The Man Behind the Suit (1/2)

[iantojjackh]

Title: The Man Behind the Suit (1/2)
Author: iantojjackh
Summary: Set a week after Countrycide, Jack finally has a long overdue talk with Ianto to clear the air
Rating: M - It's Jack and Ianto, what else is expected of them
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto
Total Word Count: ~6k
Warnings: Angst, past childhood trauma
Spoilers: Cyberwoman & Countrycide
Disclaimer: See profile
Notes: I reworked an older story of mine that was a bit rough and made it pretty. There are some bits added or made clearer than before. And now it's split into two parts.

The Man Behind the Suit- Chapter 1

Two months had passed since Ianto returned after his four week suspension and it had been a week since the team almost became victims of the cannibalistic village and the tension was thick enough to taste. The renewed team closeness last about two days and things went back as they were, leaving Ianto to be the odd man out again. The Cinderella of Torchwood. Owen and Gwen played none other then the roles of the evil stepsisters.

The normally quiet archivist slash butler slash verbal punching bag was even quieter than before and only answered in one word sentences when ever possible.

It was nearing ten in the evening and not a creature was stirring, not even Myfanwy or a certain nocturnal captain. As usual, Ianto was stuck cleaning up the messes left behind. Messes that no one even attempted to clean up.

Ianto firmly believed that since returning from his suspension that Owen and Gwen were going out of their way to make his job and by extension, his life, as difficult as possible. That was all his life was now: this job. This job was now his penance for betraying those who put their trust in him. Tonight's punishment was to clean up the mess Owen conveniently forgot about after the autopsy of a Weevil that met a gruesome end in a fight with an unknown creature.

The mess was disgusting enough that Ianto had to remove his jacket, which now hung on the upper rails of the autopsy bay and roll up his sleeves. Occasional movement from Jack's office drew Ianto’s attention from the disgusting task at hand. Out of everyone, Jack's treatment hurt the most. He refused to even look at Ianto or utter one word to him unless absolutely necessary. Any orders either came through someone else or by electronic means. Before the incident with Lisa, Jack was the only one who did not treat him as some glorified butler and now he simply did not exist.

Ianto was almost finished cleaning when a hand grabbed his wrist. Knowing that only one other person was still in the hub did not stop the blue eyed Welshman from being startled. He looked at Jack's hand on his wrist and slowly shifted his gaze to his eyes. It was the first non-contempt look he had seen from any of his fellow Torchwood staff in a long while, the only exception being Tosh, but things with her were still strained.

"We need to talk," Jack said in his matter of fact way. His hand did not release the hold on Ianto's wrist just in case he tried to make a hasty exit.

"I don't believe either of us have anything to say, sir." Ianto refused to look at Jack in the face, scared to see if there was disappointment in his eyes.

"I've got plenty to say," replied Jack. And Ianto was going to listen whether he liked it or not. Ianto had made stubbornness an art form.

"I'm rather busy, sir. Perhaps some other time," Ianto tried to wrench his hand free to no avail. He felt everything that needed to be said had been said the night he killed Lisa.

"Drop the sir bit, Ianto. My office. Five minutes and don't think of leaving," Jack was tired of the silence even if he had ignored the Welshman too. Ianto was right when he said he cleaned up their shit and then questioned when the last time anyone asked him about his life. Reading a personnel file only gave limited insight into a person and Jack was going to dig beneath the surface to see what made Ianto Jones tick.

"Is that an order, sir?" Now Ianto was just being spiteful and made no attempt to hide his contempt.

"If you want it to be, then, yes, it is." Jack released Ianto's wrist and stood up. This was a far cry from the man who begged for a job and Jack sorely missed the Ianto he was then. The witty, sometimes sarcastic, banter was a think of the past. The flirting and sexual tension was dead and buried. What he wouldn't give to see Ianto wear those jeans that he wore the night they met.

Ianto waited until the last possible second, timing it on his stopwatch, to arrive at Jack's office and saw Jack was nowhere to be found and let out an annoyed sigh.

"And the attitude can go as well," Jack suddenly appeared behind Ianto, whispering the words against his ear. Jack wanted to see if was right about one of his suspicions concerning the young man. When Ianto's back stiffened and there was a slight change in his breath, Jack knew he was right. "You want to hate me, but you can't," his lips lightly brushed against the other man’s ear. The woodsy scent was distracting and it drew Jack in closer, tempting him to mark the unblemished neck as his. He was sure a complaint about harassing the staff was seconds away.

"You are so full of yourself," Ianto replied scathingly. He tried to move, but every muscle in his body was frozen. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and shivers travelled down his spine. Ianto tried to convince himself that this was a side effect of the fifty-first century pheromones Jack liked to boast about, but he was not entirely convinced they the only cause of the arousal he began to feel. The only other times he was this turned on by Jack was when he was on top of him in the warehouse and during weapons training when Jack's hands strayed too far from his hips.

Jack chuckled, "That may be true, but you know I'm also right." Finally, he let Ianto have some of his personal space back.

