Fic - It's Not The Winning
Title: It's Not The Winning (It's The Taking Part)
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
Summary: “Jack!” Ianto hollered, pausing by Toshiko’s chair and putting his hands on his hips as he looked around. “Give me back my clothes, right now.”
A/N: For rounds_of_kink prompt Naked Hide and Seek. (Episode tie-in, 2x11, Adrift).
“I’m going to take a shower and get home,” Ianto said quietly, hands in his pockets and eyes on the ground as he stood in Jack’s doorway. “Any complaints?”
“You leaving,” Jack said simply, glancing up. He hesitated, then put down the papers he was looking at, and added, “There’s nothing more we can do, you know that.”
“Gwen should know,” Ianto pointed out. “This is exactly the kind of thing that gets to her. If you explain things to her -”
“She won’t see things the same way,” Jack said flatly. “It’s easier if she doesn’t know.”
Ianto looked up, and said, “Easier for who?”
At Jack’s hurt look, he sighed and looked down again, saying, “I’m going to go…” and leaving his sentence unfinished, instead turning and heading for the showers.
He’d just about finished his shower when he finally heard the door go. He smiled weakly to himself, and closed his eyes as he ducked his head under the hot water again, but moments passed - more than long enough for Jack to strip - and there were no hands on his skin. He looked back, raising one hand to push back his wet hair.
Jack was sitting on the bench, leaning back against the bars supporting the panel of hooks, watching him. He smiled, just a little.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Ianto responded, turning so the water streamed down his back and front equally. “Something I can do for you?”
Jack shrugged one shoulder, saying idly, “I was just thinking. Why shower here and then go home?”
Ianto hesitated briefly, then said, “There’s more space here. And I can always get hot water.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Jack said softly.
Ianto blinked at him, and Jack got to his feet smoothly, saying, “Is it just me or do you not have a spare set of clothes around here any more? Breaking regulations, Ianto?”
Smiling slightly, Ianto told him, “I think I have enough clothes in your quarters by now, don’t you? I can easily fetch spares if I need to.”
“Not if my room’s locked,” Jack said casually, moving along the bench and stopping by Ianto’s clothes and towel, his back to Ianto.
“Why would your room be locked?” asked Ianto, watching him carefully. Jack glanced at him, then picked up his clothes, shoes and all, and headed for the door.
“Jack!” Ianto protested, hurriedly turning off the water and dashing after him.
Jack turned quickly at the door to blow him a kiss, grinning, then nipped out and fled down the corridor, taking Ianto’s clothes with him. Speechless, Ianto stood dripping in the doorway for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and went back into the locker room. He dried off quickly, then wrapped his towel firmly around his waist and set off after Jack.
He made it all the way to the main area of the Hub before he saw any sign of his errant Captain. One of his socks was draped over the railing by the workstations.
Grimly, Ianto stopped and picked it up, then pulled it onto his foot and edged forward more cautiously. He was well aware how idiotic he had to look, wearing nothing but a towel and one sock, but he doubted that his clothes were safe anywhere off his body at the moment - and perhaps not even then.
He crept up to Jack’s office, keeping an eye out for an ambush at any moment, and moved over to the hatch in the floor. With a glance either side he crouched to open it up - and couldn’t turn the wheel. Startled, he tried again, but it wouldn’t move at all, and no matter how much he pulled and strained at it, he got nowhere.
Panting, he stood up straight and shook his arms out, recalling Jack’s words back in the showers. He cursed quietly to himself and headed back out towards the workstations.
A mostly-stifled giggle whispered across the Hub to his ears.
“Jack!” Ianto hollered, pausing by Toshiko’s chair and putting his hands on his hips as he looked around. “Give me back my clothes, right now.”
“You want ’em, come and get ’em,” Jack called back, his voice echoing around the space so Ianto couldn’t quite tell where he was lurking.
He frowned, then shouted, “I am not playing hide and seek with you.”
“Fine,” Jack called. “Go home, then.”
“Where are my clothes?” Ianto yelled in frustration, then paused, spotting what looked suspiciously like his other sock on the rail upstairs, by the dragon mural. He dashed over to take the stairs, and, yanking his sock onto his other foot, turned to head back down to safety.
And almost walked straight into Jack.
“Well,” Jack said. “You found me.”
Ianto took a step back, aware that Jack’s hands were empty. Looking him over suspiciously, he said, “You rather came and found me, didn’t you?”
“I guess that means you lost,” Jack said thoughtfully, moving towards him again in a distinctly predatory manner. Ianto backed away again until, with a quick intake of breath, his back hit the cold dam wall, and Jack planted a hand either side of his head to stop him from ducking away.
