Fic: Aimless (9/?)
Category: Fanfiction
Title: Aimless (9/?)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters/Pairing: Rory/Eleven, Amy, various OCs
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of slash, AU, un-betaed
Spoilers: Possible mentions of all early Series 5 episodes
Word Count: 2,030
Chapter Summary: Amy thinks certain things. Rory disagrees.
A/N: Look at that, a quick update! With this chapter, we're starting to get into the parts I'm most excited to write. There'll be less of the Doctor coming up, but don't worry, we'll get back to him. ;)
Just a couple more quick notes that I would appreciate you reading before you move on to the chapter. First off, I now have a Tumblr set up for all my fic updates! I'll be posting the links to all new fics and new chapters as they're posted here. Lastly, if you're looking for fic recs, I've posted a fic rec list for pretty much all my fandoms here. So if you're interested, go ahead and give it a look through! There are a few Rory/Eleven fics in there, too. ;)
Anyway, I'll stop with this ridiculously long note and let you get on with the chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 8
Two months before his sixteenth birthday, Rory sits in homeroom and doodles a police box on the inside of his notebook. He tries to ignore when the door opens and Jeremy Jefferson and his posse walk in, though it’s hard to ignore people so loud. Especially when Jeremy himself is so -
No. He’s not even going to pretend to entertain that thought.
“So how long will you be here?” he hears Renee Lister ask.
“I’m not sure. My dad’s waiting to see how the new job works out. Could be forever. I dunno.”
Rory’s surprised by the new voice, and not just because it’s new. Because it’s American. There’s a girl he’s never seen before, nestled in a seat behind Renee and next to Jeremy, who’s eyeing her up and down appreciatively. She has a small, almost nervous smile on her face, and she’s wearing a tight pink t-shirt and jeans. Long blonde hair flows down her back and over one shoulder. For a moment, their eyes catch across the room, but she quickly looks away, blushing slightly.
“You should come with us to my mom’s diner,” Renee suggests. “We hang out there every day after school.”
The girl looks so desperately grateful for acceptance, though Rory doesn’t think any of the others notice. As it is, she just nods quickly and Rory turns his attention back to shading the corner of the police box in his notebook.
“Still making shit up, Ro-ry?” The cover of his notebook is flipped shut on top of his hand, forcing his pen in a rough streak directly through the middle of the drawing. Damn it. He was liking that one, too. He’d even thought of adding the Doctor on the side. Jason Myers sneers down at him. Another one of Adam’s, desperate for his leader’s approval. So desperate that he’s willing to go after Rory when Adam isn’t even in the room.
Rory doesn’t even have the will to defend himself, so he just pulls his hand out from under the cover his notebook and sighs. “Hello, Jason.”
“Hello, Ro-ry,” Jason mocks him, and then starts to stalk over to his usual seat, frowning when he sees the new girl there.
She looks up at him nervously. “I’m sorry, is this your seat?”
Jason’s eyes flick up around the room, and Rory follows his gaze. By now, all of the seats have filled up - all, of course, except for the one behind Rory. He has a sudden sinking feeling that this is not going to go in the way he wants it to.
Jason looks back to the new girl and puts on his most charming smile. Trouble is, unlike Adam, it’s the kind of smile that might actually be charming, if he wasn’t such a dick.
“Normally it is, yeah,” he says to the girl with a shrug. “But considering your only other option is to sit behind Williams, I think I’ll spare you this time.” And with that, he gives the girl a wink and walks back to the seat behind Rory, plopping down and putting his feet up on the back of Rory’s chair. Rory tries to pretend he’s not there.
---
“I’m sorry,” Amy says, looking sadly at the ruined drawing. The line of black ink is smudged from when Rory pulled his hand away, further damaging what could have been a great drawing (or at least, Rory thinks so).
“Me too,” Rory grumbles. He shoves his sandwich into his mouth and is grateful, not for the first time, that it’s sunny enough for them to sit outside. The sun feels great on his face, and Adam Riley is almost always inside during lunch, prowling for unprepared freshmen with heavy pockets.
Amy closes the notebook and pushes it back towards him. Through a bite of apple, she asks, quietly, thoughtfully, “You still think about him, then.”
