Burton "Gus" Guster (heardaboutpluto) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2022-05-21 21:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, martha jones (jones_drjones), ~2022 may, ~burton guster (heardaboutpluto) |
Who: Burton Guster and Martha Jones
What: Visiting the Titanic
Where: Town
When: During the portal
Warnings: nah
Status: complete gdoc
Going on a cruise with his beautiful girlfriend was an opportunity that Gus couldn’t pass up, even if said cruise was a doomed one from the early 1900s when racial issues were at play. As long as they were careful, he figured they could explore the ship and maybe even sneak into a cabin for a night. If things got too uncomfortable or dangerous, it would be easy enough to return to Madison Valley.
Tonight, they were planning to crash one of the many shipboard balls which meant that he was wearing a rented tux, complete with top hat and tails. If they looked the part, it would be easier to blend in, despite their skin color.
Gus was still learning his way around the TARDIS, so he opted to meet Martha outside instead of trying to find her inside.
*
One of the advantages of living in the TARDIS was the access to the big wardrobe and the wardrobe had outfits from every time period imaginable. Martha had a lot of fun finding a dress she wanted and emerged from the TARDIS in a light blue Edwardian dress with her hair done up in curls and cute shoes. When she saw Gus, she smiled and then gave a playfully whistle. “Don’t we look all dapper. I especially like the top hat.” She did. She thought Gus could sell the look. “I know it’s a bit morbid, but I’m really looking forward to this. Titanic was always a favourite story of mine growing up. So tragic, but so, so fascinating.”
–
“It somehow feels less morbid than Pompeii,” Gus pointed out, offering her his hand and, when she took it, tugging her in for a quick kiss. “Sometimes I feel like my life here is a very lengthy and unusual fever dream.” Going to Hogwarts. Living in the TARDIS. All of it seemed too good to be true and he intended to enjoy every moment.
Well, maybe not the unpleasant ones, like knowing there was a universe out there where his best friend died years ago. “Shall we?”
*
She giggled at the tug and kissed him back. She had to say that she enjoyed how Gus’ confidence had grown over the time they had dated. She liked it. Had he met her when she first arrived she’d have been a mess. Thankfully he knew her now after coming to terms with a few things.
“Except if it was just a fever dream, I wouldn’t be real. That wouldn’t be fun now would it?” Martha took his arm, wanting to walk closely next to him as they headed towards the Bonnie Belle. “I’m hoping this’ll be like when I met Shakspeare and less like when I had to be a maid for a all boys boarding school… I much preferred it when no one stared at me for the colour of my skin.” She was prepare for it though.
–
Gus was more than happy to give Martha his arm as they walked. Luckily, they didn’t have to go too far. “No one is being a maid. Or a shoe shiner. Or whatever else they think.” It was going to be difficult to see the way people of color were treated, but it was a risk he was willing to take in order to experience such an historical event up close.
“I don’t remember if you told me about meeting Shakespeare,” he said as they walked.
*
“He was very flirty and charming, which isn’t that surprising, but it was when he started to flirt with me.” She smiled and it was the sort of smile that said she had enjoyed it and thought of it fondly. She leaned in a little, her voice dropping a little as if to speak to him more privately. “He called me his dark lady.” After having that encounter, Martha had gone and read all the sonnets Shakespeare had written. The fact that he wrote a few to a ‘dark lady’ had really floored her at the time.
“There were a few people I met through the Doctor that were complete disappointments. Thankfully he wasn’t one of them.”
–
Knowing that Shakespeare was potential competition for Martha’s affections made Gus a bit uncomfortable, though with any luck the other man would never show up in Madison Valley and he would never have to worry.
“Well, that certainly sounds like an adventure,” he agreed with a hesitant smile. “Who did you meet that was a disappointment?”
*
“Mmm, a few British Prime Ministers.” That was for certain. She tilted her head a little as they walked. “Rapunzel was kind of disappointing. The new Disney film made her way more interesting than the one I met. Dracula for sure.” She nodded at the thought of Dracula. “I should probably put Queen Elizabeth on there since she tried to kill the Doctor when she saw him, but I actually thought she was pretty epic.” Martha grinned.
–
“Why did the queen try to kill the Doctor?” Gus asked. It sounded like there was a story there and while he had about a million questions about Dracula thanks to his life long obsession with Blackula, he wanted to hold off on that conversation for a better time, when they weren’t about to experience a historical event.
*
“At the time he had no idea.” Martha grinned, thinking it was funny. “This Doctor finally told me it had to do with the fact that he had thought her a shapeshifting alien and agreed to marry her and even ended up actually marrying her. Then he took off on the TARDIS and she was, obviously, mad. Turned out it was her horse that was the alien.” Yep, the horse. Martha kind fo wished she’d been around to see any of it, but running away from the Queen had been pretty exciting too.
She leaned in playfully to Gus as they walked. “I promise I’m not a shapeshifting alien.”
–
Gus stopped walking and turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised. “The horse was an alien,” he repeated. If he hadn’t spent nearly two years living in Madison Valley, that would be a lot more difficult to believe. And it might actually be weirder than anything he’d experienced here.
“Does anything here actually surprise you?” he asked. “Or is it all just another day?”
*
Martha laughed, but wasn’t insulted. “Sometimes, yeah. I think it just has helped me to adapt quicker and go with it. You know how some people freeze and just stand there in disbelief? I don’t have that much. I just start reacting. Which I guess helps as a doctor too.”
She squeezed his hand. “You’ll get there too, you know. With this place? I’m sure you’ll eventually see your share of weird things to help desensitize you.” She paused as she reconsidered her words. “Maybe that’s not something we should be striving for, huh?”
–
If his years with Psych hadn’t completely desensitized him, Gus wasn’t sure if anything would. He still wasn’t the best in an emergency situation, especially if there was blood or a dead body involved. Every day he was impressed with the things his girlfriend was able to do as a doctor. “I thought I saw a lot of weird stuff back in Santa Barbara and San Francisco after we started Psych. This place takes it to a whole new level.”
He was trying his best to adapt though and not let the completely insane occurrences throw him too much.
*
Martha wasn’t of the opinion you needed to be completely used to something. She liked Gus for all his strange little things he did. She found them endearing though she wasn’t sure he’d liked to hear it. She even thought his close friendship with Shawn was adorable. She had never really seen two guys so close before, unless you counted Jack and the Doctor, but even then it felt different. She admired the friendship even if Gus could get exasperated and sometimes Shawn crossed the lines of privacy.
As they approached the Bonnie Belle, Martha slowed down. She had been thinking on it for a few minutes now as they walked and she wanted to make it clear. His hand still in hers, she turned to face him. “I love you, Gus. Just the way you are, yeah?”
–
Smiling, Gus squeezed her hand and bent to kiss her. “I love you, too,” he said. He also greatly appreciated that she was able to handle Shawn’s presence in their lives. Even at his most exasperating, Gus couldn’t imagine not having his best friend around.
“Are we ready for some high seas adventure?” he asked, pushing open the door.
*
“So ready.” And the fact they were two black people who looked obviously wealthy meant they could throw some metaphorical middle fingers to no doubt rich and entitled racists too. It felt like a win-win all around.