Fic: Hello Sunshine!
Title: Hello Sunshine!
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Rating: PG
Word Count: 983
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto is busy working in the archives when Jack shows up bearing exciting news.
Written For: Prompt ‘Any, Any, sunshine & blue skies,’ at spring_renewal.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
Ianto had been making excellent progress on sorting Torchwood’s archives over the long, cold, dreary winter months. He’d done his share of fieldwork, of course, nobody was exempt from that, and he’d kept up to date with all the other necessary tasks around the Hub that no one else could be bothered with, but he’d vanished to the lower levels whenever the opportunity arose. That was partly because there was still so much to be done down there, but mostly because it somehow felt cosier far away from the howling gales, snow, ice, and pouring rain.
Having spent the night with Jack in the little cubbyhole beneath his office, he’d made coffee, shared a quick breakfast of toast and marmalade with his lover, then made his way downstairs to the archive room he was currently reorganising. If the Rift remained quiet and he wasn’t interrupted too often with demands for coffee and snacks, there was a good chance he’d have it done by evening, another section ticked off on his to do list, leaving less than a dozen rooms still awaiting his attention.
He'd been working steadily for nearly two hours, and was just thinking it might be about time to make coffee for the rest of the team, when he heard the thunder of footsteps pounding along the corridors, and Jack’s voice shouting his name. That was… odd. Ianto was wearing his Bluetooth earpiece, so if there was an emergency of some kind, Jack should have been able to contact him immediately without having to seek him out in person.
With a sigh, Ianto set aside the item he was cataloguing, something he recognised as a musical instrument from one of the worlds in the Zoothnax Cluster, and went to corral his rampaging lover before Jack could cause any accidental destruction.
“What the hell’s going on?”
Jack skidded to a halt and swung around, breathless and beaming. “Ianto!”
“That’s me.”
“I was looking for you!”
“Yes, Jack, I gathered that, otherwise you wouldn’t have been running around down here shouting my name. I’m assuming you have a good reason for interrupting my work?” Ianto raised on enquiring eyebrow.
Jack nodded with such enthusiasm that his hair looked like it was about to fly off. If anything, his smile grew even wider. “Yes!”
“That’s good. Mind telling me what it is?”
“The sun’s shining!”
Ianto blinked. For a long moment he wondered if he was hearing things, or maybe it was wishful thinking. There’d been nothing but clouds and rain by day for weeks now. The few occasions when the sky had briefly cleared had been in the depths of night.
“Are you sure?”
Jack did his nodding dog impression again. “Yes! I saw it myself!” He grabbed Ianto by the wrist and started pulling. “Come on! You have to see it!”
“You’re going the wrong way, Jack. The stairs are back that way.” Ianto pointed back over his shoulder with his free hand.
“Oh. Right.” Jack hurriedly turned around and proceeded to drag Ianto in the opposite direction. Giving in to the inevitable, Ianto allowed himself to be towed, since Jack clearly had no intention of letting go.
Both men were panting a bit by the time they reached the main Hub. Climbing seven flights of steep stairs at speed would do that to anyone, but still Jack didn’t slow down. Ianto had to almost jog to keep up as they crossed the expanse of pitted concrete between the stairwell and the invisible lift. Then they were on the slab and Jack was punching buttons on his wrist strap, setting the lift in motion, slowly rising towards the Plas.
As they neared the top, Ianto tipped his head back, watching as a false slab slid aside, revealing a square of blue sky so bright he had to look away and rub his eyes. By the time his vision cleared he and Jack were standing in brilliant sunlight.
“See? Didn’t I tell you?” Grabbing Ianto by the hand this time, Jack led him off the slab and down onto the Plas. People passed them by with hardly more than a glance, too busy enjoying the weather themselves to register the fact that two men had basically just appeared out of nowhere.
“You did, but I wasn’t sure I believed you.” Ianto gazed up at a blue, cloudless sky. It all seemed a bit unreal, like a wonderful dream that might vanish if he blinked.
“Weather this good shouldn’t be wasted,” Jack said firmly. “I thought we could go to the park, get ice cream, and sit in the sun, maybe take a walk through the botanical gardens. Or we could visit the zoo, or the beach. Whatever you like.”
“What about work? We can’t just take the day off!”
“Why not? I checked the Rift monitor, and it should be quiet for a couple of days. Any alerts will get sent straight through to my wrist strap.”
“But the team…”
“I already texted them to take the day off, get some fresh air and sunshine. No one should be cooped up indoors on the first sunny day in forever. Come on, Ianto! You work too hard; you need to let go and live a little.”
Ianto hesitated a moment longer, but the temptation was too much. “Okay, but first I need to nip home, get changed, and apply sunscreen. I don’t want to wind up looking like a cooked lobster.”
“It’s a deal. I’ll even help you.”
“I’m sure you will.” This time it was Ianto who grabbed Jack’s hand. “My place isn’t far; we might as well walk, use the time to decide what we’re going to do with our day off.”
“I like the way you think.”
“Thought you might.”
