A Matter of Choice, Part 1
Prologue
Part 1
Jack meandered down the cold, dreary sidewalks of Cardiff, hair plastered to his forehead by the drizzle that so suited his current mood. The wet seeped into his coat, making it weigh down on his shoulders, and every so often a few drops trailed down the back of his neck. He shivered, but he didn’t find someplace to shelter or even throw up his collar.
The gray sky and icy rain were the perfect backdrop to his depressing thoughts. After spending a year on the Valiant, all Jack had wanted was to return to Torchwood. He knew he should be grateful that his ‘Freakishness’ had repelled the Master into leaving him alone for almost the whole twelve months, but the isolation had made its own impact on Jack. He’d spent the entire time in silent agony, hopeless and fearful for the Doctor, his team, and his new friend Martha Jones and her family, not to mention the entire world.
When time reverted, Jack was single-minded: he wanted to return to Cardiff and devote himself to his team the way he never could while he’d been waiting for the Doctor. All that time to think had made him positive that defending the Earth alongside his trusted colleagues- almost his family- would be his life’s work.
But when the Doctor dropped him off, Jack had been horrified to discover that the Tardis had landed in the wrong time. Instead of arriving just a week after he’d left, Jack showed up nearly six months later. Instead of the loving team he’d missed so much on the Valiant, Jack discovered four strangers who had become far harder and more cynical than he ever would have wished for them in his absence.
Gwen, his wide-eyed second-in-command, the one he’d trusted to keep faith for his return, had taken over. Under her, the team ran far more smoothly and efficiently than they ever had when Jack was their leader. Gwen felt betrayed by Jack’s leaving and had refused to return command of the team to him. Owen supported her whole-heartedly. After a single tight hug, he’d shown very little emotion to Jack, despite their friendship before Jack had left.
Toshiko had invited Jack out for a lunch where they discussed his return. She’d been very happy to see him again and said she wanted him to be leader of Torchwood again, but that it was a problem. Tosh recognized that if the team wasn’t unanimous in accepting Jack as their leader, unity would be threatened. This explanation made Jack feel hollow inside; he felt rejected, even though he agreed with her reasoning.
The last member of Jack’s team was Lisa, the archivist who’d impressed Jack with her determination to convince him to hire her after the downfall of London. Jack had bonded with Lisa when she’d had a breakdown several months after the Battle and had practically served as a therapist while she recovered. After taking a month off, Lisa had returned to work as a much brighter, spirited person who no longer hid in the archives. Instead, she fit in with the team and was a good mediator; Jack hoped she would have some ideas on how to convince Gwen and Owen that he should be leader again.
“We do want you back,” Lisa explained to him patiently at her desk in the archives. “We love you Jack, we all do. And although Gwen is more of a people person than you, and she actually does her paperwork on time,” she glared, “she’s not ready to be a leader yet.”
“Then why won’t they take me back?” Jack asked, trying not to sound desperate.
“You left us, Jack,” she said, simply but seriously. “You told us you needed to find out the reason for your immortality and that you’ve done that. But all we have is your word that this is where you want to be, there’s really nothing else to promise Gwen or Owen that you won’t just leave us all behind again.”
“You and Tosh believe me,” Jack pointed out.
Lisa smiled sadly. “We want to believe you. We’re running on faith here. But if you really want us to believe you? You have to show us that you mean it. Show us that you’re really in Cardiff to stay.”
Until then, Jack was stuck taking Gwen’s orders. While she listened to his input and undoubtedly better experience, it was clear that she was the one in charge. They’d given him his office back, simply because no one had cleaned it out, but Jack knew he had a lot of trust to earn back before any of them, even Tosh or Lisa, would take his orders.
On this particular afternoon, the atmosphere in the Hub had gotten so tense that Jack simply decided to remove himself from the equation. He left the Hub, supposedly to fetch the team coffee, and wandered the streets, trying desperately to think of a way to win back his team’s trust.
Jack turned a corner and abruptly collided with another person. He stepped back quickly and reached out to steady the unfortunate figure he’d bumped into.
Jack found himself staring into a pale face with gray-blue eyes and blushing cheeks. The other man cleared his throat and quickly dropped his own arms from where he’d reached out to steady Jack. “My apologies, sir.”
