Originally, I had planned to post a DW/The Hour crossover, but while I was working on the first chapters, I was suddenly hit across the head really hard with this AU idea. I asked on several social media platforms which story you would prefer to read and the AU won. So, here we are. I hope you'll enjoy the ride :)

Just See Me

Clara Oswald is almost happy with her life. She loves her job, she loves her hobbies and the Doctor, her best friend, always has her back. If only her love life could go just as smoothly.

What she doesn't know: The Doctor is secretly in love with her and her failing dates are a little more than just a coincidence. Is it enough to make Clara realize that what she is looking for has been right under her nose all this time?

Chapter 1

The Doctor plopped down in the chair with a heavy sigh and took a sip of his beer. It was just another one of those days that he wished would be over soon and sadly, those kind of days were becoming more and more frequent. He tried to think of the moment his life had become such a mess, but he just couldn't pin it down. It was just a sequence of bad decisions, one after another.

"Okay, I think it's time for you to tell me what the hell is bugging you," the voice with the heavy Scottish accent said next to him. "Before you drink up my entire beer storage."

The Doctor turned his head and glowered at Missy. She didn't understand. She never understood. For Missy, life was simple. She could be brutally honest and get away with it. Sometimes, the Doctor envied her for that.

"Clara is on a date," he growled. "Again."

Slowly, Missy shook her head, an expression of weariness on her face. "You and that girl," she remarked. "Have you considered telling her how you feel?"

"Yes."

Missy raised her eyebrows at him, obviously expecting a more elaborate answer.

"And then I decided against it," the Doctor snapped. "It would be the end of our friendship. Clara would think I'm an old pervert and never speak to me again."

"Well, you are an old pervert," Missy replied with a shrug. "A cradle-snatching, old pervert who fell in love with a 26-year old."

"Clara is 30 now," the Doctor argued.

"And you're as madly in love with her as you were on the first day."

His friend rolled her eyes impatiently and he didn't doubt for a second that, if their roles at been reversed, Missy would have made a move a long time ago, but he just couldn't. Ever since Clara had stepped into his shop four years ago, the Doctor had been in love with her, but to him, it was more than just a little crush. They shared a taste in music and books and movies, a sense of humour, a love for travelling. To him, Clara was perfect. She was his best friend and he valued that friendship over anything else in the world. He surely wouldn't ruin that just because of some silly human urge.

But the Doctor hadn't come here tonight to think about Clara, who was on a date and might bring home a man. It wasn't her first date either, far from it. Clara had tried over and over again and every single time, the Doctor had been jealous, only to feel relieved to hear when it had once again amounted to nothing. Now, her attempts to find a man merely made him sad because, in all those years, Clara hadn't even considered him once. He really didn't have a chance with her at all. At first, the Doctor had hoped that she would just see him, but by now he had realized that it was never going to happen.

"Can we talk about something else?" the Doctor asked. "I could use a distraction."

"Fine by me," Missy said. "You pick the topic, but I doubt we'll have very much time left."

In response, the Doctor frowned at her. "What makes you say that?"

His friend pulled up the sleeve of her blouse and looked at her watch, wrinkling her forehead in the process. "It's 7.30. I assume Clara will ask you to rescue her from her date before 8."

"And what makes you say that?" he asked in annoyance. The last thing he needed was false hope. At some point, one of her dates would be successful. Clara was a gorgeous, young woman, intelligent and funny – one of the men she went out with would see that. In fact, the Doctor was surprised that no one had so far.

"Because it happened the last five times," Missy said. "But anyway, topic. Pick one."

The Doctor decided to brush the thought about Clara aside for a moment and instead focus on Missy. After all, she was his oldest friend.

"Okay, how about you finally tell me about your mystery job?" he suggested hopefully.

Missy took a sip from her own beer before she replied. "There's nothing mysterious about my job."

"You've had it for months and you still haven't told me what it is," he said dryly. "If it's not a mystery, you're certainly making it one."

"I work in an office at a desk with a computer," his friend drawled, her boredom more than obvious. "Several times a day, a moron calls me because they forgot their password. Do you really need any more details?"

