Title: Nightfall Over Eden
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3
Prompt: 14, Dusk
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.

***

Dusk was one of his favorite times of the day, the Doctor mused as he stood in front of the sliding glass door that led into the suite of rooms he and Ianto were occupying. There was something sothing about watching the sun set and the lights of the city begin to blaze.

He hadn't expected to be here, but Ianto had insisted that they spend some time on a pleasure planet. He had demurred at first, insisting that he was all right, and that their last little adventure on a faraway planet in a different time hadn't harmed him in any way.

He was right about that, the Doctor reflected with a sigh, but only to a point. He hadn't technically been harmed in a physical way, but he'd been badly shaken, and Ianto knew it. His lover had wanted him to take some time to get over the mental strain of what he'd been through.

How had the inhabitants of that planet known about seemingly everything from his past? They'd known his bodies, his aliases, his companions -- even the relationships that he'd thought had been kept quiet, especially the one with Jack.

And they had most certainly known about Ianto -- to the point of threatening his life to try and force the Doctor into doing what they'd wanted him to do.

In the end, he'd managed to get the two of them away from the building they'd been imprisoned in, back to the Tardis, and off that planet. But not before he'd destroyed the machine that the race of people had built, the machine that they'd thought would destroy their enemies.

Maybe he'd doomed them to extinction, as they'd said. But he didn't think so. As far as he knew, their race still existed far into the future -- the war with their enemies hadn't been deadly to their planet or their people, even though they'd been convinced that it would be.

Yes, they had been the losers in that war. But it was better for them to have fought it, and to have been forced to learn humility, than to go on believing that they were superior to anyone else in the universe, and to have carried that belief out into the galaxy and let it spread.

There were already far too many races who had that same attitude, the Doctor told himself, including the race that his lover came from. In spite of the fact that they'd been shown time and again that they weren't the most powerful race in the galaxy, some of them still refused to believe it.

Fortunately, Earth had Torchwood to protect it. He couldn't help but smile, thinking of the team, and the immortal who was currently leading it.

Jack had apparently been right when he'd insisted that Torchwood was the right place for him. He was doing a good job of leading the team, and protecting not only Earth, but the well-being and security of other worlds in the process.

When the two of them were lovers, Jack had never been able to understand why the Doctor loved dusk so much. He'd never really looked at the sunset; he'd only seen the dusky part of the day as being an approaching nightfall, when mysterious things could happen.

Ianto was completely different. Ianto could look at the dusk falling over the world and appreciate the incredible beauty in the colors of the setting sun. He didn't just see the darkness, the night that was falling fast, the dire occurrences that could take place then.

But then, that was Jack -- he saw trouble everywhere. Maybe it was just because of everything he'd had to go through during his time on Earth -- which could be attributed to him, the Doctor thought with a sigh. So he had to take responsibility for causing that attitude.

Still, it was one that he himself didn't ascribe to. He didn't see the dusk as merely the precursor to night. He saw it as a beautiful time of day, between light and dark.

There was something very romantic about it, as well. Ianto also saw that; he had a way of looking at the beauties of the universe in much the same that the Doctor did. They could admire a sunset or a sunrise together in a way that he'd never been able to do with anyone else.

Other people appreciated the beauty of a sunset, of course, but not in the particular way that Ianto did. The Doctor couldn't even say what made his lover's way of looking at it so special; he just knew that there was a feeling they shared that he'd never had before.

As though his thoughts had called Ianto to his side, he felt the young man's arms slide around his waist, felt Ianto's warm breath on his neck. He leaned back against his lover's body, enjoying the feeling of being held and protected, a smile curving his lips.

"That's a lovely sunset, isn't it?" Ianto murmured, his hands moving down the front of the Doctor's thin body to rest on his stomach. The Time Lord had the feeling that his young lover wasn't looking at the sunset, but was instead watching him.

That thought didn't bother him; besides, how many times had he watched Ianto surreptitiously when he hadn't known he was being observed? Turnabout was fair play.

"Yes, it is," the Doctor answered, letting himself relax in Ianto's embrace as his eyes remained fixed on the sky outside the window. It was a lovely end to a relaxing day -- and he was sure that the evening to come would be just as satisfying.

If they'd been outside, this moment would have been much more difficult; Ianto still had terrible dreams sometimes about what had nearly happened to him when he'd been trapped in those cannibals' lair, and the Doctor couldn't help but feel that dusk was still a bit frightening for him.

But he was doing his best to get past that fear, and the the Time Lord was proud of him for facing up to it and overcoming his phobia. Besides, he really couldn't blame Ianto for feeling apprehensive about being outside at dusk; he'd feel the same way.

This wasn't the time to think about that, though, he told himself firmly, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind and locking them away. They weren't outside; they were here, in a comfortable suite on a beautiful pleasure planet.

He had no idea just how long they would stay here, but he was planning to be here for at least a few days. Long enough for them to be sure of enjoying themselves thoroughly.

He could feel Ianto's warm breath against his cheek, his boyfriend's soft lips moving down his throat to caress his bare shoulder. The Doctor closed his eyes, a shiver of anticipation going through his thin body. He thought he knew just what Ianto had in mind.

That was something he definitely wasn't going to argue with. They always seemed to be perfectly in sync with each other when it came to their sexual desires, so much so that he could literally tell when Ianto was thinking along those lines.

Did Ianto feel the same way? The Doctor turned around in his young lover's arms, turning his back on the rapidly fading sunset outside the window to look into the other man's eyes. What he saw there told him everything he needed to know.

Not only did Ianto know just how he felt, but he seemed to instinctively know what the Doctor was asking without a word needing to be said between the two of them. A smile was spreading slowly over his handsome features, his blue-grey eyes sparkling as he gazed at the Doctor.

Without a word, the Time Lord leaned into his lover's embrace, the two men sharing a kiss that seemed to go on forever. When they finally broke apart, Ianto took his lover's hand, leading him towards the bedroom of their suite as dusk turned to dark nightfall over their own personal Eden.

***