Okay, so I lied; I haven't gone just yet!
I just realised that I hadn't given chatai the Christmas present that I promised her. So here it is: Jack/Ianto fluff, as promised. I hope it ticks the right boxes for you, chatai and Merry Christmas!
Title: Rain Against the Window
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Rating: Oh, Lord, I think maybe NC-16? Strong fluff warning, though!
Spoilers: Only general, for first season.
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to RTD and to the BBC.
To say that it was raining would rank as the century's greatest understatement. Cardiff was currently the monsoon capital of the world and it was cold enough for the rain to be hovering on the verge of becoming sleet. Ianto had been out in it for nearly four hours, clearing up the latest mess the Team had left behind and despite his best efforts, he was wet right down to his skin and cold down to his bones. Some days the idea of being a normal librarian was tempting as hell.
He got back to the Hub to find it completely deserted and partially powered down. He had been conscious of a feeling of intense dissatisfaction when he had read the post-it that Jack had left on his computer. He was feeling sufficiently ill-used enough to wonder if the 'urgent business' was blonde, brunette or a redhead. He shook his head, irritated with himself. He'd never asked Jack to be exclusive to him, knowing that to do so would be tantamount to caging the man, and Jack had responded by being so discreet in his other liaisons that Ianto never became aware of them.
It would have been nice to have someone here to come back to, though.
Feeling ridiculously hard done by, Ianto focused his attention on getting his work done. The sooner he disposed of the remains, prepped the SUV and made a preliminary report, the sooner he would be able to go home and get out of his wet clothes. He had a spare set of clothing at the Hub, but he was likely to get wet again on the trip home so he decided against changing. He took off his coat and suit jacket and put them to dry, shrugging on the comfortable jacket he used when he was pottering around the inner recesses of the Archive.
The latest case wasn't anything out of the usual and he soon had things sorted out. He decided to do the report on his laptop since that meant he would be able to go home that little bit sooner. Jack still hadn't arrived back, so Ianto fed Janet, Cleopatra, and Myfanwy, powered down the Hub and set the alarms before leaving. As he got into his car, he sent Jack a text to remind him that he would need to type in the password before entering, before heading for his house.
The rain was still coming down relentlessly and Ianto shook his head slightly, wondering if it had anything to do with the Rift. Normally he didn't mind the rain - which was just as well, given his job - but this cold, almost vicious storm had been unrelenting for a couple of days now, and there were flood warnings in several places. As he drew up outside his house, Ianto decided that he would treat himself to a real fire tonight, as well as turn the heating on. There was something about the psychological boost an open fire gave you when the weather was generally foul.
Bracing himself, he got out of the Audi and made a dash for the front door. His hands were so cold, even after the short stint in the warmth of the car, that he had trouble getting the key in the lock and he practically fell in when the door finally gave way. He was so busy throwing off his wet coat and dragging off soaked shoes and socks that it actually took a few minutes for him to realise that there was light spilling into the hall from the living room and from the kitchen further along. He reached for his gun and made his way towards the latter room, ready for anything apart from the sight of Jack Harkness standing in front of the stove and stirring something in a large saucepan while he hummed softly to himself.
Ianto blinked, closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes, Jack was still there, large as life. He seemed to sense Ianto's presence because he looked over his shoulder and there was that grin that Ianto loved to see. Not the brash, 'hey, I'm the best thing that could ever happen to you' grin that he showed the world, but a gentler version that reached his eyes.
"You're wet," Jack observed.
Ianto relaxed and felt an answering smile crease his face. "Being out in the rain will do that to a person, sir," he replied gravely. He realised he was still holding the gun and turned to take it back into the hall, ejecting the clip as he went. "Don't take this the wrong way, Captain," he called out over his shoulder as he put the gun and clip into the hall sideboard's drawer, "but why are you here?" He turned around to find that Jack had followed him into the hallway and was now leaning against the wall.
"Well, it occurred to me - being the man of rare perception that I am - that it is raining very hard outside. It also occurred to me - because, as I said, I have this gift of insight - that you were out in said rain and no matter how supernatural you can seem at times, Mr Jones, you have come back, on occasions such as this, looking like the proverbial drowned rat. And since my intellect is often frighteningly acute, I also realised that if you came back to the Hub and I was there, I would have a cat in hell's chance of getting you to stop working long enough to tend to your needs. Whereas if I wasn't there, and you were on your own, common sense might manage a lightning blitzkrieg and get through to you the wisdom of coming home."