“Not at all,” Jack replied, quickly grinning. “I should have been watching where I was going, but I can’t say I’m regretting it. Captain Jack Harkness,” he introduced, holding out his hand without stepping back.
The other man took Jack’s hand and shook it rather awkwardly, considering the lack of space between them. “Ianto Jones,” he answered, blushing again. Then, taking in Jack’s soaked appearance, he nodded toward the door they were standing in front of. “I can’t help but notice you’ve been out in the rain a while. Could I offer you a coffee?”
Jack looked up through the rain and noticed that they were standing in front of a coffeehouse, the sort that provided internet access and hosted poetry readings. Jack hadn’t heard of the place, but he had said he was going to get coffee- and this Mr. Jones was really all the motivation the decision required. “I’d appreciate that,” he smiled, opening the door for the other man to enter first.
The coffee shop was a warm and welcoming place, with low-seated couches and high two-person tables spread out around a wide room, only a few of which currently had occupants. A low stage filled up one corner, and a small aquarium bubbled quietly along the wall next to the pastry-stuffed counter. The color scheme was rich browns and reds, and the scents of mocha and cinnamon pervaded the air. Jack felt instantly at home.
He shook off his soaked greatcoat and hung it to dry on a row of pegs by the door. Ianto did the same, and Jack expected him to go ring the bell that sat in front of the cash register, but instead the young man walked behind the counter and flicked on one of the multiple coffee machines.
“You work here?” Jack asked, leaning on the counter.
“It’s the low point of the day,” Ianto spoke over his shoulder as he began brewing Jack’s coffee. “I was just coming back in from my break when we bumped into each other.”
“And do you usually offer coffee to strangers you meet on the street?”
“Only when they look as though they just walked through a rain cloud,” Ianto commented, lips quirking slightly upwards.
Jack took the opportunity to study the other man in profile as he concentrated on the coffee machine. Ianto was shorter than Jack by two or three inches. He had short-cut, very dark hair and pale skin, a contrast Jack recognized from many decades in Wales. His features were quite delicate; he had a cute chin and thin, arching cheekbones, round cheeks, a small nose that turned slightly up at the end, and curved eyebrows. He was slim, and when he’d taken off his long coat Jack was able to see dark slacks, a white shirt and a tasteful, deep blue waistcoat. The entire effect made Jack wanted to take him into his arms and kiss those almost girlishly plump lips that had turned up when he teased Jack.
Jack’s eyes jumped up from admiring Ianto’s very inviting backside when the barista turned to place a mug on the counter.
“And here I thought you were offering to buy me a drink,” he complained, flashing Ianto a smile.
“How about this,” Ianto flirted back. “If this isn’t the best coffee you’ve ever tasted, I’ll pay for it myself.”
Jack shook his head, smiling. He took a small sip of the hot brew, planning to tease the young man a bit more, but his eyes widened and he stared down at the mug in shock. “This is amazing!” he breathed.
Ianto laughed. “That’ll be one pound fifty, sir.”
Jack fished out his wallet from his pants and handed over a five pound note. “One for yourself, as well,” he winked, gesturing toward a table.
“I guess it’s not too busy,” Ianto agreed. A minute later he joined Jack at the table. “So why were you walking aimlessly through the rain?” he asked Jack. “Are you some sort of artist looking for inspiration?”
Jack laughed. “No, that’s much too sophisticated for me. I just needed to get out of the office.”
Ianto nodded knowingly. “Work, or your colleagues?”
“Colleagues,” Jack sighed, taking another sip of the delicious coffee. He shivered as the combination of the beverage and the warm coffee lounge began to bring feeling back to his skin.
“Trouble ‘round the water cooler?”
“In a manner of speaking.” Jack wondered how much he could tell about his current problems, or even how much he wanted to tell, but Ianto was watching him with an open expression, blue eyes inviting. For the first time since he’d come back Jack felt that someone was actually listening to what he was saying; all his team wanted to know was why he’d abandoned them.
“I had to leave the country on personal business, I didn’t have time to explain to anyone. And now my friends… they were relying on me to be a good boss, and now that I’m back, they feel betrayed.” He looked up from his coffee and was almost surprised to find Ianto looking at him kindly; he’d been unconsciously expecting suspicion or hostility.
