Title: Four to Doomsday
Story Number: 117
Season: 19
Screenwriter: Terence Dudley
Director: John Black
Thoughts:
An intriguing premise executed in the most boring way possible. Landing on an enormous spaceship, the Doctor & co. discover it’s run by the Urbankans: the Monarch, Enlightenment, and Persuassion. Also on board are representatives of ancient cultures of Earth: Greece, Mandarin China,…
Summary: What's a session of life modelling between friends, eh? Well, in Tegan and Nyssa's case, it causes a great deal of awkwardness. Surely Tegan's suggestion of a gym session will smooth things over and definitely won't set up the potential of more flustered awkwardness between the two of them…
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Read on AO3.
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Tegan numbly patted Nyssa on the back, nostrils filled with the curious combination of chocolate, paper and mint that was Nyssa’s signature scent. The younger girl was still hugging her, the painting stood just to the side of them both.
‘Er… Nys?’
Nyssa gently pulled away, wiping her eyes with one arm.
‘S-sorry, I don’t normally cry like this…’
‘It’s fine,’ the Australian said, blinking slowly at her friend. ‘So… you don’t hate the painting?’
‘I-I have to go to the library,’ Nyssa said, quickly. ‘Care to walk me over?’
‘Sure.’
As they set off, a curiously awkward silence extended from seconds into minutes. Tegan’s brain was scrambled. Her mouth -normally unable to stop whatever thought was in her head from tumbling out- seemed unable to function. It was all she could do to keep walking and breathing.
Nyssa walked beside her, eyes still slightly bloodshot from the crying. She seemed unable to speak either.
‘W-well, this is it,’ Nyssa said, as they both stopped outside the library. ‘Thanks for walking me. And… thanks for the painting.’
‘No worries; thanks for modelling,’ Tegan replied, quickly. ‘Er… Nyssa-’
‘Y-yes?’
Nyssa swallowed, eyes blinking quickly. Tegan had never seen her so startled and flustered. She had to admit, the effect was a little overwhelming. Was Tegan really the cause of this?
‘Are…are you okay?’
‘O-of course!’ Nyssa exclaimed, mouth tripping over the words. ‘W-why wouldn’t I be?’
Tegan stared at her.
Then promptly burst out laughing.
The younger woman’s mouth fell open as Tegan leaned forwards onto her knees, shaking with mirth.
‘Tegan!’
‘I’m s-so-sorry,’ Tegan managed, gasping for breath between giggles. ‘Oh… Nyssa, you’re so adorable…’
‘And you’re being insufferable,’ Nyssa replied, now putting her hands on her hips. ‘Tegan, are you making fun of me?’
‘No!’ -Tegan took a deep breath, and managed to stop laughing so hard. ‘I just… Nyssa, it’s okay to admit you got flustered after sitting like that for an hour and a half.’
‘Well, I didn’t…’ Nyssa looked to the side, face flushing again. ‘I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.’
‘Me? Nyssa, you’re the one who was sat there starkers…’
Nyssa crossed her arms, giving an exasperated roll of her eyes.
‘I’m not as soft as you think I am.’
‘I don’t think you’re soft. Adorable? Yes. But not soft.’
Nyssa let out a snicker, and her face softened.
‘Thanks.’
A thought suddenly occurred to Tegan.
‘Do you want to… nah-’
‘No, what is it?’
‘Well…’ Tegan deliberated. Oh, to hell with it. ‘Do you want to come to the gym with me this evening?’
Nyssa stared at her.
‘The gym?’
‘Yeah, I think you’d really enjoy it.’
‘Tegan, I haven’t taken regular exercise since primary school.’
‘C’mon… as a favour?’
‘Okay, you’re on,’ Nyssa said, with a smirk. ‘Hopefully I don’t make you regret it.’
‘I never regret spending time with you, Nys.’
‘And you’re not just saying that because you got to spend the last ninety minutes staring at my ti-’
‘Nyssa!’
Tegan felt her face flush, but she couldn’t stop her eyes from darting down Nyssa’s chest for a second. The younger girl luckily didn’t seem to notice however, as she was already breaking into peals of laughter.
‘Let me just head back to the flat to get changed,’ Nyssa said, after her laughter had worn off. ‘Meet you at the gym at… six?’
