Challenge fic #1
I couldn't resist, mate! It might come across as a bit rushed as I wrote it in my lunch break, but I think I caught all the typos! Also the both of them are cliche as hell, but Happy Birthday, Clarity!
Title: Storytime
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Arthur
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to the BBC and RTD
Spoilers: Definitely for 'Cyberwoman'.
Summary: Title is the summary!
Jack left Ianto to keep an eye on Arthur while he went out to get some supplies. The mere fact that Ianto had let the milk spoil and had very little in the way of groceries told him just how ill the younger man must feel, especially when he had Arthur to take care of. Jack had been on the verge of making a teasing remark, but one look at the stricken expression on Ianto’s face and he had swallowed it, unsaid.
“Why don’t you take Arthur into the living room and I’ll go and get some basics,” he suggested with a smile.
“Jack, I’m sorry,” Ianto whispered, still visibly upset as he looked down at the carton of bad milk. “I’m normally more organised.”
“Now that I have no doubt about,” Jack said, making the reassurance offhand and casual, as if there was no doubt - which there wasn’t. “Still, it gives me a chance to do my cavalry charging over the hill act, which is so me.”
He was relieved to see a small smile appear on Ianto’s face as Jack left. The ever-present worry gnawed away at him as he made for the shops, stocking up on the essentials, plus some cans of soup in case Ianto still had difficulty in keeping down what he ate. He knew that he was on borrowed time; Ianto wasn’t stupid and he was soon going to realise that this was far more serious than a virus, but Jack was rapidly acquiring what he recognised was a superstitious dread of that day. Somehow, having Ianto say it out loud and making Jack acknowledge it would also make it inevitable, and Jack refused to let that happen. He had faith in his people. They would find a way to make things better. To make Ianto better.
Jack let himself into the flat and heard Arthur’s voice immediately. He grinned as he heard him demanding a story from Ianto and Ianto’s somewhat cowardly suggestion that Arthur would prefer to watch TV.
“No, want story!” Arthur said firmly, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. He gets his stubbornness from Ianto, Jack decided as he put the groceries away. He listened to see what story Ianto would pick. He was betting on a watered down version of an Arthur story, or something where a dragon made mincemeat out some hapless knight.
“Once upon a time there was a good and powerful king, who loved all of his subjects and was loved by them,” Ianto began.
Yep, Arthur, Jack thought, feeling smug.
“Now this king had a servant, a man he trusted to look after his palace while the king was out saving people from horrible monsters that kept trying to invade the kingdom.”
“Not dragons,” Arthur protested.
“No, not dragons,” Ianto agreed with a somewhat breathless laugh. “Anyway, the king was a very lonely man and often talked to the servant late at night, when all the other people had gone to bed, and the king was very fond of the servant.”
Jack felt a prickle of unease run up his spine. Oh no, he thought. Please don’t.
“But the servant had a secret that the king didn’t know about. Before he had come to the castle and met the king, he had fallen in love with a beautiful woman. But a terrible enemy had invaded the kingdom and stole the woman away. The servant hadn’t been a servant then and had gone after her and managed to rescue her, but the enemy had cast a terrible spell on her to make her look like a monster.”
“Bad people?” Arthur asked questioningly.
“Very bad people,” Ianto agreed gravely. “So the servant rescued his love, but he couldn’t undo the spell and he knew that people would look at her and only see a monster and try to kill her. So he took her away and came to the king’s castle and asked him if he could be his servant, but didn’t tell him about the monster he was hiding. The king was a kind and generous man-“
No he wasn’t, Jack thought. I fancied you like mad and thought you’d be useful.
“-so he agreed to let the servant work for him and that’s how things were for a while. The servant kept looking for someone who could break the spell that had been put on his love but as time went on he got to like the king more and more and wished he could tell him about the monster he’d hidden in the castle dungeons.”
I wish you’d told me, Jack thought with a sigh as he leaned his head against the wall outside the room. God, I wish you’d told me. If I’d had some warning, some inkling….
“But he was afraid that if he did that, the king would only see the monster and not the woman that the servant had fallen in love with, so he kept quiet. But it got harder and harder to keep the secret from the king because the servant…” Ianto’s voice faltered for a moment before he recovered. “The servant was starting to fall in love with the king.”
Jack straightened up and started to listen in earnest.
“This worried the servant because he was already in love and he knew he couldn’t be in love with two people at the same time.”
Yes, you can! Jack wanted to shout. This stupid backward century…!
“Silly Daddy,” Arthur giggled. “Arthur loves Daddy and Daddy and Draig. It’s easy.”
Ianto laughed sadly. “It’s a little easier when you’re little, Arthur. When you grow up, you’ll realise it’s a little more complicated.”