Hand in hand they set off across the Plas drinking in the glorious weather. At long last spring had finally arrived.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Rating: PG
Word Count: 983
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto is busy working in the archives when Jack shows up bearing exciting news.
Written For: Prompt ‘Any, Any, sunshine & blue skies,’ at spring_renewal.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
Ianto had been making excellent progress on sorting Torchwood’s archives over the long, cold, dreary winter months. He’d done his share of fieldwork, of course, nobody was exempt from that, and he’d kept up to date with all the other necessary tasks around the Hub that no one else could be bothered with, but he’d vanished to the lower levels whenever the opportunity arose. That was partly because there was still so much to be done down there, but mostly because it somehow felt cosier far away from the howling gales, snow, ice, and pouring rain.
Having spent the night with Jack in the little cubbyhole beneath his office, he’d made coffee, shared a quick breakfast of toast and marmalade with his lover, then made his way downstairs to the archive room he was currently reorganising. If the Rift remained quiet and he wasn’t interrupted too often with demands for coffee and snacks, there was a good chance he’d have it done by evening, another section ticked off on his to do list, leaving less than a dozen rooms still awaiting his attention.
He'd been working steadily for nearly two hours, and was just thinking it might be about time to make coffee for the rest of the team, when he heard the thunder of footsteps pounding along the corridors, and Jack’s voice shouting his name. That was… odd. Ianto was wearing his Bluetooth earpiece, so if there was an emergency of some kind, Jack should have been able to contact him immediately without having to seek him out in person.
With a sigh, Ianto set aside the item he was cataloguing, something he recognised as a musical instrument from one of the worlds in the Zoothnax Cluster, and went to corral his rampaging lover before Jack could cause any accidental destruction.
“What the hell’s going on?”
Jack skidded to a halt and swung around, breathless and beaming. “Ianto!”
“That’s me.”
“I was looking for you!”
“Yes, Jack, I gathered that, otherwise you wouldn’t have been running around down here shouting my name. I’m assuming you have a good reason for interrupting my work?” Ianto raised on enquiring eyebrow.
Jack nodded with such enthusiasm that his hair looked like it was about to fly off. If anything, his smile grew even wider. “Yes!”
“That’s good. Mind telling me what it is?”
“The sun’s shining!”
Ianto blinked. For a long moment he wondered if he was hearing things, or maybe it was wishful thinking. There’d been nothing but clouds and rain by day for weeks now. The few occasions when the sky had briefly cleared had been in the depths of night.
“Are you sure?”
Jack did his nodding dog impression again. “Yes! I saw it myself!” He grabbed Ianto by the wrist and started pulling. “Come on! You have to see it!”
“You’re going the wrong way, Jack. The stairs are back that way.” Ianto pointed back over his shoulder with his free hand.
“Oh. Right.” Jack hurriedly turned around and proceeded to drag Ianto in the opposite direction. Giving in to the inevitable, Ianto allowed himself to be towed, since Jack clearly had no intention of letting go.
Both men were panting a bit by the time they reached the main Hub. Climbing seven flights of steep stairs at speed would do that to anyone, but still Jack didn’t slow down. Ianto had to almost jog to keep up as they crossed the expanse of pitted concrete between the stairwell and the invisible lift. Then they were on the slab and Jack was punching buttons on his wrist strap, setting the lift in motion, slowly rising towards the Plas.
As they neared the top, Ianto tipped his head back, watching as a false slab slid aside, revealing a square of blue sky so bright he had to look away and rub his eyes. By the time his vision cleared he and Jack were standing in brilliant sunlight.
“See? Didn’t I tell you?” Grabbing Ianto by the hand this time, Jack led him off the slab and down onto the Plas. People passed them by with hardly more than a glance, too busy enjoying the weather themselves to register the fact that two men had basically just appeared out of nowhere.
“You did, but I wasn’t sure I believed you.” Ianto gazed up at a blue, cloudless sky. It all seemed a bit unreal, like a wonderful dream that might vanish if he blinked.
“Weather this good shouldn’t be wasted,” Jack said firmly. “I thought we could go to the park, get ice cream, and sit in the sun, maybe take a walk through the botanical gardens. Or we could visit the zoo, or the beach. Whatever you like.”
“What about work? We can’t just take the day off!”
“Why not? I checked the Rift monitor, and it should be quiet for a couple of days. Any alerts will get sent straight through to my wrist strap.”
“But the team…”
“I already texted them to take the day off, get some fresh air and sunshine. No one should be cooped up indoors on the first sunny day in forever. Come on, Ianto! You work too hard; you need to let go and live a little.”
Ianto hesitated a moment longer, but the temptation was too much. “Okay, but first I need to nip home, get changed, and apply sunscreen. I don’t want to wind up looking like a cooked lobster.”
“It’s a deal. I’ll even help you.”
“I’m sure you will.” This time it was Ianto who grabbed Jack’s hand. “My place isn’t far; we might as well walk, use the time to decide what we’re going to do with our day off.”
“I like the way you think.”
“Thought you might.”
Hand in hand they set off across the Plas drinking in the glorious weather. At long last spring had finally arrived.
The End