Doppelganger - 15. Teasing
Title: Doppelganger (15/22 + epilogue)
Chapter Title: 15. Teasing
Rating: M and overall will lead to NC17
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Gareth, Burn, OC
Warnings/Spoilers: Real people make appearances in here. Spoilers for all of S1 & 2 of Torchwood and the equivalent Doctor Who.
Disclaimer: None of them are mine, but oh how I wish. Jack might get returned dirty but he likes it that way, but Ianto will be very, very clean I can guarantee when I finally decide to return him
Summary: Ianto learns a new skill.
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14
15. Teasing
Ianto woke slowly, the memories of the night before seeping back into his consciousness. He lifted up his hand to inspect the damage from breaking the tile. He noted that the blood had been cleaned away and all that remained from his frustration was broken skin on his knuckles. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something lying on the bedside table that didn’t belong. He turned his head to see a small posy resting on the dark wood.
“Oh Jack,” he whispered as he reached out to lift up the posy, or as he knew Jack liked to call them a tussie mussie. The rhyme and silliness lifting the shadows from his eyes as he sat up in the bed and lifted the tussie mussie to his upturned nose to smell the combination. He knew that it wasn’t the combination of scents that was important, it was the combination of the flowers themselves. At the heart of the posy were four Roses, two red and two white, surrounded by white daffodils. Then red Amaranth’s and Peonies interspersed with golden yellow and green Rue and bound together with Ivy. Unity, chivalry, immortal love, secrets, regret and dependence. An apology from Jack and an expression of his feelings. For all his bravado and bluster Jack was deeply romantic and loved that Ianto knew what he was saying when he left little posys for him to find. Ianto smiled at the other times that Jack had left him flowers, in places that he hoped the rest of the team would find before Ianto himself could. Ianto always managed to find them first and bring them down here, to sit beside their bed. He accepted Jack’s apology as he took another deep breath of the heady scent of the roses but he wasn’t going to forgive him just yet. Ianto swung his legs out of the bed noting the lack of underwear while still dressed in the t-shirt. He chuckled at Jack leaving him clothed on his torso but bare from the waist down. He walked over to the small dresser and lifted the heavy crystal vase. He nearly dropped it, as he was still feeling weak, so he placed it carefully back down, placed the posy gently on the polished wood of the 40’s era dresser and lifted the vase with both hands. He walked to the bathroom and filled the vase with water and walked back to the bedroom. He stopped between the bedside table and the dresser, trying to decide where to place it. In his mind he finally decided to place it on the dresser to let Jack know that he appreciated the flowers but there was still a way to go between the two.
Ianto headed back to the bathroom to shower and looked with trepidation at the toilet. He pulled his t-shirt off and headed into the shower, making sure it was hotter than normal. He needed to feel the warmth flowing all around. Once finished and noting the absence of the face washer, he reached for a towel. After drying himself off he headed back into the bedroom. There on the now made bed, laid out neatly was another pair of jeans, t-shirt and jumper with a hood, underwear and socks and the sneakers, sitting on the floor side by side. Ianto shook his head with a little smile and proceeded to dress.
Jack was sitting at his desk, looking at papers when Ianto climbed up the ladder. Ianto knew that look well, he had just been doing something that he didn’t want Ianto to know about or get caught doing. He suspected that he had been watching him on the CCTV. Jack looked up at Ianto, a question on his face. Ianto shook his head from side to side to let Jack know that he still wasn’t forgiven. His next words proved it.
“The pills?” he asked holding out his hand.
“Gone,” Jack replied as he sat back deeper into his chair that he had swivelled to face Ianto.
Ianto raised that one eyebrow that Jack was very familiar with. The two men continued to look at each other until Ianto gave a slight nod of acknowledgement of the truth of Jack’s statement and moved towards the desk, perching himself on one end.
“So anything further on the Cooakalin?” He asked Jack
“Gwen and I will go look over the other gifts when she gets in. It seems that there is a pattern in the number of gifts given.”
