it's been a very, very long time since I wrote anything, let alone fan fiction, but I thought I would give this one-shot a go as I was feeling in the mood. The prompt was from my table
here and was the prompt "fountain"
Synopsis: Ianto and Jack look for a coin in a fountain
Rating: PG
Spoiler(s): none
Pairing: Ianto/Jack,
disclaimer: characters are not mine.
“Have you got any idea how hard this is going to be?”
Ianto stood in the fountain, his trouser legs rolled up to his knees and his shirt sleeves pushed back to the elbow. Plunging his hand into the water, he grabbed another handful of coins from below the surface and shone a flash light onto them in an attempt to see in the dark.
“It'll take as long as it takes,” Jack said, wading through the water to get a little closer. He slipped his arm around Ianto's shoulder. “Stop making it sound like you don't like being stuck in the dark with me.”
“I don't mind the dark, it's the cold and wet that I'm struggling with.” Ianto threw the coins into a box on the edge of the fountain and wiped his hands on the last dry bit of his shirt. “I've lost all feeling in my toes, I could have frostbite or anything.”
“You don't have frostbite!” Gwen called as she rifled through a fresh handful of identical looking coins. “You might have pneumonia, though.”
“Nobody is getting frostbite or pneumonia.”
“We've been in this water for three hours, Jack. There must be thousands of coins here!” She threw away another handful. “It's like looking for a needle in a bloody haystack.”
“It's here somewhere. If we keep looking we'll find it eventually.”
“Whoever thought up the stupid idea of throwing coins in a fountain anyway?”
“It's supposed to help a wish come true,” Ianto informed her. “In Rome they believe that if two lovers drink from the Trevi fountain then you'll love each other forever.”
“Yeah, well if you drink from this one all you'll get is a nice case of diarrhoea and God else knows what.”
“Nice image.”
“I'm going home if we don't find it in the next ten minutes,” she said. “Rhys has already called three times tonight to ask where I am and there's only so many times I can say I have a report to finish.”
“Maybe if you stopped talking about it we would find it quicker.”
“And maybe if you hadn't thrown it in in the first place I wouldn't have to look.”
“It was an accident!” Jack growled. “I was trying to see what it did, how was I to know it would bite me?!”
“Because its a bloody Alien, Jack!”
Ianto took a few steps forward, then plunged his hand into the water again to scoop up some more coins. “We're never going to find it if you two don't stop arguing about it.”
“I'm going home.” Gwen said, making her way to the edge of the fountain. “If you actually find it tonight the Starbucks is on me for a week.”
She sat on the edge and picked up her boots, pulling them on over her soggy feet. There was no way she was going to be standing in a fountain at three in the morning looking for some alien disc, even if it did bite Jack Harkness; it could bite him in the arse for all she cared.
Jack watched her go, then threw the coins he was holding in frustration. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. There was no way they were going to find the disc along all the coins. Although, in good news, he had pocketed enough change to keep them in late night Kabab's for at least a fortnight.
“It's here somewhere,” Ianto said, walking through the water to get back to him. “We'll find it and then go home and get warmed up again.”
Jack's mood quickly changed. “Warmed up, you say?”
“Warmed up.” He smiled, closing the gap between them. The Welshman took Jack's hand and held it between two of his own and blew into it to create some heat. “A nice warm shower should do the trick.”
“You'll be the death of me, Ianto Jones.”
“Been there, done that.”
Jack pulled him close and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. “Your lips are freezing.”
Ianto saw a dull light out of the corner of his eye; a green blinking coming from underneath the water.
“I think I've found the disc,” Ianto said, wading out towards the flashing light. “Unless you know of any other coins that happen to glow in the dark?”
“Don't touch it.”
Jack pulled him back a little. “Things don't usually start to glow for no reason and this thing has already bit me, I don't trust it.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
“Get out and let me deal with it.”
He got out the fountain and stood beside the SUV, watching Jack as he picked the glowing object out of the water. It didn't look the same as it had before; the flat round shape had started to morph into something pebble in appearance, the edges glowing brighter than the middle.
“What is it?” Ianto called.
“I don't know, but it's definitely alive.”
“I thought the fact that it bit you would've told you that.”
Jack covered the pebble with his hand, trapping it between his palms. He got out of the water, being careful not to let the creature escape and carried it over to the SUV where Ianto was waiting with a glass beaker.
“It's kinda cute when its not biting,” Jack said, putting the lid on the beaker to trap the creature inside. “I'll get Owen to look at it in the morning.”
“You're telling me that we spent three house in the dark, in a freezing fountain in the middle of winter to essentially trap a bug in a jar?”
“Looks like it.”
“I'm freezing to death because of an alien bug?”
“Sorry.”
Jack took his coat from the back seat of the SUV and put it on, then closed the gap between them. He wrapped the coat around Ianto and pulled him close, pressing a soft kiss onto his lips.
“How about we go home and warm up in that shower now?”
“That's the best idea you've had all night.”