SilverFish by a_silver_story | Chapter 8
Title: SilverFish
Chapter 08/??
Author a_silver_story
Genre: Alternate Universe
Rating: NC-17 overall
Warnings: None for this chapter
Summary: Jack and Ianto in prison - with plot, and lots and lots of smut. Sorry, I can't help it.
Disclaimer: If I owned anything in this, I'd be a rich rich rich bitch. However, I am not a rich rich rich bitch so you may all, therefore, assume I own nothing. Which I don't. It all belongs RTD and the BBC, in case any of you didn't know. Now pass the retcon ...
Torchwood Index
First Chapter
"Oi! Harper!"
"What?"
"Phone call!"
Owen grumbled as he pushed his chair back. "I'll be right back - and don't look at my cards," Owen warned, leaving Jack and their Very Serious game of Snap. It may seem comical that the two of them played the game quite often, but nothing was more innocent in appearance for honing reflexes than a challenging game of Snap.
For a moment or so, Jack sat on his own in Owen's cell, before becoming restless and heading back to his own. The new bed frame hadn't arrived yet, and his and Ianto's mattresses were still on the bare floor. Ianto's was untouched and perfectly made, tucked into the corner farthest from the door. He hadn't been there to sleep in it yet.
Jack opened his little grey tin, the one he kept on his shelf, and lifted the photographs inside to reveal a collection of size 'C' batteries. He opened the back of his CD player and took out his condoms and lube, temporarily hiding them under his pillow. Inserting the batteries, he switched it on, picked out his Glenn Miller CD and lay on the bed to let the by-gone melodies wash over him as he began to wonder when Ianto might be getting back. They'd examined him and kept him in for observation, but for how long and what the situation was Jack hadn't been told. Just locked in his cell and left to stew.
Jack let the CD play 'round once, then restless again got to his feet, transferred batteries to tin and sex aids to battery compartment, and headed back to Owen's cell. It was still empty, and Jack refrained from kicking the door too hard in frustration. He was quite surprised to find himself at a loss at what to do. He couldn't go and talk to Alex, because all Alex would want to talk about was 'divided houses' and Ugly, Ugly Jack. Owen was off wherever, Ianto was in hospital, John was most likely pissed and getting himself laid in Vegas ... he supposed he could go and talk to Archie. Archie always had stories to tell.
... or maybe he could go and bait some Saxons. Maybe one of the smaller ones who didn't properly fear him yet. And then he could just slink back to his cell. It was nearly time to be locked in for the night anyway.
He was just sitting up, picturing one of the well-dressed little thorough-breds in his head, when he heard the sounds of shouting and cajoling from the cafeteria below. Curious, he went out onto the walkway and glared down at the inmates below him. They were all watching the far side of the room, leading to the rest of the prison, as Officer Williams opened the gates to let in ... Ianto.
Jack gripped the railing to stop himself running down to him - or worse: waving. He settled on a casual stance, still holding the metal bar, and simply watched as Ianto kept his head down and made his way quickly up the stairs, dodging past the people coming the other way with graceful ease. As he approached, Jack turned to lean and fold his arms nonchalantly.
"Heya, Jack," Ianto murmured quietly, keeping his head down.
Jack shrugged, and turned to lead the way back into the cell. He sat down on his mattress and patted the space beside him. "So? No glasses, I see."
Ianto hugged his knees. "It's getting worse. They say there's nothing they can do but leave it. If it stops deteriorating, then they'll give me glasses."
"'If'?" Jack repeated. "They don't think ...?"
He let the question hang in the air, and Ianto shook his head. "They think I'll eventually lose my sight in my right eye, since there's no way from them to treat ... whatever that bastard did. Not only that, but my eye might go cloudy. Everyone will know."
"Cloudy?"
"Like ... a milky eye."
"Oo, sexy," Jack grinned.
"You don't think that," Ianto muttered, hugging his knees tighter.
"I do," Jack insisted. "Owen and I were talking about it. Sort of. We were on eye-patches."
"Arr," Ianto laughed softly, doing his best pirate impression.
Jack gently stroked his fingers through Ianto's hair. "See?"
He could feel how rigid Ianto was beneath his fingers, his eyes squeezed shut tight and Jack knew he was probably trying not to cry. "Hey," he said, voice low and comforting. "We've still got hooch. Let's get shitfaced tonight and fuck the world."
"I'd rather not," Ianto murmured.
"Well ... erm ... we could play cards? I have Owen's deck."
"I'm not in the mood."
"Shall we read?" Jack tried. "Let's read."
"Not now," Ianto grumbled irritably. He tugged back the sheet covering his bed and climbed under, lying on his side and facing the wall.
Jack scratched his head. After a moment, he moved and lay himself behind Ianto, spooning into his back. "They'll lock us in soon," he whispered. "I can make you feel better properly."
Ianto 'mmm'd' into his pillow, folding his arms and curling a little. Jack realised that he probably might want a little bit of space, so pressed a kiss to Ianto's pale temple and got to his feet. "I'm gonna go to Owen's cell 'til lock in, okay? If you need me ... just ... yeah?"
The back of Ianto's head moved as it nodded, and Jack took that as confirmation that he'd read Ianto right. Glumly, he scuffed his trainers on the concrete walkway as he wandered down the few cells distance to Owen's lair. The man himself still wasn't back from his phone call, so Jack stretched out on the bottom bunk and stared at the mattress above him, losing himself in thought as he waited.
Half a minute later, and he was bored. Fidgeting, he got back up and clambered up onto the top bunk, lying on his belly and peering out of the window. In the distance, he could see the clusters of large, semi-detached houses, their roofs poking up between moorland and rolling hills, and one house, the one with the blue guttering, stood out most. He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps stomping into the room, and turned to glance over his shoulder at Owen.
"What do you want?" Owen demanded irritably.
"Ianto got back from the hospital - "
"I'll look at him later. For fuck's sake, give him a chance to breathe."
"That wasn't what I was saying," Jack sighed, turning back to look at the house with blue guttering again.
Owen shuffled on the spot. "It's Katie," he blurted out, almost as if he hadn't meant to say anything but the words were desperate to be heard.
Jack turned to look at him again. "She okay?"
"No," Owen breathed shakily. "No ... she's really not."
~*~*~*~
The key scraped in the lock behind him, and Jack sat on his mattress by Ianto's feet. Ianto wasn't sleeping, just staring at the wall in front of him. "How's Owen?" he eventually asked.
Jack bit his lip, considering how to word it. "A mess," he settled on saying.
"Oh?" frowned Ianto, turning his head slightly.
"On the outside he has a finacèe. She was taken to hospital this morning, so don't expect too much from him for a while."
"You sure he's gonna be okay? On his own?"
"He'll be as fine as he can be. How are you, Ianto?" Jack asked gently. Slowly, Ianto pulled himself up to a sitting position.
"I think I'm nearly done wallowing in self pity," he mumbled. "It's just that I can see it happening. Everything fading ..."
"Let me have a look?"
Jack gently grasped Ianto's chin and looked into his eyes. Already, the right one seemed paler and whiter, if only slightly. He realised that Ianto's eyes weren't focused on his, but actually a little lower. Jack flicked his tongue out to wet his lower lip. Carefully he leaned in, and pressed a kiss to Ianto's mouth. He felt eyelashes tickle his cheek as Ianto's eyes fluttered closed, and pulled back slightly to touch their noses together.
"Jack?" Ianto whispered.
"Mmm?"
"Jack ... I ... erm ..." Ianto gently pushed Jack a little out of his personal space. "When I was in hospital ... they let me on the computer ... and I ... I Googled you."
"... oh. And?"
"Well ... I ... I ..."
"Do you think I did it?"
Ianto swallowed, very aware of the fact he was locked in the same room as Jack. "I ... I don't think you did."
"Honestly?"
Scratching his head, Ianto shrugged. "You just seem ... not like that."
Jack's lips quirked. "Would you believe me? If I told you I didn't?"
Biting his lip, he weighed Jack up for a moment. "I think I would."
"Because you would believe it, or because you want to believe it?"
"Would you want me to believe it?"
Jack seemed to search his face for a second. "I sort of did it," he eventually said.
Ianto's eyes widened. "What do you mean ... 'sort of did it'?"
Jack shrugged, and Ianto figured that was the nearest thing to an answer he was going to get if he carried on pushing the matter. "I'll arm wrestle you for the red blanket?" he offered, and Jack laughed despite not moving to take up the offer. There was a silence, and Ianto took a deep breath in slowly, then let it out.
"Jack ... I ... did we make a mistake? Sleeping together?"
"It was just a bit of fun, Ianto. It ... y'know ... it didn't mean anything ... Did it?"
Ianto flustered a little. "Well ... not if ... y'know ... not that I know of."
Jack nodded along with him.
"And," Ianto continued. "If we were on the outside, it would never have happened, right? I mean ... like … Y'know?”
Jack was nodding as Ianto trailed off, and there was an awkward silence.
“It is fun though.”
“Oh yeah,” Jack agreed, and gave him a large grin.
Ianto smiled back, tugging his blanket distractedly before yawning. “I think I'm going to get ready for bed, now,” he decided.
“Me too. Erm … you wanna … Y'know?”
“I'm tired,” Ianto groaned, as much as he did like playing 'Let's Undress Ianto'.
Jack shrugged. “Okay,” he said, and they left each other to get ready for bed in peace. Washed, changed and teeth brushed, they curled up on their respective mattresses and eventually fell asleep.
~*~*~*~
Coming with Jack to the gym had been a much better idea than practice. Ianto didn't mind the other guys hanging around so much, the sound or sight of them working their muscles, sweat glistening over shirtless chests or the grunting and groaning that was borderline indecent.
Ianto didn't mind that at all.
It was the sight and sound of Jack working his muscles, sweat glistening over his shirtless chest and grunting and groaning in a way that was borderline indecent that was getting Ianto rather hot and bothered himself.
Stupid Jack, he thought. It's like he's trying to get me in trouble …
“Here, you try,” Jack offered, getting up from the multi-gym he'd been using and sitting Ianto down on the seat in front of the weight stack. Jack read him the Health and Safety information from the laminated piece of card dangling from the top of it, and when Ianto rolled his eyes gave him a slap around the back of the head. “You could seriously hurt yourself, and I'm not being your nurse.”
“Good,” Ianto mumbled low, “the thought of you in a dress is distinctly unnerving.”
Jack bent down low so that he could move the pin and lessen the weight Ianto would be lifting, but mainly as an excuse to get close to his ears. “You know you'd love it,” he muttered. “I've worn a dress before, and I know I did …” He straightened up and clapped his hands together. “Right - lift that,” he ordered.
Ianto curled his fingers around the handle bars in front of the chair and pushed them up easily. “Huh?” he frowned.
“I'm gauging where you're up to,” Jack explained. “No good me guessing what you can lift, getting it wrong and you hurting yourself.” He leaned over the machine again and moved the pin to add more weight to the pulleys. “Try that.”
Ianto pushed the the bar up again, meeting a little more resistance. Jack moved the pin a few more times, until Ianto found where he was 'up to', as Jack had put it.
“Do twenty,” Jack ordered. “Try and keep to the same rhythm and speed.”
By the time he got to nine, Ianto was thinking that he'd probably had enough exercise for the day. Jack, however, who seemed to have appointed himself as Ianto's personal trainer, was refusing to let up. “You haven't even hit your pain barrier yet,” he admonished when Ianto got to fourteen.
“I'm gonna hit you in a minute,” Ianto muttered. Jack laughed, and Ianto glared at him. “Fiffffffteeeeeeen,” Ianto groaned, “Yep … that's definitely enough now,” he decided.
“Ah ah.” Jack pushed him back into the chair.
“Why do you hate me so much?” Ianto grumbled.
