Title: From the First
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jethro Cane
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 5
Prompt: 73, First Sight
Author's Note: Spoilers for the Season 4 episode Midnight.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Jethro Cane. Please do not sue.

***

Jethro lay in bed next to the Doctor, looking down at his boyfriend and smiling as he brushed a stray lock of tawny hair back from the Time Lord's face.

There was something relaxing about being here in the Doctor's bedroom on the Tardis, the young man thought to himself, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It was certainly a different experience from sharing a bed with anyone else he'd ever been with.

He hadn't expected to find the Doctor again when he'd gone back to Midnight. He'd just wanted to relive the short time that he'd been around the other man, to have the chance to remember him and think about what might have been.

When he'd actually run into the Doctor, he'd been shocked -- more so than he would admit at first. It was almost as though fate had stepped in and decreed that the two of them should meet again; at least, that was how Jethro chose to view it.

And now .... here they were, not only companions, but lovers. He hadn't expected their relationship to work out the way it had, but he wouldn't change it for any reason. This was just what he had wanted, from the first time he'd seen the Doctor on that train.

Sometimes it amazed him that this man could trust him so much, considering what had almost happened on that fateful train trip ....

Jethro closed his eyes, pushing that memory out of his head. He'd apologized to the Doctor so many times for going along with the crowd, for almost letting them throw the Time Lord out of the train. He was still ashamed of himself for that.

But he was a different person now. He knew the Doctor -- in more ways than one, he told himself, smiling at the thought -- and he'd grown up a lot. He'd never let anything happen to the Time Lord, not even if he had to sacrifice himself.

He propped his head on one hand, looking at the man who was dozing beside him. He could never get enough of watching the Doctor; sometimes he felt as though he was a starving man and the Time Lord was a feast, one that he could indulge himself in with no end in sight.

Of course, that wasn't necessarily true, he thought, another smile tugging at the corners of his lips. The Doctor was a feast, yes -- for the senses as well as the eyes -- but Jethro wasn't going to risk the well-being of their relationship by pushing his desires too far.

That resolution was hard to stick with sometimes, but so far, he was managing to do it. Jethro couldn't keep himself from reaching out to rest his palm against the Time Lord's cheek, the sudden compulsion to touch his lover overcoming him.

The Doctor opened his eyes, blinking a few times and smiling at his young lover. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Jethro apologized, feeling a bit guilty.

"You didn't really wake me. I was just dozing," the Doctor told him, turning onto his side and propping his head on one hand in imitation of his boyfriend. "What were you thinking about? You look as though you have something on your mind."

"I was .... thinking about you," Jethro said softly, leaning forward to brush his lips against the softness of the Time Lord's mouth. "About us. Wondering if it was fate that threw us into each other's paths again. And wondering some things about you, too."

"About me?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow, looking mystified. "Now, what could you possibly be wondering about me? I thought I was a fairly open book, especially to you. I can honestly say that you know more about me than any other companion I've had."

"Really?" Jethro couldn't help being absurdly pleased when he heard those words. "I'd have thought that there was a lot I didn't know -- even though there are obviously some aspects of you that I know a lot about," he added with a sly grin.

"Oh, you know quite a bit about me, I'll agree with that," the Doctor told him, turning over onto his back and crossing his arms behind his head. He glanced over at his lover, still looking curious. "So go on, tell me. What were you wondering about? You can ask me anything, you know."

"Well ...." Jethro wasn't sure that he should go into anything serious at the moment; he didn't want to spoil the playful -- and informative -- mood that the Doctor seemed to be in.

"Oh, go on, ask me," the Doctor told him, sounding amused. "I can promise you that I'll answer as honestly as I can. Unless, of course, you happen to ask me something that I don't know the answer to -- though I doubt that would happen."

Jethro took a breath, trying to organize the question in his mind before he put it into words. But in spite of trying to think about it, his tongue was quicker than his brain. "What did you think of me the first time you saw me?" he blurted, unable to keep the words back.

As soon as they were said, he could feel himself blush to the roots of his hair. Dammit, he hadn't meant to be so blunt. He'd wanted to approach the subject in a more roundabout way -- and to tell the Doctor what he'd thought of the Time Lord first.

But the words were out now; he couldn't take them back. Jethro waited in trepidation, hoping that the Doctor wouldn't say anything that he wasn't ready to hear. Why had he wanted to ask that, anyway? It didn't matter, not really.

"What did I think?" The Doctor's voice was soft, husky, almost dreamlike. He reached out a hand, placing it on Jethro's cheek. "I thought you were .... young, and that there was some sort of force that drew me to you, even though I didn't feel that I could act on it at the time."

"You did?" Jethro was surprised at that; he'd expected the Doctor to say that he'd thought Jethro was only a child, nothing more.

"Of course I did." The Doctor raised himself up on one elbow, his dark gaze holding Jethro's. "You were with your parents, so I didn't dare say anything. But I felt that you were the one person on that train who had a rapport with me, who could .... understand me."

Jethro had closed his eyes, letting out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. So, the Doctor hadn't thought he was too young, or too immature. He'd been attracted at first sight, just as Jethro had. It had been there from the beginning.

"And what did you think of me?" The Doctor's voice cut in on his thoughts; he opened his eyes to look into the Time Lord's eyes again. "I assume that you had to think something of me, or else you wouldn't have gone back there hoping to find me."

"What did I think of you?" Jethro murmured, taking one of the other man's delicate hands in his own and raising it to his lips. "I thought you were the most beautiful, dynamic, interesting man I'd ever met. I think I might have fallen a little bit in love with you then and there."

The Doctor's eyes didn't leave his own, but Jethro could swear that the other man swallowed hard, as though he was holding back tears, or had a sudden lump in his throat. On impulse, he reached out to wrap both arms around the Doctor's waist, pulling the Time Lord into his arms.

"I thought you would have seen me as some crazy man," the Doctor whispered after a while. "That you weren't attracted to me until we met again."

"That couldn't be further from the truth," Jethro murmured, tilting the Time Lord's face up to his and brushing his lips against that delectable mouth. "I was attracted to you from the first. It just took me a while to find you again so I could find out how you felt about me."

"The feeling was mutual," the Doctor sighed, resting his head against Jethro's shoulder for a brief moment before he looked up at the young man, a smile curving his lips. "And it still is. It always will be."

This time, it was Jethro's turn to get a little misty-eyed. But the choked feeling left him after a few moments -- after all, he said to himself with an inward smirk, he had a lot of other things on his mind at the moment. And he intended to acquaint the Doctor with all of them.

***