Title: Divinity
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: 5
Prompt: 16, Divine
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own Ianto Jones or the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

***

Ianto turned his car into the parking lot of the building he lived in, pulling into a parking space and switching off the engine. He leaned forward, peering through the windshield, his eyes scanning the lighted windows for his own flat.

Ah, there it was. A light was burning there, signifying that the Doctor was there, waiting for him. Of course, he'd known that the Time Lord would be in the flat. The Doctor had assured him that he wasn't going anywhere, not for a while.

And certainly not without him. Ianto leaned back against the seat, letting himself relax. He always worried about that; there were nights when he was sure that he'd come home to find the Doctor gone, leaving him nothing but a note of explanation.

There would probably come a time when the Doctor would have to do that; Ianto knew that the Time Lord was contacted on the psychic paper now and then, and that he felt he had an obligation to whoever sent the message. He could live with that.

What he hated was the feeling that the Doctor didn't want him there, facing the same dangers and living the same experiences. He knew that his lover only wanted to keep him safe, but he didn't feel that he should stay behind. Not when the Doctor could be in danger himself.

It was comforting to know that the man he loved wanted to protect him. But even the Doctor couldn't keep him safe all the time.

As he'd pointed out more than once, his job with Torchwood threw him into dangerous situations here on Earth just as much as being out in time and space with the Doctor would. And the Time Lord had reluctantly agreed with him on that point.

But he still seemed to feel that it was his responsibility to keep Ianto safe, and the young man didn't want that. He insisted that they were responsible for each other, and that he had to protect the Doctor just as much as the other man had to protect him.

He couldn't help but smile at that thought. How often had he told himself when they'd first met that the Doctor was some kind of divine entity, someone who would always be able to magically make things right and keep everyone safe?

He'd long since learned that he'd been mistaken in thinking that way. The Doctor was a wonderful person -- he'd never deny that. But he wasn't divine, he wasn't magical. He was only a man, trying to do his best with what he had.

Well, all right -- not a man. A Gallifreyan. He was an alien, a fact that he never failed to point out to Ianto. But that didn't matter to him; he didn't care that the Doctor wasn't human. For him, the Time Lord was everything he wanted, and he wouldn't change a thing about his lover.

How many other people had thought the same thing -- that the Doctor was some sort of divine being? Probably too many to count over the centuries.

Ianto sighed, resting his head back against the seat. He couldn't ever be the first of anything in the Doctor's life. That was one thing that he'd always regret; that he'd been born too late to have come into the Doctor's life when he could still experiences firsts.

He'd never be the first lover, the first real love, the first person to see the Time Lord in a particular way. There would always be someone who'd done this or that with the Doctor before he had, always someone who'd gotten there before he'd been around.

He frowned, sitting up straight and looking at the lighted square of his living-room window again. It didn't matter that he couldn't be the first, not really. He had to stop thinking that way. In all the ways that counted, he was the first.

The Doctor had told him that he was the first person he'd ever considered his soul mate -- the only one. Wasn't he the one who the Doctor had given that pendant to? His fingers strayed to the crystalline necklace, softly pulsing around his neck.

It was glowing now, the light almost seeming as though it wanted to guide him somewhere. Of course it did, Ianto told himself with a slight smile. It always glowed and pulsed like this when the Doctor was somewhere near.

The Time Lord had made Ianto first in his hearts, and that was the only thing that mattered. In this incarnation, in this body, he put Ianto first in everything.

Even with his emotional attachment to Jack, he'd still chosen to be with Ianto. Of course, that was probably because Jack wasn't capable of being faithful, Ianto thought with another sigh. He'd found that out himself when they were involved.

He'd been devastated at the time, but maybe it had turned out to be a good thing. After all, if his relationship with Jack hadn't come to an end, he'd never have been free to be with the Doctor. His feelings for Jack wouldn't have let him.

It was strange how everything had seemed to fall into place for the two of them, he told himself, his mind going back over the events that had led them to each other. It had all seemed like such chance, such coincidence -- but maybe it hadn't been.

Maybe there was something to that notion that people were destined for each other, that their futures were mapped out before they were even born. In their case, he could believe it. He was sure that he'd always been intended for the Doctor.

And even through all the long centuries of his life, all the different bodies he'd been in and all the different people he'd cared for over that time -- Ianto was absolutely positive that the Doctor had always been meant to be with him.

Their attraction had been too strong from the first for him to deny it. He'd been only too glad to give in to his feelings, to let them carry him along on a tide that kept rising as time went on.

He'd done his best to fight it at first, sure that the Doctor could never be attracted to him, certain that the Time Lord wanted to be with Jack. He hadn't wanted to face the possibility of being hurt again, not so soon after his relationship with Jack had ended.

At the time, maybe he'd still felt a few pangs of regret for that relationship. But those had ended the first time he'd kissed the Doctor. No, they'd ended before that. They'd been swept away the first time he'd gone into the Tardis and left the Doctor a note and a flower.

The first few times he'd done that, it hadn't occurred to him that the Tardis had let him come in. He hadn't realized that the ship was encouraging his feelings, pushing him inexorably towards the man he wanted.

Of course, he knew her much better now -- and he knew that she wasn't just a ship, but an entity that protected the man she was bonded to. And now, he, Ianto, was part of that bond. The Tardis protected him as she did the Time Lord.

That had seemed a bit strange at first -- but then, in the beginning of their relationship, a lot had seemed strange to him. Strange and wonderful and exciting and even a little scary, all rolled into one. Now, he'd come to think of it as comfortable.

His life had changed so much since he'd become involved with the Doctor, changed for the better. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

So the Doctor wasn't the divine creature that he'd thought when they had first met. But Ianto loved him exactly the way he was; he wouldn't change anything about the Time Lord, even if he was able to. Even his faults and weaknesses were precious to Ianto.

He had his own faults, too. He wasn't the perfect man, the perfect lover. The fact that he and the Doctor had clashed on more than one occasion proved that. But wasn't that what love was all about? he asked himself, a smile quirking his lips.

The Doctor didn't have to be divine. He didn't have to be anything but who and what he was -- and Ianto would love him and accept him. Not in spite of his faults and weakness, but because of them. Because they were what made the Doctor the man he loved.

Ianto opened the car door and got out, closing and locking it behind him and striding towards the building. His footsteps picked up speed as he approached the lobby, his smile growing as he thought of the coming evening -- and the man he'd be spending it with.

***