Fic: Oil Rainbows
Title: Oil Rainbows
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, OC, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto likes looking at the rainbows in the puddles on the road.
Word Count: 791
Written For: My own prompt ‘Any, Any, the rainbow sheen of oil on a wet road,’ at fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
It had been raining heavily so the roads were wet, puddles of water pooling in shallow dips and potholes, slow streams running along the gutters and down the drains. Ianto could see a rainbow sheen on the slick tarmac, shimmering in the glow of the street lamps. He smiled; it looked pretty. It also seemed to be spreading, getting bigger; one of the cars must be leaking. He could see several from here; one had come out of a side road without warning, slamming into another, knocking it into oncoming traffic where several other cars had collided with it and with each other, but that had been a few minutes ago. Everything had gone mostly quiet now.
Ianto was glad he hadn’t been in one of the cars; people were trapped in them and it was probably going to take the emergency services some time to cut them free. He hoped someone had phoned the accident in. He would’ve done it himself, but he wasn’t sure where his phone was.
The ground was wet; he could feel the water seeping into his clothes, making him feel even colder than he already did. He couldn’t remember why he was lying on the pavement; he should probably get up, but when he tried to move, it hurt too much. There seemed to be a heavy weight on top of him. As long as he stayed still he wasn’t in much pain, just cold and wet. At least the rainbows in the water were pretty. He stared at them, drifting peacefully. This wasn’t so bad.
He blinked, coming back to himself as the sound of sirens cut through the darkness. What was he doing here? He’d been at the Hub, hadn’t he? That’s right, there’d been a Rift alert, just one more in an endless procession of them that had kept the whole team busy since lunchtime. It had been his turn, so he’d driven to the location, parked, and gone searching. He’d found what he was looking for after just a few minutes, a short, greenish metal wand with a few small buttons on one side and a small display screen near one end; nothing dangerous, just a simple measuring device. He’d been on his way back to his car when the accident happened. He remembered starting forward to see if he could help, pulling his phone out of his pocket, and then…
It was odd; he didn’t remember anything after that.
The sirens were close now, there were flashing lights, and then a pair of legs appeared near him. He reached out, touching an ankle, and the leg jerked away. A face appeared in his field of vision, a police constable, and then there was yelling about an injured man trapped under a car.
Poor sod, Ianto thought, that couldn’t be pleasant. The constable was speaking. “Don’t try to move, help’s on the way.” Ianto couldn’t work out who he was talking to.
The rainbows on the wet road were pretty, so he stared at them for a while; he probably shouldn’t be lying in the wet though, it wouldn’t do his suit any good. Maybe he should get up? But there were voices shouting, and a lot of people milling around, and he didn’t want to get in the way. Perhaps he should stay where he was until things quietened down a bit. That decided, he relaxed; he was watching the spreading rainbows when he felt sudden, agonising pain shooting through him, and then there was nothing.
Ianto opened his eyes to dim light and looked for the rainbows, but they were gone. So were the road, the wrecked cars, the emergency vehicles, and the police constable…
“Hey! It’s about time you woke up.”
“Jack?” Where was he and what was Jack doing here?
“How’re you feeling?”
“Dunno. Where am I? What happened?”
“It’s okay, you’re in hospital. There was a pile-up out on the East Way Link Road, a car swerved trying to avoid it and hit you before crashing; you ended up trapped underneath it. The driver walked away without a scratch, didn’t even know you were there.”
That explained why he couldn’t get up, and why moving had hurt so much. Nothing hurt now though. Was that a good thing or not?
“How bad?”
“Broken ribs from where the wheel went over you, concussion, lacerations to your back and legs, broken collar bone, minor internal bleeding. Nasty, but nothing life-threatening; you were lucky.”
“Mmmm.” Ianto didn’t feel lucky, just sleepy. Being warm and dry was nice, so was not hurting. He let his eyes slide closed, too tired to keep them open any longer. Everything felt so much better now.
