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fictionalTitle: I Imagine You Now In That Other City
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto + [OFC]; cameos by the torchwood team
Authors:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rm & kalichan
Rating/Warning: NC-17, plot and porn. voyeurism. threesome [m/m/f]
Summary: For Ianto and Jack, two's company and three is an education. Takes place after 2x11: Adrift.
Wordcount: ~20, 200 [in three sections because LJ is stupid]
Authors' Notes: Hi! We have finally found a name for this arc: I Had No Idea I Had Been Traveling. Since we are now officially calling it an arc with a plan and all, we should note that there are several more stories to come including a story post-Exit Wounds, another one post-Journey's End and two more sequels that we don't want to divulge any more about at this time. You will also be seeing prequel pieces for both Jack and Ianto individually that will wrap the whole thing together. We are, believe it or not, going somewhere very specific here. Finally, not precisely part of this arc, but definitely in the same 'verse, we're apparently writing a fic about life on the Valiant, solely because we found the best title ever for it. Hope you enjoy the calm, such as it is, before the storm in this particular installment. Jack & Ianto don't know what's ahead. But you do... This is the fifth installment of I Had No Idea I Had Been Traveling.
Previous installments:
1. A Strange Fashion of Forsaking
2. Dear Captain, Last Night I Slept in Mutiny
3. To Learn This Holding and the Holding Back
4. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Loyalty, Jack reflected as he watched Gwen steadily burn all those missing people fliers, was a double edged sword. What he couldn't quite figure out, despite the years of research he'd put into the problem, was which edge it was better to slit your throat with.
Purely an academic question, of course.
Right.
Even if he did say so himself, he had been, it had to be noted, an excellent second in command. He did it well; thinking for himself when he had to, commanding the small missions but not the big picture, clever and quick on his feet, able to improvise when necessary (or even just for fun), pointing people in the right direction and making them follow him, but at the end of the day, really there in order to prop someone else up. Someone whose job it was to make the final decision, the hardest call. His job had always just been to execute. And, often, pick up the pieces that remained, put the C.O. back together and make sure they lived to fight another day.
Until Torchwood. His Torchwood. And the five souls that made it up, that he'd culled together out of the wreckage the universe had left of this beautiful, brilliant, broken lot. And now he was responsible, and oh, how he hated it.
Thing was, he thought, he knew it from both sides. What it meant to give your trust unshakably to one person, one idea -- and no matter what they did (abandoned you, despised you, disappointed you) you couldn't ever take it back. He got that -- and how much it hurt. He'd sworn he'd never do that to his people, if and when he ever got them back. He'd never let them go, never let them down, never not forgive them for what they couldn't help.
So why didn't he get to reap the rewards? Why did it all have to bite him in the ass coming and going? Sure they loved him -- but they didn't trust him. Not like that. Why didn't they ever fucking listen? Ever admit that maybe, just maybe, he might have some better fucking idea of what was good for them then they did. That he was just trying to make it easier, make it better.
Jack raged helplessly as he watched Gwen -- trying to hold her head up but the fight clearly beaten out of her -- make her way out of the Hub.
Did they think he wanted this? That he liked having to slap them down, or watch them make these ridiculous self-righteous mistakes that just caused so much damn pain? Did he really seem that inhuman? That much of a monster?
Jack ground his teeth, everything inside him rebelling at the idea.
And Ianto. Leaving out the fact that Ianto had smoothly managed to play him again (and while Jack admired that, it was really getting to be a bit much) he honestly couldn't believe that out of all the people in the world, Ianto had betrayed his confidence to decide that he knew best.
But what was he going to do about it?
Nothing. Fuck all. His hands were tied. You couldn't hold people back. They had to grow and change and do what they were going to do. Even if (when) it killed them. Not like it could kill him, he thought bitterly.
Sometimes he felt like a parent whose horde of teenagers were out joyriding -- all hormones and insanity and criminal recklessness -- as he sat there trying to keep hold of everything and slowly went mad from fear for their lives and well being, while at the same time trying to hold down the job of defending the goddamn earth for fuck's sake.
