Can-Can Cariad (Part 2/6)
Title: Can-Can, Cariad!
Author: vittani
Written for: reel_torchwood.
Beta: madbottoms
Prompt: Moulin Rouge
Pairing(s): Jack/Ianto, Tosh/Owen. Mentioned Gwen/Rhys.
Rating: Let’s say NC17, there is a sex scene but it’s probably more laughable than erotic.
Warnings: Character death (not Jack or Ianto), sexual situations.
Spoilers: Spoilers for the film Moulin Rouge and a few basic details of Torchwood, i.e. Jack being a Time Agent. Ooh yeah and there’s a small Wizard of Oz reference. ^_^
Word Count: 19,307
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood and I certainly don’t own Moulin Rouge (or Wizard of Oz). All of the songs mentioned in this fic do not belong to me either, they belong to their respective owners. I’m just borrowing them much like they did in Moulin Rouge.
A/N: In Moulin Rouge the Argentinean suffers from Narcolepsy, I don’t know much about this disorder or so I decided to stick with what is portrayed in the film. If it is inaccurate then I apologise.
Summary: After leaving the Time Agency all Jack Harkness wants is to be a writer. The problem? He has no muse! And he’s never been in love! Will a visit to the Moulin Rouge in the city of New Paris change all that?
A/N2... Thank you to the wonderful Madbottoms for betaing for me on short notice ^_^
Um is anyone else having problems with livejournal cut or is it just me? Has something been changed that I don't know about?
Chapter Two
“Alright everyone, settle down and let’s get this meeting underway,” Jack called for attention.
It was the morning after his first experience at the Moulin Rouge show. So many ideas had threatened to overwhelm him after accepting John’s offer. But he’d kept them locked away, preferring to sit back and enjoy the show for what it was, a fantastic experience that assaulted all the senses. He knew of course, that the ideas would take over tomorrow.
This morning, after being introduced to the rest of the cast and crew, Jack called a meeting.
He wanted to talk to them about a few ideas he’d had last night, maybe get their input and any ideas they themselves had. After all, they would be the ones performing this show.
He tried his hardest not to glance at Ianto, who was sat on top of one of the nearby tables. The Japanese girl, who’d been introduced to him as Toshiko or Tosh was sat next to him. She was a lovely young woman with a voice to match, but last night she’d had a very minor role. The bigger female roles had all gone to more inferior actors/singers, and he had no idea why.
Other dancers and some musicians were sat around the room on the chairs and floor around them. He quickly glanced away from that particular area and saw that the majority of people had calmed down and were giving him their attention.
“Okay, I wanted to run some ideas by you. Maybe get your opinion on what’s most popular with the crowd-”
“Get Ianto to strip off, that’s what most of them want!” called a voice from the back.
The hall was suddenly filled with catcalls, laughter and shouts of, “Off, off, get ‘em off!”
He glanced at Ianto and saw the other man was taking everything in his stride, even smiling at some of the more vocal people sitting at his feet.
Seeing that they weren’t going to quiet down, Jack stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly. The laughter died down and he grinned at them all, quite charmingly if he did say so himself.
“While I would certainly love to see that, I’m sure you’d all want your own parts as well. So, can we get back to the point-“
“Romance,” someone called.
“Yeah, that always sells,” someone else agreed.
There was general agreement to that, although a few people rolled their eyes.
“Always a winner,” Jack agreed. “Now, what about realism versus fantasy?” He got quite a few blank looks so he clarified. “I mean do they want stories based on past events or do they prefer stories that are entirely made up?”
“They come here to escape their realities,” Toshiko spoke up, after Ianto gave her an encouraging smile. It was amazing that someone who worked here could still be so shy.
Ianto took over when it seemed she wouldn’t carry on. “They want the fantasy, they don’t care about the where or the why as long as it’s nothing that reminds them of their lives. Things from the very distant past are alright, as long as they don’t have to remember their own troubles, their own wars and arguments.”
Jack nodded, understanding exactly what the two performers meant. Based on his experience of last night, he knew that the Rouge’s customers wanted beautiful and decadent worlds, they didn't care about history, only entertainment. But who was he to judge, everyone needed an escape from real life. For him, that was writing.
For the people here, it was being free to do as they willed.
***********************
The next week passed in almost solitude for Jack. He only left his room at meal times and to watch the shows. The rest of his time was spent writing. He’d had what he thought was a marvellous idea but he wanted to get it all down so he didn't forget anything before telling anyone.
During meals, he sat with John, Ianto, Toshiko and a few of the others. Everyone in the Rouge seemed to split off into their own groups and cliques. Ianto and Toshiko were always together, the solidity of their friendship very clear. They were often joined by the man who had been playing the role of Ringmaster on Jack’s first night. Owen, Tosh’s fiancé and a former Doctor, a man who was indeed from New London, and had a slightly sarcastic and acerbic personality. He usually vented his woes to the whole table whether he’d been drinking with his meal or not. Ianto and Tosh took his humour in stride but John seemed slightly irked by it. No matter where the group sat, John always found them, and it was clear by the looks Toshiko and Owen shot him that he really wasn’t all that welcome. Some of his comments had Ianto’s friends bristling in anger and his blatant interest in Ianto was just as unwelcome. It was only the fact that John was their boss that stopped them from punching him. He wasn’t a bad guy at all, he was just a little intense and completely oblivious to the fact that he had been ruining his own chance long before Jack had arrived.