Rory glances down at the notebook, flips idly through the pages with his thumb. The one he’d started in homeroom isn’t the only one like it. There are dozens more in the notebook, a Christmas present from Amy. He doodles in his spare time - when he’s waiting for Amy to pick him up in the morning for school, during class when they’re not doing anything else, at night when he’s lying in bed and can’t fall asleep. And almost every one of the doodles have the phone box or the Doctor (or both) nestled in somewhere on the page.
“Yeah,” he admits, though he doesn’t want to say it. He’s not seven anymore, for god’s sake. He doesn’t want it going around that he still thinks about it. It was kind of a big deal when he was a kid.
Amy sips at her soda, studying him silently for a moment. When she speaks, she sounds almost sad. “There’s nothing wrong with that, you know. He was a big part of your life. You’re allowed to.”
“Not according to everyone else at this school.” Suddenly not even wanting the notebook in his sight, Rory grabs it and slips it into his backpack.
Amy huffs. “Yeah, well, everyone else at this school is an idiot. They won’t even let you be -”
“Amy, no.” Rory cuts her off with a sharp look. It’s not the first time she’s brought it up, and it won’t be the last.
Her eyes flare with indignation. “I wouldn’t mention it if you’d just admit it.”
“There’s nothing to admit!” Rory pushes what’s left of his sandwich back into the brown paper bag he’d shoved food in this morning before leaving. “Amy, honestly, I’m not…” He trails off, not wanting to say it out loud and attract unwanted attention.
“See?” Amy challenges him, like that just makes his case right there. “That’s how bad the kids at this school are. They’ve messed with you so much you can’t even say it.” There comes a laugh from Jeremy Jefferson’s table. Amy looks disgusted, and turns her head to glare in their direction. “God, I hate them.”
“Amy, drop it,” Rory snaps, and, for once, she does, instead turning back to her tiny lunch and stewing silently to herself.
They’ve had this argument a million times before, and Rory’s answer remains firmly the same. He’s not gay. He’s never been gay, and no matter what Amy and every other kid at this school thinks, he never will be. He likes to tell himself he doesn’t care what people think, but he does, and the fact that everyone in his life seems to think he’s gay hurts more than he’d like.
His eyes catch on Jeremy with his head thrown back, laughing, and he tries very hard not to reevaluate that assumption.
---
He's sitting high in the tree in the backyard, trying to focus on Dickens, but all he can see is squiggles and dots. With a groan of frustration, he renews his attack, thinking to himself, I will get through this book.
"Rory Williams!"
The shout startles him so much that he drops the book and nearly falls out of the tree. He reaches out to grab a nearby branch just in time to steady himself and looks down to see Amy Pond reach up and catch his book.
"Amy!" he complains. "Could you not do that to me? I swear, you're going to kill me one day."
Amy is glaring at him and completely ignoring everything he says. "You have some explaining to do," she informs him, hands on hips. "Did you or did you not snog Jeremy Jefferson at Renee Lister's party?"
"W-what?" Rory splutters in disbelief. "Why the hell would I snog Jeremy Jefferson?"
Amy gets a foothold on the trunk and hauls herself upwards into the tree. She sits down heavily on a branch above Rory, crosses her arms over her chest, and glares at him. "Renee told me that she saw you snogging him."
"I did not snog Jeremy Jefferson," Rory snorts. "And Renee Lister is an empty-headed bimbo obsessed with her stupid rumor mill, which, lately, by the way, seems to revolve completely around me."
Amy waves her hand dismissively. "It's always revolved around you.” She pauses. “I knew you didn't snog him anyway.”
“Then why’d you ask?” Rory demands, frustrated.
She shrugs. “To mess with you. Anyway," she continues, narrowing her eyes, "the real question is, why didn't you snog him?"
Rory blinks at her. "You have got to be kidding."
"Not at all." Amy hands him back his book, which he takes gratefully. "I'd snog him. He's hot. And don't tell me you haven't noticed," she adds with a scathing look.
"I don't know why I would be looking in the first place," Rory says with a roll of his eyes. He opens the book again and tries to find the spot where he'd left off.
Amy just stares at him flatly. "Rory."
"What?" Rory asks, not looking up.
"When are you going to admit it?"
Oh. That again. Rory rubs the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes. "Amy, please, don't."
"I don't see why it even matters. I mean, I don't care. I've known since we were kids. It's kind of obvious."
"Seriously, Amy, stop it."
"There's nothing wrong with being--"
"Amy!" Rory shuts the book with a loud snap and glares at her. "For the thousandth time, I'm not gay. Got it?"
