Fanfic - Sixty Minutes An Hour 2/4 [Torchwood: Jack/Ianto]
OMG, YOU GUYS. Seriously, y'all are awesome. I post Part One and go to sleep and wake up the next morning to 23 (now 29!) comments? First time I've had that many at once! I floated through work that day!
And because you're so very awesome, you get the next part way earlier than I'd originally intended. Enjoy! =D
Part One
“You can’t keep working on your own,” Ianto said, filling a bowl with warm water. Jack’s flat was almost exactly the same as when he’d last seen it, back in those terrifying first few days. At least that meant things were easy to find around the place.
“I know, I know,” Jack said, wincing as Ianto washed away the blood. “I’ve been looking, but I don’t like any of the people from UNIT. Too regimented, you know? I’m not building an army here. Or another Torchwood London. Definitely not taking anyone from there.”
“You really don’t like them, do you?” Ianto asked, carefully stitching together the long, deep gash down Jack’s arm.
Jack mumbled something indistinct. It didn’t sound flattering.
“Seriously,” Ianto said. “I’m beginning to think I should go into medicine instead.”
“You could leave it,” Jack said. “It’ll heal in a few days.”
“It’ll heal faster if we help it along,” Ianto said. “Now hush.”
Jack sighed and dropped his head onto his free arm.
“That’s a Weevil?” Ianto asked in fascination.
“Yeah,” Jack said, as the caged Weevil growled at them. “You see one on the streets, you run like hell. Got it?”
“See Weevil, run like hell,” Ianto repeated. “Quite clear, sir.”
“Good,” Jack said. “How did you convince me to bring you on a tour of the Hub?”
“You like me,” Ianto said. “Also, you’re the one who called to whine that you were bored and wanted company.”
“I don’t whine!”
“One more year till you’re legal to drink and have sex with a guy,” Jack said. “How does it feel?”
“Much like last year,” Ianto said, trying and failing not to blush. From the look on Jack’s face, that was the response he’d been hoping for.
“And here’s the important question,” Jack said. “Are you happy here?”
Ianto hesitated before answering. “Yes.”
“You’ve got a new employee, then?”
“Her name’s Suzie Costello,” Jack said. “Torchwood London were sniffing around her. I decided to see if she wanted to work for me instead.”
“Trying to steal new recruits from under One’s collective nose, I see,” Ianto commented. Jack crossed his eyes at Ianto, then laughed.
“They’re not really happy with me,” he confided, eyes sparkling with amusement.
“You’re a terrible person,” Ianto intoned solemnly. “What’s she like?”
“Suzie?” Jack asked. “Nice enough. Bit acerbic sometimes. Like she doesn’t really know how to get along with people. But she’s sweet, under that. Loves taking things apart, figuring out how they work.”
“Good fit for you then,” Ianto said.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Let’s hope anyone else I find is as good.”
“Two new recruits in one day,” Ianto observed. “You’re on a roll.”
Jack muttered something incomprehensible into Ianto’s neck. It had been a long and tiring day, and he was beyond grateful that Ianto had been able to come and stay over with him that night. It was already a fairly regular occurrence - Ianto came over to his place to study more often than not.
Ianto suspected his foster family thought he was seeing a girl and was humouring him in wanting to keep it secret, but he didn’t really care.
“Of course, sir,” Ianto said. “You’re absolutely brilliant and everyone wants to work for you. Who wouldn’t, with such a dashing leader as yourself?”
Jack bit Ianto’s neck.
“So David’s careening down the path with a pink lemur on his heels,” Jack said, gesticulating wildly. “Shrieking about how this is not what he signed up for, and he slips, slips, if you can believe it, on a muddy patch, and comes crashing down in a heap, and the lemur winds up catapulting straight into him. And you know what?”
“It was a friendly lemur?” Ianto guessed, his lips twitching in amusement.
“A very friendly lemur,” Jack said, waggling his eyebrows significantly.
“Oh, god!” Ianto exclaimed, starting to laugh.
“I think that’s what the lemur was saying, too,” Jack observed.
“Ianto.”
Ianto bit his lip. “What happened?” he asked quietly.
“Pamela…”
“Want me to come over?” Ianto asked.
“Please.”
“How’s the exam prep coming along?”
Ianto looked up from his books and blearily gave Jack the finger.
“Maybe next year,” Jack said, and vanished into his bedroom.
It took a while for Ianto to register the words. It took much longer for the blush to fade.
“Eighteen years old.”
“Technically, the Amendment they passed last year means that I’ve been old enough for sex with a guy for two years now,” Ianto said. “Before you say it.”
“I would never have said such a thing,” Jack declaimed. Ianto gave him a thoroughly disbelieving look. “Maybe I’d have implied it,” Jack amended. “Subtly.”
“You’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer, sir,” Ianto said.
“You wound me, my Ianto,” Jack sighed. “So, what are your plans?”
“Astrophysics at Cardiff University,” Ianto said. “If only so you can tell me how wrong they all are.”
Jack smirked into his drink.
“I was vacillating between that, law, and a joint honours in physics and chemistry, actually,” Ianto admitted. “This one won out in the pros and cons list. Maybe at some later point I’ll go back and do another degree, if I’m still interested.”
“Good luck,” Jack said. “It’s going to be hard.”
“It’s interesting,” Ianto said. “Good enough for me.”
“I have an important question for you now,” Jack said.
“Yes?”
“You’re eighteen. Why have you not had a girlfriend or boyfriend yet?”
Ianto coloured slowly. “There was that girl when I was, what, fifteen?”
“She doesn’t count,” Jack insisted, sidling closer to Ianto on the sofa. “She decided on her own that you were her boyfriend, right?”
“Maybe,” Ianto mumbled.
“And since then?” Jack pressed. “Any others?”
“No?” Ianto hazarded, taking a quick gulp of his beer.
“You don’t sound very certain,” Jack said.
“I haven’t been interested,” Ianto said.
“Why not?” Jack asked, rubbing slow, soothing circles on Ianto’s knee. It didn’t feel flirtatious. Maybe there was a point to this after all. Maybe Jack had seen what Ianto had been trying so hard not to reveal. Ianto closed his eyes, suddenly feeling like he wanted to cry.
“Because as much as I try and fit in,” he said softly. “I keep feeling like I don’t. Like I’m always on the outside watching.”
“Planning on living in the dorms?”
“Yep,” Ianto said. “Getting a job, too.”
“I thought your fosterers wanted to pay for it?” Jack asked, leaning in the doorway and watching as Ianto tried to figure out if the blue shirt he was holding was his or Jack’s.
“They are,” Ianto said. “They’re paying the school fees, anyway. I’d rather have my own spending money than ask them for it, though.”
“Fair enough,” Jack said. “When I was your age, I left home to go join the Time Agency.”
Ianto paused in his folding. “You sound like someone saying they ran away to join the circus,” he said darkly.
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Jack said. “Either one.”
“Ever find out…”
“No,” Jack said. “I spent a long time looking, back in the 1920s and again when I found you. Never found anything to go on.”
“Pity,” Ianto said, continuing to pack. “When did half my clothes end up here?”
“When you started spending half your time here,” Jack said.
Ianto froze momentarily. “I didn’t realise,” he said. “I’m sorry, I -”
“I like having you here,” Jack interrupted, walking over. He knelt behind Ianto, one leg on either side of his body, bringing his arms loosely around Ianto’s waist. Ianto froze again, for entirely different reasons. “So don’t go stay in the dorms.”
“What?” Ianto managed.
“Live here,” Jack said. “You like it here, don’t you?”
Ianto somehow found the wherewithal to nod.
“Stay here with me,” Jack said. “No rent, no bills.”
“Are you asking me to be your boy-toy?” Ianto asked, smiling as he absently folded another shirt.
“Are you volunteering?” Jack retorted. “Look, go in halves with the food and utilities, if you want. But there’s nothing else to pay on this place. Stay with me.”
Ianto placed the folded shirt in his suitcase, then let his head drop backwards, onto Jack’s shoulder. “How,” he asked plaintively, “am I going to explain this to my family?”
“Torchwood Cardiff is back up to four members,” Jack announced.
“That’s nice,” Ianto said, from his upside-down perch on the sofa.
“I hired a girl called Allison Blaine yesterday,” Jack continued, shucking his coat and unclipping his gun, tucking it away in its safe-box. “Stole her from the police. Really sweet girl. And legs up to here.”
“Mm-hmm,” Ianto said. That explained why Jack had stayed overnight at the Hub yesterday. There was always a lot of paperwork involved in an immediate transfer of a new employee, especially one coming from a government organisation. Which in turn meant that Jack probably hadn’t eaten since at least lunch yesterday. “There’s stew in the oven.”
