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“Doctor?” Ian asks, wandering into the room.
The Doctor stares at him over the top of his glasses, and raises an eyebrow. “Yes, Chatterton?”
Ian frowns and the Doctor smiles; he loves winding Ian up about his name.
“I was wondering if you could tell me what this is,” Ian says, and he takes his hands out from behind his back.
He is holding a small flag on a wooden stick, not much bigger than his hand. And it is patterned with the four stripes of the asexual flag. And the Doctor recognises it.
“Where did you get that?”
Ian shrugs. “I, um, I was looking through one of the cupboards trying to find my lost tie and I found it. So, do you know what it is?”
“It, my dear Chesterfield, is a flag,” the Doctor says.
Ian sighs, exasperated. “I know that, Doctor!”
“Really? Well, you should have specified.” The Doctor looks at him, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile.
Ian glares at him, but he can’t quite contain his smile. He sits down beside the Doctor, handing him the ace flag.
“If you’re done being pedantic, Doctor, what does the pattern on the flag mean?” he asks.
“It’s an asexual pride flag,” the Doctor explains, turning the flag over in his fingers. He definitely recognises this flag. Where did he get it?
“Asexual?” Ian says, pronouncing the word like it is in a foreign language.
The Doctor sighs. Travelling with companions from the 1960s means he spends a lot of time explaining normal things that Ian and Barbara have never heard of.
“It is a sexual orientation, much like being heterosexual or homosexual,” he says. “Except you are attracted to no one, as opposed to those of your own or the opposite binary gender. And that is its pride flag. Most orientations have them.”
Ian is frowning slightly, clearing thinking hard. “And… you have this pride flag because you are asexual?”
The Doctor smiles. “Exactly, my dear boy.”
Ian smiles too. Part of the Doctor wonders if Ian will ask irritating questions, but he doesn’t (thankfully). For once, the Doctor has met someone who is interested but not in an annoying way.
“Would you be able to teach me about it?” Ian asks. “Is it more commonly known about in your time?”
“Yes, and not particularly,” the Doctor says, answering his questions in order. “I can recommend some articles in the databank if you want. But, unfortunately, asexuality is not well known of in any time period. It is very much a forgotten orientation. But there is still a lot you can learn, if you want to.”
Ian claps his hand against the Doctor’s shoulder, smiling. “Thanks. That’d be helpful.”
And the Doctor just looks at his companions, amazed to be accepted just like that. He smiles too, and pulls Ian into an awkward hug. “Thank you, Chatterton.”
“What for?”
The Doctor pats his back. “For being so accepting.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ian says. “This is a spaceship, travelling through time and space. It’s no place for bigotry.”
The Doctor smiles. “No, it isn’t.”