Title: You're the Inspiration
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, 50ficlets
Prompt: 23, Inspired
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 shoved his hands into his pockets and squinted out of the Tardis' door. He didn't know where they were, but it looked a lot like Earth. Well, except for the purple grass and the pink sky. But it was at least colorful; he could get used to looking at this.

The Doctor had already taken him to so many places that he could never have dreamed of seeing when he was on Earth; he had a life that was full of adventure. Even when he was with Torchwood, he'd never have guessed the scope of what the Time Lord could show him.

And not only that, but being with the Doctor had made him strive to be more like the Time Lord. To become a better person, to put the rest of the world before himself. He was still working on that, but he was making progress.

He'd never be the kind of man that the Doctor was, Ianto thought with an affectionate smile. His lover was the most extraordinary person he'd ever met; he was such a combination of silk and steel, strength and tenderness. Like no one else in the world.

He himself had consciously tried to be a better man since he'd been with the Doctor. Not that he was such a terrible person to start with -- but the Doctor inspired him, made him want to strive to be more than he'd ever been.

That definitely wasn't a bad thing. Even when he'd been with Jack, as much as he'd admired some things about the immortal, he hadn't been inspired to be better than he was -- more generous, more selfless, less self-conscious.

It was so much easier to feel that he could work towards being a better man when he was in a place like this, somewhere far removed from Earth and the life he'd lived there. No familiar rules and routines to hold him back, nothing to remind him of who he was or who he had been in the past.

Ianto smiled as he heard a soft footstep behind him; he glanced over at the Doctor, taking his lover's hand and holding it to his cheek. "This is beautiful," he said softly, keeping his gaze on the scene in front of him. "Familiar in a way, yet different at the same time."

"It's places like these that inspire men to go great things," the Doctor murmured, and Ianto felt startled, as though the Doctor had been reading his thoughts. "The familiarity makes them comfortable, and the bit of strangeness pushes them forward to new horizons."

"You've certainly done that for me," Ianto said softly, moving to take the Time Lord into his arms. "There have been other things that have inspired me in the past, but now, you're the inspiration in my life, Doctor. You inspire me every day."

"I do?" The Doctor blinked, looking surprised. "I don't see what's so inspiring about me. I'm just a man. Maybe not like any other man -- but there's nothing all that special about me, Ianto. Just because I'm different doesn't make me inspirational."

"Yes, it does," Ianto told him, tightening his arms around the slender man's waist and pulling him close. "You inspire me to be a better person, to go outside myself and my comfort zone. Without you in my life, I'd still be living a life that didn't really make me happy."

"You inspire me every day, too," the Doctor said, his voice husky with emotion. "You inspire me to make the world a better place, so that I can show you the wonders of the universe far into the future. And you inspire me to open my hearts. You're the inspiration for all the good I've done."

Ianto ducked his head, a blush sweeping over his cheeks. He could feel tears coming into his eyes; he wouldn't have thought that he, a mere mortal, could inspire someone like the Doctor in the way that the Time Lord was saying he had.

"Love can inspire people to do great things, Ianto," the Doctor whispered, raising a hand to stroke the young man's cheek. "And my love for you makes me feel inspired to change the world -- even though at times I don't feel that I can do it all by myself."

"You're not by yourself," Ianto said, lifting his gaze to meet the Doctor's. "I'm right here beside you, Doctor. Even though I might not be able to do much more than have your back in dangerous situations and cheer you on -- I'm always here with you."

"Do you know, that knowledge inspires me more than anything else possibly could," the Doctor told him with a smile. He waved a hand at the landscape outside the Tardis, smiling as he did so. "Now, are you ready to step out of your comfort zone into a different world?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Ianto told him with an answering smile. With someone like the Doctor as his inspiration, he told himself as he felt his spirits rising to new heights, stepping out of that comfort zone and becoming a better person was going to be easier than he might have thought.

***