The Mystery We Are. TW/HL Xover 31/? [PG-13] *WIP*
It was almost afternoon by the time Methos dragged himself to the hub. Jack had left him at some indecent hour of the morning, but had very wished him a very long and enthusiastic good-bye before he went, leaving Methos in no fit state to go anywhere even if he’d wanted to. He couldn’t help but smile at the memory as he walked through the door to the tourist information centre, desperately trying to school his face into a picture of decorum despite what he was feeling inside. Luckily for him it was Siannon who was minding the tourist office and not Ianto.
“I see I don’t need to ask what sort of night you had,” she commented, grinning. “You look like you’ve been thoroughly ravished.”
“I did some ravishing of my own, too.” Methos ducked behind the desk and settled into one of the chairs in the back office.
“A very good night then.”
“You could say that.”
“It suits you. You should get ravished more often.”
“I intend to.” The wicked grin had crept back and now lit up his whole face. Siannon smiled fondly at him, and perched on the desk beside his chair.
“I haven’t seen you like this for ages, and it took two of us then. I have to admire Jack for his attention to detail.” Methos chuckled.
“Now there’s a thought...”
“One that you can nip in the bud right now.”
“But you said...”
“That was 2 days ago. Things change. If you want a threesome with Jack it isn’t going to be with me, or it isn’t at the moment anyhow. Ask me in about 75 years and you’ll probably get a different answer.”
“Why?”
“Ianto. I’d feel like I was betraying him, even though he hasn’t actually come right out and said anything. I seem to have become a confidante without intending to be one. Though if you disappear for a bit, Ianto might just surprise you when you return.”
“Will he have a problem?”
“With you and Jack? I don’t think so, it’s completely different. You’re both so focused at times that you’re more like a force of nature than anything else; Ianto’s used to that. Even if he wasn’t, you’ve cast your spell on him and he can’t help but see the mystique of the oldest living immortal every time he looks at you so he’s halfway to being infatuated with you already. I pale into insignificance beside that.” Methos let out a bark of laughter.
“One thing you’re not is insignificant.”
“That’s because you know me too well, but thanks for the complement.” She leaned down to kiss the top of his head, and her lips tingled at the contact. It was her turn to laugh. “How the hell did Jack manage that? Your quickening is positively crackling out of your pores. If you don’t get it under control, I refuse to be responsible for the consequences.”
“Mm. Sorry.” He took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, eyes closing as he focused inward momentarily. “That should be better now.” He met her eyes with a smile as she touched his cheek.
“That’s more like it. So, do I get details?” Methos shook his head, the smile taking over his whole face and lighting his eyes.
“No way. But I will tell you he found a way to touch me without my quickening blasting him through the wall.”
“Touch you? With his inner immortal-ness, whatever it is?”
“Yes.”
“Bloody hell. It was good, I take it?”
“That’s a bit of an understatement, but yes.”
“I think I’m jealous.”
“Oh come off it, you haven’t got a jealous bone in your body.”
“I’m sure I’ll find one if I look hard enough.”
“I doubt it. I’ve been looking for centuries and haven’t found one yet.”
“That’s because it’s you who’s doing the looking. There’s about as much point in being jealous of you as there is of being jealous of the wind. You’re just...” She made a vague gesture and smiled warmly, patting his cheek as she turned to go back into the lobby once more.
“By the way, where is everyone?” Methos asked. She stopped just short of the bead-curtain before turning to face him .
“Staff meeting. That’s why I’m up here holding the fort. Apparently they’d usually just close the place, but with the good weather today I thought I’d best volunteer to divert any waifs and strays. I’ve actually had 3 customers, including an Irish gent from Limerick. We had a nice chat, he told me he was here for a juggling convention, but got lost.”
“What the hell do you do in a juggling convention?”
“Try not to drop things, of course.” She disappeared back into the lobby as the outside door opened, admitting another customer. Methos left her to it, and decided to see if she’d been looking at anything interesting on the computer. He was pleasantly surprised; there were pages and pages of information on Jian that looked suspiciously similar to the ones that were David Wong’s pride and joy. With a start he realised that he’d probably met their maker, though he hadn’t realised it when he first saw the swords. He scrolled through the rest of the information Siannon had discovered; legends about the swords, the ceremonies they’d been used for, their occasional disappearance and rediscovery. The last pages were the initial choreography for what he could only describe as a sword-dance, using aspects of the history of the swords in its stylised movement. When complete, it would be beautiful and a sight to be seen. The curtain rattled as Siannon ducked back into the office.
“I see you’ve found my little project. Think you’re up to it?”