“Have you explained to them why you went?” Ianto asked.
Jack shook his head. “I told them as much as I could, but they don’t want to listen.” He winced, knowing that wasn’t entirely true. His team would be glad to listen, but he didn’t want to tell them too much information about his past and they didn’t want him to tell them only the basics.
Ianto nodded slowly. “Have you tried apologizing?”
“Of course I-” Jack stopped. Now that he thought about it… he’d spent the week or two that he’d been back trying to justify himself. He’d told the team he’d needed to leave, that he couldn’t have told them beforehand, that he didn’t mean for them to get hurt when he disappeared. “I wasn’t wrong,” he said instead. “I shouldn’t have to apologize.”
Ianto laughed through closed lips. Jack frowned. “What?”
The young man shook his head, his eyes shining as he smiled at Jack. “Apologizing doesn’t mean you’re wrong,” he chuckled, like Jack was being unreasonable, “it means you’re sorry. Sorry that what you did hurt your friends, even if it was necessary. They may be under the impression that you don’t care they were hurt.”
“I do, I never meant for them to feel abandoned,” Jack insisted. “But why can’t they understand that I had no choice?”
Ianto stood up from the stool and lightly shook Jack’s hand off his empty coffee cup. “Give them time, try to understand that they’re hurting too.” He stood up and hesitated next to the table, blushing slightly. “I’ve got to get back to work, but if you come back some time, I’ll, uh, buy you that drink.” He smiled before heading behind the counter to serve the customers who’d just entered
Jack sat for a while, soaking up the warmth and the simple, peaceful atmosphere of the establishment. Then, all of a sudden, he sat up straight and checked his watch. “Damn, I’ve been gone nearly an hour.” Luckily, there was only one person left in line and Jack placed his team’s order. He gave Ianto a quick smile and a quiet but honest “Thanks” before he rushed back to the Hub.
[*]
When Jack got back to the Hub, the tenseness in the air had vanished, but the team went quiet again as soon as he appeared. Jack summoned up his courage and asked to talk to Gwen in his office, feeling the stares of the others on his back as he closed the door behind them.
“What’s this about, Jack?” Gwen stood with her arms crossed and her eyebrows knitted, looking entirely defensive. Jack sat down in one of the two chairs in front of his desk and motioned for her to sit next to him. She did, reluctantly.
Jack held out her coffee. “There’s something I haven’t said.”
“I think there’s a lot more than one thing,” Gwen scoffed.
He nodded grudgingly. “I’ve told you I had to leave with the Doctor and that I chose to come back to Torchwood. But I haven’t told you that I’m sorry for leaving you.”
Gwen looked surprised. “I assumed you weren’t. You did say you’ve been waiting over a hundred years.”
“I have. But that doesn’t mean I’m glad that you were hurt. I should have taken more precautions so that the team would be supported in my absence. I should have made sure you’d be prepared for my leaving.” He held her eyes. “And I’m sorry that I had to leave. Nothing except the urge to try and find out what had happened to me, to live a normal life, could have taken me away from Torchwood.”
Gwen nodded, chewing on her lip. After a moment of thinking, she took the coffee cup that Jack had rested on his thigh. “Thanks for apologizin’, Jack,” she said, standing. “It means a lot.”
Jack smiled. “Think you could ask Owen to come in here?” He made sure to treat it as a request, not an order.
She seemed to appreciate the courtesy, smiling back. Jack’s heart rose, seeing that gap-toothed grin directed at him for the first time since he’d returned. “Sure. He’s been playing his video games again anyway.” She swept out of the room.
Jack fidgeted a little, trying to get rid of the uncomfortable vulnerability that came from exposing his motivations and feelings this way. A few moments later he settled down as Owen appeared in the doorway, scowling terribly. “What d’you want, Harkness?”
This is not going to be easy, Jack thought to himself as he picked up the next cup of coffee.
“Sit down,” he suggested, careful not to make it sound like an order.
Owen looked him in the eye as he walked to the chair and sat down. Jack suppressed the urge to lift up his chin and glare back and held out the coffee. Owen grabbed the drink, but his eyes narrowed. “What’s this about?”