“You’re a god,” Jack proclaimed, immediately heading to the kitchen to dig it out. “So Allison, today, first day on the job, she finds herself a Hoix. In the supermarket.”
Ianto slowly peered over the edge of his book. “Oh, dear.”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “I don’t think Torchwood can quite reimburse the entire contents of the baking goods, dry foods and biscuits and snacks aisles. Not to mention the bullet damage. Think we can blame it on terrorists?”
“Food terrorists,” Ianto said, smirking as he vanished behind his book again. “Taking over the world, one doughnut at a time.”
“That’s the cops,” Jack said.
“Tell that to Allison,” Ianto sang, and didn’t mind when Jack flung himself on him, knocked them both off the sofa and onto the carpet, and tickled him into submission.
“And James seems to think that groping my arse constitutes flirting! I swear, one of these days I will lose patience with him and then I will break his nose.”
Jack thought he might be getting dizzy from watching Ianto pace. “Hey, come here,” he said, patting the sofa in front of him. Ianto glared, but obediently came over anyway. Jack swallowed hard at the thought of that compliance being put to use elsewhere, and reached out to dim the lights.
“Stupid question,” Jack said, pulling Ianto up against his chest and holding him there. With his free hand, he began rubbing soothing circles into Ianto’s chest. “Have you told him you’re not interested?”
“Multiple times in multiple ways,” Ianto said, beginning to relax against his will. “Mabel’s told him to knock it off too, but it’s like he’s got selective deafness or something.”
“Want me to go beat him up for you?” Jack asked.
“No,” Ianto sighed. “You’ll get in trouble.”
“I’m Torchwood,” Jack said. “They can’t touch me.”
“Still,” Ianto said, leaning back comfortably in Jack’s arms. “… Well. Maybe if he gives it another go.”
Jack kissed the top of Ianto’s ear. “Tell me if he tries anything again,” he said.
Ianto smiled into the darkness.
“What the hell happened to you?!”
“You should see the other guy.”
Jack growled under his breath and pointed imperiously at the kitchen table. “Sit,” he barked, getting out the first-aid kit.
“It’s just grazes,” Ianto said. “Bruised a bit. Nothing else.”
“What happened,” Jack bit out. Despite the anger in his words, his hands were gentle as he checked over Ianto’s scraped knuckles.
“James,” Ianto said. “I may have, uh, punched him after all.”
Jack paused in his ministrations, then looked up at Ianto, trying to figure out if he was serious. The mildly sheepish look on Ianto’s face was enough to convince him.
“Want to learn how to fight properly?” he asked, returning his attention to the wounds.
“I’m pretty sure most parents tell their kids not to fight,” Ianto said tentatively.
“Do you see me as a father?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Not at all,” Ianto said.
“Good,” Jack said. “Because paternal is the last thing I feel towards you.”
Somewhere along the way, Ianto learned how to care for a gun. Without ever firing one, he became as fast as Jack when disassembling or reassembling a variety of handguns. When he turned nineteen, Jack brought him into the Hub (having already given his team the day off) and taught him how to use one. They spent the entire day down on the range. Once Ianto got the hang of the guns (he liked the Beretta best), Jack upped the ante by trying to distract him as he fired.
Ianto thought the hands on his hips and hot breath in his ear were playing dirty. Fortunately, he’d grown rather inured to Jack’s constant physicality and flirtatiousness, and was therefore able to tune him out fairly well.
Jack seemed disappointed.
They finished off the day with dinner at their usual French restaurant. Jack kept up the unusually high level of flirting, even without the excuse of teaching Ianto to focus on his shooting. Ianto wondered what he was meant to make of that.
Ianto stared in wide-eyed horror as Jack came in through the front door.
“I’m fine,” Jack said.
“You’re -” Ianto repeated weakly.
“Are you going to faint?” Jack asked.
“Maybe,” Ianto said. “After you explain why you look like you’ve been through an abattoir!”
Jack winced. “I’m not hurt, okay?”
“Prove it,” Ianto said. He wasn’t quite expecting Jack to start stripping in the middle of the living room, dropping his ripped clothes in a bloodied heap on the uncarpeted section of the floor. Jack stood there in his underwear, arms extended as if to say that he was unhurt.
“You do realise I can’t see your skin for all the blood,” Ianto said, trying to keep his voice level.
“Come on,” Jack said, and led the way into the bathroom. He stepped under a hot shower and let the water sluice away the blood, exposing unmarked skin. Ianto reached out without thinking, tracing the smooth skin with something akin to relief. The hot water beat down on both of them as Ianto moved closer, resting his head against Jack’s neck, feeling the pulse point throb steadily beneath his lips.
Jack held Ianto securely and they stayed there, one mostly-naked, the other in sleep-wear, until the water ran cold.
“Immortal.”
“Yeah. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Does your team know?”
“Nope. People tend not to take it too well.”
“Okay.”
“So… what do you think…?”
“About?”
“Me being immortal.”
“I’m trying to find a way to say I feel sorry for you without admitting I feel sorry for you.”
“Thanks.”
“For?”
“Understanding.”
They lost David. Jack fell into a kind of depression, and nothing Ianto did seemed to help. Finally, Jack vanished for a couple of nights and returned smelling like alcohol and cheap perfume. Ianto dumped him in the shower and took off for a walk of his own.
By the time he returned, he was feeling a little more in control of himself. Jack, in contrast, cut an absolutely pathetic figure as he lay curled up on the sofa.
“I thought you’d left,” Jack said quietly.
Ianto stood in front of him, watching him closely. “Just for a walk, to clear my mind,” he said after a while. “Do you feel any better?”
“No,” Jack said miserably.
“Then don’t do it again,” Ianto said. “Not when it doesn’t help.”
Jack, Ianto and Jac the dragon plushie shared a bed that night. It was comforting all around (though who knew what the plushie thought).
“Ianto? Oh, Iaaaaanto!”
“In here, sir.”
“I smell something really good,” Jack said, bouncing into the kitchen eagerly. “What is that?”
“Thought I’d shell out a bit of extra money,” Ianto said. “It’s supposedly a premium coffee blend. Tastes pretty amazing.”
“Can I have some?” Jack asked, giving Ianto his best puppy-dog eyes.
“There’s some in the carafe,” Ianto said, smiling. “It’s still hot.”
“Thanks!” Jack said, somehow managing to teleport himself to the coffee-maker. Ianto laughed as Jack tipped the coffee into his mug, then sniffed appreciatively. The first sip made him moan happily.
“Come make coffee for me every day,” Jack suggested.
“Be your coffee-boy?” Ianto asked.
“You’d be the coffee-boy of a secret alien-fighting organisation,” Jack said. “Where even our coffee-boys have higher clearance than most of the government.”
“You do realise you tell me plenty that I’m not supposed to know,” Ianto said, smiling.
Jack paused, considering that. “Oops,” he said finally, shrugging unrepentantly.
“I wouldn’t mind working for Torchwood,” Ianto said thoughtfully.
“What?” Jack asked, startled. “No, it was just a joke.”
“On your part,” Ianto said.
“Don’t,” Jack said firmly.
“Why not?”
“A Torchwood job is not conducive to a prolonged life expectancy,” Jack said. “And I’m selfish. I want you around a bit longer.”
Ianto’s insides squirmed happily. “Archival work,” he said. “Fairly safe, so long as the team doesn’t pass any hazardous material on to me. Or research. I’ve tipped you off to enough things already. You know I can do it, and I doubt a computer will try to eat me.”
“No, Ianto,” Jack said.
“Receptionist,” Ianto suggested, face completely straight. “Building maintenance. Food and drink. Dry-cleaning, even. Like a butler, I could be a butler.”
Jack was trying not to laugh, and failing. “No, Ianto,” he said again. “Although any time you want to mend my coat for me, I’ll not say no.”
“I do that anyway,” Ianto pointed out. “So I take it Torchwood will not be benefiting from my organisational abilities any time soon.”
“Nope,” Jack said. “But I’ll take the coffee. Seriously, we could take over the world with this stuff.”
“Or at least bribe your team into doing all their work on time,” Ianto said.
“Or that,” Jack said with a sigh. “I really need a proper computer tech.”
“You’ve needed one since Pamela died,” Ianto told him bluntly. “Maybe it’s time to go shopping again.”
“Tell you this, though,” Jack said. “I like having a small team. Don’t think I’ll ever go above… hm. Seven? Seven’s a good number.”
“If you say so,” Ianto said.
“So, coffee?” Jack said, waving his cup significantly. “Dastardly world-taking-over plans?”
“Sadly,” Ianto said. “That’s a blend that’s available in most gourmet supermarkets. Pay a little extra and anyone could make it.”
