Ficlet: Not Much Of A Talker
Title: Not Much Of A Talker
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Tosh.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto’s never been much of a talker, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Word Count: 350
Written For: My own prompt ‘Torchwood, Ianto Jones, He's not much of a talker,’ at
fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Ianto’s not much of a talker, never has been. Oh, he can insert witty comments into someone else’s conversation to break the tension, or trade snarky insults with Owen all day long, but that’s not really talking, it’s more like verbal sparring.
Talking means holding a conversation with someone, it means getting into the realms of the personal, and above all else, Ianto’s a very private person. He keeps himself to himself, seldom talking about his life outside Torchwood.
He’ll discuss work-related matters with his colleagues, give his opinion on a plan of action when asked, or report on the progress of any projects he’s involved with. When someone makes a mess of the Hub, he makes his displeasure known in no uncertain terms, often by threatening the perpetrator with decaf. But he prefers not to indulge in chitchat.
The closest he comes to sharing personal information is when he and Tosh are hanging out together. They’re a lot alike, which is probably why they get along so well. They talk about work of course, but they discuss other things too; books they’ve read, movies they’ve seen together, their favourite foods, or the latest thing someone’s done to annoy them. Tosh talks about her mother and Ianto about his sister and her family, but they don’t talk about the past. Some things are not for sharing, even with your closest friends.
Lovers are a different matter, and Jack’s no exception. Ianto may not talk much under normal circumstances, but Jack has a way of teasing out nuggets of information without Ianto even noticing. He knows more about Ianto than anyone ever has, and Ianto isn’t quite sure how that happened. All the secrets he’s never told anyone else somehow slip out when he’s with Jack.
To be fair, the secret exchange isn’t exactly one-sided. Ianto’s pretty sure Jack’s let slip more than his share. Most people think Jack’s an open book, but they’re wrong; he can talk non-stop without really saying anything. Yet he lets his guard down with Ianto.
Apparently, not being much of a talker has unexpected advantages!
The End