‘You need all afternoon to get changed?’
Nyssa rolled her eyes.
‘Some of us can’t just throw on some exercise gear and look fantastic without any effort,’ she said. ‘Besides, I’ll probably need to borrow some gym socks off of Mel, in any case. And you did say this evening.’
‘Alright, then,’ Tegan said, trying not to think too hard about that first bit; Nyssa thought she looked good in gym gear? ‘See you at six.’
*
Tegan patted her hands nervously on the strap of her gym bag. She was stood outside the gym, wearing her usual gym shorts, sports bra and loose sweatshirt. The autumn wind was already lowering the temperature considerably, and Tegan was glad for the extra layer.
‘Hello.’
Tegan startled, as Nyssa arrived, wearing a pair of exercise shorts whose vivid pattern immediately signalled that they had been borrowed off of Mel. As was the slightly baggy exercise top. The trainers were Nyssa’s own, but looked reasonably up the job.
‘Hey,’ the Australian replied, with a quick smile. ‘You… er, got all the right clothing?’
‘Of course,’ Nyssa replied. ‘Can’t you see?’
‘I…’ -Tegan felt her cheeks flush- ‘I mean… y’know, a sports bra.’
‘Oh,’ Nyssa said, in response. ‘Yes; see-’
The younger woman pulled up her top. Tegan saw a flash of blue before she quickly turned.
‘G-great; okay, let’s head in.’
She could have sworn that Nyssa let out a giggle behind her as they headed into the gym.
After one of the instructors had shown Nyssa through her orientation, the two girls headed over to the treadmills. The gym had a fair few people that evening, but it wasn’t as busy as Tegan had assumed. Probably a good thing; she didn’t want Nyssa to feel self-conscious.
‘Five minutes on these,’ she said, as her and Nyssa climbed onto individual treadmills. ‘Start off with a fast walk, and then gradually built up the speed, okay?’
Nyssa nodded, looking a little nervous.
As they started walking, Tegan kept up a steady flow of conversation, trying to put the younger girl at ease. She remembered how nervous she had been herself when she first started frequenting gyms, and she wanted Nyssa to avoid that if possible.
Nyssa was already starting to sweat, as she sped up from a power walk to a jog. It was frankly unfair how attractive she looked when she was concentrating. Tegan had to keep re-steadying herself after every time she looked sideways at the biochemistry student.
She was starting to suspect that this had been a bad idea. Not for Nyssa, obviously; it was great that she had agreed. But for Tegan’s heartrate? Not so good.
‘How…’ Nyssa gasped, putting her hands on her hips after they had climbed off the treadmills. ‘… how do you think I’ve done?’
‘G-great!’ Tegan said, quickly, as she turned away.
That settled it; this had been a terrible idea. Nyssa was genuinely trying and all Tegan could do was avoid leering at her. The image of Nyssa’s chest heaving -combined with her belaboured breathing and skin covered in perspiration- was causing some… excitement between Tegan’s legs. Followed by a deep sense of guilt.
‘You’re doing fantastic, Nys,’ she continued, grabbing Nyssa’s water bottle and turning back around to pass it to her. ‘Really.’
As Nyssa took several deep gulps, the deltoid muscles around her shoulders flexed and relaxed under her sports top. Hmm, what would she look like in just a sports bra-
Damn it!
Tegan looked away again. She felt like such a creep. This was Nyssa, her friend. She shouldn’t be staring at her like this, no matter how attractive she found Nyssa.
The rest of the session did improve somewhat, once they’d moved away from the cardio stuff and into the weights section. At the very least, Tegan found it slightly easier not to ogle Nyssa when she wasn’t… jiggling.
Although the muscle flexing was definitely eye-catching. Or maybe the universe was just making Tegan’s life difficult again.
Eventually, the two girls started doing cool-down exercises, and Tegan found herself able to relax a bit.
‘Well done, Nys!’ she said, patting her friend on the shoulder as they collected their bags and headed out of the main gym. ‘That was brilliant!’
‘You think?’ Nyssa replied, wiping her brow with a hand towel she’d pulled out of her bag. ‘I feel like I barely managed any of it…’
‘Nah, you were great. Besides, now you get to enjoy the post-workout endorphin rush!’
