This story happens in the space between Halloween and Bonfire night, with a chapter for each day, which makes 6 chapters (I know, I'm so brilliant at Maths :P) There will be much fluff and most probably kissing at some point. Enjoy!
It was Halloween again. It wasn't that Rose particularly despised Halloween – in fact, as a child she had always loved it, the costumes and the pumpkins and the sharp and unmistakeable smell of Autumn that hung in the air and she trudged through the dried leaves that littered the ground. In recent years however, Rose had found that Halloween tended to become an excuse for people to either jump out at you repeatedly until you were ready to throttle them, or use their costume as an excuse to try and chat you up, neither of which she had much time for. Still, volunteering to be the person who closed up the shop on Halloween had earned her a bit more money, and so she was feeling surprisingly cheerful as she locked the door and began to walk home to her flat.
It was dark outside, with the sky fading from dark grey to deep navy blue as the sun finished setting. Rose walked briskly along, wondering what was on telly that night and hoping she didn't get any trick-or-treaters coming to her door – she had nothing to give them.
She sighed, pushing her hands into her pockets to try and ward off the chill that was beginning to settle in her fingertips. She flicked her hair irritably out of her face, rounding a corner and smacking straight into a person walking swiftly in the opposite direction. She just managed to keep her balance, falling against the wall instead of onto the floor and ending up with only a slightly bruised arm. The person who had smacked into her was sprawled on the floor, though as she watched he sat up with a groan, rubbing his left elbow.
Later that night Rose cursed herself for not having looked at him more closely, for not getting a better picture of his face imprinted in her mind. It was understandable under the circumstances however, since the man in question was dressed in a bright yellow banana costume, drawing her immediate attention away from his face. Most of his body was contained in foam costume with the shape and markings of a banana, while his protruding arms and legs sported a skin tight yellow covering, the bright yellow converse trainers on his feet completing the outfit. All in all, he did bear resemblance to a banana – a strangely shaped banana that had somehow acquired sentience, but nevertheless, a banana.
Rose struggled to contain her giggles as she offered a hand in order to help him up, realising that an introduction and an "are you OK?" would probably be appropriate and yet still unable to get control of her laughter.
"Well I'm not going to pretend that didn't hurt," the man gasped, bouncing to his feet rubbing a sore spot on his back through its foam covering, "but I forgive you. It is Halloween after all, a time to forgive people – or is it a time to scare people and get you to give them sweets, I can never remember."
Rose had managed to control herself at last, so it was only now that she summoned up the courage to look the man in the eye, confident she wouldn't offend him by laughing at his unusual attire. His eyes nearly knocked her off balance – they were big and brown and sparkling, meeting her gaze and holding her there as if they had a magnetic pull. Rose found herself slightly unfocused and so, instead of asking him any of the typical questions that a person who had just knocked another person to the ground might ask, she opened her mouth and blurted out the first thing she could think of.
"Why are you dressed as a banana? Bananas aren't really very scary."
The man laughed, eyes crinkling, and Rose was certain she felt her stomach do a double flip. "And who said I have to look scary?"
"Well, you said it yourself, it's Halloween, a time to "scare people and get them to give you sweets" as I think you put it."
"That may be so, but that doesn't mean I have to scare people. Didn't you see "Monsters Inc."? Laughter is much more powerful than fear."
"So you intend to make people laugh so much that they fling sweets at you?" Rose raised an eyebrow, folding her arms rubbing them with her hands, more to give herself something to do than to ward off the chill of the evening.
"Something like that."
They both ran out of conversation at the same time, and Rose fumbled yet again for something to say. "I'm Rose, by the way, Rose Tyler." That's it, Rose, she thought to herself, you just tell the nice stranger your full name, that's the way to do it. The man seemed delighted to hear this and he stuck out his hand wordlessly. Rose took it, enjoying the warmth of it and the grip of his long fingers as they shook hands.
He let go of her hand and looked at his watch, something that seemed ridiculously normal when teamed up with the rest of his outfit. "Well, must dash, people not to scare, sweets to eat and so on, good to meet you Rose Tyler." He rolled her name around in his mouth, seeming to enjoy the sound of it.
He tipped an imaginary hat to her and bounced past. Rose just caught the flash of a manic grin and the flutter of his waving fingers as he rounded the corner, the sound of his rubber soled feet slapping the pavement getting softer as he continued to walk away. Rose stood still for a moment, smiling slightly to herself. She had expected to be harassed by some moron in a costume on her way home, but her chance meeting with the banana man – she grinned as the mental image of his custard coloured costume floated across her mind once again – had put her in a good mood. Rose wondered if she would ever see him again, though she doubted whether she would recognise him in normal human clothes.
Although...
A pair of sparkling brown eyes, an infectious smile and a sprinkling of freckles popped into her thoughts. She shook her head and started off in the direction of her house, filing the encounter away as an amusing Halloween anecdote and nothing more as she stepped on an object that was most definitely not pavement.
Rose looked down to see what she had trodden on. She grinned without thinking, reaching down to pick it up and wiping mud off it with the sleeve of her jacket. It was a battered black wallet that opened up to reveal credit cards and a driver's license in the name of "John Smith". On closer inspection, Rose discovered a message printed in blue pen on the inside of the wallet: "if found, please ring this number," followed by a list of digits. Only a very forgetful person would feel the need to put their own phone number in their wallet in case it got lost – it occurred to Rose that this probably wasn't the first time this wallet had been dropped in the mud (she wondered where on earth he had managed to keep his wallet in that ridiculous costume.)
She slipped it into her pocket and carried on walking home. It appeared that Rose was fated to meet this "John Smith" once again and, she was almost ashamed to say, she was quite looking forward to it.
Hope you enjoyed it, review if you feel the urge :) I should have a chapter up every day, to coincide with the dates in the story, but I'm quite busy so I might be a day or two behind. Allons-y!