“I asked you in here so I could apologize,” he began. “I realize I’ve tried to explain why I left, but-”
“You didn’t try to explain anything!” Owen spat. “All you’ll tell us is ‘I had to go find my Doctor so he could fix me!’” he impersonated badly.
Jack took a deep breath to keep from snapping at his medic. “That’s the truth. And I didn’t call you in here to argue.”
Owen crossed his arms, but gestured impatiently for Jack to continue.
Another surge of annoyance made him wonder why he was apologizing to the surly, argumentative man at all. “I’ve told you why, but I never told you that I’m sorry. I didn’t think about what my leaving would do to any of you, and that was irresponsible of me.” He ignored the way his pride was curdling in his stomach and waited for a response.
Owen’s hard stare did not budge an inch. “Is that all?”
Jack sighed. “Yeah, that’s all.”
The doctor stood up and left the office, slamming the door behind him.
Jack winced. So much for apologizing.
[*]
For some reason, Tosh took his attempt at an apology in much the same way as Owen did, and her previous hesitant friendliness toward him chilled down to a frosty professionalism. Jack was confused, but took Lisa out for a friendly fish and chips dinner at the end of the day, since she’d been doing errands when he’d returned with the coffees. They sat down on a bench looking out over the bay to talk.
“I should have considered how my leaving would affect all of you, and for that, I am truly sorry,” he told her. He held his breath as he watched her thoughtful expression.
“I said I’ve already forgiven you, you know,” she pointed out after a minute.
“I know,” Jack agreed. “But I apologized to the others earlier, and you deserved one too.”
Lisa continued to examine his face as though it were a particularly good mystery. “You just aren’t usually the type of person who apologizes,” she told him.
Jack smiled, nodding. “A friend of mine suggested it. He helped me realize that the fact that I’d hurt you was more important than my pride.”
Lisa smirked. “And who is this mysterious friend who’s made such a huge improvement on you?”
“Just a guy I met at a coffee shop,” he winked, knowing she’d press him for more- Lisa was a good gossip.
“And, and? Don’t keep all the juicy details to yourself, Harkness!” she grinned.
Jack shook his head. “No juicy details yet. Although if I have a chance…” he trailed off suggestively to an appreciative snort.
“I’m glad to know you’ve got friends,” Lisa commented a few bites of chips later. “Before you never mentioned seeing anyone outside work, except for contacts.”
“That’s just the job,” Jack shrugged.
“No, it’s not,” Lisa disagreed. “We all say that, but it isn’t. Look at Gwen- she manages to have a social life, a boyfriend. The rest of us could have, too, we just never try. If Owen put half as much effort into making friends as he did into getting laid, he’d have a great social life. And you and Toshiko put in so many extra hours at work, I’m surprised you even manage to sleep!”
“You seem to have thought about this a lot,” Jack commented, tilting his head at her.
Lisa dropped her fork onto her tray. “Yeah. I miss having a life, you know? In London, I had loads of friends. Still do, they weren’t all Torchwood. But here? Well, I didn’t exactly have to check my schedule to see if I could come out with you tonight,” she said dryly.
Jack set his tray down on the bench beside him and tugged her over for a hug. “How about this? We’ll both try and get out more. We have to be a part of the world, not just stand outside it.”
“You mean like watching from roofs?”
Jack smiled. “Yeah. You’ve got to know what it is you’re fighting for.”
Lisa peered up at him curiously. “When did you get so philosophical, Jack? Where did you go?”
Jack shook his head slowly and looked out over the bay. “I had a lot of time to think while I was gone,” he said quietly. Then he perked up. “And that whole time, I was dying for some proper chips!” He grabbed his tray again and dug in.
Lisa rolled her eyes and took up her own fork.
[*]
The next day marked the loss of any ground Jack had managed to gain with his apologies as he was forced out of the Hub by furious shouting from all four members of his team. For any other field decision, Jack would have been able to convince them that he had done the right thing, but even Owen was moved into a rage when Jack shot the four foot tall scleria beast on sight.
“It was just a child, Jack, a baby!” Gwen spat, backed up by the usually calm Toshiko. Owen took over the instant the women finished with a minute of ranting over how the alien’s claws hadn’t even grown in yet, and Lisa had continued by declaring that the sort of senseless violence he’d shown was as bad as anyone at Torchwood London. Without giving him a chance to respond to any of their accusations, Gwen started in again, prompting his strategic retreat.