“Oh,” Jack said, pouting. “Well, it’s still good.”
“I’ve been kicking around the idea of trying to create my own blends,” Ianto admitted. “I know what types of beans I like, but I don’t know how good I’ll be at making a new blend. And I mean, how far back? Should I even do the roasting myself? Be rather tedious, I expect.”
“What would you need?” Jack asked.
“Doubt I’d have the patience to do the roasting,” Ianto said with a sigh. “I don’t know. A better coffee grinder, definitely, one that’ll last. And then I’ll have to do some shopping for various beans. We’ll see.”
The next morning, Jack found a travel flask of freshly-brewed coffee waiting for him on the kitchen table.
The morning after that, Ianto found a new coffee grinder sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Toshiko Sato?” Ianto asked. “Japanese, I presume?”
“Ethnically, though she’s an English citizen, and I think she regards herself as English,” Jack said. “Born in London, moved to Japan as a kid, moved back to London at eleven. Anyway, the important thing is that UNIT was holding her prisoner for treason.”
“I presume you had a reason for getting her out and hiring her,” Ianto said.
“Background,” Jack said. “Context is everything. Her mother had been kidnapped. It was either she built a weapon for these people, or they killed her mother.”
“Easy choice,” Ianto said.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “The really impressive thing is that she was working with faulty plans. She had to basically rebuild the entire thing from scratch so that it actually worked.”
“Quite the tech genius,” Ianto said. “And personality-wise?”
“You don’t live for ages in solitary confinement in a UNIT cell and not be affected by it,” Jack said. “Doesn’t help that I basically had to tell her she either stayed there or worked for me for five years - only way UNIT would release her to me was if they thought she was under my thumb. But she’s getting better. Really timid though. Never speaks her mind. Any ideas how to get her to open up?”
“Nothing really,” Ianto said. “Just be there for her. No doubt she sees you as a protector of sorts now, but one that could easily be snatched away. Or turn on her. Let her find her footing, and then she might open up some.”
“You’re graduating today,” Jack scolded. “A year early, even! Act a little more excited.”
“Hurray,” Ianto said flatly as Jack adjusted his collar for him.
“Play nicely and I’ll give you a reward when you get back,” Jack said.
“What sort of reward?” Ianto asked.
“What do you want?” Jack said, a sly smirk tugging at his mouth. “Could buy you something. Could clean up the house to your standards.” He leaned in, lips ghosting past Ianto’s cheek. His body was close enough for Ianto to feel the heat radiating off him. “Whatever you want, my Ianto.”
Ianto’s breath caught. It took a couple of tries for any sound to make it out of his throat. “You pick,” he said. “I’ll behave.”
Jack deliberately ran his tongue over his lower lip, holding Ianto’s eye. Then he kissed Ianto on the cheek and ushered him out the door.
It was tremendously disappointing when Ianto got the message that the Rift had flared up and Jack had had to go out.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m really not.”
“Your old professor wants you to join his research team?”
“He does indeed.”
“Doing all sorts of really intelligent things with people twice your age and knowledge?”
“Yes.”
“Because he thinks you can keep up fine?”
“Yes.”
Jack swept Ianto into a massive bear hug. “Congratulations,” he said, beaming.
“Thank you, sir,” Ianto said a tad breathlessly. “You can let go now.”
Jack loosened his grip fractionally. “You really are my little genius, aren’t you?” he said, nuzzling Ianto’s neck affectionately.
Ianto tried to remember how to work his voice. “I try my best,” he finally managed.
“Ianto?”
Ianto blinked and looked up. Jack was standing there in his bedroom doorway, looking unaccountably ruffled and shy.
“Yes, sir?” he asked.
Jack wrinkled his nose. “One of these days, you’ll tell me why you keep calling me that,” he said. “Couldn’t sleep. Are you busy?”
“Nope,” Ianto said. “As you might be able to see.” He squashed his somewhat worn dragon plushie closer as he held up the novel he was reading.
“Can I sleep in here tonight?” Jack asked hopefully.
“Sure,” Ianto said. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Jack said in a thoroughly unconvincing manner as he crawled under the covers next to Ianto.
“Of course not,” Ianto sighed. He reached over and tugged the covers up around Jack, resting a hand on the older man’s chest. “Is the light bothering you?”
“Nope,” Jack said, curling up so that his head was comfortably settled against Ianto’s side. Ianto tucked Jac the dragon between them, smiling as Jack immediately pulled the plushie in for a cuddle, eyes drooping shut.
Ianto read for a while longer, then finally turned out the light and went to sleep. When he woke up, Jac had been relegated to the other side of the bed and Jack was firmly wrapped around Ianto. Ianto considered their new positioning for a moment, decided it was too early to think, and went back to sleep in a comfortable haze of aniseed and cloves.
In his defence, he hadn’t expected anything of the sort to be happening when he walked into the living room. Actually, he hadn’t expected Jack to be home at all. Normally, he’d be in the Hub at that time, babysitting the Rift. With Suzie having taken an indefinite leave of absence (something about her father) they were a tad short-handed again, even with Jack having started Toshiko’s field-training.
Which all meant that Jack was not supposed to be home then.
“God,” Jack breathed, his hand twisting sharply, up, around. And then he cried, “Ianto!” as thick streams of white fluid splattered across his chest and belly.
Ianto attempted to get his brain working again. Sadly, all the blood-flow in his body appeared to have been diverted to between his legs.
Jack moaned Ianto’s name again as he milked his cock. When the shudders stopped, his eyes fluttered open in lazy contentment. Naturally, the first thing he saw was Ianto standing there, mouth open, eyes wide.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Please,” Ianto said, before he could censor himself. Jack blinked rapidly, once, twice, thrice, and then a slow smile started spreading across his face.
Ianto loved to have his belly stroked. He had hot-spots on the sides of his thighs, the back of his knees, the curve of his spine, the arch of his heels. He was ticklish round the sides of his ribs and didn’t like too much teasing there, but his nipples were extremely sensitive and he loved any kind of attention to his shoulders and neck. His cock was perfect and fit Jack’s mouth like they’d been made for each other.
He liked to be marked, and Jack liked leaving marks on that wonderful expanse of pale skin, so that worked out pretty well.
And one day soon, Jack decided, he’d have to find out exactly how that gorgeous, tight arse would feel around him. For now, he was more than happy to take things slow with his young lover.
Ianto spent the first half of his twenty-first birthday with his foster family. He spent the second half - and the entire night - in Jack’s bed.
He rather preferred the second half, even if his arse was pretty sore the next morning.
“His fiancée died?”
“Which would probably explain the attitude,” Jack said, tracing random patterns across Ianto’s belly. “I think he’ll work out eventually, though. Maybe once he stops getting falling-down drunk every other day.”
“I’m not sure I’d want a hung-over doctor anywhere near my injuries,” Ianto said.
“I’ll give him a month,” Jack said. “Let’s see if he shapes up by then. They think I don’t know, but Tosh has been covering for him a lot already.”
“But she’s not a doctor,” Ianto protested.
“Just very good at pretending to be one,” Jack laughed. “Don’t go sharing all this with anyone else, okay? I doubt Owen would want it known.”
“Of course not.”
“You’re getting all rich and sorts.”
“Says the person who draws unimaginable amounts of money every month,” Ianto retorted, not looking up from his papers.
“You’re getting rich by reading,” Jack said, putting Ianto’s bank statement down. “That’s not fair.”
“Yes, it is,” Ianto said. “You can scoff at this work all you like, but it’s via this that we’ll eventually get to your 51st Century tech, isn’t it?”
Jack paused, then came around to lean over the back of the sofa. “You know I don’t mean it, right?” he said. “When I make fun of the theories.”
“I know,” Ianto said.
“It’s just, I know some of these will be disproved soon,” Jack said.
“I know,” Ianto repeated, finally looking up from his work. “Really, Jack. I’m not bothered by it.”
“Okay,” Jack said. “Good. Because you’re amazingly smart and I don’t ever mean to make you feel like you’re not doing something important.”
“You don’t,” Ianto assured him. “Weren’t you supposed to have left half an hour ago?”
Jack left in a flurry of curses, most of which were in a language that Ianto suspected hadn’t been invented yet.
Suzie rejoined Torchwood after over a year’s absence from work. Jack was happy to have her back, but slightly less happy to realise that she and Owen almost immediately began a fling. Even if Owen had taken to having multiple one-night stands as a way of coping with losing Katie, having an affair with a co-worker was another matter altogether. Hopefully, it wouldn’t end too awkwardly.
It did. On the positive side, the awkwardness only lasted a few weeks, and then they eventually got back into their respective grooves. Suzie had slipped back into her old role as Jack’s second-in-command seamlessly, and the whole team seemed to get along fairly well.
