Title: Mind Games
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Brendan Block
Fandom: Doctor Who/Secret Smile
Rating: PG-13
Table: slash_me_twice
Prompt: 100, Game
Warning: past non-con.
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 Brendan Block, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

"Doctor!!" The Time Lord's head jerked up from his contemplation of the Tardis' console when he heard Brendan's voice; that note of hysteria frightened him. He'd never heard his boyfriend sound quite like that before, not even when the Master had captured them both.

Brendan was staring at the viewscreen in front of him, his dark eyes huge in his pale face. The Doctor moved to his side to see just what had put that look on the other man's face, his own eyes widening when he saw the images that were flashing across the screen.

They were images of him -- most of them from the recent past, from encounters he'd had with the Master. They were obviously being sent to the Tardis' viewscreen by the Master, which meant that he had to be somewhere fairly close at hand.

One look at Brendan's face told him that it wasn't a good idea for the two of them to keep standing here and viewing what the Master apparently wanted Brendan to see; the other man was shaking, his face drained of color, looking as though he would pass out at any second.

The Doctor reached out to press a button that darkened the viewscreen immediately; try as the Master might, he couldn't transmit any images without the screen being on. There might be others on, but he could get Brendan away from them in a few moments.

"He's somewhere near," Brendan managed to gasp, sinking into one of the chairs in front of the now-blank screen. "He sent those images deliberately, Doctor. He wants me to know how easy it would be for him to get to either one of us again."

"You have to admit that he's right about that, Brendan," the Doctor said softly, not wanting to admit to the truth of those words, but knowing that he had to. He couldn't reassure Brendan that the Master couldn't get to them, when they both knew that he could.

"I'm not worried about him coming back for me," Brendan muttered, raising his face to look at the Doctor. "It's you I'm worried about. You've fallen prey to him too many times before, Doctor. I don't want him to hurt you again."

The Doctor knew that Brendan was being truthful with those words -- but not completely so. Of course his lover was afraid for him -- and Brendan had every right to be. But he was also afraid for himself, after what had happened the first time they'd encountered the renegade Time Lord.

Brendan was trying to cover up that fear, and the Doctor didn't blame him for that. He was unused to being victimized in the way that he'd been when the Master had captured them; the only way he knew to deal with that fear was to transfer it to a fear for his lover.

The Doctor guided Brendan to a chair and pushed the other man gently into it, then sat down beside him and took his hand. "You know that he's only playing games with us, to see how far towards the edge he can push either of us," he said softly, watching Brendan as he spoke.

The other man nodded, but didn't look completely convinced. "I know that he loves to play games. I found that out when he had the two of us in that -- that place. But how can you be so sure this is a game? How do you know that he's not planning something even worse?"

"I don't," the Doctor answered simply, taking Brendan's hands in his own. "But I do know that if we have to deal with him again, I'm going to try my best to keep you safe, no matter what the cost might be to me. And I know that you would do the same."

Brendan nodded, swallowing hard. "I know that he's only playing mind games with me by transmitting those images," he whispered, waving a hand at the now-dark screen. "But that doesn't make it any easier to see them, and to know what he did to you."

"He may very well do the same thing again -- or something just as bad," the Time Lord said calmly. HIs voice quavered a bit as he spoke, but he didn't mince words. "But I'm going to do my best to make sure that his anger is directed at me."

"He hates me because he thinks that in some way I've 'taken you away from him,' doesn't he?" Brendan asked, taking a deep breath. "Well, he's right to hate me. Because I have done that. And I have no intention of letting him get his hands on you again."

"You're not to interfere if he comes after me, Brendan." The Doctor's voice was sharp this time, a warning in his words. "I'd rather let him take out his anger on me than give him a chance to touch you again. I'm not going to let him hurt you the next time we run into him."

Brendan shook his head stubbornly, withdrawing his hand from the Doctor's. "You can't tell me to just stand by and watch him torture the man I love. I can't do that. I won't. It doesn't matter what he does to me. I'm only human. I'm expendable."

"Don't ever say that!" The Doctor's voice had gone from being sharp, to sounding angry. "You are not expendable, Brendan. Not to me. Not ever." His tone softened as he raised an eyebrow, looking at his lover with a curious expression.

"Is this really Brendan Block talking?" he asked softly, sounding surprised. "Is this the man who, just a few months ago, admitted that he thought of himself first and foremost, before anyone else? Is he really putting someone else's welfare ahead of his own?"

Brendan managed a smile, his gaze meeting the Doctor's. "I've changed a lot since I met you," he said softly, shaking his head. "And even more since what happened with the Master. I'm not the same man I was when we first met."

"You've changed for the better, sweetheart," the Doctor murmured, his voice soft. "When we first met, you were the kind of person who would have delighted in playing mind games with someone who annoyed you. But now, you wouldn't even think of doing that."

"I was coming out of a very bad relationship with a psycho when I met you," Brendan murmured, shaking his head. "I'll admit, I hadn't exactly been a paragon of virtue before, but you caught me at a particularly bad time in my life."

"Then I'm glad that I could turn you away from the path you were on and show you that you don't have to play games with other people to feel good about yourself," the Doctor told him, his voice soft. "It's just too bad that the Master has never learned that lesson."

"He never will," Brendan said, heaving a sigh. "He'll just keep playing games like the one he's trying to play now. He'll keep on and on, trying to see how far he can push me -- and you -- before we both go over the edge. And then he'll win."

"Are you so sure of that?" the Doctor asked, looking worried. "Brendan, you can't think like that. If you do, it's self-fulfilling prophecy. We don't have to run from his games. We might not throw any back at him, but we don't have to fall victim to his tricks, either."

"I don't want to play mind games with him, or with anybody. But especially not with him," Brendan muttered, clenching his hands into fists. "He seems a lot better at it than I ever was, anyway. And his intentions are far more deadly."

The Doctor sighed softly, acknowledging the truth in Brendan's words. He knew all too well just how dangerous and deadly the Master could be; he'd been on the receiving end of the renegade Time Lord's mind games more often than he cared to remember.

"I don't want to play mind games with him, either," he sighed, agreeing with Brendan. "But at some point, we may have to pit our minds against his, Brendan. And if that means playing mind games, then we'll have to do it. It may be for the good of the universe."

Brendan's gaze met his again; they looked at each other for long moments before Brendan sighed and nodded. "I guess I have to agree with you," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "But he scares me, Doctor. And not just because of what he did to me."

"I know that, love. In a lot of ways, he scares me, too," the Doctor whispered, taking Brendan's hands in his and squeezing them reassuringly. "But remember -- he's alone, and we're together. Surely the two of us can stand up to any mind games he tries to play with us."

"I hope we can," Brendan told him, privately wondering if that was the case. They hadn't done such a good job of standing up to the Master so far, but he hoped that the next time the three of them met, he and the Doctor would be prepared for whatever might come their way.

***