“A pattern? Not just the materials?”
“Look, don’t think about it, go get breakfast. We will talk about it when Gwen gets here. Don’t protest, go eat, make some of your fabulous coffee.”
Ianto smiled at the last comment and would normally have protested more but he was still feeling the effects of the day and the night before. Food and coffee would be very welcome. He headed off to provide some sustenance for himself as he remembered the instant coffee he made yesterday evening at the Centre with a shudder.
Jack and Ianto busied themselves with avoiding each other until Gwen arrived just before 9am. Gwen started to ask Ianto how he was, a look of concern on her face, but Ianto stopped her with a smile, a gentle nod and an “I’m ok.”
All three convened in Jack’s office, as they all felt uncomfortable just the three of them meeting in the Board room, or as Owen had dubbed it the ‘Bored room.’ Ianto brought them up to date on what he had seen the night before, the people that he had met and the layout of the main areas in respect to possible surveillance issues. He didn’t mention that Burn looked just like Owen and he also neglected to let Gwen know about his intimate knowledge of the majority of toilets on level one of the Millennium Centre.
Ianto then asked about the pattern of the gifts that Jack talked about earlier. Gwen updated him on what she had discovered yesterday from what he brought up from the Archives, that there seemed to be a consistent number of gifts from the three previous cases that were in the file. Ianto let her know that there were some more files down in the Archives, but before he could offer to get them for her he realised that he needed to meet Gareth by the Tower. He told Gwen where to find the other files and headed for the cog door. He glanced back as he walked through to find Jack standing at the door to his office watching him with his hands in his pocket, trying to do his nonchalant “I’m not really watching you” lean against the door jamb. Ianto took a deep breath and turned about and walked through the door.
Gareth was wandering around the water tower, with his hands in his pocket of his baggy jeans when Ianto came running towards him. The two men stopped about a metre apart and paused to look at each other with wary eyes. The silence was broken by Gareth.
“So… no side-effects apparently?” he asked with a quick raise of one eyebrow.
“When did you…?” Ianto asked quietly
“About two am,” he replied curtly
“Me too.” The response was quietly given, Ianto glancing downwards, not quite able to meet the other mans eyes.
“Look, don’t we need to be at the Centre?” Ianto glanced back up and asked the question with some semblance of his professional demeanour returning. “A stalker to catch?”
“Sure, just don’t let that Captain of yours near me again anytime soon.” Gareth responded as he walked towards Ianto to start the short walk across the Plass. Ianto turned to join him, their strides matching as they walked in companionable silence towards the bronze and glass building that was shining in the morning light. As they walked alongside the building to the small door they used yesterday Ianto quietly said: “Don’t worry, he is being dealt with.”
Gareth stopped to take out his card to enter the building and glanced at Ianto’s set face. A broad grin appeared across Gareth’s face. “Oh, I think you can deal with him fine, just as long as the punishment is worse than the crime!”
Ianto laughed at the look of evil on Gareth’s countenance, so it was two grinning young men that entered the Centre, just like a mirror of the previous day. This time there was no crash from the kitchen area or any other disturbances as they made their way to the dressing room. It was thankfully empty so Gareth hurried over to his space and picked up the script that was left on his table with a note from Davey. He turned and tossed it at Ianto.
“Here, you are going to need this. Davey left it for you. Time for Green room.” He announced as he walked back towards Ianto after picking up his own well worn copy.
“There was nothing else?” the quiet Welshman asked as they walked back into the corridor.
“Nah, anything that has been left, has been left closer to mid afternoon from what we can figure. They have all been pretty well the same time as I said to the police. That’s why they looked at all the CCTV I suppose?”
Ianto nodded at the last comment
“Are you going to tell me anything?” Gareth asked. At the look from Ianto he received, he continued. “Sorry, I know you can’t but I would like to be kept updated because it is slightly odd. I’ve never had a stalker before and you read such weird stuff about them.”
“We will find them,” Ianto reassured him reaching out to grasp the other’s arm and sliding his thumb across the bicep in what he hoped was a soothing gesture.
