Chapter Text
“Right,” said Bill around the hair grip between her teeth. “Hit me.”
Just to the side of the vanity mirror, where all of Bill's focus remained as she got ready for her night out, sat Zepheera with a stack of flashcards. She pulled one from the top; it being the size of a poster, it was a bit of an awkward maneuver to make it stand so she could see what was written on it.
“ ‘The phenomenon in which two particles are linked to the point that they share a state of being no matter how much distance in space is between them',” Zepheera read aloud.
Bill hummed in recognition, then took the pin from her mouth to hold back the strand of hair she'd been twisting. “Quantum entanglement,” she answered.
“That's it,” Zepheera confirmed, tossing aside the card.
Since their reunion, she'd taken to listening in on Bill's tutoring sessions with the Doctor. Seemed a bit silly to carry on hiding when they all knew she was nearby, and certainly felt less creepy. Now she could actually pay attention to what the Doctor was teaching her, watch him get wrapped up into the chosen subject matter, and see Bill's expression light up to learn something brand new.
Zepheera was more of a spectator than a fellow student. She was hardly assigned homework, it was more of an excuse to spend time with the Doctor and Bill when they weren't sneaking off in the TARDIS under Nardole's nose. Or getting into other trouble, like the incident with Bill's short-lived flat-share.
She still gave a shudder thinking about those alien woodlice. They weren't pleasant for anyone, but even less so for the borrower who was just about as tall as they were long.
Then out of the blue, the Doctor ended a session by producing a set of flashcards. He gave them to Bill and suggested Zepheera join her for the weekend for some study time. When asked what for, since the Doctor was more the type to assign essays than give tests, he only said that it would be mutually beneficial for the two of them.
When Bill shrugged it off as the Doctor being his odd self, he'd given Zepheera a wink and smirk that almost looked conspiratorial. She couldn't fathom what for, though, even now. Still, she'd hardly complain about spending the weekend at Bill’s.
“Your go, then,” said Zepheera as she reached for the next card in preparation for her ‘turn’. Finding the idea of simply quizzing Bill boring, they both agreed to more of a back-and-forth approach.
Bill bit her lower lip in thought, unable to let her brow crease as she worked meticulously on her eye makeup. “So… you're, like, three hundred years old, right?”
“Something like that,” Zepheera acknowledged with a light chuckle. “Though most of that time was spent in the twentieth century, so don't expect any help with history beyond that point. That's more the Doctor's purview.”
A smirk tugged at the corner of Bill's lip, and before she could think twice about it, she asked, “Is that just a borrower thing, living so long?”
Zepheera let the extra question slide since the whole point of their ‘game’ was to bring a little light-hearted fun into the mix. “More of a me thing, really. Long story, alien nonsense in my childhood. Everyone else ages at a rate pretty similar to humans, as I understand it.”
If she hadn't been occupied with turning her huge card around to read it properly, Zepheera might have noticed the slight fall in Bill's smile. She quickly brushed the thought aside and refocused on her eyeshadow.
“Alright, what's next?” she sighed.
“ ‘A literary device involving the comparison of something abstract to something tangible’.”
Bill was quiet for a moment, wracking her brain for the exact term. “Metaphoric… no! Metaphysical conceit.”
“That's the one,” said Zepheera encouragingly.
With a glance toward the borrower, Bill muttered, “Why is it that the poetry ones are harder than the physics?” Then, catching herself in a question, her look hardened as she asserted, “That doesn't count.”
Zepheera hid her amusement behind the card she chucked aside. “By all means,” she waved vaguely for Bill to carry on with her turn. By then, Bill had put away the eyeshadow and started in on a liner, with mascara on standby.
“Can I…?” She paused to reconsider her phrasing, despite the lack of technicalities being enforced in their game. “I've got a borrower-related question, if that's alright.”
Those were becoming more and more common. Now that things were basically in the open, Zepheera had begun to trust Bill with some knowledge of her people and how they lived. She didn't freely share this information often, but she wouldn't shy away from the topic nearly as much as before. Still, she appreciated Bill respecting her privacy. “Of course.”
“Are there others living on campus?”
Zepheera didn't answer right away. Worried, Bill winced. “Too much?”
“No, it's not that,” insisted Zepheera. “I just haven't exactly been all around campus. Lots of different buildings, y'know. Once in a while I'll find signs of people making shelter, but I haven't run into anyone.” Despite Bill's focus remaining far overhead, she gave a shrug. “It’s to be expected, honestly. School campus isn't quite the ideal place to settle.”
“Why's that?”
“Well…think of it in terms of real estate,” Zepheera explained, once again overlooking the follow-up question. “Sure, there's plenty of space for shelter, but a school campus isn't exactly designed for long-term survival. Most buildings are missing things like a steady supply of food, or amenities like access to clean water or gas. It's why human homes are better suited for us, as all that and more are within reach more often than not.”
Bill gave a thoughtful hum. “So if anyone else did live on campus, they'd probably be pretty far apart, even if they're permanently settled,” she inferred.