Ianto visibly gulped and closed his eyes, hating himself for the thoughts of Jack wearing his coat and only his coat as it flapped in the wind running through his head. He knew he should not be having these naughty but delicious thoughts. He should be hating Captain Jack Harkness for killing his beloved Lisa, but his heart won the battle with his head. The tension had been there since the beginning and some nights Ianto woke up in a cold sweat from dreams where he and Jack kissed and did things he was not sure to be humanly possible. "Bloody coat," he muttered randomly as it had been heavily featured in most of the dreams.

"Yes, blame my coat," Jack was amused by the random statement. "Just so you know, I always intended on giving you a job, but it was fun to watch you squirm and work for it. Plus, I can never resist a man who looked that GOOD in jeans."

"You bought me up here to comment on my arse in jeans? If that is all, I have to clean the mess Owen made." He knew Jack was up to something and Ianto was not in the mood for any Harkness games.

"I wasn't just talking about the back," Jack made no effort to hide the fact he was looking over every inch of the other man.

Ianto felt flustered as Jack had crossed several lines with his comment and lascivious look. His whole body turned a deep shade of red and was sure that any attempt to speak would come out as incoherent babble. The only option was for a quick retreat, but Ianto's feet refused to budge. "Stop looking at me like I am a piece of meat."

"The night is still young and I'm still hungry," Jack licked his lips in anticipation. His playful mood quickly turned to the serious. "Sit. Now," he pointed to the chair in front of his desk. Once Ianto complied, Jack moved between the chair and the desk. "I trusted you. More than anyone else here. I let you know things about me that I haven't shared with anyone else and you never once told me about Lisa."

"You never asked. None of you ever asked." Ianto's voice cracked.

"I thought I didn't have to. I thought you trusted me enough to tell me. I should have seen how much you were hurting," Jack reached out to rub a small bit of Weevil gunk off Ianto's cheek. Once he cleared the dirt, Jack's hand stilled, smiling as Ianto started to lean into his hand.

"And see where your arrogance got you," Ianto took a defiant tone, refusing to let his heart win the fight now. When his mind cleared from haze that Jack's touch caused, Ianto jerked his head away. "I never trusted you. I used you so I could have access to the hub to help Lisa." Ianto was sure Jack would be able to see through his lies, but hoped there was an off chance that he did not.

"Really now?" Jack leaned forward, putting his hands on the arms of Ianto's chair. Ianto's personal space was gone again. "I don't believe you. Let me tell you what I think. When you've been around as long as I have, you tend to pick up on a few things. What I think is that you hate yourself right now. Hate yourself because every part of you is screaming that you should hate me, but right now you want to do nothing more than kiss me."

Ianto's pulse quickened and sweat started to glisten on his brow. Heat spread through his whole body. Jack had perfectly nailed the situation and it infuriated Ianto even more. "What do you want from me, Jack? For me to beg for forgiveness? That's not going to happen. I don't want or need your forgiveness." Tears threatened to fall as Ianto tried to make sense of his emotions. Things were never simple when Jack was involved.

"Ianto. Sweet Ianto," Jack reached for the other man's hands. "There is nothing to forgive. I've done things in my past I regret. I'll admit I was a bit petty toward you after it all, but I was hurt. I shouldn't have treated you that way and I'm sorry."

"You just treated me like everyone else did." Ianto pretended it did not bother him because he was going behind their backs, but it hurt a lot. If any of them bothered to notice maybe they would have seen what was going on. Then again, he managed to fool Jack.

"That is going to change. I'll make sure of it; tonight, however, is all about you. I want to get to know the man behind the suit better. I can't imagine how hard it was on you when your mother walked out when you were ten. I'm sorry you had to go through that," Jack knew it was a painful place to start. He chose something that was not in Ianto's personnel file and took a little digging to find out. It was a calculated risk picking an extremely traumatic moment, knowing Ianto would either begin to open up or never speak to him again.

"Where did you learn that?" That day in his life had always felt like a mark of shame and Ianto never talked about it before. What child would admit that his mother did not love them enough to stay and he was the reason she left.

"It doesn't matter. Tell me what happened," Jack ran a hand through Ianto's dark hair and lightly massaged the scalp, trying to put him at ease.

Ianto bit his lip. He had never told this story to anyone, but Jack was as good a person to tell as any. He asked after all. "It was a week after my tenth birthday, my dad had just broken my leg and my sister was arrested for shoplifting. Rhiannon and I were fighting and she pushed me into a full bathtub. My cast was soaking wet and I started to scream like she was trying to kill me. She was threatening to push me in again. My mum, fed up with everything, slapped me across the face and yelled at me to stop being big sissy. I ran away and hid outside all night and when I came home the next morning mum was gone. For months after that my sister said it was my fault she left." It was almost cathartic to finally tell someone else the truth. The reaction from Jack was not what Ianto expected; a single tear rolled down his cheek and a sympathetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Ianto. I had no idea," Jack did not expected the story to be so horrid. He saw how it still haunted Ianto to this day. The Captain wanted to take the Welshman into his arms and make the pain disappear. That is exactly what Jack did, pulling Ianto out of the chair and into his arms. "I'm here now, and I'm not going to leave." First a tender kiss was placed against Ianto's temple and then Jack rested his face in the crook Ianto's neck, whispering encouraging and reassuring words.