And who the fuck was he to be a parent anyway? He wasn't designed for this slamming on the brakes shit. Maybe he should cut them loose -- let them really have their heads for a while. Let them follow through on all their ideas and see where it got them.
He made his way back up to the office, sat down at his desk. He tried to read some reports Ianto had left for him and only stopped when he realized he'd read several pages without understanding a word.
Strolling to the glass window, he looked down at where Owen and Tosh were comforting themselves by playing video games. Owen claimed that post-death, video games were one of the few pleasures that remained unaltered.
Where was Ianto?
Jack scanned the floor looking for him, but he wasn't anywhere in sight.
Hiding, Jack thought. In the archives probably. Well, fuck that. He thought he knew best, he could fucking come out and deal with it. You wanted to play with the grown ups, Jack thought. Okay, Ianto, you're about to see the follow through. See what happens when you get what you want.
He went back to sit in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk before putting through the call. Might as well be relaxed while he put the screws on.
Ianto sat in the archives, cataloguing. It was mindless and dreary and exactly what he needed. Soothing even. He was re-ordering the whole system from an alphabetical system to an alpha-numeric one that took into account more alien geographical variables, and it was incredibly tedious but needed to be done.
Maybe not right now, but it did need to be done.
And at least it kept him from seeing the devastated look in Gwen's eyes.
Ianto swallowed. They'd really bollocksed it up this time, he thought, he and Gwen. But wasn't it better to know? How could they get along, really be a team if it was all this endless slew of secrets?
He'd tried to tell Jack that Gwen wasn't going to let it go, that he ran the risk of losing her completely if he didn't tell, and probably Tosh too, once she found out about it. For Jack, that'd be unacceptable. He didn't cut his losses. Not really, not ever.
But Jack hadn't listened, and he'd had to take matters into his own hands.
The phone rang, and Ianto looked down at it automatically, still lost in his thoughts.
Oh shit, he thought, seeing Jack's name blinking on the screen. It was time to pay the reckoning.
He thought about ignoring it, but then realized that would just make everything much worse.
Feeling his stomach begin to churn, he clicked the button.
"Hello?" he said faintly.
"Ianto," came Jack's voice through the speaker.
"What can I do for you, sir?"
"I don't know," Jack said, dangerously pleasant. "Your abilities seem limitless."
"Uh... yes. About that. If you'd just let me--"
"Save it," Jack said, cutting him off. "I don't really want to hear it."
"Oh," Ianto said.
There was a pause, and then Jack sighed.
"Okay," he said. "Tell me. What did you want to say?"
"I just wanted... look, you have to understand I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Neither did Gwen. But she wasn't going to let it go, Jack. I tried to tell you; we can't keep all this going if it's all built on lies and deceit and skeletons in the closet."
"Or in the basement?" Jack said blandly, before stopping and then saying, "Sorry."
"Yeah, and look how that turned out. Shouldn't we be learning from our mistakes?"
"I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone," Jack said. "But you did. Both of you. And not just other people. You hurt yourselves too."
"You can't save us from ourselves, Jack."
Jack laughed humourlessly. "Yeah. Getting that."
"Look, do you want me to come up there so we can have this out properly?" Ianto asked, a bit exasperated.
"Not really," Jack admitted. "I'm probably still pretty likely to just deck you."
"If that's what it takes," Ianto said dryly, "I'd rather get it over with."
"And reply in kind?"
"Of course, sir."
Jack snorted and then went silent.
"Sir?" Ianto asked.
"I really hate this. And I hate that you keep fucking playing me, Ianto. Not a good thing."
"I didn't play you, Jack," Ianto said viciously, annoyed by the expression and its petty hoodlum connotations. "Playing you would have been me ferreting out information for the express purpose of giving it to Gwen to get away with something that ideally you'd never even know about. I played you with Lisa. This time? I told Gwen something I already knew because you wouldn't listen. There's a big difference."
"Results are the same," Jack said, working to keep his temper.
"Really? And what are those?"
"You fucked over some people. She's miserable. You're miserable, and I'm furious."
