Doctor Who | Going Under [Dark!Ten AU]

#1: Lipstick Lies

Summary: "You gotta admit, you paint a pretty picture. No one would ever suspect you're so adept at the arts. I hear the lonely lovers say you hide behind cosmetic eyes. Kiss 'em off with lipstick lies. . . .You're the Picasso of pain, a fantasy in flesh tone. And though you're never the same, you're never far from the mark. Now and then you close your eyes to see the heartbreak in disguise. Kiss 'em off with lipstick lies . . ."

Notes: Inspired by Pat Benatar's "Lipstick Lies". 

Originally published: 2014-05-19

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You gotta admit,
You paint a pretty picture.
No one would ever suspect
You're so adept at the arts.
I hear the lonely lovers say
You hide behind cosmetic eyes.
Kiss 'em off with lipstick lies.

Lipstick lies won't hide the truth,
And they won't keep you waterproof.
The victim of your vanity. . . .

"Doctor?"

At the sound of Martha Jones's voice, the Time Lord lifted his head from under the console. "Yeah, Martha? What is it?"

"I was just . . ." She faltered, her voice trailing off as she stared at him. After this stretched on for over a minute, he raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Well?" He couldn't hold back the irritated edge. Was this body really that attractive to human women? Judging by the way Martha and Rose acted around him, the answer was yes.

"How much longer are you gonna be with fixing that?"

"I'm almost done." His eyes narrowed behind his glasses in suspicion. "Why do you want to know? And don't say it's because you want to talk." The Doctor rose slowly to his feet, crossed his arms as he glared at her. He may act like he didn't notice her sexual advances, her subtle attempts at flirting, but he did notice—and he knew what her reaction would be whenever he mentioned Rose, so he did it often. The Doctor didn't care about Martha in the way he had his former companion, but that didn't seem to deter the medical student.

Martha just gave him a stern, almost patronizing look, and he breathed a sigh through his nose. "All right, what is it?" He whipped the glasses off his nose and stuck them in the pocket of his blue suit jacket.

"I'm worried about you," Martha said bluntly, getting right to the point. "Your behavior with the Daleks—it was like you wanted them to kill you. Did you think about how I would get back to my own time if something happened to you—if you died?"

No, he hadn't, and more to the point, he didn't care. The Doctor shrugged, face carefully expressionless. "The TARDIS would have helped you or I would have activated an emergency program. I've done it before."

"With Rose?"

He nodded shortly. "What's it matter to you what I did with her? Jealous, are we, Martha? Hhhm?"

Her dark skin flushed, and she averted her eyes. "No."

He knew as well as she did that she was lying, but he decided to let it go—for now. "Surely what happened in Manhattan isn't the only reason, Martha Jones."

Her expression told him she was fighting to remain composed. At last Martha quickly shook her head. She didn't say anything more, which he was willing to let go. For now. Again.

Still, the Doctor couldn't help wondering if she was beginning to suspect the real reason he would put her in danger, would always leave her to fend for herself. Yes, he'd made her an official companion, had been grateful for her restoring his Time Lord self to his body, but the only reason he'd gone after her on New Earth was to tell her the truth about his planet and not out of genuine concern. When he'd been possessed by the living sun, the first person on the ship he'd wanted to kill had been Martha. Even before then, when he'd watched her escape pod detaching from the ship and floating toward the sun and he'd promised to save her, a large part of him had wanted to let her and Riley burn to death.