Thinking positive -- open to te_gwas

[the_5thdoc]

The Eye of Orion... one of the most tranquil places in the known universe. It's the positive ions, you know.

After a few weeks that were rather... well, hectic would be putting it mildly... the Doctor felt that some quiet time was called for. And there was no better place for it than the Eye. Abandoned, devoid of civilization, and perfectly,

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[te_gwas]

Ianto peeks out of the TARDIS doors, collar of his coat pulled up under his ears. He's been assured that it isn't all that cold (and it's not), but he'd rather be too warm than too cold. He frowns at the dark landscape for a moment and then turns to look back into the console room.

"You've got it wrong, we're in Wales."

[te_gwas]

Ianto raises an eyebrow and pushes himself to his feet, straightening his waistcoat before taking the Doctor's hand. Cold hands. He's almost used to that by now. He should've brought gloves.

"We are talking about Earth dancing, aren't we? I don't know any... Martian waltzes. Though I suppose you don't either."

[the_5thdoc]

"Really Ianto... I do know how to dance. In a quite ordinary earth fashion, even."

The Doctor may be pouting, just the tiniest bit, at all of the disbelief he's encountering. How is it that he could so easily convince complete strangers of the most remarkable things -- so often saving the day with nothing more than words and (what he thought was) an honest face. Always it seemed his friends who were the hardest sell... and he could not help but be bothered by it... harbor little fragments of doubt over it. But Ianto... Ianto was just teasing him, though. Right? Right.

He squeezes Ianto's hand and brings the other to rest lightly at Ianto's hip. He looks into the young man's eyes and rather deliberately leads him into a slow waltz.

[te_gwas]

Ianto really does need to rework his strategy. His sarcasm is too often (that is, always) lost on his two Doctors, leading to more blank looks and pouts - no, Doctor, you're not very subtle - than anything else.

"Hm." Hm, I'm following. Hm, you're pouting. Hm, you can actually dance. Ianto rests his hand on the Doctor's shoulder and politely represses a grin, tempering it into a soft smile. "So you can." And so can Ianto, of course, but was there even any doubt? He does know everything, after all.

Ianto glances up at the sky again to keep himself from looking at their feet (it's been a while since he waltzed, okay?) and then returns his gaze to the Doctor. "Would it help to know you're a better dancer than the Master?"

[the_5thdoc]

He laughs at this... really throws back his head and laughs. And when he looks back at Ianto, his eyes are still sparkling with laughter.

"Having danced with him myself, somehow I doubt it. But thank you for the compliment."

Does he wonder when, exactly, Ianto had the opportunity to compare their dancing techniques? Is he jealous that Ianto has had some personal time with his BFF? Perhaps the slightest bit. But the smile on his face just now -- it's just for Ianto.

[te_gwas]

There, a laugh! Good. Check, silly jokes work. Not that he was joking. Ianto casually repositions his hand, and if it finds its way from the Doctor's shoulder to the curve of his neck and his collar, well, it wasn't on purpose.

"Your hands wander less," he murmurs, eyes in immediate danger of rolling as he recalls his turn with the Master. "Apparently 'better' is subjective." Because really, the Doctor wouldn't particularly mind that, would he.

Echoing the proximity of his hand (and taking full advantage of the Doctor's height - something he, well, lacks in his eighth incarnation), Ianto leans his head against the Doctor's shoulder, not at all hesitantly. Nope. The party should've gone this way, he thinks. Well, maybe. He's not sure he'd be brave enough to dance this closely with the Doctor in front of other people.

[the_5thdoc]

Eyebrows arch a bit at this, but he's still smiling.

"Better is always subjective. So I suppose I haven't much room to argue."

Hmm. Does this mean that wandering hands are bad, he wonders, as his hand drifts to the small of Ianto's back. He bows his head, letting it rest on Ianto's. The dance has become a little closer, a little slower, but he still thinks that, technically, it qualifies as a waltz.

[te_gwas]

The Master's wandering hands in a room full of people too sober to forget it the next day is bad. The Doctor's casually repositioned hands on a planet with only positive ions for company, on the other hand... it is all subjective, rather.

"Nope."

Ianto bows his head for a moment, clearing his throat, then blinks against the Doctor's lapel. "You're feeling better, then?"

[the_5thdoc]

The Doctor smiles... not that anyone can see it, with both of their heads bowed and not another living thing on the planet. His eyes slide closed... not that anyone can see that, either.

"Mm. Better? Yes."