Then Allison died, victim of a group of Weevils. At least she’d saved their intended target - a fifteen-year-old girl - and taken out two of them before the others had ripped her apart. Knowing she’d saved a life didn’t help Jack any as he picked up the pieces of her body and put them in a body bag.
This time, though, he got to go home to Ianto, got to cry on a non-judgemental shoulder, got to fall apart and be put back together again. He’d felt closer to Allison than he had to David, but somehow - somehow, it wasn’t as difficult pulling through after she died.
Ianto woke up to a warm mouth on his cock and talented fingers in his arse. Half an hour later, he’d come to the conclusion that it was possibly the best way of being woken up on his birthday that he’d ever come across. Pun completely intended.
Jack swiped Ianto’s come from his face and licked it off his fingers slowly, sprawling across the younger man. “Any plans for today?” he asked idly.
“Nothing much,” Ianto said breathlessly. “Might drop by to see the family.”
“Take you out to dinner, Rift permitting,” Jack said. “You have the day off today, right?”
“Yep,” Ianto said. “Call me whenever you’re free. And don’t worry if you’re not.” He smiled lazily down at Jack. “I’ve already gotten a pretty good present.”
“I was worried you wouldn’t like it,” Jack said, sitting up. He popped one of his fingers into his mouth and sucked it thoroughly, keeping his eyes locked on Ianto’s. “Seeing as you were asleep and all,” he added around his mouthful.
“I liked it,” Ianto said, eyes glazing over slightly as he watched. “I’m pretty sure I’d agree to anything you wanted to do.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Anything?” he asked.
Ianto dragged his eyes away from Jack’s mouth and fingers with difficulty, and realised exactly what sort of expression it was that Jack had just adopted. He had a feeling he might regret having said that.
“A collar?” Ianto asked, his throat feeling oddly tight.
“Only if you want to,” Jack said, the leather loop dangling from one finger.
“Why a collar?” Ianto asked. “You should know, I don’t do well with pain.”
“You moan,” Jack said with a lascivious grin. “I’m not going to hurt you, don’t worry. But you’re mine, aren’t you?”
Ianto looked at the collar. It was rather tasteful. He suspected that even if he were to wear it out casually, he wouldn’t get too many double-takes - it just looked like an edgier sort of choker. “All right.”
“Sure?” Jack said, stepping forward.
“Yes,” Ianto breathed. Jack reached up and fastened the collar around his neck with deft fingers. It was a little heavier than Ianto had expected, but not uncomfortably so. The inside was lined with some sort of fur which felt good against his skin. At least he knew it wouldn’t chafe.
“My Ianto,” Jack fairly purred, stepping back to take a good look. There was something beautifully obscene about the fact that Ianto wasn’t wearing anything other than the collar.
Ianto licked his lips, feeling anticipation pool in the base of his belly.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
21:35; 11/06/06
Rift flare way out in boondocks. Will be late home, sorry. xoxo
Sender:
Ianto
Received:
21:42; 11/06/06
Might go out with some of the TAs then. Won’t get pissed etc. Be careful.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
21:45; 11/06/06
Owen’s driving - never again. Have one on me. Keep the bed warm for when I’m back!
Sender:
Ianto
Received:
21:49; 11/06/06
Of course. You might like to know I’m wearing the collar.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
21:51; 11/06/06
Thought you’re at the uni? Don’t tell me you’re wearing it in the office? ;)
Sender:
Ianto
Received:
21:52; 11/06/06
I am. I have been. All day.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
22:36; 11/06/06
… Do you have any idea how difficult it is to run with a hard-on?
“Ten years to the day.”
“Does that make this our anniversary?” Ianto asked, thoroughly unsurprised when Jack’s arms came snaking around his waist.
“We could make it one,” Jack said, nibbling at Ianto’s shoulder. “Especially since it’s the only one I can remember. The day we met each other for the first time.”
“Distinctly platonic,” Ianto said.
“We’d need others too,” Jack said. “First time we kissed… with intent. First time we jerked off together. First time I fucked you.” He sighed wistfully. “First time you fucked me. I don’t remember the date, but I definitely remember what happened.”
“I was so bloody terrified I was going to hurt you,” Ianto snorted.
“You did very well indeed,” Jack purred. “But I’m always up for more practice.”
“I’m sure you are,” Ianto replied. “Seems like another life, sometimes. Four more years and I’ll have spent more time now than then. If that made sense.”
“Yeah,” Jack said.
“And in terms of what I really remember clearly,” Ianto said. “It’s already been more time now.”
“I know it was hard for you,” Jack said. “And still is, sometimes. But I’m really glad I found you.”
Ianto turned and kissed the end of Jack’s nose, smiling when Jack went cross-eyed trying to follow the movement. “Me too.”
“Well?” Ianto asked anxiously.
“Sorry,” Jack said. “Brain’s not working right now. Check back later.” He took another mouthful of coffee and sighed in bliss.
“Is that a good kind of not-working?” Ianto asked, and relaxed when Jack nodded dreamily. “Oh. All right then.”
“Sure you’re not plotting to take over the world?” Jack asked.
“One coffee at a time, sir.”
Jack grazed his teeth over Ianto’s right nipple, loving the way his young lover arched eagerly beneath him. He teased the nipple into a taut, pert nub, fingers dancing across Ianto’s shoulders. A long lick across his collarbone, tongue dipping into the hollow near his neck, and then teeth scraping over Ianto’s Adam’s apple. He hadn’t so much as touched Ianto’s cock yet and already his lover was completely hard.
Then his phone went off.
Ianto said something in Welsh. Jack had heard similar words directed at him enough times to know it wasn’t anything polite.
“Want to try something?” he asked conversationally, sitting up so that he was straddling Ianto. He reached out and casually unsnapped the restraints holding Ianto down.
“What?” Ianto asked.
“Don’t touch yourself,” Jack said. “No humping the bed… or anything else. Lie here and wait for me to get back. Think of what I’ll do to you when I’m back. And don’t come.”
Ianto’s breath was coming a little faster now. “I don’t know if I can.”
Jack kissed Ianto softly. “Try,” he said, and then grabbed his clothes and was gone.
Ianto held out until Jack got back, and completely unravelled in the next five minutes. It was some of the best sex he could remember ever having.
Work was going well, although Ianto found himself having to invent excuses to get away from the group whenever they started theorising about life on other planets. The urge to laugh was simply far too strong. He wasn’t really surprised when he was given a pay raise after his bi-yearly evaluation. He knew he did good work, even if sometimes he wanted to be able to work with alien tech in analysing the stars.
But it didn’t pay to dwell too long on what he couldn’t have.
He visited his foster family every week for Sunday dinners, just to touch base. He honestly didn’t feel as close to them as he suspected they hoped, but they were decent people and he was grateful to them for having taken him in. They all had generous hearts, and he felt privileged to know them.
It was at one of those Sunday dinners that Rhiannon announced that she was getting married. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. She and Johnny already had two children after all, and though neither of them had felt a need to marry at the time, they’d finally decided to settle down.
Ianto offered to help her pick out her wedding dress. Then he offered to make it. Rhiannon took up the second option, so they set aside a couple of days and went fabric shopping, and then a few more days for the fittings and the lot of it, and then Ianto carefully pieced together a beautiful gown for her (her father doing a whole heap of backseat sewing along the way).
She made a beautiful bride. Ianto watched her walk down the aisle on her father’s arm and came to the startling realisation that he genuinely loved these people. However different he felt from them, somewhere along the way he’d started caring for them.
That was something to think about.
Torchwood London went down in fire and smoke. Jack was there for weeks trying to sort things out. When he got back, he was tired, stressed and absolutely furious at what had almost been unleashed on the world.
“So many people dead,” he told Ianto. “And it could so easily have been worse. If it hadn’t been confined to the Tower, if it had spread out into the Docklands…”
Ianto wondered what it had been like inside. He didn’t think he wanted to know.
“Evening, sir,” Ianto said casually, phone pressed to his ear.
“Evening, Ianto,” Jack replied. “Something I can do for you?”
“Well,” Ianto said, eyeing the creature before him. It screeched, but thankfully seemed content to stay away from him. “That depends. Do you have a dinosaur net?”
“Another policewoman?” Ianto asked sceptically, clearing away the detritus of their meal. Jack seemed incapable of eating without spilling something, be it crumbs or sauce.
“Allison was all sorts of amazing,” Jack said, swirling his orange juice in his cup. “Hopefully, so is Ms Gwen Cooper. Besides, I could use someone to talk to the police for me.”
“You do have a gift for annoying people,” Ianto said, enough humour in his voice to take the sting out of the words.