Ianto, however, hid his own feelings very well, but Jack couldn’t help noticing that whenever John called him ‘Eye Candy’, Ianto’s fists would clench and a muscle would jump in his jaw. Apart from that, he appeared to hardly take notice of John’s salacious comments and only spoke to him about business or other safer topics. It was very clear that John’s lewd and vulgar behaviour did nothing for Ianto.
As for Jack, he found himself quite welcome among the small group. Owen and Tosh in particular seemed quite interested in him and asked him many questions about himself. Jack took that as a good sign. He liked to think that they wanted to get to know him because they wanted to know if he was good enough for their friend.
It was this closeness that led him to discover something about Toshiko Sato. Every so often and on completely random occasion she would just fall asleep. Whether standing up, or in the middle of a sentence, it didn't matter, within a moment she was unconscious. The poor woman suffered from a disorder known as Narcolepsy, and even in this day and age there was no effective treatment. Usually, it was no more than an inconvenience but with bad timing it could be extremely dangerous. That was why she was always with somebody, either her fiancé Owen Harper or Ianto.
They were sometimes joined by the two other women who had sung with Toshiko on Jack’s first night. The gap toothed brunette with the contortionist body was named Gwen Cooper, and like John and himself, seemed a consummate flirt. Although, she was utterly devoted to one of the men in the crew, Rhys Williams. The other woman was Suzie Costello, and she wasn’t quite so easy going. She appeared to be one of those oddly contrary people who liked attention, yet wasn’t very social. And although highly odd, with a twisted sense of humour, she was a likeable enough girl. She’d told him once that her speciality was handling weapons, so if he wanted any gun play or other such thing in his show, he was to let her know. Jack thanked her but he didn't think he would be taking her up on that offer, at least not yet, it didn't fit with this idea but might with a later one.
He enjoyed spending his meals with Ianto and his friends, even if John spent half his time trying to butt in anytime he and Ianto started a conversation. But they just let it slide. At the moment, they seemed quite happy to take things slow, just get to know each other. Apart from a few heated looks and a couple of fleeting brushes of hands, their relationship was entirely innocent.
At one point in his life, Jack would have been very annoyed with the speed, or lack of, with which things were developing. But right now, he was happy with it. The more time he spent with Ianto, the more he learnt about him, and the more he felt that maybe he was the one.
All those times when he was younger and worried that he would miss the signs, both his Mum and Dad had reassured him that he wouldn’t because he would... just know. He didn't understand them back then but he did now. He just knew. This was a man he could love.
So while things remained friendly between them socially, at night when he watched the shows he was free to fantasise and obsess. To ache to hold him in his arms and kiss him with all the passion he had hidden beneath his skin.
After the shows, when John was forced to play the congenial host saying goodbye to his guests, the two of them could get some rare moments alone. They were innocent enough, and Jack would escort Ianto back to his room, you know, for safety’s sake, to his room in the elephant. They often laughed about it together, that he lived in an elephant. By contrast, his own room was extremely plain and he often jokingly bemoaned that fact. Ianto would just grin and invite him in for a drink so that he might bask in the splendour of a room bedecked in jewels. A room, he said, whose walls you couldn’t lean against without feeling like a pin cushion. To which he would joke that you couldn't do anything else against the wall either. Ianto would then pretend to be offended and kick him out.
It might seem silly but it was their routine and he wouldn’t change it. They were taking things slow and he knew, just as Ianto did, that the day Ianto didn’t kick him out that their control would snap. And neither of them were ready for that yet. They hadn’t really talked about it yet, but he liked to think that Ianto thought the same as him, that if a long lasting relationship did develop between the two of them, then he wanted it based on a deeper intimacy, rather than just sexual desire.
So far... it was going perfectly and John was getting more and more desperate to have a hint of that intimacy between Ianto and himself. And unfortunately for John, it just wasn’t coming.
Whenever he wasn’t with Ianto, he was locked in his room, working on the story for the show. He’d chosen a love story of course but there was a bit of action and adventure in it too, but not too much that it would take over the plot. He wanted all those things to be subtle, to be the hidden extras, behind the general wonder of the character and his purpose, a noble purpose of righting wrongs throughout time and space. For that he relied very heavily on his time as a Time Agent, but the man wouldn’t be an Agent, he would be something altogether new, a Time Lord.
That would be Ianto’s role of course. He was the star and he didn't think any other man could pull off the innocence and naiveté he saw emerging in his character. However, from time to time, there also appeared anger, an intense sorrow, and even a ruthlessness that was startling but seemed so right when one considered the life he lived.
He was a man of long life, one who had seen many things, his whole race pass into dust and legends. A man who had lost so many people, family and friends, a man who found it so hard to love anyone but who was slowly falling for his companion.
He’d debated long and hard on what type of character his Time Lord would fall for. They had to be unremarkable, someone that you would naturally disregard if you passed them on the street. Someone who was his opposite, hardly knowledgeable at all about the Universe’s or Times, but someone who saw it differently than him. Someone who wasn’t jaded, but who was alive and vibrant, and who could draw him out of his shell and begin to repair his fragile heart.
He didn't know who she was yet but he knew she had to be a she. After all, he had the perfect person to play her.
But should it end happily? Should he give them a happy ending? Or would her death be the more satisfying in demonstrating that yes, she had succeeded... she had broken his heart?
He just didn't know.
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Next part.... http://vittani.livejournal.com/15854.html