“What have you done with my clothes?” Ianto asked breathlessly.
Jack held his gaze, and said softly, “You lost, Ianto. That means you lose an item of clothing.”
“I only just got my socks back,” Ianto said without thinking, and caught his breath when Jack’s hand dropped to his thigh, fingers slipping under the base of his towel and then sliding up his skin.
“Where are my clothes?” Ianto managed to say, holding onto that one thought, and Jack smiled.
“They’re around here somewhere,” he said idly, ghosting his fingers around Ianto’s inner thigh. “I must have dropped them.”
“How c-careless of you,” Ianto gasped, and Jack raised his hand. Ianto’s towel hit the floor.
Jack rested his hand on Ianto’s hip and looked him up and down. Naked but for his socks, Ianto shivered against the wall and tried to work out how to breathe again. And then Jack slowly wetted his lips, and Ianto found himself moving.
Jack didn’t seem to mind being shoved back against the railings as Ianto pulled his braces down over his arms and unclipped them. It was only when he made an attempt to pull Ianto closer and kiss him - and Ianto dodged the move nimbly - that he seemed to be a little nonplussed.
“What are you up to?” he asked, grinning slightly.
“You cheated,” Ianto told him, pushing Jack’s arms against the railing. “You came to find me instead. So that means you lose an item of clothing too.”
“Oh,” Jack said, grinning wider. “I’ll bear that in mind. So whose turn is it now?”
“I’m going to go look for my clothes,” Ianto told him, tying Jack’s hands to the railing behind him. “So I guess that means I’m hiding. You’re to count to a hundred before you come after me, and trust me, I’ll know if you don’t. And don’t watch where I’m going, either.”
Jack nodded innocently, and Ianto paused to glare at him. When Jack maintained his innocent look but also tried to hook a leg around Ianto’s to hold him in place while he worked at the knot in his braces, Ianto wriggled out of his hold and was halfway down the stairs before Jack even managed to call his name.
“If you want me, come and find me,” he called back teasingly, and made a dash into the archives. He glanced back once at the door and shook his head in exasperation when he found Jack watching him, one hand loose and picking blindly at the knots around his other wrist.
The door clanged shut behind him, and he moved further into the archives, guessing how far Jack could have gone in what little time he’d had to himself. One of the drawers of the first filing cabinets was open slightly, with his tie dangling down from it. He snatched it up and tied it in a loose knot around his neck, then heard the door close again, very quietly.
Silently, Ianto padded back along the corridor a little and then ducked into the shadows, shrinking back against the wall behind another filing cabinet.
A few seconds later Jack came creeping along the corridor after him. He neared Ianto’s hiding place, then clearly spotted that the tie was missing from the drawer, and dashed forwards to check. Ianto slipped out behind him and darted back to the main Hub, closing the door to the archives silently before he headed over to Jack’s office again.
He was pulling open the drawers of Jack’s desk when he heard the archive door clang again.
He dived under the desk without thinking, then cursed silently when he realised he’d just penned himself in quite effectively.
“Ianto,” Jack was calling from over by the archive entrance. “Switching places is cheating, you know.”
Ianto bit his lip to hold back the retort he so desperately wanted to make, and crawled cautiously around Jack’s chair so he could get to the round window and see what was what. With half an eye at the glass, he watched Jack move over to Toshiko’s workstation and crouch by the chair. He moved aside some of the wires and accumulated technology she had there, and then stood up again with Ianto’s boxer shorts clasped in one hand.
Ianto cursed to himself again, and Jack started towards the Rift Manipulator after a quick glance back at the autopsy room. When he was out of sight, Ianto crept over to the door of Jack’s office, keeping low, and, catching a glimpse of Jack entering the code to the armoury, his back to the rest of the Hub, made a dash into the autopsy room.
He paused for a second with his back to the inside wall, then slithered quietly down the stairs and started going through the cupboards and piles of surgical instruments.
Jack’s footsteps clanged on the stairs to the workstations.
Ianto immediately dismissed the drawers as a hiding place, knowing that they were so cold that without his clothes he’d be diving out into Jack’s arms just for the warmth, their little game be damned. His only other option was under the operating table, though, and that would provide scant cover. He ducked under it anyway, one hand going to his tie thoughtfully as he waited for Jack to come and find him.
