Ficlet: Catch Of The Day
Title: Catch Of The Day
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: On a day filled with variety, Ianto finds himself fishing.
Word Count: 556
Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Author's choice, author's choice, catch of the day,’ at
fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
One of the things Ianto liked most about working for Torchwood was the sheer variety; no two days were the same. One day he might be chasing weevils, the next investigating fascinating alien technology, defending the earth from invasion, or caring for a stranded traveller.
He’d spent the morning in the archives cataloguing some new items, followed by doing the lunch run, which had been quiet pleasant owing to unseasonably warm and sunny weather. The first half of the afternoon had been spent with Jack, chasing a rather elusive little creature through half of Cardiff, but now Ianto had the fishing gear out and was casting his line across the water. It was an interesting turn of events.
By the time the merry chase had led them to the boating lake in Roath Park, the wind had got up, gusting quite strongly, and in the absence of a net to catch the fugitive, they’d had to improvise with what they had to hand. Unfortunately, the first several attempts had gone rather wide of the mark, due to a combination of the creature’s impressive manoeuvrability and the blustery weather, and it was pure blind luck that Jack had eventually managed to lasso it with a borrowed length of rope during a lull.
By now their new captive was safe in the cells where Owen was no doubt busy studying it, learning what he could about its diet and behaviour. Ianto had taken it back to the Hub when he picked up the rod, line and landing net he was now using. Remembering what had happened the last time they’d been in a small boat together, Ianto had rowed out alone, leaving Jack anxiously pacing on the shore. He didn’t want to end up trying to fish his captain out of the water again; a wet Jack would be heavy and there was every chance the rented boat would capsize.
He cast his line again, this time successfully setting the hook, and slowly began to reel in his catch as Jack called out to him to be careful. As if Ianto would be anything less. As soon as he’d reeled it in far enough, he used the landing net to scoop it out of the water then rowed his way back to the small dock, where Jack was almost bouncing with impatience.
“Is it alright?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “Maybe this will teach you to be more careful with your things,” he told his lover sternly, then seeing the woebegone expression on Jack’s face as he was handed the sodden bundle, he added, “I’m sure your coat will be just fine once it’s been cleaned and dried. Just don’t go throwing it around again.”
“I only meant to toss it over the creature, I didn’t know it would go so far.” Jack held the dripping coat gently, petting it with one hand.
It was a fair point, and it might even have worked if the coat hadn’t been caught by a strong gust and whisked into the middle of the lake.
“Come on, let’s get back to the Hub before it starts raining. Your coat’s already wet enough.”
Jack nodded, setting off across the grass as Ianto gathered the fishing gear and followed.
It was a good thing that Jack’s coat was almost as indestructible as its owner!
The End