Fic: Last Minute Rush
Title: Last Minute Rush
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: No matter how many times Ianto reminds Jack about deadlines and important dates, his lover always manages to put things off until the last second.
Word Count: 1109
Written For: Prompt 205 - Procrastination at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Jack, perhaps because he’d never particularly wanted to be in charge of Torchwood in the first place, had become very good at putting off certain unpleasant tasks like paperwork until tomorrow, or until somebody else, usually Ianto, got tired of waiting and did them for him. Procrastination was an art at which he excelled, something which should have surprised nobody; he’d had a great deal of practice, and if he’d applied the same dedication to actually getting things done as he did to avoiding them, Torchwood Three would have run much more smoothly.
That wasn’t to say he was a bad leader, not as such; he was very good at giving orders in the field, and he could also be relied upon to make the most difficult decisions required of him without undue hesitation, especially where lives, either human or alien, were involved. He was knowledgeable, forceful, fierce in his defence of his people, and at times even quite heroic, willingly putting his own life on the line to save others… Of course, he was also the only person on the entire planet who could survive being repeatedly killed, so his self-sacrifice was more about expediency than anything else.
Nevertheless, Jack found the nuts and bolts of leadership, all the little details that happened in the background, to be annoying, time-consuming, and better delegated or avoided altogether.
Ianto did everything he could to encourage his boss, who also happened to be his lover, to deal with reports, budgeting, bill-paying, important phone calls, and other minutiae of the job in a timely manner. He made note of each day’s scheduled tasks on both Jack’s desk calendar and his computer. He arranged the paperwork on the Captain’s desk with the most urgent items at the top of the stack, labelling everything with brightly coloured post-it notes in the hope that might attract Jack’s attention. He threatened, he cajoled, he promised rewards, or punishments, he gave frequent reminders, but Jack steadfastly ignored his calendars, pushed paperwork to one side, and browsed ebay, watched funny animal videos on YouTube, played solitaire, or tuned into the internal CCTV system to watch Ianto going about his own duties.
When Jack did deign to tackle the parts of the job he was supposed to be responsible for, he could get them done with reasonable speed and efficiency. He simply preferred to leave everything until the last minute, by which time there was usually less to do because Ianto had already taken care of the bulk of it. That suited Jack just fine.
Tonight, he was sitting at his desk happily immersed in an absorbing game of Spider Solitaire, which was his favourite despite his aversion to the eight-legged creepy crawlies, when Ianto strode into his office, pulling on his overcoat.
“Are you ready?”
Jack looked up, frowning. “Ready for what?”
Ianto frowned right back at him. “You didn’t forget, did you?”
“Forget what?”
“I told you weeks ago, even wrote reminders in your diary!” Ianto stopped in front of Jack’s desk, hands on his hips and an annoyed expression on his face.
“You tell me a lot of things.” Many of which Jack found too boring to pay much attention to. “Which particular one are you referring to this time?” He leaned back in his chair, putting a little more distance between himself and his exasperated lover, glad of the protection provided by his solid wooden desk.
“Do you ever even bother looking at your calendar?”
“Of course I do! When I remember to.” Jack took a quick look at the assortment of random objects scattered across the desktop. “Uh, where is it?”
“Knowing you, probably buried under paperwork that should’ve been finished last month. Sometimes I wonder why I bother.”
“Because you love me?” Jack smiled hopefully, but Ianto’s expression remained stony, and the smile quickly faded. “Okay, what am I not remembering?”
“Rhiannon’s birthday dinner? You know, the one you were so determined to be my plus one for.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “That was today?”
“It still is, and if you hurry up and get changed, we might still just be able to make it to the restaurant on time.” A horrible thought occurred to Ianto. “You did remember to pick up the chocolates you were going to get her, didn’t you?”
“Um…” The shifty expression on Jack’s face spoke volumes.
“Jack! I reminded you three days ago, and you said you had everything under control!”
“I thought I did! It must have slipped my mind!”
“Everything I ask you to do conveniently slips your mind, no matter how many times I remind you.”
“We can pick something up on the way.”
“No, we can’t; the chocolate shop isn’t open Fridays. The florist’s will be shut by now too, it’s already past their closing time, so getting Rhi some flowers is out, unless we swing by the supermarket, which is bound to be packed.”
“You got her a present though, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did! I bought it weeks ago, when she first told me about the dinner plans.”
“Can’t you just tell her it’s from both of us?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “That’s what I suggested doing in the first place, but no, you insisted on getting her a gift too, said you wanted to make a good impression, do things right this time.” His frown deepening, he added, “If you didn’t want to have dinner with my family, you could’ve just said so when I invited you.”
“But I do want to!”
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it. Look, I know you’ve only met Rhi and the kids once, and you didn’t make the best first impression…”
“That wasn’t my fault! I was hot with the oven going, and how was I to know she’d turn up on Christmas Day and just let herself in? I didn’t even know she had a key to your flat!”
“I wasn’t blaming you, I just meant I’d understand if you wanted to skip the dinner, although I would have preferred if you’d told me sooner.”
“No, I want to go.”
“Then why’re you still sitting there? We’ve got less than an hour to drive across town, find somewhere to park, and get to the restaurant. If you’re not ready in ten minutes, I’m leaving without you.”
Scrambling to his feet, Jack all but fell down the manhole to his quarters.
Ianto rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. One of these days Jack was going to delay doing something for so long, the world would end while he was still dithering; maybe then he’d learn to pay better attention to reminders.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: No matter how many times Ianto reminds Jack about deadlines and important dates, his lover always manages to put things off until the last second.