Jack leaned in, relenting and moving the pin up one weight. “Don't be such a drama queen,” he muttered, loud enough for only Ianto to hear. Ianto sensed the real underlying insult, and felt his fists tighten around the handles. He didn't wait for Jack to step away before pushing them up, and quite nearly hit Jack's groin with quite a bit of force.
Bloody Jack.
Always one step ahead.
He'd jumped back with a grin that Ianto could've forgiven anything, and cheerily announced Ianto's sixteenth push.
When he finally reached twenty, Ianto's arms felt like overcooked spaghetti and his stomach muscles ached. Jack moved the pin in the weights and they switched, Jack easily lifting half of the weight stack twenty times to the same rhythm and jumping up again.
“Your turn.”
“You can fuck off. I'm going to do some-”
“You could do legs next - You,” he barked at the guy currently sat and pushing a weighted board with his feet, “shift.”
“But-”
“I said shift,” Jack snapped, and the guy got up and moved. Jack's demeanour changed instantly, grinning brightly at Ianto. “Your turn.”
“I could have just waited …”
“Life's too short, and I'm impatient. Sit.”
Ianto sat on the padded chair, resting back at a forty-five degree angle and putting his feet up to push against the metal square. It was attached to a horizontal bar, that had a weight stack at the end of it that Ianto was supposed to move.
“Keep your back on the chair,” Jack instructed. “Don't use your stomach muscles to push - make sure it's all in the legs.”
After the legs, they tried a few more weight machines before the bell rang for lunch. Ianto was pretty much ready to be carried out and tucked into bed, his limbs all stringy and his body tired. He ate his lunch on autopilot before drifting up to the cell and collapsing onto his mattress.
Jack leaned in the doorway, arms folded and amusedly watching him. “Good work out?”
“I hate you.”
“You'll thank me for it,” Jack assured him.
“I hate you.”
“Half an hour of rest and you'll feel better than you have in years.”
“I hate you.”
Ianto heard the cell door closing and Jack's trainers getting a little closer. His mattress dipped as Jack sat and leaned over him, his lips close to his ear. “What about if I give you a massage, Mr. Jones?”
“Middle of the day,” Ianto mumbled into his pillow. “Too dangerous.”
“Bit of danger could be fun,” Jack whispered, taking the lobe of Ianto's ear into his mouth and sucking and biting gently. Ianto groaned.
“I can't,” he sighed.
Jack let go of his earlobe and sighed, too, leaning up a little to rest his chin on Ianto's shoulder.
“I know,” Ianto yawned. “Why don't you go and check on Owen while I grab a power nap?”
“I suppose I should. You sure you'll be okay?”
“I'll be fine.”
“I don't want to leave you on your own.”
“You've left me on my own lots of times,” Ianto pointed out, yawning again.
“That was before.”
“You sorted out Ugly Jack, though.”
Jack sat up, settling his back against the wall. “Adam and Unit are after you.”
“Huh?”
“Adam and Unit - from the other side. They're after you.”
Ianto sat up as best he could. “After me?”
“You don't worry about. Alex and me are on top of the situation.”
“Alex and I.”
“Is now really the situation?”
“Sorry.”
“Anyway … While Alex and me are getting on top of the situation, I'm not too sure leaving you on your own is a good idea just yet.”
Ianto let out a long sigh, then curled up under his blanket again. “Wake me up in half an hour,” he mumbled, and drifted off.
So good so far, Jack thought to himself, waiting a few minutes to make sure Ianto was really asleep. Getting up, he calmly left the cell door open about a foot and a half, then broke out into his usual confident gait, heading for the stairs. He passed Alex's door, and rapped his knuckles three times in quick succession without breaking his stride. He got to the cell at the very end of the row, and leaned in the frame with folded arms.
“How's the severe bruising?” he asked, amusedly.
Ugly Jack looked up at him, and slowly rose up from the bunk he was sitting on. “It's good to go?” he asked.
“It's good to go,” Jack nodded, then nodded toward the young man, Ugly Jack's cell mate, lingering in the corner. “Is he just going to stand there all day, or what?”
“Jake,” Ugly Jack said, and jerked his head in the direction of the door. Jake didn't ask twice and got out as fast as he could. Ugly Jack turned back to Jack, massaging his stiff, bruised neck. “So we just wait for the signal, yeah?”
Jack nodded, entering the cell and making a beeline for the shelves above the wooden desk and picking things up to look at them, turn them over in his hands and then put them back. He picked up a wooden necklace resting on the edge of the shelves, and recalled Ianto owned one of similar style. He wondered if Ianto would like this one.
“This is nice,” he said.
“My son sent it for me.”
“Cute,” Jack nodded, then put it in his pocket. He could feel Ugly Jack's want to protest and carefully ignored it. Sauntering over to sit on lean against the bunk beds, Jack folded his arms and waited for the signal, sensing Ugly Jack's apprehension and carefully masking his own.
The minutes dragged by, but they finally heard it.
A knock on the opposite wall, three times.
Jack left his uglier counterpart to answer it, and shot down the hallway, slowing to step carefully and approaching his now closed cell door. With a gentle push, it opened slightly, and there was Unit, crouching over Ianto's sleeping form. Setting his jaw, Jack slipped into the room.
“Interesting hobby,” he quipped, and Unit froze. Jack could see the syringe in his hand, thankfully still full as he'd struggled a little to get Ianto's sleeve up his arm without waking him. “Want to back away from him now, or are things going to have to get even nastier?”
Unit smiled at him.
Suddenly, Jack was grabbed from behind - Adam had been hidden behind the door in case Jack returned, lying in wait.
But of course, Jack already expected that.
The moment Adam had him, Ugly Jack was in the room to deal with Unit, trapping him in a headlock. Handsome Jack backed into the wall as fast as he could, slamming Adam into it until he let go, then shoving his knee right in between Adam's legs and temporarily disarming him. He glanced over, spotting Ianto had woken up and, after a moment, sprung to action. Ianto copied Jack, got Unit right in the balls, forcing him to collapse and the syringe left to roll toward Jack's feet.
The two Saxons were on the floor, groaning, and the two Jacks were out of breath and feeling the adrenalin. Handsome Jack crouched and picked up the syringe, and Ianto's eyes widened when he saw it. “What the Hell's going on?” he demanded.
“Unit here -” Jack said, then kicked Unit. “- was going to dose you with heroin. And Adam there -” Jack kicked Adam. “- was standing guard.”
There was a kerfuffle outside the cell, and Officers Cooper, Guppy and Holroyd appeared and took in the scene before them. Holroyd sighed, taking out her notebook while Gwen and Alice set to work on getting Unit and Adam in cuffs.
A few recounts and a good telling off later, Adam and Unit were held in indefinite isolation, and Jack and Ianto were left alone in their cell.
“Why?” Ianto asked eventually, breaking the silence.
“Why what?”
“Why were they gonna … y'know. The heroin?”
Jack searched carefully for words. “They shove that stuff in your veins, and that's it: addicted. You want more, and more - and they're the only ones who can get it for you. You could go cold turkey … but that seems like more Hell than it's worth when you actually try it. You're stuck in that cycle, and they have more control over you than you can imagine.”
“But why would they want to do that to me?”
Jack's mouth opened and closed mutely, then he swallowed. “Because they were,” he decided, in a firm tone that was allowing no argument. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the rest of the sounds around them from what seemed like far away.
“You were right,” Ianto eventually said.
“Hm?”
“I do feel better than I have in ages.”
Jack grinned. “Vigorous exercise worth it?”
“From this side of it.”
“Wanna make it a weekly thing?”
“Not really.”
Jack laughed, and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I think you should. It's fun.”
“No it isn't,” Ianto frowned, wondering how on Earth Jack might have perceived that morning as 'fun'.
“Yes it is,” Jack insisted. “Once you get used to the routine and stuff it gets easier.”
“I'm not a gym person,” Ianto groaned. “One workout and I know I'm going to be aching for days.”
“Only the first few times. Your body will love you and release all sorts of happy hormones as a reward.”
“I'd rather just let chocolate release the happy endorphins.”
“Don't be daft. We'll do the gym every Tuesday morning from now on, okay?”
It dawned on Ianto that Jack had already made up his mind about this. He'd simply have to go along with it and be difficult and bratty until Jack decided it wasn't fun any more. He nodded his agreement, and Jack clapped him on the back. “Good man,” he grinned.
“Shall we go and see Owen?” Ianto suggested, wanting to change the subject.
Jack nodded, and they got to their feet and headed toward Owen's cell. “Knock, knock,” Jack called, poking his head around the door frame.
Owen was where they had left him after breakfast - sat on the lower bunk, staring into space.
“Owen?” Jack tried, and slowly Owen looked up.
“Hi, Jack.”
“How are you doing?”
“Fine, thank you. How are you?”
Jack sat next to him, and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Not too bad.”
Ianto hovered, wondering if he was actually welcome while Owen was so distressed. Owen didn't seem to notice him, his eyes still glassed over. “I can't believe she's dead,” Owen whispered, and Ianto stared at the floor awkwardly. Jack flinched slightly, tightening his grip on Owen's shoulder before pulling him close and holding him tight.
Swallowing, unsure what to make of the way Jack and Owen were clinging together, Ianto made a quick exit and headed back to his cell. Curling up in the corner on his mattress, he pulled Jack's copy of Dorian Gray out from under his pillow and flicked to where he'd last stopped reading, keeping one eye on the door as he did so.
He recalled, as he read, that Owen had mentioned he'd once slept with Jack. Squeezing his eyes shut, Ianto reminded himself that it would be a situation never repeated, that Jack and Owen were close and that Owen was in desperate need of comfort and Jack wouldn't take advantage of that.
Snapping the book shut, Ianto reminded himself that he didn't really know Jack at all. The second he thought he'd figured something out, Jack would complete contradict the conclusion and set up a whole new angle for Ianto to misunderstand.
Ianto had thought him different from the other prisoners, but then he'd seen the relish with which he had kicked and stamped on a defenceless and outnumbered man. He'd thought him misjudged, but then Jack had admitted he was, in some way, guilty of his charged crimes - crimes that Ianto didn't dare to repeat over in his head in case he made himself fear Jack. Jack was cool, calm and confident, but so insecure and unsure and desperate for approval.
The only thing that Ianto could be certain of was that Jack was the kindest fucking bastard on the planet.
Rubbing his right eye, Ianto got up and checked it in the mirror. It hadn't gotten any better, but it hadn't gotten worse either. He'd almost forgotten about it earlier, in fact, and since it happened Ianto had never forgotten. Maybe working himself to exhaustion in the gym might help, after all.
Jack appeared in the doorway, then frowned in concern. “You okay?”
“Yeah … Just checking up on it.”
“It hasn't changed since you came back,” Jack told him, digging into his pocked for something.
“Mmmm,” Ianto agreed, tearing himself away from the mirror.
“Here,” Jack smiled, holding his hand out, “I got you something.” He opened his palm, revealing the different shades of wooden beads on a string, and Ianto took it and stretched it out.
“How did you know I liked these?” he asked, certain that Jack wasn't simply giving him his own beads back.
“You have one in your box,” Jack shrugged. “Do you like it?”
Ianto nodded, and grinned sheepishly. “Where did you get it from?”
“That's telling,” Jack winked, turning him around so that he could fasten it around his neck for him. He slid his finger underneath the beads to help them lie straight, feeling Ianto's pulse jump beneath his fingertips. Keeping his hand where it was on Ianto's neck, he reached over and pushed the cell door shut.
“Oh no, Jack … We can't,” Ianto complained, reading Jack's train of thought. Jack simply chuckled, deep and playful.
“Don't I get a reward for doing good?” Jack asked suggestively, pressing his lips divinely against the skin of Ianto's neck.
“Can't you be patient?”
