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It went altogether too fast. Conversation incredibly too fast but yet so engaging, sparking new topics and every turn. The Doctor began to notice small details about River, like how her eyes literally seemed to sparkle when she talked, especially when she talked about the queerest sorts of things. Like how little bits of the skin around her nails were painted red, as if she'd done them in a rush. The course of the date had entirely too many lattes and probably a little over-sharing, but it was just so lovely. Having someone to talk to, no matter what the topic was, is always such a precious thing. It is usually taken for granted, but River and the Doctor did not. Talking to her was so very familiar, like he'd having coffee shop dates with her for his whole life. Maybe it was just the feeling of watching a girl and feeling those little wings on your shoes, lifting you up, up, up that made it so familiar.
Butterflies are very pretty creatures, until it feels like they have chainsaws and are angry- and on top of that, trapped in your stomach. The Doctor asking River to join him again for the movies on- quote on quote "one of the Fridays, y'know, any one of them," must've put those butterflies there. Clara was such a gossip, she was going to eat the entire deal up. It was such a very unique feeling for River, and she was so worried that she was going to mess it up and do it all wrong. It's not like she didn't have experience with men- she did, it was mostly just the sex part that she was more educated on. There was an actual boy, who wanted something from her other than for her to fuck him. Not that she didn't have experience with the ladies too; but that was a little more, um, secretive.
They probably had said too much, even at the start, but words are like a waterfall, and how on earth do you stop that? As the two went their separate ways, the Doctor lifted River's hand up to his lips and kissed it, ever so lightly. So very gentle for someone like River, so very gentle for all the hell that River remembered. Then, then mostly flirty and barely seductively, the Doctor whispered in River's ear, "and I will see you again soon, River Song." Who knew a writer with no apparent social skills could make River blush like a schoolgirl. She could barely keep herself from skipping home.
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The Doctor couldn't hear the sounds of the city on the way home. He could only think of the blush that River had when he kissed her hand, and he wished that he had kissed her cheek, or kissed her lips. He quieted his thoughts, telling himself that the other options were for sure all too fast. But he couldn't stop thinking about her eyes, or her hair or the feeling that he had when she smiled.
"I am not falling for River Song, oh definitely not," the Doctor said to himself a little too loud for a crowded area, receiving himself a few odd looks. He didn't mind, he was floating on cloud nine. Goodness, her hair was so beautiful and she dressed so perfectly and when she laughed, it was like the entire world stopped. Being broken wasn't a beautiful thing, but River Song found a way to make her brokenness unrelated to her beauty.
The Doctor fell slightly back into reality, remembering that he did have things to do and strolling like a somewhat drunk tourist (it was far too early in the day to be drunk, however,) wasn't going to help him at all. He had books to write and things to do, because reality was something waiting always just behind the corner. But as reality drowned him, he still could not help to think about River Song.
Maybe he did just have a taste for wild girls that pulled him closer with every breath they took in the same room as him. Maybe he was dumb and lonely, or maybe he was truly falling for her, and that was oh so fast, even for someone like him.
But what the Doctor was most afraid of was another Rose, or another Amelia. It didn't matter if he loved them romantically or platonically, they always seemed to leave. Like he was some kind of poison, some type of person that repelled beautiful and wild people. Especially when he most wanted them to stay.
Or maybe he was just a dumb man that didn't understand himself enough, let alone understand the people he loved. Or maybe he didn't love River, or maybe he didn't understand love at all. But he couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful and unique things that him and River could be together. All the pretty things that they could be together.