Title: All the Small Things
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ianto Jones
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, letter100
Prompt: 34, Making dinner
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor or Ianto Jones, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

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Dearest Ianto,

The longer that we're together, the more I appreciate all of the comforts I have with you that I could never have indulged in when I was alone -- or even when I was with any other companion. You give me so much that I never realized I wanted and needed.

Of course, you aren't just a companion for me. You're not only my lover and my best friend, but the man I've lost my hearts to. No one else can claim that distinction -- I've obviously had lovers in the past, but I've never been in love. You're my one and only true love, Ianto.

I'm more comfortable with you than I've ever been with anyone else, on every basis of our lives together. We're obviously a good match in the sexual arena, but there are so many more things than just sex that make up a lifetime of shared moments for any couple.

It's all the small things you do for me that make up those little moments that I'll never forget -- the small things that neither of us even think about a great deal of the time. It's those little things that make up a lifetime of shared moments, times that we can look back on and cherish.

Things like doing our laundry together, or you making dinner for me. Mundane, tiny little things that have the potential for disaster, but which we somehow seem to navigate with no problems. And even if there are some problems, there's also a great deal of laughter.

I never shared those small things with any of my other companions -- not even any of my former lovers. No one has ever seen that side of me, Ianto. I've never really trusted anyone enough to let them see that deeply into my hearts -- or feel that they belonged there.

Oh, there have been companions in the past who thought that they belonged in my hearts. There was even one who thought that she had the right to start an interstellar war simply because she was a spoilt child who wanted to force me to have her by my side!

But fortunately, that's all a part of the past, and it's something that I don't have to think about any more. The important thing is that you're here with me, we're together, and thanks to fate, we don't have to worry about being parted any time in the near future.

It's still hard for me to believe that you're going to live much longer than the normal human life span, my love. I've spent so much time feeling melancholy at the knowledge that you're human, and that you'll be taken from me far too soon, for it to have really sunk in yet that it isn't the case any longer.

We'll have so much more time for all of those small things, Ianto. Time to love each other, be with each other, and get to know each other far better than we ever could have in the relatively short span of time that a normal human life will last. That time is a wonderful, incredible gift.

You are a wonderful gift. Every day when I wake up, the first thought in my mind is how much I love you, and how thankful I am that you're a part of my life. You've changed everything for me; you've given me a new lease on life that I could never have dreamed of having before you.

I love the small moments we share together. Like last night, when you were making dinner and I was helping you with fetching the ingredients from the kitchen cabinets. I've never shared those kinds of moments with anyone before, and they were all the more precious for being so rare.

Those moments aren't that rare with you, though. They happen more and more frequently, and I love them more every time that they take place. I've never thought that I was the kind of person who would ever want to feel "settled down," but you've brought out that side of me front and center.

All the small things that you do for me add up, Ianto. Just the fact that you think of doing those little things for me makes me love you all the more. Anyone else would expect me to take care of them for myself, as I've always done. But you seem to enjoy doing them for me.

I enjoy doing small things for you, too. It makes me feel closer to you, and it gives me a glow of satisfaction to know that I'm doing something to make your life easier and more comfortable. And isn't that a large part of what loving someone and spending your life with them is about?

From now on, every time you make dinner for me, I'll think about this letter, and I'll smile. That smile will be for all of the times before that we've shared such small moments, and for all the times in the future that we'll do the same. All of those moments will have a special place in my hearts.

Why is it that such small things always seem to bring a couple closer together? I don't have an answer for that question, but I do know that those small things will always mean a great deal to me. And to you, too, I imagine. And I know they'll continue to bring us closer.

I'm sure that this very night, we're going to make dinner together -- and probably end up burning something. We'll laugh over it, and that will be one more small thing to bring us even closer together -- even though we might be eating sandwiches for dinner rather than what we'd planned.

I love those little moments, those small things, that the two of us share. I'll always love them, even when they seem like they could become annoying. But I'll never be annoyed or upset by them -- because they'll just be one more moment that I've shared with the man I love.

All the small things that we do for each other are only more proof of the love that we share, the love that grows stronger with every day that passes. I love you, Ianto, and I always will. I hope that everything I do for you -- and that you do for me -- is proof of the love we share.

That love will never fade away -- and it will never do. And as long as we keep sharing all of those small things in our lives with each other, as long as we keep letting those moments blossom between us, then that love is only going to grow. I can't put into words how much I'm looking forward to that.

Always your

Doctor

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