[RL Jack & Ianto]

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

It had been, Scotty realized, as he busied himself with packing up the now-finished phasers he'd promised to build for Torchwood, quite a while since he'd last talked to Jack. That was nothing new, of course - the two of them tended to go for stretches at a time without checking in on each other. And that was his first mistake - he ought to have

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[torchwoodteaboy]

Jack and Ianto had had a bit of a falling out a few days ago, and as such hadn't spoken to each other for a full day. Jack had actually tried to do the whole talking thing, and Ianto had shot him down. Of course, Ianto had also been grumpy and running on fumes and really hadn't been patient or ready enough to deal with Jack presenting him with a serious conversation at that point. Jack had pushed him and Ianto had blown up about it and thrown him out, and Jack had slunk off to lick his wounds and complain to Sulu about it. But after a day of not talking, the pair of them had finally been adults about the situation and made up. Not by discussing what Jack wanted to discuss, or talking about how they were really sorry about what had happened, but physically. Because that was really the only level of communication the pair of them had absolutely no trouble operating on

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty made his way down into the main section of the Hub, wondering if maybe he ought to have called ahead, since he didn't see anyone. Maybe he'd come at a bad time, maybe they were out... Well. He'd stop by Jack's office, at least, and if Jack wasn't in he'd just leave the phasers with a note and head back up to the ship.

In retrospect, he really ought to have knocked.

He froze, with his hand still on the door handle, and for one long agonizing moment he was rooted to the spot, unable to tear his eyes away, unable to move, unable to really do anything but stand there in horrified realization that that was Jack and Ianto on Jack's desk and--

He turned away, shutting the door behind him, and just stood there, not knowing what do. God, he'd trusted Jack. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to turn around and open the door again and demand to know what was going on, but-- He couldn't. He just couldn't. As cliche as it was, in that moment it felt like the world crashing down around him. He couldn't even begin to sort out how

[capt_greatcoat]

Ianto's head was a completely different place than the here and now that he almost didn't notice what was going on around him. Almost. There definitely was not supposed to be anything sounding like a door shutting going on while they were up to this, though, because they were the only two in. Should have been the only two in. If it had been Gwen walking in on them, she'd probably have screeched at them, but. No one had said anything. Which...could only mean bad things

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty tensed at the sound of Jack's voice, at the way Jack sounded like nothing was wrong, like it didn't even matter that he'd just walked in on... He wasn't a violent man. He wasn't a violent man and he didn't often lash out in anger, but right then it took everything he had not to turn around and punch Jack. "I brought the phasers," he said tightly, turning, not bothering to even attempt hiding the hurt and the anger in his expression. "But I can see I've come at a bad time." He shoved the case in Jack's direction and let go of the handle, not caring if Jack took it or if it dropped to the floor.

And then he turned again, intending to leave, intending to just walk out. If he stayed, he'd just end up shouting and God, by this point, maybe even crying, and he'd be damned if he let on just how much this hurt because obviously it didn't bother Jack any. But he was done. He was through, absolutely through with Jack. Through with Jack, through with Ianto - God, did Sulu know about this? He didn't care, right then. He was

[capt_greatcoat]

Jack jumped a little as Scotty all but threw the case at him, scrambling to catch it before it fell to the floor. He quickly set the case on the ground and then stepped forward to put a hand on Scotty's shoulder, moving to stop him from turning and leaving. "Hey," he said, frowning a little. "Wait. Hold on, it's not a bad time. I was just..."

He shot an apologetic look over his shoulder at Ianto. "Well, it's just Ianto. He'll understand. You came all this way down, stay a while." He laughed slightly. "I would say that Ianto could make you a coffee, but he's kind of indisposed at the moment. If you give him a few minutes, though..."

Ianto, inside Jack's office, wanted to crawl under the desk and hide. He could sense a tone in Scotty's voice that Jack apparently couldn't, and he had a bad feeling about this. A really, really bad feeling about it.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

He was upset enough about walking in on them. Jack's flippant attitude about it just made it worse, and now... Now Jack had the gall to try and stop him from leaving, to make a joke of it... Before he was entirely aware of what he was doing, he turned sharply to face Jack, punching him square in the jaw. "You bastard," he growled, pulling his hand in toward his chest because he didn't often go around punching things and that hurt. "You-- You fuckin'-- Piece o' shite bastard!" He took a breath, and kept going, because he was pissed and he was hurt and now his hand hurt too and God he just wanted to wipe that fucking smirk off Jack's face

