Title: Next To You
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3,50ficlets
Prompt: 13, Body
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.

***

Ianto awakened slowly, blinking and yawning into the dim light of the bedroom. His arms tightened around the man next to him, drawing the Doctor's slender body closer against his own before he reached to pull up the covers more tightly around them.

He was already growing used to waking up with the Doctor in his arms, he thought, a soft smile curving his lips as he stroked a hand through the other man's soft hair. It hadn't taken him long to adapt to having someone in his bed, after all.

When they had first become lovers, he'd thought that it would feel strange to wake up with someone beside him, that he'd take a while to get used to the feeling of being protective. But it had been much easier than he'd thought it would.

It felt good to know that someone depended on him. Well, the Doctor could obviously take care of himself -- but he was still vulnerable in some ways.

He was a lonely man who needed to be loved. And Ianto was determined to fill that need for him, in every way that he possibly could. He'd made a vow to himself to alleviate the Doctor's loneliness, and he meant to do everything in his power to achieve that goal.

Waking up with the slender Time Lord curled up against him was a wonderful way to start the day, he thought to himself, running a hand down the curve of one smooth shoulder. It certainly beat waking up alone, in a cold and empty bed.

That was how it had always been with Jack -- the immortal had rarely wanted Ianto to spend an entire night with him, and when he did, Jack inevitably woke up first and got out of bed, not giving Ianto a chance to hold him -- or to be held.

The Doctor was completely different. This man had a loving spirit that reached out to the people close to him, a need to be loved that Ianto found irresistible. He was nothing like anyone who Ianto had been with in the past.

And he was so beautiful, Ianto thought as he looked down at the sleeping Time Lord's face. Not only physically, but on the inside as well.

How had he gotten so lucky as to win this man to his side? He wasn't going to question whatever quirk of fate had given the Time Lord into his keeping; he was only going to accept that responsibility and do his best to fulfill it, for the rest of his life.

What would he do if the Doctor regenerated before his own human life span ended their time together? Ianto's lips compressed, the slight smile vanishing from his features as the thought struck him. It was something he didn't like to think about.

His arms tightened again around the Doctor's slim waist, pulling the other man closer against his own body. He loved this body he was holding in his arms; he was familiar with it, and every curve and angle, to him, was the essence of the Doctor.

Could he love this man if he was in a different body? The Doctor had told him that not only his body would change, but most aspects of his personality as well. He could be completely different when he regenerated, and that worried Ianto more than the physical change.

What if the Doctor no longer had these feelings for him once he'd become another person? It was entirely possible that what the Time Lord felt could change, and that Ianto would be no more to him than just another companion.

If that happened, then everything he was living for would be gone. His love would be as lost to him as if the Doctor had died.

In effect, his Doctor would be dead. The man in his arms, the man in this body, was the man he loved. Not some unknown person with a different face and body who might call himself the Doctor, but wouldn't be him in Ianto's eyes.

If the Time Lord regenerated while they were together, there would be no more mornings like this, no more waking up with the warm body of the man he loved clasped in his arms. He would go back to that cold, empty bed -- and back to having a cold, empty heart.

He didn't want to think about it. Besides, it wasn't an inevitability, Ianto told himself firmly. The Doctor might not regenerate for centuries to come. He himself could very well be long gone before this man became someone else.

There was no use in worrying about what could happen in the future. For the moment, he had the Time Lord in his arms, that warm body pressed against his own -- and he intended to have many more mornings to enjoy waking up next to this man.

Closing his eyes, Ianto pulled the covers up higher over the two of them, burrowing into the softness of the pillows and pushing his disturbing thoughts away from him. Within another few moments, he'd fallen asleep again, the Doctor's slim body still cradled protectively in his arms.

***