Fic: Just One of Those Things
This is the first fic I've posted in ages, so I'm pretty excited.
Fandom: Doctor Who/ Torchwood
Title: Just One of Those Things
Pairing: Captain Jack/Algy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Parting of the Ways
Torchwood was quiet late at night, silent but for the ever-present hum of the computers running. Even the pterodactyl was asleep up on its high perch, its head under its wing. In his office, Jack put a record on the phonograph, and it crackled for a moment as he lay down on the sofa, folding his hands behind his head. The music started, plunging him into a memory of the past so vivid he could almost feel it.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The same song playing on the wireless.
The warmth of a fire on his legs, and the glow of good brandy inside him.
The hour was growing late, and there were only a few men left in the officers' club. Captain Jack Harkness, American volunteer in the RAF, relaxed in an armchair by the fire, a cigar in his hand and an almost-empty glass on the table beside him, watching Major Algernon Duncan through a haze of smoke as the latter talked.
Harkness had been expecting to be drawn aside into this conversation ever since they'd been introduced the week before- he'd seen the flash of 'takes one to know one' recognition in Major Duncan's eyes when they shook hands- and he'd decided that for once he wouldn't be the one to make the first move.
Now on first name terms, they'd been talking for some time, or rather Algy talked and Jack listened. He had a backstory but it bored him, so he let Algy tell him about his family, the army, the situation in Europe. The question came eventually, in a deliberately casual voice.
"So, Jack, I suppose you left a wife and kids back in America?"
Jack looked up from his burning-down cigar and smiled, showing his teeth.
"No. Not really my sort of thing, if you know what I mean." He paused and noticed how Algy's eyes instinctively flickered around the room, in case anyone was listening. "Prefer not to be tied down." Not in that way, anyway.
"Ah. Yes, of course."
"You?" Jack knew this game and he could play it for as long as he had to.
"No, no. Mama keeps inviting wealthy young heiresses to tea, and I have to keep inventing urgent staff meetings in order to avoid them. All quite plain," he added over Jack's appreciative chuckle.
"How do you know?" Jack was still smiling, but his voive had grown serious.
"Hm?"
"How do you know they're plain when you haven't met them?"
Algy frowned, puzzled by the sudden accusation.
"Or is it that you're just not interested?"
The words fell, and the hum of music, the crackle of the fire, and the shouts from the noisy card game in the other room underscored the sudden silence between the two men. Algy glanced around again, then met Jack's eyes in a rueful acknowledgement that he had managed to break through the wall of polite conversation at last.
"Do you want to come to my place? I've got rooms in Greville Street."
Jack didn't even try to hide the predatory gleam in his grin this time.
"That's just what I was hoping you'd say."
~~~~~~
The now-familiar sirens began to wail as they stepped through the door of Algy's flat.
"Hadn't we better--" Algy suggested, gesturing back down the stairs.
"We'll be all right." Jack shut the door, crowding Algy against the wall beside it. "Damn the Germans."
He cupped Algy's face with his hand and kissed him. It was like a dam breaking as Algy's reserve crumbled, falling away along with their hats and heavy coats. He returned Jack's kiss passionately, wrapping an arm around his waist. Jack eventually pulled back slightly, panting.
"Steady on, old man. Haven't even shown me around the flat yet."
Algy smiled. "This is the hallway." He grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him away from the door, to the second room on the right. "And this is the bedroom."
"I guess that's all I need to know, eh?"
Algy kissed him this time, and by the time the bombs began to fall outside, lighting up the room and making the building's foundations shake with the explosions, they barely noticed.
~~~~~~~~
Jack wasn't used to waking up in bed with someone else. Usually before the night was over he'd either gotten into some sort of trouble, or the trouble from the previous night had caught up with him. Either that or he woke up with someone or someones that he had no recollection of how he'd ended up with.
So it was a surprise, but a pleasant one, not only to wake up with the same handsome, ginger-haired human he'd gone to bed with, but to be able remember the night before in an agreeable amount of detail. Beside him, Algy rolled over and yawned.
"Morning, Tiger," Jack said cheerfully.
"Tiger?" Algy, clearly not a morning person, squinted blearily at him.
"Mmm. It's the hair." Jack ran his hand through it, then pulled Algy in for a lazy kiss.
"Would you like to have a cup of tea?" Algy asked.
"I'd rather have sex again."
"Tea first. Then sex."
"God, you're such an Englishman. I'll take coffee, if you've got any." Jack called down the hall, since by this time Algy had grabbed a robe and left the room in search of tea.
~~~~~~~~~
It was memories like these that Jack thought back on during the long, sleepless nights at Torchwood. Jack hadn't stuck around to see the nanogenes get smart, so his last memory of Algy was of him plaintively asking, "Are you my mummy?" before crumpling to the ground as his face grew into a gas mask. That wasn't nice to remember, so Jack thought about the talking and the kissing and the fucking and the waking up together.
Algy was only one of many, but he was the last one for renegade con man, American RAF volunteer, Captain Jack Harkness. After meeting the Doctor, Jack started to become someone different, and by the time the TARDIS left Satellite Five without him, Jack would never be the same. Maybe it was better, nobler, to work for the good of humanity and defend the planet, but it was sure as hell less fun.
