My Hope (Doctor Who x reader)

2: Metalloarachnophobia

Y/n had begun to calm down, but the deck as a whole began to act up. Only for a moment, but there was a quake that shouldn't have been there.

"Honored guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thank you."

Y/n looked at the Face of Boe, a bit concerned. She wanted to go investigate, to adventure like she always does, but he's her friend and she didn't want to just up and leave him here if something was wrong. She never really expressed it, but it was difficult for her to be around Boe when he was... well, when he was Boe. Their adventures together were over and she knew he could protect himself but it wasn't the same as before. He was old, and she was worried.

"Go."

She gave him another glance, before standing up and going to the door. "I'll be back," she said "soon enough." They both knew she wouldn't be, not on that day. The Face of Boe knew she'd survive whatever was going on; she's survived much worse than the sun exploding. An old part of Boe, deep down, wanted to keep her safe instead of letting her go straight to the heart of action. The same part, however, knew it would be useless to try.

Y/n walked down the hall, finding her way back to the main observation gallery. A bit before reaching the door, she bumped into the Doctor and Rose again.

"Y/n! Hello again! Tell me, did that really feel like turbulence?"

"Obviously not. Observation galleries like this are built with anti-gravity pocket shielding underneath the sun filter. It's in the name. Observation," she said while looking at the door ahead of them, "Not a ship. No turbulence."

The Doctor said something in agreement, but she didn't listen, instead choosing to open the door for the three of them. The two companions went toward one of the control panels, while Y/n approached the window. Everything looked fairly normal, but when she placed her hand on the glass it was far too warm. The sun filter was still intact on this portion of the ship, but it was deactivated somewhere else.

"Doctor!" she called, not looking away or taking her hand off the window. She'd much rather call for Rose, but she wouldn't understand what the heat of the window meant. "Come here a moment."

He walked over with Jabe, a tree woman, and smiled. "Reporting for duty!"

"Touch the glass."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow but complied, reaching out to the window right beside Y/n's hand. He pressed his fingers against it but instantly retracted in pain. When he looked at his hand, his finger pads were red.

"Take your hand off of there!" he fussed, realising Y/n had been pressing her full palm against the burning glass. He'd worry in a second about the implications of the temperature, but his first thought was that she was melting the skin on her hand. "Do you have no self preservation?"

He took her by the wrist and looked over her hand, ignoring Jabe's confusion beside him. Y/n's hand was fine, however, if not a bit warmer to the touch. He flipped it over and poked and prodded, closely looking at every bit of flesh on it. It was... fine. Despite being fully pressed against a nearly boiling hot window, there wasn't a mark on her hand.

"How did you..."

"Let go of me," she said, "My hand isn't the point here. The sun filter went down in one of the other rooms. That doesn't happen on accident. Now, where were you two headed?"

"The maintenance duct. Tell you what, come with us!"

Y/n grimaced and thought over her options. On one hand, absolutely fucking not. On the other, she wanted to know what was happening (maybe even fix it) and she promised Boe that she would at least try to get to know the Doctor. It would be an insult to all their years of friendship if she started changing her mind and backing out now. This felt like a decent step one. She could always ignore him, she figured, if needed.