Ficlet: Personal space
Written for travels_in_time for the Timestamp Meme. The request was for anything with Hugh, so I chose 2 months after The Waiting Years III: Shangri-La
Title: Personal Space
Author: jadesfire2808
Words: ~840
Rating/spoilers: PG/None
Summary: Has Jack met his match?
Personal Space
Whatever Hugh was working on, it was clearly fascinating. He was leaning over the office's central table, brows furrowed and tongue just protruding from between his lips, as it always did when he was concentrating. Bored with his own work - the regular expenses sheet or, as he preferred to think of it, the monthly creative writing exercise - Jack drained his mug of the lukewarm coffee and nonchalantly wandered over to the hotplate to refill it. His stroll, not incidentally, took him round the table behind Hugh, who carried on working, apparently oblivious to Jack's movements.
Disappointingly, when Jack turned back from adding milk, Hugh was sitting down, head still bent over the papers in front of him. Making a conscious effort not to sigh, Jack took a mouthful of coffee instead, savouring the taste. Their department's coffee was the envy of Torchwood One, and had proved useful more than once when feathers were ruffled or cogs needed oiling. There had also been the incident where Jack and Jerry from Accounting had decided to take the new wheelie chairs for a test drive down the central corridor. It had taken a month's worth of coffee and some rapid string-pulling to get the caretaker to stay quiet about that one.
Grinning to himself, Jack carried on watching Hugh over the rim of his mug. The other man appeared to be concentrating hard, but the back of his neck was starting to go an interesting shade of pink and there was a definite stiffness in his spine. He was going to strain something if he wasn't careful, and Jack couldn't let that happen.
Drifting towards the table, he craned his neck, trying to see over Hugh's shoulder.
"Whatcha doing?" It was with some satisfaction that Jack saw Hugh start, head jerking up at the sound of Jack's voice. Shuffling the papers a little, he cleared his throat before answering.
"Trying to plot some of these alleged alien sightings on the map to see if there's a pattern."
"Is there?" Leaning forwards, Jack put a hand on the table to steady himself, incidentally bringing him that much closer to Hugh, who fidgeted a little but didn't move away.
"I can't tell yet." There was a slight strain in Hugh's voice and the flush had spread from his neck, up the sides of his face and was turning the tops of his ears a wonderful shade of red. Jack had noticed the reaction more and more over the last few months, the way Hugh shifted when Jack came close, but not enough to actually reclaim his personal space. It was intriguing.
Jack put his mug down on the table, well away from the maps and documents, and reached across Hugh to pick up the file, brushing against the other man's shoulder as he did so.
"How many more of these do you have to go through?"
"Er…" The colour was in Hugh's cheeks now and he looked as though he wanted to reach up and adjust his tie. Instead, he coughed again. "Most of them. Some of the accounts are very vague."
"Do you need a hand?" Putting the file back down on the table, Jack moved closer, resting against the back of the chair so that he could lean closer to Hugh. He could almost feel the heat rolling off the man and he stamped hard on the urge to laugh.
"I think I can manage, sir," Hugh replied, his voice carefully controlled as Jack leaned further forwards, ostensibly to get a better look at the maps.
"If you're sure." The words were little more than a gentle murmur, but with his lips this closer to Hugh's ear, Jack didn't doubt that they'd been heard. It was possibly cruel and definitely unfair but so much fun that he couldn't seem to stop himself.
"Quite sure, thank you, sir." Something in the certainty of the tone made Jack turn his head. He caught a glimpse of a smile and a fractional nod before Hugh suddenly stood up, pushing the chair backwards, hard and fast. The back support slammed into Jack's midriff.
Or, to be strictly accurate, just below Jack's midriff.
It took a few moments for the world to return to colour and Jack spent them gripping the back of the chair and trying to breathe. When he finally managed to lift his head, Hugh was watching him, caught between amusement and concern, although it looked like amusement was winning out.
"Sorry, sir," he said calmly.
"It's fine," Jack gasped, waving a hand vaguely and trying to straighten up. "Not a problem."
"Would you like a glass of water?"
This time, Jack just nodded, still trying to clear some of the stars from the edges of his vision. As Hugh's footsteps retreated down the corridor, Jack spun the chair round and gingerly lowered himself onto it, blinking and wiping tears from his eyes as he did so. Well, that had been unexpected. Despite himself, Jack laughed. He'd been right.
