Hell of a Day
Still playing catch-up with these. Still, they're great little exercises, and have freed my brain up to plot out the next several IEIT installments, two of which are now officially in production. Funny how that works.
Title: Hell of a Day
Disclaimer: Being a bloke who likes to slash pretty men doesn't make me RTD, I don't work for the BBC, and as much as I might like to, I don't own Jack or Ianto or any part of Torchwood. I do, however, order pizza under that name on principle.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Notes/Summary: In which Jack basically deserves everything he gets. Written for the July 14 prompt at horizonssing.
"O summer day beside the joyous sea!
O summer day so wonderful and white,
So full of gladness and so full of pain!
Forever and forever shalt thou be
To some the gravestone of a dead delight,
To some the landmark of a new domain."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Captain Jack Harkness stood on the roof of the Wales Millennium Centre and watched over the Bay as if he owned it. In this light, and in this pose, he looked a little bit like a superhero.
Ianto Jones, meanwhile, looked like an office boy on a roof with his hands in his pockets.
Sometimes, he wondered how much of Jack’s demeanor was artifice. His attire, the way he spoke, and his flair for the dramatic made him stand out. Even private moments felt tinged with a certain calculated strangeness, though Ianto supposed some of that was just Jack being Jack. Time traveling immortals probably had to work harder at being normal than everybody else.
He watched as Jack rolled his shoulders and made a satisfied noise. Yep, definitely in Captain Jack mode. Any minute now, Ianto knew, he could expect some sort of cryptic aside, or maybe a bit of dramatic monologuing.
“Do you ever stop at the end of the day and think to yourself that the moment you’re in could be the only thing between the past and the future?” Jack asked, more to the panorama than anything else.
“Twice a year on the equinoxes,” Ianto answered without hesitating.
Jack gave him a surprised look. “Really?”
“No. Not really.”
“Oh.”
Ianto stepped closer to Jack, careful not to slip on the copper-colored sheet steel roof. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to disrupt your moment. It’s just been a hell of a day is all. I’m thinking less about narrative and more about whether or not I’ll see my bed tonight.”
“Still,” Jack said, his mood not quite spoiled. “it’s not every day you get to burn out a colony of Krynoids with flame throwers.”
“Or get arrested for arson by a pair of brand new constables, resulting in a major logistical cock-up,” Ianto pointed out.
“And then bailed out and taken back to the Hub in a haulage van.”
Ianto snickered. “Christ, the look on Rhys’s face, too. I thought he was going to knock your lights out.”
“It probably didn’t help that Andy was egging him on, either,” Jack grumbled.
Ianto turned back to face the Bay. He had to admit that the view from here really was gorgeous. “They never used to gang up on us like that. I think Gwen preferred it when they were working at cross-purposes.”
“Imagine that.” Jack shook his head.
“Like I said,” Ianto told him. “Hell of a day.”
Title: Hell of a Day
Disclaimer: Being a bloke who likes to slash pretty men doesn't make me RTD, I don't work for the BBC, and as much as I might like to, I don't own Jack or Ianto or any part of Torchwood. I do, however, order pizza under that name on principle.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Notes/Summary: In which Jack basically deserves everything he gets. Written for the July 14 prompt at horizonssing.
"O summer day beside the joyous sea!
O summer day so wonderful and white,
So full of gladness and so full of pain!
Forever and forever shalt thou be
To some the gravestone of a dead delight,
To some the landmark of a new domain."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Captain Jack Harkness stood on the roof of the Wales Millennium Centre and watched over the Bay as if he owned it. In this light, and in this pose, he looked a little bit like a superhero.
Ianto Jones, meanwhile, looked like an office boy on a roof with his hands in his pockets.
Sometimes, he wondered how much of Jack’s demeanor was artifice. His attire, the way he spoke, and his flair for the dramatic made him stand out. Even private moments felt tinged with a certain calculated strangeness, though Ianto supposed some of that was just Jack being Jack. Time traveling immortals probably had to work harder at being normal than everybody else.
He watched as Jack rolled his shoulders and made a satisfied noise. Yep, definitely in Captain Jack mode. Any minute now, Ianto knew, he could expect some sort of cryptic aside, or maybe a bit of dramatic monologuing.
“Do you ever stop at the end of the day and think to yourself that the moment you’re in could be the only thing between the past and the future?” Jack asked, more to the panorama than anything else.
“Twice a year on the equinoxes,” Ianto answered without hesitating.
Jack gave him a surprised look. “Really?”
“No. Not really.”
“Oh.”
Ianto stepped closer to Jack, careful not to slip on the copper-colored sheet steel roof. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to disrupt your moment. It’s just been a hell of a day is all. I’m thinking less about narrative and more about whether or not I’ll see my bed tonight.”
“Still,” Jack said, his mood not quite spoiled. “it’s not every day you get to burn out a colony of Krynoids with flame throwers.”
“Or get arrested for arson by a pair of brand new constables, resulting in a major logistical cock-up,” Ianto pointed out.
“And then bailed out and taken back to the Hub in a haulage van.”
Ianto snickered. “Christ, the look on Rhys’s face, too. I thought he was going to knock your lights out.”
“It probably didn’t help that Andy was egging him on, either,” Jack grumbled.
Ianto turned back to face the Bay. He had to admit that the view from here really was gorgeous. “They never used to gang up on us like that. I think Gwen preferred it when they were working at cross-purposes.”
“Imagine that.” Jack shook his head.
“Like I said,” Ianto told him. “Hell of a day.”