"No, no. Nothing wrong with the suit. It suits you." The pun didn't come without another brilliant grin from the older (younger) of the two Time Lords. But he'd also noticed that look. That fleeting look towards Rose for some sort of confirmation. When had he become so interested in pleasing her? When had he come to need her so badly? He could answer that question himself.. since he'd realized that he.. that he.. but even in his mind he couldn't finish that sentence, so though the look hadn't gone unnoticed, he wouldn't say anything about it.
"I remember. We thought celery was a fashion statement." Something that still pleased him, for whatever reason, to this day. But like always, all things came back to Rose. "She would have thought we looked quite silly."
Blue eyes remained locked onto her as she stared back at him, then as she looked around herself and to the other Doctor. To the other him. He had noticed the hand-holding. He had noticed the tighter squeeze. And he definitely knew that look on his own face (no matter how different it was) and the same confused but weary look on Rose's face.
That was his Rose. He had her first. But.. that man in the blue suit was him. The Doctor took a moment to look the next reincarnation over slowly, taking in every aspect from his strange trainers to the way the pants made his legs look so thin, to the way the buttons pulled around his thin chest.. and those brown eyes. Brown. So unlike his own.
And still not ginger.
Why couldn't he ever be ginger? He just wanted once, to be gin--
Now wasn't the time for that.
He nearly answered her question, not her most eloquent reaction? No. But even as his mouth formed the 'O' to say 'no', he realized that she wasn't talking to him. And it was then, only then, that he realized that as she'd been standing here staring at him, looking between the two of them.. all those words she'd been saying? Not a single one of them had really been directed at him. She hadn't said a word to him yet. She'd either been talking to no one in particular, or to the Doctor at her side. She hadn't actually addressed him yet. The thought of that put bitter ideas into his head but he wouldn't think on them long, but it was long enough that the smile faded from his face as he watched her.
Until he realized that he must look like a fool, staring at Rose so seriously, so the smile returned, wide as ever. "Tea sounds fantastic. Jack told me here that his pretty Mister Jones makes a mad cup of coffee.. or something equally as strange." Blue eyes turned back onto Jack beside him before he turned his body completely to face him, putting himself a profile to the pair from the other TARDIS.
It all made sense, though. He'd threatened to leave her so many times. And he finally had, willing or not. Served him right.