Ianto had been listening to Jack's solemn summation with a growing smile, but he suddenly shivered as his wet clothes clung to him and a vagrant draught from somewhere managed to find him. Jack broke off his teasing and frowned.
"Up those stairs, into a hot shower and then into some warm clothes, Ianto. I've got chicken soup heating, with fresh bread and some of that fancy cheese you like. I've also been very good and I haven't touched the coffee-maker, so you can get that panicked look off your face. Off you go."
"Yes, sir," Ianto said gravely before laughing and going upstairs.
The shower was pure heaven and even the knowledge that Jack was downstairs with hot food couldn't make Ianto hurry as he revelled in the hot water beating against his skin and gradually making him feel human again. He quickly washed himself down and dried himself before padding into his room and rooting out some jogging pants and a thick blue jumper. Drying his hair roughly and refusing to comb it, Ianto tossed the used towels into the laundry basket and went back downstairs.
"In here," Jack called from the living room. "I thought we'd eat in here for a change."
Ianto gave a sigh of appreciation when he saw that Jack had already built and lit a fire. Sitting down beside the Captain on one of the two-seater sofas, Ianto gratefully took the tray Jack gave him which had a large bowl of soup on it, plus a plate with chunks of buttered bread and some thick slices of Caerphilly.
"Thanks," he said warmly, smiling at Jack before he attacked the food with relish. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until he had smelt the soup.
Jack had his own serving and there was a pleasant silence while the two men ate their fill. Ianto was hungry enough to want a second helping and he started the percolator going while he was in the kitchen getting it. By the time he reluctantly decided that he actually was full, the coffee was ready and Ianto came back with two mugs after depositing the dishes in the sink.
"Aren't you going to do the washing up?" Jack asked in mock astonishment.
"It can keep until the morning," Ianto said with a yawn.
Jack chuckled. "I would love Owen and Gwen to see you at home," he said with a smile when Ianto raised an questioning eyebrow. "Owen is part-convinced that you suffer from OCD and Gwen muttered something once along the lines that you must live in such a neat house." He looked around in appreciation at the room, which while clean and dust-free, had a lived-in look that never failed to make him feel more relaxed.
"I'm neat at work," Ianto said with a dismissive gesture. "At home I relax. If Gwen and Owen can't work that out, they can keep their theories. I'm not likely to invite them around any time soon." He yawned again and shifted around until he was leaning against Jack.
"Oh, do make yourself comfortable," Jack said with a rumble of amusement building in his chest.
Ianto sighed happily. "I love it when you do that," he said as he sipped at his coffee.
"Do what?" Jack asked.
"Make that growl in your chest. Sounds nice."
"Then I shall make sure that I growl more often," Jack said in amusement. He sat where he was and drank his own coffee, enjoying the fire and the company. Moses appeared and settled on the rug in front of the fire, gradually stretching out until he was at full length, toasting his stomach against the warmth. "It must be nice to be a cat," he observed after he'd finished his coffee.
"Only if you have the right kind of human to take care of you," Ianto pointed out. "It can't be fun for an alley cat on a night like this."
"True," Jack conceded. "Take someone like me, for instance. I could be all along in that cold, empty Hub, but I was lucky enough to find someone to take me in."
Ianto twisted around slightly on the couch so he was looking up at him. "I always did have a soft spot for alley cats," he said with a small smirk.
"I prefer to think of myself as being the cat who walks by himself," Jack objected.
"Bit lonely," Ianto observed softly.
After a moment, Jack nodded. "Yeah, which is why I decided to find someone who would be willing to share a fire with me."
"But only on condition that they don't change you."
Jack slowly shook his head. "That might have been the plan at the beginning, but it's lonely as hell when you're walking by yourself and change can sometimes be an adventure in itself."
"I'm all for adventure," Ianto said before pushing himself up slightly to kiss Jack.
Jack half-closed his eyes as he lost himself in the kiss. Ianto was a damned good kisser at the best of times, but it was these kinds of kisses that Jack cherished the most. The unhurried ones, where Ianto savoured every slow, sensual moment of contact and somehow managed to promise more with one delicate swipe of his tongue than most people managed with a ten minute sales-pitch. When he broke off the kiss and pulled back slightly to give Jack a heavy-lidded look of desire, Jack quickly grabbed both mugs and deposited them on the floor before settling back into the sofa and opening his arms.
