Ficlet: October In Cardiff
Title: October In Cardiff
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: It’s a typical Cardiff Autumn night.
Word Count: 377
Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Torchwood, author's choice, October in Cardiff,’ at
fic_promptly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
October in Cardiff, Autumn is just getting properly underway. The leaves on the trees are turning glorious shades of red, orange and yellow. Morning brings mists, making everything hazy, and of course, because this is Wales, there’s the perennial rain. Whatever the season in Cardiff, rain is one thing you can always count on.
Days are often nippy, nights are getting cold, some mornings the ground and the leaves are touched with frost and it’s beautiful. Spider webs are decorated with diamond drops of moisture; sensibly, the spiders themselves are nowhere in sight.
This early in the morning, when the sun has yet to even peep above the horizon, breath steams in the air, clearly visible in the darkness. It’s just after five in the morning; Jack and Ianto haven’t gone to bed yet. They’re breathing hard, puffing like bellows, but they’re certainly not cold. They’ve been out all night, chasing a three-legged creature through Cardiff’s streets and they’ve finally cornered it behind a shoe shop on the edge of Splott. For some reason, that strikes Ianto as hilariously funny and he fights to hold back his laughter as they close in on the exhausted creature.
Ianto tosses his coat over it, picks it up, squirming and wriggling, but it settles down when it realises it’s not being harmed. The walk back to the SUV is peaceful and Ianto’s pretty sure their visitor has fallen asleep in his arms, worn out and cosy in his coat. He shivers slightly as the sweat cools on his back and next thing he knows, Jack’s greatcoat is being draped around his shoulders, still warm from Jack’s body heat, making him smile.
They don’t have far to walk, thankfully, having come almost full circle. Soon they’ll be heading back to the Hub to settle their visitor in the cells before heading to bed for a couple of hours’ well deserved sleep. He’s tired, but it’s a good kind of tired, the kind you feel after a job well done. Bed and sleep will both be welcome, but even so, it’s been a good night.
October in Cardiff, after the tourists have left and before the cold of winter sets in. Ianto thinks this might be his very favourite time of year.
The End