At her words the Doctor felt his chest both swell and tighten as his two hearts each had their own reaction. As she continued on to tease him his lips parted and he gaped at her in wonder. He had been afraid these last few weeks, afraid that he would never truly get her back, that she would never see him the same. And well, she shouldn’t.... but she should.
He wasn’t the same. In so many ways he was different. He was different in the way he fussed with his hair and his appearance in general. In the way his voice changed when he got excited. It was different when he grabbed her hand and dragged her off to show her the universe rather than simply waving an arm out and showing her the way.
He was the same. In so many ways he was the same. He still said her name as if it were a prayer, his last hope to be the man he had once promised himself he would be. His brow still furrowed and he still muttered and cursed to himself when he worked on the TARDIS. He was still that same man hungry for adventure as he had always been before.
But she could see it now. The difference and the same. He could tell, she could see it. Just a little. She no longer feared him. She no longer looked at him as if he was a stranger. Those beautiful gold-brown eyes looked at him and saw him, the him that had always loved her. The him that was born for her. But she also saw the other him, the him that had saved her and who she had saved in the same breath.
Squeezing her hand tightly in his, as if to remind himself that she said she wasn’t letting go, he finally grinned and let their hands swing between them. “New me. New loves and hates. Still getting it all figured out. This me loves human contact. Welllllll at least one specific human.”
His brow furrowed as her teasing comment finally registered. “Oi, you’re not supposed to say that! Just because I’m not that him anymore doesn’t mean my feelings don’t get hurt on his behalf. He was still me, you know?” He scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. “Then again, I suppose it could be said that even though it’s a jab at him it’s a compliment for me. And really as long as you like me like this at all I suppose I don’t mind if it’s ‘better than’...” he trailed off as he looked down at her and he scrunched up his face. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I? The rambling thing...”