Coming here always gave Narvin a bit of a pang in his hearts. One of the many things Romana had overlooked when she replaced him as Coordinator was that, per regulations, she would be taking his living quarters as well. And take them she had - the place was so cluttered now he could hardly recognize it as the same sterile installation it had been when he’d lived here. That part didn’t bother Narvin, though. He’d never made himself at home here; these rooms were a place to sleep and wash, nothing more. But the view, he always thought when he knocked on Romana’s door. That heart-stopping view of the city sprawled out below him, every district and sector, the old and the new. It was angled just so that the tallest towers aligned like stars in Orion’s belt.
His new quarters were on the other side of the Capitol, with a view of the mountains. Romana kept the blinds here closed.
we've seen narvin have feelings about the beauty of gallifrey before. i have this very specific thought i keep trying to include in a fic: when he's no longer coordinator, he changes rooms, and has nothing to miss but the view
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u already know what time it is five times KISSED
@tahitiwoke
ONE. JAN, 2018.
is there anything you can’t do. he doesn’t frame it like a question, more like a statement of fact – he has already answered it for himself. you started a war.
does it escape his notice, somehow? talk of carol danvers has fallen out of fashion, crushed under the weight of a ten second soundbite, under headlines she could never have competed against. AMERICAN JOURNALIST EXECUTED. claire buries the guilt down deep, pretends it didn’t hurt to do it. the hurt wouldn’t matter, not if she accomplishes what she needs to. RECORDED ICO COMMUNICATIONS RELEASED BY WHITE HOUSE.
❝ you don’t approve. ❞ she thinks she’s said this to him before, long ago. he’s taller than her, and it is made more noticeable in the absence of her heels, some missing aspect of her armor that when they’d first met, she’d never have dreamt of greeting him without. there’s more missing, she knows, but doesn’t dwell on these things, content to lay her hand on his chest, a rare softness scraped from the base of her, glinting in her eyes in the moonlight streaming in through the window. ❝ no. ❞ she leans toward him and up onto her toes, her lips meeting his cheek with a soft, conciliatory brush, her hand slipping from him as she paces away and toward her bedroom, answering him though she knew she didn’t need to. ❝ there’s nothing i can’t do. ❞
TWO. MAR, 2018.
❝ i want it done before the month is out. ❞ jane nods, pretending not to see the shadow of him haunting the window behind the resolute, holding her gaze as if there’s something more she wants to say, but she never gets the chance. claire’s attention has already dropped from her back to the plan laid out in excruciating detail, red stamped to indicate its importance. jane retreats and leaves only the soft clicking of the door in her wake, her absence keenly felt as phil asserts himself behind claire, his arm laid across the back of her chair when he leans in to read from over her shoulder. her gaze wanders from the document to where his other hand is braced against the desk, his palm indented by the edge of it, his fingers pale and splayed against the wood. i’m sure she’s thrilled to be your hero on this. his tone is dark, and claire lowers the packet to the desk with a soft scoff, her neck twisting as she turns and looks up at him, the distance between them so small that his breath tickles over her lips when he offers a short huff of laughter in response, staring down his nose at her. ❝ are petty remarks really the best use of your time? ❞
there’s tension in the gaze, like he wants to reverse the judgment onto her, make her own the fault as she deserves to, but he doesn’t. maybe he knows that she is already ashamed, deep in the core of her. instead he bridges the gap between them, and his hand on the desk lifts to circle her throat.
THREE. NOV, 2019.
her fingers pull at the strap of the sling, discomfort and annoyance evident in her every movement, resentment rolling off of her palpable waves. it isn’t long before her touch is replaced by a more patient one, readjusting where it is needed, his hand falling then to embrace the meeting of her neck and shoulder. the side of his index finger meets the edge of the freshened dressing on her neck, the sensation ticklish as he idly toys with the edge of it. she wonders if he is curious to see what it looks like. his thumb runs upward along the back of her neck, and she realizes faintly that her hair has grown longer than she prefers it. it tickles behind her ear as he displaces it, and she tells herself that she’ll have it cut tomorrow, the color cooled, her image reasserted as something unbreakable. they tried to kill her, and failed. she won't let them forget.
her back meets his chest as she softens her posture, and it occurs to her that she is tired, despite being confined to a hospital bed for the better part of a month. relax. she bristles somewhat at his suggestion, but it fades quickly as she feels his nose press into her hair, his lips soon to follow as he rests his hand across her abdomen and draws her nearer. ❝ don’t tell me what to do. ❞ it lacks the bite it ought to have had, his hand drifts lower and she leans her head back against his shoulder, ignoring the inflamed ache in her own.
FOUR. JAN, 2021.
happy inauguration, madame president.
she smiles, and doesn’t bother to hide the deeper layer of satisfaction at his address. from time to time, she can be won by the little things – it certainly helps that she is already in a winning mood. ❝ thank you, phillip. ❞ the champagne flute in her hand lifts a little, the mouth tilting toward him in salute before she angles it back to her own, keeping his gaze above the rim as she thoughtfully sips from its edge. when she’s had her fill for the moment it lowers, and she curls it in against her chest, her weight still resting against the edge of the desk. a smile of his own takes up residence on his lips, and he paces toward her with his hands in his pockets, coming right up to where his feet can frame hers where they extend and lay crossed at the ankle. it forces her to look up at him, but she doesn’t mind the position. ❝ now the hard work can start. ❞
her hand stretches out at her side, leaving the glass on the desk as she pulls her feet in to stand, rising up and letting her hands cradle his face as she pulls him down to her. there’s something deceptively soft to this kiss, a tenderness she’d never cop to if he brought it to her attention, but victory makes her . . . sentimental, at times. she parts from him with a whisper of a smile on her lips, and smoothly slides from his grasp, lifting her drink from the desk as she goes. ❝ enjoy the party, phil. i’ll see you in the morning. ❞
FIVE. DEC, 2022.
what’s this? one of his arms is propped beneath his head, his elbow sticking out from him like a wing. it’s amusing, almost endearing in a way, and so she is smiling as her hand reaches out to pluck the card from his fingers. ❝ i don’t recall telling you to root around in my things. ❞ he doesn’t appear cowed in the slightest, and part of her wonders why she isn’t more irritated by the fact. she knows what it is of course, without needing to open it. still, she does, and for a moment, the familiar script gives her pause. my dear, nothing is forever. except us. she stares at it for a long moment, and then bends at the waist to tuck it back into the side table. ❝ an old note. from francis. ❞
he waits, then, and she assumes it is to see whether it will somehow fracture the moment, and reassert the walls she is so fond of leaving up in his presence even now, years into the endeavor. it doesn’t. as she settles at the edge of the bed her gaze drifts from him to the nightstand, drawn to the digital face of the alarm clock. ❝ it’s midnight. ❞ her observation is blandly offered, blue gaze shifting back to him as the smile returns, more muted this time as it spreads. ❝ hope i didn’t keep you from your new year’s kiss. ❞ there’s a beat of silence between them, before he pushes himself up from the mattress, the sheet falling away as his hand finds the back of her neck and brings her toward him, stopping short of her lips with a smirk. happy new year. claire.
she closes the gap herself, and follows him down when he goes.
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