The two had stopped at Ianto’s holding onto Gareth’s arm. Ianto dropped his hand away and they continued with Gareth slightly leading the way. They turned one more corner and a cacophony of noise could be heard from a room up ahead.
“Brace yourself, room full of actors ahead!” Gareth flashed one of his cheeky grins Ianto’s way. Ianto flashed him a responding smile and it was with those identical smiles of joy that the two men entered the room bringing the noise to a close when those within the room caught sight of the two of them and their secret grins at each other.
Gareth took note of the silence and grinned at the room in general “What?” he asked. When he was still greeted by silence he laughed and pull Ianto next to him.
“This is Ianto, Ianto Jones. He’s going to take over Greg’s place. Play nicely you lot!”
Ianto stumbled forward when Gareth grabbed him but stood poker straight until he collected himself and relaxed his postures slightly, trying to mimic Gareth and unconsciously making more than one person in the room hold their breath in shock.
Burn broke the silence “Well, we have a newbie, he must be educated,” he said as he walked towards the two of them, extending his hand. “Nice to see you again.”
Ianto was prepared this time and happily shook his hand. Gareth had moved over to sit on top of a table placed against the wall. “Ianto needs a coffee, he really needs a coffee,” Gareth told the room.
“No, I’m fine, I’ve had a coffee already today,” he told Gareth, shaking his head. Ianto was not looking forward to a full day here with only instant available. He wanted the taste and flavour of his to last as long as possible.
A chorus of voices, all extolling the same thing, that he had to have a coffee right now, drowned his protest out. He looked to Gareth for sympathy or help but the other man was grinning wickedly.
A hand touched just below his shoulder, he turned to see Burn smiling at him with a soft smile so unlike anything he had ever seen in Owen’s repertoire of expressions. “Any newbie has to learn a Tim Tam Slam if they are going to be a part of this company.”
“A what?” he asked in confusion.
“Gareth, you didn’t warn your friend about our glorious camptastic Director, did you?” a gravely voice interceded. Ianto turned away from Burn to find a portly man in his late forties looking at him with interest. Hazel eyes were twinkling at him. “I’m Toby, I play Egeon, apparently I spawned that thing over there.” He nodded towards Gareth.
Ianto thought the man was well named. If anyone optimised a Toby jug brought to life it was this man. His voice sounded like it was laughing each word. He couldn’t help but smile back at him. While smiling at the man he discovered another man standing in front of him with a Styrofoam cup and the strong smell of instant coffee within.
“Here, this is for you. I’m David, Solinus the Dook,” he announced with a little waggle of his head. This man was taller and older than him but was built more along the lines of Burn.
Ianto placed his hands in front of his chest to protest again that he didn’t want any coffee, but found that the cup was placed in one hand and his other hand was grabbed and a chocolate covered rectangle biscuit was placed in his other hand. He looked to Gareth again, who was trying to cover laughter at the expression of fright on Ianto’s face.
“Ianto is a snob about coffee, he has ‘standards’!” Gareth told the others. The rest of the people in the room had all seemed to start to converge towards where Ianto was standing and it was making him nervous. He recognised the chocolate as being the same as the packet that Davey had put on the tray last night.
“He might have standards but after this he won’t look at a cup of coffee the same way again.” He heard a soft soothing female voice from behind him.
There was a burst of laughter in agreement around him.
“Look, bite the corners off each part of the Tim Tam,” he was told by Toby.
“The what?” he asked.
“That is a Tim Tam,” David said, who was pointing at the biscuit that was starting to melt in his hand. “Just little bites,” he coaxed Ianto
“Tim Tam, isn’t that what you called the Director?” he asked Gareth.
“Yep, and apparently he is well named after his native biscuit,” Gareth smugly replied. “I think you will be a natural at this Ianto.” He too adding his voice to the multitudes that were telling him to bite the two opposite corners.