“And yet you love me,” Jack said, grinning.
“Heaven only knows why,” Ianto mock-sighed, but didn’t deny it.
Part Three
And because you're so very awesome, you get the next part way earlier than I'd originally intended. Enjoy! =D
Part One
“You can’t keep working on your own,” Ianto said, filling a bowl with warm water. Jack’s flat was almost exactly the same as when he’d last seen it, back in those terrifying first few days. At least that meant things were easy to find around the place.
“I know, I know,” Jack said, wincing as Ianto washed away the blood. “I’ve been looking, but I don’t like any of the people from UNIT. Too regimented, you know? I’m not building an army here. Or another Torchwood London. Definitely not taking anyone from there.”
“You really don’t like them, do you?” Ianto asked, carefully stitching together the long, deep gash down Jack’s arm.
Jack mumbled something indistinct. It didn’t sound flattering.
“Seriously,” Ianto said. “I’m beginning to think I should go into medicine instead.”
“You could leave it,” Jack said. “It’ll heal in a few days.”
“It’ll heal faster if we help it along,” Ianto said. “Now hush.”
Jack sighed and dropped his head onto his free arm.
“That’s a Weevil?” Ianto asked in fascination.
“Yeah,” Jack said, as the caged Weevil growled at them. “You see one on the streets, you run like hell. Got it?”
“See Weevil, run like hell,” Ianto repeated. “Quite clear, sir.”
“Good,” Jack said. “How did you convince me to bring you on a tour of the Hub?”
“You like me,” Ianto said. “Also, you’re the one who called to whine that you were bored and wanted company.”
“I don’t whine!”
“One more year till you’re legal to drink and have sex with a guy,” Jack said. “How does it feel?”
“Much like last year,” Ianto said, trying and failing not to blush. From the look on Jack’s face, that was the response he’d been hoping for.
“And here’s the important question,” Jack said. “Are you happy here?”
Ianto hesitated before answering. “Yes.”
“You’ve got a new employee, then?”
“Her name’s Suzie Costello,” Jack said. “Torchwood London were sniffing around her. I decided to see if she wanted to work for me instead.”
“Trying to steal new recruits from under One’s collective nose, I see,” Ianto commented. Jack crossed his eyes at Ianto, then laughed.
“They’re not really happy with me,” he confided, eyes sparkling with amusement.
“You’re a terrible person,” Ianto intoned solemnly. “What’s she like?”
“Suzie?” Jack asked. “Nice enough. Bit acerbic sometimes. Like she doesn’t really know how to get along with people. But she’s sweet, under that. Loves taking things apart, figuring out how they work.”
“Good fit for you then,” Ianto said.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Let’s hope anyone else I find is as good.”
“Two new recruits in one day,” Ianto observed. “You’re on a roll.”
Jack muttered something incomprehensible into Ianto’s neck. It had been a long and tiring day, and he was beyond grateful that Ianto had been able to come and stay over with him that night. It was already a fairly regular occurrence - Ianto came over to his place to study more often than not.
Ianto suspected his foster family thought he was seeing a girl and was humouring him in wanting to keep it secret, but he didn’t really care.
“Of course, sir,” Ianto said. “You’re absolutely brilliant and everyone wants to work for you. Who wouldn’t, with such a dashing leader as yourself?”
Jack bit Ianto’s neck.
“So David’s careening down the path with a pink lemur on his heels,” Jack said, gesticulating wildly. “Shrieking about how this is not what he signed up for, and he slips, slips, if you can believe it, on a muddy patch, and comes crashing down in a heap, and the lemur winds up catapulting straight into him. And you know what?”
“It was a friendly lemur?” Ianto guessed, his lips twitching in amusement.
“A very friendly lemur,” Jack said, waggling his eyebrows significantly.
“Oh, god!” Ianto exclaimed, starting to laugh.
“I think that’s what the lemur was saying, too,” Jack observed.
“Ianto.”
Ianto bit his lip. “What happened?” he asked quietly.
“Pamela…”
“Want me to come over?” Ianto asked.
“Please.”
“How’s the exam prep coming along?”
Ianto looked up from his books and blearily gave Jack the finger.
“Maybe next year,” Jack said, and vanished into his bedroom.
It took a while for Ianto to register the words. It took much longer for the blush to fade.
“Eighteen years old.”
“Technically, the Amendment they passed last year means that I’ve been old enough for sex with a guy for two years now,” Ianto said. “Before you say it.”
“I would never have said such a thing,” Jack declaimed. Ianto gave him a thoroughly disbelieving look. “Maybe I’d have implied it,” Jack amended. “Subtly.”
“You’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer, sir,” Ianto said.
“You wound me, my Ianto,” Jack sighed. “So, what are your plans?”
“Astrophysics at Cardiff University,” Ianto said. “If only so you can tell me how wrong they all are.”
Jack smirked into his drink.
“I was vacillating between that, law, and a joint honours in physics and chemistry, actually,” Ianto admitted. “This one won out in the pros and cons list. Maybe at some later point I’ll go back and do another degree, if I’m still interested.”
“Good luck,” Jack said. “It’s going to be hard.”
“It’s interesting,” Ianto said. “Good enough for me.”
“I have an important question for you now,” Jack said.
“Yes?”
“You’re eighteen. Why have you not had a girlfriend or boyfriend yet?”
Ianto coloured slowly. “There was that girl when I was, what, fifteen?”
“She doesn’t count,” Jack insisted, sidling closer to Ianto on the sofa. “She decided on her own that you were her boyfriend, right?”
“Maybe,” Ianto mumbled.
“And since then?” Jack pressed. “Any others?”
“No?” Ianto hazarded, taking a quick gulp of his beer.
“You don’t sound very certain,” Jack said.
“I haven’t been interested,” Ianto said.
“Why not?” Jack asked, rubbing slow, soothing circles on Ianto’s knee. It didn’t feel flirtatious. Maybe there was a point to this after all. Maybe Jack had seen what Ianto had been trying so hard not to reveal. Ianto closed his eyes, suddenly feeling like he wanted to cry.
“Because as much as I try and fit in,” he said softly. “I keep feeling like I don’t. Like I’m always on the outside watching.”
“Planning on living in the dorms?”
“Yep,” Ianto said. “Getting a job, too.”
“I thought your fosterers wanted to pay for it?” Jack asked, leaning in the doorway and watching as Ianto tried to figure out if the blue shirt he was holding was his or Jack’s.
“They are,” Ianto said. “They’re paying the school fees, anyway. I’d rather have my own spending money than ask them for it, though.”
“Fair enough,” Jack said. “When I was your age, I left home to go join the Time Agency.”
Ianto paused in his folding. “You sound like someone saying they ran away to join the circus,” he said darkly.
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Jack said. “Either one.”
“Ever find out…”
“No,” Jack said. “I spent a long time looking, back in the 1920s and again when I found you. Never found anything to go on.”
“Pity,” Ianto said, continuing to pack. “When did half my clothes end up here?”
“When you started spending half your time here,” Jack said.
Ianto froze momentarily. “I didn’t realise,” he said. “I’m sorry, I -”
“I like having you here,” Jack interrupted, walking over. He knelt behind Ianto, one leg on either side of his body, bringing his arms loosely around Ianto’s waist. Ianto froze again, for entirely different reasons. “So don’t go stay in the dorms.”
“What?” Ianto managed.
“Live here,” Jack said. “You like it here, don’t you?”
Ianto somehow found the wherewithal to nod.
“Stay here with me,” Jack said. “No rent, no bills.”
“Are you asking me to be your boy-toy?” Ianto asked, smiling as he absently folded another shirt.
“Are you volunteering?” Jack retorted. “Look, go in halves with the food and utilities, if you want. But there’s nothing else to pay on this place. Stay with me.”
Ianto placed the folded shirt in his suitcase, then let his head drop backwards, onto Jack’s shoulder. “How,” he asked plaintively, “am I going to explain this to my family?”
“Torchwood Cardiff is back up to four members,” Jack announced.
“That’s nice,” Ianto said, from his upside-down perch on the sofa.
“I hired a girl called Allison Blaine yesterday,” Jack continued, shucking his coat and unclipping his gun, tucking it away in its safe-box. “Stole her from the police. Really sweet girl. And legs up to here.”
“Mm-hmm,” Ianto said. That explained why Jack had stayed overnight at the Hub yesterday. There was always a lot of paperwork involved in an immediate transfer of a new employee, especially one coming from a government organisation. Which in turn meant that Jack probably hadn’t eaten since at least lunch yesterday. “There’s stew in the oven.”
“You’re a god,” Jack proclaimed, immediately heading to the kitchen to dig it out. “So Allison, today, first day on the job, she finds herself a Hoix. In the supermarket.”
