Fic: The Bare Necessities
Title: The Bare Necessities
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OMC, Snuggles.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1108
Summary: Ianto packed what he thought would be useful on their trip to assist a stranded alien. So did Jack. Neither of them was entirely wrong.
Spoilers: None.
Written For: cornerofmadness’s prompt ‘any, any, fuzzy blanket on a cold day,’ at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.
“Hah!” Jack crowed, smirking at Ianto. “And you said I was burdening myself with non-essentials. You’re Welsh; you of all people should know how quickly the weather can change out here!”
Ianto glared at his lover. “And you told me it would be a two-hour trip at most; drive out here, deal with whatever needed dealing with, and head straight back to the Hub. If you hadn’t underestimated the size of the problem, and the time it would take to fix it, we wouldn’t be stuck out here, miles from nowhere, waiting for visibility to improve!”
Predictably, Jack pouted at what he saw as unfair and unfounded accusations. “You should be thanking me for having the forethought to come prepared for anything. That’s usually your job.”
“I can’t see into the future, twpsyn! I prepared for what I thought was reasonable to expect from a brief trip into the country, and don’t forget I’m the one who packed sandwiches, snacks, coffee, torches, batteries, and a first-aid kit. You brought a fresh tube of lube, a load of heavy equipment we never even used, and a fuzzy semi-sentient blanket.”
“Snuggles never gets to go anywhere interesting, just to the Hub every morning, then home again every night. I thought it would appreciate the chance to get out in the fresh air for a bit.” Jack petted the thick, soft blanket that was currently wrapped around them, keeping them from freezing to death as they huddled in a small cave, out of the dense, wet fog that had descended shortly after they’d begun the trek back to where they’d parked the SUV. “Imagine how cold you’d be without it.”
Ianto huffed, but didn’t reply, because he knew Jack was right. They’d have been much worse off at present if his lover hadn’t decided to bring Snuggles along for the ride.
Everything had gone smoothly to start with; they’d made good time driving out to the Brecon Beacons, and the hike up to the narrow valley between two high ridges would have been quite pleasant, if not for the effort of lugging all the equipment Jack had insisted on bringing with them.
They’d had no trouble finding the small alien craft that had been forced to make an emergency landing, due to a problem with its lateral thrusters. Several small components had become jammed as the pilot had tried to steer the ship away from the pull of the Rift, when it had sucked him in during what should have been a routine flight between his home planet and its closest neighbour.
As his craft had emerged above the outskirts of Cardiff, he’d found himself unable to steer a straight course, the ship travelling instead in ever-widening circles. He’d sent out an SOS over the Galactic Federation’s emergency communications channel, which of course Torchwood monitored, and he’d set his craft down as soon as a suitable landing place had appeared along the course he was forced to take.
Jack had responded to the call for help, offering Torchwood’s assistance, and because it was early in the morning and the rest of the team had yet to arrive, he’d left a note for the others, putting Owen in charge until their return. Then he and Ianto had set out alone, if you didn’t count Snuggles.
Although the mechanical problem had turned out to be simple enough to fix, it had taken much longer than Jack had anticipated. Because of the jammed components preventing it from operating properly, by the time the ship had landed the whole thruster assembly had been red-hot, and it had taken several hours for it to cool down enough that it could safely be worked on.
Jack, Ianto, and Dirmian, the pilot, spent the time getting to know one another and discussing how best to carry out the repairs. It wasn’t a job that could have been handled by one person working alone, the thruster manifold was far too heavy; it took all three of them working together to remove it so they could get at the components that needed replacing.
While Jack and Dirmian handled the repairs, Ianto made himself useful by passing them tools and shining his torch into the inner workings so they could see what they were doing. None of the equipment they’d brought with them so laboriously ended up being used; Dirmian’s own toolkit contained everything that was required, including spare parts, and once they got started it took hardly more than half an hour to get the ship back into working order. But by that point the bright morning sunlight had vanished behind heavy cloud cover, and the wind was getting up.
After saying their farewells and wishing Dirmian a safe and uneventful trip home, they’d stood well back to watch as the ship took off before gathering up their gear and setting off up the steep slope out of the valley. But as if the spacecraft’s departure had somehow disturbed the atmosphere, within ten minutes of beginning the trek back to the SUV, mist began to swirl around Jack and Ianto, rapidly thickening into a dense fog. Fortunately, before visibility got too bad, they were able to reach a cave Ianto had spotted on their way down, and while it wasn’t very spacious, it at least provided them with shelter from the cold wind. Ironically, Jack’s equipment helped as well, blocking much of the narrow entrance and keeping the worst of the weather out.
Ianto had dug a foil emergency blanket out of his backpack, but mysteriously the groundsheet that should have been with it wasn’t there. Someone must have borrowed it without telling him and forgotten to put it back. Jack had suggested sitting on the blanket and wrapping themselves in Snuggles, who’d obligingly stretched out large enough to wrap around both men, then fluffed itself up for added warmth.
So here they sat, wrapped in a semi-sentient blanket that had apparently decided red would be a nice, warming colour. Ianto wasn’t too sure about the decorative pattern of fluffy white rabbits, but he kept quiet about it. Snuggles liked bunnies.
Pouring coffee, Ianto handed his lover a cup, then shared out the sandwiches. A fogbound cave was a strange place for a picnic, but when you worked for Torchwood, you learned to go with the flow.
With luck, the fog would clear by early afternoon at the latest, and then they could make their way back to the SUV for the drive home; in the meantime, they were well fed and comfortable enough. But if Jack suggested putting the lube to use, there was going to be serious trouble!