“No,” Jack mumbled into his skin, pulling open all of Ianto's boiler suit buttons in one and pushing his hips forward so that Ianto was sandwiched between him and the sink.
“Wanker,” Ianto muttered, closing his eyes and tipping his head back, Jack's fingers slipping below the waistband of his underwear and playing with him. He let out a quiet, happy sigh, feeling himself melting against Jack's body.
Footsteps approached from outside, and Ianto tensed. Jack stilled his hand, glancing to the door, getting ready to jump back if need be.
The footsteps carried on, away from them, and Ianto sagged a little with relief. He pulled Jack's hand out of his clothes and started fastening up again. “We shouldn't be that stupid,” he admonished, cutting Jack off before he could leer.
“Yeah … You're right,” Jack conceded.
Ianto went to stand back in front of the mirror again, holding his glass tumbler up to his face in the hope of cooling the blush of arousal on his cheeks.
“I'm bored,” Jack complained. “Can we go outside and play basketball or something?”
“I hate basketball,” Ianto reminded him, going to sit on his mattress and waiting for Jack to join him. “What else do you want to do? - apart from that …”
Jack sighed. “We could go and see what's on the TV, I suppose.”
Ianto sighed heavily. “Saxons hog the TV.”
Jack shrugged. “Count it as a half-blessing - half our lot would just put Jeremy Kyle on anyway.”
“There's only so many re-runs of Come Dine With Me I can sit through, though,” Ianto reminded him. “Especially since half the Saxons are just watching it so they can figure out where the rich peoples' houses are and rob 'em when they get out.”
“If a dick's gonna stand in front of his fifty-two inch flat screen home cinema system and gloat about it, he's got it coming,” shrugged Jack. “Tell you what - we'll see who's got the TV, see what's on the TV and then if it's all wank we'll go and outside and do something.”
“Fine,” Ianto compromised, and they made their way down to the corner of the wing where a few chairs, a few sofas and one or two tiny tables were set up, facing a small TV screen held high up in a corner. It was held in a cage, and the remote control was chained to it so that it couldn't get 'lost'.
The remote was currently being clutched by a group of four youngish Saxons who seemed to think they were untouchable, jeering at one or two members of Torchwood who were trying to watch whatever crap they'd put on the TV. Jack gave Ianto a playful grin, walked up to the couch and gave the one holding the remote a pretty hard whack around the back of the head, jerking his hand and signalling for him and his friends to move.
“Fuck off,” sniggered the one Jack had smacked.
Jack raised an eyebrow. “You wanna start something, kid?”
Ianto managed to maintain his passive expression, folding his arms and adding a set to his jaw. The urge to roll his eyes, however, was almost too much. He stood firmly by Jack's side, as he'd seen John and Owen do on his first day.
“You wanna start something, kid?” the Saxon mimicked, mangling the accent.
Ianto did, finally, get to roll his eyes while Jack laughed along with the group of Saxons.
“Seriously, kid,” Jack enunciated, “move, before I throw you across the room.”
“I'd like to see you try,” Kid muttered.
Jack shrugged, and with a grunt of effort dragged the boy up from his seat and slammed him against the wall. The wind knocked out of him, the Saxon's cocky attitude vanished.
“You wanna repeat that?” growled Jack, and Ianto moved out of the way he was fairly certain the boy would fly in if he riled Jack any further. He didn't reply, however, and a moment later Jack and Ianto were sat on the uncomfortable sofa flicking through the channels as the four Saxons slunk off.
Ianto decided not to say anything about what had just happened until later on.
Everything on the TV wasn't really to anybody's liking, and Ianto had to be dragged outside by his collar, given a basic outline of the rules of basketball by a few Torchwood people before being thrust onto the court.
After half an hour, Ianto was starting to actually enjoy himself. He was tired from his workout that morning, but this was a different kind of exercise … This was kind of … fun. Especially since he and Jack were actually working quite well together as a team and winning by miles.
Eventually, the other two they were playing against - the man Alex shared with, called Tommy, and an older guy called Gerald - decided they'd had enough and conceded defeat. They all began to make their way inside, checking their watching and anticipating the bell indicating food, when they spotted a large, irate crowd by one side of the cafeteria.
“What's going on?” Jack demanded, and someone pushed a red piece of A5 into his hands. “Woah … woah …” he scowled, reading it, “'Wing C is due for a much needed reorganisation'? What. The. Fuck?”
Ianto read over his shoulder. “'Behaviour both post and prior to this announcement will be taken into account, and cell mates reassigned in due course.'. They're splitting us all up,” Ianto breathed. “They're splitting us all up, and they're going to destroy everything that's established.”
“We're going to kill each other.”
“I don't want to move,” Ianto admitted quietly. “Jack …”
“I know,” Jack cut him off brusquely, “we'll just have to butter up Cooper a bit.” He began to make his way back up to their cell, and Ianto followed close behind.
“At least you'll be all right, though,” Ianto mumbled, sinking onto his mattress. “What am I going to do? What if they split us up?”
“It'll be all right.”
“What if I end up with one of the bigger Saxons? What will he do to me?”
“I'm going to Alex's,” Jack announced.
“Jack!”
“What?”
“What will they do to me? If I end up with a Saxon?”
Jack averted his gaze. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” he advised.
“What?”
“Become a Saxon.”
“But I chose Torchwood.”
“Then choose again.”
“What if they … ask stuff? About you?”
“Then tell them,” shrugged Jack, “and tell them the truth.”
“But-”
“I'll be fine,” Jack placated him. “We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I've been much better behaved since I got put in with you, so maybe they'll leave us be. I'll talk to my solicitor and find out what our rights are. They can't knowingly put you in with someone who would hurt you, I'm sure.”
“I suppose if they do move us, we could always just take ourselves back.”
“Mmm,” Jack agreed, stretching. “Bridge when we come to it,” he repeated, then glanced up at the door when a knock rang from it. “Come in,” he called, and Owen pushed poked his head in.
“Hey - Alex wants us,” he said, his voice still a little hoarse. “Us … and him.” Owen pointed at Ianto.
“Good. I wanna see Alex, too. Have you heard the wonderful news, Owen?”
Owen nodded. “Probably what Alex wants us for. A big, massive 'I told you so'.”
“I doubt it,” Jack derisively snorted. “If this crap goes down, he loses his throne, and Alex really won't like that.”
“You lose your second status,” Owen reminded him, “I'm guessing you're not going to like that, either.”
“Well, no,” Jack grinned. “But unlike Alex, I'm wouldn't have to rely on who I used to be to climb the ladder again.”
Owen's eyebrow raised. “You should be careful what you say, Jack.”
“You're gonna tell on me? You're as sick of Alex as I am.”
“Be careful, Jack,” Owen advised, “there's rumours of a Round Robin doing the circuit, and if Alex finds any sign of it …”
“I'll keep my ears open,” Jack promised. “Ianto will, too - Anyway: to Alex's cell.”
Ianto followed behind, never having been summoned to one of these 'Alex's Cell' meetings before. Once he got there, he figured it was nothing special - just Alex sitting on his wooden chair and everyone else either sat on the bunk or the floor. Jack sat Ianto up on the top bunk, then assumed his position stood behind Alex.
“Well, I'm guessing you've all seen the notices,” Alex began, his bitterness highlighting his accent slightly, “the real problem is what we're going to do about it. Suggestions?”
“Nothing,” Jack cut in before anyone else, “We let them do what the Hell they want, then move ourselves back.”
There was a murmur of agreement, and without waiting for any further challenges, Alex decided they could all 'have a think' and reconvene later. He moved on to talk about fighting and getting along, and Ianto found himself yawning and drifting to gaze out the window.
He came back to his senses when Jack clapped his hands together, signalling the end of the apparent board meeting. Ianto hopped down from the bunk, lingering and waiting for Jack.
“Carry on, Ianto,” Jack said, pushing him toward the door. “I need to talk to Alex.”
Ianto considered going to Owen's, but decided that Owen was probably still after only his own thoughts. Wary of being left alone after what Jack had been saying that morning, and having to remind himself that Unit and Adam were in isolation, he went straight back to his cell and pushed the door to just as the bell for dinner rang out.
Ianto decided to wait near the stairs for Jack, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he did so. Eventually, Jack emerged from Alex's cell looking thoroughly displeased about something. He joined Ianto, and they began to make their way down the stairs.
“You've got a face like a slapped arse,” Ianto observed. “What's up?”
“I'll tell you later,” Jack promised, and they pushed their way to the front of the dinner line without challenge. Instead of going to an empty table, Jack led them over to where Alex was going to be sitting, on the right-hand side of Alex's place. He indicated Ianto should sit on Jack's right, and began to quietly eat.
“We're expecting a new addition today,” Jack muttered in undertones.
“Good news or bad news?” asked Ianto.
“Depends how you look at it.”
“Oh?”
“He's a high profile convict. Evan Sherman.”
Ianto frowned. “Name rings a bell,” he nodded.
“He's here on abduction charges - they couldn't prove the accusation that he's a cannibal.”
Ianto pushed his plate away. “Oh. Yeah.”
“We don't really wanna be mixing with him,” Jack sighed, “but we don't want the other side to get him either.”
Alex arrived, and began eating without saying a word to either of them, waiting for Evan Sherman to arrive.
The cafeteria was full by the time he did, and the same quiet that had fallen when Ianto had been brought out into the fray fell again. There was something more tense to it this time, though.
Evan Sherman was middle-aged, weathered, and had eyes that weren't entirely in the room with the rest of him. He seemed genuinely pleased that everyone was staring at him, and smiled at them all unnervingly.
Jack muttered a 'No' to Alex, and Alex nodded, continuing his food and waiting for Harold Saxon to make his move.
Five minutes later, the Saxons had a new favourite.
~*~*~*~
The lock scraped shut, and Jack called another 'goodnight' to Officer Davidson. He sauntered over to where Ianto was finishing brushing his teeth, and slid arms around his waist.
“Here we are again,” he muttered, smiling at their reflections before nipping Ianto's neck and sucking and kissing and licking a small patch of skin.
“Mmmmm,” Ianto agreed, “And this time we can do what we want …”
“It feels like it's been far too long,” Jack sighed, turning Ianto around and pressing their mouths together, the taste of toothpaste strong on both their tongues. Ianto tried not to melt too much, but Jack was being so gentle with him it almost took him by surprise. He felt frustrated that Jack wasn't letting his hands wander lower than Ianto's waist, and eventually grabbed them and plonked them firmly on his arse.
Jack laughed into his mouth at the brazen gesture, then upped the stakes by simply taking Ianto's hand shoving it down the front of his trousers and straight onto his cock.
Ianto laughed, too, and squeezed gently, and Jack grunted and broke the kiss. Bringing his other hand up to the back of Jack's neck, Ianto pulled him back in roughly, kissing him again and giving him another squeeze. He managed to push Jack up against the wall, pressing his thigh between Jack's legs and rubbing against him as he removed his hands.
Jack tugged his hair until their mouths parted, and out of breath he grinned at Ianto. “Look at you,” he sighed. “Where have your reservations gone?”
Ianto shrugged, then left him to go and sprawl over his mattress while pulling the top half of his boiler suit down and tugging off his t-shirt.
“Hey,” Jack complained. “Undressing Ianto is my job,” he pouted.
“Then get over here and do your job,” Ianto smirked, laughing as he had to grip the far edge of the mattress, lying on his belly while Jack pulled his boiler suit, underwear, trainers and socks off all in one. The air was pushed out of his lungs as Jack flopped down on top of him, still fully clothed, and ground down into his naked thigh on instinct.
Dipping his head, Jack went straight for the pulse-point of Ianto's neck, kissing the sensitive skin. Ianto hummed in delight, tilting his head as far as he could to give Jack more room.