"Could've fooled me," Amy sniffs disdainfully. "Why do you try to hide it? What's the point? I wouldn't mind if you'd just admit it already.”
"Amy, I'm not gay!"
"Is it because of the kids at school? Because pretending you're not isn't helping anything. They all pretty much know.”
“Amy!” He doesn’t mean to, really, but he chucks the book at her anyway. She catches it easily, which only makes him angrier, but she seems to get the point and shuts her mouth. “I’m not gay,” he repeats for what must be the thousandth time. “Okay? Can we please stop bringing it up?”
“No, Rory, we can’t!” Amy looks furious. “I don’t understand why you can’t just admit it! You’re lying to your dad, you’re lying to the kids at school, you’re lying to me, and worst of all, you’re lying to yourself!”
“Amy, I’m not lying!” He sits up angrily, his blood boiling. “I’m not gay! All right? If you could just get that through your stupid, thick head-”
“I wasn’t so stupid when I kicked Riley’s arse for you the other day,” Amy snaps. “As I recall it, you called me the best person in the world.”
“Adrenaline high,” Rory growls. “Only explanation as to why I would lie about something like that.”
In any other situation, it would be comical. It could almost be a friendly exchange between them, gentle teasing. And even if Rory doesn’t really mean it, he wants it to hurt. He wants it to hurt as much as she’s saying hurts. He wants her to feel what he’s feeling.
“I don’t understand why you insist on being such a pig-headed bastard!” She’s shouting now, and in a fit of childish anger she throws his book down to the ground, where it lands with a thud.
“I don’t understand why you won’t just let it go!” he shouts back, and drops out of the tree.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” she demands even before his feet have hit the ground.
“I’m getting my book and going inside!” he yells, shooting a glare back up the tree. Amy’s hands are gripped tight around two branches and her eyes are lit up with fury, but he doesn’t let himself back down. “And when you’ve decided to stop being such an idiot, then maybe we can talk.” He stalks toward the house and doesn’t look back.
“God, Rory, don’t be such a faggot!”
He refuses to let himself flinch. He won’t let himself look back. He won’t give her the satisfaction of knowing what it does to him to hear the word that’s tormented him for years slip from her mouth.
He doesn’t stop to swipe at his stinging eyes until the door has closed behind him.
Chapter 10
Title: Aimless (9/?)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters/Pairing: Rory/Eleven, Amy, various OCs
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of slash, AU, un-betaed
Spoilers: Possible mentions of all early Series 5 episodes
Word Count: 2,030
Chapter Summary: Amy thinks certain things. Rory disagrees.
A/N: Look at that, a quick update! With this chapter, we're starting to get into the parts I'm most excited to write. There'll be less of the Doctor coming up, but don't worry, we'll get back to him. ;)
Just a couple more quick notes that I would appreciate you reading before you move on to the chapter. First off, I now have a Tumblr set up for all my fic updates! I'll be posting the links to all new fics and new chapters as they're posted here. Lastly, if you're looking for fic recs, I've posted a fic rec list for pretty much all my fandoms here. So if you're interested, go ahead and give it a look through! There are a few Rory/Eleven fics in there, too. ;)
Anyway, I'll stop with this ridiculously long note and let you get on with the chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 8
Two months before his sixteenth birthday, Rory sits in homeroom and doodles a police box on the inside of his notebook. He tries to ignore when the door opens and Jeremy Jefferson and his posse walk in, though it’s hard to ignore people so loud. Especially when Jeremy himself is so -
No. He’s not even going to pretend to entertain that thought.
“So how long will you be here?” he hears Renee Lister ask.
“I’m not sure. My dad’s waiting to see how the new job works out. Could be forever. I dunno.”
Rory’s surprised by the new voice, and not just because it’s new. Because it’s American. There’s a girl he’s never seen before, nestled in a seat behind Renee and next to Jeremy, who’s eyeing her up and down appreciatively. She has a small, almost nervous smile on her face, and she’s wearing a tight pink t-shirt and jeans. Long blonde hair flows down her back and over one shoulder. For a moment, their eyes catch across the room, but she quickly looks away, blushing slightly.
“You should come with us to my mom’s diner,” Renee suggests. “We hang out there every day after school.”
The girl looks so desperately grateful for acceptance, though Rory doesn’t think any of the others notice. As it is, she just nods quickly and Rory turns his attention back to shading the corner of the police box in his notebook.