Jack didn’t even notice where he was going, mind completely fuzzed over with anger. He didn’t really know what it was that made him leave; half a decade in charge of the Hub and a hundred years of familiarity couldn’t be erased by a single empty year and some errant hostility, right?
He barely realized where he was going, but he woke up when he smelled a blend of cinnamon and coffee that bled away the worst of his rage almost instantly.
It was the coffee shop where he’d shared drinks with Ianto just yesterday. It was nearly five in the afternoon and the place was packed with what looked like university crowd; young men and women chatted easily on the couches or pored over thick textbooks at the high tables near the front windows.
Jack glanced at the counter hopefully and caught a glimpse of a delicate, clean-shaven face through the queue. He toyed with the idea of leaving, taking the thick anger in his chest elsewhere so as to not taint the flirtation he was hoping to cultivate. Then he remembered the way Ianto’s attentive eyes had made him feel welcome yesterday and he got into line, hiding behind a clump of students.
When he reached the counter Ianto’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open in surprise. Jack grinned and leaned his hip against the counter, basking in the way Ianto’s eyes followed the movement.
“Large black,” he ordered, flashing his teeth. Ianto smiled in return and began filling the order, stepping around a second barista.
“None for your employees, Captain?” Ianto called over his shoulder.
“Please, call me Jack,” Jack said affably. “And no, not today. Buy one for you, though,” he offered.
Ianto looked up from the coffee machine. “I haven’t the time right now. But my shift is over at six, if you want to wait.”
His face was scrunched apologetically, as though he expected a negative response. Jack took a moment to remember the looks on his team’s faces the last time he saw them and forced his grin wider. “For you, I’ve got all the time in the world.”
Ianto looked at him curiously as he brought back the paper coffee cup and slapped a plastic lid on it, ringing the purchase up on the register. “Have you brought a book?” he inquired as they exchanged bill and coins.
Jack checked his vortex manipulator- 4:50. “No,” his lips twisted. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
Ianto raised an eyebrow in an amused way. “We do have laptops available for use, and free wi-fi. I must warn you, however,” he offered Jack the coffee, but didn’t let go when Jack grasped it, “if one of them disappears, we’ve got LoJack even the Comp Sci majors haven’t been able to hack out yet.”
Chuckling, Jack slipped his cup out of the barista’s small hand. “Your hardware is safe with me,” he winked.
Ianto grinned back and gestured to a trolley near the back of the shop that Jack had passed over on earlier appraisals. Lifting his cup in a last thank-you, he ambled over, avoiding crowded tables and strewn-about book bags.
As he waited for the laptop to wake up, Jack realized that, besides news sites and subjects of professional interest, such as ‘advanced’ physics and technology, he hadn’t explored the twenty-first century internet very much in his free time. Nor was there anything he particularly wanted to use it for.
The problem was solved for him when, upon turning on the browser, Jack was sent to the coffee shop’s homepage. It had a tab for the recommended sites of customers and the first on the list was an online comic. Jack was so amused by the clever dialogue and simple philosophy that he was startled when another cup was set on his table and Ianto slid into the seat opposite.
“Surprised to see you here again so soon,” Ianto murmured, leaning in close as though for privacy. Jack’s heart beat faster at the young man’s teasing smirk.
“I had good reason to hurry back,” Jack replied in kind. He let his eyes drift down the young man’s well-tailored suit and patterned tie that pointed below the table.
Ianto suddenly got an odd look and sat back in his seat. “What’s wrong, Jack? You look tired.”
Jack sighed. Distracting himself for an hour with the comic had calmed him down, but the deeper resentment and loneliness were still weighing him down. “It’s my team again.”
Ianto’s hummed sympathetically. “You can tell me.”
“They disagreed with a… business decision I made. They wouldn’t even let me try to explain. They used to trust me, I can’t believe they won’t even give me the benefit of the doubt now!”
“And you came straight here?” Ianto asked.
Jack nodded. “I just couldn’t be there any longer,” he said quietly. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”
After a moment of staring out the window, Ianto called his attention back. “How is it meant to be?”
