Ficlet: No Dress Code
Title: No Dress Code
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Rating: PG
Word Count: 641
Summary: Jack takes Ianto away on a vacation to paradise.
Spoilers: None.
Written For: cozy_coffee’s prompt ‘Any, any, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,’ at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.
“Didn’t I tell you I’d take you away from it all someday on a tropical island vacation?” Jack squeezed Ianto’s hand as they strolled along the white sand beach, clad only in shorts. They’d discarded the rest of their clothes as soon as they’d arrived, and Jack had been trying ever since to convince Ianto to dispense with the shorts as well. It wasn’t as if anyone was around to see them.
“You did, but…” Ianto trailed off, biting his lip.
“What, you didn’t believe me?” Jack tried not to sound hurt.
“It’s not that. I know you always do your best to keep your promises, but we both know what Torchwood’s like. We have enough difficulty even managing an uninterrupted date night a couple of times a month. The idea of us taking a real vacation, something that lasted more than a couple of hours, seemed like wishful thinking at best. Besides, even if we did somehow manage to get away, I was expecting something more along the lines of a weekend in Weston-Super-Mare, not… this.”
“Seriously? I promised you a tropical island paradise! Weston is about as far from that as it’s possible to get.”
“You know as well as I do, we can’t always have what we want. Sometimes we have to settle for less.”
“You’ve already had to settle way too many times, Ianto Jones; you deserved better. I made you a promise, and nothing was going to stop me keeping it.” Jack frowned then, suddenly worried. “You do like it here, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, twpsyn! Why wouldn’t I? It’s perfect!”
“That’s good. I mean, I know it isn’t quite palm trees, golden sands, blue skies, and turquoise seas, but there’s plenty of sunshine.”
“There is. It’s just, when you said you had everything organised, I’d sort of expected somewhere on earth, not another planet.”
“Believe it or not, this was a lot easier to arrange. No need to book flights or hotels, no hanging around for hours in airports because of delays, no passports required. Just a quick trip in the TARDIS, and then it’s white sands, balmy weather, sunshine, and lavender seas.”
“And those feathery tree things.” Ianto pointed to the vegetation that bordered the beach, as tall as palm trees, but with several branches, each ending in a broad, drooping spray of pinkish fronds.
“Correbo trees.” Jack paused at the water’s edge, digging his toes into the pale, damp sand. “You know what the best part is? We’ve left all our problems light years away back on earth along with our phones, so no one can call us with an emergency and expect us to catch the next flight home.” He turned to smile at his lover. “And we can stay here for as long as we want, but still be back in Cardiff a few hours after we left. The rest of the team will hardly have time to miss us!”
“Mm,” Ianto agreed. “That’s definitely a bonus.” He could already feel all the stresses and pressures of work simply melting away.
“So, now that we’re here, what d’you want to do? We could swim, or explore our little island, or just laze in the shade of the Correbo trees, sipping cold fruit juice. The replicator can make anything we want, or we can pick fresh fruits and make our own.”
“Tempting, but that can wait. The water does look very inviting.”
“Swimming it is then.” Jack shucked out of his shorts and tossed them further up the beach, where they wouldn’t get wet, before wading into the lavender-coloured water.
Shrugging, Ianto stripped his own shorts off and followed him. It might be nothing like he’d been expecting, but that didn’t matter. This was better than anything he’d imagined, and he was going to enjoy every second of their vacation.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Rating: PG
Word Count: 641
Summary: Jack takes Ianto away on a vacation to paradise.
Spoilers: None.
Written For: cozy_coffee’s prompt ‘Any, any, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems,’ at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.
“Didn’t I tell you I’d take you away from it all someday on a tropical island vacation?” Jack squeezed Ianto’s hand as they strolled along the white sand beach, clad only in shorts. They’d discarded the rest of their clothes as soon as they’d arrived, and Jack had been trying ever since to convince Ianto to dispense with the shorts as well. It wasn’t as if anyone was around to see them.
“You did, but…” Ianto trailed off, biting his lip.
“What, you didn’t believe me?” Jack tried not to sound hurt.
“It’s not that. I know you always do your best to keep your promises, but we both know what Torchwood’s like. We have enough difficulty even managing an uninterrupted date night a couple of times a month. The idea of us taking a real vacation, something that lasted more than a couple of hours, seemed like wishful thinking at best. Besides, even if we did somehow manage to get away, I was expecting something more along the lines of a weekend in Weston-Super-Mare, not… this.”
“Seriously? I promised you a tropical island paradise! Weston is about as far from that as it’s possible to get.”
“You know as well as I do, we can’t always have what we want. Sometimes we have to settle for less.”
“You’ve already had to settle way too many times, Ianto Jones; you deserved better. I made you a promise, and nothing was going to stop me keeping it.” Jack frowned then, suddenly worried. “You do like it here, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, twpsyn! Why wouldn’t I? It’s perfect!”
“That’s good. I mean, I know it isn’t quite palm trees, golden sands, blue skies, and turquoise seas, but there’s plenty of sunshine.”
“There is. It’s just, when you said you had everything organised, I’d sort of expected somewhere on earth, not another planet.”
“Believe it or not, this was a lot easier to arrange. No need to book flights or hotels, no hanging around for hours in airports because of delays, no passports required. Just a quick trip in the TARDIS, and then it’s white sands, balmy weather, sunshine, and lavender seas.”
“And those feathery tree things.” Ianto pointed to the vegetation that bordered the beach, as tall as palm trees, but with several branches, each ending in a broad, drooping spray of pinkish fronds.
“Correbo trees.” Jack paused at the water’s edge, digging his toes into the pale, damp sand. “You know what the best part is? We’ve left all our problems light years away back on earth along with our phones, so no one can call us with an emergency and expect us to catch the next flight home.” He turned to smile at his lover. “And we can stay here for as long as we want, but still be back in Cardiff a few hours after we left. The rest of the team will hardly have time to miss us!”
“Mm,” Ianto agreed. “That’s definitely a bonus.” He could already feel all the stresses and pressures of work simply melting away.
“So, now that we’re here, what d’you want to do? We could swim, or explore our little island, or just laze in the shade of the Correbo trees, sipping cold fruit juice. The replicator can make anything we want, or we can pick fresh fruits and make our own.”
“Tempting, but that can wait. The water does look very inviting.”
“Swimming it is then.” Jack shucked out of his shorts and tossed them further up the beach, where they wouldn’t get wet, before wading into the lavender-coloured water.
Shrugging, Ianto stripped his own shorts off and followed him. It might be nothing like he’d been expecting, but that didn’t matter. This was better than anything he’d imagined, and he was going to enjoy every second of their vacation.
The End