Title: Broken
Author:
noscrubs12345 10_quotes Prompt: Casablanca #1: "Here's looking at you, kid."
Word Count: 524
Rating: 15
Spoilers: Torchwood 1x12--Captain Jack Harkness
Summary: Ianto knows too well how a heart breaks.
Warnings: slash, spoilers
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Russell T Davies and the BBC. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made. The film quote herein (if not public domain) is owned by MGM, Warner Bros, and Turner Entertainment.
Notes: *wibbles* My first Torchwood fic. Con-crit and comments are welcomed. Un-beta'd, please point out anything you may find.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They’ve been sitting like this for the past three hours, Ianto notes as he glances at his watch, and Jack still hasn’t said anything about what happened at the Ritz.
All he’s done is stare longingly into his half-filled glass and sigh before topping off both his and Ianto’s drinks. They should both be pissed now-Ianto drinking to Jack and Tosh’s return and Jack drinking to forget. Forget about something he can’t or won’t tell him. Something Ianto knows is bigger than himself and is nothing more than just another of Jack’s secrets. He stares at Jack, eyes red rimmed and looking older than he seems, and wonders if maybe he should have tried harder to stop Owen from opening the Rift.
It’s when Jack sighs and tosses back the rest of his drink, when the light filters through the vertical blinds of Jack’s office and casts shadows over the man’s face, illuminating the pain and the hurt there, that Ianto thinks that maybe Jack would rather be stuck in 1941 than back here. But he doesn’t say anything, doesn't allow himself to think about it, just reaches out and takes Jack’s cold hand in his.
There are no words, no sounds, Ianto knows too well, that come when a heart breaks.
He’s surprised when Jack laughs coldly and refills his glass with the last of the burning amber liquid they’ve been downing to forget and to remember what never could have been and never will be. He looks up at the man and can barley stand the hurt etched across Jack's handsome.
Jack offers up the glass in a mock toast, his blue eyes shining with tears as he meets Ianto’s and, voice cracking, says, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
He finishes the alcohol in a single swallow and squeezes Ianto’s hand as he lets the glass fall to his desk. It shatters as the tears finally come and Ianto is there to hold his captain as he breaks, muttering apologies not meant for the tea boy.
Ianto knows the sobs racking Jack aren’t for himself, knows when Jack kisses him and whispers three words that hit Ianto hard that whatever happened at the dance hall was enough to shatter his mysterious lover’s reserves, knows that Jack still needs him.
“I love you, too,” he whispers against Jack’s hair and kisses his head as the man only clings tighter to him.
And when Jack sobs and the tears flow anew, all Ianto can do is sigh and hold his Captain close, cursing the Rift and Torchwood for all pain it’s caused each of them and the pain still to come.
Maybe it’s just the price the pay for defending Earth from an alien “threat” or maybe it’s the calm before the storm. But Ianto finds that he doesn’t care-doesn’t care about oncoming danger or Jack’s secrets-as Jack holds him tight and presses kisses against his neck and hot tears soak through his shirt.
Jack needs him tonight. Tomorrow the world may go to hell or stop spinning on its axis for all they know, but for now all that matters is the man in his arms and chasing away his demons. And he kisses Jack then, kissing away the ghosts of men in uniform dancing as Jack loses himself Ianto’s lips and strong hands, if only just for a few short hours of peace.