Lying flat on his back, he listened as Jack’s footsteps hit carpet, then the tiles at the entrance to the autopsy room. There was a long pause, and he winced as the cold of the floor started to burn into his back, then Jack started down the steps. He watched Jack’s feet take each step down to the floor, and bit his lip.
There was another pause as Jack stopped by the base of the operating table, and Ianto held his breath. Then Jack crouched down and crawled in on top of him, saying, “Gotcha,” in tones of smug victory.
“Hi,” Ianto said sheepishly, as Jack made himself comfortable between Ianto's legs.
Grinning, Jack planted one elbow by Ianto’s head and propped his chin in his right hand, trailing patterns across Ianto’s chest with his left, and said, “I win. And you really haven’t given me much choice what to take away from you.”
“Need I point out that you cheated again?” Ianto told him, and slipped the knot on his tie.
“Can you blame me?” Jack purred, and leaned down to capture his mouth. Ianto let his eyes close and his lips part, and gave Jack a couple of seconds to make him pleasantly light-headed before he hooked one leg around Jack’s and pushed at his shoulder. Jack took the hint and rolled over, pulling Ianto with him, one hand clutching at his hair to keep them locked together.
Ianto pulled apart anyway, shaking his head to break Jack’s grip and panting, “You are a bad man, Jack Harkness.”
Jack grinned up at him and ran a hand down his spine, pausing to grab a handful of his arse.
“No,” Ianto told him firmly, reaching back to smack his wrist. “Behave for once. Close your eyes.”
“What have you got in mind?” Jack asked, then obeyed when Ianto raised an eyebrow.
“No peeking,” Ianto added, then slithered down Jack’s body, to the accompaniment of a pleased growl from Jack. He shook his head, smiling despite himself, and noted the material poking from Jack’s pocket slightly.
Humming idly to himself, he undid Jack’s fly, glancing up to see the broad grin pasted across Jack’s face - though he still had his eyes closed, obedient for once. Slowly, he pulled Jack’s trousers and briefs down to his ankles, and Jack arched slightly, with a happy sigh.
Ianto kissed Jack’s leg and undid one of his shoes with one hand, carefully extricating his boxers from Jack’s pocket with the other. He moved on to Jack’s other leg, looping his tie around Jack’s ankle and tying the other end to the table leg.
Flicking another glance up at Jack, he ran his hand right up Jack’s thigh, gaining a soft moan.
“Keep your eyes closed,” he murmured, and Jack nodded frantically.
“More, Ianto, please,” he said hoarsely.
“Patience,” Ianto told him, with a chuckle, then kissed his leg again, and quietly crawled out from under the operating table, boxers clutched tightly in his hand.
He was one step from the exit when Jack said, “Ianto?” and opened his eyes. Seeing Ianto sneaking out, he started up with a yell and promptly yanked the tie tight, nearly hauling the table over on top of him.
Ianto laughed and ran for it.
He took refuge and yanked his boxers on in the armoury, then untied his trousers from the hilt of one of the swords and hauled them on as well, hopping on one leg as he fought to get his foot through the other trouser leg as quickly as he could. Fastening his zip, he moved back to the armoury door, and could still hear Jack cursing from the autopsy room.
Quickly, he moved out and crossed to the Rift Manipulator, fishing out one of his shoes from inside, and turning just as Jack emerged, trousers securely fastened again.
“You’re not hiding,” Jack said accusingly, as they both paused and tried to decide which way to run.
“You’re not counting,” Ianto pointed out. “I was looking for my clothes. Found my shoe.”
Jack’s eyes flickered over towards the coffee machine, and Ianto smiled.
“Thanks,” he said, and bolted. Jack leapt after him, but Ianto spotted his second shoe lurking behind the coffee machine and managed to grab it on his way past, bounding up the stairs and turning at the top, catching the railing and yelling at Jack, “Stop right there!”
Jack skidded to a halt in the open space below him.
“You cheated,” Ianto told him, pulling a disappointed face. “Twice. You know what that means, Jack.”
Without a flicker of hesitation, Jack unbuttoned his shirt at lightning speed and shrugged it off, dropping it on the floor beside him.
“Is that the best you can do?” Ianto asked, and affected a pout.
“You said twice, right?” Jack clarified, and Ianto nodded.
Grinning, Jack dropped a hand to his side and started pushing up his undershirt, running his hand slowly over his own skin and keeping his eyes fixed on Ianto.