“I want to be on top this time,” he muttered, eyes fluttering closed.
Jack chuckled huskily, and raised his head a little suck an earlobe between his teeth. “You do, do you?” he asked, pressing a kiss to Ianto's temple, then another to his cheek.
“Yeah,” Ianto replied, his voice a little strangled. “I wanna … uh … I wanna ride you. See what it's like when you're underneath me.”
Realisation dawned on Jack. “Ahhh,” he smirked, returning his attention to Ianto's neck. “You mean on top, not top top.”
“Ahuh,” Ianto grunted, “I want you to fuck me a few more times before giving it you. I wanna … mmmm … I wanna experiment.”
Jack grinned wolfishly, kneeling up and straddling Ianto's thighs as he pulled off his t-shirt, wondering if there was a switch inside Ianto's brain that turned him from the quieter, sarcastic and seemingly more reserved self into the horny young man lying naked on his belly before him, telling him he wanted to experiment with being fucked and exactly how he wanted it done.
Dropping his hands from tossing his shirt aside, Jack pulled open the last couple of poppers while Ianto got himself up on all fours and pushed himself back into Jack's groin. “I wanna try it this way, too,” he said, turning to look at Jack over his shoulder.
Jack could only nod, his lips parted and dry.
Ianto straightened up, so that his back was pressed against Jack's chest. “Like this, too,” he murmured, tipping his head back over Jack's shoulder, turning slightly and softly kissing Jack's jaw. “In fact, I've made up quite a list …”
Ianto chuckled throatily, feeling Jack's clothes behind him pushed down and bare erection press against his flesh. He tingled with anticipation, gently nudging himself back against it. He hissed when Jack scraped teeth over his shoulder, and fell forward with a grunt as Jack forced him back down onto all fours. “Wait there,” Jack said, getting up and taking condoms and lube from the CD player.
Ianto laughed, and received a quick smack on the backside. He gasped in shock more than pain, then laughed again. Jack knelt behind him and gave him another slap, setting down his things. “Was this on the list?” Jack asked, massaging Ianto's buttock then giving it another smack
Ianto turned his head to look at him over his shoulder again, and he was smirking. He bit his lip when Jack hit him again. “It is now,” Ianto decided, balancing on one arm to reach down his body and play with himself a little.
“Heyy,” Jack complained, reaching between Ianto's legs and stilling the hand. “You're not supposed to do that.”
“Bugger off. I want to.”
Jack clicked his tongue, and slapped Ianto's backside harder than he had before. Ianto let out a slight grunt, stroking himself a little faster and laughing again.
“Why do you keep laughing?” Jack demanded.
“Because … ah! … Because it feels good.”
“Does it hurt?” Jack asked, rubbing and squeezing before smacking again.
“My arm's aching a bit,” Ianto panted, “Might have to switch.”
“What if I tell you you're not allowed to switch?” Jack asked with a predatory smirk, leaning down to scrape teeth over Ianto's earlobe and nip harshly.
“What if I tell you to bugger off?” Ianto replied, breathlessly indignant, stopping his strokes and bringing his arm down so that he was on all fours again. He waited a moment, then glanced over his shoulder once more. “Well?”
“What?”
Ianto laughed, then let himself down to lie on his side. “I thought you were going to carry on,” he said, still smiling.
“Then get back up then,” Jack grinned.
“Ah no - the moment's gone now.”
“The moment?” Jack asked, confused.
“Yeah. The moment,” Ianto repeated, his voice dropping low as he moved to kneel up in front of Jack, sliding hands around his waist. “Kiss me,” he demanded, and Jack obliged hungrily, too distracted for a moment to realise that Ianto was pushing him, until he landed on his back, Ianto straddling him.
They kissed for a few minutes, until Jack was so frustrated that Ianto wasn't moving his mouth anywhere lower that he broke it. “I do have erogenous zones,” he reminded him, eyes dark and voice husky. It looked to him as though Ianto thought he'd been chastised, and he saw the confident mask slip slightly and smile twitch a little. Jack sat up a little, and Ianto suddenly seemed at a loss with what to do, so Jack gently pulled his head closer and tucked it into his neck. “There,” he said quietly, running a hand down Ianto's back.
Ianto's tongue touched his skin and he hitched his breath on purpose. It spurred Ianto's confidence up once more, and his hands and tongue and teeth became sure and purposeful again. He moved around, peppering Jack's collarbone with kisses, and Jack was breaking out into a glistening sweat that made Ianto begin to flick his tongue out to taste.
He moved lower down Jack's chest, and Jack let out an almost embarrassing sound when Ianto's incisors grazed his right nipple. He leaned back on his hands, tilting his chin to the ceiling as his eyes drifted closed, Ianto's tongue swirling around his nipple and lips kissing sensitive skin sloppily.
Eventually, he had to stop him again. “Here,” he said softly, hoping he hadn't offended Ianto into thinking he was 'doing it wrong'. “Here - learn from me, not hospital porn.”
He tilted Ianto's head back, and kissed and nibbled from neck to chest, then gently began to very slowly show Ianto what he meant.
To Ianto, it felt strange at first, the slow and deliberate way Jack concentrated on that tiny patch of his body - but Jack was good at concentrating when he had to. Ianto rested his chin on Jack's head, ran fingers through Jack's hair and tried to pay attention to what Jack was doing - the tiny, flicks of tongue, the lips kissing him, the hot breath on warm saliva cooling and sensitizing, the occasional electric scrape of teeth.
Jack tried to raise his head, and Ianto scowled and shoved his head back into his chest. Laughing, Jack disentangled himself, leaning back and waiting for Ianto to try and replicate his actions on him.
Kissing a circle, Ianto closed his mouth over Jack's nipple and gently, rather than crudely, swirled his tongue around it and nipped his teeth.
“Perfect …” Jack breathed, tangling fingers in Ianto's hair.
After a minute or so, Ianto pushed the tube of lubricant into Jack's hand and moved back up to kiss his mouth and push his tongue insistently inside. Jack lay them both down, kneeling up and warming a little gel between his fingers. Ianto made a show of sliding his hands down the insides of his thighs, running the fingertips up his legs until he could hold onto his heels as Jack slid a finger inside him.
“Pay attention,” Jack muttered, and gave Ianto's thigh a gentle slap. “You won't learn if you don't pay attention.”
“Mmmmm,” Ianto sighed, “I am paying attention, sir,” he smiled, opening one eye and checking to see how well-received his petulance may have been. He gasped at the sudden burn as Jack added another finger, and bit his lip and sucked on it hard as Jack thrust his fingers in again.
“Is that uncomfortable?” Jack asked, holding his fingers still and waited for Ianto to nod. “Now you know not to do that to me then, don't you?”
“Unless you're being a prick,” Ianto pointed out, squeezing his muscles down on the fingers inside him. Jack curled the fingers in retaliation and pressed into his prostate.
Jack took an agonisingly long time, and eventually Ianto had to let go of his heels and put his legs down, Jack was taking so long. He finally used his thumbs to hold Ianto open, checking he was stretched enough, before lying down beside him and kissing him hungrily.
Ianto rolled them so that he was on top, and knelt up, straddling Jack's waist and taking a deep breath. “You can't just lie there and do nothing,” he said, as Jack slid a hand down to lift his cock and guide it toward Ianto's hole.
“I promise,” Jack murmured, reaching up with his other hand to touch Ianto's face.
Ianto looked into his eyes as he felt for the hard, hot, blunt tip, feeling it press against his entrance and rocked back, willing it to push inside. Jack raised his hips instinctively, his breath catching as Ianto continued to lower himself down.
Together they found a painfully slow rhythm, Ianto rocking himself back and forward while Jack raised his hips to meet him. Ianto leaned back on one hand, using his other to stroke himself and Jack raised his head to admire the view. He wanted to keep his head up while maintaining his grip on Ianto's thighs, and Ianto glanced up, then reached behind him for his pillow.
They both hissed at the dramatic change of angle as Ianto leaned forward to tuck the pillow beneath Jack's head, then hissed again when he leaned back on his hand, again using the other to wank as he raised his hips up and down. Jack watched with darkened, hooded eyes that slid shut when Ianto purposefully tightened his muscles and squeezed him for a few strokes, then relaxed for a few more before tightening again.
“Ianto … I'm gonna … I'm gonna …”
Ianto squeezed down harder, feeling Jack's whole body tremor as hot liquid spurted out inside him and fingers bruised into his thighs. He worked his own cock harder, moving his hips to take Jack through his orgasm and to his afterglow. He spurted up over his own chest and stomach as Jack watched him come through his haze, before pulling himself out and laying Ianto down to crawl up his body and lick him clean.
“Jack,” Ianto murmured, “Jack …”
He could feel Jack's come sliding out of him, and a realisation hit. “Jack … Jack, we forgot to use a condom …”
Jack raised his head, turning it to glance at the foil packet, abandoned on the concrete floor just within arm's reach. “Oh … fuck.”
Ianto pushed him off, crossing to the corner and starting to pull tissue from the roll to see if wiping Jack away might help. “What if you've given me something?” Ianto demanded. “How many people have you slept with?”
“Ianto …”
“How many?”
Jack took a deep breath, and Ianto's heart began to sink as he saw that Jack was counting in his head. Jack cleared his throat. “A few,” he settled on saying.
“Few?”
“Four or five.”
“Hundred?”
“No. Four or five. You, Owen, John, Lucia and Estelle. Only Owen pretends we never slept together so … four or five.”
Ianto seemed surprised by this, and hesitated what he was doing. He glanced down at the floor slightly. “Did you ever …?”
“Without a condom?”
Ianto nodded.
“I was married to Lucia. We had a baby together - and I've had tests since then. But other than her …”
“Oh. Will I be all right, then?”
“You can have tests if you want them. I won't be offended or anything - we'll both have them. If we ask Cooper, she'll get us sorted. But I think that unless you're ovulating, we'll be fine.”
“I'd rather be safe than sorry.” Ianto flushed his tissue away before dropping down beside Jack. He toyed with the hair on his legs a moment before pulling his blanket around him. “Annie, Oname and Lisa,” he muttered quietly, and Jack nodded, pulling him into a hug.
“We'll be fine,” he repeated firmly.
Ianto picked up the foil packet, glaring at it. “How did we forget?”
“We were too caught up, I suppose.”
“And … you were married? You have a child?”
Jack's mouth opened and closed. “I shouldn't have told you that.”
“I won't tell anyone,” Ianto assured him. “Even if I have to switch sides - but that means you can't tell anyone about Rhiannon.”
“I wasn't gonna,” Jack said, putting an arm around his shoulders and yawning. He lay down, pulling Ianto to lie in front of him so that he could press himself against his back.
They lay quietly for a while, waiting to fall asleep, when Jack spoke again.
“The house with the blue guttering,” he mumbled into Ianto's hair.
“Hmmm?”
“Alice - my baby - lives in the house with the blue guttering. I used to be able to see it from my window.”
Ianto could picture the outside world beyond their window in his head, and knew that the houses Jack were talking about were only visible if you were lying on your stomach on the top bunk. He brought his hand up to squeeze the one Jack was resting on his chest.
“She's beautiful,” Jack continued. “Really beautiful. She'll be twenty soon.”
Ianto remained quiet, just listening. Jack sighed sleepily.
“She'll come and visit soon,” he said, and Ianto could feel the lips touching his hair curve into a smile. “Night night, Ianto,” Jack whispered.
“Night, Jack,” Ianto whispered back.
“I … I'm glad I've got you,” Jack admitted, even quieter.
“I'm glad I've got you, too,” Ianto replied. “Now shut up and go to sleep before you start ovulating.”
Jack laughed, quieted, gave him one last squeeze and finally let them fall asleep together.
Happy Birthday, Ianto!
