Title: Hero Takes A Fall
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: G1, 5_prompts
Prompt: 5, Hero takes a fall
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.

***

"How do you feel?" Ianto's voice was soft, gentle, concerned.

The Doctor winced as Ianto's question came to him through a haze; he still felt as though every bone in his body had been jarred, but he was alive, and that was what mattered. He was alive, in one piece, and Ianto was here beside him.

As long as Ianto was with him, he would be all right. Somehow, just knowing that his soul mate was by his side went a long way towards making him feel better -- even though his body did feel as though he'd been run over by a very large truck.

In every other way, he was fine. But being beaten to within an inch of his life by two very large men hadn't done much for him physically. He was just lucky that Ianto had found him -- and that his young lover had a gun with him.

Normally, he disliked guns. But he had to admit that there were times when they came in handy -- such as when Ianto needed to intimidate two people who were beating his lover to a bloody pulp. He was almost grateful for those guns at the moment.

"Just lie back," Ianto told him, his voice soft. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong other than a lot of bruises. No bones are broken, as far as I can tell. But I'd still like to take you to Owen -- or to any doctor that you think you should see."

The Time Lord shook his head. "There's no need, really," he said, wincing again as he tried to sit up. "I thought at first that I might have a cracked rib or two -- but it seems as though I'm just badly bruised. That should go away in a while."

Ianto frowned, shaking his head and pushing his lover gently back onto the pillows.

"I still think you should let Owen take a look at you," he said, his concern obvious in the intense blue-grey gaze he fixed on the Doctor. "You know he's good at what he does -- and if there's anything wrong, he'll be sure to find it."

For a moment, the Doctor couldn't help but wonder if Ianto only wanted to take him to the Torchwood team doctor because he missed being there, but he couldn't deny that Owen was a good doctor, and that Ianto had every right to be worried about him.

Lying back against the pillows, he nodded, sighing softly as he raised his gaze to meet Ianto's. "All right, love. If it would make you feel better to take me to Torchwood, then by all means, let's go there. I don't want you to worry."

"You were heroic, going after those men when you knew you didn't stand a chance of getting past them," Ianto murmured, reaching out a hand to stroke the Doctor's cheek. "I just wish we'd have had some sort of a plan before you tried that."

"Some hero I am," the Doctor said ruefully, raising his arms to glance at the bruises around his wrists where one of those men had grabbed him and tried to force his arms behind his back. "A fallen hero -- well, one who never actually got to be a hero, rather."

Ianto shook his head, leaning down to brush his lips across the softness of the Doctor's mouth. "So the hero might have taken a fall for the moment. You know that I'll always see you as a hero, no matter what you might think of yourself as being."

The Doctor couldn't help smiling at his lover's declaration, reaching out to take Ianto's hand in his and lace their fingers together. "Thank you for that, sweetheart," he whisepered, raising Ianto's hand to his face to brush his lips across the young man's fingertips.

No one who knew him well had ever thought of him as a hero before. They knew his failings and his weaknesses all too well -- and they'd seen enough of his mistakes and failures to know that "hero" would never be a word he would apply to what he was.

But Ianto saw him through different eyes.

Ianto saw him for what he was, of course. This young man knew all about his flaws -- he'd seen every one of them up close and personal. Ianto was closer to him than anyone else had ever been, and ever would be. Ianto was a part of him -- the other half of his soul.

And even though this young man knew all of his faults, all of his weaknesses -- Ianto could still see him as a hero. The Doctor couldn't keep back a smile at that thought; it was nice to be thought of in that way, even though Ianto had to know it wasn't true.

He'd never been a hero in his own eyes. He was just a man, doing something that he'd always wanted to spend his life doing. There might be times when he wondered if he had chosen the wrong path, but in the end, he wouldn't want to be anything but what and who he was.

Yet so many people had seen him as a hero -- even this young man who knew better. He was willing to let them have their concept of him; he just had to hope that when he stumbled and fell, he didn't let them down too badly.

It didn't really matter to him whether Ianto saw him as being a hero or not. He didn't expect his lover to look at him in that light; as long as he had Ianto's love, anything else was only the icing on the cake. And what anyone else thought of him was utterly irrelevant.

"What are you thinking about, love? Are you all right?" Ianto's words jerked him out of his thoughts and back to the present, with his young lover bending over him and looking concerned. "We should be at Torchwood in just a little while."

The Doctor smiled and tightened his fingers around Ianto's, squeezing his lover's hand slightly.

"I'm thinking about the fact that you see me as something I don't think I've ever been -- and the fact that for some strange reason, I don't mind you seeing me in that light at all," he said, his voice soft and husky. "Even if I think your vision might be a little skewered."

Ianto's answer was to lean down and kiss him again, the kiss deepening with each passing moment. If this was what a hero could look forward to, he'd have to be sure to take a fall more often, the Doctor told himself as he lost himself in his lover's embrace.

***