With a slow smile, Ianto settled into the curve of his body and they spent time kissing and caressing one another, taking their time and revelling in the steady rise of passion within themselves. They could hear the rain rattling against the window and the intermittent crackles and pops of the logs on the fire, but that was just background detail. Jack worked his hands underneath Ianto's jumper while Ianto carefully unbuttoned Jack's shirt, discovering with pleased delight that Jack wasn't wearing his usual t-shirt underneath. He bent to kiss and suckle at a nipple and Jack gave a hiss of pleasure and arched up against his mouth.
"Bed?" Jack suggested hoarsely.
"Bed," Ianto agreed with glittering eyes.
Jack watched in amusement as Ianto carefully positioned a fireguard in front of the fire before leaving the room, turning off the light and following Jack up the stairs. Ianto snapped on one of the smaller lamps before turning back to Jack. They stripped one another with the ease of long practice, although neither of them had become inured to the pleasure of seeing one another's bodies slowly being revealed. Ianto paused to worship Jack's shoulders, a particular kink that always left Jack shuddering with pleasure as Ianto found and nipped gently at the dip in his clavicle that Jack had never realised was an erogenous zone before Ianto had come along. Jack, in turn, had his revenge by using his tongue with diabolical zeal on Ianto's ears, reducing the Welshman to shudders of pleasure as he swirled around with his tongue and gently sucked at an earlobe.
It was sheer pleasure to slide under the sheets of Egyptian cotton; Ianto's sensual nature revealed by his choice of bed linen. Egyptian cotton for the sheets, pure wool for the blankets and satin for the comforter. It had surprised Jack that Ianto didn't use a duvet, preferring the weight and texture of old-fashioned bed clothes. Being in Ianto's bed always took Jack back to another time, adding another layer of pleasure to the experience.
They made slow and almost indolent love, tossing aside any need to dominate in favour of a mutual climb towards completion. Afterwards, Ianto reached over to grab at tissues for them to clean themselves and they settled back under the bedclothes and drifted off to sleep, lulled by the sound of rain against the window and the soft, slow tick of the grandfather clock outside on the landing. Tomorrow would be along soon enough, and would probably bring some disaster in its wake, but for now there was only the two of them, safe in one another's arms.
OOOO
Title: Rain Against the Window
Characters: Jack/Ianto
Rating: Oh, Lord, I think maybe NC-16? Strong fluff warning, though!
Spoilers: Only general, for first season.
Disclaimer: Not mine; they belong to RTD and to the BBC.
To say that it was raining would rank as the century's greatest understatement. Cardiff was currently the monsoon capital of the world and it was cold enough for the rain to be hovering on the verge of becoming sleet. Ianto had been out in it for nearly four hours, clearing up the latest mess the Team had left behind and despite his best efforts, he was wet right down to his skin and cold down to his bones. Some days the idea of being a normal librarian was tempting as hell.
He got back to the Hub to find it completely deserted and partially powered down. He had been conscious of a feeling of intense dissatisfaction when he had read the post-it that Jack had left on his computer. He was feeling sufficiently ill-used enough to wonder if the 'urgent business' was blonde, brunette or a redhead. He shook his head, irritated with himself. He'd never asked Jack to be exclusive to him, knowing that to do so would be tantamount to caging the man, and Jack had responded by being so discreet in his other liaisons that Ianto never became aware of them.
It would have been nice to have someone here to come back to, though.
Feeling ridiculously hard done by, Ianto focused his attention on getting his work done. The sooner he disposed of the remains, prepped the SUV and made a preliminary report, the sooner he would be able to go home and get out of his wet clothes. He had a spare set of clothing at the Hub, but he was likely to get wet again on the trip home so he decided against changing. He took off his coat and suit jacket and put them to dry, shrugging on the comfortable jacket he used when he was pottering around the inner recesses of the Archive.
The latest case wasn't anything out of the usual and he soon had things sorted out. He decided to do the report on his laptop since that meant he would be able to go home that little bit sooner. Jack still hadn't arrived back, so Ianto fed Janet, Cleopatra, and Myfanwy, powered down the Hub and set the alarms before leaving. As he got into his car, he sent Jack a text to remind him that he would need to type in the password before entering, before heading for his house.
