9A/N: I know it's very slow for now, but don't worry, it will pass - the next chapter begins with a chase.
Luke blankly stared at the piece of paper in his hands, mentally taking a note never to ask the Doctor for a lecture about something again. It had started innocently enough: he had just asked about the stars. Particularly, what they meant to the Doctor. He was just trying to maintain a normal conversation, and that was what normal people talked about, right? The point that he was only just beginning to see was that: one, he had never been very good at that emotional stuff and two, he shouldn't have made the mistake of applying 'normal people' to the Doctor.
So now he was just sitting in his room, holding the note which only said 'talk about the stars, midnight sharp, meet me on the roof' and wondering whether this all was a good idea.
It's not like he felt uncomfortable about 'this all'; he had come to deeply care for the Doctor during those last few weeks - even love him in a way completely alien to him up until then. Not what he had thought he felt towards Maria, not the way he cared for Clyde as a friend, and still not the same way he loved Sarah Jane as his mother. This new emotion was making him feel funny, because he really didn't know how to act about it.
Another thing that was worrying him was that he had no idea how long he could keep on keeping this a secret. It would be just a bit easier if the Doctor didn't insist on staying in town at all times and didn't want to let Luke anywhere as much as anywhere near the TARDIS. Still, they managed. They had never run into Sarah Jane or anyone either of them knew so far, but Luke knew that this wasn't likely to end well. Today, though, was off the limits. The roof?! Just what was he thinking?! The best place for stargazing, of course, but still... wasn't it dangerous? As soon as it crossed his mind, Luke smiled at that thought. After being chased by Slitheen and fighting off Daleks, going up to the roof of his house didn't seem that dangerous anymore. He could only imagine how pedestrian it must have appeared to the Doctor.
Waiting until midnight wasn't as easy as it would have appeared, Luke realised. Or rather, it was - for anyone other than him. His genetically engineered organism demanded its perfectly calculated amount of a good night's rest and he had to fight with sleepiness all the time. He was all the more determined to endure at least until midnight because of that, though.
When the clock finally struck twelve, which felt to Luke as though ages had passed, he forced his tired body to walk to the attic as quietly as it was possible and let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding when he made sure that Mr Smith was offline. After a minute or so of looking around in search for a means of going up to the roof, he found it - faster than he expected to - in the form of a small door in the ceiling. He suspected that Sarah Jane had already known about this before she had bought the house - it seemed like something she would like to have.
Luke slid the door open, and then realised he had never actually been on the roof before. It shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise, as most people didn't actually spend time on their houses' rooftops, but it felt weird to know how easy it was to get there but still never have done it.
He climbed up and stood shakily, but the ground turned out to be much more stable than he had expected, what he reckoned was a nice surprise. Looking around, he could see the lights in the windows of many of the other houses in the neighbourhood, and the faintest flicker of stars in the sky high above. The air seemed fresher, though he knew it was just a trick, as the air temperature would only drop at the height of four hundred metres. He shook his head. Clyde had told him he shouldn't interpret everything scientifically, as it wasn't healthy for his mind. It was somewhat hard sometimes, though...
The Doctor was there too, and Luke was amazed by how long it had taken him to notice the Time Lord. He was sitting near the edge on something that looked like a picnic blanket, and apparently waiting for Luke to join.
Without a word, Luke carefully walked up to him, not sure whether he should feel afraid of falling, confused with why the Doctor had chosen the roof for their meeting, or astonished by how beautiful it was. For the time being, he felt a mixture of the three, possibly with some other, less significant emotions thrown in the mix.
"Hi." He said after sitting down on what turned out to be the Doctor's trench coat.
"Hi," came the reply.
"So... the stars?" Luke asked. He resisted the urge to yawn. He was still tired, even if the fresh air had made him more awake for a moment.
"The stars," confirmed the Doctor. "Just look at all those shiny little particles floating in the great blackness of your sky!" He was talking in his typical 'excited voice', which, as Luke was beginning to work out, he used when he wanted to share something that meant much to him with others. "Then, think about how each of those lights is a sun, or a planet, or a whole galaxy, all of them hundreds of thousands of light years away! Then, think about how little this planet of yours is, and consider how each of those hundreds of little lights in the sky may be a world bigger than the one you've known all your life. This is the true beauty of the universe."
"The universe is beautiful," Luke agreed absently, trying his best not to fall asleep then and there.
"It is, isn't it?" It wasn't clear whether the Doctor was talking to himself or to Luke. He wasn't even looking at the boy, and from the half-smile on his face, it wasn't clear if he was aware of his surroundings at all.
"You know them all, don't you?" Luke wanted to ask, and unintentionally did it aloud.
"Huh?" The Time Lord snapped out of his trance.
"The names," Luke explained. "Of the stars. Mum told me you know all of them."
The Doctor nodded.
"We would do this all night, Sarah and me. Just sit on the grass of this planet or the other and look at the night sky for hours." He smiled absently. "Oh, she loved it."