This was going to be fun.
Title: Personal Space
Author: jadesfire2808
Words: ~840
Rating/spoilers: PG/None
Summary: Has Jack met his match?
Personal Space
Whatever Hugh was working on, it was clearly fascinating. He was leaning over the office's central table, brows furrowed and tongue just protruding from between his lips, as it always did when he was concentrating. Bored with his own work - the regular expenses sheet or, as he preferred to think of it, the monthly creative writing exercise - Jack drained his mug of the lukewarm coffee and nonchalantly wandered over to the hotplate to refill it. His stroll, not incidentally, took him round the table behind Hugh, who carried on working, apparently oblivious to Jack's movements.
Disappointingly, when Jack turned back from adding milk, Hugh was sitting down, head still bent over the papers in front of him. Making a conscious effort not to sigh, Jack took a mouthful of coffee instead, savouring the taste. Their department's coffee was the envy of Torchwood One, and had proved useful more than once when feathers were ruffled or cogs needed oiling. There had also been the incident where Jack and Jerry from Accounting had decided to take the new wheelie chairs for a test drive down the central corridor. It had taken a month's worth of coffee and some rapid string-pulling to get the caretaker to stay quiet about that one.
Grinning to himself, Jack carried on watching Hugh over the rim of his mug. The other man appeared to be concentrating hard, but the back of his neck was starting to go an interesting shade of pink and there was a definite stiffness in his spine. He was going to strain something if he wasn't careful, and Jack couldn't let that happen.
Drifting towards the table, he craned his neck, trying to see over Hugh's shoulder.
"Whatcha doing?" It was with some satisfaction that Jack saw Hugh start, head jerking up at the sound of Jack's voice. Shuffling the papers a little, he cleared his throat before answering.
"Trying to plot some of these alleged alien sightings on the map to see if there's a pattern."
"Is there?" Leaning forwards, Jack put a hand on the table to steady himself, incidentally bringing him that much closer to Hugh, who fidgeted a little but didn't move away.
"I can't tell yet." There was a slight strain in Hugh's voice and the flush had spread from his neck, up the sides of his face and was turning the tops of his ears a wonderful shade of red. Jack had noticed the reaction more and more over the last few months, the way Hugh shifted when Jack came close, but not enough to actually reclaim his personal space. It was intriguing.
Jack put his mug down on the table, well away from the maps and documents, and reached across Hugh to pick up the file, brushing against the other man's shoulder as he did so.
"How many more of these do you have to go through?"
"Er…" The colour was in Hugh's cheeks now and he looked as though he wanted to reach up and adjust his tie. Instead, he coughed again. "Most of them. Some of the accounts are very vague."
"Do you need a hand?" Putting the file back down on the table, Jack moved closer, resting against the back of the chair so that he could lean closer to Hugh. He could almost feel the heat rolling off the man and he stamped hard on the urge to laugh.
"I think I can manage, sir," Hugh replied, his voice carefully controlled as Jack leaned further forwards, ostensibly to get a better look at the maps.
"If you're sure." The words were little more than a gentle murmur, but with his lips this closer to Hugh's ear, Jack didn't doubt that they'd been heard. It was possibly cruel and definitely unfair but so much fun that he couldn't seem to stop himself.
"Quite sure, thank you, sir." Something in the certainty of the tone made Jack turn his head. He caught a glimpse of a smile and a fractional nod before Hugh suddenly stood up, pushing the chair backwards, hard and fast. The back support slammed into Jack's midriff.
Or, to be strictly accurate, just below Jack's midriff.
It took a few moments for the world to return to colour and Jack spent them gripping the back of the chair and trying to breathe. When he finally managed to lift his head, Hugh was watching him, caught between amusement and concern, although it looked like amusement was winning out.
"Sorry, sir," he said calmly.
"It's fine," Jack gasped, waving a hand vaguely and trying to straighten up. "Not a problem."
"Would you like a glass of water?"
This time, Jack just nodded, still trying to clear some of the stars from the edges of his vision. As Hugh's footsteps retreated down the corridor, Jack spun the chair round and gingerly lowered himself onto it, blinking and wiping tears from his eyes as he did so. Well, that had been unexpected. Despite himself, Jack laughed. He'd been right.
This was going to be fun.