Ianto swallowed and bit his lip, and Jack threw back his head, panting, pulling his shirt up to his shoulders, both hands pressing across his chest in a way Ianto knew all too intimately. He slipped one arm free of the sleeves and pushed his hand down his side to the waistband of his trousers. Spreading his hand on his stomach, breathing hard, he paused for a moment, chest rising and falling with each breath. The tips of his fingers dipped under the cloth of his trousers, and with his other hand he pulled his shirt over his head, shaking his hair out afterwards and letting the shirt slide slowly down his arm, catching the sleeve just as it slipped from his skin.
Ianto blinked, reminding himself that he’d had a plan, and quickly pulled his shoes on, bracing one foot then the other against the railing and tucking his laces inside, while Jack balled up his t-shirt and threw it behind him. It landed under Toshiko’s workstation.
“That more what you had in mind?” Jack asked him, putting his hands on his hips.
“Wasn’t bad,” Ianto said casually, doing his best to sound noncommittal, and Jack raised both eyebrows.
“You want the rest, you’re gonna have to beat me,” he said, and Ianto smiled.
“We both know that won’t be difficult,” he pointed out, “considering you can’t play fair.”
“Now, Ianto,” Jack said, starting for the stairs, “you haven’t exactly been pure as the driven snow tonight either.”
“You wouldn’t know pure as the driven snow if someone hit you with it,” Ianto told him, and Jack laughed and leapt up the stairs. Ianto fled along the walkway to Jack’s office, barrelling through the door and out towards the workstations. He glanced back as Jack burst through the door after him, and vaulted the rail to dash back to the base of the stairs, grabbing Jack’s shirt as he passed.
Jack stopped by Owen’s computer and looked over at him, giving Ianto time to slip Jack’s shirt on, grinning.
“Now that really is cheating,” Jack pouted. “You’re meant to get your own clothes, not steal mine. Although, come to think of it,” he added thoughtfully, giving Ianto a slow once-over, “that’s not entirely a bad idea. You’d look good in braces. How’d I look in one of your suits?”
“Stop that,” Ianto said sharply, mouth suddenly dry again.
“Problem?” Jack purred, leaning casually on the rail behind the workstations.
Ianto looked himself up and down quickly, then shook his head.
“Actually, no. I’m good to go, now.”
Jack slipped round the side of the barrier and onto the walkway, smirking, almost daring Ianto to try and get past him to reach the exit. Ianto shot a longing glance at the invisible lift, but Jack grinned and raised his left arm, displaying his wrist strap to remind him that the lift was not an option.
Ianto started backing away up the steps. If he could circle round and draw Jack after him again, then he might just have time to get to the rolling door and make it up to the tourist information office before Jack caught him (which was inevitable, really, but he’d like to put up a bit more of a fight before giving in gracefully. It was the principle of the thing).
Jack moved after him with a toothy grin, and Ianto turned, taking the last few steps two at a time and running along the walkway as Jack climbed leisurely up the stairs behind him. He paused at Jack’s door to make sure Jack was still following, then turned to dart through.
The door wouldn’t open.
Desperately, Ianto pushed at it again, then turned as Jack laughed behind him.
“That,” Ianto told him firmly, back pressed up against the door with Jack prowling towards him, “is definitely cheating.”
“What do I lose this time?” Jack asked, with a smug grin.
Ianto looked around frantically, then said, “Me,” and dashed forwards, diving into the arboretum before Jack could catch him.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw his shirt hung up across three of the plants. Grabbing it, he turned - and was promptly grabbed in his turn by Jack, who seized the back of his shirt and trousers and hauled him into a kiss. Ianto dropped his shirt and opted for burying a hand in Jack’s hair instead.
Jack slid an arm up his back, and Ianto jerked against him at the scrape of leather against his skin. He pulled Jack’s hand away and blindly unbuckled the wrist strap, Jack still busy devouring his mouth. He dropped the strap beside them but didn’t even hear it hit the floor, blood pounding in his ears and deafening him to everything except sharp, panting breaths and quick, low moans as he clutched at Jack’s back, fingers digging into his flesh.
Jack tugged insistently at his shirt until Ianto dropped his hands long enough to have it pulled off him. Ianto growled into his mouth and bit his lip, and Jack slipped a hand round to the front of his trousers, pushing and pressing and pulling his fly open. Breathing hard, Ianto grabbed at Jack’s shoulder, half intending to shove him away, half fighting to pull him closer. Jack shoved him back a few steps into the table, mouth locked to his, arm around his shoulder pressing them chest to chest, and Ianto slid his hand down to shove Jack’s fly open as well, grabbing shamelessly just to feel Jack gasp against his lips like he always did, and -
“Oh, God!”
As they stumbled to a halt and turned to stare, Ianto could only think that Gwen had the worst timing of anyone he’d ever met.