"But I'm not worried you're going to shoot me this time, Jack," Ianto said quietly.
Jack sighed again. Ianto imagined him running a hand through his hair in exasperation.
"Fucking hell, Ianto."
"Can we go get a drink and sort this through?" Ianto asked, still not wanting to deal with it, but very aware Jack was in a mood that would make this not just odd, but pear-shaped if it were allowed to fester.
Jack thought for a moment. "No," he said brightly. "We're not going to do anything like that. But we are going to go get a drink."
"Jack?"
"I don't want to be fucking thinking about this. And I sure as hell don't want to waste two hours with us making the same points to each other and getting nowhere. You'll listen when you're ready to listen, Ianto. The same's probably true for me. So let's just get out of here and act like big boys, yeah?"
Ianto didn't like Jack giving up on anything, even on what was ultimately merely a petty argument; on the other hand, how normal. And they'd probably wind up talking about it anyway.
"And what's your definition of that, sir?" Ianto asked, unable really, to stop himself from taking the bait.
"Stop calling me sir," Jack snapped.
"Why?" Ianto asked
"Because you want to drive? You drive, Ianto. Plus, I seem to recall something about you picking me up a play thing."
Ianto swallowed. He'd be nervous under any circumstances, but this was a bad idea if Jack was in a mood. Jack certainly wasn't going to listen to reason though. He already knew that. That was the point, after all. So he could protest and get them into an even more pointless argument, or he could suck it up and manage it well.
"Two things, then."
"Yes?" Jack said, voice wary.
Ianto smiled. Good. "One. Don't even think about putting her in the middle of our shit."
"Fair," Jack agreed. "And two?"
"Your plaything, your errands. Go pick up some condoms. I've filing to do," Ianto said curtly and snapped his phone shut, only to find he was breathing hard and terrified. But he could do this. He really could. He rolled his eyes. Fucking Jack.
Jack put the phone down on his desk and smiled grimly to himself. Ianto really underestimated his ability to be subtle in such matters. But he'd made an agreement, and he'd stick to it. In letter, anyway. In spirit? That was a whole other story.
He settled down with the report he'd been unable to read before. Now maybe he'd be able to get some actual work done. As for rubbers, he was pretty sure he'd be able to steal some from Owen's desk. Wasn't like he needed them any more anyway.
When Jack finally put down the third to last report with a sigh of relief an hour or so had passed. Presumably, Ianto was done making his point, and would be ready as well, although Jack was never certain about how long it took Ianto to descend from his high horse, especially since this time, as far as Jack could tell, it was completely unwarranted.
He shrugged on his coat and sauntered down the stairs. Owen and Tosh were on the evening-shift, but things seemed quiet for once, and they were still fooling around with some of the alien toys out by the sofa. Probably Owen wouldn't even notice Jack going through his workspace, and Jack didn't want to distract him from his time with Tosh anyway.
He opened Owen's file drawer. Sure enough, a box of rubbers, and what was this? A little note.
Jack laughed to himself, and stole one of Owen's pens to scrawl Thanks across the bottom of the note. Then he grabbed six or so, and shoved them into the inside pocket of his coat. Good enough. No need to be greedy.
"We're off, kids," he shouted to Owen and Tosh.
He listened for their acknowledgment before heading down to the archives to collect Ianto. They'd be okay, the pair of them. Tosh was a bit rattled, but Owen was doing a decent job of cheering her up.
And now, the ride really got started. Well, Jack thought as he made his way down the stairs, at least he was pretty certain it wouldn't be boring.
"Done yet?" Jack asked breezily as he leaned in the doorway.
Ianto knew better than to think Jack had somehow suddenly let go of his anger, and narrowed his eyes at him.
"Just about," Ianto said, knowing he was being passive aggressive and that it was obvious.
Jack smirked. "Losing your nerve?"
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Jack, you hardly need goad me into my own fantasy."
Jack barked with laughter.
"Please be nice," Ianto said. "Please don't do anything that means we'll have to retcon her."
Jack cocked his head. That was interesting. "Why do you care?"
"Are you perfectly serious?"
"Yeah, actually, I am."