And, really, he did feel better. He had been going a bit stir-crazy -- sick and confined to the TARDIS -- but being out in the universe again, piloting his own TARDIS... it felt good. Great, in fact.

And he could hardly fault the company... even if he had some trouble understand quite why Ianto had stuck around after... well... no need to dwell on that when it was such an otherwise lovely evening.

"Much."

[te_gwas]

"Mm," Ianto echoes, closing his eyes, "good."

He has no ulterior motive in inquiring about the Doctor's mental health; he's honestly concerned, especially after his various failed attempts at making things better. Of course, now that the opportunity has arisen...

It takes him a good minute or so to get around to actually voicing the question. He's only a little anxious, thanks to those positive ions. He taps his fingers absentmindedly on the Doctor's shoulder, then stops them. "Have you ever been to the Great Exhibition?"

[the_5thdoc]

He wonders, a bit, at the tapping motion of Ianto's fingers -- mentally running through a hundred variations of message that might be communicated simply by this nervous rhythm before discarding them all as less likely than simple nerves. And considering the way some of their recent encounters had gone... oh, hadn't he told himself to stop thinking about that? ...it wasn't unreasonable for him to be a bit anxious.

But the question, when he says it, comes as a surprise. The Doctor opens his eyes and shifts his head a bit, as though to stare down at the young man... not that he can really see much of anything with Ianto's head resting on his shoulder.

"The Great Exhibition? Ah... no. I'm afraid I've never made it out that way. Always wanted to, really, but somehow never seem to find the time..."

[te_gwas]

Ianto feels the movement and raises his head slightly. Shall he mention that he's had this discussion before with the Doctor's eighth self, and that the Doctor actually has attended (or rather, will attend) the Great Exhibition?

... Maybe not.

"You do have a time machine," he points out wryly, as though the Doctor could forget. "I'm not sure how you manage to run out of time so much, with it."

This is Ianto's terribly subtle way of suggesting they go, you see. Not because he desperately would like to go or anything, but just because the Doctor hasn't gone (yet).

[the_5thdoc]

"Ah. Yes, well... you'd be amazed how often having a time machine does not actually give one the time to do everything. There are rather a lot of things to do in the universe."

You may not be able to see the Doctor smiling, but it carries in his voice.

"Is this a hint of some kind, Ianto Jones?"

He raises his head, looking around.

"The Eye of Orion, I suppose, though peaceful, does lack for excitement... the Great Exhibition, you say? Just what is at the Great Exhibition?"

[te_gwas]

Was he that obvious? Oops.

Ianto could give a list, but where's the intrigue in that? His voice drops to a suitably mysterious tone and pitch and his eyebrow raise accordingly.

"The Koh-i-Noor diamond - the 'mountain of light'. The largest diamond in the world." He speaks as if he's reading from a book or a poster. "Legend says that whoever possesses it shall rule the world, and that any man who finds it in his possession will be cursed with bad luck... or death."

Ianto breaks the dramatic reading with an excited smile. "Amongst other things. World's first public loos, as well."

[the_5thdoc]

"All of time and space to choose from, you know..."

The Doctor breaks off any pretense of dancing, pulling back but keeping the young man's hand clasped in his. The heat radiating from the young man's skin felt hot enough to scald, but it had been centuries ago that the Doctor trained himself not to flinch at it. Humans lived such short, fragile lives... but for the duration they burned so brightly. To look away, to flinch, even for a moment, was to do them a disservice. And Ianto's life had come so close to ending already... he gave his hand a squeeze.

"Really, of all the things in the universe... we could go walk along the cliffs of Vertralian. They have seventeen moons, you know. It's hard to go at a time when at least one of them isn't rising or setting. Spectacular! We could visit the Braxiatel Collection -- the most impressive collection of art in... well, several galaxies, at least. Or the Arboretum in Antrthacus Minor, where they've attempted to catalog every type of flora known to mankind... and even though it is hardly

[te_gwas]

Ianto still hasn't gotten used to the temperature differences between them, but he's learned to stop cursing and squirming away, at least. Compared to the Doctors - compared to humans, even, Jack had been a furnace. It takes some getting used to.

He considers the Doctor's suggestions with a slight frown, shifting his feet from where they had paused mid-waltz. It's not hard for the Doctor to make a convincing argument. 'By the way, Ianto, there are other planets' is more than enough to spark his interest.

"One at a time, maybe," he says carefully, smiling. "Nothing happens with the diamond, you know, if you're worried about that. No fatal curse, no evil plot. It ends up as part of the Imperial State Crown."

It hasn't escaped him how trouble seems to follow the Doctor.