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
Summary: “Jack!” Ianto hollered, pausing by Toshiko’s chair and putting his hands on his hips as he looked around. “Give me back my clothes, right now.”
A/N: For rounds_of_kink prompt Naked Hide and Seek. (Episode tie-in, 2x11, Adrift).
“I’m going to take a shower and get home,” Ianto said quietly, hands in his pockets and eyes on the ground as he stood in Jack’s doorway. “Any complaints?”
“You leaving,” Jack said simply, glancing up. He hesitated, then put down the papers he was looking at, and added, “There’s nothing more we can do, you know that.”
“Gwen should know,” Ianto pointed out. “This is exactly the kind of thing that gets to her. If you explain things to her -”
“She won’t see things the same way,” Jack said flatly. “It’s easier if she doesn’t know.”
Ianto looked up, and said, “Easier for who?”
At Jack’s hurt look, he sighed and looked down again, saying, “I’m going to go…” and leaving his sentence unfinished, instead turning and heading for the showers.
He’d just about finished his shower when he finally heard the door go. He smiled weakly to himself, and closed his eyes as he ducked his head under the hot water again, but moments passed - more than long enough for Jack to strip - and there were no hands on his skin. He looked back, raising one hand to push back his wet hair.
Jack was sitting on the bench, leaning back against the bars supporting the panel of hooks, watching him. He smiled, just a little.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” Ianto responded, turning so the water streamed down his back and front equally. “Something I can do for you?”
Jack shrugged one shoulder, saying idly, “I was just thinking. Why shower here and then go home?”
Ianto hesitated briefly, then said, “There’s more space here. And I can always get hot water.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Jack said softly.
Ianto blinked at him, and Jack got to his feet smoothly, saying, “Is it just me or do you not have a spare set of clothes around here any more? Breaking regulations, Ianto?”
Smiling slightly, Ianto told him, “I think I have enough clothes in your quarters by now, don’t you? I can easily fetch spares if I need to.”
“Not if my room’s locked,” Jack said casually, moving along the bench and stopping by Ianto’s clothes and towel, his back to Ianto.
“Why would your room be locked?” asked Ianto, watching him carefully. Jack glanced at him, then picked up his clothes, shoes and all, and headed for the door.
“Jack!” Ianto protested, hurriedly turning off the water and dashing after him.
Jack turned quickly at the door to blow him a kiss, grinning, then nipped out and fled down the corridor, taking Ianto’s clothes with him. Speechless, Ianto stood dripping in the doorway for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and went back into the locker room. He dried off quickly, then wrapped his towel firmly around his waist and set off after Jack.
He made it all the way to the main area of the Hub before he saw any sign of his errant Captain. One of his socks was draped over the railing by the workstations.
Grimly, Ianto stopped and picked it up, then pulled it onto his foot and edged forward more cautiously. He was well aware how idiotic he had to look, wearing nothing but a towel and one sock, but he doubted that his clothes were safe anywhere off his body at the moment - and perhaps not even then.
He crept up to Jack’s office, keeping an eye out for an ambush at any moment, and moved over to the hatch in the floor. With a glance either side he crouched to open it up - and couldn’t turn the wheel. Startled, he tried again, but it wouldn’t move at all, and no matter how much he pulled and strained at it, he got nowhere.
Panting, he stood up straight and shook his arms out, recalling Jack’s words back in the showers. He cursed quietly to himself and headed back out towards the workstations.
A mostly-stifled giggle whispered across the Hub to his ears.
“Jack!” Ianto hollered, pausing by Toshiko’s chair and putting his hands on his hips as he looked around. “Give me back my clothes, right now.”
“You want ’em, come and get ’em,” Jack called back, his voice echoing around the space so Ianto couldn’t quite tell where he was lurking.
He frowned, then shouted, “I am not playing hide and seek with you.”
“Fine,” Jack called. “Go home, then.”
“Where are my clothes?” Ianto yelled in frustration, then paused, spotting what looked suspiciously like his other sock on the rail upstairs, by the dragon mural. He dashed over to take the stairs, and, yanking his sock onto his other foot, turned to head back down to safety.
And almost walked straight into Jack.
“Well,” Jack said. “You found me.”
Ianto took a step back, aware that Jack’s hands were empty. Looking him over suspiciously, he said, “You rather came and found me, didn’t you?”
“I guess that means you lost,” Jack said thoughtfully, moving towards him again in a distinctly predatory manner. Ianto backed away again until, with a quick intake of breath, his back hit the cold dam wall, and Jack planted a hand either side of his head to stop him from ducking away.
