Loose End No.4 (A Confrontation)
Summary: Everything revolves around Jack. They should have known this by now.
Warnings: None. The idea of having "slash" as a warning in the Torchwood fandom is laughable. But there are major spoilers for " Loose Ends" which this story branched from.
This is a deleted scene from "Loose Ends", because some people wanted to know who Ianto was going to kill. Obviously, this was deleted for a reason, which was that, at the time, it was really bare and didn't fit in with the mood of "Loose Ends."
I've fleshed it out a bit more, and I do hope that you enjoy it.
(Unbetaed, so feel free to point out any mistakes.)
---
“I should just shoot you right now.”
“Right, because that would definitely solve all your problems.” Captain John said with an unimpressed look on his face.
Ianto gave him a wry smile, “Maybe not, but it would make me feel better.”
“Hmm,” Hart said, head tilted mock-contemplatively, “I never pegged you for a hedonist myself; well, other than the coffee thing anyway.”
With a practised, fluid motion, Ianto cocked back his gun, his jaw clenched painfully tight.
“You’ve got to admit, though; it’s a pretty big jump, from coffee to murder.”
“I prefer to think of it as an execution.”
“Justify it all you want, Eye candy, but whether you kill an innocent or a criminal, it’s still murder.”
Ianto shook his head, “No. I’d be doing the world a favour, killing you before you create more trouble.”
Hart looked at him coldly for a moment, then exhaled slowly. “I’ve told you before, Ianto Jones, I didn’t have a choice.”
“And as I’ve told you before, Captain John Hart, there’s always a choice.”
“What could have I done then, eh? Jumped in the grave myself and had Gray bury both of us?” Hart retorted with a mixture of exasperation and frustration, “I did what I could and I came back to help and I don’t need to justify myself to you, Eye candy.”
“You could have fought back. Helped Jack so he didn’t have to be buried alive for two thousand years!”
“Yes, you’re right, I could have! Well, gee, Eye candy, why didn’t I think of that? I mean, I could have exploded into a zillion bits and Jack could have remained underground forever, but that doesn’t matter because, hey, it’s the bloody thought that counts.” The Captain took a deep breath. “I honestly expected more from you, Eye candy. A bit of rationality, for one.”
And maybe it was the particularly rigid way Ianto held himself, or the tight lines of his clenched jaw, or the way his aim had wavered for a fraction of a second, but Hart suddenly realized that-
“You love him, don’t you?”
Ianto maintained his steady gaze and steady aim, neither agreeing nor denying, but the non-response conveyed enough guilt to make Hart chuckle. Jack really did collect them like shiny coins.
“Well, of course,” he continued with a cavalier shrug of his shoulders, “who doesn’t love the great Captain Jack Harkness? Isn’t that right, Eye candy?”
Hart knew he was enjoying this too much, but the knowledge that Jack’s little team knew nothing about his flighty personality and his magpie tendencies…well, it was too good a joke to just pass by. With an internal grin, he watched Ianto and gleefully enjoyed Ianto’s every subconscious flinch, blink, and tremble that had resulted from his words.
“We’re not like that-”
“Oh please, darling, don’t insult me. You don’t hide anything half as well as you think you do. Threatening to kill me very slowly if we don’t find Jack? Coming here to kill me now for nothing more than petty vengeance? Very melodramatic, that. Also, very telling. Also,” John quirked an eyebrow at Ianto, “you never answered my question.”
“Yes,” Ianto deadpanned after a minute pause, “lots of people love Jack.”
“Cute, Eye candy, very cute; you might want to work on your avoidance tactics too. If you think you’re subtle, well,” John barked out a mocking laugh, “you’ve got another thing-”
“Look,” Ianto interrupted, his voice tight, “is there a point to all of this?”
“But of course,” Hart spread his arms with a flourish, “I’m trying to get you to not shoot me. Whole point of the exercise, I promise.”
“You’re not doing a very good job.”