"Because part of the appeal is leaving her with something gracious and sweet and absurd, Jack."
"Really?"
Ianto slammed the file drawer he was working in closed. "Really. And I learned that from you. So please stop baiting me."
Jack chuckled. "Can I help it if I like you feisty?" Jack tried.
"No more than I can help it that I loathe you condescending," Ianto said and brushed past him.
Jack snagged Ianto's wrist and pulled him to him. They stared at each other hard for a long moment.
"I can't get you to look away, can I?" Jack asked quietly.
"Not anymore, sir," Ianto said, and Jack released his wrist. "Let me get my jacket, then we can go."
As they approached the garage, Ianto instinctively tried to hand his keys to Jack, who shook his head.
"Nope," he said. "Not today."
Ianto looked at him quizzically.
"I'm serious," Jack said. "I told you. This is on you."
"Okay," Ianto said hesitantly, still not quite able to trust Jack's mood.
Jack waited for him to unlock the door, and then slid in to the passenger seat. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"Some place not nearby," Ianto said as he put the key in the ignition. "Some place we won't necessarily ever need come back to."
Jack grinned. "Not just a pretty face," he said. "Let's go."
As they drove to Cardiff's university district, Jack kept his mouth shut, allowing the somewhat unnerving silence to build in the car. Either Ianto would start babbling or the tension would thicken. Whichever it was, the ball was in his court. And Jack was going to do everything in his power to keep it there.
The way Jack saw it there were pretty much only two directions this thing could go. Either it'd blow up in Ianto's face, and they'd be able to have a nice, useful discussion about the wisdom of learning your limitations. Or, Ianto would manage to keep hold of himself and would be one step closer to... well, whatever the hell he was growing into. Which way it was going to break? Jack realized that he wasn't quite sure, and surprisingly, considering his fury of earlier, he didn't really care.
Not that he planned on sharing that information. Whichever way it turned out, Ianto could use a little shaking up. So Jack kept the slight, inscrutable smile playing around his lips; the same one that could either mean mischief or amusement or pure rage depending on context.
Ianto could interpret it however he chose.
As Ianto drove, he tried to surreptitiously examine Jack's face from the corner of his eye. The smile and the silence were distinctly not comforting.
"Just so you know," Ianto said finally, "I think this is probably a pretty terrible way to take your mind off of today's events."
"Second thoughts?"
"Not really," Ianto said. "Because you're not going to cede the point and I know that."
Jack nodded, managing to appear both smug and impressed at the same time.
"Right. So now that that's out of the way... do you actually have any preferences I should know about?"
"I'm not really as much of a slut as you think I am, Ianto."
"Yet another debate for yet another time," Ianto said, trying not to be annoyed and wondering if Jack was trying to throw him even more off-balance.
Jack hummed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway."
"Told me what?"
Jack shook his head. "Sorry. Like you said, there's a time. This isn't it."
Ianto shot Jack a puzzled look. "Too much to hope that, that was a failed bluff, I gather."
"Yup."
"Great," Ianto said, trying to push the matter aside. "Preferences?"
"None that you need to know before we see the selection," Jack said, bracing a foot against the dash.
"One, not a shopping trip. Two, put your foot down. Jesus," Ianto said shaking his head and laughing half-heartedly.
Jack laughed and didn't move. "You have a list for everything."
"Gets the job done," Ianto replied.
"Only sometimes," Jack said, before swinging his foot down and sitting in a more normal position.
They drove on in silence for a while before Ianto spotted a parking space and backed the car into it.
"Did you have a place in mind, or are we going to wander about?" Jack inquired.
"There's a bar I used to go to when I was at university," Ianto said. "Haven't been there since, actually, but I thought we'd have a look."
"Co-eds," Jack said. "A little obvious maybe, but could be interesting."
"No one says co-eds anymore, Jack. Move with the times."
"Can't," Jack said, baring his teeth in something that could have been a smile but probably wasn't. "I've been told on good authority it's a medical condition."