“What have you done with my clothes?” Ianto asked breathlessly.
Jack held his gaze, and said softly, “You lost, Ianto. That means you lose an item of clothing.”
“I only just got my socks back,” Ianto said without thinking, and caught his breath when Jack’s hand dropped to his thigh, fingers slipping under the base of his towel and then sliding up his skin.
“Where are my clothes?” Ianto managed to say, holding onto that one thought, and Jack smiled.
“They’re around here somewhere,” he said idly, ghosting his fingers around Ianto’s inner thigh. “I must have dropped them.”
“How c-careless of you,” Ianto gasped, and Jack raised his hand. Ianto’s towel hit the floor.
Jack rested his hand on Ianto’s hip and looked him up and down. Naked but for his socks, Ianto shivered against the wall and tried to work out how to breathe again. And then Jack slowly wetted his lips, and Ianto found himself moving.
Jack didn’t seem to mind being shoved back against the railings as Ianto pulled his braces down over his arms and unclipped them. It was only when he made an attempt to pull Ianto closer and kiss him - and Ianto dodged the move nimbly - that he seemed to be a little nonplussed.
“What are you up to?” he asked, grinning slightly.
“You cheated,” Ianto told him, pushing Jack’s arms against the railing. “You came to find me instead. So that means you lose an item of clothing too.”
“Oh,” Jack said, grinning wider. “I’ll bear that in mind. So whose turn is it now?”
“I’m going to go look for my clothes,” Ianto told him, tying Jack’s hands to the railing behind him. “So I guess that means I’m hiding. You’re to count to a hundred before you come after me, and trust me, I’ll know if you don’t. And don’t watch where I’m going, either.”
Jack nodded innocently, and Ianto paused to glare at him. When Jack maintained his innocent look but also tried to hook a leg around Ianto’s to hold him in place while he worked at the knot in his braces, Ianto wriggled out of his hold and was halfway down the stairs before Jack even managed to call his name.
“If you want me, come and find me,” he called back teasingly, and made a dash into the archives. He glanced back once at the door and shook his head in exasperation when he found Jack watching him, one hand loose and picking blindly at the knots around his other wrist.
The door clanged shut behind him, and he moved further into the archives, guessing how far Jack could have gone in what little time he’d had to himself. One of the drawers of the first filing cabinets was open slightly, with his tie dangling down from it. He snatched it up and tied it in a loose knot around his neck, then heard the door close again, very quietly.
Silently, Ianto padded back along the corridor a little and then ducked into the shadows, shrinking back against the wall behind another filing cabinet.
A few seconds later Jack came creeping along the corridor after him. He neared Ianto’s hiding place, then clearly spotted that the tie was missing from the drawer, and dashed forwards to check. Ianto slipped out behind him and darted back to the main Hub, closing the door to the archives silently before he headed over to Jack’s office again.
He was pulling open the drawers of Jack’s desk when he heard the archive door clang again.
He dived under the desk without thinking, then cursed silently when he realised he’d just penned himself in quite effectively.
“Ianto,” Jack was calling from over by the archive entrance. “Switching places is cheating, you know.”
Ianto bit his lip to hold back the retort he so desperately wanted to make, and crawled cautiously around Jack’s chair so he could get to the round window and see what was what. With half an eye at the glass, he watched Jack move over to Toshiko’s workstation and crouch by the chair. He moved aside some of the wires and accumulated technology she had there, and then stood up again with Ianto’s boxer shorts clasped in one hand.
Ianto cursed to himself again, and Jack started towards the Rift Manipulator after a quick glance back at the autopsy room. When he was out of sight, Ianto crept over to the door of Jack’s office, keeping low, and, catching a glimpse of Jack entering the code to the armoury, his back to the rest of the Hub, made a dash into the autopsy room.
He paused for a second with his back to the inside wall, then slithered quietly down the stairs and started going through the cupboards and piles of surgical instruments.
Jack’s footsteps clanged on the stairs to the workstations.
Ianto immediately dismissed the drawers as a hiding place, knowing that they were so cold that without his clothes he’d be diving out into Jack’s arms just for the warmth, their little game be damned. His only other option was under the operating table, though, and that would provide scant cover. He ducked under it anyway, one hand going to his tie thoughtfully as he waited for Jack to come and find him.
Lying flat on his back, he listened as Jack’s footsteps hit carpet, then the tiles at the entrance to the autopsy room. There was a long pause, and he winced as the cold of the floor started to burn into his back, then Jack started down the steps. He watched Jack’s feet take each step down to the floor, and bit his lip.