The other man shrugged, “No, I suppose not. But death at the hands of the grief stricken, irrational, and slightly traumatized teaboy isn’t completely unappealing as deaths go. So go on; shoot me like you’ve always wanted to.”
Ianto was never one to turn down reasonable invitations, especially one as tempting as this. With one last nod and a grim smile, he pulled the trigger and-
BAM
-somehow got knocked off his feet by the recoil, which was strange in and of itself because Torchwood’s modified M1911’s didn’t have recoil, and, moreover, Captain John Hart was somehow still unharmed and standing.
“Eye candy, Eye candy. You really think I’d let you get near me with a working gun if I had the slightest suspicion that you’d shoot me?” Hart said, sauntering over to Ianto’s prone form with a superior smirk on his face.
Ianto tried to move his arms, to get himself upright, but the other man had drawn his own revolver and aimed it at him.
“Let it be a lesson then, that one should never attack Captain John Hart when one is grief stricken, irrational, and traumatized. You didn’t think I lived this long just based on my good looks and charms, did you?”
With a practised motion, Captain John kicked the mangled handgun out of Ianto’s slack grip before cuffing him over the head with the side of his revolver. Bending slightly, he grasped Ianto’s chin in one hand and proceeded to trace the curve of his jaw with the muzzle of his revolver in a mockery of a caress.
“Now isn’t this familiar? Still as inexperienced as last time. Amazing how even some of you managed to survive. What has Jack been teaching you all, Eye Candy?”
Ianto answered with naught but a defiant glare, the effect of which was rather diminished by the glances he couldn’t help but send toward the cool muzzle of the revolver. The tension in the room climbed exponentially as the silence stretched between them.
“Although I must say, you did fool me the last time.” Hart whispered as he leant closer to Ianto’s ear, close enough for Ianto to feel the warm puffs of breath as he spoke. “Thought it was Gwen who was in love with him. Thought she was the bigger threat and that you were just the fling on the side, if even that.”
There was a quick dart of wetness behind his earlobe that made Ianto shudder despite his best efforts to remain still. “If I’d known it was you…” Hart continued, pausing to trace idle patterns around Ianto’s ear with his tongue. The wet trails felt cool against Ianto’s suddenly over-heated skin, and the occasional puffs of air only heightened the contrast.
The muzzle of the revolver now rested under his chin, brushing against him softly in a contradiction of its purpose. Ianto would not have even noticed if he didn’t keep his eyes glued onto it. He surprised himself when he realized that, despite the situation he was in, he wasn’t afraid to die. He was, however, more concerned with how Torchwood would go on without him; how Gwen and Jack would get by without him.
“Wait.” Ianto said, voice huskier than he would have liked. He needed to talk, to distract Hart and somehow get out of this situation. And at the same time, he desperately did not want to think about what Hart was doing to him. “I don’t understand. Last time it was money. You said you were doing it all for money. This time was saving your own arse. But now, now this here doesn’t make sense, any of it.”
“You’re pretty enough and I’ve had worse. Though Jack would castrate me if I did.” Hart let out a drawn-out sigh, and the sudden coolness on the side of Ianto’s neck made him jump slightly. “But who knows, might be worth it. As for this,” Ianto winced as the revolver dug under his chin. “You’d be out of the way, after all.”
Ianto jerked away to look at Hart, never mind the gun against his throat. The other man seemed almost pensive, and oh, okay, Ianto got this now. Slowly, he said. “So, after that whole ‘do you lo-‘”
“Always hurt the ones you love the most.” Hart said bitterly. He lowered himself to the ground right beside Ianto. “Now don’t have me repeating that again. It’s embarrassing enough the first time.”
The captain seemed deflated, completely different from his usual boisterous confidence. Ianto knew that, if there was any time that’s best to escape, it was now. However, something stopped him from acting. Something that felt like pity.
So they both lay there, all pretence of killing each other forgotten. Hart was half-draped over him, and the revolver slid from his hand to lie harmlessly against the side Ianto’s neck.
