Title: Live For Love
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ross Jenkins
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4, 50ficlets
Prompt: 18, Living
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 Ross Jenkins, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Ross looked around him at the library of the Tardis, taking in the floor-to-ceiling bookcases that were filled with books of every description, the comfortable couch and chairs, and the soft rugs that covered the floors. This was one of the most comfortable rooms he'd ever been in.

It was something that he wasn't used to, this kind of luxury. Maybe some people would find it commonplace, but his family hadn't had this sort of thing in their home when he was growing up. Oh, they'd had a nice enough house, but nothing like this.

He'd obviously had a bookcase in his bedroom, as well as his father having an office that had bookcases in it. There had been well-worn rugs covering the hardwood floors of the living room and hallway, and comfortable if somewhat shabby furniture.

They hadn't been poor, but they hadn't lived in opulence, either. They'd had enough to get by and even a little extra, and Ross couldn't remember ever wanting for any of the basics of life. He hadn't gotten each and every thing that he wanted as a child, but he hadn't expected to.

He wasn't used to living in the way that he did on the Tardis; eveyrthing here seemed a little out of his league, and he could hardly believe that the Doctor had chosen someone like him to be his lover and his companion.

It was hard to believe that the Time Lord could fall in love with him. He would have expected the Doctor to be attracted to someone who was more intellectual, more of a scholar than he had ever been. He'd been a soldier, someone who was used to a very different sort of life.

Still, he'd acclimatized himself quite well in the time he'd been here, he told himself, raising his arms above his head and stretching himself out on the couch. He could get used to living like this -- but there was a part of him that warned him against doing that.

Why should he feel like that? Ross thought with a frown. He wasn't going to leave the Doctor -- and he was sure that the Time Lord wasn't going to suddenly fall out of love with him and ask him to leave. He would be living here for a long, long time to come.

But what if something were to happen, and he couldn't stay with the Doctor? that annoying little voice in the back of his mind piped up. What if they had a falling out? What if, as he'd suggested to himself only moments ago, the Doctor fell in love with someone quite different?

That wouldn't happen, Ross told himself suddenly, though he could feel an icy trickle of fear move down his spine. The Doctor wasn't that kind of man. He wasn't a fickle lover; when he gave his hearts, he didn't arbitrarily decide to take them back.

He didn't want to lose his relationship with the Doctor. He didn't want to go back to Earth and try to forget the time they'd spent together -- or forget what the Time Lord meant to him. He wasn't here because he wanted to live in luxury.

No, he was here because he wanted to be with the man he loved. He'd had his reservations at first; if he was completely honest with himself, he hadn't known for sure if he wanted to live this kind of life, and he'd been cautious about giving the Doctor his heart.

But it hadn't taken him long to fall head over heels in love with the Gallifreyan. He'd given the Doctor his heart in every way, fully and completely. He lived for the love between the two of them, and he'd never wanted to take his heart back.

It was terrifying to think that there might be a time when he wouldn't be able to call the Tardis his home any more, when he might not belong here. He wouldn't be living at all if he had to live out the rest of his life without the man he loved.

Taking a deep breath, Ross closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. There was no use for him to get nervous and anxious about his future with the Doctor. He was here, living in the Tardis with the man he loved, because the Doctor wanted him here.

Their relationship was growing stronger every day. The Doctor wasn't going to simply fall out of love with him and start a relationship with someone else; he wasn't that kind of man. His heart belonged to Ross -- and Ross' heart definitely belonged to the Time Lord.

He wasn't going to lose his home. He wasn't going to have to go back to Earth with only memories of his time with the man he loved to sustain him for the rest of his life. He was here, and this was where he'd stay. This was where he'd always been meant to be.

Getting up from the couch, Ross headed out of the library, heading toward the control room in search of the Doctor. He would take his lover in his arms, hold him and kiss him, and lose himself in the fact that the Doctor did indeed want him here -- and that this was definitely where he belonged.

***