Jack closed out of the internet and shut the laptop down as he thought. “They were supposed to welcome me back with open arms. I didn’t mean to be gone as long as I did, they were supposed to understand that. The whole time I was gone, all I wanted was to come home, and now that I’m here, it’s like they don’t even want me anymore.”
He crossed his arms, lost in his thoughts. It was a few minutes before Ianto spoke beside him.
“You told me yesterday that they felt betrayed, abandoned. They might not want to make themselves vulnerable to more pain by admitting how much they miss you.”
Ianto ducked so that his pale features were in Jack’s line of sight. Then he smiled endearingly. The cute expression and Ianto’s plump cheeks highlighting his cheekbones was almost enough to make Jack smile back.
“Are you an amateur psychologist, Mr. Jones?” he asked.
“I just have experience with people who feel betrayed,” Ianto said almost thoughtlessly. When Jack gave him a questioning look, he blushed slightly. “Barista isn’t too far off from bartender, it seems. I get a lot of college students asking for advice on their love lives.”
Jack laughed, and was surprised by how much better it made him feel. Ianto stood up from the table.
“It sounds like there are a lot of strong emotions flying around. I think you need to relax.”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “Do you?”
“Let loose,” Ianto shrugged. “Perhaps… a bit of karaoke?”
[*]
On their way to a nearby pub, Ianto told him that he loved karaoke, that he was the one who suggested to the owner of the coffee shop that they install the stage. He also mentioned that he got all the credit for the surge in customers on Tuesdays.
But it was a Saturday night, and so the nearest karaoke was Ianto’s local. By the end of the night, Jack wasn’t too drunk to walk, but he was pleasantly tipsy and his memories of the night were mostly of a few, vivid moments.
Giving in and accepting a pint only after Ianto said ‘please’ and managed to look up at him through his eyelashes, ignoring that men shouldn’t have eyelashes that full or eyes that wide and pretty. It was completely unfair, especially considering that Ianto was only two inches shorter than him.
The catcalls when Jack went up to the microphone turning into ear-splitting cheers by the end of his first song. The amazed look on Ianto’s face and the way he whispered ‘You were brilliant!’ into Jack’s ear ensured it was the first of several.
Shoving Ianto to the front of the crowd and not letting him escape until he sang a song. He was astonished by Ianto’s voice, controlled and rough at times in a way that nearly made Jack shiver. He ignored the way Ianto’s voice cracked horribly half-way through, but quietly chuckled at the young man’s painfully bright blush.
Making him blush more when he finally took off that blasted suit jacket by eyeing him up as though he wanted to tear the rest of his clothes off with it. Ianto could make waistcoats look like fetish gear.
Stumbling with Ianto to his flat, pressing him up against his door and kissing him like he was the very air Jack needed to breathe. Whispering “I’ll see you soon” against his lips. Whistling all the way back to the Hub, happier than he’d been in a long time.
[*]
Waking up the next morning was an unhappy experience. Neither immortality nor a century and a half of life had made Jack any less susceptible to hangovers, and he spent fifteen minutes lying in bed trying to piece together the night before, along with whatever bits of his brain had dribbled out of his ears.
He emerged into the Hub at ten thirty, shocked to find his team working quietly.
“Why didn’t anyone wake me up?” he murmured as softly as possible.
Owen spun in his chair and grinned. “I could have woken you up, payback for all those early morning call-ins, but I like the idea of you owing me one better.”
Tosh shot him a look that Jack barely caught with his eyes screwed up against the lights of the Hub. “The Rift was quiet, Jack. No need to wake you.” She smiled, and Jack figured it out.
“Owen autopsied the scleria creature, didn’t he?”
In the silence that followed, Lisa descended the spiral staircase from the walkways above and Gwen climbed the steps to the main platform. Jack managed to open his eyes enough to see the shifty looks on all their faces.
“Why didn’t you just tell us, Jack?” Gwen asked, her wide eyes focused on him with guilt.
“Was finding it hard to get a word in edgewise,” he answered sullenly. Then he swallowed around the horrid taste in his mouth and forced himself to stand up straight. “But I shouldn’t have needed to. You should have trusted my decision in the field, not argued with me.”
“It did seem like you shot without giving it a chance-”
“Is that a chance to boil our brains inside our skulls from its telepathy or to breathe its venom over half of Cardiff?”
Gwen looked away, arms crossed.