He did kind of miss the rainbows though.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, OC, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto likes looking at the rainbows in the puddles on the road.
Word Count: 791
Written For: My own prompt ‘Any, Any, the rainbow sheen of oil on a wet road,’ at fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
It had been raining heavily so the roads were wet, puddles of water pooling in shallow dips and potholes, slow streams running along the gutters and down the drains. Ianto could see a rainbow sheen on the slick tarmac, shimmering in the glow of the street lamps. He smiled; it looked pretty. It also seemed to be spreading, getting bigger; one of the cars must be leaking. He could see several from here; one had come out of a side road without warning, slamming into another, knocking it into oncoming traffic where several other cars had collided with it and with each other, but that had been a few minutes ago. Everything had gone mostly quiet now.
Ianto was glad he hadn’t been in one of the cars; people were trapped in them and it was probably going to take the emergency services some time to cut them free. He hoped someone had phoned the accident in. He would’ve done it himself, but he wasn’t sure where his phone was.
The ground was wet; he could feel the water seeping into his clothes, making him feel even colder than he already did. He couldn’t remember why he was lying on the pavement; he should probably get up, but when he tried to move, it hurt too much. There seemed to be a heavy weight on top of him. As long as he stayed still he wasn’t in much pain, just cold and wet. At least the rainbows in the water were pretty. He stared at them, drifting peacefully. This wasn’t so bad.
He blinked, coming back to himself as the sound of sirens cut through the darkness. What was he doing here? He’d been at the Hub, hadn’t he? That’s right, there’d been a Rift alert, just one more in an endless procession of them that had kept the whole team busy since lunchtime. It had been his turn, so he’d driven to the location, parked, and gone searching. He’d found what he was looking for after just a few minutes, a short, greenish metal wand with a few small buttons on one side and a small display screen near one end; nothing dangerous, just a simple measuring device. He’d been on his way back to his car when the accident happened. He remembered starting forward to see if he could help, pulling his phone out of his pocket, and then…
It was odd; he didn’t remember anything after that.
The sirens were close now, there were flashing lights, and then a pair of legs appeared near him. He reached out, touching an ankle, and the leg jerked away. A face appeared in his field of vision, a police constable, and then there was yelling about an injured man trapped under a car.
Poor sod, Ianto thought, that couldn’t be pleasant. The constable was speaking. “Don’t try to move, help’s on the way.” Ianto couldn’t work out who he was talking to.
The rainbows on the wet road were pretty, so he stared at them for a while; he probably shouldn’t be lying in the wet though, it wouldn’t do his suit any good. Maybe he should get up? But there were voices shouting, and a lot of people milling around, and he didn’t want to get in the way. Perhaps he should stay where he was until things quietened down a bit. That decided, he relaxed; he was watching the spreading rainbows when he felt sudden, agonising pain shooting through him, and then there was nothing.
Ianto opened his eyes to dim light and looked for the rainbows, but they were gone. So were the road, the wrecked cars, the emergency vehicles, and the police constable…
“Hey! It’s about time you woke up.”
“Jack?” Where was he and what was Jack doing here?
“How’re you feeling?”
“Dunno. Where am I? What happened?”
“It’s okay, you’re in hospital. There was a pile-up out on the East Way Link Road, a car swerved trying to avoid it and hit you before crashing; you ended up trapped underneath it. The driver walked away without a scratch, didn’t even know you were there.”
That explained why he couldn’t get up, and why moving had hurt so much. Nothing hurt now though. Was that a good thing or not?
“How bad?”
“Broken ribs from where the wheel went over you, concussion, lacerations to your back and legs, broken collar bone, minor internal bleeding. Nasty, but nothing life-threatening; you were lucky.”
“Mmmm.” Ianto didn’t feel lucky, just sleepy. Being warm and dry was nice, so was not hurting. He let his eyes slide closed, too tired to keep them open any longer. Everything felt so much better now.
He did kind of miss the rainbows though.
The End