Fic: Autumn Fun
Title: Autumn Fun
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: As far as Jack is concerned, the best thing about autumn is playing in the fallen leaves.
Word Count: 1431
Written For: Prompt 194 - Falling Leaves at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“I always feel a bit sad when the leaves start to fall,” Ianto commented as he and Jack strolled through Bute Park, heading back to the SUV following a retrieval with the Rift’s latest gift tucked safely away in Jack’s pocket. It wasn’t anything dangerous, just a small piece of carved wood resembling an elaborate, miniaturised newel post, although Jack claimed it was a representation of the god worshipped by an alien race called the Urffa. Whether that was true or not was anybody’s guess; Ianto was fully aware of Jack’s penchant for pulling his leg, but if it was a lie, it was a harmless one.
“Sad? Why? I thought you liked autumn.”
“I do.” Hands shoved deep in his coat pockets, Ianto idly kicked at the damp leaves scattered across the path. “There’s a lot to like, especially the trees changing colour, but it means another year’s coming to an end. The weather’s already getting chilly, and winter will be here before we know it. I’m not fond of the cold.”
Jack grinned at his lover. “I’d noticed. Prising you out of a warm bed on a cold morning takes some doing. Sometimes I wonder how you ever managed to get to work on time in winter before we moved in together.”
“I used to keep the alarm clock inside an old biscuit tin on the far side of the bedroom, so I had to get out of bed to turn it off. Once I was up, it was easier to get myself moving; there wasn’t much point going back to bed.”
“Aha! Fiendishly clever, Mister Jones.”
“It worked well enough, but it wasn’t fun. Having you wake me up is a lot more enjoyable.”
“I should hope so.” Jack gazed across the park; after a drizzly morning, the sun was just about managing to break through the clouds, shining down on the trees in their autumn splendour, so many shades of gold, red, yellow, orange, and russet. “We never got anything like this back on the Boeshane Peninsula. What trees we had were small and stunted, more like conifers, and there wasn’t much in the way of seasons. Three-quarters of the year it was hot and dry, the other quarter was the rainy season, if we were lucky enough to get rain, so we’d have bad storms, high winds, flooding… The trees didn’t change colours and shed their leaves, they just got blown over or hit by lightning. I like this better.”
“It is pretty when the sun’s shining,” Ianto agreed. “Not so much when it keeps raining, and all the fallen leaves turn wet and mushy underfoot.”
“Yeah, gotta admit that’s not appealing. They get slippery, and they stick to everything. They’re much more fun when they’re crisp and dry.”
“Right, so you can scrunch through them.” Ianto sounded amused. “Just a big kid, you are.”
“What’s wrong with that? Unlike you, I never got to enjoy jumping in piles of leaves when I was a boy, so I’m making up for it now.”
“Except there aren’t any leaf piles yet. Not enough leaves have fallen.”
“But they will,” Jack said confidently. “All those leaves on the trees will soon be on the ground, getting raked into piles for people to jump in.”
Ianto chuckled. “That’s actually not the reason people rake them together, you know.”
“Doesn’t matter, they still do it, and who wouldn’t want to jump into a big pile of dry leaves? We should come back in a few weeks and have some fun. We could come at night, if you’re worried about people seeing you.”
“You’d really do that, wouldn’t you? You’d sneak around the park after midnight, jumping in the piles of leaves and throwing them all over the place so the municipal gardeners have to rake them all together again the next day.”
“Sure, why not? All those leaves, and no one else around to judge me.”
“You must love making more work for everyone.”
“That’s just an unfortunate side-effect. I like to have fun; you should try it sometime. You know what they say, all work and no play…”
“I have plenty of fun. I just don’t want to be arrested for vandalism. Again.” Ianto had learned the hard way that going along with Jack’s hare-brained schemes was a surefire recipe for disaster.
“Jumping in leaves is NOT vandalism. Everyone should try it; I guarantee people would be a lot happier if they embraced their inner child. Having to be an adult all the time is stressful.”
“At least we can agree on that.” Sometimes Ianto felt like the only adult on the whole Torchwood Three team. Stressful didn’t begin to describe it.
“So, would you?”
“Would I what?”
“Jump in the leaves with me.”
“I don’t know. Maybe, if they were dry, and provided we didn’t make too much mess. I’m definitely not jumping in wet leaves though, and the long-range forecast is for rain most days, this week and next.”
Jack blew a raspberry. “You’re no fun.”
“That’s because I have to behave like a responsible adult and keep you from getting yourself in more trouble than you can talk your way out of.”
“I’m not that bad!”
“You just keep telling yourself that.”
Just then, the brief burst of sunshine faded as the clouds drew in again and the wind got up, scattering more leaves from the trees. Ianto hunched his shoulders and shivered as his coat whipped around his legs.
“Looks like we’re in for more rain; let’s get back to the Hub before we wind up getting soaked to the skin. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling chilly; I could do with a hot coffee.”