Not if I have anything to do with it, Jack thought rebelliously. No son of his was going to climb into the mental straitjacket that this century imposed on people.
“Did the king know about the monster?” Arthur asked.
Ianto sighed. “No, because he trusted the servant and the servant was very careful. It was very easy for him to hide the monster because everyone just thought he was the servant and no-one paid much attention to him.”
Jack winced. Oh, and hadn’t that been a kicker when he’d realised just how much for granted he’d taken Ianto. It had been cold comfort that the others had been even worse.
“Silly people,” Arthur decided.
“Well, the servant was actually quite glad about that because he didn’t like lying. But then he found a wizard who said he could cure his love of the curse. He was terribly excited because he thought that when the curse was lifted he would be able to tell the king everything and they would all live happily ever after. So he smuggled the wizard into the castle when everyone else had left and the wizard began the spell that would lift the curse.”
“Yay!” Arthur cheered.
“But the curse was even more terrible than the servant or the wizard had realised. Instead of freeing the woman from the monster, the spell the wizard cast freed the monster from the woman and it started to rage through the castle, trying to destroy everything.”
“Ooooh,” Arthur said in suitably horrified tones.
“The king and his people came back to the castle and discovered the monster. They tried to kill it but the servant stopped them because he still…. he still hoped that he could somehow break the curse, or maybe take it back to where the monster was asleep. The king was very, very angry with the servant, but he still saved him when the monster tried to kill him and then the king ordered that the royal dragon be set free to attack and kill the monster.”
“King had a dragon?” Arthur asked excitedly.
“Well, technically she’d be more of a wyvern, but yes, the king had a dragon living in one of the towers of the castle and he called her down to kill the monster. The servant was very upset because he couldn’t see the monster. He could only see his love being hurt and crying out, but the king knew what they were fighting and ordered the others to take the servant away.”
“Dragon killed the monster?” Arthur asked with no small degree of anticipation.
“No,” Ianto said after a moment. “The dragon tried her best but the monster was too powerful and eventually the dragon had to fly away before she was killed. The servant escaped from the king’s people and went back inside the castle to try and rescue his love, but when he got there, he found that the monster had won and there was no sign of his lady any more. He knew he should kill it, before it hurt any more people, but all he could think about was how much he had loved her and how he had promised to save her and how everything he had ever hoped and dreamed about was now in ruins like the castle. The king had come after him and saw that the servant was too…. sad … to do anything, so he took out his magic sword and used it to kill the monster.”
“Kings always have magic swords,” Arthur agreed. “And dragons.”
“The better ones do,” Ianto agreed. “The king was still very angry with the servant, who knew he had done some very bad things. He expected to be exiled from the kingdom but the king was too kind for that and told him that he could stay but that he had to make amends from what he had done.”
Kind, Jack thought and almost laughed. I wasn’t being kind at all. I was just trying to get my mind around the fact that you suckered me like a pro and what the hell was I going to do with you. Because I knew that I didn’t want to lose you and I was scared that I already had and I was so mad because you hadn’t trusted me enough to come and talk to me!
“And they lived happily ever after?” Arthur asked excitedly.
Jack walked in before Ianto could say anything. “Yes,” he said determinedly. “They lived happily ever after. Because the king realised that he loved the servant and understood that he would probably have done the same thing if his love had been turned into a monster.”
Ianto had looked up with a start of horrified surprise when Jack had walked in. He blushed furiously as he realised that Jack must have heard at least part of the story, but Jack bent down to give him a reassuring kiss on the cheek before scooping Arthur up and settling him on his lap as he sat down on the couch beside Ianto.
“King had a dragon!” Arthur told him gleefully.
“Well so have you,” Jack pointed out, grabbing Draig and nuzzling him up against Arthur’s face, making growly noises. “Bet the king’s dragon isn’t as nice as Draig, though.”
Arthur grabbed the plush toy off him. “Draig is the best dragon ever!” he said before wriggling off Jack’s lap and making for the toy knights scattered across the floor, who stoically lay there and awaited their doom.
“Jack…”
Jack reached out to put an arm around Ianto’s shoulders and pulled him close. “You forgot one bit of the story,” he said softly.
“Oh?” Ianto looked torn between uneasiness and curiosity.
“Hmmm. The bit about the king being so angry with the servant because he realised when the monster got loose that he had been falling in love with the servant all along and was scared that the servant had just been using him. And that when the monster tried to kill the servant, all the king could think about was how empty and cold his life would be without him.”
“I didn’t know that bit of the story,” Ianto said after a moment, relaxing against Jack.
Jack kissed him very gently. “Later on tonight, after Arthur’s asleep, I’ll tell you about it.” He smiled wickedly. “With all the appropriate actions.”
“Show and tell?” Ianto asked, a pale reflection of the old mischief flickering into life in his eyes.