He knew he wasn’t going to get out of this room alive if he didn’t do what the mob were telling him so he lifted the biscuit up to his mouth and took a small bite out of the corner. The chocolate, wafer like biscuit and mousse like middle all tingling his taste buds delightfully. His look of pleasure at the taste must have been obvious as Gareth burst into laughter again.
“Other end too, but only a small bite, remember,” he told Ianto. The biscuit tasted so nice he wanted to take a larger bite but he did as he was told and looked at Toby and the others with a question on his face as to what to do now.
“Put one corner into the coffee, the other in your mouth and suck away. When the coffee hits your mouth, take the Tim Tam out and put it in your mouth quickly,” David told him.
Ianto looked at the instant coffee with trepidation, the biscuit tasted so nice he didn’t want to mar its flavour with the bland instant coffee. But he did as he was told, placed the biscuit into the coffee, but only just in. He then took the other end of the biscuit into his mouth, his lips closing firmly over the chocolate and sucked. The room was in silence as they watched his cheeks suck inwards. The taste of the filling sucking up into his mouth and the enhancement that the coffee gave it was almost pure pleasure to Ianto. At the first hint of the coffee, he did as he had been told and flipped the whole biscuit into his mouth. He closed his eyes to savour the taste. Unbeknownst to him the room was silent as the others watched the look of pure pleasure on his face that recently only Jack had been witness to.
Gareth was leaning forward intently, blue eyes like ice as he stared at that face.
Ianto was the first to speak as he opened his eyes and looked directly at Gareth. “My god, that almost makes up for the crap coffee,” he breathed.
The intent look on Ianto’s face was mesmerising. “No wonder you can lead Jack around by the nose,” Gareth commented.
Ianto tensed slightly at the mention of Jack.
“Jack?” someone asked.
“His boyfriend,” Gareth grinned wickedly at Ianto’s uncomfortable look. “Show him that trick and he’ll be begging you to do what ever he wants. Oh, sorry boys and girls, this one is very taken.” He gestured towards Ianto who was standing silently, waiting to see the reactions around him.
“Oh, that might explain it.” Burn said.
“Explain what?” Ianto asked
Davey entering the room stopped Burn from answering a question he really didn’t want to.
“Gareth, Ianto,” he said. “Tim wants to see you two first, ok?” Davey then looked to the to others and noticing Ianto’s palm still sticky with chocolate. “I see he’s been initiated,” he smiled. “Tim said the rest of you, working on the scene we did last yesterday. Meryl’s fixed the lighting issues so just need to recheck.”
Gareth had jumped off the table and walked towards Ianto at the summoning of the two of them. He took Ianto by the arm. “C’mon,” he said as he took the coffee from Ianto’s hand and walked him to the door. He chucked the coffee into the bin by the door as the two of them exited, Davey watching as they walked out.
They left silence behind them as the group waited until they were sure the two were out of earshot before erupting into a clamour of questions and statements being fired towards Burn.
“They are identical!”
“Boyfriend, eh?”
“Pity.”
“Why won’t he admit they are twins and what’s with the different names?” the quiet female voice asked.
It was this question that Burn answered. “He must have been disowned, boyfriend and all.”
“That’s sad,” the petite woman responded. She stood out from her fellow actors in her tailored clothes and very high heels. “He seems so lovely and I wouldn’t have picked him for gay.”
“I would after watching him suck away on the Tim Tam. Seriously don’t let Tim see him do that or that ‘Jack’ of his will have serious competition.” A husky voiced round woman said. “Makes sense that Gareth got all the hetero genes out of the two. That boy attracts women like flies and is so naughty.”
The group laughed at the memory of Ianto’s skill, he did appear particularly adept at the Tim Tam Slam.
“Sara, no teasing Ianto. He’s obviously not comfortable about it and I think Gareth shouldn’t have said anything. He seems such a lovely boy and wants to spend time with his brother. We should leave the two alone.” The petite women admonished her fellows.
“You are right Naoko, we will let those two spend time together. But oh boy I want to see this Jack, would have to be a right stunner to capture that one.”