‘And a shower,’ Nyssa said, as they headed into the changing rooms. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’
‘Oh, of course I don’t mind,’ Tegan said, after a beat. ‘Probably should take one myself, come to think of it.’
‘Right.’
Nyssa promptly dumped her bag onto the bench and started pulling her top off.
Tegan stared numbly at her for a second, before frantically turning her back and headed into a nearby shower cubicle, pulling the curtain closed behind her.
‘Tegan, you’ve already seen me-’
‘I know!’ Tegan exclaimed, as she started taking off her exercise kit. ‘I just- that was different, alright!’
Nyssa let out a giggle from the other side of the curtain.
‘Tegan, you’re an artist; aren’t you supposed to be objective about these things?’
‘I am objective about nudity!’ Tegan exclaimed. ‘Just… not with you. We’re friends; it feels… different.’
There was a pause.
‘Different, eh?’ Nyssa repeated. ‘Well, I suppose it does feel a bit different.’
There was the sound of another curtain being pulled across, and a shower was turned on.
Tegan swallowed, and pushed her used undies into her bag, before turning on the shower.
As her muscles relaxed under the warm water, Tegan let out a deep sigh. Yeah, it sure was different. And now she’d made it awkward again.
Was it always going to be like this with Nyssa? Presumably, until these feelings eventually subsided. Which… well, they surely had to, at some right… right? She couldn’t spend the next however-long with heartache whenever she looked at her one of her closest friends, after all. It wasn’t fair on Nyssa.
Urgh, such a mess.
Tegan rinsed off the suds from her shower gel, and turned off the shower. She pulled her towel out of her bag, and started to dry herself. Her hair was so short these days that it didn’t take very long.
Realising that she’d dropped her shorts out onto the floor outside, she wrapped the towel around herself and pulled the curtain back.
The shorts had apparently scooted across the floor to near Nyssa’s cubicle. Tegan quickly stepped across. Then-
‘Oh, that Tegan had got some explaining to do, leaving us in the middle of the night out like that-’
‘Well, she was in the gym earlier so maybe she-’
‘Aren’t you all being rather unfair to her-’
‘You and Ian are too soft on her, Barbara-’
Several voices -getting louder by the second- from the members of the fencing club reached her ears. Oh, crap. She didn’t fancy explaining herself.
‘Tegan?’ came a whisper from inside the cubicle. Nyssa. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Er…’
‘I’ve got a mind to tell that Australian off, you know…’
The curtain swung back, Nyssa’s hand closed around Tegan’s arm, and pulled her inside, before pulling the curtain closed behind her.
Tegan’s limbs froze up, and her brain seemed to disengage.
Oh, no; not again…
Water was dripping off of Nyssa’s curls, and down over her shoulders. Her eyes were wide, as she put a finger to her lips. Tegan’s eyes remained fixed on a spot just above Nyssa’s left ear, petrified as to what might happen if her gaze dropped lower.
There was the sound of the shower-room opening, and several foot-steps approached.
‘Tegan, is that you?’
Nyssa put her finger to her lips, before speaking outload.
‘Afraid not,’ she said, loudly. ‘Are you looking for someone?’
‘Sorry; we thought we saw one of our club members. Beg your pardon.’
‘No problem.’
There was the sound of the door closing.
At which Tegan’s towel decided to unravel, landing with a gentle splat against the wet tiles at her feet.
Tegan’s breath caught in her throat. Oh. Oh, no.
Nyssa’s gaze drifted down, slowly taking in the sight before her. Her eyes widened.
Crap. Bollocks. Crap. Oh… rabbits…
Tegan stared into Nyssa’s eyes. All she could hear was the sound of the shower behind them, and the frantic beating of her own heart.
Nyssa could see everything.
‘Oh,’ Nyssa said, very softly. ‘Oh, my. Er…’
Tegan’s throat had seized up completely.
‘S-sorry,’ Nyssa breathed, before averting her gaze. ‘I-I shouldn’t have-’
Tegan blinked.
‘W-well, now we’re even, I suppose,’ Nyssa said, voice quavering slightly. ‘You’ve seen me and now I’ve seen you.’
‘Y-yeah,’ Tegan mumbled, blinking quickly. Her heart was still pounding so hard against her chest that it was a miracle Nyssa couldn’t hear it. ‘Even.’