“Don’t get any ideas, Eye candy.” Hart muttered, his chin resting against Ianto’s shoulder. “I can still kill you before you can blink.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. He seemed to do that a lot around Hart. “If you say so.”
They should start up a support group, he thought idly, for all of the people Jack had loved and then had left behind. Or will leave behind. Ianto was under no delusions about him and Jack. Unlike what many thought, he was in this with his eyes open.
And, God, wouldn’t Jack just love that idea: a support group that got together to talk about him. They could all discuss Jack’s body and Jack’s clothing and Jack’s habits; what Jack said, and what Jack did with them, to them. And then, at the end of it all, maybe they would have enough courage to talk about loving Jack. That’s when every listener would nod and agree, because they’ve been there too, and maybe they still were.
Ianto amused himself by thinking about the possible members list. Hart would join, there’s no doubt. Maybe Gwen would too. Estelle…maybe if they went back in time. That’s the thing with Jack too. He had lived so long that he had left broken hearts across the universe and time itself.
Hart moved after a few minutes and pulled himself upright so that he was sitting on his heels. “Don’t worry,” he said after a few minutes. Ianto wanted to laugh because he had stopped worrying a while ago.
“I won’t kill you. Jack’s right, there’s been enough deaths.” He left a last, lingering caress against Ianto’s neck and stood up fluidly. “I can hope you will extend the same courtesy to me.”
Ianto met his eyes, “Yeah,” he cleared his throat, “Yes.”
“Wonderful, but in case you can’t help yourself, I’ll keep away for a while. Goodbye, Eye Candy. You were great fun.” John said, and grinned when Ianto rolled his eyes again in response.
“Feel free to not come back.” Ianto replied, and found that he didn’t mean it at all.
---
It might be bad to say this, but Hart/Ianto is quickly usurping Jack/Ianto as my Torchwood OTP.
*Runs off to watch 2x03, 2x11, and 2x12 to delay the inevitable*
(But point your Hart/Ianto fics this way, please.)
Warnings: None. The idea of having "slash" as a warning in the Torchwood fandom is laughable. But there are major spoilers for " Loose Ends" which this story branched from.
This is a deleted scene from "Loose Ends", because some people wanted to know who Ianto was going to kill. Obviously, this was deleted for a reason, which was that, at the time, it was really bare and didn't fit in with the mood of "Loose Ends."
I've fleshed it out a bit more, and I do hope that you enjoy it.
(Unbetaed, so feel free to point out any mistakes.)
---
“I should just shoot you right now.”
“Right, because that would definitely solve all your problems.” Captain John said with an unimpressed look on his face.
Ianto gave him a wry smile, “Maybe not, but it would make me feel better.”
“Hmm,” Hart said, head tilted mock-contemplatively, “I never pegged you for a hedonist myself; well, other than the coffee thing anyway.”
With a practised, fluid motion, Ianto cocked back his gun, his jaw clenched painfully tight.
“You’ve got to admit, though; it’s a pretty big jump, from coffee to murder.”
“I prefer to think of it as an execution.”
“Justify it all you want, Eye candy, but whether you kill an innocent or a criminal, it’s still murder.”
Ianto shook his head, “No. I’d be doing the world a favour, killing you before you create more trouble.”
Hart looked at him coldly for a moment, then exhaled slowly. “I’ve told you before, Ianto Jones, I didn’t have a choice.”
“And as I’ve told you before, Captain John Hart, there’s always a choice.”
“What could have I done then, eh? Jumped in the grave myself and had Gray bury both of us?” Hart retorted with a mixture of exasperation and frustration, “I did what I could and I came back to help and I don’t need to justify myself to you, Eye candy.”
“You could have fought back. Helped Jack so he didn’t have to be buried alive for two thousand years!”