Ianto didn't rise to the bait but simply led the way towards the seedy little bar. He noted that Jack waited for him to take the lead instead of just starting off the way he always did whether or not he knew where he was going. He really wished he knew what was going on in Jack's head. On the other hand, why should this day be any different from other days?
The place was relatively busy when they got inside, with a good mix of people. Jack scanned the crowd automatically as they walked through it, noting mostly university students, some people who might be admins or lab people, a couple of older folk who looked down on their luck, and a gaggle of slightly older women, late twenties or early thirties, that he couldn't quite place.
Ianto headed for an empty booth and Jack followed, unable to stop the running commentary in his head. First, establish a base of operations. He supposed he should get over his surprise that Ianto was systematic and focused on the task at hand. Logistics were never, ever going to be where Ianto fell down on anything. It was the getting past that, that would likely make everything blow up.
When the waitress came around, Ianto ordered them both pints, and when Jack mentioned she was attractive, Ianto rolled his eyes.
"Not the waitress."
"Why?"
"We'd have to wait 'til she gets off shift. Too much time for too many people to lose their nerve."
"It's not gonna be me," Jack said, laughing.
Ianto shrugged. "First time for everything."
"Don't hold your breath."
Ianto glared in an attempt to make it clear he certainly wasn't going to take that bait and then scanned the pub. Plenty of cute, but not a lot he felt inclined to deal with in order to make this happen.
"Anyone you fancy?" Ianto asked after the waitress had set their drinks down and departed.
"It's your fantasy, Ianto."
"And your prick," he said dryly.
Jack snorted. "She's cute," he said, pointing to a blonde thing who couldn't have been older than twenty.
"Yeah, but too young," Ianto said.
"You're the one who picked the university area," Jack said. "What did you think we were going to find here?"
Ianto laughed. "There are limits. You might enjoy feeling like a dirty old man. I've not got any ambitions in that arena."
"If I waited for them to be my age, I'd never get laid," Jack said. "Not on this planet anyway. Think how tragic it would be. Especially for them."
"My heart bleeds," Ianto said.
"Tragic for you too," Jack added.
"Right," Ianto said, and the clipped word came out sharper than he had intended. "Besides I'm not into blondes. You aren't either, are you?"
"There've been a few memorable ones. Although some of them dyed their hair. Does that count?"
Ianto gulped down half his beer in one go, while Jack lifted his eyebrows at him.
"Need some dutch courage, eh?"
"Fuck you, Jack," Ianto responded as amiably as he could.
"What about her?" Jack nodded towards an older girl, maybe a graduate student, sitting at the bar.
Ianto looked over and blinked. Jack looked back at the girl -- black, short-haired, pretty -- and realized what he'd done.
"Never mind," he said, hurriedly. "I think she might actually be dating the girl sitting next to her. Don't want to get in the middle of that."
Ianto swung his head back around and nodded blindly.
Jack cursed himself, but Ianto shook his head a little and then seemed to regain his equilibrium.
He looked around and said, "I don't know. Maybe we should try somewhere else. I'm not seeing--"
"Look over there," Jack suggested, interrupting him.
Ianto swiveled his head in the direction Jack was indicating and saw a group of women sitting in a booth across the way. There was a woman standing up to edge her way out, obviously off to collect some more drink from the bar. She -- and her friends, Ianto noticed -- looked slightly out of place here; not quite the right age, dressed like grown-ups, though a little too provocatively for the office.
Actually, she was bloody gorgeous, Ianto thought.
Ianto made a distracted sound, knowing he had to acknowledge Jack somehow, but he didn't want to say yes just yet, because maybe she'd be rude to the server or be too drunk to walk or have some sort of horrible laugh that he could never ever abide, but from this distance it seemed clear none of those things were going to be true.
Which was good. Because she was tall and curvy and had dusky, golden skin and knew how to dress -- black slacks with heels and a shiny, silky plum blouse that was definitely unbuttoned more than was appropriate for the office and yet was somehow still tasteful, like she didn't know she'd done it, but of course she had.
Jack grinned, pleased with himself and Ianto's rather clear focus or lack there of, depending on how one looked at it. "You like her," Jack crooned, pleased.