The rain was still coming down relentlessly and Ianto shook his head slightly, wondering if it had anything to do with the Rift. Normally he didn't mind the rain - which was just as well, given his job - but this cold, almost vicious storm had been unrelenting for a couple of days now, and there were flood warnings in several places. As he drew up outside his house, Ianto decided that he would treat himself to a real fire tonight, as well as turn the heating on. There was something about the psychological boost an open fire gave you when the weather was generally foul.
Bracing himself, he got out of the Audi and made a dash for the front door. His hands were so cold, even after the short stint in the warmth of the car, that he had trouble getting the key in the lock and he practically fell in when the door finally gave way. He was so busy throwing off his wet coat and dragging off soaked shoes and socks that it actually took a few minutes for him to realise that there was light spilling into the hall from the living room and from the kitchen further along. He reached for his gun and made his way towards the latter room, ready for anything apart from the sight of Jack Harkness standing in front of the stove and stirring something in a large saucepan while he hummed softly to himself.
Ianto blinked, closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes, Jack was still there, large as life. He seemed to sense Ianto's presence because he looked over his shoulder and there was that grin that Ianto loved to see. Not the brash, 'hey, I'm the best thing that could ever happen to you' grin that he showed the world, but a gentler version that reached his eyes.
"You're wet," Jack observed.
Ianto relaxed and felt an answering smile crease his face. "Being out in the rain will do that to a person, sir," he replied gravely. He realised he was still holding the gun and turned to take it back into the hall, ejecting the clip as he went. "Don't take this the wrong way, Captain," he called out over his shoulder as he put the gun and clip into the hall sideboard's drawer, "but why are you here?" He turned around to find that Jack had followed him into the hallway and was now leaning against the wall.
"Well, it occurred to me - being the man of rare perception that I am - that it is raining very hard outside. It also occurred to me - because, as I said, I have this gift of insight - that you were out in said rain and no matter how supernatural you can seem at times, Mr Jones, you have come back, on occasions such as this, looking like the proverbial drowned rat. And since my intellect is often frighteningly acute, I also realised that if you came back to the Hub and I was there, I would have a cat in hell's chance of getting you to stop working long enough to tend to your needs. Whereas if I wasn't there, and you were on your own, common sense might manage a lightning blitzkrieg and get through to you the wisdom of coming home."
Ianto had been listening to Jack's solemn summation with a growing smile, but he suddenly shivered as his wet clothes clung to him and a vagrant draught from somewhere managed to find him. Jack broke off his teasing and frowned.
"Up those stairs, into a hot shower and then into some warm clothes, Ianto. I've got chicken soup heating, with fresh bread and some of that fancy cheese you like. I've also been very good and I haven't touched the coffee-maker, so you can get that panicked look off your face. Off you go."
"Yes, sir," Ianto said gravely before laughing and going upstairs.
The shower was pure heaven and even the knowledge that Jack was downstairs with hot food couldn't make Ianto hurry as he revelled in the hot water beating against his skin and gradually making him feel human again. He quickly washed himself down and dried himself before padding into his room and rooting out some jogging pants and a thick blue jumper. Drying his hair roughly and refusing to comb it, Ianto tossed the used towels into the laundry basket and went back downstairs.
"In here," Jack called from the living room. "I thought we'd eat in here for a change."
Ianto gave a sigh of appreciation when he saw that Jack had already built and lit a fire. Sitting down beside the Captain on one of the two-seater sofas, Ianto gratefully took the tray Jack gave him which had a large bowl of soup on it, plus a plate with chunks of buttered bread and some thick slices of Caerphilly.
"Thanks," he said warmly, smiling at Jack before he attacked the food with relish. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until he had smelt the soup.
Jack had his own serving and there was a pleasant silence while the two men ate their fill. Ianto was hungry enough to want a second helping and he started the percolator going while he was in the kitchen getting it. By the time he reluctantly decided that he actually was full, the coffee was ready and Ianto came back with two mugs after depositing the dishes in the sink.
"Aren't you going to do the washing up?" Jack asked in mock astonishment.
"It can keep until the morning," Ianto said with a yawn.
Jack chuckled. "I would love Owen and Gwen to see you at home," he said with a smile when Ianto raised an questioning eyebrow. "Owen is part-convinced that you suffer from OCD and Gwen muttered something once along the lines that you must live in such a neat house." He looked around in appreciation at the room, which while clean and dust-free, had a lived-in look that never failed to make him feel more relaxed.