“Up to it? You want me to do this?”
“Both of us, actually. As a thank-you to David Wong.”
“I’d love to. You do realise that we’re going to have to find somewhere else to practice if you want to surprise him.”
“Plenty of room downstairs; plus it will keep you from under Jack’s feet and out of trouble. I’ve even got the right sort of practice blades.”
“I’m not even going to ask how you’ve managed to do that at such short notice.”
“I asked David of course. When he finds out why I wanted them I think he’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“Surprised? If we can carry this off we’ll have the man weeping. He’ll love it.”
“An appropriate thank-you, then.”
“I think so.” Siannon looked at her watch and frowned.
“I’m closing this place for lunch; shall we be nice and get something for the others? I think they’ll probably need a break by now.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Come on then, you can give me a hand.” She led the way out of the tourist office, ensuring the sign read ‘closed’ and locked the door behind her.
~*~
The whole team were pleased at the arrival of sustenance, especially as it brought the meeting undeniably to a close. Some things were just not discussed in front of outsiders, temporary employees or not. As lunch was passed around, Jack found himself unable to help comparing Methos to the rest of his team. That in itself did not particularly surprise him, but what did was his realisation that the only one who didn’t suffer massively in the comparison was Ianto. He filed the fact away mentally, ready to be examined at a later date when he was less preoccupied. Looking up from his barely touched sandwich, he met Siannon’s eyes, twinkling with amusement as she winked at him; he couldn’t help but smile in response, and wondered how much Methos had said to her. Something must have shown in his face as her grin widened before she turned away, and went to bother Owen instead.
Methos watched that exchange with a smile of his own, and as he glanced around at the rest of the team caught Ianto watching him and Jack with a speculative expression. Their gaze held for a second and Methos recognised the unspoken question in the clear blue eyes. He nodded slightly in acknowledgement, wondering what sort of reaction he would get, half expecting the eyes to go cold and turn away from him. He didn’t expect the twitch of a smile as Ianto ducked his head, or the faint blush that the movement was designed to hide. It seemed that Siannon had spoken more truly than she’d realised, a fact that didn’t displease Methos at all.
Later on that afternoon, Methos and Siannon held their first practice session. She’d decided against asking Ianto to disable the CCTV in the archives, although she knew he would have obliged if she had, as the others would just want to know what was going on down there and moan at him until it was back up; she was too fond of Ianto to cause him more problems than he already had. They both knew that watching them at this stage would be boring to say the least as they were just walking through the initial moves; it would be a few days before it began to look interesting.
Jack toyed with the idea of going down to the archives in person to watch, even though he knew it would be a bad idea as their almost preternatural awareness of each other would possibly distract Methos. He contented himself with admiring the grace and power of both immortals, although not equally.
“Now that is beautiful.” Ianto deposited the coffee he’d just brought onto Jack’s desk, before standing at his shoulder to watch the screen. Jack smiled up at him briefly, but turned his own attention back to his monitor rather quickly, not wanting to miss a single move. “Do you think they realised how distracting they would be?” Ianto asked him.
“I’ve no doubt they did, but I bet they don’t care, especially not him. They’ll both know we’re watching.” As if to confirm that, both immortals waved at the camera during a pause in the routine, followed by a blown kiss from Siannon. Jack chuckled. “See?”
“Maybe they’ve just got to know us too well.”
“There’s no such thing as knowing someone too well, especially someone like that.”
“Perhaps.” Ianto left Jack to himself and returned to the tourist office and his own work, though he did flick over to the archives CCTV feed every so often. By the time he was ready to call it a day, they had finished. Once he’d locked the door behind the rest of the team after they left, he made his way down to the Hub, and his evening duties. He was surprised to have enthusiastic assistance from Siannon with feeding the pterodactyl; her only comment to his raised eyebrow had been one about liking dinosaurs. They left together, so Jack and Methos were alone once more.
Jack carefully enfolded Methos in his arms.
“I thought they were never going to leave,” he whispered before he swooped down for a long and lingering kiss. After he came up for air, Methos chuckled against his lips.
“Carry on like that and we won’t be leaving either.”
“Don’t care.”
“Well I do.” Methos wriggled out of Jack’s embrace and wandered over to the door that hid the way to the garage. He held out his hand in invitation. “Back to my place?” He was answered by a smile and the caress of Jack’s fingers on his own as he took the proffered hand. Jack carefully followed the XK8 through the traffic back to the brewery quarter, focusing on the road, the people, and the weather; anything except the person driving the other car. The SUV seemed very empty and lonely around him.