At least one of us got laid!
xxx
Also:
*flails dramatically*
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Chapter 08/??
Author a_silver_story
Genre: Alternate Universe
Rating: NC-17 overall
Warnings: None for this chapter
Summary: Jack and Ianto in prison - with plot, and lots and lots of smut. Sorry, I can't help it.
Disclaimer: If I owned anything in this, I'd be a rich rich rich bitch. However, I am not a rich rich rich bitch so you may all, therefore, assume I own nothing. Which I don't. It all belongs RTD and the BBC, in case any of you didn't know. Now pass the retcon ...
Torchwood Index
First Chapter
"Oi! Harper!"
"What?"
"Phone call!"
Owen grumbled as he pushed his chair back. "I'll be right back - and don't look at my cards," Owen warned, leaving Jack and their Very Serious game of Snap. It may seem comical that the two of them played the game quite often, but nothing was more innocent in appearance for honing reflexes than a challenging game of Snap.
For a moment or so, Jack sat on his own in Owen's cell, before becoming restless and heading back to his own. The new bed frame hadn't arrived yet, and his and Ianto's mattresses were still on the bare floor. Ianto's was untouched and perfectly made, tucked into the corner farthest from the door. He hadn't been there to sleep in it yet.
Jack opened his little grey tin, the one he kept on his shelf, and lifted the photographs inside to reveal a collection of size 'C' batteries. He opened the back of his CD player and took out his condoms and lube, temporarily hiding them under his pillow. Inserting the batteries, he switched it on, picked out his Glenn Miller CD and lay on the bed to let the by-gone melodies wash over him as he began to wonder when Ianto might be getting back. They'd examined him and kept him in for observation, but for how long and what the situation was Jack hadn't been told. Just locked in his cell and left to stew.
Jack let the CD play 'round once, then restless again got to his feet, transferred batteries to tin and sex aids to battery compartment, and headed back to Owen's cell. It was still empty, and Jack refrained from kicking the door too hard in frustration. He was quite surprised to find himself at a loss at what to do. He couldn't go and talk to Alex, because all Alex would want to talk about was 'divided houses' and Ugly, Ugly Jack. Owen was off wherever, Ianto was in hospital, John was most likely pissed and getting himself laid in Vegas ... he supposed he could go and talk to Archie. Archie always had stories to tell.
... or maybe he could go and bait some Saxons. Maybe one of the smaller ones who didn't properly fear him yet. And then he could just slink back to his cell. It was nearly time to be locked in for the night anyway.
He was just sitting up, picturing one of the well-dressed little thorough-breds in his head, when he heard the sounds of shouting and cajoling from the cafeteria below. Curious, he went out onto the walkway and glared down at the inmates below him. They were all watching the far side of the room, leading to the rest of the prison, as Officer Williams opened the gates to let in ... Ianto.
Jack gripped the railing to stop himself running down to him - or worse: waving. He settled on a casual stance, still holding the metal bar, and simply watched as Ianto kept his head down and made his way quickly up the stairs, dodging past the people coming the other way with graceful ease. As he approached, Jack turned to lean and fold his arms nonchalantly.
"Heya, Jack," Ianto murmured quietly, keeping his head down.
Jack shrugged, and turned to lead the way back into the cell. He sat down on his mattress and patted the space beside him. "So? No glasses, I see."
Ianto hugged his knees. "It's getting worse. They say there's nothing they can do but leave it. If it stops deteriorating, then they'll give me glasses."
"'If'?" Jack repeated. "They don't think ...?"
He let the question hang in the air, and Ianto shook his head. "They think I'll eventually lose my sight in my right eye, since there's no way from them to treat ... whatever that bastard did. Not only that, but my eye might go cloudy. Everyone will know."
"Cloudy?"
"Like ... a milky eye."
"Oo, sexy," Jack grinned.
"You don't think that," Ianto muttered, hugging his knees tighter.
"I do," Jack insisted. "Owen and I were talking about it. Sort of. We were on eye-patches."
"Arr," Ianto laughed softly, doing his best pirate impression.
Jack gently stroked his fingers through Ianto's hair. "See?"
He could feel how rigid Ianto was beneath his fingers, his eyes squeezed shut tight and Jack knew he was probably trying not to cry. "Hey," he said, voice low and comforting. "We've still got hooch. Let's get shitfaced tonight and fuck the world."
"I'd rather not," Ianto murmured.
"Well ... erm ... we could play cards? I have Owen's deck."
"I'm not in the mood."
"Shall we read?" Jack tried. "Let's read."
"Not now," Ianto grumbled irritably. He tugged back the sheet covering his bed and climbed under, lying on his side and facing the wall.
Jack scratched his head. After a moment, he moved and lay himself behind Ianto, spooning into his back. "They'll lock us in soon," he whispered. "I can make you feel better properly."
Ianto 'mmm'd' into his pillow, folding his arms and curling a little. Jack realised that he probably might want a little bit of space, so pressed a kiss to Ianto's pale temple and got to his feet. "I'm gonna go to Owen's cell 'til lock in, okay? If you need me ... just ... yeah?"
The back of Ianto's head moved as it nodded, and Jack took that as confirmation that he'd read Ianto right. Glumly, he scuffed his trainers on the concrete walkway as he wandered down the few cells distance to Owen's lair. The man himself still wasn't back from his phone call, so Jack stretched out on the bottom bunk and stared at the mattress above him, losing himself in thought as he waited.
Half a minute later, and he was bored. Fidgeting, he got back up and clambered up onto the top bunk, lying on his belly and peering out of the window. In the distance, he could see the clusters of large, semi-detached houses, their roofs poking up between moorland and rolling hills, and one house, the one with the blue guttering, stood out most. He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps stomping into the room, and turned to glance over his shoulder at Owen.
"What do you want?" Owen demanded irritably.
"Ianto got back from the hospital - "
"I'll look at him later. For fuck's sake, give him a chance to breathe."
"That wasn't what I was saying," Jack sighed, turning back to look at the house with blue guttering again.
Owen shuffled on the spot. "It's Katie," he blurted out, almost as if he hadn't meant to say anything but the words were desperate to be heard.
Jack turned to look at him again. "She okay?"
"No," Owen breathed shakily. "No ... she's really not."
~*~*~*~
The key scraped in the lock behind him, and Jack sat on his mattress by Ianto's feet. Ianto wasn't sleeping, just staring at the wall in front of him. "How's Owen?" he eventually asked.
Jack bit his lip, considering how to word it. "A mess," he settled on saying.
"Oh?" frowned Ianto, turning his head slightly.
"On the outside he has a finacèe. She was taken to hospital this morning, so don't expect too much from him for a while."
"You sure he's gonna be okay? On his own?"
"He'll be as fine as he can be. How are you, Ianto?" Jack asked gently. Slowly, Ianto pulled himself up to a sitting position.
"I think I'm nearly done wallowing in self pity," he mumbled. "It's just that I can see it happening. Everything fading ..."
"Let me have a look?"
Jack gently grasped Ianto's chin and looked into his eyes. Already, the right one seemed paler and whiter, if only slightly. He realised that Ianto's eyes weren't focused on his, but actually a little lower. Jack flicked his tongue out to wet his lower lip. Carefully he leaned in, and pressed a kiss to Ianto's mouth. He felt eyelashes tickle his cheek as Ianto's eyes fluttered closed, and pulled back slightly to touch their noses together.
"Jack?" Ianto whispered.
"Mmm?"
"Jack ... I ... erm ..." Ianto gently pushed Jack a little out of his personal space. "When I was in hospital ... they let me on the computer ... and I ... I Googled you."
"... oh. And?"
"Well ... I ... I ..."
"Do you think I did it?"
Ianto swallowed, very aware of the fact he was locked in the same room as Jack. "I ... I don't think you did."
"Honestly?"
Scratching his head, Ianto shrugged. "You just seem ... not like that."
Jack's lips quirked. "Would you believe me? If I told you I didn't?"
Biting his lip, he weighed Jack up for a moment. "I think I would."
"Because you would believe it, or because you want to believe it?"
"Would you want me to believe it?"
Jack seemed to search his face for a second. "I sort of did it," he eventually said.
Ianto's eyes widened. "What do you mean ... 'sort of did it'?"
Jack shrugged, and Ianto figured that was the nearest thing to an answer he was going to get if he carried on pushing the matter. "I'll arm wrestle you for the red blanket?" he offered, and Jack laughed despite not moving to take up the offer. There was a silence, and Ianto took a deep breath in slowly, then let it out.
"Jack ... I ... did we make a mistake? Sleeping together?"
"It was just a bit of fun, Ianto. It ... y'know ... it didn't mean anything ... Did it?"
Ianto flustered a little. "Well ... not if ... y'know ... not that I know of."
Jack nodded along with him.
"And," Ianto continued. "If we were on the outside, it would never have happened, right? I mean ... like … Y'know?”
Jack was nodding as Ianto trailed off, and there was an awkward silence.
“It is fun though.”
“Oh yeah,” Jack agreed, and gave him a large grin.
Ianto smiled back, tugging his blanket distractedly before yawning. “I think I'm going to get ready for bed, now,” he decided.
“Me too. Erm … you wanna … Y'know?”
“I'm tired,” Ianto groaned, as much as he did like playing 'Let's Undress Ianto'.
Jack shrugged. “Okay,” he said, and they left each other to get ready for bed in peace. Washed, changed and teeth brushed, they curled up on their respective mattresses and eventually fell asleep.
~*~*~*~
Coming with Jack to the gym had been a much better idea than practice. Ianto didn't mind the other guys hanging around so much, the sound or sight of them working their muscles, sweat glistening over shirtless chests or the grunting and groaning that was borderline indecent.
Ianto didn't mind that at all.
It was the sight and sound of Jack working his muscles, sweat glistening over his shirtless chest and grunting and groaning in a way that was borderline indecent that was getting Ianto rather hot and bothered himself.
Stupid Jack, he thought. It's like he's trying to get me in trouble …
“Here, you try,” Jack offered, getting up from the multi-gym he'd been using and sitting Ianto down on the seat in front of the weight stack. Jack read him the Health and Safety information from the laminated piece of card dangling from the top of it, and when Ianto rolled his eyes gave him a slap around the back of the head. “You could seriously hurt yourself, and I'm not being your nurse.”
“Good,” Ianto mumbled low, “the thought of you in a dress is distinctly unnerving.”
Jack bent down low so that he could move the pin and lessen the weight Ianto would be lifting, but mainly as an excuse to get close to his ears. “You know you'd love it,” he muttered. “I've worn a dress before, and I know I did …” He straightened up and clapped his hands together. “Right - lift that,” he ordered.
Ianto curled his fingers around the handle bars in front of the chair and pushed them up easily. “Huh?” he frowned.
“I'm gauging where you're up to,” Jack explained. “No good me guessing what you can lift, getting it wrong and you hurting yourself.” He leaned over the machine again and moved the pin to add more weight to the pulleys. “Try that.”
Ianto pushed the the bar up again, meeting a little more resistance. Jack moved the pin a few more times, until Ianto found where he was 'up to', as Jack had put it.
“Do twenty,” Jack ordered. “Try and keep to the same rhythm and speed.”
By the time he got to nine, Ianto was thinking that he'd probably had enough exercise for the day. Jack, however, who seemed to have appointed himself as Ianto's personal trainer, was refusing to let up. “You haven't even hit your pain barrier yet,” he admonished when Ianto got to fourteen.
“I'm gonna hit you in a minute,” Ianto muttered. Jack laughed, and Ianto glared at him. “Fiffffffteeeeeeen,” Ianto groaned, “Yep … that's definitely enough now,” he decided.
“Ah ah.” Jack pushed him back into the chair.
“Why do you hate me so much?” Ianto grumbled.
