Torchwood/Doctor Who ficlet: Dinner and a TARDIS | Tosh, Eight | G
Title: Dinner and a TARDIS
Author: rustydog
Fandom and prompt: Torchwood/Doctor Who: "Eight, Tosh; dinner" for padawanpooh
Characters: Toshiko Sato and the Eighth Doctor
Rating/warnings: G, no spoilers, and no frozen dinners were harmed
Words: 850
Notes: Thank you to aeron_lanart for her gallant Britchecking help! Written for Day Eleven of consci_fan_mo.
Toshiko was standing in the frozen food aisle, trying to choose between the Healthy Option Fish Pie and the Chicken Tikka Masala, but the weirdo looking at the sausage rolls was not making it easy. He hadn't looked at her directly, but each time she reached for a ready meal, he would shake his head and sigh, or cluck his tongue in reproach.
She'd had enough. "Listen, what I buy is no business of yours, so just leave me alone. Okay?"
"Toshiko Sato!" The man finally looked at her, smiling broadly. Startled, Tosh stepped back and reached for her mobile.
"It's all right, it's all right!" he said, too loudly. "Toshiko Sato, it is wonderful to finally meet you."
"You haven't met me," Tosh said, frowning. "Who are you?"
"I'm someone who has a proposal for you. Oh, don't look at me that way, hear me out. Please?"
His clothes were oddly old-fashioned, he spoke in a rush, he shouldn't know her, and that goofy smile should have made him look a bit dim. But somehow through all that his eyes burned with intelligence. It was unsettlingly attractive. Unsettling, that was the word to focus on. Tosh got out her mobile and poised ready to speed-dial Jack.
"All right!" The man put up his hands in a placating gesture and then spoke more calmly than before. "Look, all I want to say is, I think we could mutually benefit each other. You clearly need a dinner companion equal to your charm and intellect-"
How could he be so flattering, arrogant and insulting all at once?
"-and I need someone to check my calculations for repairing the intuition circuits in the TARDIS. Ah, there, I see you know who I am now."
She mentally kicked herself for not having a poker face. But the TARDIS, the Doctor? Should she tell Jack?
"Now, I don't know anyone else in your time, so I'm going to assume you know me through your job, and I'll ask you not to tell me anything related to my other incarnations. But other than that, I imagine we can have some fascinating dinner conversation! Did you really invent a system for translating Serrated Jdolean? Because the Jdoleans have a novel that would be hilarious in binary!"
Suddenly she felt cold, and her body shivered as if it had something to prove.
The man nodded toward the freezer case behind her. "The door's still open," he said. She turned and saw that a thick layer of frost had formed on the boxes of food inside. How embarrassing. She pushed the door shut and listened to it seal with a puff of frigid air.
Struggling to keep her composure, she fixed the man with her sternest look. If he truly had access to the Doctor's legendary ship, she was not going to miss this chance, but he didn't need to know how much she wanted it.
"Calculations first, then we'll talk about dinner. We're not leaving Earth, and I should warn you that I'm armed."
She wasn't, but he didn't need to know that either.
He seemed delighted. "Excellent! I know the nicest little place in Lefkada..."
*
A warm breeze was coming from the direction of the beach, lifting her hair occasionally and making the flames of the candles on their table dance. It was lovely, though Tosh was still so flushed with excitement over her tour of the TARDIS console room that she hadn't noticed when the night became chilly.
She took a deep breath. She had barely stopped talking since they had sat down, asking questions about the ship's history and the technology she was composed of, making comparisons to alien tech she had worked on before. Now that she thought about it, it might be quite an accomplishment that she had managed to talk so much; this Doctor gave the impression of being a man who was hard to shut up.
She blushed at the thought of her enthusiasm. It felt indiscreet. "You know," she said with an embarrassed smile, "you didn't need to bribe me with dinner. Showing me inside the TARDIS would have been enough."
"Bribe you?" The Doctor looked shocked, then deflated. "Oh, I did rather put it that way, didn't I? Well, I was backwards, obviously. It's purely my pleasure - it's been ages since I've had stimulating conversation with a beautiful woman in a Greek paradise."
Tosh blushed harder, glad the candles weren't giving off too much light. Usually she wouldn't put much stock in a comment like that, but there was something utterly sincere about the Doctor.
"Well," she said, smiling at him mischievously, if you get me back when and where you found me, we'll see. Maybe you'll need advice about your vector tracker next time."
"Oh, I'm sure the old girl can arrange to have a problem now and again. She likes you. My TARDIS has excellent taste."