"She still does."
The Doctor looked taken aback.
"So do I."
They sat in silence for a while.
"It's not a bad life we lead," the Doctor said finally. "Don't you think, Luke?"
There was no answer.
"...Luke?"
The boy did not reply, and it soon became obvious that he was fast asleep. The Doctor frowned at first, not entirely sure how to deal with the situation, especially as Luke's head was rested on his chest, which practically immobilised him. Then, he smiled warmly and pulled a loose strand of hair from Luke's face and placed it behind his ear.
Eventually, that time of night came when it was too cold to stay out, and, although he knew that Luke was supposed to be immune to all human diseases, the Doctor decided not to take any chances and had to move them from their place on the rooftop. He carefully picked Luke up, holding the boy close to his hearts, as if he were the most precious thing in the universe. And for that moment, maybe he was.
Going down the stairs proved to be a bit tricky at night, especially with Luke in his arms, but the Doctor was determined to make it without waking him. When he eventually reached Luke's room and proceeded to tug the boy in his bed and drapped the blankets over him, he paused to have a look around. Instead of toys, the shelves were filled with scientific equipment of all sorts. Then he reminded himself that 16 years old is too old for toys anyway.
The Doctor turned to leave, but yet again, when he was at the door, something stopped him. This time, it was the faint echo of footsteps in the hallway. He shut his eyes, wincing. He must have woken Sarah up while making his way down the stairs.
"Doors are overrated anyway," he muttered under his breath as he headed for the window.
=ooO*Ooo=
"You did not."
Luke was staring up at the Doctor (who was still a head taller than him, even though he had grown quite a bit during the last few months) and trying to decide whether he was serious or not.
"No, I'm completely serious." The Doctor answered almost as though he were reading Luke's mind.
"You. Hired out. A stadium."
"Well, it's not really an actual stadium, more of a football field, and yes, I did." He frowned. "What's wrong with that?"
"No, nothing. I just thought you were more of a breaking in during the night person."
"Now, this is really offensive!" The Doctor laughed. Luke figured it must have been a joke, so he laughed too. He was getting quite good at human emotions - even when he didn't fully understand them, he knew how to react. It made him beam with pride and he even wanted to tell someone about his improvements... But who? Surely the Doctor didn't know about his struggle with everyday human life, so he wouldn't understand. Sarah Jane was good to talk to, but not about these sort of things; she was definitely just a parent. But Clyde... Luke thought about his best friend, who had always given him advice when he needed it and talked with him, even about the most embarrassing of topics. Yes, if there was anyone he was able to consider his tutor in all things normal, it was Clyde. With that on his mind, Luke returned to the conversation.
"So what's the special occasion?" He asked. He wondered if it was only his brain that processed information this quickly and could stimulate such long thought processes in just a fraction of a second and then simply return to the here and now or of it was normal. He supposed he would never find out.
"Oh, nothing special," he heard the Doctor answer, but didn't fully focus on it. "Just thought we might do some running. You know, to keep in shape and all. Need to have those muscles working to escape from the aliens."
Luke, who had only been half-listening up to that point, felt somewhat confused.
"What aliens?" He asked.
"Dunno." The Time Lord shrugged. "Whatever it is you do on daily basis."
Luke just shook his head as they made their way towards the racetrack and the Doctor looked at him in silent question.
"I just wanted to check something."
Luke raised an eyebrow.
"...Okay. What distance do you want to-?"
The Doctor threw his coat on the ground, soon proceeded by his jacket.
"Until you get too tired to keep on. That about fine for you? You don't have to push yourself too hard. I just wanna check, honest."
Luke nodded. He thought it wouldn't be too hard: admittedly, he was certainly much better dressed for running than the Doctor was - and there was also the age difference. He was pretty confident he could prove himself physically fit enough. The Doctor, however, had the body of a thirty-five-year-old, so he wouldn't exactly be in his top condition. Luke was almost sure he would win this race quite easily. The only thing that worried him was that the Doctor apparently was treating this like some kind of experiment. What was he trying to check?
The Doctor set off without any warning, leaving Luke standing in his place with a miffed expression.
"Hey!" He complained aloud. "That was a headstart!" He immediately broke into a run to catch up with the Doctor, who was already a few metres ahead of him.
He sped up, breaking into a full sprint, and soon enough managed to get into the first place. Luke smiled under his nose. He was fast. He knew he was fast - he was supposed to be the perfect human being, after all - but it surprised him how easily he had managed to leave the Time Lord behind. It didn't require that much effort, actually. Was the Doctor intentionally letting him win? He shook his head. Why was he overinterpreting everything? There was no evil plot in an innocent race, now was there? He just had to run, reach the finish line and show the Doctor that he was perfectly capable of... whatever it was the Doctor was trying to find out.