Jack leaned in, relenting and moving the pin up one weight. “Don't be such a drama queen,” he muttered, loud enough for only Ianto to hear. Ianto sensed the real underlying insult, and felt his fists tighten around the handles. He didn't wait for Jack to step away before pushing them up, and quite nearly hit Jack's groin with quite a bit of force.
Bloody Jack.
Always one step ahead.
He'd jumped back with a grin that Ianto could've forgiven anything, and cheerily announced Ianto's sixteenth push.
When he finally reached twenty, Ianto's arms felt like overcooked spaghetti and his stomach muscles ached. Jack moved the pin in the weights and they switched, Jack easily lifting half of the weight stack twenty times to the same rhythm and jumping up again.
“Your turn.”
“You can fuck off. I'm going to do some-”
“You could do legs next - You,” he barked at the guy currently sat and pushing a weighted board with his feet, “shift.”
“But-”
“I said shift,” Jack snapped, and the guy got up and moved. Jack's demeanour changed instantly, grinning brightly at Ianto. “Your turn.”
“I could have just waited …”
“Life's too short, and I'm impatient. Sit.”
Ianto sat on the padded chair, resting back at a forty-five degree angle and putting his feet up to push against the metal square. It was attached to a horizontal bar, that had a weight stack at the end of it that Ianto was supposed to move.
“Keep your back on the chair,” Jack instructed. “Don't use your stomach muscles to push - make sure it's all in the legs.”
After the legs, they tried a few more weight machines before the bell rang for lunch. Ianto was pretty much ready to be carried out and tucked into bed, his limbs all stringy and his body tired. He ate his lunch on autopilot before drifting up to the cell and collapsing onto his mattress.
Jack leaned in the doorway, arms folded and amusedly watching him. “Good work out?”
“I hate you.”
“You'll thank me for it,” Jack assured him.
“I hate you.”
“Half an hour of rest and you'll feel better than you have in years.”
“I hate you.”
Ianto heard the cell door closing and Jack's trainers getting a little closer. His mattress dipped as Jack sat and leaned over him, his lips close to his ear. “What about if I give you a massage, Mr. Jones?”
“Middle of the day,” Ianto mumbled into his pillow. “Too dangerous.”
“Bit of danger could be fun,” Jack whispered, taking the lobe of Ianto's ear into his mouth and sucking and biting gently. Ianto groaned.
“I can't,” he sighed.
Jack let go of his earlobe and sighed, too, leaning up a little to rest his chin on Ianto's shoulder.
“I know,” Ianto yawned. “Why don't you go and check on Owen while I grab a power nap?”
“I suppose I should. You sure you'll be okay?”
“I'll be fine.”
“I don't want to leave you on your own.”
“You've left me on my own lots of times,” Ianto pointed out, yawning again.
“That was before.”
“You sorted out Ugly Jack, though.”
Jack sat up, settling his back against the wall. “Adam and Unit are after you.”
“Huh?”
“Adam and Unit - from the other side. They're after you.”
Ianto sat up as best he could. “After me?”
“You don't worry about. Alex and me are on top of the situation.”
“Alex and I.”
“Is now really the situation?”
“Sorry.”
“Anyway … While Alex and me are getting on top of the situation, I'm not too sure leaving you on your own is a good idea just yet.”
Ianto let out a long sigh, then curled up under his blanket again. “Wake me up in half an hour,” he mumbled, and drifted off.
So good so far, Jack thought to himself, waiting a few minutes to make sure Ianto was really asleep. Getting up, he calmly left the cell door open about a foot and a half, then broke out into his usual confident gait, heading for the stairs. He passed Alex's door, and rapped his knuckles three times in quick succession without breaking his stride. He got to the cell at the very end of the row, and leaned in the frame with folded arms.
“How's the severe bruising?” he asked, amusedly.
Ugly Jack looked up at him, and slowly rose up from the bunk he was sitting on. “It's good to go?” he asked.
“It's good to go,” Jack nodded, then nodded toward the young man, Ugly Jack's cell mate, lingering in the corner. “Is he just going to stand there all day, or what?”
“Jake,” Ugly Jack said, and jerked his head in the direction of the door. Jake didn't ask twice and got out as fast as he could. Ugly Jack turned back to Jack, massaging his stiff, bruised neck. “So we just wait for the signal, yeah?”
Jack nodded, entering the cell and making a beeline for the shelves above the wooden desk and picking things up to look at them, turn them over in his hands and then put them back. He picked up a wooden necklace resting on the edge of the shelves, and recalled Ianto owned one of similar style. He wondered if Ianto would like this one.
“This is nice,” he said.
“My son sent it for me.”
“Cute,” Jack nodded, then put it in his pocket. He could feel Ugly Jack's want to protest and carefully ignored it. Sauntering over to sit on lean against the bunk beds, Jack folded his arms and waited for the signal, sensing Ugly Jack's apprehension and carefully masking his own.
The minutes dragged by, but they finally heard it.
A knock on the opposite wall, three times.
Jack left his uglier counterpart to answer it, and shot down the hallway, slowing to step carefully and approaching his now closed cell door. With a gentle push, it opened slightly, and there was Unit, crouching over Ianto's sleeping form. Setting his jaw, Jack slipped into the room.
“Interesting hobby,” he quipped, and Unit froze. Jack could see the syringe in his hand, thankfully still full as he'd struggled a little to get Ianto's sleeve up his arm without waking him. “Want to back away from him now, or are things going to have to get even nastier?”
Unit smiled at him.
Suddenly, Jack was grabbed from behind - Adam had been hidden behind the door in case Jack returned, lying in wait.
But of course, Jack already expected that.
The moment Adam had him, Ugly Jack was in the room to deal with Unit, trapping him in a headlock. Handsome Jack backed into the wall as fast as he could, slamming Adam into it until he let go, then shoving his knee right in between Adam's legs and temporarily disarming him. He glanced over, spotting Ianto had woken up and, after a moment, sprung to action. Ianto copied Jack, got Unit right in the balls, forcing him to collapse and the syringe left to roll toward Jack's feet.
The two Saxons were on the floor, groaning, and the two Jacks were out of breath and feeling the adrenalin. Handsome Jack crouched and picked up the syringe, and Ianto's eyes widened when he saw it. “What the Hell's going on?” he demanded.
“Unit here -” Jack said, then kicked Unit. “- was going to dose you with heroin. And Adam there -” Jack kicked Adam. “- was standing guard.”
There was a kerfuffle outside the cell, and Officers Cooper, Guppy and Holroyd appeared and took in the scene before them. Holroyd sighed, taking out her notebook while Gwen and Alice set to work on getting Unit and Adam in cuffs.
A few recounts and a good telling off later, Adam and Unit were held in indefinite isolation, and Jack and Ianto were left alone in their cell.
“Why?” Ianto asked eventually, breaking the silence.
“Why what?”
“Why were they gonna … y'know. The heroin?”
Jack searched carefully for words. “They shove that stuff in your veins, and that's it: addicted. You want more, and more - and they're the only ones who can get it for you. You could go cold turkey … but that seems like more Hell than it's worth when you actually try it. You're stuck in that cycle, and they have more control over you than you can imagine.”
“But why would they want to do that to me?”
Jack's mouth opened and closed mutely, then he swallowed. “Because they were,” he decided, in a firm tone that was allowing no argument. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the rest of the sounds around them from what seemed like far away.
“You were right,” Ianto eventually said.
“Hm?”
“I do feel better than I have in ages.”
Jack grinned. “Vigorous exercise worth it?”
“From this side of it.”
“Wanna make it a weekly thing?”
“Not really.”
Jack laughed, and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I think you should. It's fun.”
“No it isn't,” Ianto frowned, wondering how on Earth Jack might have perceived that morning as 'fun'.
“Yes it is,” Jack insisted. “Once you get used to the routine and stuff it gets easier.”
“I'm not a gym person,” Ianto groaned. “One workout and I know I'm going to be aching for days.”
“Only the first few times. Your body will love you and release all sorts of happy hormones as a reward.”
“I'd rather just let chocolate release the happy endorphins.”
“Don't be daft. We'll do the gym every Tuesday morning from now on, okay?”
It dawned on Ianto that Jack had already made up his mind about this. He'd simply have to go along with it and be difficult and bratty until Jack decided it wasn't fun any more. He nodded his agreement, and Jack clapped him on the back. “Good man,” he grinned.
“Shall we go and see Owen?” Ianto suggested, wanting to change the subject.
Jack nodded, and they got to their feet and headed toward Owen's cell. “Knock, knock,” Jack called, poking his head around the door frame.
Owen was where they had left him after breakfast - sat on the lower bunk, staring into space.
“Owen?” Jack tried, and slowly Owen looked up.
“Hi, Jack.”
“How are you doing?”
“Fine, thank you. How are you?”
Jack sat next to him, and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Not too bad.”
Ianto hovered, wondering if he was actually welcome while Owen was so distressed. Owen didn't seem to notice him, his eyes still glassed over. “I can't believe she's dead,” Owen whispered, and Ianto stared at the floor awkwardly. Jack flinched slightly, tightening his grip on Owen's shoulder before pulling him close and holding him tight.
Swallowing, unsure what to make of the way Jack and Owen were clinging together, Ianto made a quick exit and headed back to his cell. Curling up in the corner on his mattress, he pulled Jack's copy of Dorian Gray out from under his pillow and flicked to where he'd last stopped reading, keeping one eye on the door as he did so.
He recalled, as he read, that Owen had mentioned he'd once slept with Jack. Squeezing his eyes shut, Ianto reminded himself that it would be a situation never repeated, that Jack and Owen were close and that Owen was in desperate need of comfort and Jack wouldn't take advantage of that.
Snapping the book shut, Ianto reminded himself that he didn't really know Jack at all. The second he thought he'd figured something out, Jack would complete contradict the conclusion and set up a whole new angle for Ianto to misunderstand.
Ianto had thought him different from the other prisoners, but then he'd seen the relish with which he had kicked and stamped on a defenceless and outnumbered man. He'd thought him misjudged, but then Jack had admitted he was, in some way, guilty of his charged crimes - crimes that Ianto didn't dare to repeat over in his head in case he made himself fear Jack. Jack was cool, calm and confident, but so insecure and unsure and desperate for approval.
The only thing that Ianto could be certain of was that Jack was the kindest fucking bastard on the planet.
Rubbing his right eye, Ianto got up and checked it in the mirror. It hadn't gotten any better, but it hadn't gotten worse either. He'd almost forgotten about it earlier, in fact, and since it happened Ianto had never forgotten. Maybe working himself to exhaustion in the gym might help, after all.
Jack appeared in the doorway, then frowned in concern. “You okay?”
“Yeah … Just checking up on it.”
“It hasn't changed since you came back,” Jack told him, digging into his pocked for something.
“Mmmm,” Ianto agreed, tearing himself away from the mirror.
“Here,” Jack smiled, holding his hand out, “I got you something.” He opened his palm, revealing the different shades of wooden beads on a string, and Ianto took it and stretched it out.
“How did you know I liked these?” he asked, certain that Jack wasn't simply giving him his own beads back.
“You have one in your box,” Jack shrugged. “Do you like it?”
Ianto nodded, and grinned sheepishly. “Where did you get it from?”
“That's telling,” Jack winked, turning him around so that he could fasten it around his neck for him. He slid his finger underneath the beads to help them lie straight, feeling Ianto's pulse jump beneath his fingertips. Keeping his hand where it was on Ianto's neck, he reached over and pushed the cell door shut.
“Oh no, Jack … We can't,” Ianto complained, reading Jack's train of thought. Jack simply chuckled, deep and playful.
“Don't I get a reward for doing good?” Jack asked suggestively, pressing his lips divinely against the skin of Ianto's neck.
“Can't you be patient?”