“Yes, you’re right, I could have! Well, gee, Eye candy, why didn’t I think of that? I mean, I could have exploded into a zillion bits and Jack could have remained underground forever, but that doesn’t matter because, hey, it’s the bloody thought that counts.” The Captain took a deep breath. “I honestly expected more from you, Eye candy. A bit of rationality, for one.”
And maybe it was the particularly rigid way Ianto held himself, or the tight lines of his clenched jaw, or the way his aim had wavered for a fraction of a second, but Hart suddenly realized that-
“You love him, don’t you?”
Ianto maintained his steady gaze and steady aim, neither agreeing nor denying, but the non-response conveyed enough guilt to make Hart chuckle. Jack really did collect them like shiny coins.
“Well, of course,” he continued with a cavalier shrug of his shoulders, “who doesn’t love the great Captain Jack Harkness? Isn’t that right, Eye candy?”
Hart knew he was enjoying this too much, but the knowledge that Jack’s little team knew nothing about his flighty personality and his magpie tendencies…well, it was too good a joke to just pass by. With an internal grin, he watched Ianto and gleefully enjoyed Ianto’s every subconscious flinch, blink, and tremble that had resulted from his words.
“We’re not like that-”
“Oh please, darling, don’t insult me. You don’t hide anything half as well as you think you do. Threatening to kill me very slowly if we don’t find Jack? Coming here to kill me now for nothing more than petty vengeance? Very melodramatic, that. Also, very telling. Also,” John quirked an eyebrow at Ianto, “you never answered my question.”
“Yes,” Ianto deadpanned after a minute pause, “lots of people love Jack.”
“Cute, Eye candy, very cute; you might want to work on your avoidance tactics too. If you think you’re subtle, well,” John barked out a mocking laugh, “you’ve got another thing-”
“Look,” Ianto interrupted, his voice tight, “is there a point to all of this?”
“But of course,” Hart spread his arms with a flourish, “I’m trying to get you to not shoot me. Whole point of the exercise, I promise.”
“You’re not doing a very good job.”
The other man shrugged, “No, I suppose not. But death at the hands of the grief stricken, irrational, and slightly traumatized teaboy isn’t completely unappealing as deaths go. So go on; shoot me like you’ve always wanted to.”
Ianto was never one to turn down reasonable invitations, especially one as tempting as this. With one last nod and a grim smile, he pulled the trigger and-
BAM
-somehow got knocked off his feet by the recoil, which was strange in and of itself because Torchwood’s modified M1911’s didn’t have recoil, and, moreover, Captain John Hart was somehow still unharmed and standing.
“Eye candy, Eye candy. You really think I’d let you get near me with a working gun if I had the slightest suspicion that you’d shoot me?” Hart said, sauntering over to Ianto’s prone form with a superior smirk on his face.
Ianto tried to move his arms, to get himself upright, but the other man had drawn his own revolver and aimed it at him.
“Let it be a lesson then, that one should never attack Captain John Hart when one is grief stricken, irrational, and traumatized. You didn’t think I lived this long just based on my good looks and charms, did you?”
With a practised motion, Captain John kicked the mangled handgun out of Ianto’s slack grip before cuffing him over the head with the side of his revolver. Bending slightly, he grasped Ianto’s chin in one hand and proceeded to trace the curve of his jaw with the muzzle of his revolver in a mockery of a caress.
“Now isn’t this familiar? Still as inexperienced as last time. Amazing how even some of you managed to survive. What has Jack been teaching you all, Eye Candy?”
Ianto answered with naught but a defiant glare, the effect of which was rather diminished by the glances he couldn’t help but send toward the cool muzzle of the revolver. The tension in the room climbed exponentially as the silence stretched between them.
“Although I must say, you did fool me the last time.” Hart whispered as he leant closer to Ianto’s ear, close enough for Ianto to feel the warm puffs of breath as he spoke. “Thought it was Gwen who was in love with him. Thought she was the bigger threat and that you were just the fling on the side, if even that.”