Jack spared a wistful glance at all the lovely dry leaves tumbling down but hurried after Ianto. “You know I’ll never say no to your coffee.” A brilliant idea was already forming in his head, a way he could have everything he wanted without annoying anyone. It would require careful planning and a certain amount of hard work, but he was sure it would be worth the effort.
A month later, after the rest of the team had left for the night, Jack approached Ianto while he was washing the mugs from the last round of coffee.
“There you are!”
“Where else would I be? The chores won’t do themselves.”
“Well, hurry up and finish what you’re doing, then whip us up a flask of liquid heaven. We’ll need it.”
“Why, where are we going? I didn’t hear any alarms.”
“That’s because there weren’t any. I’ve got a surprise planned.”
“A surprise?” For a moment, Ianto felt excitement stir, but then an awful thought struck him. “Oh no, Jack. We are NOT traipsing through the park to satisfy your inner child. It’s been raining off and on for days; everything will be drenched!”
“I know that; I’m not an idiot!”
“Jury’s still out on that.”
Jack pouted. “Don’t you trust me?”
“In a word, no.”
The pout intensified.
“Fine, I’ll make the coffee.”
“You won’t regret it!”
“We’ll see.” Ianto put the last mug to drain, dried his hands, and set the coffee machine working. A few minutes later, flask in one hand, coat in the other, he joined Jack in the main Hub.
“Leave the coat, you won’t be needing it.”
“You do know it’s raining again, right?”
“I know, but we won’t get wet where we’re going.”
“And where exactly is that?” Ianto dropped his coat on the sofa.
“Follow me and find out.” Grinning, Jack led the way to the lower levels, finally pushing open the door leading to a row of cells that were seldom used. “TADA!”
Ianto stared in disbelief. Every door was open, and each cell contained its own pile of crisp, dry leaves. The floor outside the cells was covered in them.
Jack beamed in pride. “What d’you think? It wasn’t easy collecting them and getting them dry, but now we can jump in them as much as we want without getting wet! I was going to try them out first by myself, but I decided to share the fun.”
“You’re completely nuts!” Ianto shook his head. “No one but you would come up with something like this!” Setting the flask down in a corner, out of the way, Ianto stripped off his jacket, waistcoat, and tie. “Last one in buys dinner!” And he raced for the nearest pile of leaves.
Laughing, Jack followed; buying dinner would be a small price to pay for the fun they were going to have.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: As far as Jack is concerned, the best thing about autumn is playing in the fallen leaves.
Word Count: 1431
Written For: Prompt 194 - Falling Leaves at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“I always feel a bit sad when the leaves start to fall,” Ianto commented as he and Jack strolled through Bute Park, heading back to the SUV following a retrieval with the Rift’s latest gift tucked safely away in Jack’s pocket. It wasn’t anything dangerous, just a small piece of carved wood resembling an elaborate, miniaturised newel post, although Jack claimed it was a representation of the god worshipped by an alien race called the Urffa. Whether that was true or not was anybody’s guess; Ianto was fully aware of Jack’s penchant for pulling his leg, but if it was a lie, it was a harmless one.
“Sad? Why? I thought you liked autumn.”
“I do.” Hands shoved deep in his coat pockets, Ianto idly kicked at the damp leaves scattered across the path. “There’s a lot to like, especially the trees changing colour, but it means another year’s coming to an end. The weather’s already getting chilly, and winter will be here before we know it. I’m not fond of the cold.”
Jack grinned at his lover. “I’d noticed. Prising you out of a warm bed on a cold morning takes some doing. Sometimes I wonder how you ever managed to get to work on time in winter before we moved in together.”
“I used to keep the alarm clock inside an old biscuit tin on the far side of the bedroom, so I had to get out of bed to turn it off. Once I was up, it was easier to get myself moving; there wasn’t much point going back to bed.”
“Aha! Fiendishly clever, Mister Jones.”
“It worked well enough, but it wasn’t fun. Having you wake me up is a lot more enjoyable.”
“I should hope so.” Jack gazed across the park; after a drizzly morning, the sun was just about managing to break through the clouds, shining down on the trees in their autumn splendour, so many shades of gold, red, yellow, orange, and russet. “We never got anything like this back on the Boeshane Peninsula. What trees we had were small and stunted, more like conifers, and there wasn’t much in the way of seasons. Three-quarters of the year it was hot and dry, the other quarter was the rainy season, if we were lucky enough to get rain, so we’d have bad storms, high winds, flooding… The trees didn’t change colours and shed their leaves, they just got blown over or hit by lightning. I like this better.”
“It is pretty when the sun’s shining,” Ianto agreed. “Not so much when it keeps raining, and all the fallen leaves turn wet and mushy underfoot.”
“Yeah, gotta admit that’s not appealing. They get slippery, and they stick to everything. They’re much more fun when they’re crisp and dry.”
