What... what did you do that for?"
The Doctor is staring at Clara the same way he'd stare at Strax, if Strax had just offered to perform Odette’s signature scene from Swan Lake. Eyebrows drawn, shoulders hunched, mouth crooked, but not in that way that she occasionally finds charming despite herself. More in that way that makes her want to tell him that people who are effectively without lips should never try to curl their lack of them and Elvis was dead anyway, so please stop making that face.
"I don't know," she says. She wants to sound confused. Or confident, maybe she wants to sound confident. "You were standing there, smiling, and looking all... happy." Oh god, that's not confident, that's defensive.
"Right, so... if I look happy then... you do... that...?" His face is getting even more crooked. Strax has not only offered to perform Odette’s signature scene, he has suggested doing so in full costume.
It's terrible. Why had she thought kissing him would be a good idea? It was a terrible idea and his face is reflecting the terribleness. Not just his face. She knows by now when he is exaggerating his aversion to touch for theatrical effect and when he is genuinely uncomfortable. Right now his lean muscles are so tense underneath the fabric of his clothes that, combined with his low body temperature, touching him is unfortunately reminiscent of touching a corpse in the throes of rigor mortis.
A terrible reaction to a terrible idea, which she will definitely, never, ever repeat.
"It just... happened," she says. "No reason! Sometimes things just happen and there's no reason and then they don't happen again and everything is fine."
"Right. Okay." His breath is cool and shallow against her lips. Which means they're still really quite close to each other. She should move. She should definitely move.
"It's fine," she repeats. "It happens all the time, doesn't it? Just a friendly kiss on the mouth, a friend kiss, like they do in France, or that planet with the talking blancmanges."
"Of course," he replies. "Not the ideal planet for that custom, that one, it tends to get a bit messy."
He clears his throat, but doesn't step back. Neither does Clara.
"Are you okay?" she asks. The Doctor blinks.
"...What do you mean, 'Am I okay'? Why wouldn't I be okay? Have I gone another colour, or are my sentences all jumbled up like we've got stuck in a time eddy and I'm answering your questions before you've even asked them?" His expression becomes suddenly alarmed. "Have my eyebrows gone all anemic again?