Title: Beautiful Soul
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 50ficlets
Prompt: 7, Soul
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.

***

The Doctor awakened slowly, blinking, coming up out of the depths of sleep. He didn't usually sleep this deeply, but it had been a few days since he'd had more than an hour or so of rest at a time, and even Gallifreyans succumbed to the need for sleep at some point.

Ianto had thought it was strange when they'd first met, how he seemed to have so much less of a need for sleep than humans did. But it was something that he seemed to have gotten used to in the time that they'd been together.

Of course, Ianto had also found his lower body temperature a little odd -- which was just proof that humans could get used to anything when they cared enough for someone. That thought made the Doctor smile; humans were so wonderfully adaptable.

Especially this human who he'd fallen in love with. He rolled over onto his side to look at Ianto, propping his chin on his hand and watching his young lover sleep.

How exactly had he felt when they'd first met? He'd always thought the human descriptions of feeling an electric shock when they first laid eyes on the person they were meant to spend their lives with were silly -- but now, he felt differently.

That was how he'd felt when his eyes had first met Ianto's. As though some silent, overwhelming electrical connection had existed between himself and this young man, something that would hold them together through time, through anything that might happen to them.

Ianto was his soul mate. He'd never believed in such a thing before, but now that he'd experienced that feeling for himself, he clung to the idea fiercely. Ianto was the man he'd always been destined to be with, from the moment of his conception.

Never mind that Ianto had been born centuries after him. That was merely a detail of time.

The two of them were meant to be together. He'd felt it ever since that first exchange of glances, when he hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from Ianto's gaze. Jack had said something that he hadn't even heard -- even now, he didn't know what the immortal's words had been.

From that moment on, Ianto had been uppermost in his thoughts. And he was sure that he'd been in the young man's mind, as well; a feeling this strong couldn't exist only on one side. It had to be returned.

He loved everything about this young man. His eyes, his smile, his laughter, his voice. The way his blue-grey eyes softened with a look of love whenever they rested on him. His heart. His body. His .... soul. Especially his soul.

There was a beauty that radiated from inside Ianto, something that might not be readily apparent to everyone when they looked at him. Of course, he was an attractive man, but what the Doctor saw in him wasn't just physical beauty.

No, what he saw went much deeper than that. The Doctor was sure that from the first moment they'd met, he'd looked into those eyes and seen the depths of Ianto's being.

He hadn't meant to do that. He'd told himself time and time again that he wouldn't want to intrude on another person's private thoughts, which was why he rarely used his telepathy. But this had been unavoidable.

He'd been so drawn to Ianto that he hadn't been able to tear his gaze away from the young man. Just as he couldn't do so now; it was as though he was mesmerized by the sight of his lover sleeping next to him.

Ianto's beauty wasn't just on the outside, he thought, wanting to reach out and touch the man lying next to him, but deciding not to. There was time enough for that; after all, they had the rest of their lives to be together.

Maybe that wouldn't be as long as he wanted it to be -- given the fact that Ianto was human, it couldn't possibly be. But he'd take whatever time was given to him to be with the man he loved, and be grateful for it.

Leaning forward, he brushed his lips across Ianto's cheek, hoping that the movement wouldn't disturb the other man from his slumber.

It didn't. Ianto slept on, and the Doctor lay quietly beside him, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, sure that he could see the beautiful soul that he knew his young lover possessed radiating in a kind of aura around him.

He finally closed his eyes, sinking back against his pillow and reaching out to twine his fingers through Ianto's. And when he finally slept, there was a smile on his face, as though his own soul had somehow intertwined with Ianto's to make the two of them one.

***