Chapter 16 this way
Chapter Title: 15. Teasing
Rating: M and overall will lead to NC17
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Gareth, Burn, OC
Warnings/Spoilers: Real people make appearances in here. Spoilers for all of S1 & 2 of Torchwood and the equivalent Doctor Who.
Disclaimer: None of them are mine, but oh how I wish. Jack might get returned dirty but he likes it that way, but Ianto will be very, very clean I can guarantee when I finally decide to return him
Summary: Ianto learns a new skill.
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14
15. Teasing
Ianto woke slowly, the memories of the night before seeping back into his consciousness. He lifted up his hand to inspect the damage from breaking the tile. He noted that the blood had been cleaned away and all that remained from his frustration was broken skin on his knuckles. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something lying on the bedside table that didn’t belong. He turned his head to see a small posy resting on the dark wood.
“Oh Jack,” he whispered as he reached out to lift up the posy, or as he knew Jack liked to call them a tussie mussie. The rhyme and silliness lifting the shadows from his eyes as he sat up in the bed and lifted the tussie mussie to his upturned nose to smell the combination. He knew that it wasn’t the combination of scents that was important, it was the combination of the flowers themselves. At the heart of the posy were four Roses, two red and two white, surrounded by white daffodils. Then red Amaranth’s and Peonies interspersed with golden yellow and green Rue and bound together with Ivy. Unity, chivalry, immortal love, secrets, regret and dependence. An apology from Jack and an expression of his feelings. For all his bravado and bluster Jack was deeply romantic and loved that Ianto knew what he was saying when he left little posys for him to find. Ianto smiled at the other times that Jack had left him flowers, in places that he hoped the rest of the team would find before Ianto himself could. Ianto always managed to find them first and bring them down here, to sit beside their bed. He accepted Jack’s apology as he took another deep breath of the heady scent of the roses but he wasn’t going to forgive him just yet. Ianto swung his legs out of the bed noting the lack of underwear while still dressed in the t-shirt. He chuckled at Jack leaving him clothed on his torso but bare from the waist down. He walked over to the small dresser and lifted the heavy crystal vase. He nearly dropped it, as he was still feeling weak, so he placed it carefully back down, placed the posy gently on the polished wood of the 40’s era dresser and lifted the vase with both hands. He walked to the bathroom and filled the vase with water and walked back to the bedroom. He stopped between the bedside table and the dresser, trying to decide where to place it. In his mind he finally decided to place it on the dresser to let Jack know that he appreciated the flowers but there was still a way to go between the two.
Ianto headed back to the bathroom to shower and looked with trepidation at the toilet. He pulled his t-shirt off and headed into the shower, making sure it was hotter than normal. He needed to feel the warmth flowing all around. Once finished and noting the absence of the face washer, he reached for a towel. After drying himself off he headed back into the bedroom. There on the now made bed, laid out neatly was another pair of jeans, t-shirt and jumper with a hood, underwear and socks and the sneakers, sitting on the floor side by side. Ianto shook his head with a little smile and proceeded to dress.
Jack was sitting at his desk, looking at papers when Ianto climbed up the ladder. Ianto knew that look well, he had just been doing something that he didn’t want Ianto to know about or get caught doing. He suspected that he had been watching him on the CCTV. Jack looked up at Ianto, a question on his face. Ianto shook his head from side to side to let Jack know that he still wasn’t forgiven. His next words proved it.
“The pills?” he asked holding out his hand.
“Gone,” Jack replied as he sat back deeper into his chair that he had swivelled to face Ianto.
Ianto raised that one eyebrow that Jack was very familiar with. The two men continued to look at each other until Ianto gave a slight nod of acknowledgement of the truth of Jack’s statement and moved towards the desk, perching himself on one end.
“So anything further on the Cooakalin?” He asked Jack
“Gwen and I will go look over the other gifts when she gets in. It seems that there is a pattern in the number of gifts given.”
“A pattern? Not just the materials?”
