
"Back by six!" Jackie shouted back.
They'd agreed to stay with Jackie during their investigation of yet another school. After Canary Warf, and the whole scare with the Daleks and the Cybermen and almost losing Rose and Jackie and basically his family, the Doctor decided it was time to get back in the saddle.
But Jackie had wanted them close, so they parked the TARDIS in its usual spot and checked up every night, with Jackie so they wouldn't leave, of course.
Truth be told, Rose didn't find this school sketchy or shady or at all alien, but the Doctor wanted to be busy, and she understood that, so she had played along, and planned to play the role of the young, eager school teacher.
One thing the Doctor and Rose hadn't been counting on were how quickly the rumors were starting.
"Mr. Smith and Ms. Tyler? They're shagging, for sure. Started on the same day and everything."
"I saw them kissing in his office."
When Rose heard that one, she almost laughed. She hadn't even been in the Doctor's office, and she knew that even if she had been, she thought mournfully, there wouldn't be any kissing in there.
Sure, since the incident at Canary Warf, he had been more touchy with her, as if afraid that she would vanish if his hand wasn't at her back on interlaced with her own fingers. And she couldn't say that she wasn't enjoying it, because it was just as much reassurance for her.
They got back to the flat, the Doctor slept (or didn't sleep) on the couch, and Rose slept in her old bedroom. This was all much to Jackie's delight, because it was like having an honest to goodness family again. Sometimes she even wished her daughter and the Doctor would stop pretending and get into Rose's bed together (preferably on the TARDIS: there are some things a mother never wants to know).
For days Rose and the Doctor kept up their charades as teachers, and Rose found that she was actually a rather good English teacher. She sat on her desk asking review questions during class when the trouble started.
"Ms. Tyler?"
"Yes, Jessica?" Rose replied, looking over the questions list.
"You and the physics teacher, Mr. Smith," The entire class giggled as Jessica spoke, "You're datin', yeah?"
Rose offered a polite smile. "Not that it's any of your business what I get up to in my spare time, but no, Mr. Smith and I are not dating." She adjusted her flowing skirt around her legs, only doing it to keep the students from seeing her face turn pink. "Shall we continue?"
"Then why're you always holdin' his hand?" Jessica asked.
"Sometimes friends hold hands," Rose said casually.
"You always come outta the same flat every morning," a girl in back piped up.
Rose's head snapped up, her eyes wide with shock. "Have you all been spying on me?" She asked incredulously, and upon seeing the sheepish looks on their faces, shook her head. "Read page 300-302, and that'll be all for today."
She meant to grade papers, but she just stared at one of them with fury at the invasion of her privacy lit behind her eyes.
***
The Doctor wasn't having much more luck on keeping things on the 'down low', and by 'things' he meant 'the fact that he knew Rose Tyler outside of school.' The students had been coming up with some ridiculous ideas that made him honestly, rather uncomfortable.
"Right, so if we are to assume that-" the Doctor began, faithfully trying to resume his lesson.
"-I saw you starin' at Ms. Tyler's bum today!" one of the girls shouted from her seat.
To say the Doctor was startled really didn't cover it. He sputtered for a moment and set down his chalk. "For you to even think that I would proposition Ms. Tyler in such a fashion-"
"You don't proposition her, do you?" the girl waggled her eyebrows. "But you want to."
"Alright, that's enough. No more speaking until the end of class." the Doctor demanded, and, amongst the angry sighs of the students, there was no more talking or gossiping about the two teachers.
***
Rose had called her mum at lunch to let her know that she and the Doctor would be late at the school grading papers, and Jackie had grumbled on about how no one came round anymore but thanked Rose for the warning.
They graded papers in the Doctor's classroom, with Rose sitting in one of the student's desk that was pulled up to the Doctor's. They'd shut the door and pulled the blinds shut so they wouldn't be disturbed, the lights dim.
Rose marked up essays with red pens, and the Doctor used blue on his student's worksheets. Both of them had been hearing the rumors all week, and if Rose thought she was about to explode, the Doctor wanted to cry with how beautiful she looked every day.
She looked at about half seven and saw him staring at her. She furrowed her brows at him. "What?" She asked.
The Doctor opened his mouth and then shut it, shook his head, and tried to go back to his work. But within a few moments Rose felt the heat of his gaze on her again, and she shivered from it. Funny how he could do that without actually touching her.
She looked up again. "What is it, Doctor?" She asked, much nicer this time.
"Come here, bring your papers," the Doctor said, his voice low.
It didn't even really occur to her to say no to him, mostly because she didn't want to. She stood, adjusted her skirt, picked up her papers and pen and walked over to the Doctor. "Yeah?"
He pushed his rolling chair away from the desk, suddenly grateful for the lack of arms on it. He patted his lap once. "Sit down."
She blinked. Maybe there was an alien threat in the school, if he was saying stuff like that. "Doctor, are you feeling-"
"I'm fine." he lifted his eyes to hers. "Have a seat."
It was almost alarming, how quickly she was convinced that their was fine, that it was, in fact, the Doctor. She straddled his lap and fluffed out her skirt around them. She didn't make eye contact as he scooted them back towards the desk. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned forward, his head over her shoulder, and started to grade the papers again.
"Go ahead, keep grading, and let me know when you get an 'A' grade."
She resumed her grading against the back of his chair. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and she knew he could hear it. Luckily, the paper she had been grading ended up being an 'A', and she hadn't even cheated a little.
"Got one," she said, disappointed at how shaky her voice sounded.
The Doctor leaned back, looking into her eyes. "Good work, Ms. Tyler. I'd say you're really teaching them."
Slowly, and giving her time to pull away, he leaned in and kissed her. It started gently, a simple moving of lips against lips, but it all flew out the window when the Doctor traced his tongue along Rose's bottom lip and she opened her mouth to him.
After a few glorious seconds, he pulled away. He glanced over his shoulder at his own papers. "Think I might have an A+, too," he said, his eyes lifting back to hers.
Taking the hint, she leaned in towards him and pressed her lips hungrily to his. He let out a contented sigh through his nose and pressed into her, but at the same time pulling her forwards on his lap. When she pulled away, he tipped his forehead against hers. "Keep grading," he whispered.
Rose nodded and leaned over his shoulder again, but her mind was no longer focused on the papers, and she was eager for the next part of their game. "Another A," she said quietly, afraid of breaking the heavy spell that was between them.
"That's it," he growled, and threw all of his papers into air. She followed suit and their hands were all over each other, the papers no longer restricting them as they plundered each other's mouths, seeking for every form of closeness that they could.
Her hands plunged into his hair and his somehow snaked up under her top, stroking her back. She scooted farther forwards on his lap, holding him as close as possible.
Eventually, she pulled her head back to gasp for air, and the Doctor's mouth immediately latched onto her neck. "The skirts everyday," he murmured, his tongue flicking out at her pulse point. "The rumors that by every deity I wish were true," he bit her collarbone gently and she gasped. "I can't take it. I can't go without loving you anymore."
She pulled his head back from her neck and stared at him. "Do you mean that?"
"Yes, of course I mean that," he said earnestly, and furrowed his brows. "How could you not know?"
She tipped her forehead to his and stroked his cheek. "I love you," she whispered.
He tilted his chin and kissed her again, with more hunger behind it this time. "I love you," he whispered against her mouth, "I love you, I love you, I love you."
Soon enough the door status was changed from 'closed' to 'locked'.
And by some stroke of magic, every student in Mr. Smith and Ms. Tyler's classes got an A+.