Title: A Little Romance
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 11
Prompt: 12, Wooing
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.

***

The Doctor leaned back in his chair, looking at Ianto across the table. The candlelight illuminated his lover's face, the smile curving Ianto's lips, the sparkle in his eyes. The Doctor couldn't help but smile, thinking that he'd rarely seen Ianto look so beautiful.

No, that wasn't true, he told himself. Ianto always looked beautiful to him, whether he was meticulously groomed or had just come stumbling back into the Tardis with him after some adventure that they had barely gotten themselves safely out of.

Ianto was looking at him as though he thought the same thing; his eyes were fixed on the Doctor's face, that smile still on his lips. The Time Lord wondered what his lover was thinking; there seemed to be secrets hidden behind that enigmatic half-smile.

After a few moments of silence, Ianto stood, holding out his hand to the Doctor. "Would you care to dance, sweetheart?" he asked, his voice as soft as a caress. The Time Lord stood up, taking Ianto's hand and letting his lover pull him into those strong arms.

"There's no music," he murmured, wondering how Ianto expected to dance when there was no tune for them to sway in time with. But to his surprise, just as the thought crossed his mind, soft music began to play, filling the room with sound.

"H-how did you do that?" But he didn't have to ask; he knew, of course. It was the Tardis, obeying some silent command that Ianto must have given her. That startled him more than the sudden outpouring of sound; the Tardis wouldn't have done that for anyone but him.

"It's not me," Ianto said softly, pressing his mouth to the Doctor's ear. "It's the Tardis. All I had to do was explain to her that I wanted to do something special for you, and she seemed to be in complete agreement that it was a good idea."

"She's never done that with anyone else," the Time Lord murmured, trying to suppress his shock at the mere idea of his ship being so closely attuned to someone else. "She's never been close enough to anyone else for that to even be a possibility."

"You've never had your soul mate here with you before," Ianto countered, his voice soft. "Don't worry, love. Your ship isn't abandoning you and turning to me. I think she only did this because it was intended to make you happy. It wasn't for me -- it was for you."

The Doctor fell silent, falling into the swaying rhythm of the music. After a few moments of dancing with Ianto, he pulled back slightly from their close embrace to look at his lover. "Is there some special reason you're doing all this?"

Ianto smiled, leaning forward slightly to capture the Time Lord's lips with his for a few seconds. "No, not one reason in particular," he whispered, his blue-grey gaze meeting the Doctor's dark eyes. "I thought it would be a nice gesture to show you how much you're loved."

"Ianto Jones, if I didn't know better, I'd say that you're wooing me," the Doctor said softly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "And you're doing quite a good job of it, too. At this rate, you'll have me falling madly in bed with you before the evening is over."

"That just might be the idea," Ianto told him, laughing as he swept the Doctor around in a circle, then dipped him, making the Time Lord's eyes widen in surprise. He hadn't expected that; in fact, he hadn't expected this entire romantic evening.

When Ianto had told him to put on a tux, he'd assumed that his young lover was taking him out to some place on Earth for a romantic dinner; he hadn't thought that they would be here in the Tardis, enjoying a romantic evening meant just for the two of them.

He certainly wasn't going to complain about being wooed in this way, he told himself as Ianto righted him again, pulling him close with one hand pressed to the small of his back. It had been years -- even centuries -- since anyone had thought to do anything like this for him.

Had anyone ever done this for him? The Doctor cast his mind back over the long centuries that stretched far into the past; try as he might, he couldn't think of a time that any of his companions or lovers had thought of something like this.

Of course, no one else had been able to secure the cooperation of the Tardis to plan an evening like this, either. But that was because Ianto was his soul mate; he had a connection with the Tardis that no one else could ever hope to achieve, through his connection with the Doctor.

Others had wanted to have that sort of symbiosis with the ship -- and with him. But they'd never have been able to achieve it, not without the ship knowing that they were first in the Doctor's hearts and soul. And no one had ever been to that sacred place within him.

No one before Ianto. No one else had ever made him feel this way; no one had ever captured his hearts in the way that this young man had with just one one glance. One look; that was all it had taken for him to fall head over heels, never wanting to get up again.

Even Jack hadn't owned his hearts in the way that Ianto did. And somehow, Jack had known that he wasn't the right man for him, and he'd bowed out of their relationship before the Doctor could let himself fall for him any more deeply than he already had.

"I wasn't sure of how to woo a Time Lord," Ianto whispered in his ear, bringing him back to the moment and dispelling his thoughts of the past. "Then I realised that I'm not just wooing any Time Lord -- I'm trying to woo the man I love. He's much more than just a Time Lord."

"And you, my love, are much more than just a human," the Doctor answered, leaning close to Ianto, so close that their lips almost brushed together. He raised his arms to drape them around Ianto's neck, his hips swaying against his lover's.

"Ah, now it sounds like you're trying to woo me with those words," Ianto replied, his arms tightening around the Doctor's waist and pulling him closer. "I don't mind that at all. I've never been good at being romantic. At least not until I met you."

"I don't think you're having a hard time with being romantic at all," the Doctor told him, raising one hand to push back an errant lock of hair that had fallen across Ianto's forehead. "This is beautiful, sweetheart. You couldn't have chosen a more perfect setting for a little romance."

His eyes moved around the room again; Ianto and the Tardis had created a wonderfully romantic ambiance. The soft candlelight, the silver and crystal on the table, the paneled walls of the room, the soft music playing. It was almost dreamlike.

In fact, he realized with a bit of a shock, it was like one of his dreams. He'd had a recurring dream where he and Ianto had danced together in a room like this -- with no other people around. Somehow, his lover and his ship had managed to make that dream come true.

The lights seemed to dim slightly around them, the soft music swelling. The Doctor couldn't hold back a smile; obviously, the Tardis considered his compliment to Ianto one that she deserved as well, and she was accepting that compliment for both of them.

Ianto noticed the light dimming; he looked around with a soft laugh, shaking his head. "I think the Tardis wants to take her due," he murmured, his hands moving down the Doctor's back to rest on the other man's hips and pull the Time Lord closer against his body.

"She may be telling us to go to the bedroom and finish the evening in private," he murmured into the other man's ear, a shiver of anticipation moving down his spine. He knew that the Tardis didn't intrude on their private moments together, and he definitely appreciated that.

"I think we should take that advice, don't you?" the Doctor asked, his voice husky, looking at Ianto through the veil of his long dark lashes. Ianto laughed softly, leaning forward to brush soft lips against his lover's cheek.

"The tables have turned, love," he whispered, feeling desire surge through him. "You're definitely the one wooing me now -- especially when you look at me like that. I think we should definitely take her advice. In fact, I can't think of anything I'd rather do."

"Neither can I," the Time Lord replied softly as their lips met again. With one last glance at the soft candlelight, Ianto took his lover's arm and led him out of the room, smiling as the lights dimmed again as though the Tardis was pleased with the results of the evening.

***