Ianto slowly peered over the edge of his book. “Oh, dear.”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “I don’t think Torchwood can quite reimburse the entire contents of the baking goods, dry foods and biscuits and snacks aisles. Not to mention the bullet damage. Think we can blame it on terrorists?”
“Food terrorists,” Ianto said, smirking as he vanished behind his book again. “Taking over the world, one doughnut at a time.”
“That’s the cops,” Jack said.
“Tell that to Allison,” Ianto sang, and didn’t mind when Jack flung himself on him, knocked them both off the sofa and onto the carpet, and tickled him into submission.
“And James seems to think that groping my arse constitutes flirting! I swear, one of these days I will lose patience with him and then I will break his nose.”
Jack thought he might be getting dizzy from watching Ianto pace. “Hey, come here,” he said, patting the sofa in front of him. Ianto glared, but obediently came over anyway. Jack swallowed hard at the thought of that compliance being put to use elsewhere, and reached out to dim the lights.
“Stupid question,” Jack said, pulling Ianto up against his chest and holding him there. With his free hand, he began rubbing soothing circles into Ianto’s chest. “Have you told him you’re not interested?”
“Multiple times in multiple ways,” Ianto said, beginning to relax against his will. “Mabel’s told him to knock it off too, but it’s like he’s got selective deafness or something.”
“Want me to go beat him up for you?” Jack asked.
“No,” Ianto sighed. “You’ll get in trouble.”
“I’m Torchwood,” Jack said. “They can’t touch me.”
“Still,” Ianto said, leaning back comfortably in Jack’s arms. “… Well. Maybe if he gives it another go.”
Jack kissed the top of Ianto’s ear. “Tell me if he tries anything again,” he said.
Ianto smiled into the darkness.
“What the hell happened to you?!”
“You should see the other guy.”
Jack growled under his breath and pointed imperiously at the kitchen table. “Sit,” he barked, getting out the first-aid kit.
“It’s just grazes,” Ianto said. “Bruised a bit. Nothing else.”
“What happened,” Jack bit out. Despite the anger in his words, his hands were gentle as he checked over Ianto’s scraped knuckles.
“James,” Ianto said. “I may have, uh, punched him after all.”
Jack paused in his ministrations, then looked up at Ianto, trying to figure out if he was serious. The mildly sheepish look on Ianto’s face was enough to convince him.
“Want to learn how to fight properly?” he asked, returning his attention to the wounds.
“I’m pretty sure most parents tell their kids not to fight,” Ianto said tentatively.
“Do you see me as a father?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Not at all,” Ianto said.
“Good,” Jack said. “Because paternal is the last thing I feel towards you.”
Somewhere along the way, Ianto learned how to care for a gun. Without ever firing one, he became as fast as Jack when disassembling or reassembling a variety of handguns. When he turned nineteen, Jack brought him into the Hub (having already given his team the day off) and taught him how to use one. They spent the entire day down on the range. Once Ianto got the hang of the guns (he liked the Beretta best), Jack upped the ante by trying to distract him as he fired.
Ianto thought the hands on his hips and hot breath in his ear were playing dirty. Fortunately, he’d grown rather inured to Jack’s constant physicality and flirtatiousness, and was therefore able to tune him out fairly well.
Jack seemed disappointed.
They finished off the day with dinner at their usual French restaurant. Jack kept up the unusually high level of flirting, even without the excuse of teaching Ianto to focus on his shooting. Ianto wondered what he was meant to make of that.
Ianto stared in wide-eyed horror as Jack came in through the front door.
“I’m fine,” Jack said.
“You’re -” Ianto repeated weakly.
“Are you going to faint?” Jack asked.
“Maybe,” Ianto said. “After you explain why you look like you’ve been through an abattoir!”
Jack winced. “I’m not hurt, okay?”
“Prove it,” Ianto said. He wasn’t quite expecting Jack to start stripping in the middle of the living room, dropping his ripped clothes in a bloodied heap on the uncarpeted section of the floor. Jack stood there in his underwear, arms extended as if to say that he was unhurt.
“You do realise I can’t see your skin for all the blood,” Ianto said, trying to keep his voice level.
“Come on,” Jack said, and led the way into the bathroom. He stepped under a hot shower and let the water sluice away the blood, exposing unmarked skin. Ianto reached out without thinking, tracing the smooth skin with something akin to relief. The hot water beat down on both of them as Ianto moved closer, resting his head against Jack’s neck, feeling the pulse point throb steadily beneath his lips.
Jack held Ianto securely and they stayed there, one mostly-naked, the other in sleep-wear, until the water ran cold.
“Immortal.”
“Yeah. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Does your team know?”
“Nope. People tend not to take it too well.”
“Okay.”
“So… what do you think…?”
“About?”
“Me being immortal.”
“I’m trying to find a way to say I feel sorry for you without admitting I feel sorry for you.”
“Thanks.”
“For?”
“Understanding.”
They lost David. Jack fell into a kind of depression, and nothing Ianto did seemed to help. Finally, Jack vanished for a couple of nights and returned smelling like alcohol and cheap perfume. Ianto dumped him in the shower and took off for a walk of his own.
By the time he returned, he was feeling a little more in control of himself. Jack, in contrast, cut an absolutely pathetic figure as he lay curled up on the sofa.
“I thought you’d left,” Jack said quietly.
Ianto stood in front of him, watching him closely. “Just for a walk, to clear my mind,” he said after a while. “Do you feel any better?”
“No,” Jack said miserably.
“Then don’t do it again,” Ianto said. “Not when it doesn’t help.”
Jack, Ianto and Jac the dragon plushie shared a bed that night. It was comforting all around (though who knew what the plushie thought).
“Ianto? Oh, Iaaaaanto!”
“In here, sir.”
“I smell something really good,” Jack said, bouncing into the kitchen eagerly. “What is that?”
“Thought I’d shell out a bit of extra money,” Ianto said. “It’s supposedly a premium coffee blend. Tastes pretty amazing.”
“Can I have some?” Jack asked, giving Ianto his best puppy-dog eyes.
“There’s some in the carafe,” Ianto said, smiling. “It’s still hot.”
“Thanks!” Jack said, somehow managing to teleport himself to the coffee-maker. Ianto laughed as Jack tipped the coffee into his mug, then sniffed appreciatively. The first sip made him moan happily.
“Come make coffee for me every day,” Jack suggested.
“Be your coffee-boy?” Ianto asked.
“You’d be the coffee-boy of a secret alien-fighting organisation,” Jack said. “Where even our coffee-boys have higher clearance than most of the government.”
“You do realise you tell me plenty that I’m not supposed to know,” Ianto said, smiling.
Jack paused, considering that. “Oops,” he said finally, shrugging unrepentantly.
“I wouldn’t mind working for Torchwood,” Ianto said thoughtfully.
“What?” Jack asked, startled. “No, it was just a joke.”
“On your part,” Ianto said.
“Don’t,” Jack said firmly.
“Why not?”
“A Torchwood job is not conducive to a prolonged life expectancy,” Jack said. “And I’m selfish. I want you around a bit longer.”
Ianto’s insides squirmed happily. “Archival work,” he said. “Fairly safe, so long as the team doesn’t pass any hazardous material on to me. Or research. I’ve tipped you off to enough things already. You know I can do it, and I doubt a computer will try to eat me.”
“No, Ianto,” Jack said.
“Receptionist,” Ianto suggested, face completely straight. “Building maintenance. Food and drink. Dry-cleaning, even. Like a butler, I could be a butler.”
Jack was trying not to laugh, and failing. “No, Ianto,” he said again. “Although any time you want to mend my coat for me, I’ll not say no.”
“I do that anyway,” Ianto pointed out. “So I take it Torchwood will not be benefiting from my organisational abilities any time soon.”
“Nope,” Jack said. “But I’ll take the coffee. Seriously, we could take over the world with this stuff.”
“Or at least bribe your team into doing all their work on time,” Ianto said.
“Or that,” Jack said with a sigh. “I really need a proper computer tech.”
“You’ve needed one since Pamela died,” Ianto told him bluntly. “Maybe it’s time to go shopping again.”
“Tell you this, though,” Jack said. “I like having a small team. Don’t think I’ll ever go above… hm. Seven? Seven’s a good number.”
“If you say so,” Ianto said.
“So, coffee?” Jack said, waving his cup significantly. “Dastardly world-taking-over plans?”
“Sadly,” Ianto said. “That’s a blend that’s available in most gourmet supermarkets. Pay a little extra and anyone could make it.”
“Oh,” Jack said, pouting. “Well, it’s still good.”