“Look, don’t think about it, go get breakfast. We will talk about it when Gwen gets here. Don’t protest, go eat, make some of your fabulous coffee.”
Ianto smiled at the last comment and would normally have protested more but he was still feeling the effects of the day and the night before. Food and coffee would be very welcome. He headed off to provide some sustenance for himself as he remembered the instant coffee he made yesterday evening at the Centre with a shudder.
Jack and Ianto busied themselves with avoiding each other until Gwen arrived just before 9am. Gwen started to ask Ianto how he was, a look of concern on her face, but Ianto stopped her with a smile, a gentle nod and an “I’m ok.”
All three convened in Jack’s office, as they all felt uncomfortable just the three of them meeting in the Board room, or as Owen had dubbed it the ‘Bored room.’ Ianto brought them up to date on what he had seen the night before, the people that he had met and the layout of the main areas in respect to possible surveillance issues. He didn’t mention that Burn looked just like Owen and he also neglected to let Gwen know about his intimate knowledge of the majority of toilets on level one of the Millennium Centre.
Ianto then asked about the pattern of the gifts that Jack talked about earlier. Gwen updated him on what she had discovered yesterday from what he brought up from the Archives, that there seemed to be a consistent number of gifts from the three previous cases that were in the file. Ianto let her know that there were some more files down in the Archives, but before he could offer to get them for her he realised that he needed to meet Gareth by the Tower. He told Gwen where to find the other files and headed for the cog door. He glanced back as he walked through to find Jack standing at the door to his office watching him with his hands in his pocket, trying to do his nonchalant “I’m not really watching you” lean against the door jamb. Ianto took a deep breath and turned about and walked through the door.
Gareth was wandering around the water tower, with his hands in his pocket of his baggy jeans when Ianto came running towards him. The two men stopped about a metre apart and paused to look at each other with wary eyes. The silence was broken by Gareth.
“So… no side-effects apparently?” he asked with a quick raise of one eyebrow.
“When did you…?” Ianto asked quietly
“About two am,” he replied curtly
“Me too.” The response was quietly given, Ianto glancing downwards, not quite able to meet the other mans eyes.
“Look, don’t we need to be at the Centre?” Ianto glanced back up and asked the question with some semblance of his professional demeanour returning. “A stalker to catch?”
“Sure, just don’t let that Captain of yours near me again anytime soon.” Gareth responded as he walked towards Ianto to start the short walk across the Plass. Ianto turned to join him, their strides matching as they walked in companionable silence towards the bronze and glass building that was shining in the morning light. As they walked alongside the building to the small door they used yesterday Ianto quietly said: “Don’t worry, he is being dealt with.”
Gareth stopped to take out his card to enter the building and glanced at Ianto’s set face. A broad grin appeared across Gareth’s face. “Oh, I think you can deal with him fine, just as long as the punishment is worse than the crime!”
Ianto laughed at the look of evil on Gareth’s countenance, so it was two grinning young men that entered the Centre, just like a mirror of the previous day. This time there was no crash from the kitchen area or any other disturbances as they made their way to the dressing room. It was thankfully empty so Gareth hurried over to his space and picked up the script that was left on his table with a note from Davey. He turned and tossed it at Ianto.
“Here, you are going to need this. Davey left it for you. Time for Green room.” He announced as he walked back towards Ianto after picking up his own well worn copy.
“There was nothing else?” the quiet Welshman asked as they walked back into the corridor.
“Nah, anything that has been left, has been left closer to mid afternoon from what we can figure. They have all been pretty well the same time as I said to the police. That’s why they looked at all the CCTV I suppose?”
Ianto nodded at the last comment
“Are you going to tell me anything?” Gareth asked. At the look from Ianto he received, he continued. “Sorry, I know you can’t but I would like to be kept updated because it is slightly odd. I’ve never had a stalker before and you read such weird stuff about them.”
“We will find them,” Ianto reassured him reaching out to grasp the other’s arm and sliding his thumb across the bicep in what he hoped was a soothing gesture.
