Fic: Boys will be Men
TITLE: Boys will be Men
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood and it's characters are property of the BBC.
RATING: PG
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Ianto/Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh
WORDS: 1300
SUMMARY: Rugby in the park sends Owen, Jack and Ianto spiralling back to infancy.
CHALLENGE: horizonssing Day 22:
I see that from these boys shall men of nothing
Stature by seedy shifting,
Or lame the air with leaping from its heats;
There from their hearts the dogdayed pulse
Of love and light bursts in their throats.
O see the pulse of summer in the ice.
Except from, "I See the Boys of Summer,"
by Dylan Thomas
“Jack out left!” Gwen called running down the right hand side of the small rugby pitch they’d made in the park with jumpers.
“Would you like me to draw an L and an R on your hands like I did for Jack, Gwen?” Ianto called across the pitch to her.
Gwen made a rather rude gesture in Ianto’s direction, Ianto smirking in return as Jack fumbled the ball, knocking it on before picking it up again.
“Knock on!” Owen called, pointing wildly at Jack and glancing imploringly at Tosh who was sat on the sidelines with her nose in her book.
“Ref!” Owen bellowed at her. Tosh just peered over the top of her book at him, a half questioning look on her face.
“Tosh, you’re supposed to be referring.” Owen complained, marching over to her, oblivious to the fact the game was still going on behind him. Gwen was holding on to Jack in what could only be described as a half hug as he dragged her along.
“Yes, but you neglected to tell me the rules of rugby so I can’t really referee can I?” Tosh asked, not bothering to wait for a reply before she was immersed back in The Book Thief.
Owen sighed rather over dramatically before he turned at the sound of a commotion behind him.
“Owen, a little help would be appreciated!” Ianto called from where he was buried underneath Gwen who was sat on him, and Jack who was busy trying to tickle him to get him to release the ball. Owen reanimated himself, running to Ianto’s aid, commenting as he went.
“And Harper tidies up the ball from Jones’ break for the line, dodging Cooper with the agility of a well seasoned winger, before,” Owen slammed the ball down over the line. “Touchdown!” He exclaimed before throwing his hands up in the air and doing a mini victory run back down the pitch to where Ianto was pulling himself to his feet.
“Wait, since when were we playing American football?” Jack asked in a confused voice as he pulled Ianto the rest of the way to his feet.
“We’re not, we’re playing rugby.” Ianto called as he went to retrieve the ball.
“So you say touchdown in rugby as well?”
“No,” Gwen sighed, panting slightly as she tried to catch her breath, retying her hair on top of her head. “Owen’s just being facetious.”
“Right, your kick off.” Ianto said as he handed the ball over to Gwen.
“Try not to get it in the pond this time Cooper, I don’t want to have to tell the park keepers that we’ve killed another duck.” Owen threatened, pointing the finger at Gwen.
“What do you mean another one?” Gwen asked indignantly.
“What do you mean you’ll have to tell them?” Ianto questioned, quirking his eyebrow.
“Right come on Gwen, we can take Laurel and Hardy!” Jack encouraged, loud enough for Owen and Ianto to hear as he snatched the ball from her grasp.
Jack kicked the ball up the field as Gwen ran after it, heading straight for Ianto. Ianto fumbled the ball so that it bounced back into Gwen’s arms, slipping underneath Ianto’s reach and straight into Owen’s waiting arms. He picked her up so she was slung over his shoulder, kicking and screaming.
“Owen! Put me down!” Gwen screamed, obliviously to Ianto who was now plucking the ball from Gwen’s hands and running back up the pitch to Owen and his try line. He was too busy laughing at Gwen’s distant scream though to notice Jack before it was too late.
Jack’s weight barrelled into the side of him, knocking the wind out of him as they tumbled body over body before Ianto came to rest underneath Jack.
“You ok?” Jack asked when they finally stopped, smiling down at Ianto.
“Slightly concussed.” Ianto admitted as he blinked black spots away.
“I can make that better.” Jack smirked, bending down to kiss Ianto firmly on the mouth.
“Oi! No kissing the opposition!” Owen complained as he appeared beside the two of them, trying to dig the ball out from between Jack and Ianto.
“Ref! Foul play!” Gwen called, looking helplessly over at Tosh who was now pretending she wasn’t with the rest of team Torchwood and had quite honestly never laid eyes on them in her life.
Owen finally freed the ball from between the two of them, ready to score the umpteenth try of the day before Jack’s hand caught his ankle, bringing him down to the ground before all three of them were fighting gallantly for the ball.
Gwen watched them for a moment, scrapping for the ball before she rolled her eyes and walked away, sitting down beside Tosh. She took the proffered water bottle and downed half of it as she squinted against the sun, watching as Jack held onto Owen with one arm while trying to lie across Ianto to stop him from getting to his feet.