“I’ve been kicking around the idea of trying to create my own blends,” Ianto admitted. “I know what types of beans I like, but I don’t know how good I’ll be at making a new blend. And I mean, how far back? Should I even do the roasting myself? Be rather tedious, I expect.”
“What would you need?” Jack asked.
“Doubt I’d have the patience to do the roasting,” Ianto said with a sigh. “I don’t know. A better coffee grinder, definitely, one that’ll last. And then I’ll have to do some shopping for various beans. We’ll see.”
The next morning, Jack found a travel flask of freshly-brewed coffee waiting for him on the kitchen table.
The morning after that, Ianto found a new coffee grinder sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Toshiko Sato?” Ianto asked. “Japanese, I presume?”
“Ethnically, though she’s an English citizen, and I think she regards herself as English,” Jack said. “Born in London, moved to Japan as a kid, moved back to London at eleven. Anyway, the important thing is that UNIT was holding her prisoner for treason.”
“I presume you had a reason for getting her out and hiring her,” Ianto said.
“Background,” Jack said. “Context is everything. Her mother had been kidnapped. It was either she built a weapon for these people, or they killed her mother.”
“Easy choice,” Ianto said.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “The really impressive thing is that she was working with faulty plans. She had to basically rebuild the entire thing from scratch so that it actually worked.”
“Quite the tech genius,” Ianto said. “And personality-wise?”
“You don’t live for ages in solitary confinement in a UNIT cell and not be affected by it,” Jack said. “Doesn’t help that I basically had to tell her she either stayed there or worked for me for five years - only way UNIT would release her to me was if they thought she was under my thumb. But she’s getting better. Really timid though. Never speaks her mind. Any ideas how to get her to open up?”
“Nothing really,” Ianto said. “Just be there for her. No doubt she sees you as a protector of sorts now, but one that could easily be snatched away. Or turn on her. Let her find her footing, and then she might open up some.”
“You’re graduating today,” Jack scolded. “A year early, even! Act a little more excited.”
“Hurray,” Ianto said flatly as Jack adjusted his collar for him.
“Play nicely and I’ll give you a reward when you get back,” Jack said.
“What sort of reward?” Ianto asked.
“What do you want?” Jack said, a sly smirk tugging at his mouth. “Could buy you something. Could clean up the house to your standards.” He leaned in, lips ghosting past Ianto’s cheek. His body was close enough for Ianto to feel the heat radiating off him. “Whatever you want, my Ianto.”
Ianto’s breath caught. It took a couple of tries for any sound to make it out of his throat. “You pick,” he said. “I’ll behave.”
Jack deliberately ran his tongue over his lower lip, holding Ianto’s eye. Then he kissed Ianto on the cheek and ushered him out the door.
It was tremendously disappointing when Ianto got the message that the Rift had flared up and Jack had had to go out.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m really not.”
“Your old professor wants you to join his research team?”
“He does indeed.”
“Doing all sorts of really intelligent things with people twice your age and knowledge?”
“Yes.”
“Because he thinks you can keep up fine?”
“Yes.”
Jack swept Ianto into a massive bear hug. “Congratulations,” he said, beaming.
“Thank you, sir,” Ianto said a tad breathlessly. “You can let go now.”
Jack loosened his grip fractionally. “You really are my little genius, aren’t you?” he said, nuzzling Ianto’s neck affectionately.
Ianto tried to remember how to work his voice. “I try my best,” he finally managed.
“Ianto?”
Ianto blinked and looked up. Jack was standing there in his bedroom doorway, looking unaccountably ruffled and shy.
“Yes, sir?” he asked.
Jack wrinkled his nose. “One of these days, you’ll tell me why you keep calling me that,” he said. “Couldn’t sleep. Are you busy?”
“Nope,” Ianto said. “As you might be able to see.” He squashed his somewhat worn dragon plushie closer as he held up the novel he was reading.
“Can I sleep in here tonight?” Jack asked hopefully.
“Sure,” Ianto said. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Jack said in a thoroughly unconvincing manner as he crawled under the covers next to Ianto.
“Of course not,” Ianto sighed. He reached over and tugged the covers up around Jack, resting a hand on the older man’s chest. “Is the light bothering you?”
“Nope,” Jack said, curling up so that his head was comfortably settled against Ianto’s side. Ianto tucked Jac the dragon between them, smiling as Jack immediately pulled the plushie in for a cuddle, eyes drooping shut.
Ianto read for a while longer, then finally turned out the light and went to sleep. When he woke up, Jac had been relegated to the other side of the bed and Jack was firmly wrapped around Ianto. Ianto considered their new positioning for a moment, decided it was too early to think, and went back to sleep in a comfortable haze of aniseed and cloves.
In his defence, he hadn’t expected anything of the sort to be happening when he walked into the living room. Actually, he hadn’t expected Jack to be home at all. Normally, he’d be in the Hub at that time, babysitting the Rift. With Suzie having taken an indefinite leave of absence (something about her father) they were a tad short-handed again, even with Jack having started Toshiko’s field-training.
Which all meant that Jack was not supposed to be home then.
“God,” Jack breathed, his hand twisting sharply, up, around. And then he cried, “Ianto!” as thick streams of white fluid splattered across his chest and belly.
Ianto attempted to get his brain working again. Sadly, all the blood-flow in his body appeared to have been diverted to between his legs.
Jack moaned Ianto’s name again as he milked his cock. When the shudders stopped, his eyes fluttered open in lazy contentment. Naturally, the first thing he saw was Ianto standing there, mouth open, eyes wide.
“Oh, fuck.”
“Please,” Ianto said, before he could censor himself. Jack blinked rapidly, once, twice, thrice, and then a slow smile started spreading across his face.
Ianto loved to have his belly stroked. He had hot-spots on the sides of his thighs, the back of his knees, the curve of his spine, the arch of his heels. He was ticklish round the sides of his ribs and didn’t like too much teasing there, but his nipples were extremely sensitive and he loved any kind of attention to his shoulders and neck. His cock was perfect and fit Jack’s mouth like they’d been made for each other.
He liked to be marked, and Jack liked leaving marks on that wonderful expanse of pale skin, so that worked out pretty well.
And one day soon, Jack decided, he’d have to find out exactly how that gorgeous, tight arse would feel around him. For now, he was more than happy to take things slow with his young lover.
Ianto spent the first half of his twenty-first birthday with his foster family. He spent the second half - and the entire night - in Jack’s bed.
He rather preferred the second half, even if his arse was pretty sore the next morning.
“His fiancée died?”
“Which would probably explain the attitude,” Jack said, tracing random patterns across Ianto’s belly. “I think he’ll work out eventually, though. Maybe once he stops getting falling-down drunk every other day.”
“I’m not sure I’d want a hung-over doctor anywhere near my injuries,” Ianto said.
“I’ll give him a month,” Jack said. “Let’s see if he shapes up by then. They think I don’t know, but Tosh has been covering for him a lot already.”
“But she’s not a doctor,” Ianto protested.
“Just very good at pretending to be one,” Jack laughed. “Don’t go sharing all this with anyone else, okay? I doubt Owen would want it known.”
“Of course not.”
“You’re getting all rich and sorts.”
“Says the person who draws unimaginable amounts of money every month,” Ianto retorted, not looking up from his papers.
“You’re getting rich by reading,” Jack said, putting Ianto’s bank statement down. “That’s not fair.”
“Yes, it is,” Ianto said. “You can scoff at this work all you like, but it’s via this that we’ll eventually get to your 51st Century tech, isn’t it?”
Jack paused, then came around to lean over the back of the sofa. “You know I don’t mean it, right?” he said. “When I make fun of the theories.”
“I know,” Ianto said.
“It’s just, I know some of these will be disproved soon,” Jack said.
“I know,” Ianto repeated, finally looking up from his work. “Really, Jack. I’m not bothered by it.”
“Okay,” Jack said. “Good. Because you’re amazingly smart and I don’t ever mean to make you feel like you’re not doing something important.”
“You don’t,” Ianto assured him. “Weren’t you supposed to have left half an hour ago?”
Jack left in a flurry of curses, most of which were in a language that Ianto suspected hadn’t been invented yet.
Suzie rejoined Torchwood after over a year’s absence from work. Jack was happy to have her back, but slightly less happy to realise that she and Owen almost immediately began a fling. Even if Owen had taken to having multiple one-night stands as a way of coping with losing Katie, having an affair with a co-worker was another matter altogether. Hopefully, it wouldn’t end too awkwardly.
It did. On the positive side, the awkwardness only lasted a few weeks, and then they eventually got back into their respective grooves. Suzie had slipped back into her old role as Jack’s second-in-command seamlessly, and the whole team seemed to get along fairly well.