“No,” Jack mumbled into his skin, pulling open all of Ianto's boiler suit buttons in one and pushing his hips forward so that Ianto was sandwiched between him and the sink.
“Wanker,” Ianto muttered, closing his eyes and tipping his head back, Jack's fingers slipping below the waistband of his underwear and playing with him. He let out a quiet, happy sigh, feeling himself melting against Jack's body.
Footsteps approached from outside, and Ianto tensed. Jack stilled his hand, glancing to the door, getting ready to jump back if need be.
The footsteps carried on, away from them, and Ianto sagged a little with relief. He pulled Jack's hand out of his clothes and started fastening up again. “We shouldn't be that stupid,” he admonished, cutting Jack off before he could leer.
“Yeah … You're right,” Jack conceded.
Ianto went to stand back in front of the mirror again, holding his glass tumbler up to his face in the hope of cooling the blush of arousal on his cheeks.
“I'm bored,” Jack complained. “Can we go outside and play basketball or something?”
“I hate basketball,” Ianto reminded him, going to sit on his mattress and waiting for Jack to join him. “What else do you want to do? - apart from that …”
Jack sighed. “We could go and see what's on the TV, I suppose.”
Ianto sighed heavily. “Saxons hog the TV.”
Jack shrugged. “Count it as a half-blessing - half our lot would just put Jeremy Kyle on anyway.”
“There's only so many re-runs of Come Dine With Me I can sit through, though,” Ianto reminded him. “Especially since half the Saxons are just watching it so they can figure out where the rich peoples' houses are and rob 'em when they get out.”
“If a dick's gonna stand in front of his fifty-two inch flat screen home cinema system and gloat about it, he's got it coming,” shrugged Jack. “Tell you what - we'll see who's got the TV, see what's on the TV and then if it's all wank we'll go and outside and do something.”
“Fine,” Ianto compromised, and they made their way down to the corner of the wing where a few chairs, a few sofas and one or two tiny tables were set up, facing a small TV screen held high up in a corner. It was held in a cage, and the remote control was chained to it so that it couldn't get 'lost'.
The remote was currently being clutched by a group of four youngish Saxons who seemed to think they were untouchable, jeering at one or two members of Torchwood who were trying to watch whatever crap they'd put on the TV. Jack gave Ianto a playful grin, walked up to the couch and gave the one holding the remote a pretty hard whack around the back of the head, jerking his hand and signalling for him and his friends to move.
“Fuck off,” sniggered the one Jack had smacked.
Jack raised an eyebrow. “You wanna start something, kid?”
Ianto managed to maintain his passive expression, folding his arms and adding a set to his jaw. The urge to roll his eyes, however, was almost too much. He stood firmly by Jack's side, as he'd seen John and Owen do on his first day.
“You wanna start something, kid?” the Saxon mimicked, mangling the accent.
Ianto did, finally, get to roll his eyes while Jack laughed along with the group of Saxons.
“Seriously, kid,” Jack enunciated, “move, before I throw you across the room.”
“I'd like to see you try,” Kid muttered.
Jack shrugged, and with a grunt of effort dragged the boy up from his seat and slammed him against the wall. The wind knocked out of him, the Saxon's cocky attitude vanished.
“You wanna repeat that?” growled Jack, and Ianto moved out of the way he was fairly certain the boy would fly in if he riled Jack any further. He didn't reply, however, and a moment later Jack and Ianto were sat on the uncomfortable sofa flicking through the channels as the four Saxons slunk off.
Ianto decided not to say anything about what had just happened until later on.
Everything on the TV wasn't really to anybody's liking, and Ianto had to be dragged outside by his collar, given a basic outline of the rules of basketball by a few Torchwood people before being thrust onto the court.
After half an hour, Ianto was starting to actually enjoy himself. He was tired from his workout that morning, but this was a different kind of exercise … This was kind of … fun. Especially since he and Jack were actually working quite well together as a team and winning by miles.
Eventually, the other two they were playing against - the man Alex shared with, called Tommy, and an older guy called Gerald - decided they'd had enough and conceded defeat. They all began to make their way inside, checking their watching and anticipating the bell indicating food, when they spotted a large, irate crowd by one side of the cafeteria.
“What's going on?” Jack demanded, and someone pushed a red piece of A5 into his hands. “Woah … woah …” he scowled, reading it, “'Wing C is due for a much needed reorganisation'? What. The. Fuck?”
Ianto read over his shoulder. “'Behaviour both post and prior to this announcement will be taken into account, and cell mates reassigned in due course.'. They're splitting us all up,” Ianto breathed. “They're splitting us all up, and they're going to destroy everything that's established.”
“We're going to kill each other.”
“I don't want to move,” Ianto admitted quietly. “Jack …”
“I know,” Jack cut him off brusquely, “we'll just have to butter up Cooper a bit.” He began to make his way back up to their cell, and Ianto followed close behind.
“At least you'll be all right, though,” Ianto mumbled, sinking onto his mattress. “What am I going to do? What if they split us up?”
“It'll be all right.”
“What if I end up with one of the bigger Saxons? What will he do to me?”
“I'm going to Alex's,” Jack announced.
“Jack!”
“What?”
“What will they do to me? If I end up with a Saxon?”
Jack averted his gaze. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” he advised.
“What?”
“Become a Saxon.”
“But I chose Torchwood.”
“Then choose again.”
“What if they … ask stuff? About you?”
“Then tell them,” shrugged Jack, “and tell them the truth.”
“But-”
“I'll be fine,” Jack placated him. “We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I've been much better behaved since I got put in with you, so maybe they'll leave us be. I'll talk to my solicitor and find out what our rights are. They can't knowingly put you in with someone who would hurt you, I'm sure.”
“I suppose if they do move us, we could always just take ourselves back.”
“Mmm,” Jack agreed, stretching. “Bridge when we come to it,” he repeated, then glanced up at the door when a knock rang from it. “Come in,” he called, and Owen pushed poked his head in.
“Hey - Alex wants us,” he said, his voice still a little hoarse. “Us … and him.” Owen pointed at Ianto.
“Good. I wanna see Alex, too. Have you heard the wonderful news, Owen?”
Owen nodded. “Probably what Alex wants us for. A big, massive 'I told you so'.”
“I doubt it,” Jack derisively snorted. “If this crap goes down, he loses his throne, and Alex really won't like that.”
“You lose your second status,” Owen reminded him, “I'm guessing you're not going to like that, either.”
“Well, no,” Jack grinned. “But unlike Alex, I'm wouldn't have to rely on who I used to be to climb the ladder again.”
Owen's eyebrow raised. “You should be careful what you say, Jack.”
“You're gonna tell on me? You're as sick of Alex as I am.”
“Be careful, Jack,” Owen advised, “there's rumours of a Round Robin doing the circuit, and if Alex finds any sign of it …”
“I'll keep my ears open,” Jack promised. “Ianto will, too - Anyway: to Alex's cell.”
Ianto followed behind, never having been summoned to one of these 'Alex's Cell' meetings before. Once he got there, he figured it was nothing special - just Alex sitting on his wooden chair and everyone else either sat on the bunk or the floor. Jack sat Ianto up on the top bunk, then assumed his position stood behind Alex.
“Well, I'm guessing you've all seen the notices,” Alex began, his bitterness highlighting his accent slightly, “the real problem is what we're going to do about it. Suggestions?”
“Nothing,” Jack cut in before anyone else, “We let them do what the Hell they want, then move ourselves back.”
There was a murmur of agreement, and without waiting for any further challenges, Alex decided they could all 'have a think' and reconvene later. He moved on to talk about fighting and getting along, and Ianto found himself yawning and drifting to gaze out the window.
He came back to his senses when Jack clapped his hands together, signalling the end of the apparent board meeting. Ianto hopped down from the bunk, lingering and waiting for Jack.
“Carry on, Ianto,” Jack said, pushing him toward the door. “I need to talk to Alex.”
Ianto considered going to Owen's, but decided that Owen was probably still after only his own thoughts. Wary of being left alone after what Jack had been saying that morning, and having to remind himself that Unit and Adam were in isolation, he went straight back to his cell and pushed the door to just as the bell for dinner rang out.
Ianto decided to wait near the stairs for Jack, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he did so. Eventually, Jack emerged from Alex's cell looking thoroughly displeased about something. He joined Ianto, and they began to make their way down the stairs.
“You've got a face like a slapped arse,” Ianto observed. “What's up?”
“I'll tell you later,” Jack promised, and they pushed their way to the front of the dinner line without challenge. Instead of going to an empty table, Jack led them over to where Alex was going to be sitting, on the right-hand side of Alex's place. He indicated Ianto should sit on Jack's right, and began to quietly eat.
“We're expecting a new addition today,” Jack muttered in undertones.
“Good news or bad news?” asked Ianto.
“Depends how you look at it.”
“Oh?”
“He's a high profile convict. Evan Sherman.”
Ianto frowned. “Name rings a bell,” he nodded.
“He's here on abduction charges - they couldn't prove the accusation that he's a cannibal.”
Ianto pushed his plate away. “Oh. Yeah.”
“We don't really wanna be mixing with him,” Jack sighed, “but we don't want the other side to get him either.”
Alex arrived, and began eating without saying a word to either of them, waiting for Evan Sherman to arrive.
The cafeteria was full by the time he did, and the same quiet that had fallen when Ianto had been brought out into the fray fell again. There was something more tense to it this time, though.
Evan Sherman was middle-aged, weathered, and had eyes that weren't entirely in the room with the rest of him. He seemed genuinely pleased that everyone was staring at him, and smiled at them all unnervingly.
Jack muttered a 'No' to Alex, and Alex nodded, continuing his food and waiting for Harold Saxon to make his move.
Five minutes later, the Saxons had a new favourite.
~*~*~*~
The lock scraped shut, and Jack called another 'goodnight' to Officer Davidson. He sauntered over to where Ianto was finishing brushing his teeth, and slid arms around his waist.
“Here we are again,” he muttered, smiling at their reflections before nipping Ianto's neck and sucking and kissing and licking a small patch of skin.
“Mmmmm,” Ianto agreed, “And this time we can do what we want …”
“It feels like it's been far too long,” Jack sighed, turning Ianto around and pressing their mouths together, the taste of toothpaste strong on both their tongues. Ianto tried not to melt too much, but Jack was being so gentle with him it almost took him by surprise. He felt frustrated that Jack wasn't letting his hands wander lower than Ianto's waist, and eventually grabbed them and plonked them firmly on his arse.
Jack laughed into his mouth at the brazen gesture, then upped the stakes by simply taking Ianto's hand shoving it down the front of his trousers and straight onto his cock.
Ianto laughed, too, and squeezed gently, and Jack grunted and broke the kiss. Bringing his other hand up to the back of Jack's neck, Ianto pulled him back in roughly, kissing him again and giving him another squeeze. He managed to push Jack up against the wall, pressing his thigh between Jack's legs and rubbing against him as he removed his hands.
Jack tugged his hair until their mouths parted, and out of breath he grinned at Ianto. “Look at you,” he sighed. “Where have your reservations gone?”
Ianto shrugged, then left him to go and sprawl over his mattress while pulling the top half of his boiler suit down and tugging off his t-shirt.
“Hey,” Jack complained. “Undressing Ianto is my job,” he pouted.
“Then get over here and do your job,” Ianto smirked, laughing as he had to grip the far edge of the mattress, lying on his belly while Jack pulled his boiler suit, underwear, trainers and socks off all in one. The air was pushed out of his lungs as Jack flopped down on top of him, still fully clothed, and ground down into his naked thigh on instinct.
Dipping his head, Jack went straight for the pulse-point of Ianto's neck, kissing the sensitive skin. Ianto hummed in delight, tilting his head as far as he could to give Jack more room.
“I want to be on top this time,” he muttered, eyes fluttering closed.