“Right, so you can scrunch through them.” Ianto sounded amused. “Just a big kid, you are.”
“What’s wrong with that? Unlike you, I never got to enjoy jumping in piles of leaves when I was a boy, so I’m making up for it now.”
“Except there aren’t any leaf piles yet. Not enough leaves have fallen.”
“But they will,” Jack said confidently. “All those leaves on the trees will soon be on the ground, getting raked into piles for people to jump in.”
Ianto chuckled. “That’s actually not the reason people rake them together, you know.”
“Doesn’t matter, they still do it, and who wouldn’t want to jump into a big pile of dry leaves? We should come back in a few weeks and have some fun. We could come at night, if you’re worried about people seeing you.”
“You’d really do that, wouldn’t you? You’d sneak around the park after midnight, jumping in the piles of leaves and throwing them all over the place so the municipal gardeners have to rake them all together again the next day.”
“Sure, why not? All those leaves, and no one else around to judge me.”
“You must love making more work for everyone.”
“That’s just an unfortunate side-effect. I like to have fun; you should try it sometime. You know what they say, all work and no play…”
“I have plenty of fun. I just don’t want to be arrested for vandalism. Again.” Ianto had learned the hard way that going along with Jack’s hare-brained schemes was a surefire recipe for disaster.
“Jumping in leaves is NOT vandalism. Everyone should try it; I guarantee people would be a lot happier if they embraced their inner child. Having to be an adult all the time is stressful.”
“At least we can agree on that.” Sometimes Ianto felt like the only adult on the whole Torchwood Three team. Stressful didn’t begin to describe it.
“So, would you?”
“Would I what?”
“Jump in the leaves with me.”
“I don’t know. Maybe, if they were dry, and provided we didn’t make too much mess. I’m definitely not jumping in wet leaves though, and the long-range forecast is for rain most days, this week and next.”
Jack blew a raspberry. “You’re no fun.”
“That’s because I have to behave like a responsible adult and keep you from getting yourself in more trouble than you can talk your way out of.”
“I’m not that bad!”
“You just keep telling yourself that.”
Just then, the brief burst of sunshine faded as the clouds drew in again and the wind got up, scattering more leaves from the trees. Ianto hunched his shoulders and shivered as his coat whipped around his legs.
“Looks like we’re in for more rain; let’s get back to the Hub before we wind up getting soaked to the skin. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling chilly; I could do with a hot coffee.”
Jack spared a wistful glance at all the lovely dry leaves tumbling down but hurried after Ianto. “You know I’ll never say no to your coffee.” A brilliant idea was already forming in his head, a way he could have everything he wanted without annoying anyone. It would require careful planning and a certain amount of hard work, but he was sure it would be worth the effort.
A month later, after the rest of the team had left for the night, Jack approached Ianto while he was washing the mugs from the last round of coffee.
“There you are!”
“Where else would I be? The chores won’t do themselves.”
“Well, hurry up and finish what you’re doing, then whip us up a flask of liquid heaven. We’ll need it.”
“Why, where are we going? I didn’t hear any alarms.”
“That’s because there weren’t any. I’ve got a surprise planned.”
“A surprise?” For a moment, Ianto felt excitement stir, but then an awful thought struck him. “Oh no, Jack. We are NOT traipsing through the park to satisfy your inner child. It’s been raining off and on for days; everything will be drenched!”
“I know that; I’m not an idiot!”
“Jury’s still out on that.”
Jack pouted. “Don’t you trust me?”
“In a word, no.”
The pout intensified.
“Fine, I’ll make the coffee.”
“You won’t regret it!”
“We’ll see.” Ianto put the last mug to drain, dried his hands, and set the coffee machine working. A few minutes later, flask in one hand, coat in the other, he joined Jack in the main Hub.
“Leave the coat, you won’t be needing it.”
“You do know it’s raining again, right?”
“I know, but we won’t get wet where we’re going.”
“And where exactly is that?” Ianto dropped his coat on the sofa.
“Follow me and find out.” Grinning, Jack led the way to the lower levels, finally pushing open the door leading to a row of cells that were seldom used. “TADA!”
Ianto stared in disbelief. Every door was open, and each cell contained its own pile of crisp, dry leaves. The floor outside the cells was covered in them.
Jack beamed in pride. “What d’you think? It wasn’t easy collecting them and getting them dry, but now we can jump in them as much as we want without getting wet! I was going to try them out first by myself, but I decided to share the fun.”
“You’re completely nuts!” Ianto shook his head. “No one but you would come up with something like this!” Setting the flask down in a corner, out of the way, Ianto stripped off his jacket, waistcoat, and tie. “Last one in buys dinner!” And he raced for the nearest pile of leaves.
Laughing, Jack followed; buying dinner would be a small price to pay for the fun they were going to have.
The End