There was another pause as Jack stopped by the base of the operating table, and Ianto held his breath. Then Jack crouched down and crawled in on top of him, saying, “Gotcha,” in tones of smug victory.
“Hi,” Ianto said sheepishly, as Jack made himself comfortable between Ianto's legs.
Grinning, Jack planted one elbow by Ianto’s head and propped his chin in his right hand, trailing patterns across Ianto’s chest with his left, and said, “I win. And you really haven’t given me much choice what to take away from you.”
“Need I point out that you cheated again?” Ianto told him, and slipped the knot on his tie.
“Can you blame me?” Jack purred, and leaned down to capture his mouth. Ianto let his eyes close and his lips part, and gave Jack a couple of seconds to make him pleasantly light-headed before he hooked one leg around Jack’s and pushed at his shoulder. Jack took the hint and rolled over, pulling Ianto with him, one hand clutching at his hair to keep them locked together.
Ianto pulled apart anyway, shaking his head to break Jack’s grip and panting, “You are a bad man, Jack Harkness.”
Jack grinned up at him and ran a hand down his spine, pausing to grab a handful of his arse.
“No,” Ianto told him firmly, reaching back to smack his wrist. “Behave for once. Close your eyes.”
“What have you got in mind?” Jack asked, then obeyed when Ianto raised an eyebrow.
“No peeking,” Ianto added, then slithered down Jack’s body, to the accompaniment of a pleased growl from Jack. He shook his head, smiling despite himself, and noted the material poking from Jack’s pocket slightly.
Humming idly to himself, he undid Jack’s fly, glancing up to see the broad grin pasted across Jack’s face - though he still had his eyes closed, obedient for once. Slowly, he pulled Jack’s trousers and briefs down to his ankles, and Jack arched slightly, with a happy sigh.
Ianto kissed Jack’s leg and undid one of his shoes with one hand, carefully extricating his boxers from Jack’s pocket with the other. He moved on to Jack’s other leg, looping his tie around Jack’s ankle and tying the other end to the table leg.
Flicking another glance up at Jack, he ran his hand right up Jack’s thigh, gaining a soft moan.
“Keep your eyes closed,” he murmured, and Jack nodded frantically.
“More, Ianto, please,” he said hoarsely.
“Patience,” Ianto told him, with a chuckle, then kissed his leg again, and quietly crawled out from under the operating table, boxers clutched tightly in his hand.
He was one step from the exit when Jack said, “Ianto?” and opened his eyes. Seeing Ianto sneaking out, he started up with a yell and promptly yanked the tie tight, nearly hauling the table over on top of him.
Ianto laughed and ran for it.
He took refuge and yanked his boxers on in the armoury, then untied his trousers from the hilt of one of the swords and hauled them on as well, hopping on one leg as he fought to get his foot through the other trouser leg as quickly as he could. Fastening his zip, he moved back to the armoury door, and could still hear Jack cursing from the autopsy room.
Quickly, he moved out and crossed to the Rift Manipulator, fishing out one of his shoes from inside, and turning just as Jack emerged, trousers securely fastened again.
“You’re not hiding,” Jack said accusingly, as they both paused and tried to decide which way to run.
“You’re not counting,” Ianto pointed out. “I was looking for my clothes. Found my shoe.”
Jack’s eyes flickered over towards the coffee machine, and Ianto smiled.
“Thanks,” he said, and bolted. Jack leapt after him, but Ianto spotted his second shoe lurking behind the coffee machine and managed to grab it on his way past, bounding up the stairs and turning at the top, catching the railing and yelling at Jack, “Stop right there!”
Jack skidded to a halt in the open space below him.
“You cheated,” Ianto told him, pulling a disappointed face. “Twice. You know what that means, Jack.”
Without a flicker of hesitation, Jack unbuttoned his shirt at lightning speed and shrugged it off, dropping it on the floor beside him.
“Is that the best you can do?” Ianto asked, and affected a pout.
“You said twice, right?” Jack clarified, and Ianto nodded.
Grinning, Jack dropped a hand to his side and started pushing up his undershirt, running his hand slowly over his own skin and keeping his eyes fixed on Ianto.
Ianto swallowed and bit his lip, and Jack threw back his head, panting, pulling his shirt up to his shoulders, both hands pressing across his chest in a way Ianto knew all too intimately. He slipped one arm free of the sleeves and pushed his hand down his side to the waistband of his trousers. Spreading his hand on his stomach, breathing hard, he paused for a moment, chest rising and falling with each breath. The tips of his fingers dipped under the cloth of his trousers, and with his other hand he pulled his shirt over his head, shaking his hair out afterwards and letting the shirt slide slowly down his arm, catching the sleeve just as it slipped from his skin.