Then Allison died, victim of a group of Weevils. At least she’d saved their intended target - a fifteen-year-old girl - and taken out two of them before the others had ripped her apart. Knowing she’d saved a life didn’t help Jack any as he picked up the pieces of her body and put them in a body bag.
This time, though, he got to go home to Ianto, got to cry on a non-judgemental shoulder, got to fall apart and be put back together again. He’d felt closer to Allison than he had to David, but somehow - somehow, it wasn’t as difficult pulling through after she died.
Ianto woke up to a warm mouth on his cock and talented fingers in his arse. Half an hour later, he’d come to the conclusion that it was possibly the best way of being woken up on his birthday that he’d ever come across. Pun completely intended.
Jack swiped Ianto’s come from his face and licked it off his fingers slowly, sprawling across the younger man. “Any plans for today?” he asked idly.
“Nothing much,” Ianto said breathlessly. “Might drop by to see the family.”
“Take you out to dinner, Rift permitting,” Jack said. “You have the day off today, right?”
“Yep,” Ianto said. “Call me whenever you’re free. And don’t worry if you’re not.” He smiled lazily down at Jack. “I’ve already gotten a pretty good present.”
“I was worried you wouldn’t like it,” Jack said, sitting up. He popped one of his fingers into his mouth and sucked it thoroughly, keeping his eyes locked on Ianto’s. “Seeing as you were asleep and all,” he added around his mouthful.
“I liked it,” Ianto said, eyes glazing over slightly as he watched. “I’m pretty sure I’d agree to anything you wanted to do.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Anything?” he asked.
Ianto dragged his eyes away from Jack’s mouth and fingers with difficulty, and realised exactly what sort of expression it was that Jack had just adopted. He had a feeling he might regret having said that.
“A collar?” Ianto asked, his throat feeling oddly tight.
“Only if you want to,” Jack said, the leather loop dangling from one finger.
“Why a collar?” Ianto asked. “You should know, I don’t do well with pain.”
“You moan,” Jack said with a lascivious grin. “I’m not going to hurt you, don’t worry. But you’re mine, aren’t you?”
Ianto looked at the collar. It was rather tasteful. He suspected that even if he were to wear it out casually, he wouldn’t get too many double-takes - it just looked like an edgier sort of choker. “All right.”
“Sure?” Jack said, stepping forward.
“Yes,” Ianto breathed. Jack reached up and fastened the collar around his neck with deft fingers. It was a little heavier than Ianto had expected, but not uncomfortably so. The inside was lined with some sort of fur which felt good against his skin. At least he knew it wouldn’t chafe.
“My Ianto,” Jack fairly purred, stepping back to take a good look. There was something beautifully obscene about the fact that Ianto wasn’t wearing anything other than the collar.
Ianto licked his lips, feeling anticipation pool in the base of his belly.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
21:35; 11/06/06
Rift flare way out in boondocks. Will be late home, sorry. xoxo
Sender:
Ianto
Received:
21:42; 11/06/06
Might go out with some of the TAs then. Won’t get pissed etc. Be careful.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
21:45; 11/06/06
Owen’s driving - never again. Have one on me. Keep the bed warm for when I’m back!
Sender:
Ianto
Received:
21:49; 11/06/06
Of course. You might like to know I’m wearing the collar.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
21:51; 11/06/06
Thought you’re at the uni? Don’t tell me you’re wearing it in the office? ;)
Sender:
Ianto
Received:
21:52; 11/06/06
I am. I have been. All day.
Sender:
Jack
Received:
22:36; 11/06/06
… Do you have any idea how difficult it is to run with a hard-on?
“Ten years to the day.”
“Does that make this our anniversary?” Ianto asked, thoroughly unsurprised when Jack’s arms came snaking around his waist.
“We could make it one,” Jack said, nibbling at Ianto’s shoulder. “Especially since it’s the only one I can remember. The day we met each other for the first time.”
“Distinctly platonic,” Ianto said.
“We’d need others too,” Jack said. “First time we kissed… with intent. First time we jerked off together. First time I fucked you.” He sighed wistfully. “First time you fucked me. I don’t remember the date, but I definitely remember what happened.”
“I was so bloody terrified I was going to hurt you,” Ianto snorted.
“You did very well indeed,” Jack purred. “But I’m always up for more practice.”
“I’m sure you are,” Ianto replied. “Seems like another life, sometimes. Four more years and I’ll have spent more time now than then. If that made sense.”
“Yeah,” Jack said.
“And in terms of what I really remember clearly,” Ianto said. “It’s already been more time now.”
“I know it was hard for you,” Jack said. “And still is, sometimes. But I’m really glad I found you.”
Ianto turned and kissed the end of Jack’s nose, smiling when Jack went cross-eyed trying to follow the movement. “Me too.”
“Well?” Ianto asked anxiously.
“Sorry,” Jack said. “Brain’s not working right now. Check back later.” He took another mouthful of coffee and sighed in bliss.
“Is that a good kind of not-working?” Ianto asked, and relaxed when Jack nodded dreamily. “Oh. All right then.”
“Sure you’re not plotting to take over the world?” Jack asked.
“One coffee at a time, sir.”
Jack grazed his teeth over Ianto’s right nipple, loving the way his young lover arched eagerly beneath him. He teased the nipple into a taut, pert nub, fingers dancing across Ianto’s shoulders. A long lick across his collarbone, tongue dipping into the hollow near his neck, and then teeth scraping over Ianto’s Adam’s apple. He hadn’t so much as touched Ianto’s cock yet and already his lover was completely hard.
Then his phone went off.
Ianto said something in Welsh. Jack had heard similar words directed at him enough times to know it wasn’t anything polite.
“Want to try something?” he asked conversationally, sitting up so that he was straddling Ianto. He reached out and casually unsnapped the restraints holding Ianto down.
“What?” Ianto asked.
“Don’t touch yourself,” Jack said. “No humping the bed… or anything else. Lie here and wait for me to get back. Think of what I’ll do to you when I’m back. And don’t come.”
Ianto’s breath was coming a little faster now. “I don’t know if I can.”
Jack kissed Ianto softly. “Try,” he said, and then grabbed his clothes and was gone.
Ianto held out until Jack got back, and completely unravelled in the next five minutes. It was some of the best sex he could remember ever having.
Work was going well, although Ianto found himself having to invent excuses to get away from the group whenever they started theorising about life on other planets. The urge to laugh was simply far too strong. He wasn’t really surprised when he was given a pay raise after his bi-yearly evaluation. He knew he did good work, even if sometimes he wanted to be able to work with alien tech in analysing the stars.
But it didn’t pay to dwell too long on what he couldn’t have.
He visited his foster family every week for Sunday dinners, just to touch base. He honestly didn’t feel as close to them as he suspected they hoped, but they were decent people and he was grateful to them for having taken him in. They all had generous hearts, and he felt privileged to know them.
It was at one of those Sunday dinners that Rhiannon announced that she was getting married. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. She and Johnny already had two children after all, and though neither of them had felt a need to marry at the time, they’d finally decided to settle down.
Ianto offered to help her pick out her wedding dress. Then he offered to make it. Rhiannon took up the second option, so they set aside a couple of days and went fabric shopping, and then a few more days for the fittings and the lot of it, and then Ianto carefully pieced together a beautiful gown for her (her father doing a whole heap of backseat sewing along the way).
She made a beautiful bride. Ianto watched her walk down the aisle on her father’s arm and came to the startling realisation that he genuinely loved these people. However different he felt from them, somewhere along the way he’d started caring for them.
That was something to think about.
Torchwood London went down in fire and smoke. Jack was there for weeks trying to sort things out. When he got back, he was tired, stressed and absolutely furious at what had almost been unleashed on the world.
“So many people dead,” he told Ianto. “And it could so easily have been worse. If it hadn’t been confined to the Tower, if it had spread out into the Docklands…”
Ianto wondered what it had been like inside. He didn’t think he wanted to know.
“Evening, sir,” Ianto said casually, phone pressed to his ear.
“Evening, Ianto,” Jack replied. “Something I can do for you?”
“Well,” Ianto said, eyeing the creature before him. It screeched, but thankfully seemed content to stay away from him. “That depends. Do you have a dinosaur net?”
“Another policewoman?” Ianto asked sceptically, clearing away the detritus of their meal. Jack seemed incapable of eating without spilling something, be it crumbs or sauce.
“Allison was all sorts of amazing,” Jack said, swirling his orange juice in his cup. “Hopefully, so is Ms Gwen Cooper. Besides, I could use someone to talk to the police for me.”
“You do have a gift for annoying people,” Ianto said, enough humour in his voice to take the sting out of the words.
“And yet you love me,” Jack said, grinning.
“Heaven only knows why,” Ianto mock-sighed, but didn’t deny it.
Part Three