“Can you believe those three save the world on a regular basis?” Gwen asked as she stretched out her legs and started to undo her trainers.
“It doesn’t seem likely does it.” Tosh commented, putting her book down to watch as Owen started pulling at Jack’s hair while Ianto tried to retrieve the ball from between Jack’s thighs.
“Do you think their mother’s ever thought they would amount to anything when they were growing up?” Gwen mused as she sipped on some more water.
“You mean apart from trouble?” Tosh giggled as Jack started resorting to dirty tactics, pulling on Ianto’s trousers so that he had to hang onto them with one hand while trying to scrabble for the ball with the other.
“Think we should break it up?” Gwen questioned, making no move to do anything of the sort, in fact she was secretly hoping Jack would succeed in pulling Ianto’s trousers down just to see how Ianto would react.
Tosh was all for letting the boys fight it out between them, but her PDA chose that moment to chirrup into life, announcing rift activity over the other side of town.
“Tosh please tell me that’s an e-mail from the local pet shop about a puppy delivery.” Gwen sighed, cringing slightly.
“If by pet shop you mean rift and by puppy you mean alien, then yes, that’s what it is.” Tosh nodded solemnly.
Gwen sighed again, pulling herself to her feet, as she crossed over to the boys still scrabbling about on the grass for the ball.
“We need to go.” Gwen announced, retrieving the ball before heading back over to Tosh who was gathering everything together. Owen, Jack and Ianto stopped fighting, immediately pulling themselves to their feet with a modicum of decorum.
As Gwen jogged to retrieve hers and Ianto’s jumpers at one end of the pitch she glanced back to the spot that the three boys had just vacated. She tragically saw the abandonment of childish pleasures and innocent fun. Walking away from it she saw men; damaged, accountable and undeniably holding the weight of the world on their shoulders. It made her stop, trying to choke back a sob.
She saw the kiss Jack pressed to Ianto’s hair though, the squeeze he gave to Owen’s shoulder and the bag that he took willingly from Toshiko to carry back to the hub and her faith in humanity was restored just a little.
“Come on Gwen!” Jack called back to her, and she couldn’t help but smile as she picked up her jumper, jogging to catch up with the rest of the team. Her heart swelled slightly when Ianto put his arm round her shoulders, a smile still on his face as Owen and Jack argued over who had won a match that had never been about the rugby to start with.
AUTHOR: Erin Giles
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood and it's characters are property of the BBC.
RATING: PG
PAIRINGS/CHARACTERS: Ianto/Jack, Gwen, Owen, Tosh
WORDS: 1300
SUMMARY: Rugby in the park sends Owen, Jack and Ianto spiralling back to infancy.
CHALLENGE: horizonssing Day 22:
I see that from these boys shall men of nothing
Stature by seedy shifting,
Or lame the air with leaping from its heats;
There from their hearts the dogdayed pulse
Of love and light bursts in their throats.
O see the pulse of summer in the ice.
Except from, "I See the Boys of Summer,"
by Dylan Thomas
“Jack out left!” Gwen called running down the right hand side of the small rugby pitch they’d made in the park with jumpers.
“Would you like me to draw an L and an R on your hands like I did for Jack, Gwen?” Ianto called across the pitch to her.
Gwen made a rather rude gesture in Ianto’s direction, Ianto smirking in return as Jack fumbled the ball, knocking it on before picking it up again.
“Knock on!” Owen called, pointing wildly at Jack and glancing imploringly at Tosh who was sat on the sidelines with her nose in her book.
“Ref!” Owen bellowed at her. Tosh just peered over the top of her book at him, a half questioning look on her face.
“Tosh, you’re supposed to be referring.” Owen complained, marching over to her, oblivious to the fact the game was still going on behind him. Gwen was holding on to Jack in what could only be described as a half hug as he dragged her along.
“Yes, but you neglected to tell me the rules of rugby so I can’t really referee can I?” Tosh asked, not bothering to wait for a reply before she was immersed back in The Book Thief.
Owen sighed rather over dramatically before he turned at the sound of a commotion behind him.
“Owen, a little help would be appreciated!” Ianto called from where he was buried underneath Gwen who was sat on him, and Jack who was busy trying to tickle him to get him to release the ball. Owen reanimated himself, running to Ianto’s aid, commenting as he went.
“And Harper tidies up the ball from Jones’ break for the line, dodging Cooper with the agility of a well seasoned winger, before,” Owen slammed the ball down over the line. “Touchdown!” He exclaimed before throwing his hands up in the air and doing a mini victory run back down the pitch to where Ianto was pulling himself to his feet.
“Wait, since when were we playing American football?” Jack asked in a confused voice as he pulled Ianto the rest of the way to his feet.