[torchwoodteaboy]

Jack reeled at the punch, a hand flying up to his jaw. The force of the blow had been strong enough to cut the inside of his cheek with his teeth, and Jack could taste blood in his mouth as he stared at the other man, his eyes wide and blue and confused and more than a little hurt. "What the... What the hell, Scotty?! What the hell are you even talking about?!" He had no idea what was going on, and he was more than a little annoyed that he'd been punched without even knowing what he'd done wrong

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

"Don't bloody tell me t'calm down!" Scotty shouted, directed at Ianto this time, instead of Jack. "I think, all things considered, I've got a right t'be fuckin' upset, alright?" As far as things to shout when angry went, that wasn't really the most snappy of things to say, but Scotty wasn't exactly in any condition to worry about whether or not he sounded ridiculous. "Does Sulu know about this?" he continued, still shouting at Ianto now because he didn't want to even so much as look at Jack. "What the hell am I talkin' about," he added, to Jack this time. "What the bloody hell d'you fuckin' think I'm talkin' about?" He really ought to just leave, ought to just go and get himself beamed back to the ship, because he wasn't in any mood to listen to Jack acting like he didn't know why he was so upset, or to Ianto telling him to calm down.

[capt_greatcoat]

"Of course Sulu knows," Jack spoke up, defending Ianto, before Ianto could get a word in edgewise. He didn't like that Scotty was dragging Ianto into whatever this was that Scotty was going on about, suddenly protective of the other man. He certainly didn't want to see Ianto get punched as well, that's for sure. "Why the hell wouldn't Sulu know? Everyone knows; it's Ianto, for Christ's sake...!"

"Jack..." Ianto winced at how insensitive Jack was being about this revelation. Maybe it had something to do with the angry purple bruise that was already spreading across the other man's face, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that...they both really had thought that Scotty had known. Still. He'd never heard the other man yell like this, and while he didn't know Scotty that well, it was obvious that he was hurt by the situation at hand.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

"I didn't fuckin' know!" And that... God, that almost hurt worse than walking in and seeing-- Because everyone knew, except him. No one had so much as thought to tell him, or to make sure he knew, much less check to make sure he was okay with it. "An' why the hell would I? No one thought it was fuckin' important enough t'tell me! I guess I was just supposed t'know, then, because it's Ianto an' everyone knows. Y'know what? Fuck off, Jack."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Jack's temper was rising with each exclamation that Scotty was making. He didn't know? He didn't know? "How the hell could you not know?!" Jack fumed. "It was obvious. It's been obvious, it's been broadcast over the network, it's been... I've damned well talked about it before, for god's sake, how the hell could you not know about this?!"

"Jack." Ianto stepped forward, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder, clenching it firmly because Jack was starting to get a little carried away, on top of Scotty already being up in arms. He wasn't sure quite what to do in the situation, but he knew that letting them rail against each other wouldn't solve anything. "Scotty, I'm sorry, I..." He would have told him. He just really thought that he'd known about it, same as Jack. He'd thought that Jack had told him about it, that Sulu had mentioned it, that... That something.

[lt_cmmdr_scott]

Scotty stood there a long moment, absolutely furious that Jack was demanding to know how he didn't know, when he'd already made it clear that he hadn't - and Jack was the one getting angry now? "What am I supposed t'do then?" Scotty snapped, ignoring Ianto's apology, too pissed off to think things through logically. "What d'you want, Jack? You want me t'apologize for not knowin'? I don't fuckin' think so. What d'you expect, that I'm just goin' t'walk in on-- on-- on that an' it's no big deal, because it's all some big misunderstanding?" He took a deep breath, and shook his head. "Forget it. I'm done. I'm leaving. You won't have t'worry about me interruptin' anything important again." And with that, he turned and walked away. Let them try to stop him. He wouldn't. He was going back up to the ship, going down to the engine room, and... And he didn't really know what. All he knew was that he had to get out of there.

[torchwoodteaboy]

"Don't you just make statements and walk out on me like that!" Jack stepped forward, intent on making Scotty stop, on demanding why the hell he was angry at him when obviously it had been a lapse in Scotty's observational skills, not to have been aware of the fact that he'd been with Ianto for the past few years now. That Scotty hadn't figured it out before they'd started whatever it was that they had between them. Jack was angry that Scotty was so upset with him over it, and more so that he had taken it out on Ianto as well