Luke felt himself growing a bit tired. Not much, but he decided to slow down the pace anyway. Soon, he began to realise that he couldn't keep on like that for much longer. His initial sprint might have given him the upper hand, but now he was slowly losing any lead he might have gained before, all of that due to how much of a strain on his energy the fast run had been.
When he got to the finish line - a long time after the Doctor - all Luke could do was pant.
"Stamina," the Doctor grinned. He had barely begun to get tired. "It comes with experience."
Luke couldn't answer: he was too busy trying to breathe regularly. It was hard. The cold air seemed to hurt his throat like daggers made of ice.
"Try to breathe through your hands," the Doctor advised. "More carbon dioxide will cumulate in a small space, the air'll be warmer."
Luke could see the logic, but he could also see that this was only for his comfort, as that wouldn't change much in the way the air affected his throat. If anything, breathing through his nose would be the most sensible course of action. He did that, and after a moment could actually gather the strength to speak.
"That was a stupid mistake, sprinting off like that."
"Happens to the best of us," the Doctor shrugged with a grin.
"What were you trying to check?" Luke asked once he felt well enough to be confident in his ability to maintain a conversation. "You told me you wanted to check something. Did it work?"
"Oh yes," the Time Lord nodded sagely. "I was wondering whether you would put much confidence in your abilities. Frankly, I'm surprised by how seriously you treated this."
Luke glanced down. That was the problem; he took everything seriously. It's not like he still couldn't recognise sarcasm, but he was still far from being a normal kid. But did he want to be a normal kid? He recalled all the times him being different had saved the world. He thought about how his friends loved him the way he was. Then, he thought about the Doctor, who had become a major part of his life during the last few months, even if Luke himself still felt awkward. It was even stranger than with Sarah Jane, because 'the Doctor' wasn't even a name. Luke rolled his eyes. He would have started calling him 'dad' a long time ago, if only he'd known what the Doctor was expecting him to do. All he knew was that for some reason he had decided to take Luke under his wing - not exactly to teach him anything, just to give him a semblance of a family. Or maybe... Of course! Luke felt ashamed of how long it had taken him to realise it. Of course, it wasn't about himself and giving him a family when he already had one. Why hadn't he thought earlier that maybe it was the Doctor who was gaining something out of their relationship? Because now that he looked back on it, it made perfect sense. Back when they had first started meeting, the Doctor had been little more than an emotional wreck, talking about death and loss and loneliness all the time, but now Luke noticed that his earlier liveliness and passion were slowly returning to the Time Lord. He didn't know for sure, but he was happy to think that he played a part in that. From the look of things, even not a small one.
=ooO*Ooo=
"Do you have to go?" He knew it was childish of him to ask that, but he actually felt like a child for the moment.
The Doctor laughed casually, leaning on the side of the TARDIS and showing much more confidence than Luke was able to gather in himself.
"What? Do you want me to stay here in London?" He winced jokingly. "Nah, boring. Not for me."
"Then again..." Luke slowly reached out to touch the TARDIS. He felt cold wood under hid hand as he traced his fingers on the ship's surface. It was strange, but he thought that he could almost feel something more beneath his fingers, some faint pulsing, as if... life? "I suppose... We could go somewhere else..."
The Doctor glanced at him with a fair dose of concern. The way he was looking at the TARDIS was very alarming to him.
"Luke," he said, hoping his voice would make the boy return to the here and now. "You know this as well as I do, but I can repeat myself if I have to. This is you and me. And that's all it is, just the two of us." He wanted to get through with the fact that he cared for Luke as a person, not some rare specimen, and that in the same way he expected to be treated like a sentient being, not just a pass to space travel. This was crucial to their relationship working properly. He had to make sure Luke understood how much it mattered to him that he didn't end up becoming just another face in a long line of companions. This was something new. Or was it something very, very old? Either way, it was different. "I thought I had made myself clear enough. The TARDIS stays where it is." It sounded harsher than he had intended and he found himself wincing.
"I know..." Luke hesitantly parted with the police box. "Don't worry, it really doesn't matter. I don't need any more adventure in my life than I already have. I just want you to be there with me."
The Doctor stared at him, wondering how come he had read this boy so wrong. Here he was trying to make him understand, when in fact Luke understood it better than he himself did. And from that moment there, he knew that no matter what happened, it would always be just that: him and Luke, and that they would care for each other because of who they were. It was something the Doctor hadn't known for a long time: it was almost like having a family.
"You know, Luke, if you feel it's right you can call me dad. It's not like I'm gonna have anything against it."
The moment he saw the expression on Luke's face, he knew that it had been just the right thing to say.
A/N: This is just a friendly reminder that this story is what I like to call "potentially canon", as many of my other fanfics (exactly one) are: everything in the story might not have happened in the show, but there's no evidence against it happening. Basically, it might have happened, except we'll never know whether it actually did.
Also, there'll be actual action in the next chapter. It is beginning. Luke has no idea how the Doctor's life rolls yet... But he'll find out soon enough *evil laughter*