Jack chuckled huskily, and raised his head a little suck an earlobe between his teeth. “You do, do you?” he asked, pressing a kiss to Ianto's temple, then another to his cheek.
“Yeah,” Ianto replied, his voice a little strangled. “I wanna … uh … I wanna ride you. See what it's like when you're underneath me.”
Realisation dawned on Jack. “Ahhh,” he smirked, returning his attention to Ianto's neck. “You mean on top, not top top.”
“Ahuh,” Ianto grunted, “I want you to fuck me a few more times before giving it you. I wanna … mmmm … I wanna experiment.”
Jack grinned wolfishly, kneeling up and straddling Ianto's thighs as he pulled off his t-shirt, wondering if there was a switch inside Ianto's brain that turned him from the quieter, sarcastic and seemingly more reserved self into the horny young man lying naked on his belly before him, telling him he wanted to experiment with being fucked and exactly how he wanted it done.
Dropping his hands from tossing his shirt aside, Jack pulled open the last couple of poppers while Ianto got himself up on all fours and pushed himself back into Jack's groin. “I wanna try it this way, too,” he said, turning to look at Jack over his shoulder.
Jack could only nod, his lips parted and dry.
Ianto straightened up, so that his back was pressed against Jack's chest. “Like this, too,” he murmured, tipping his head back over Jack's shoulder, turning slightly and softly kissing Jack's jaw. “In fact, I've made up quite a list …”
Ianto chuckled throatily, feeling Jack's clothes behind him pushed down and bare erection press against his flesh. He tingled with anticipation, gently nudging himself back against it. He hissed when Jack scraped teeth over his shoulder, and fell forward with a grunt as Jack forced him back down onto all fours. “Wait there,” Jack said, getting up and taking condoms and lube from the CD player.
Ianto laughed, and received a quick smack on the backside. He gasped in shock more than pain, then laughed again. Jack knelt behind him and gave him another slap, setting down his things. “Was this on the list?” Jack asked, massaging Ianto's buttock then giving it another smack
Ianto turned his head to look at him over his shoulder again, and he was smirking. He bit his lip when Jack hit him again. “It is now,” Ianto decided, balancing on one arm to reach down his body and play with himself a little.
“Heyy,” Jack complained, reaching between Ianto's legs and stilling the hand. “You're not supposed to do that.”
“Bugger off. I want to.”
Jack clicked his tongue, and slapped Ianto's backside harder than he had before. Ianto let out a slight grunt, stroking himself a little faster and laughing again.
“Why do you keep laughing?” Jack demanded.
“Because … ah! … Because it feels good.”
“Does it hurt?” Jack asked, rubbing and squeezing before smacking again.
“My arm's aching a bit,” Ianto panted, “Might have to switch.”
“What if I tell you you're not allowed to switch?” Jack asked with a predatory smirk, leaning down to scrape teeth over Ianto's earlobe and nip harshly.
“What if I tell you to bugger off?” Ianto replied, breathlessly indignant, stopping his strokes and bringing his arm down so that he was on all fours again. He waited a moment, then glanced over his shoulder once more. “Well?”
“What?”
Ianto laughed, then let himself down to lie on his side. “I thought you were going to carry on,” he said, still smiling.
“Then get back up then,” Jack grinned.
“Ah no - the moment's gone now.”
“The moment?” Jack asked, confused.
“Yeah. The moment,” Ianto repeated, his voice dropping low as he moved to kneel up in front of Jack, sliding hands around his waist. “Kiss me,” he demanded, and Jack obliged hungrily, too distracted for a moment to realise that Ianto was pushing him, until he landed on his back, Ianto straddling him.
They kissed for a few minutes, until Jack was so frustrated that Ianto wasn't moving his mouth anywhere lower that he broke it. “I do have erogenous zones,” he reminded him, eyes dark and voice husky. It looked to him as though Ianto thought he'd been chastised, and he saw the confident mask slip slightly and smile twitch a little. Jack sat up a little, and Ianto suddenly seemed at a loss with what to do, so Jack gently pulled his head closer and tucked it into his neck. “There,” he said quietly, running a hand down Ianto's back.
Ianto's tongue touched his skin and he hitched his breath on purpose. It spurred Ianto's confidence up once more, and his hands and tongue and teeth became sure and purposeful again. He moved around, peppering Jack's collarbone with kisses, and Jack was breaking out into a glistening sweat that made Ianto begin to flick his tongue out to taste.
He moved lower down Jack's chest, and Jack let out an almost embarrassing sound when Ianto's incisors grazed his right nipple. He leaned back on his hands, tilting his chin to the ceiling as his eyes drifted closed, Ianto's tongue swirling around his nipple and lips kissing sensitive skin sloppily.
Eventually, he had to stop him again. “Here,” he said softly, hoping he hadn't offended Ianto into thinking he was 'doing it wrong'. “Here - learn from me, not hospital porn.”
He tilted Ianto's head back, and kissed and nibbled from neck to chest, then gently began to very slowly show Ianto what he meant.
To Ianto, it felt strange at first, the slow and deliberate way Jack concentrated on that tiny patch of his body - but Jack was good at concentrating when he had to. Ianto rested his chin on Jack's head, ran fingers through Jack's hair and tried to pay attention to what Jack was doing - the tiny, flicks of tongue, the lips kissing him, the hot breath on warm saliva cooling and sensitizing, the occasional electric scrape of teeth.
Jack tried to raise his head, and Ianto scowled and shoved his head back into his chest. Laughing, Jack disentangled himself, leaning back and waiting for Ianto to try and replicate his actions on him.
Kissing a circle, Ianto closed his mouth over Jack's nipple and gently, rather than crudely, swirled his tongue around it and nipped his teeth.
“Perfect …” Jack breathed, tangling fingers in Ianto's hair.
After a minute or so, Ianto pushed the tube of lubricant into Jack's hand and moved back up to kiss his mouth and push his tongue insistently inside. Jack lay them both down, kneeling up and warming a little gel between his fingers. Ianto made a show of sliding his hands down the insides of his thighs, running the fingertips up his legs until he could hold onto his heels as Jack slid a finger inside him.
“Pay attention,” Jack muttered, and gave Ianto's thigh a gentle slap. “You won't learn if you don't pay attention.”
“Mmmmm,” Ianto sighed, “I am paying attention, sir,” he smiled, opening one eye and checking to see how well-received his petulance may have been. He gasped at the sudden burn as Jack added another finger, and bit his lip and sucked on it hard as Jack thrust his fingers in again.
“Is that uncomfortable?” Jack asked, holding his fingers still and waited for Ianto to nod. “Now you know not to do that to me then, don't you?”
“Unless you're being a prick,” Ianto pointed out, squeezing his muscles down on the fingers inside him. Jack curled the fingers in retaliation and pressed into his prostate.
Jack took an agonisingly long time, and eventually Ianto had to let go of his heels and put his legs down, Jack was taking so long. He finally used his thumbs to hold Ianto open, checking he was stretched enough, before lying down beside him and kissing him hungrily.
Ianto rolled them so that he was on top, and knelt up, straddling Jack's waist and taking a deep breath. “You can't just lie there and do nothing,” he said, as Jack slid a hand down to lift his cock and guide it toward Ianto's hole.
“I promise,” Jack murmured, reaching up with his other hand to touch Ianto's face.
Ianto looked into his eyes as he felt for the hard, hot, blunt tip, feeling it press against his entrance and rocked back, willing it to push inside. Jack raised his hips instinctively, his breath catching as Ianto continued to lower himself down.
Together they found a painfully slow rhythm, Ianto rocking himself back and forward while Jack raised his hips to meet him. Ianto leaned back on one hand, using his other to stroke himself and Jack raised his head to admire the view. He wanted to keep his head up while maintaining his grip on Ianto's thighs, and Ianto glanced up, then reached behind him for his pillow.
They both hissed at the dramatic change of angle as Ianto leaned forward to tuck the pillow beneath Jack's head, then hissed again when he leaned back on his hand, again using the other to wank as he raised his hips up and down. Jack watched with darkened, hooded eyes that slid shut when Ianto purposefully tightened his muscles and squeezed him for a few strokes, then relaxed for a few more before tightening again.
“Ianto … I'm gonna … I'm gonna …”
Ianto squeezed down harder, feeling Jack's whole body tremor as hot liquid spurted out inside him and fingers bruised into his thighs. He worked his own cock harder, moving his hips to take Jack through his orgasm and to his afterglow. He spurted up over his own chest and stomach as Jack watched him come through his haze, before pulling himself out and laying Ianto down to crawl up his body and lick him clean.
“Jack,” Ianto murmured, “Jack …”
He could feel Jack's come sliding out of him, and a realisation hit. “Jack … Jack, we forgot to use a condom …”
Jack raised his head, turning it to glance at the foil packet, abandoned on the concrete floor just within arm's reach. “Oh … fuck.”
Ianto pushed him off, crossing to the corner and starting to pull tissue from the roll to see if wiping Jack away might help. “What if you've given me something?” Ianto demanded. “How many people have you slept with?”
“Ianto …”
“How many?”
Jack took a deep breath, and Ianto's heart began to sink as he saw that Jack was counting in his head. Jack cleared his throat. “A few,” he settled on saying.
“Few?”
“Four or five.”
“Hundred?”
“No. Four or five. You, Owen, John, Lucia and Estelle. Only Owen pretends we never slept together so … four or five.”
Ianto seemed surprised by this, and hesitated what he was doing. He glanced down at the floor slightly. “Did you ever …?”
“Without a condom?”
Ianto nodded.
“I was married to Lucia. We had a baby together - and I've had tests since then. But other than her …”
“Oh. Will I be all right, then?”
“You can have tests if you want them. I won't be offended or anything - we'll both have them. If we ask Cooper, she'll get us sorted. But I think that unless you're ovulating, we'll be fine.”
“I'd rather be safe than sorry.” Ianto flushed his tissue away before dropping down beside Jack. He toyed with the hair on his legs a moment before pulling his blanket around him. “Annie, Oname and Lisa,” he muttered quietly, and Jack nodded, pulling him into a hug.
“We'll be fine,” he repeated firmly.
Ianto picked up the foil packet, glaring at it. “How did we forget?”
“We were too caught up, I suppose.”
“And … you were married? You have a child?”
Jack's mouth opened and closed. “I shouldn't have told you that.”
“I won't tell anyone,” Ianto assured him. “Even if I have to switch sides - but that means you can't tell anyone about Rhiannon.”
“I wasn't gonna,” Jack said, putting an arm around his shoulders and yawning. He lay down, pulling Ianto to lie in front of him so that he could press himself against his back.
They lay quietly for a while, waiting to fall asleep, when Jack spoke again.
“The house with the blue guttering,” he mumbled into Ianto's hair.
“Hmmm?”
“Alice - my baby - lives in the house with the blue guttering. I used to be able to see it from my window.”
Ianto could picture the outside world beyond their window in his head, and knew that the houses Jack were talking about were only visible if you were lying on your stomach on the top bunk. He brought his hand up to squeeze the one Jack was resting on his chest.
“She's beautiful,” Jack continued. “Really beautiful. She'll be twenty soon.”
Ianto remained quiet, just listening. Jack sighed sleepily.
“She'll come and visit soon,” he said, and Ianto could feel the lips touching his hair curve into a smile. “Night night, Ianto,” Jack whispered.
“Night, Jack,” Ianto whispered back.
“I … I'm glad I've got you,” Jack admitted, even quieter.
“I'm glad I've got you, too,” Ianto replied. “Now shut up and go to sleep before you start ovulating.”
Jack laughed, quieted, gave him one last squeeze and finally let them fall asleep together.
Happy Birthday, Ianto!
At least one of us got laid!
xxx
Also:
*flails dramatically*
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