“Exactly. I sort of got lucky that the Doctor practically lives in that office. And thought he was clever about where he hid his nibbles.”
At that, Bill bit back a giggle, not wanting to put a wobble in her eyeliner. She put the finishing touches on before moving on to her mascara. “Alright, almost done. How ‘bout one more each?”
“Works for me,” Zepheera agreed as she pulled one last flash card. “ ‘A quantum principle regarding a physical system’s ability to exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured’.”
“Ohh, that's that Schrödinger's cat thing, innit? Er, superposition.”
“Yep!” Zepheera tossed the card onto the short pile that had formed over the course of their game.
When Bill didn't immediately have a question in return, Zepheera shot a look upwards. It was difficult to tell if she was thinking, or simply concentrating on the task at hand for the moment.
That mystery was solved as Bill asked at length, “Does it ever get… I dunno, lonely? Living so far apart from other borrowers?”
Zepheera blinked. It was a simple enough question, no more personal than any Bill had asked before. Yet it felt so thoughtful and full of concern without judgement.
“I mean…sometimes,” she admitted. “But it's sort of how we do things. We keep spread out because the more we gather in one spot, the more likely we are to be noticed. Making friends as a borrower is either a conscious journey or an act of chance. Sometimes both.”
Choosing not to go into the finer details of her self-imposed isolation from her own kind, Zepheera put on a grin for Bill. “I'm alright, though. Between you and the Doctor, I've got plenty of company these days.”
Bill gave a knowing smile as she closed her mascara and sat back to look herself over. “All right, done!” Satisfied with how her makeup turned out, she turned to Zepheera properly for the first time since sitting down. “Are you sure you don't wanna come? Kinda feels weird just leaving you here…”
“Oh, don't worry about me,” Zepheera insisted as she stood up and gave her limbs a stretch. “I can occupy myself. Besides, it's your first date in weeks! It'd be weirder for me to be there, if anything.”
Unable to argue with that, Bill shrugged. “Alright. One of these nights, I'm taking you out to the club, though.”
Zepheera smirked, unable to tell how much of that was a joke or a genuine promise. “I’ll be sure to bring something to wear.”
As if taking the cue, Bill got up from the vanity and gave herself one last once-over in the mirror. Some of her pre-date jitters were coming in now that she wasn't distracted from them, and she fussed over the smallest details.
“How do I look?” she finally asked Zepheera.
The borrower simply smiled, more than used to the way her friends could loom when they stood. Bill had very little to worry about, she thought. She'd chosen an outfit that was casual without seeming low-effort, and her makeup perfectly matched the look and accentuated her warm brown eyes.
“Gorgeous,” was the word that slipped out. Zepheera blinked and followed up quickly with, “She's gonna love you.”
Visible relief washed over Bill as she gathered up her purse and started toward her bedroom door. When she reached it, she turned back to tell Zepheera, “Heads up, Moira's probably gonna be back in an hour or two. May or may not have a man in tow.”
Zepheera held a thumbs-up over her head and hoped it came across over the distance. “Duly noted.”
“Right. See ya later,” Bill gave her one last grin on her way out.
“See ya, Bill!” called Zepheera across the room before the door closed.
She could almost forget how much ambient noise humans and other giant humanoids made simply by being there. Every movement rustled their clothing and shook the world even in the gentlest of motions. And even when they kept still or slept, their huge breaths rushed in and out of lungs much bigger than any borrower.
With Bill out of the flat, the silence left behind rolled over Zepheera like the tide.
It left nothing to distract her from the odd feeling creeping up on her throat. Like her heart was trying to sneak out of her chest through it, and she only just took notice because it started pounding out of nowhere. On top of that, there was a cold spike in her stomach that she couldn't explain.
Illness was rare among borrowers, and never came on so quickly if it did at all. Zepheera might have thought she was anxious about something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. There were no threats here, and she'd just been having a lovely time with Bill.
And now Bill was gone.
Zepheera caught herself wishing she had taken her up on the invitation to come along, but quickly shook that off. As much as she could handle herself out in the world of giants, and trusted Bill to have her back if anything got out of hand, it was a date . Having Zepheera around would only distract Bill from having a good time and potentially make the date awkward.
It took a few breaths for her to rein in the strange sensations tightening her chest, and then Zepheera turned her back to the door. She tucked the used flash cards under the main stack, pondering what their purpose was once again. There was no quiz coming Bill's way, knowing the Doctor's teaching style.
That look he'd given her before they left his office… Maybe he knew something Zepheera simply hadn't caught on to yet. Wouldn't be the first time, though it felt different than every instance of him flexing his near-infinite knowledge of the wider universe. This seemed oddly…personal.
With that confusing thought, coupled with the equally confusing (and distantly familiar) feelings wracking Zepheera's person, she heaved a sigh and marched to the back of the vanity. Her fingers combed through her short brown hair as she vanished behind the mirror on her way into the walls.
Though her height had been a fact of her existence for over three centuries, very rarely did Zepheera feel this tiny .