Title: Hidden in the Shadows
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: R
Table: 3, 50episodes
Prompt: 3, Angry
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 crept carefully through the large room, keeping himself hidden behind the various boxes that were stacked at the perimeter, near the door. He didn't want to be discovered; he knew that it could be disastrous for both himself and the Doctor if he was.

The Master had no idea that he'd slipped into the room; it hadn't been hard to do, as the other man had left it open in his haste to get inside. If he hadn't been so eager to hurt the Doctor, then he wouldn't have made such a mistake, Ianto thought, anger surging through him.

It had been one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do, trying to keep calm and not scream and throw himself at the Master when he'd taken the Doctor against his will. But he'd known that he couldn't; such an act would have more than likely gotten him killed.

And even though he could come back now, he wasn't going to put the Doctor through that needlessly. If there wasn't any way for him to beat the Master in a face-fo-face confrontation, he would have to be sneaky and wait until he could spirit the Doctor away under cover of darkness.

He was prepared to do that, as quickly as he could. But first, he had to be sure that the Master had left the room for at least a short while, so that he could get the Time Lord out of here and safely back to the Tardis. He'd have to be quiet for just a few moments longer.

Unreasoning, blind anger overtook him as he thought of what he had so recently witnessed; every second of what he'd had to watch and hear had torn into his heart and soul. He'd closed his eyes after the first few seconds, but he could still hear what was happening.

He wanted to rip the Master limb from limb, to have the satisfaction of causing that bastard as much pain as possible before he met a grisly, horrifying death. Ianto hated him; he wanted nothing so much as to see the Master suffer in agonies for eternity.

But he knew that the Doctor wouldn't feel the same way, even though he had more often than not been the victim of the Master's twisted psyche. He would feel compassion, even for the man who had made him suffer so much and so needlessly over the centuries.

The Doctor always showed compassion, even to his enemies. That was only one of the things that made him the person he was -- and only one of the reasons why Ianto loved him so completely. There was no one else like the Doctor, and there never would be.

He stopped moving for a few seconds, turning his head towards the door. It was closed, and it hadn't opened since the Master had left. He was sure that the other man wouldn't be coming back for at least a short while; now was the time to make his presence known.

"Doctor!" His voice rang through the cavernous room as he ran from behind the tall stacks of boxes to the blanket where the Doctor lay; all he wanted to do was take the other man in his arms and hold him tightly, assure himself that his lover was all right.

Of course he wasn't all right, Ianto berated himself inwardly. He'd been an unwilling witness to what the Doctor had suffered through, and there was no telling what else the Master might have done to him before Ianto had slipped into the room where the Time Lord was held prisoner.

"Ianto?" The Doctor looked up, blinking as though he couldn't quite see Ianto hurrying towards him; it only took a few seconds for the Time Lord's vision to clear, and within moments, Ianto had sunk to his knees on the blanket and taken the other man into his embrace.

"Doctor, I know what he did to you," Ianto whispered, unable to make his words come out at a louder volume. "I wanted to stop him, but I knew that I couldn't -- I didn't have a plan. And I didn't want to risk him hurting you any more than he was."

"You did the right thing, Ianto," the Time Lord told him, his voice gaining strength from one word to the next. "If you had let him know that you were here, then he could have very well had a trick up his sleeve that we aren't prepared for. I'm glad you kept hidden."

"I've never been so angry in my life," Ianto murmured, tightening his arms around the Doctor's waist. He knew that they had to get out of here before the Master came back, but he needed to hold the Time Lord for a few moments, to convince himself that they were together.

"I could feel your presence," the Doctor told him, his voice muffled against Ianto's shoulder. "I knew you were here. And I could feel your anger, too. I kept hoping that you weren't going to descend upon the Master in full fury out of nowhere."

"I wanted to," Ianto admitted, finally releasing his hold on the Time Lord. "I wanted to rip him apart. But I knew that if I showed myself too soon, he might do worse to you." He couldn't really think of what could be much worse, but he didn't want to say that to his lover.

The Doctor nodded, wincing slightly as he tried to get to his feet. Ianto stood up hastily, helping the Time Lord to stand up and letting the other man lean against him. "Ianto, I can't leave here without my clothes. I"m not going to run through the streets naked."

"Your clothes are over there," Ianto told him, nodding towards the stack of boxes that he'd been carefully keeping himself hidden behind. "He must have decided that there was a need to keep them. I haven't been through them, though -- I don't know if he took anything."

"I doubt that he did," the Doctor said, his tone wry. "He's never thought much of the sonic screwdriver -- he's much more enamored of his laser screwdriver. But I prefer to stick to the tried and true." He made his way slowly in the direction of his clothes, leaning on Ianto.

The young man knew that the Time Lord would more than likely regain his equilibrium and his movements would become less pained once he had been on his feet for a few moments; he was used to how quickly the Doctor could overcome physical discomforts.

He bent to pick up the Doctor's shirt, then his trousers, helping his lover pull his clothes back on. The Time Lord sighed as he shrugged into his long coat, closing his eyes for a moment as though savoring the feel of being fully clothed again.

"I'm just glad he didn't keep me tied up," he said, opening his eyes again to gaze at Ianto. "You'd have had a hard time getting those cords off me, Ianto. They got tighter whenever I moved -- as if they were made to tighten with movement, from the generated body heat."

Ianto shuddered at the thought; he raised one of the Doctor's thin wrists to his lips, kissing the soft skin before he'd realized what he was doing. He hated to think of this man suffering any pain, and the idea of him being tied up and helpless made anger simmer through Ianto's veins again.

"I'll make him pay for this," Ianto whispered before he could stop the words from coming out. "I'll make him pay for everything he's ever made you suffer, Doctor. He's not worthy to lick the soles of your shoes, much less be .... intimate with you."

"I don't want you to think in terms of anger and revenge, Ianto," the Doctor told him, his voice soft. "I know how you feel about the Master. I'm not exactly fond of him, either. But wishing for revenge, hating him and letting that anger grow, only moves you closer to what he is."

Ianto nodded slowly, wishing that he didn't have to agree with the Doctor, even though he knew that his lover was right. Wanting revenge on the Master for all that he'd done only made his own soul blacker, and made him more like the man he professed to hate.

He couldn't let the Master drag him down to that level. If he did, then their nemesis had already won the game without even trying. Ianto knew that he had to try and let his anger go, for the Doctor's sake. He had to try to be more like his lover, and keep his anger hidden in the shadows.

But that wasn't easy for him to do; that anger had simmered inside him for so long that current events had only made boil with even more ferocity. He knew that he might be able to push his anger down this time -- but he couldn't say the same for whatever might happen in the future.

"Come on," he finally murmured, sliding an arm around the Doctor's waist again. "Let's get out of here. I know the way back to the Tardis. We need to get off this planet and away from him, before he can do any more harm to either of us."

The Doctor nodded, following Ianto to the door. They listened for a few seconds before slowly inching it open and slipping out of the room, leaving behind no inkling of their presence -- though the memories of all that had happened there would be with them for a long time to come.

***