Title: You Deserve A Place
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: Epsilon, challenge_the
Prompt: 22, Special
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.

***

What was it that made his relationship with Ianto so special? The Doctor couldn't help but wonder about that, though he could immediately think of several reasons why this young man was more important to him than anyone else had ever been.

He was sure that other people wondered about that, too. Why was this person the one who had lasted with him, the one who had been drawn to the Doctor as no one else had ever been? It seemed a bit odd, at least to most people's way of thinking.

The Doctor knew that Jack thought it was odd how he and Ianto had been so instantaneously drawn to each other; he'd even seemed a bit jealous at first, though he'd quickly gotten past that. Still, there was a way that Jack had of looking at them when they were at the Hub, a speculative look on his face, that indicated he still didn't quite understand.

It was easy for anyone with eyes to see, the Doctor told himself, smiling a bit as he thought of his young lover. There were so many reason for the two of them to be together.

The most important -- and obvious, at least to him -- reason was that Ianto was his soul mate. He'd known that from the first time their hands had touched and their eyes had met. There had been a strong connection from the very beginning.

He'd never been able to say that about anyone else, not even Jack when the two of them had first met. It had taken them a while to become lovers; it had been quite some time before he'd even thought of Jack in that way.

But with Ianto, he'd immediately been able to think of nothing but how badly he wanted this man. He'd been unable to stop himself from thinking about those blue-grey eyes for hours after he'd left the Hub -- and the expression in them that had told him Ianto felt the same.

He'd tried to tell himself that they weren't meant to be, that he was only going to be disappointed if he took another human as a companion. But he'd known deep within himself that Ianto was destined to be more than a mere companion -- that this man would change his life in every way, if he had the courage to step forward and hold out his hand.

It hadn't been easy, but he'd done it, despite his fears and misgivings. And he hadn't regretted it, not for a single moment.

Ianto had become the center of his life, his rock in the swirling currents of the universe. It was the kind of steady security he'd always wanted, but had never dared to hope for. And he'd certainly given up the idea of finding that security with a human.

That was another thing that made his relationship with Ianto special -- the fact that this young man had come to mean so much to him. Of course, all of his companions had meant a great deal to him -- but they'd only been his friends, never his lovers.

Jack had been the sole exception to that rule, he told himself. The only one who he'd let into his hearts, and into his bed. Until Ianto, Jack had stood at the only companion who'd been able to break his hearts in a way that had reached deep inside him and wounded him so completely that he'd made the decision to close his hearts to anyone else.

He'd stuck to that decision, too. Until Ianto Jones had come barreling into his life, with that Welsh accent, those incredible blue-grey eyes that seemed to follow him everywhere, and that irresistible touch that he would always crave.

He hadn't let another companion be that close to him after Jack had burned him so badly -- he'd kept them at arm's-length, being close to them as a friend and a kind of mentor in some ways, but nothing more than that. He couldn't let himself feel that deeply again.

Add to that the fact that he hadn't felt physically attracted to any of his female companions, and that vow to not be close to a companion again had been an easy one to keep.

But when he'd seen Ianto, all of those good intentions had gone right out of his head. The only thought in his mind had been to spend more time with this young man, to know him in a way that he'd believed he would never again want to know another person. All of his repressed sexuality had come rushing to the surface so quickly that it had almost shocked him.

They had not only the kind of relationship that he'd never had with another companion, but with any other lover, as well. He'd been in love in the past -- he couldn't deny that, not in view of his long life -- but never with the intensity that he loved Ianto.

There was no comparison between Ianto and anyone else he'd ever had in his life. Every other person seemed to pale into insignificance, some of them only hazy memories next to the crystal-clear image of Ianto he always carried in his mind and in his hearts.

What was it about this young man that had so captured him? He really couldn't put his finger on one single thing -- there were too many different factors that had made him fall in love with Ianto, and he'd never been able to enumerate each and every one of them.

If he tried to count all of those factors, he wouldn't be able to. One ran into another, and he couldn't separate any of them into separate and identifiable reason for his feelings.

It was enough for him to know that this relationship was unlike any that he'd ever been in before -- and that it was the only relationship he ever wanted to have. He would be Ianto's forever, long after they'd ceased to exist in this particular physical realm. The two of them would always be entwined, just as much spiritually as physically.

Did he really need to know just why Ianto was so special to him? Not really. The important thing was that Ianto had broken down all the walls that he'd tried to build up around himself, that this young man had brought him out of a self-imposed darkness that he'd hidden in for far too long.

Ianto had brought him out of himself, teaching him to open his hearts and trust again when he had thought that was impossible. That was gift that he'd never be able to repay, a priceless gift that no one else had ever been able to give him.

No wonder Ianto was so special in his life, the Doctor thought, smiling as he felt his lover's arms wrap around him from behind and pull him back against the warmth of Ianto's body.

What he shared with Ianto was more than love, more than any emotion he'd ever known. It was a feeling that reached to his very soul, wrapping around him and keeping him safe from anything that could possibly harm him. No matter what might happen to him in the physical realm, his hearts and soul were always safe in Ianto's hands.

He'd never had that with anyone else, and it was certainly something he'd never expected to find. But now that he had that kind of love in his life, he wasn't going to let it go. It was the safety that he'd always wanted, without knowing just what it was that he was searching for.

The Doctor turned his head to look into Ianto's eyes, to find that blue-grey gaze fixed on him, those long-lashed eyes holding all the love in the world in their depths. A love that was there for him alone, a love that he could sink into and lose himself in.

Maybe he would never understand just what made his relationship with Ianto the strong bond that it was, any more than anyone else could ever understand it. All he knew was that Ianto deserved a place inside his hearts -- and that place would always be there for him.

***