Tosh leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, chin on her hands, and noticed that the moon was rising over the sea. She could get used to this.
Author: rustydog
Fandom and prompt: Torchwood/Doctor Who: "Eight, Tosh; dinner" for padawanpooh
Characters: Toshiko Sato and the Eighth Doctor
Rating/warnings: G, no spoilers, and no frozen dinners were harmed
Words: 850
Notes: Thank you to aeron_lanart for her gallant Britchecking help! Written for Day Eleven of consci_fan_mo.
Toshiko was standing in the frozen food aisle, trying to choose between the Healthy Option Fish Pie and the Chicken Tikka Masala, but the weirdo looking at the sausage rolls was not making it easy. He hadn't looked at her directly, but each time she reached for a ready meal, he would shake his head and sigh, or cluck his tongue in reproach.
She'd had enough. "Listen, what I buy is no business of yours, so just leave me alone. Okay?"
"Toshiko Sato!" The man finally looked at her, smiling broadly. Startled, Tosh stepped back and reached for her mobile.
"It's all right, it's all right!" he said, too loudly. "Toshiko Sato, it is wonderful to finally meet you."
"You haven't met me," Tosh said, frowning. "Who are you?"
"I'm someone who has a proposal for you. Oh, don't look at me that way, hear me out. Please?"
His clothes were oddly old-fashioned, he spoke in a rush, he shouldn't know her, and that goofy smile should have made him look a bit dim. But somehow through all that his eyes burned with intelligence. It was unsettlingly attractive. Unsettling, that was the word to focus on. Tosh got out her mobile and poised ready to speed-dial Jack.
"All right!" The man put up his hands in a placating gesture and then spoke more calmly than before. "Look, all I want to say is, I think we could mutually benefit each other. You clearly need a dinner companion equal to your charm and intellect-"
How could he be so flattering, arrogant and insulting all at once?
"-and I need someone to check my calculations for repairing the intuition circuits in the TARDIS. Ah, there, I see you know who I am now."
She mentally kicked herself for not having a poker face. But the TARDIS, the Doctor? Should she tell Jack?
"Now, I don't know anyone else in your time, so I'm going to assume you know me through your job, and I'll ask you not to tell me anything related to my other incarnations. But other than that, I imagine we can have some fascinating dinner conversation! Did you really invent a system for translating Serrated Jdolean? Because the Jdoleans have a novel that would be hilarious in binary!"
Suddenly she felt cold, and her body shivered as if it had something to prove.
The man nodded toward the freezer case behind her. "The door's still open," he said. She turned and saw that a thick layer of frost had formed on the boxes of food inside. How embarrassing. She pushed the door shut and listened to it seal with a puff of frigid air.
Struggling to keep her composure, she fixed the man with her sternest look. If he truly had access to the Doctor's legendary ship, she was not going to miss this chance, but he didn't need to know how much she wanted it.
"Calculations first, then we'll talk about dinner. We're not leaving Earth, and I should warn you that I'm armed."
She wasn't, but he didn't need to know that either.
He seemed delighted. "Excellent! I know the nicest little place in Lefkada..."
*
A warm breeze was coming from the direction of the beach, lifting her hair occasionally and making the flames of the candles on their table dance. It was lovely, though Tosh was still so flushed with excitement over her tour of the TARDIS console room that she hadn't noticed when the night became chilly.
She took a deep breath. She had barely stopped talking since they had sat down, asking questions about the ship's history and the technology she was composed of, making comparisons to alien tech she had worked on before. Now that she thought about it, it might be quite an accomplishment that she had managed to talk so much; this Doctor gave the impression of being a man who was hard to shut up.
She blushed at the thought of her enthusiasm. It felt indiscreet. "You know," she said with an embarrassed smile, "you didn't need to bribe me with dinner. Showing me inside the TARDIS would have been enough."
"Bribe you?" The Doctor looked shocked, then deflated. "Oh, I did rather put it that way, didn't I? Well, I was backwards, obviously. It's purely my pleasure - it's been ages since I've had stimulating conversation with a beautiful woman in a Greek paradise."
Tosh blushed harder, glad the candles weren't giving off too much light. Usually she wouldn't put much stock in a comment like that, but there was something utterly sincere about the Doctor.
"Well," she said, smiling at him mischievously, if you get me back when and where you found me, we'll see. Maybe you'll need advice about your vector tracker next time."
"Oh, I'm sure the old girl can arrange to have a problem now and again. She likes you. My TARDIS has excellent taste."
Tosh leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, chin on her hands, and noticed that the moon was rising over the sea. She could get used to this.