“We’re not, we’re playing rugby.” Ianto called as he went to retrieve the ball.
“So you say touchdown in rugby as well?”
“No,” Gwen sighed, panting slightly as she tried to catch her breath, retying her hair on top of her head. “Owen’s just being facetious.”
“Right, your kick off.” Ianto said as he handed the ball over to Gwen.
“Try not to get it in the pond this time Cooper, I don’t want to have to tell the park keepers that we’ve killed another duck.” Owen threatened, pointing the finger at Gwen.
“What do you mean another one?” Gwen asked indignantly.
“What do you mean you’ll have to tell them?” Ianto questioned, quirking his eyebrow.
“Right come on Gwen, we can take Laurel and Hardy!” Jack encouraged, loud enough for Owen and Ianto to hear as he snatched the ball from her grasp.
Jack kicked the ball up the field as Gwen ran after it, heading straight for Ianto. Ianto fumbled the ball so that it bounced back into Gwen’s arms, slipping underneath Ianto’s reach and straight into Owen’s waiting arms. He picked her up so she was slung over his shoulder, kicking and screaming.
“Owen! Put me down!” Gwen screamed, obliviously to Ianto who was now plucking the ball from Gwen’s hands and running back up the pitch to Owen and his try line. He was too busy laughing at Gwen’s distant scream though to notice Jack before it was too late.
Jack’s weight barrelled into the side of him, knocking the wind out of him as they tumbled body over body before Ianto came to rest underneath Jack.
“You ok?” Jack asked when they finally stopped, smiling down at Ianto.
“Slightly concussed.” Ianto admitted as he blinked black spots away.
“I can make that better.” Jack smirked, bending down to kiss Ianto firmly on the mouth.
“Oi! No kissing the opposition!” Owen complained as he appeared beside the two of them, trying to dig the ball out from between Jack and Ianto.
“Ref! Foul play!” Gwen called, looking helplessly over at Tosh who was now pretending she wasn’t with the rest of team Torchwood and had quite honestly never laid eyes on them in her life.
Owen finally freed the ball from between the two of them, ready to score the umpteenth try of the day before Jack’s hand caught his ankle, bringing him down to the ground before all three of them were fighting gallantly for the ball.
Gwen watched them for a moment, scrapping for the ball before she rolled her eyes and walked away, sitting down beside Tosh. She took the proffered water bottle and downed half of it as she squinted against the sun, watching as Jack held onto Owen with one arm while trying to lie across Ianto to stop him from getting to his feet.
“Can you believe those three save the world on a regular basis?” Gwen asked as she stretched out her legs and started to undo her trainers.
“It doesn’t seem likely does it.” Tosh commented, putting her book down to watch as Owen started pulling at Jack’s hair while Ianto tried to retrieve the ball from between Jack’s thighs.
“Do you think their mother’s ever thought they would amount to anything when they were growing up?” Gwen mused as she sipped on some more water.
“You mean apart from trouble?” Tosh giggled as Jack started resorting to dirty tactics, pulling on Ianto’s trousers so that he had to hang onto them with one hand while trying to scrabble for the ball with the other.
“Think we should break it up?” Gwen questioned, making no move to do anything of the sort, in fact she was secretly hoping Jack would succeed in pulling Ianto’s trousers down just to see how Ianto would react.
Tosh was all for letting the boys fight it out between them, but her PDA chose that moment to chirrup into life, announcing rift activity over the other side of town.
“Tosh please tell me that’s an e-mail from the local pet shop about a puppy delivery.” Gwen sighed, cringing slightly.
“If by pet shop you mean rift and by puppy you mean alien, then yes, that’s what it is.” Tosh nodded solemnly.
Gwen sighed again, pulling herself to her feet, as she crossed over to the boys still scrabbling about on the grass for the ball.
“We need to go.” Gwen announced, retrieving the ball before heading back over to Tosh who was gathering everything together. Owen, Jack and Ianto stopped fighting, immediately pulling themselves to their feet with a modicum of decorum.
As Gwen jogged to retrieve hers and Ianto’s jumpers at one end of the pitch she glanced back to the spot that the three boys had just vacated. She tragically saw the abandonment of childish pleasures and innocent fun. Walking away from it she saw men; damaged, accountable and undeniably holding the weight of the world on their shoulders. It made her stop, trying to choke back a sob.
She saw the kiss Jack pressed to Ianto’s hair though, the squeeze he gave to Owen’s shoulder and the bag that he took willingly from Toshiko to carry back to the hub and her faith in humanity was restored just a little.
“Come on Gwen!” Jack called back to her, and she couldn’t help but smile as she picked up her jumper, jogging to catch up with the rest of the team. Her heart swelled slightly when Ianto put his arm round her shoulders, a smile still on his face as Owen and Jack argued over who had won a match that had never been about the rugby to start with.