Ianto blinked, reminding himself that he’d had a plan, and quickly pulled his shoes on, bracing one foot then the other against the railing and tucking his laces inside, while Jack balled up his t-shirt and threw it behind him. It landed under Toshiko’s workstation.
“That more what you had in mind?” Jack asked him, putting his hands on his hips.
“Wasn’t bad,” Ianto said casually, doing his best to sound noncommittal, and Jack raised both eyebrows.
“You want the rest, you’re gonna have to beat me,” he said, and Ianto smiled.
“We both know that won’t be difficult,” he pointed out, “considering you can’t play fair.”
“Now, Ianto,” Jack said, starting for the stairs, “you haven’t exactly been pure as the driven snow tonight either.”
“You wouldn’t know pure as the driven snow if someone hit you with it,” Ianto told him, and Jack laughed and leapt up the stairs. Ianto fled along the walkway to Jack’s office, barrelling through the door and out towards the workstations. He glanced back as Jack burst through the door after him, and vaulted the rail to dash back to the base of the stairs, grabbing Jack’s shirt as he passed.
Jack stopped by Owen’s computer and looked over at him, giving Ianto time to slip Jack’s shirt on, grinning.
“Now that really is cheating,” Jack pouted. “You’re meant to get your own clothes, not steal mine. Although, come to think of it,” he added thoughtfully, giving Ianto a slow once-over, “that’s not entirely a bad idea. You’d look good in braces. How’d I look in one of your suits?”
“Stop that,” Ianto said sharply, mouth suddenly dry again.
“Problem?” Jack purred, leaning casually on the rail behind the workstations.
Ianto looked himself up and down quickly, then shook his head.
“Actually, no. I’m good to go, now.”
Jack slipped round the side of the barrier and onto the walkway, smirking, almost daring Ianto to try and get past him to reach the exit. Ianto shot a longing glance at the invisible lift, but Jack grinned and raised his left arm, displaying his wrist strap to remind him that the lift was not an option.
Ianto started backing away up the steps. If he could circle round and draw Jack after him again, then he might just have time to get to the rolling door and make it up to the tourist information office before Jack caught him (which was inevitable, really, but he’d like to put up a bit more of a fight before giving in gracefully. It was the principle of the thing).
Jack moved after him with a toothy grin, and Ianto turned, taking the last few steps two at a time and running along the walkway as Jack climbed leisurely up the stairs behind him. He paused at Jack’s door to make sure Jack was still following, then turned to dart through.
The door wouldn’t open.
Desperately, Ianto pushed at it again, then turned as Jack laughed behind him.
“That,” Ianto told him firmly, back pressed up against the door with Jack prowling towards him, “is definitely cheating.”
“What do I lose this time?” Jack asked, with a smug grin.
Ianto looked around frantically, then said, “Me,” and dashed forwards, diving into the arboretum before Jack could catch him.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw his shirt hung up across three of the plants. Grabbing it, he turned - and was promptly grabbed in his turn by Jack, who seized the back of his shirt and trousers and hauled him into a kiss. Ianto dropped his shirt and opted for burying a hand in Jack’s hair instead.
Jack slid an arm up his back, and Ianto jerked against him at the scrape of leather against his skin. He pulled Jack’s hand away and blindly unbuckled the wrist strap, Jack still busy devouring his mouth. He dropped the strap beside them but didn’t even hear it hit the floor, blood pounding in his ears and deafening him to everything except sharp, panting breaths and quick, low moans as he clutched at Jack’s back, fingers digging into his flesh.
Jack tugged insistently at his shirt until Ianto dropped his hands long enough to have it pulled off him. Ianto growled into his mouth and bit his lip, and Jack slipped a hand round to the front of his trousers, pushing and pressing and pulling his fly open. Breathing hard, Ianto grabbed at Jack’s shoulder, half intending to shove him away, half fighting to pull him closer. Jack shoved him back a few steps into the table, mouth locked to his, arm around his shoulder pressing them chest to chest, and Ianto slid his hand down to shove Jack’s fly open as well, grabbing shamelessly just to feel Jack gasp against his lips like he always did, and -
“Oh, God!”
As they stumbled to a halt and turned to stare, Ianto could only think that Gwen had the worst timing of anyone he’d ever met.