Fandom: Doctor Who/ Torchwood
Title: Just One of Those Things
Pairing: Captain Jack/Algy
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Parting of the Ways
Torchwood was quiet late at night, silent but for the ever-present hum of the computers running. Even the pterodactyl was asleep up on its high perch, its head under its wing. In his office, Jack put a record on the phonograph, and it crackled for a moment as he lay down on the sofa, folding his hands behind his head. The music started, plunging him into a memory of the past so vivid he could almost feel it.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The same song playing on the wireless.
The warmth of a fire on his legs, and the glow of good brandy inside him.
The hour was growing late, and there were only a few men left in the officers' club. Captain Jack Harkness, American volunteer in the RAF, relaxed in an armchair by the fire, a cigar in his hand and an almost-empty glass on the table beside him, watching Major Algernon Duncan through a haze of smoke as the latter talked.
Harkness had been expecting to be drawn aside into this conversation ever since they'd been introduced the week before- he'd seen the flash of 'takes one to know one' recognition in Major Duncan's eyes when they shook hands- and he'd decided that for once he wouldn't be the one to make the first move.
Now on first name terms, they'd been talking for some time, or rather Algy talked and Jack listened. He had a backstory but it bored him, so he let Algy tell him about his family, the army, the situation in Europe. The question came eventually, in a deliberately casual voice.
"So, Jack, I suppose you left a wife and kids back in America?"
Jack looked up from his burning-down cigar and smiled, showing his teeth.
"No. Not really my sort of thing, if you know what I mean." He paused and noticed how Algy's eyes instinctively flickered around the room, in case anyone was listening. "Prefer not to be tied down." Not in that way, anyway.
"Ah. Yes, of course."
"You?" Jack knew this game and he could play it for as long as he had to.
"No, no. Mama keeps inviting wealthy young heiresses to tea, and I have to keep inventing urgent staff meetings in order to avoid them. All quite plain," he added over Jack's appreciative chuckle.
"How do you know?" Jack was still smiling, but his voive had grown serious.
"Hm?"
"How do you know they're plain when you haven't met them?"
Algy frowned, puzzled by the sudden accusation.
"Or is it that you're just not interested?"
The words fell, and the hum of music, the crackle of the fire, and the shouts from the noisy card game in the other room underscored the sudden silence between the two men. Algy glanced around again, then met Jack's eyes in a rueful acknowledgement that he had managed to break through the wall of polite conversation at last.
"Do you want to come to my place? I've got rooms in Greville Street."
Jack didn't even try to hide the predatory gleam in his grin this time.
"That's just what I was hoping you'd say."
~~~~~~
The now-familiar sirens began to wail as they stepped through the door of Algy's flat.
"Hadn't we better--" Algy suggested, gesturing back down the stairs.
"We'll be all right." Jack shut the door, crowding Algy against the wall beside it. "Damn the Germans."
He cupped Algy's face with his hand and kissed him. It was like a dam breaking as Algy's reserve crumbled, falling away along with their hats and heavy coats. He returned Jack's kiss passionately, wrapping an arm around his waist. Jack eventually pulled back slightly, panting.
"Steady on, old man. Haven't even shown me around the flat yet."
Algy smiled. "This is the hallway." He grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him away from the door, to the second room on the right. "And this is the bedroom."
"I guess that's all I need to know, eh?"
Algy kissed him this time, and by the time the bombs began to fall outside, lighting up the room and making the building's foundations shake with the explosions, they barely noticed.
~~~~~~~~
Jack wasn't used to waking up in bed with someone else. Usually before the night was over he'd either gotten into some sort of trouble, or the trouble from the previous night had caught up with him. Either that or he woke up with someone or someones that he had no recollection of how he'd ended up with.
So it was a surprise, but a pleasant one, not only to wake up with the same handsome, ginger-haired human he'd gone to bed with, but to be able remember the night before in an agreeable amount of detail. Beside him, Algy rolled over and yawned.
"Morning, Tiger," Jack said cheerfully.
"Tiger?" Algy, clearly not a morning person, squinted blearily at him.
"Mmm. It's the hair." Jack ran his hand through it, then pulled Algy in for a lazy kiss.
"Would you like to have a cup of tea?" Algy asked.
"I'd rather have sex again."
"Tea first. Then sex."
"God, you're such an Englishman. I'll take coffee, if you've got any." Jack called down the hall, since by this time Algy had grabbed a robe and left the room in search of tea.
~~~~~~~~~
It was memories like these that Jack thought back on during the long, sleepless nights at Torchwood. Jack hadn't stuck around to see the nanogenes get smart, so his last memory of Algy was of him plaintively asking, "Are you my mummy?" before crumpling to the ground as his face grew into a gas mask. That wasn't nice to remember, so Jack thought about the talking and the kissing and the fucking and the waking up together.
Algy was only one of many, but he was the last one for renegade con man, American RAF volunteer, Captain Jack Harkness. After meeting the Doctor, Jack started to become someone different, and by the time the TARDIS left Satellite Five without him, Jack would never be the same. Maybe it was better, nobler, to work for the good of humanity and defend the planet, but it was sure as hell less fun.