“Still making shit up, Ro-ry?” The cover of his notebook is flipped shut on top of his hand, forcing his pen in a rough streak directly through the middle of the drawing. Damn it. He was liking that one, too. He’d even thought of adding the Doctor on the side. Jason Myers sneers down at him. Another one of Adam’s, desperate for his leader’s approval. So desperate that he’s willing to go after Rory when Adam isn’t even in the room.
Rory doesn’t even have the will to defend himself, so he just pulls his hand out from under the cover his notebook and sighs. “Hello, Jason.”
“Hello, Ro-ry,” Jason mocks him, and then starts to stalk over to his usual seat, frowning when he sees the new girl there.
She looks up at him nervously. “I’m sorry, is this your seat?”
Jason’s eyes flick up around the room, and Rory follows his gaze. By now, all of the seats have filled up - all, of course, except for the one behind Rory. He has a sudden sinking feeling that this is not going to go in the way he wants it to.
Jason looks back to the new girl and puts on his most charming smile. Trouble is, unlike Adam, it’s the kind of smile that might actually be charming, if he wasn’t such a dick.
“Normally it is, yeah,” he says to the girl with a shrug. “But considering your only other option is to sit behind Williams, I think I’ll spare you this time.” And with that, he gives the girl a wink and walks back to the seat behind Rory, plopping down and putting his feet up on the back of Rory’s chair. Rory tries to pretend he’s not there.
---
“I’m sorry,” Amy says, looking sadly at the ruined drawing. The line of black ink is smudged from when Rory pulled his hand away, further damaging what could have been a great drawing (or at least, Rory thinks so).
“Me too,” Rory grumbles. He shoves his sandwich into his mouth and is grateful, not for the first time, that it’s sunny enough for them to sit outside. The sun feels great on his face, and Adam Riley is almost always inside during lunch, prowling for unprepared freshmen with heavy pockets.
Amy closes the notebook and pushes it back towards him. Through a bite of apple, she asks, quietly, thoughtfully, “You still think about him, then.”
Rory glances down at the notebook, flips idly through the pages with his thumb. The one he’d started in homeroom isn’t the only one like it. There are dozens more in the notebook, a Christmas present from Amy. He doodles in his spare time - when he’s waiting for Amy to pick him up in the morning for school, during class when they’re not doing anything else, at night when he’s lying in bed and can’t fall asleep. And almost every one of the doodles have the phone box or the Doctor (or both) nestled in somewhere on the page.
“Yeah,” he admits, though he doesn’t want to say it. He’s not seven anymore, for god’s sake. He doesn’t want it going around that he still thinks about it. It was kind of a big deal when he was a kid.
Amy sips at her soda, studying him silently for a moment. When she speaks, she sounds almost sad. “There’s nothing wrong with that, you know. He was a big part of your life. You’re allowed to.”
“Not according to everyone else at this school.” Suddenly not even wanting the notebook in his sight, Rory grabs it and slips it into his backpack.
Amy huffs. “Yeah, well, everyone else at this school is an idiot. They won’t even let you be -”
“Amy, no.” Rory cuts her off with a sharp look. It’s not the first time she’s brought it up, and it won’t be the last.
Her eyes flare with indignation. “I wouldn’t mention it if you’d just admit it.”
“There’s nothing to admit!” Rory pushes what’s left of his sandwich back into the brown paper bag he’d shoved food in this morning before leaving. “Amy, honestly, I’m not…” He trails off, not wanting to say it out loud and attract unwanted attention.
“See?” Amy challenges him, like that just makes his case right there. “That’s how bad the kids at this school are. They’ve messed with you so much you can’t even say it.” There comes a laugh from Jeremy Jefferson’s table. Amy looks disgusted, and turns her head to glare in their direction. “God, I hate them.”
“Amy, drop it,” Rory snaps, and, for once, she does, instead turning back to her tiny lunch and stewing silently to herself.
They’ve had this argument a million times before, and Rory’s answer remains firmly the same. He’s not gay. He’s never been gay, and no matter what Amy and every other kid at this school thinks, he never will be. He likes to tell himself he doesn’t care what people think, but he does, and the fact that everyone in his life seems to think he’s gay hurts more than he’d like.
His eyes catch on Jeremy with his head thrown back, laughing, and he tries very hard not to reevaluate that assumption.
---
He's sitting high in the tree in the backyard, trying to focus on Dickens, but all he can see is squiggles and dots. With a groan of frustration, he renews his attack, thinking to himself, I will get through this book.