The two had stopped at Ianto’s holding onto Gareth’s arm. Ianto dropped his hand away and they continued with Gareth slightly leading the way. They turned one more corner and a cacophony of noise could be heard from a room up ahead.
“Brace yourself, room full of actors ahead!” Gareth flashed one of his cheeky grins Ianto’s way. Ianto flashed him a responding smile and it was with those identical smiles of joy that the two men entered the room bringing the noise to a close when those within the room caught sight of the two of them and their secret grins at each other.
Gareth took note of the silence and grinned at the room in general “What?” he asked. When he was still greeted by silence he laughed and pull Ianto next to him.
“This is Ianto, Ianto Jones. He’s going to take over Greg’s place. Play nicely you lot!”
Ianto stumbled forward when Gareth grabbed him but stood poker straight until he collected himself and relaxed his postures slightly, trying to mimic Gareth and unconsciously making more than one person in the room hold their breath in shock.
Burn broke the silence “Well, we have a newbie, he must be educated,” he said as he walked towards the two of them, extending his hand. “Nice to see you again.”
Ianto was prepared this time and happily shook his hand. Gareth had moved over to sit on top of a table placed against the wall. “Ianto needs a coffee, he really needs a coffee,” Gareth told the room.
“No, I’m fine, I’ve had a coffee already today,” he told Gareth, shaking his head. Ianto was not looking forward to a full day here with only instant available. He wanted the taste and flavour of his to last as long as possible.
A chorus of voices, all extolling the same thing, that he had to have a coffee right now, drowned his protest out. He looked to Gareth for sympathy or help but the other man was grinning wickedly.
A hand touched just below his shoulder, he turned to see Burn smiling at him with a soft smile so unlike anything he had ever seen in Owen’s repertoire of expressions. “Any newbie has to learn a Tim Tam Slam if they are going to be a part of this company.”
“A what?” he asked in confusion.
“Gareth, you didn’t warn your friend about our glorious camptastic Director, did you?” a gravely voice interceded. Ianto turned away from Burn to find a portly man in his late forties looking at him with interest. Hazel eyes were twinkling at him. “I’m Toby, I play Egeon, apparently I spawned that thing over there.” He nodded towards Gareth.
Ianto thought the man was well named. If anyone optimised a Toby jug brought to life it was this man. His voice sounded like it was laughing each word. He couldn’t help but smile back at him. While smiling at the man he discovered another man standing in front of him with a Styrofoam cup and the strong smell of instant coffee within.
“Here, this is for you. I’m David, Solinus the Dook,” he announced with a little waggle of his head. This man was taller and older than him but was built more along the lines of Burn.
Ianto placed his hands in front of his chest to protest again that he didn’t want any coffee, but found that the cup was placed in one hand and his other hand was grabbed and a chocolate covered rectangle biscuit was placed in his other hand. He looked to Gareth again, who was trying to cover laughter at the expression of fright on Ianto’s face.
“Ianto is a snob about coffee, he has ‘standards’!” Gareth told the others. The rest of the people in the room had all seemed to start to converge towards where Ianto was standing and it was making him nervous. He recognised the chocolate as being the same as the packet that Davey had put on the tray last night.
“He might have standards but after this he won’t look at a cup of coffee the same way again.” He heard a soft soothing female voice from behind him.
There was a burst of laughter in agreement around him.
“Look, bite the corners off each part of the Tim Tam,” he was told by Toby.
“The what?” he asked.
“That is a Tim Tam,” David said, who was pointing at the biscuit that was starting to melt in his hand. “Just little bites,” he coaxed Ianto
“Tim Tam, isn’t that what you called the Director?” he asked Gareth.
“Yep, and apparently he is well named after his native biscuit,” Gareth smugly replied. “I think you will be a natural at this Ianto.” He too adding his voice to the multitudes that were telling him to bite the two opposite corners.