Jack’s smile broadened. “My favourite subject in school,” he said with a laugh. “I always got an A!”
Title: Storytime
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Arthur
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, they belong to the BBC and RTD
Spoilers: Definitely for 'Cyberwoman'.
Summary: Title is the summary!
Jack left Ianto to keep an eye on Arthur while he went out to get some supplies. The mere fact that Ianto had let the milk spoil and had very little in the way of groceries told him just how ill the younger man must feel, especially when he had Arthur to take care of. Jack had been on the verge of making a teasing remark, but one look at the stricken expression on Ianto’s face and he had swallowed it, unsaid.
“Why don’t you take Arthur into the living room and I’ll go and get some basics,” he suggested with a smile.
“Jack, I’m sorry,” Ianto whispered, still visibly upset as he looked down at the carton of bad milk. “I’m normally more organised.”
“Now that I have no doubt about,” Jack said, making the reassurance offhand and casual, as if there was no doubt - which there wasn’t. “Still, it gives me a chance to do my cavalry charging over the hill act, which is so me.”
He was relieved to see a small smile appear on Ianto’s face as Jack left. The ever-present worry gnawed away at him as he made for the shops, stocking up on the essentials, plus some cans of soup in case Ianto still had difficulty in keeping down what he ate. He knew that he was on borrowed time; Ianto wasn’t stupid and he was soon going to realise that this was far more serious than a virus, but Jack was rapidly acquiring what he recognised was a superstitious dread of that day. Somehow, having Ianto say it out loud and making Jack acknowledge it would also make it inevitable, and Jack refused to let that happen. He had faith in his people. They would find a way to make things better. To make Ianto better.
Jack let himself into the flat and heard Arthur’s voice immediately. He grinned as he heard him demanding a story from Ianto and Ianto’s somewhat cowardly suggestion that Arthur would prefer to watch TV.
“No, want story!” Arthur said firmly, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. He gets his stubbornness from Ianto, Jack decided as he put the groceries away. He listened to see what story Ianto would pick. He was betting on a watered down version of an Arthur story, or something where a dragon made mincemeat out some hapless knight.
“Once upon a time there was a good and powerful king, who loved all of his subjects and was loved by them,” Ianto began.
Yep, Arthur, Jack thought, feeling smug.
“Now this king had a servant, a man he trusted to look after his palace while the king was out saving people from horrible monsters that kept trying to invade the kingdom.”
“Not dragons,” Arthur protested.
“No, not dragons,” Ianto agreed with a somewhat breathless laugh. “Anyway, the king was a very lonely man and often talked to the servant late at night, when all the other people had gone to bed, and the king was very fond of the servant.”
Jack felt a prickle of unease run up his spine. Oh no, he thought. Please don’t.
“But the servant had a secret that the king didn’t know about. Before he had come to the castle and met the king, he had fallen in love with a beautiful woman. But a terrible enemy had invaded the kingdom and stole the woman away. The servant hadn’t been a servant then and had gone after her and managed to rescue her, but the enemy had cast a terrible spell on her to make her look like a monster.”
“Bad people?” Arthur asked questioningly.
“Very bad people,” Ianto agreed gravely. “So the servant rescued his love, but he couldn’t undo the spell and he knew that people would look at her and only see a monster and try to kill her. So he took her away and came to the king’s castle and asked him if he could be his servant, but didn’t tell him about the monster he was hiding. The king was a kind and generous man-“
No he wasn’t, Jack thought. I fancied you like mad and thought you’d be useful.
“-so he agreed to let the servant work for him and that’s how things were for a while. The servant kept looking for someone who could break the spell that had been put on his love but as time went on he got to like the king more and more and wished he could tell him about the monster he’d hidden in the castle dungeons.”
I wish you’d told me, Jack thought with a sigh as he leaned his head against the wall outside the room. God, I wish you’d told me. If I’d had some warning, some inkling….
“But he was afraid that if he did that, the king would only see the monster and not the woman that the servant had fallen in love with, so he kept quiet. But it got harder and harder to keep the secret from the king because the servant…” Ianto’s voice faltered for a moment before he recovered. “The servant was starting to fall in love with the king.”
Jack straightened up and started to listen in earnest.
“This worried the servant because he was already in love and he knew he couldn’t be in love with two people at the same time.”
Yes, you can! Jack wanted to shout. This stupid backward century…!
“Silly Daddy,” Arthur giggled. “Arthur loves Daddy and Daddy and Draig. It’s easy.”
Ianto laughed sadly. “It’s a little easier when you’re little, Arthur. When you grow up, you’ll realise it’s a little more complicated.”
Not if I have anything to do with it, Jack thought rebelliously. No son of his was going to climb into the mental straitjacket that this century imposed on people.