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, OMC, Snuggles.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1108
Summary: Ianto packed what he thought would be useful on their trip to assist a stranded alien. So did Jack. Neither of them was entirely wrong.
Spoilers: None.
Written For: cornerofmadness’s prompt ‘any, any, fuzzy blanket on a cold day,’ at comment_fic.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.
“Hah!” Jack crowed, smirking at Ianto. “And you said I was burdening myself with non-essentials. You’re Welsh; you of all people should know how quickly the weather can change out here!”
Ianto glared at his lover. “And you told me it would be a two-hour trip at most; drive out here, deal with whatever needed dealing with, and head straight back to the Hub. If you hadn’t underestimated the size of the problem, and the time it would take to fix it, we wouldn’t be stuck out here, miles from nowhere, waiting for visibility to improve!”
Predictably, Jack pouted at what he saw as unfair and unfounded accusations. “You should be thanking me for having the forethought to come prepared for anything. That’s usually your job.”
“I can’t see into the future, twpsyn! I prepared for what I thought was reasonable to expect from a brief trip into the country, and don’t forget I’m the one who packed sandwiches, snacks, coffee, torches, batteries, and a first-aid kit. You brought a fresh tube of lube, a load of heavy equipment we never even used, and a fuzzy semi-sentient blanket.”
“Snuggles never gets to go anywhere interesting, just to the Hub every morning, then home again every night. I thought it would appreciate the chance to get out in the fresh air for a bit.” Jack petted the thick, soft blanket that was currently wrapped around them, keeping them from freezing to death as they huddled in a small cave, out of the dense, wet fog that had descended shortly after they’d begun the trek back to where they’d parked the SUV. “Imagine how cold you’d be without it.”
Ianto huffed, but didn’t reply, because he knew Jack was right. They’d have been much worse off at present if his lover hadn’t decided to bring Snuggles along for the ride.
Everything had gone smoothly to start with; they’d made good time driving out to the Brecon Beacons, and the hike up to the narrow valley between two high ridges would have been quite pleasant, if not for the effort of lugging all the equipment Jack had insisted on bringing with them.
They’d had no trouble finding the small alien craft that had been forced to make an emergency landing, due to a problem with its lateral thrusters. Several small components had become jammed as the pilot had tried to steer the ship away from the pull of the Rift, when it had sucked him in during what should have been a routine flight between his home planet and its closest neighbour.
As his craft had emerged above the outskirts of Cardiff, he’d found himself unable to steer a straight course, the ship travelling instead in ever-widening circles. He’d sent out an SOS over the Galactic Federation’s emergency communications channel, which of course Torchwood monitored, and he’d set his craft down as soon as a suitable landing place had appeared along the course he was forced to take.
Jack had responded to the call for help, offering Torchwood’s assistance, and because it was early in the morning and the rest of the team had yet to arrive, he’d left a note for the others, putting Owen in charge until their return. Then he and Ianto had set out alone, if you didn’t count Snuggles.
Although the mechanical problem had turned out to be simple enough to fix, it had taken much longer than Jack had anticipated. Because of the jammed components preventing it from operating properly, by the time the ship had landed the whole thruster assembly had been red-hot, and it had taken several hours for it to cool down enough that it could safely be worked on.
Jack, Ianto, and Dirmian, the pilot, spent the time getting to know one another and discussing how best to carry out the repairs. It wasn’t a job that could have been handled by one person working alone, the thruster manifold was far too heavy; it took all three of them working together to remove it so they could get at the components that needed replacing.
While Jack and Dirmian handled the repairs, Ianto made himself useful by passing them tools and shining his torch into the inner workings so they could see what they were doing. None of the equipment they’d brought with them so laboriously ended up being used; Dirmian’s own toolkit contained everything that was required, including spare parts, and once they got started it took hardly more than half an hour to get the ship back into working order. But by that point the bright morning sunlight had vanished behind heavy cloud cover, and the wind was getting up.
After saying their farewells and wishing Dirmian a safe and uneventful trip home, they’d stood well back to watch as the ship took off before gathering up their gear and setting off up the steep slope out of the valley. But as if the spacecraft’s departure had somehow disturbed the atmosphere, within ten minutes of beginning the trek back to the SUV, mist began to swirl around Jack and Ianto, rapidly thickening into a dense fog. Fortunately, before visibility got too bad, they were able to reach a cave Ianto had spotted on their way down, and while it wasn’t very spacious, it at least provided them with shelter from the cold wind. Ironically, Jack’s equipment helped as well, blocking much of the narrow entrance and keeping the worst of the weather out.
Ianto had dug a foil emergency blanket out of his backpack, but mysteriously the groundsheet that should have been with it wasn’t there. Someone must have borrowed it without telling him and forgotten to put it back. Jack had suggested sitting on the blanket and wrapping themselves in Snuggles, who’d obligingly stretched out large enough to wrap around both men, then fluffed itself up for added warmth.
So here they sat, wrapped in a semi-sentient blanket that had apparently decided red would be a nice, warming colour. Ianto wasn’t too sure about the decorative pattern of fluffy white rabbits, but he kept quiet about it. Snuggles liked bunnies.
Pouring coffee, Ianto handed his lover a cup, then shared out the sandwiches. A fogbound cave was a strange place for a picnic, but when you worked for Torchwood, you learned to go with the flow.
With luck, the fog would clear by early afternoon at the latest, and then they could make their way back to the SUV for the drive home; in the meantime, they were well fed and comfortable enough. But if Jack suggested putting the lube to use, there was going to be serious trouble!
The End