The Doctor knitted his eyebrows at her. "Wait, they let you talk to customers? Do they realize it's what got you fired from your last job?"

Missy shrugged nonchalantly and it was obvious that she still hadn't developed any kind of manners when it came to customers.

"What company do you work for?" he wanted to know, but before Missy had a chance of answering his question, his mobile phone vibrated in his pocket.

The Doctor pulled it out and looked at the new message he had received.

Emergency. Awkward date. Please help!

Clara

"So, she wants you to pick her up?"

The Doctor lifted his head and looked at the smug grin on Missy's face. How had she known? Sometimes, he thought that Missy knew Clara better than he did.

"What should I tell them if I just show up there?"

His friend made a dismissive gesture. "Tell Clara there's a problem at home. With her kids."

"Clara doesn't have kids," he argued.

"Yeah, but the date guy doesn't know that."

"Right," the Doctor concluded and rose to his seat. It occurred to him that maybe this was one of the moments where he should take a different path, one of those turning points he had considered earlier, but Clara was his friend and she needed his help, so he would just do what he always did. "I'm gonna go and save her."

"Go get her, tiger," Missy replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

With a sigh, the Doctor picked up his coat and turned to leave. One day, one of Clara's dates would be successful and he should just enjoy that he currently still had his best friend all to himself because that time was most definitely going to come to an end.

He was cute. Maybe not quite as attractive as he had looked in his profile picture on her dating app, but Clara wasn't as superficial as to reduce a guy to his looks alone. Who knew? Maybe he thought the same thing about her.

"So, uhm, the hobbies you listed on the app, are there really not more?" Clara asked nervously. "I can't imagine that you spend your entire day reading."

"Well, I do go to work occasionally," he replied with an insecure laugh. That was what bugged her more than the exaggerated profile picture. Somehow, the guy seemed uncomfortable and nervous. "But reading is my favourite pastime. I like a quiet atmosphere."

Clara laughed. "You tell me. I'm a school teacher, I love quiet. I live for quiet moments. But I also enjoy travelling a lot. My plan is to have visited every country in Europe before I turn 35."

Her date seemed to ignore her last statement and somehow, he looked even more uncomfortable than he had before. "So, you don't like children?"

"Oh no, I like children. It's just that when there are crowds of them that it can get a bit annoying after 8 hours."

The man cleared his throat. "But you don't have any children of your own?" he asked carefully.

"No, I don't," Clara replied.

"Are you sure?"

Clara frowned at him in response and somehow, she felt like this date was getting weirder by the second. For some reason she couldn't quite fathom, it always happened. She found a nice guy online, they got along well, but as soon as they met, things turned awkward. Maybe Clara just had a way of picking the weird ones.

"I'm pretty sure," she said reluctantly. "I think I would have noticed."

"It's just that-" the man said, but then broke off mid-sentence. "Ah, nevermind. Who do you travel with?"

The smile returned to Clara's face once again even though she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was bothering him. At least the topic had shifted to something she felt passionate about. "I have a friend that I travel with," she explained and a somehow, she couldn't keep herself from smiling. It wasn't just a friend. It was her best friend, her rock, her soulmate. "He knows so many things about so many places. It's always an adventure to go on a trip with him."

"And I suppose he's paying for everything," her date said sharply and there was a sudden hostility in his voice that Clara didn't really understand.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, is he not? Your friend?"

The way he stressed the word friend gave her the impression that he thought the Doctor was more than that, but Clara didn't have the faintest clue what had given him the idea and she didn't need to justify her friendships to a man she had never met before. But one thing was as clear as day: this date was yet another failure.

"I think I'm gonna go and powder my nose," Clara replied gruffly and rose from her seat.

As soon as she had entered the bathroom, Clara pulled her phone out of her purse and typed out a message. She wasn't going to sit through any more of this awkwardness, so she texted the only person she knew who would come and pick her up on a Saturday night. The Doctor.

Emergency. Awkward date. Please help!

Clara