“Did the king know about the monster?” Arthur asked.
Ianto sighed. “No, because he trusted the servant and the servant was very careful. It was very easy for him to hide the monster because everyone just thought he was the servant and no-one paid much attention to him.”
Jack winced. Oh, and hadn’t that been a kicker when he’d realised just how much for granted he’d taken Ianto. It had been cold comfort that the others had been even worse.
“Silly people,” Arthur decided.
“Well, the servant was actually quite glad about that because he didn’t like lying. But then he found a wizard who said he could cure his love of the curse. He was terribly excited because he thought that when the curse was lifted he would be able to tell the king everything and they would all live happily ever after. So he smuggled the wizard into the castle when everyone else had left and the wizard began the spell that would lift the curse.”
“Yay!” Arthur cheered.
“But the curse was even more terrible than the servant or the wizard had realised. Instead of freeing the woman from the monster, the spell the wizard cast freed the monster from the woman and it started to rage through the castle, trying to destroy everything.”
“Ooooh,” Arthur said in suitably horrified tones.
“The king and his people came back to the castle and discovered the monster. They tried to kill it but the servant stopped them because he still…. he still hoped that he could somehow break the curse, or maybe take it back to where the monster was asleep. The king was very, very angry with the servant, but he still saved him when the monster tried to kill him and then the king ordered that the royal dragon be set free to attack and kill the monster.”
“King had a dragon?” Arthur asked excitedly.
“Well, technically she’d be more of a wyvern, but yes, the king had a dragon living in one of the towers of the castle and he called her down to kill the monster. The servant was very upset because he couldn’t see the monster. He could only see his love being hurt and crying out, but the king knew what they were fighting and ordered the others to take the servant away.”
“Dragon killed the monster?” Arthur asked with no small degree of anticipation.
“No,” Ianto said after a moment. “The dragon tried her best but the monster was too powerful and eventually the dragon had to fly away before she was killed. The servant escaped from the king’s people and went back inside the castle to try and rescue his love, but when he got there, he found that the monster had won and there was no sign of his lady any more. He knew he should kill it, before it hurt any more people, but all he could think about was how much he had loved her and how he had promised to save her and how everything he had ever hoped and dreamed about was now in ruins like the castle. The king had come after him and saw that the servant was too…. sad … to do anything, so he took out his magic sword and used it to kill the monster.”
“Kings always have magic swords,” Arthur agreed. “And dragons.”
“The better ones do,” Ianto agreed. “The king was still very angry with the servant, who knew he had done some very bad things. He expected to be exiled from the kingdom but the king was too kind for that and told him that he could stay but that he had to make amends from what he had done.”
Kind, Jack thought and almost laughed. I wasn’t being kind at all. I was just trying to get my mind around the fact that you suckered me like a pro and what the hell was I going to do with you. Because I knew that I didn’t want to lose you and I was scared that I already had and I was so mad because you hadn’t trusted me enough to come and talk to me!
“And they lived happily ever after?” Arthur asked excitedly.
Jack walked in before Ianto could say anything. “Yes,” he said determinedly. “They lived happily ever after. Because the king realised that he loved the servant and understood that he would probably have done the same thing if his love had been turned into a monster.”
Ianto had looked up with a start of horrified surprise when Jack had walked in. He blushed furiously as he realised that Jack must have heard at least part of the story, but Jack bent down to give him a reassuring kiss on the cheek before scooping Arthur up and settling him on his lap as he sat down on the couch beside Ianto.
“King had a dragon!” Arthur told him gleefully.
“Well so have you,” Jack pointed out, grabbing Draig and nuzzling him up against Arthur’s face, making growly noises. “Bet the king’s dragon isn’t as nice as Draig, though.”
Arthur grabbed the plush toy off him. “Draig is the best dragon ever!” he said before wriggling off Jack’s lap and making for the toy knights scattered across the floor, who stoically lay there and awaited their doom.
“Jack…”
Jack reached out to put an arm around Ianto’s shoulders and pulled him close. “You forgot one bit of the story,” he said softly.
“Oh?” Ianto looked torn between uneasiness and curiosity.
“Hmmm. The bit about the king being so angry with the servant because he realised when the monster got loose that he had been falling in love with the servant all along and was scared that the servant had just been using him. And that when the monster tried to kill the servant, all the king could think about was how empty and cold his life would be without him.”
“I didn’t know that bit of the story,” Ianto said after a moment, relaxing against Jack.
Jack kissed him very gently. “Later on tonight, after Arthur’s asleep, I’ll tell you about it.” He smiled wickedly. “With all the appropriate actions.”
“Show and tell?” Ianto asked, a pale reflection of the old mischief flickering into life in his eyes.
Jack’s smile broadened. “My favourite subject in school,” he said with a laugh. “I always got an A!”