There was a quick dart of wetness behind his earlobe that made Ianto shudder despite his best efforts to remain still. “If I’d known it was you…” Hart continued, pausing to trace idle patterns around Ianto’s ear with his tongue. The wet trails felt cool against Ianto’s suddenly over-heated skin, and the occasional puffs of air only heightened the contrast.
The muzzle of the revolver now rested under his chin, brushing against him softly in a contradiction of its purpose. Ianto would not have even noticed if he didn’t keep his eyes glued onto it. He surprised himself when he realized that, despite the situation he was in, he wasn’t afraid to die. He was, however, more concerned with how Torchwood would go on without him; how Gwen and Jack would get by without him.
“Wait.” Ianto said, voice huskier than he would have liked. He needed to talk, to distract Hart and somehow get out of this situation. And at the same time, he desperately did not want to think about what Hart was doing to him. “I don’t understand. Last time it was money. You said you were doing it all for money. This time was saving your own arse. But now, now this here doesn’t make sense, any of it.”
“You’re pretty enough and I’ve had worse. Though Jack would castrate me if I did.” Hart let out a drawn-out sigh, and the sudden coolness on the side of Ianto’s neck made him jump slightly. “But who knows, might be worth it. As for this,” Ianto winced as the revolver dug under his chin. “You’d be out of the way, after all.”
Ianto jerked away to look at Hart, never mind the gun against his throat. The other man seemed almost pensive, and oh, okay, Ianto got this now. Slowly, he said. “So, after that whole ‘do you lo-‘”
“Always hurt the ones you love the most.” Hart said bitterly. He lowered himself to the ground right beside Ianto. “Now don’t have me repeating that again. It’s embarrassing enough the first time.”
The captain seemed deflated, completely different from his usual boisterous confidence. Ianto knew that, if there was any time that’s best to escape, it was now. However, something stopped him from acting. Something that felt like pity.
So they both lay there, all pretence of killing each other forgotten. Hart was half-draped over him, and the revolver slid from his hand to lie harmlessly against the side Ianto’s neck.
“Don’t get any ideas, Eye candy.” Hart muttered, his chin resting against Ianto’s shoulder. “I can still kill you before you can blink.”
Ianto rolled his eyes. He seemed to do that a lot around Hart. “If you say so.”
They should start up a support group, he thought idly, for all of the people Jack had loved and then had left behind. Or will leave behind. Ianto was under no delusions about him and Jack. Unlike what many thought, he was in this with his eyes open.
And, God, wouldn’t Jack just love that idea: a support group that got together to talk about him. They could all discuss Jack’s body and Jack’s clothing and Jack’s habits; what Jack said, and what Jack did with them, to them. And then, at the end of it all, maybe they would have enough courage to talk about loving Jack. That’s when every listener would nod and agree, because they’ve been there too, and maybe they still were.
Ianto amused himself by thinking about the possible members list. Hart would join, there’s no doubt. Maybe Gwen would too. Estelle…maybe if they went back in time. That’s the thing with Jack too. He had lived so long that he had left broken hearts across the universe and time itself.
Hart moved after a few minutes and pulled himself upright so that he was sitting on his heels. “Don’t worry,” he said after a few minutes. Ianto wanted to laugh because he had stopped worrying a while ago.
“I won’t kill you. Jack’s right, there’s been enough deaths.” He left a last, lingering caress against Ianto’s neck and stood up fluidly. “I can hope you will extend the same courtesy to me.”
Ianto met his eyes, “Yeah,” he cleared his throat, “Yes.”
“Wonderful, but in case you can’t help yourself, I’ll keep away for a while. Goodbye, Eye Candy. You were great fun.” John said, and grinned when Ianto rolled his eyes again in response.
“Feel free to not come back.” Ianto replied, and found that he didn’t mean it at all.
---
It might be bad to say this, but Hart/Ianto is quickly usurping Jack/Ianto as my Torchwood OTP.
*Runs off to watch 2x03, 2x11, and 2x12 to delay the inevitable*
(But point your Hart/Ianto fics this way, please.)