Jack knew he should ease off, but the feeling of betrayal was mixing with the pride he’d always had as the respected leader of the group and he wanted to say his fill. He tried to stand up straight, but stumbled and had to grab onto Owen’s desk.
Lisa stepped forward to steady him. “You didn’t have to get smashed just because we disagreed with you,” she muttered, glare softened by her remaining guilt.
Jack felt a surge of irritation. “I didn’t. I actually had a great night out.”
“You can’t have brought anyone home in that state,” Owen gestured to his hand, still white-knuckled around the medic’s workstation
Jack glared, but the pounding in his head and the bad taste in his mouth cancelled out any chance at a biting response. He growled instead and descended back to his rooms for a shower.
[*]
He watched the clock all day, but the Rift alarm went off just as he was getting ready to ‘go out for coffee’ around three. He grimaced, but the call-out required all hands on deck.
When Jack arrived at the coffee lounge at 6:45, hair disheveled and possibly sticky and the mild stab wound in his side hopefully covered by his greatcoat, he scared a few co-eds in his mad rush through the door.
“Is Ianto Jones here?” he asked one wide-eyed young lady, the least frightened-looking one at her table.
“I- I don’t know who you’re talking about, officer!” she held her hands up in defense.
Jack refrained from rolling his eyes and toned down on the demanding glare. “I’m sorry.” He made an effort to calm down and offered her and her friends a smile instead. “I’m not with the police, I’m just… late for a date.”
“Are you Jack, then?” A voice rang out from behind him. The girl he’d been questioning giggled and turned back to her friends, all of whom immediately started gossiping.
Jack came face-to-face with a thick-set man in his mid- to late-twenties, with a thick nose, bushy brown hair and an expression that was more than slightly violent. He was glaring sharply enough to cut diamond.
“Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?”
The man eyed his hand as though it were something dirty and then ignored it, for which Jack was grateful. This man looked like the sort who would try to break your fingers as a challenge, and Jack had already gotten hurt enough for one day. “I’m Mike. I’m Ianto’s friend. I’ve got one thing to say to you, Captain Jack Harkness. If I hear you’ve so much as said a nasty word to Ianto I’ll smash your face in, you got that?”
Jack held the glare without flinching. “I have no intention of hurting Ianto,” he said calmly.
“Good.” ‘Mike’ continued to glare, but walked behind the counter and out of sight through a doorway.
Jack leaned back against the counter, shaking his head and taking in the shop. It was about half full, with a dozen or so students and a few other customers sipping their drinks and eating pastries. Quiet music was piped through the lounge in the background. Jack was trying to see if he could recognize the song when a quiet voice spoke at his shoulder.
“I was just informed by a colleague that my date had arrived.” Jack spun around to see a lightly smiling Ianto Jones. “Not that I’m unhappy, but I don’t recall having made any plans for this evening.”
“You still haven’t bought me that drink yet.” Realizing how that sounded, Jack cleared his throat. “I mean- it wasn’t a date yet, as much as- I was hoping-” He cleared his throat again. “Ianto, would you like to go on a date with me?”
The younger man’s smile made Jack’s heart pound. “I would.”
It was a few moments later when Jack realized they were standing conspicuously at the counter. Not to mention gazing into each others eyes, and he blinked and looked away, resisting the urge to cough awkwardly. “You want to get a table?”
Ianto shook his head. “I’ve been off for an hour, just helping out. Why don’t we go get dinner, somewhere we can get someone else to serve?”
Jack offered his arm. “Where did you have in mind?”
[*]
An hour later, Jack was in a great mood. Ianto had a sarcastic and sometimes cutting sense of humor, and he really was smart. Combine that with his gray-blue eyes and penchant for ‘innocent’ expressions and Jack was feeling really glad he’d asked him out.
Ianto took a sip of the espresso he’d ordered and swallowed with difficulty. Jack laughed as he wrinkled his nose and drank some water.
“Are you one of those people who only drinks certain types of coffee?”
Ianto licked his lips, catching Jack’s eyes. “Not at all. I’m just used to the good stuff from the shop, you know? Being a barista’s just a job.”
Jack took a huge bite of his own dessert, raspberry pie, and swallowed half of it. “Then why do you do it?”