Ianto's first reaction was to pull away. He tried at first, but did not take long for Ianto to find himself enjoying being in Jack's embrace. It had been too long since someone had been there for him. The feel of Jack's breath on his neck never made him feel so alive before. It was as if every inch of his skin was ablaze with an intensity never felt before, and Ianto realised that Jack Harkness had him hook, line and sinker.

Jack thought it was time to make a move and separated himself from Ianto. His fingers carefully studied the other's face, a smile growing wider as Jack memorised its contours. It was a face he could get used to waking up next to. Jack remained himself that it was too soon for those thoughts, not to mention inappropriate at the moment.

"If you are going to kiss me just do it already," Ianto growled. His breath became more ragged the longer Jack's skilful fingers studied his face. The fingers were rough and soft at the same time and he wanted to experience those hands on other parts of his body. The rational part of Ianto's brain had been beaten into submission by the rest of him. Kissing had better been what Jack had on his mind or Torchwood would be down its tea boy.

Normally Jack would have taken a kiss without permission. What harm could one little kiss cause? But with Ianto he wanted - no- he needed the permission. The ex-time agent was not sure what he felt for the sexy blue eyed man in front of him. Jack only knew it was different than anything before and it was why Ianto's betrayal hurt as much as it did. He had thought long and hard about the events of that night and knew it could have turned out differently if anyone stopped and asked instead of treating Ianto as the invisible man. Now was the time to make up for those times and treat Ianto like the amazing person he was.

At first the kiss was gentle, testing the waters through closed lips. It was only a matter of time before it became more heated as their tongues almost melted together. Jack reached behind himself and cleared off his desk. He could hear Ianto mentally scolding him about the mess. "I'll clean it later."

The kiss was broken only for a moment before it resumed, more passionate than before. Jack backed up so he sat on the edge of the desk, pulling Ianto with him. It was time for the real fun and dirty games to begin. The kisses heated up the hub as lips and hands explored places that they would not dare to with other people around. It did not take long for clothes to be removed and tossed about the office.

During the heat of the moment, Jack popped several buttons off of Ianto’s shirt and he heard the sound of displeasure from the neat man. "Sorry about that." Jack moved on, making Ianto's neck his next target.

"No, you're not," Ianto's voice rose several octaves as Jack's tongue flicked over the sensitive flesh. "Oh," he moaned loudly. Ianto had to hold onto something as he felt his knees start to buckle.

"You're right. I'm not sorry," Jack said with a wry grin and pushed Ianto against the wall. Their lips met and transformed into an elaborate tango that only ended when both needed to come up for air.

There was a smug smirk on Ianto's face that made Jack a bit nervous. That is when Ianto got his 'revenge' by ripping Jack's t-shirt off by exploiting a tiny hole already in he fabric.

"Whoops," Ianto said, pretending it was an accident. It was his turn to take charge and he pushed Jack against the desk, kissing him like it would be their last.

The battle for control waged on and made a mess of their clothes and the office. It looked like a bomb had gone off with paper and clothes scattered everywhere. Finally, the heated pair took the action down to Jack's sleeping quarters beneath his office and that was when the temperature went off the charts.

It was good that the hub was empty or else the other members of team Torchwood would think someone was being tortured, but they was sure some of the guests in the vaults and cells were getting an earful.

After several rounds of wild and downright kinky sex, Jack looked up at Ianto, who sat across his lap looking very sexy with his body glistening with sweat, his hair mussed and his blue eyes begging for more Jack.

"It's true what they say about the quiet ones, isn't it? Though you weren't very quiet." His hands rubbed Ianto's legs and slowly made his way up his sides. The skin was so soft and Jack felt like he could touch it until the end of time. Jack spent several minutes watching his fingers brush back and forth against the curve of Ianto's back, his smile growing wider by the second.

"Careful, some might consider that kind of touching harassment, sir." Ianto said with a half smirk as his own hands massaged Jack's chest.

Jack could only laugh as he raised an eyebrow. "This coming from someone sitting naked on my lap and touching me like that. I think tonight goes beyond any and all kinds of harassment," he slid his hands down the younger man's back one last time before cupping Ianto's buttocks and flipping him over so he was pinned beneath him.

Another hour later and one more round of innovative experimenting, as Jack had dubbed it, followed by a second round in Jack's office where their activities almost broken the captain's desk, Jack watched as Ianto slept peacefully. His fingers lightly carded through the younger man's hair and a huge smile spread across Jack's lips as he thought he could get used spending his nights like this. Before tonight Ianto seemed to be in tune with his every need and after tonight that skill extended into the bedroom. "Sweet and naughty dreams, sexy one." A quick kiss was placed on the sleeping man's forehead before Jack resumed watching the naked Welshman sleep.

However, the peace was shattered thirty minutes later when Ianto started thrashing in his sleep and screaming as if he was being tortured.

To be continued...