John watched her from where he stood with his back against the wall. He could tell she was tense from worry but unlikely to admit it. He wasn't entirely thrilled about having the Doctor here for the night. It wasn't that he didn't like him, he did some self-loathing but that would just be ridiculous. No, if he was honest, he was worried. And jealous. He knew exactly how the other man felt about Rose and he hadn't acted on it because he couldn't, despite how much he wanted to. But Rose loved him, so what would happen to him if she found out that it wasn't unrequited?
"Rose... are you ok?" he asked softly.
“I...expected neither of you to actually show up...and if either of you did...I sort of wanted it to be you, because, I dunno, I feel more comfortable with you. You never actually hurt me and...” Rose sighed softly. “You seem...more real somehow...and...you don’t see through me, and he does, sometimes he did even when he was with me.” She moved towards him. She really wanted a hug, but she was worried to ask, as she would be with either of them.
--
John tried not to let her initial words flare his ego but he couldn’t help the small amount that did at her wanting him to show up rather than the Doctor. But then, she was angry and hurt.
He sighed softly. “As I said before, I’m just less Time Lord,” he repeated his words from the other day. He never did explain what he meant by it and he still wasn’t sure he wanted to yet. It was a sore subject for him and he still wasn’t used to it. He looked at her for a moment before moving away from the wall and catching her in a loose hug. “It’ll be ok, you know. You’ll see. You even stop being angry at him when you realise..”
---
“No...I don’t think I ever will be OK...I just...” Rose leaned into his hug. “I know I should realise that, whatever I want from him, I’m never going to get it, because I’m just human, and he’s not and he’s never going to be.” The tone she spoke in showed she’d had this thought a thousand times before, and never managed to find a satisfactory response to it.
“You’re warmer than him.” Rose murmured
-----
“You will be. I know it’s hard to believe at the moment but you will.” John sighed softly at her words, not sure what to say or how to answer her. It wasn’t because she was ‘just human’ or that he wasn’t. It was because he was a Time Lord, and the last of. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t or didn’t want to... it was because he couldn’t.