Title: Fear of Flying
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jethro Cane
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: slash_me_twice
Prompt: 91, Plane
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 Jethro Cane. Please do not sue.

***

"Why are you so uneasy about the idea of being on a plane?" Jethro asked the Doctor, sliding an arm around his lover's slender shoulders. "It's not like we're going to have a terribly long flight, or go anywhere that we can't get back from easily."

"Because I don't see any need for us to take one!" the Doctor retorted, hunching his shoulders and giving Jethro a pained frown. "We have the Tardis. She can get us to anywhere we want to go much faster than a place -- and less dangerously."

"Planes aren't dangerous," Jethro soothed him, smiling as he hugged the Doctor closer to him. "You do know that it's literally more dangerous to drive than to fly, right? That's been statistically proven. There isn't anything to be nervous about."

"I just don't see why you want us to fly in a plane," the Doctor grumbled, glancing out of the window at the runway. "It seems silly to me."

"Because you've never been on one," Jethro told him firmly, before raising his eyebrows in question. "Or at least, I'm guessing you haven't. Any time I've brought the subject up, you've tried to avoid it, and insisted that we don't need to be on a plane."

"Of course I've been on one," the Doctor told him, his frown deepening. "A long time ago, yes, but I've been on a plane. And I didn't much enjoy it. There are too many restrictions. I'd much rather use the Tardis for transportation. Much more comfortable."

"But a plane can be .... fun," Jethro said, his voice sounding a little uncertain now. "There are other people, you can talk to them, and anyway, isn't getting there supposed to be half the fun of taking a trip? That's how the old saying goes."

The Doctor shrugged, still looking sour at the prospect. "You're forgetting all the cons of being on a plane. You're only looking at the pros."

"There are a lot of pros," Jethro protested, looking less sure of his words now but still insisting that he was right. "What are the cons, if you don't mind me asking? Other than the fact that you don't seem to like flying, and the Tardis is larger."

The Doctor raised one thin hand to tick the cons off on his fingers. "The Tardis is much faster. We don't have to worry with boarding. We have a bed, a kitchen, a large bathroom .... so many amenities. And you're not thinking of the most important thing of all."

"What would that be?" his young lover asked, looking curious. Jethro really did have to admit that the Doctor was right; when he'd insisted on coming to Earth and leaving the Tardis in London while they took this little plane trip, he hadn't thought of all the drawbacks.

"If we should happen to need to get to her quickly, the Tardis will be all the way back in London," the Time Lord said gloomily. "We won't be able to reach her easily."

Jethro frowned, the expression on his face now matching the Doctor's. All right, so he really hadn't thought of all that. The Doctor was right, of course. He usually was. Maybe he should have listened more attentively to the Time Lord's protests.

But it was too late now. They had their tickets, and they would be boarding in less than half an hour. He just hoped that the Doctor wasn't going to balk at the last minute and refuse to get on the plane. He did have good reasons for not wanting to.

He couldn't be blamed for not wanting to be far away from the Tardis. He depended on her in so many ways -- and she was his home, really. But no one could always stick close to home -- and the Doctor needed to experience new ways of travel, in Jethro's opinion.

Besides, they would only be staying one day. He'd only wanted them to fly on a plane to let the Time Lord experience that way of travel, that was all.

Fortunately, the legacy he'd gotten from his parents kept him supplied with money if he should need it, and this seemed as good a way to spend it as any. As long as he had it, they might as well put it to good use -- or frivolous use, as the case might be.

Still, maybe it wasn't a good idea to try to force the Doctor into something he obviously didn't want -- Jethro had learned the folly of that. The Time Lord could be stubborn, and he was capable of retreating behind an icy wall of silence when he was angry.

That was worse than anything else he could do, the young man told himself wryly. It was like being hit with an iceberg -- and he always felt terrible when that happened. He knew that he'd made his lover unhappy, and he hated even the thought of doing so.

It didn't happen often, but when it did, there was an uneasy tension between them that Jethro hated. It was never comfortable to be at odds with the Doctor.

Especially when he had the feeling that the other man might be having second thoughts about having Jethro with him. He was so young, after all, and even though the Doctor loved him, Jethro couldn't help worrying sometimes that he didn't live up to the Time Lord's expectations.

Stop that, he told himself firmly, wishing that his inner voice didn't sound so unsure. He loves you. He's not going to abandon you just because you want him to take a plane trip. He might not be happy with it, but he's not unreasonable.

His grip on the Doctor's shoulders loosened; he could tell by the tension in the Time Lord's body that he was uneasy, and it could possibly be bothering him to be held. Maybe he should call the whole thing off, and try to get a refund on their tickets.

"Jethro, I'm sorry." The Doctor's voice was low, his dark eyes apologetic as he looked over at the young man. "I don't mean to make this hard for you."

Jethro looked up in surprise, his gaze meeting the Doctor's. The Time Lord's arm slid around his waist, pulling him close against the other man's body, and he had to resist the urge to lay his head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"I'm just .... nervous about leaving the Tardis in case we should need to get to her in a hurry," the other man explained with a sigh. "I'm always nervous about being far away from her. I suppose that there are times when I depend on her too much."

"I don't blame you for that," Jethro told him, raising a hand to stroke his fingertips down the Doctor's cheek. "She's your home -- and you've been with her for centuries. But trying other things, different things, can be good sometimes. It's not permanent."

"I know." The Doctor sighed, glancing towards the runway again, where a few planes were starting to taxi. "Do you suppose one of those is ours?"

"We'll find out in a few minutes," Jethro told him, feeling more cheerful again. He pushed his doubts into the back of his mind, refusing to let them come to the surface again. "They're calling our flight now. It's time for us to go to the boarding gate."

"Do you know, I've always had something of a fear of flying," the Doctor said suddenly, surprising Jethro even further. "Not that I'm afraid of the flight -- but of being on a plane. It always seems as though there are too many terrible things that can happen."

"But you're not afraid of flying in the Tardis," Jethro protested, his eyes widening at the idea. The Doctor, afraid of flying? When he literally flew through time and space all the time? What would make a plane so different from that?

But it was different. With the Tardis, he knew he was safe and that she was dependable. With a plane, he was depending on .... well, human trial and error.

Come to think of it, that was a little frightening, Jethro told himself, holding back a shiver. But it was done now. They were going to get on this plane, and they were going to enjoy the flight. Or at least, hope that it wouldn't last too long and that they'd get there and back safely.

Jethro got to his feet, pulling the Doctor up beside him. The Time Lord looked around doubtfully, as if he wasn't sure about any of this. "Come on, love," Jethro urged him, taking the Doctor's hand. "Let's go get in line. It won't be long before we're on the plane."

"I just hope they'll have room for me to stretch my legs," the Doctor told him, frowning again. "That was what I hated most about flying last time. I was in a different body, but it was still too cramped and crowded. And I've, well, changed a good deal since then."

"Look at it as an adventure," Jethro told him with a smile, leaning over to brush a kiss against the Doctor's cheek. Leading his lover to the boarding gate, he pulled out their tickets, hoping that this flight would go smoothly and the Doctor's worries would dissipate.

***