He knew he wasn’t going to get out of this room alive if he didn’t do what the mob were telling him so he lifted the biscuit up to his mouth and took a small bite out of the corner. The chocolate, wafer like biscuit and mousse like middle all tingling his taste buds delightfully. His look of pleasure at the taste must have been obvious as Gareth burst into laughter again.
“Other end too, but only a small bite, remember,” he told Ianto. The biscuit tasted so nice he wanted to take a larger bite but he did as he was told and looked at Toby and the others with a question on his face as to what to do now.
“Put one corner into the coffee, the other in your mouth and suck away. When the coffee hits your mouth, take the Tim Tam out and put it in your mouth quickly,” David told him.
Ianto looked at the instant coffee with trepidation, the biscuit tasted so nice he didn’t want to mar its flavour with the bland instant coffee. But he did as he was told, placed the biscuit into the coffee, but only just in. He then took the other end of the biscuit into his mouth, his lips closing firmly over the chocolate and sucked. The room was in silence as they watched his cheeks suck inwards. The taste of the filling sucking up into his mouth and the enhancement that the coffee gave it was almost pure pleasure to Ianto. At the first hint of the coffee, he did as he had been told and flipped the whole biscuit into his mouth. He closed his eyes to savour the taste. Unbeknownst to him the room was silent as the others watched the look of pure pleasure on his face that recently only Jack had been witness to.
Gareth was leaning forward intently, blue eyes like ice as he stared at that face.
Ianto was the first to speak as he opened his eyes and looked directly at Gareth. “My god, that almost makes up for the crap coffee,” he breathed.
The intent look on Ianto’s face was mesmerising. “No wonder you can lead Jack around by the nose,” Gareth commented.
Ianto tensed slightly at the mention of Jack.
“Jack?” someone asked.
“His boyfriend,” Gareth grinned wickedly at Ianto’s uncomfortable look. “Show him that trick and he’ll be begging you to do what ever he wants. Oh, sorry boys and girls, this one is very taken.” He gestured towards Ianto who was standing silently, waiting to see the reactions around him.
“Oh, that might explain it.” Burn said.
“Explain what?” Ianto asked
Davey entering the room stopped Burn from answering a question he really didn’t want to.
“Gareth, Ianto,” he said. “Tim wants to see you two first, ok?” Davey then looked to the to others and noticing Ianto’s palm still sticky with chocolate. “I see he’s been initiated,” he smiled. “Tim said the rest of you, working on the scene we did last yesterday. Meryl’s fixed the lighting issues so just need to recheck.”
Gareth had jumped off the table and walked towards Ianto at the summoning of the two of them. He took Ianto by the arm. “C’mon,” he said as he took the coffee from Ianto’s hand and walked him to the door. He chucked the coffee into the bin by the door as the two of them exited, Davey watching as they walked out.
They left silence behind them as the group waited until they were sure the two were out of earshot before erupting into a clamour of questions and statements being fired towards Burn.
“They are identical!”
“Boyfriend, eh?”
“Pity.”
“Why won’t he admit they are twins and what’s with the different names?” the quiet female voice asked.
It was this question that Burn answered. “He must have been disowned, boyfriend and all.”
“That’s sad,” the petite woman responded. She stood out from her fellow actors in her tailored clothes and very high heels. “He seems so lovely and I wouldn’t have picked him for gay.”
“I would after watching him suck away on the Tim Tam. Seriously don’t let Tim see him do that or that ‘Jack’ of his will have serious competition.” A husky voiced round woman said. “Makes sense that Gareth got all the hetero genes out of the two. That boy attracts women like flies and is so naughty.”
The group laughed at the memory of Ianto’s skill, he did appear particularly adept at the Tim Tam Slam.
“Sara, no teasing Ianto. He’s obviously not comfortable about it and I think Gareth shouldn’t have said anything. He seems such a lovely boy and wants to spend time with his brother. We should leave the two alone.” The petite women admonished her fellows.
“You are right Naoko, we will let those two spend time together. But oh boy I want to see this Jack, would have to be a right stunner to capture that one.”
Chapter 16 this way