Oh… rabbits.
*
They dressed in a very awkward silence, backs turned away from each other.
Tegan’s heart continued to hammer away against her chest, as she pulled her clothes on. Nyssa hadn’t said a word since they’d climbed out of the shower cubicle, and Tegan’s own voice hadn’t returned in the meantime. Who would have thought it; Tegan Jovanka, unable to speak?
Both of them turned towards the exit. Their hands reached for the door. Fingers brushed gently against each other. The two girls froze. Tegan blinked, and withdraw her hand.
Nyssa looked at her for a second. Then, her eyes darted down from Tegan’s face for a split second, and the younger girls face burned scarlet again. She opened the door and stepped through, leaving one hand on it to hold the way open.
Oh. Tegan’s mind buzzed as she followed. This was a new development.
The silence between them remained thick and heavy in the air as they headed across campus.
Eventually, as they neared the steps to their respective flats, Tegan found she could stand the silence no longer.
‘So… were my tits that awe-inspiring that they took your breath away?’
Nyssa spluttered, face turning a boiling red as she burst into a fit of flustered laughter.
‘T-Tegan! W-what are you-’
‘You haven’t said a word since we got out of that shower, Nys,’ she replied, with a shrug. ‘Given the “oh my”, I’m guessing you liked what you saw.’
Nyssa stared at her, mouth opening and closing. She looked adorable. It really was not fair.
‘I…’ the younger girl said. ‘Well… yes.’
‘Cool. Aesthetic attraction, right?’
Nyssa blinked.
‘Er… I suppose so, yes. It doesn’t bother you?’
‘My pretty friend thinks I look good naked; of bloody course that doesn’t bother me, Nys,’ -Tegan let out a chuckle- ‘I think you’re too sweet for words. So… maybe let’s stop being awkward? Like you said, we’re even now.’
Nyssa smiled, eyes crinkling.
‘Yes, I suppose we are.’
They shared a smile, and Tegan’s heart lifted as the tension finally dissolved.
‘Oh, I’ve got a exercise top you can borrow, by the way; slightly more muted colour than the one you got from Mel.’
‘Er, thank you.’
A minute or so later, Tegan was unlocking the door to her room. Tegan held the door open and Nyssa stepped inside.
The Australian felt a nervous shiver go up her spine as she followed. Nyssa was in her room.
Nyssa looked around, taking in the various paintings and sketches dotted over the walls and leaning against every other item of furniture. And the-
Ah, crap.
Tegan frantically grabbed a used sports bra that was hanging lazily off the edge of her bed, and stuffed it quickly into her laundry bin. She then turned and rooted into her wardrobe.
‘Here,’ Tegan said, handing the sports top over. ‘Might be a little big but…’
‘Thank you,’ Nyssa said, taking the top and thankfully not mentioning the used sports bra. ‘You’re sure this is okay?’
‘Absolutely,’ Tegan replied. ‘Consider it payback as sorts for agreeing to model for me.’
Nyssa smiled, cheeks dimpling. Tegan ignored the usual increase in her heart-rate. Nyssa really was too lovely for words.
The younger girl carefully folded the top and placed it inside her bag.
‘Well…’ Nyssa said, taking a quick step towards Tegan. ‘Thank you. I’ll see you around, Tegan.’
And -taking a breath- Nyssa closed the gap and quickly pressed her lips to Tegan’s cheek.
‘Y-yeah,’ Tegan said, blinking as Nyssa stepped back. ‘Definitely.’
Nyssa smiled, cheeks slightly flushed (or maybe that was just Tegan’s mind playing tricks on her pining heart) as she stepped back. A few seconds later, the door closed behind her.
The Australian stood there for a second, and reached a hand up to touch the spot where Nyssa’s lips had briefly caressed.
Oh, dear.
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Thanks for reading, everyone; hope you enjoyed the chapter! Apologies for the one week delay with this one; IRL stuff got in the way and I had basically no time to write the previous week. Hopefully this more than made up for the wait; stay tuned!
Sergeant Benton cheerfully bearded for Tegan at several UNIT parties during the late 80s before she came out. A couple decades later, he was also one of the first people to know that Tegan and Nyssa had gotten engaged.
