Title: Brilliant Mind
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Peter Carlisle
Fandom: Doctor Who/Blackpool
Rating: PG-13
Table: doctorwho_100
Prompt: 28, Mind
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 Peter Carlisle. Please do not sue.

***

Peter put down the book he'd been reading with a sigh; for the last little while, he'd been unable to concentrate on the words printed on the page. They jumped around in front of his eyes, refusing to stay still and make sense to his brain.

He almost envied the Doctor at times for his ability to concentrate on what was in front of him at the time; whether it was a book, or some problem of rescuing a planet from an enslaving alien race, the Doctor had the ability to focus his mind fully on that problem.

Peter hated to admit the fact that his own mind didn't work in that way. He was good at analytical thinking; he'd proven that in his job with the police force. He'd helped to solve a lot of crimes, and he'd brought some notorious people to justice.

But he felt inadequate next to the brilliance of the Doctor's mind. He knew that his own mind was good for a human's, but he was nowhere near the level of the Time Lord's intuitiveness. He simply didn't have that kind of focus.

If only he had the Doctor's mind, he thought with a sigh, stealing a glance at the Time Lord. The other man was engrossed in his own book, his eyes scanning the pages as though he was completely absorbed in whatever he was reading.

What was the Time Lord thinking? He couldn't fathom anything that might be on the other man's mind from the expression on his face, Peter thought. The Doctor seemed to be able to tell what people were thinking just from looking at them.

He'd never been able to do that, not even when he was working on the police force. Yes, he'd been a good detective, but he didn't have the Doctor's intuition. Of course, he wasn't a telepath, either -- and that probably one reason why the Doctor could understand motivations so well.

He would never have that kind of intelligence; the Doctor was absolutely brilliant at everything, in ways that a human could never hope to be. Of course, he wasn't perfect, but he was the closest thing to it that Peter had ever seen.

"You're no less intelligent than I am, in your own way, you know," the Doctor said absently, without lifting his eyes from the page he was reading. "You shouldn't think that you're inadequate just because our minds don't always take the same approach."

Peter couldn't speak for a few moments; he was amazed at how the Doctor seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, without him even speaking a word. He'd known that his lover was a telepath, but he hadn't realized that he could gather thoughts so easily.

The Doctor sat back in his chair, stretching his thin arms above his head and smiling at Peter. "I'm a telepath, you know," he said softly, his dark gaze meeting Peter's and not looking away. "And your thoughts were coming through loud and clear."

"Do you read my thoughts like that a lot of the time?" Peter asked, feeling a little disconcerted as he waited for the Time Lord's answer. It would feel strangely intrusive if he found that the Doctor always knew what he was thinking.

But the Gallifreyan shook his head, holding up his hands in front of him. "No, I don't," he said quietly, his gaze still on Peter's face. "And I can't read everyone's thoughts so easily, you know. But you aren't just anyone, Peter. You're the man I love. We share a bond."

"I know we do," Peter murmured, finally finding his voice. "I've known that we share a bond since that first night we were together. But I didn't realize that our emotional bond means that you have such an easy time knowing my thoughts."

"Sometimes it's not easy," the Doctor told him with a soft sigh. "You can be a secretive man, love, and I don't trespass on your thoughts. But when they're screaming at me so loudly, it's hard not to. I can't help but feel them when they're so strong."

"Is my mind really that strong, that my thoughts can .... reach out to you?" Peter was startled by those words; he thought about the Doctor a lot, it was true, but he hadn't realized that those thoughts could communicate themselves to the Time Lord.

"Your mind is much stronger than you might think, Peter." The Doctor was still looking at him, that dark, intense gaze never wavering. "When you form a thought, you follow it through to the end. You don't let it go before you've turned it over thoroughly in that brain of yours."

"Is that a good thing?" Peter couldn't help throwing the question out there. He'd been told when he was part of the police force that he worried over problems like a dog with a bone, tearing every little bit of it apart and still never being satisfied with his answers.

"Of course it is," the Time Lord said, his voice soft and a little husky. "Don't ever doubt your intelligence, or what your personal talents are worth, Peter. You may not think they're on the level of mine, but you have to remember that I'm not human."

The Doctor put his book aside, getting out of his chair and coming over to sit down on the couch beside his lover. Peter slid an arm around the Time Lord's waist, pulling the other man close and nuzzling the Doctor's cheek with his own.

"I'm sorry if I've ever made you feel inadequate, Peter," he said softly, sounding contrite. "I've never meant for one moment to indicate that you aren't just as capable as I am in many ways. You are, you know, even if you have a hard time believing that."

Peter swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a few moments; he hadn't realized that his thoughts had rang out so loud and clear to the Doctor's mind. He hated to think that the man he loved was feeling guilty about self-doubts that Peter had lived with for a long time.

The last thing he wanted was for the Doctor to think that he'd somehow been the cause of the doubts about himself that were now in his mind. They weren't his lover's fault; they'd always been there, and there were times when they decided to speak up more loudly than usual.

"I'm not upset that you've read my thoughts," he whispered, wanting the Time Lord to know that he wasn't angry or annoyed. "It's just .... a little strange to know that my thoughts can be such an open book to you, when I don't know yours at all."

"Ah, but you do know my thoughts, sweetheart." The Doctor raised a hand to place it against Peter's lips, smiling as he did so. "You've always known my mind, Peter, from the first night we met. Think about it. I've never hidden anything from you."

Peter nodded slowly, thinking back over the time he'd been with the Doctor. The Time Lord was right. He'd never hidden anything that he was thinking from Peter; he'd always gone out of his way to let his lover know how he felt.

His mind might not work in the same way as the Doctor's, but he would always know what was in his lover's thoughts if he asked. The Doctor would never hide anything from him. His mind, his thoughts, his emotions -- all of them would always be an open book.

His own were the same, Peter thought with a smile. There was nothing in his mind that he'd want to keep from the Doctor. Either in his mind, or in his heart. He had no problem with the man he loved looking into his very soul.

All right, so his thoughts didn't work in the same way that the Doctor's did -- but as his lover had said, they were just as worthy of consideration. He might arrive at conclusions differently, but what he thought was every bit as valuable as the ideas in the Time Lord's mind.

"You know, I've thought that you had a brilliant mind from the first moment we met," he told the Doctor, raising a hand to smooth back an errant lock of hair from the Time Lord's face. "But I dont think I've realised just how amazing you are until now."

"And what happened to make you come to this realisation?" the Doctor asked, one brow raised in question, a teasing note in his voice. "I assume it was something that I said that gave you an epiphany about your own brilliance."

Peter shook his head, an enigmatic smile on his face. "No, it's just the fact that you always know exactly what to say to calm any fears I might have -- and how to make me feel that I'm your equal and not just a follower. No one's ever been able to do that before."

"That's not an indication of a brilliant mind," the Doctor protested with a laugh. "That's just proof that I'm a marvelous diplomat, and that I know how to smooth over people's doubts and fears and make them believe in themselves. I've had centuries of practice, you know."

"Well, whatever it is, keep doing it -- and keep being the same brilliant man that you are now, because I wouldn't want to change a thing about you," Peter murmured as their lips met, the thought occurring to him that the Doctor's kisses were even more intuitive than his mind.

***