Word Count: 1109
Written For: Prompt 205 - Procrastination at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Jack, perhaps because he’d never particularly wanted to be in charge of Torchwood in the first place, had become very good at putting off certain unpleasant tasks like paperwork until tomorrow, or until somebody else, usually Ianto, got tired of waiting and did them for him. Procrastination was an art at which he excelled, something which should have surprised nobody; he’d had a great deal of practice, and if he’d applied the same dedication to actually getting things done as he did to avoiding them, Torchwood Three would have run much more smoothly.
That wasn’t to say he was a bad leader, not as such; he was very good at giving orders in the field, and he could also be relied upon to make the most difficult decisions required of him without undue hesitation, especially where lives, either human or alien, were involved. He was knowledgeable, forceful, fierce in his defence of his people, and at times even quite heroic, willingly putting his own life on the line to save others… Of course, he was also the only person on the entire planet who could survive being repeatedly killed, so his self-sacrifice was more about expediency than anything else.
Nevertheless, Jack found the nuts and bolts of leadership, all the little details that happened in the background, to be annoying, time-consuming, and better delegated or avoided altogether.
Ianto did everything he could to encourage his boss, who also happened to be his lover, to deal with reports, budgeting, bill-paying, important phone calls, and other minutiae of the job in a timely manner. He made note of each day’s scheduled tasks on both Jack’s desk calendar and his computer. He arranged the paperwork on the Captain’s desk with the most urgent items at the top of the stack, labelling everything with brightly coloured post-it notes in the hope that might attract Jack’s attention. He threatened, he cajoled, he promised rewards, or punishments, he gave frequent reminders, but Jack steadfastly ignored his calendars, pushed paperwork to one side, and browsed ebay, watched funny animal videos on YouTube, played solitaire, or tuned into the internal CCTV system to watch Ianto going about his own duties.
When Jack did deign to tackle the parts of the job he was supposed to be responsible for, he could get them done with reasonable speed and efficiency. He simply preferred to leave everything until the last minute, by which time there was usually less to do because Ianto had already taken care of the bulk of it. That suited Jack just fine.
Tonight, he was sitting at his desk happily immersed in an absorbing game of Spider Solitaire, which was his favourite despite his aversion to the eight-legged creepy crawlies, when Ianto strode into his office, pulling on his overcoat.
“Are you ready?”
Jack looked up, frowning. “Ready for what?”
Ianto frowned right back at him. “You didn’t forget, did you?”
“Forget what?”
“I told you weeks ago, even wrote reminders in your diary!” Ianto stopped in front of Jack’s desk, hands on his hips and an annoyed expression on his face.
“You tell me a lot of things.” Many of which Jack found too boring to pay much attention to. “Which particular one are you referring to this time?” He leaned back in his chair, putting a little more distance between himself and his exasperated lover, glad of the protection provided by his solid wooden desk.
“Do you ever even bother looking at your calendar?”
“Of course I do! When I remember to.” Jack took a quick look at the assortment of random objects scattered across the desktop. “Uh, where is it?”
“Knowing you, probably buried under paperwork that should’ve been finished last month. Sometimes I wonder why I bother.”
“Because you love me?” Jack smiled hopefully, but Ianto’s expression remained stony, and the smile quickly faded. “Okay, what am I not remembering?”
“Rhiannon’s birthday dinner? You know, the one you were so determined to be my plus one for.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “That was today?”
“It still is, and if you hurry up and get changed, we might still just be able to make it to the restaurant on time.” A horrible thought occurred to Ianto. “You did remember to pick up the chocolates you were going to get her, didn’t you?”
“Um…” The shifty expression on Jack’s face spoke volumes.
“Jack! I reminded you three days ago, and you said you had everything under control!”
“I thought I did! It must have slipped my mind!”
“Everything I ask you to do conveniently slips your mind, no matter how many times I remind you.”
“We can pick something up on the way.”
“No, we can’t; the chocolate shop isn’t open Fridays. The florist’s will be shut by now too, it’s already past their closing time, so getting Rhi some flowers is out, unless we swing by the supermarket, which is bound to be packed.”
“You got her a present though, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did! I bought it weeks ago, when she first told me about the dinner plans.”
“Can’t you just tell her it’s from both of us?”
Ianto rolled his eyes. “That’s what I suggested doing in the first place, but no, you insisted on getting her a gift too, said you wanted to make a good impression, do things right this time.” His frown deepening, he added, “If you didn’t want to have dinner with my family, you could’ve just said so when I invited you.”
“But I do want to!”
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it. Look, I know you’ve only met Rhi and the kids once, and you didn’t make the best first impression…”
“That wasn’t my fault! I was hot with the oven going, and how was I to know she’d turn up on Christmas Day and just let herself in? I didn’t even know she had a key to your flat!”
“I wasn’t blaming you, I just meant I’d understand if you wanted to skip the dinner, although I would have preferred if you’d told me sooner.”
“No, I want to go.”
“Then why’re you still sitting there? We’ve got less than an hour to drive across town, find somewhere to park, and get to the restaurant. If you’re not ready in ten minutes, I’m leaving without you.”
Scrambling to his feet, Jack all but fell down the manhole to his quarters.
Ianto rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. One of these days Jack was going to delay doing something for so long, the world would end while he was still dithering; maybe then he’d learn to pay better attention to reminders.
The End