"Rory Williams!"
The shout startles him so much that he drops the book and nearly falls out of the tree. He reaches out to grab a nearby branch just in time to steady himself and looks down to see Amy Pond reach up and catch his book.
"Amy!" he complains. "Could you not do that to me? I swear, you're going to kill me one day."
Amy is glaring at him and completely ignoring everything he says. "You have some explaining to do," she informs him, hands on hips. "Did you or did you not snog Jeremy Jefferson at Renee Lister's party?"
"W-what?" Rory splutters in disbelief. "Why the hell would I snog Jeremy Jefferson?"
Amy gets a foothold on the trunk and hauls herself upwards into the tree. She sits down heavily on a branch above Rory, crosses her arms over her chest, and glares at him. "Renee told me that she saw you snogging him."
"I did not snog Jeremy Jefferson," Rory snorts. "And Renee Lister is an empty-headed bimbo obsessed with her stupid rumor mill, which, lately, by the way, seems to revolve completely around me."
Amy waves her hand dismissively. "It's always revolved around you.” She pauses. “I knew you didn't snog him anyway.”
“Then why’d you ask?” Rory demands, frustrated.
She shrugs. “To mess with you. Anyway," she continues, narrowing her eyes, "the real question is, why didn't you snog him?"
Rory blinks at her. "You have got to be kidding."
"Not at all." Amy hands him back his book, which he takes gratefully. "I'd snog him. He's hot. And don't tell me you haven't noticed," she adds with a scathing look.
"I don't know why I would be looking in the first place," Rory says with a roll of his eyes. He opens the book again and tries to find the spot where he'd left off.
Amy just stares at him flatly. "Rory."
"What?" Rory asks, not looking up.
"When are you going to admit it?"
Oh. That again. Rory rubs the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes. "Amy, please, don't."
"I don't see why it even matters. I mean, I don't care. I've known since we were kids. It's kind of obvious."
"Seriously, Amy, stop it."
"There's nothing wrong with being--"
"Amy!" Rory shuts the book with a loud snap and glares at her. "For the thousandth time, I'm not gay. Got it?"
"Could've fooled me," Amy sniffs disdainfully. "Why do you try to hide it? What's the point? I wouldn't mind if you'd just admit it already.”
"Amy, I'm not gay!"
"Is it because of the kids at school? Because pretending you're not isn't helping anything. They all pretty much know.”
“Amy!” He doesn’t mean to, really, but he chucks the book at her anyway. She catches it easily, which only makes him angrier, but she seems to get the point and shuts her mouth. “I’m not gay,” he repeats for what must be the thousandth time. “Okay? Can we please stop bringing it up?”
“No, Rory, we can’t!” Amy looks furious. “I don’t understand why you can’t just admit it! You’re lying to your dad, you’re lying to the kids at school, you’re lying to me, and worst of all, you’re lying to yourself!”
“Amy, I’m not lying!” He sits up angrily, his blood boiling. “I’m not gay! All right? If you could just get that through your stupid, thick head-”
“I wasn’t so stupid when I kicked Riley’s arse for you the other day,” Amy snaps. “As I recall it, you called me the best person in the world.”
“Adrenaline high,” Rory growls. “Only explanation as to why I would lie about something like that.”
In any other situation, it would be comical. It could almost be a friendly exchange between them, gentle teasing. And even if Rory doesn’t really mean it, he wants it to hurt. He wants it to hurt as much as she’s saying hurts. He wants her to feel what he’s feeling.
“I don’t understand why you insist on being such a pig-headed bastard!” She’s shouting now, and in a fit of childish anger she throws his book down to the ground, where it lands with a thud.
“I don’t understand why you won’t just let it go!” he shouts back, and drops out of the tree.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” she demands even before his feet have hit the ground.
“I’m getting my book and going inside!” he yells, shooting a glare back up the tree. Amy’s hands are gripped tight around two branches and her eyes are lit up with fury, but he doesn’t let himself back down. “And when you’ve decided to stop being such an idiot, then maybe we can talk.” He stalks toward the house and doesn’t look back.
“God, Rory, don’t be such a faggot!”
He refuses to let himself flinch. He won’t let himself look back. He won’t give her the satisfaction of knowing what it does to him to hear the word that’s tormented him for years slip from her mouth.
He doesn’t stop to swipe at his stinging eyes until the door has closed behind him.
Chapter 10