Ianto gave a mildly disgusted glance at Jack’s mouth. Jack took the hint, looking away and chewing the rest as Ianto replied.
“Money. If I spend wisely and take a lot of shifts, there’s a good bit left over every month.”
Jack nodded. “Paying your way through university?” he asked understandingly.
Ianto bit his lip. “I’m not in university.”
“Why not? You definitely seem smart enough. What do you want to do, Ianto?”
His companion looked even more shifty. Jack covered up a slight frown by taking a drink of water.
“I… I don’t really know. Obviously, I don’t want to work in a coffee shop forever, but.” He shrugged.
“Working in a coffee shop seems like a pretty nice job to me.”
Ianto looked at him defensively. Jack held up his hands. “I’m serious! Sometimes I wish I had a job that was low-stress.”
A smile cracked the younger man’s expression when he realized Jack wasn’t making fun of him. “Obviously, you’ve never actually worked in a coffee shop.”
Jack had to laugh. “No, I can’t say I have.” He felt a sense of being watched and found their waiter tapping his foot, looking at the waiting area. “We should probably clear the table,” he suggested.
Ianto nodded and reached into his coat. Jack told him to stop. “I’ve got this.”
“No!”
Jack looked up in surprise, hand already inside his wallet.
Ianto lifted his chin. “I’ll pay.”
“You said you were saving your money,” Jack remarked. When the other man’s expression grew even more stubborn, he tried a different track. “My job gives me a truly unnecessary amount of disposable income; let me spend it on something worthwhile,” he smiled.
Ianto didn’t even respond to the compliment. “We’ll both pay half.”
Realizing he wasn’t going to win the argument, Jack just shrugged. The glare Ianto gave him when he held the restaurant door open, however, implied he wasn’t forgiven.
As they walked in the direction of Ianto’s apartment (Jack was roughly aware of its location, but he had been rather drunk the last time) Jack tried to set things right.
“Your friend threatened to make my face less pretty if I hurt you,” he mentioned casually.
It seemed to work. Ianto immediately colored. “Mike? Oh God, he didn’t.”
“It was terrifying,” Jack joked, pleased at the response.
“I told him not to,” Ianto moaned. He peeked at Jack. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry; I’ve been threatened worse than that before. Sure, it’s usually a father or brother saying they’ll castrate me if I get the girl into any trouble, but something about your friend there sent shivers down my spine.”
He looked up to catch Ianto’s laugh, but found him grimacing. “What’s wrong?”
Ianto’s face cleared. “Nothing,” he said, too innocently. “You, ah. You like girls, too, then?”
“I don’t really differentiate,” Jack told him neutrally. “Is that going to be a problem?”
Ianto seemed to catch the edge in his voice, because he met Jack’s close look with surprise. “No! Not at all. I mean, I do too, I can’t really fault you, right?”
Jack hummed vaguely.
They walked in silence the rest of the way to Ianto’s building. When they reached the front door, he looked at Jack hesitantly. “Do you want some coffee?”
Jack took in his date’s twisting hands and nervous expression. Ianto wasn’t reading like someone who was offering more than just coffee. “Did you say you had a roommate?” he asked casually.
“That’s Mike; he’s usually out for a while, though,” Ianto said quickly.
“I shouldn’t push my luck,” Jack excused. It didn’t take an intergalactic-class conman to tell that Ianto was asking out of politeness and a sense of propriety, and he knew accepting would just make the younger man less comfortable.
Ianto frowned. “All right, then.” He took out his keys and went to unlock the door.
“Still,” Jack interjected. He maneuvered Ianto by his arm until they were facing each other, inches away. “I did have a great time tonight.”
“Me too,” Ianto breathed. Jack shivered as the heat of Ianto’s breath wafted over his lips. He gave in to temptation and leaned down to kiss him.
It wasn’t like their drunken kisses the night before. Jack hadn’t kissed anyone like this in a long time- slow and careful and just barely brushing their lips together until Ianto moved closer. He let Ianto have control, feeling the most unexpected hesitation on his own part as he let Ianto’s tongue slide across his lip.
When Ianto released his lips with a quiet smack, Jack squeezed his shoulder, said “Goodnight, Ianto,” and walked away, feeling truly alive for the first time in years.
Link to Part 2