Reciprocate 1/1
Title: Reciprocate
Pairing: Ianto/Owen
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Only for season one.
Disclaimer: All rights belong to RTD and BBC. No profit is being made.
Author's Notes: English isn’t my mother tongue so if you see any mistakes feel free to point them out to me.
Summary: Owen doesn’t want to be cruel. But when he’s hurt, he wants others to hurt too
Reciprocate
Owen doesn’t want to be cruel. But when he’s hurt, he wants others to hurt too. In some nasty way, he feels better when the others snap back.
Gwen is easy to rile up, one remark about the victims of the latest alien invasion and her hackles go up. She’s ready to defend the ones who can’t stand up for themselves.
She doesn’t see what is right in front of her, though. That’s why he fucked her last year.
It wasn’t that she was easy, because she is not.
It was her reactions. She’s the only one he can play properly. Feeding her glimpses of her own hypocrisy along with cutting remarks that are meant to hurt. They were miserable together. He has loved every minute of it.
For some reason he doesn’t like to hurt Tosh. He likes instant gratification. Tosh doesn’t deliver this. When he’s nasty to her he sees no reaction, she just takes it silently. He only notices the effect later, when she flinches every time he goes near her. Then he feels guilty.
He isn’t mad anymore and she’s still hurting, it doesn’t feel right.
He tolerates the tea boy but doesn’t like him. Around Ianto he feels inadequate.
He’ll never hurt him as much as the people who claimed to love him. What Owen says to Ianto pales in comparison to what Lisa and Jack have done to him. Owen gives up trying.
Then there is Jack who he despises on principle, like he despises all people with authority.
He feels like he should be jealous about Jack's immortality but he isn’t. Owen has seen him die one too many times to be enthralled by the lure of eternal youth and beauty.
He’s seen the look in Jacks eyes when he returns to life.
He doesn’t know who cursed the captain but they must’ve been a nasty piece of work.
Even Owen wouldn’t sink as low and he knows he’s already crossed quite some boundaries.
After all he tried to kill someone who he only hates because of his position.
But then again, Owen has never been one for turning down opportunities. And he felt so bloody miserable at the time.
Jack leaves.
Everything changes.
He doesn’t dare to taunt Tosh anymore. He’s afraid of the consequences.
His and Gwen’s affair has ended some time ago, he doesn’t mind.
Owen tries to mock her, he lashes out but her come-backs have become a litany. She doesn’t believe what she’s saying anymore. She knows Owen was correct in his judgement and it’s breaking her down. She’s becoming one of them now.
The aliens, that’s what Torchwood is all about. Protecting the defenceless is something they do if it isn’t too much trouble. Gwen doesn’t ask how they’re feeling anymore, she knows they’re miserable. She doesn’t preach about morality any longer. If there are aliens but no God, morals have no meaning.
The only one left is Ianto and he is still unreachable. The ever witty answers have become more frequent. They always shut Owen up.
No matter how nasty the insult, Ianto always has a quip ready. Owens cruelty never seems to achieve its goal. Ianto remains unaffected.
But he doesn’t give up and takes the tea boy out on a field mission in the hope of humiliating him. It doesn’t work. Ianto is good on the field. Tosh and Gwen look at him admiringly and from then on Ianto always accompanies them.
One night Owen kisses him. Pent up frustration and loneliness overwhelming him
Ianto says nothing. He doesn’t look away when Owen kisses him again, slower this time, giving him time to retreat, if he wants.
Ianto just watches.
Owen kisses him for a third time, softly nearly friendly. Ianto closes his eyes almost involuntarily and leans into his embrace. Owen doesn’t let go of him and smiles into the kiss. He’s got Ianto now.
Ianto doesn’t hate, he loves. He doesn’t know how to keep anything back in love. He gives freely and doesn’t expect anything in return.
If he wants to hurt Ianto, he has to love him. Owen knows himself, he can be nasty and unfriendly and when he’s hurt he wants others to hurt too.