"I'm neat at work," Ianto said with a dismissive gesture. "At home I relax. If Gwen and Owen can't work that out, they can keep their theories. I'm not likely to invite them around any time soon." He yawned again and shifted around until he was leaning against Jack.
"Oh, do make yourself comfortable," Jack said with a rumble of amusement building in his chest.
Ianto sighed happily. "I love it when you do that," he said as he sipped at his coffee.
"Do what?" Jack asked.
"Make that growl in your chest. Sounds nice."
"Then I shall make sure that I growl more often," Jack said in amusement. He sat where he was and drank his own coffee, enjoying the fire and the company. Moses appeared and settled on the rug in front of the fire, gradually stretching out until he was at full length, toasting his stomach against the warmth. "It must be nice to be a cat," he observed after he'd finished his coffee.
"Only if you have the right kind of human to take care of you," Ianto pointed out. "It can't be fun for an alley cat on a night like this."
"True," Jack conceded. "Take someone like me, for instance. I could be all along in that cold, empty Hub, but I was lucky enough to find someone to take me in."
Ianto twisted around slightly on the couch so he was looking up at him. "I always did have a soft spot for alley cats," he said with a small smirk.
"I prefer to think of myself as being the cat who walks by himself," Jack objected.
"Bit lonely," Ianto observed softly.
After a moment, Jack nodded. "Yeah, which is why I decided to find someone who would be willing to share a fire with me."
"But only on condition that they don't change you."
Jack slowly shook his head. "That might have been the plan at the beginning, but it's lonely as hell when you're walking by yourself and change can sometimes be an adventure in itself."
"I'm all for adventure," Ianto said before pushing himself up slightly to kiss Jack.
Jack half-closed his eyes as he lost himself in the kiss. Ianto was a damned good kisser at the best of times, but it was these kinds of kisses that Jack cherished the most. The unhurried ones, where Ianto savoured every slow, sensual moment of contact and somehow managed to promise more with one delicate swipe of his tongue than most people managed with a ten minute sales-pitch. When he broke off the kiss and pulled back slightly to give Jack a heavy-lidded look of desire, Jack quickly grabbed both mugs and deposited them on the floor before settling back into the sofa and opening his arms.
With a slow smile, Ianto settled into the curve of his body and they spent time kissing and caressing one another, taking their time and revelling in the steady rise of passion within themselves. They could hear the rain rattling against the window and the intermittent crackles and pops of the logs on the fire, but that was just background detail. Jack worked his hands underneath Ianto's jumper while Ianto carefully unbuttoned Jack's shirt, discovering with pleased delight that Jack wasn't wearing his usual t-shirt underneath. He bent to kiss and suckle at a nipple and Jack gave a hiss of pleasure and arched up against his mouth.
"Bed?" Jack suggested hoarsely.
"Bed," Ianto agreed with glittering eyes.
Jack watched in amusement as Ianto carefully positioned a fireguard in front of the fire before leaving the room, turning off the light and following Jack up the stairs. Ianto snapped on one of the smaller lamps before turning back to Jack. They stripped one another with the ease of long practice, although neither of them had become inured to the pleasure of seeing one another's bodies slowly being revealed. Ianto paused to worship Jack's shoulders, a particular kink that always left Jack shuddering with pleasure as Ianto found and nipped gently at the dip in his clavicle that Jack had never realised was an erogenous zone before Ianto had come along. Jack, in turn, had his revenge by using his tongue with diabolical zeal on Ianto's ears, reducing the Welshman to shudders of pleasure as he swirled around with his tongue and gently sucked at an earlobe.
It was sheer pleasure to slide under the sheets of Egyptian cotton; Ianto's sensual nature revealed by his choice of bed linen. Egyptian cotton for the sheets, pure wool for the blankets and satin for the comforter. It had surprised Jack that Ianto didn't use a duvet, preferring the weight and texture of old-fashioned bed clothes. Being in Ianto's bed always took Jack back to another time, adding another layer of pleasure to the experience.
They made slow and almost indolent love, tossing aside any need to dominate in favour of a mutual climb towards completion. Afterwards, Ianto reached over to grab at tissues for them to clean themselves and they settled back under the bedclothes and drifted off to sleep, lulled by the sound of rain against the window and the soft, slow tick of the grandfather clock outside on the landing. Tomorrow would be along soon enough, and would probably bring some disaster in its wake, but for now there was only the two of them, safe in one another's arms.
OOOO