Ianto nodded, and took another long swallow of his beer. "I do," he said, not even bothering to look at Jack.
"Well then," Jack said, stretching and leaning back against the corner of the booth in a way that forced Ianto to finally turn to look at him. "I'd best get busy if I were you."
Ianto forced himself not to scowl. This was not how he pictured this thing. He had, from the time it had first come up, imagined himself asking Jack for advice, as surely as he had imagined he and Jack companionably discussing the relative merits of various women as if they were merely mates trying to back each other up on a hunt for some far more ordinary fun.
But Jack was Jack and had dumped him into the deep end of the pool, and while he sometimes did things like that out of odd compassion, this certainly wasn't one of those times.
"Fine," he snapped, and drained the rest of his beer.
He slid out of his seat and stood up, and then realized he had something more to say. "You know, Jack, this was supposed to be fun, not punishment."
Jack stared at him.
"And you know I'll do it anyway, even if, especially if it's what you think I deserve," he continued. "But I just had to say it."
He turned away, and Jack's hand shot out to seize his wrist in a hard grip.
"What?" he said.
"It's not punishment," Jack said evenly.
Ianto raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.
Jack smiled. "Really, it's not."
"Okay," Ianto said, not sure whether he was telling the truth, but observing that the smile seemed real.
"I'm still sending you off to get her," Jack said, still smiling. "But it's not punishment. Call it a learning experience."
Ianto shook his head. "You are so--"
"What?"
"I don't know. Okay. I'm going. Wish me luck."
"You won't need it," Jack said with a wink. "Go on."
Ianto approached the bar and slid onto a stool next to the woman. He signaled the bartender and lamented, not for the first time, his lack of the same magic that allowed Jack to negotiate and overwhelm these small rituals with so little effort.
Up close, she seemed even more out of place. The bartender approached with her drink, and she began to fumble in her bag for her wallet. Ianto took some courage from the fact that he was still wearing a suit, and so probably looked just as odd, and touched her on the shoulder, nodded towards her drink and said, "Can I get that for you?"
She turned and looked him up and down, realized he wasn't ten years younger than her, and smiled. "Sure. Thanks." she said. "Hello. God, I didn't realize I'd feel so old here."
Ianto slapped a few quid down on the bar, and smiled at her. "You don't look it," he said.
She laughed.
"But I have to say you don't precisely look like a university student," he added.
"Well, neither do you," she said.
"Not anymore," he said. "I used to come here when I was though."
"Me too," she said. "What brought you back?"
"Bit of nostalgia, among other things."
"On the pull, are you?" she said with a grin. "Here for all the young lasses."
He laughed. "No thanks. I'd be afraid to be hauled into the dock for child molestation. What brought you back?"
She grimaced theatrically. "A divorce party."
Ianto chortled. "Really? Not yours, I hope. I mean... I wouldn't know what to say."
She waved her hand. "Not mine. Hers," she said pointing to one of her friends. "And that's her younger sister. Who organized it. And brought us here."
Ianto had no idea what to say and decided to pray that dry wit worked as well on girls as it did on Jack. "I'm so sorry."
She laughed. "Thank you! So really, what are you doing here? Although I suppose that should be obvious. What with the drink and all."
Ianto opened his mouth and nothing came out. "It's a little more complicated than it seems," he finally came up with.
"Am I supposed to guess?" she asked.
God. She was perfect for Jack. Perfect, Ianto thought. "It might be more polite if I let you," Ianto offered.
She laughed, seeming slightly nervous but mostly amused. "All right. Surely there's a dare involved."
Ianto thought about it. "Arguably, yes."
"And it involves talking to me?"
"Well, you are the lucky winner, but that's because you're the best dressed woman here."
She looked him up and down again, narrowing her eyes at Ianto's impeccable suit. "Are you gay?" she asked.
"No, but you're very warm."
"Actually," she said, sipping her drink, "I'm very confused. Although I'll give you points for intriguing and a good suit."
"What do you do?" Ianto asked abruptly, switching topics in a way he knew was idiotic.
"What do I do? What are you doing? You don't do this a lot, do you?"
Ianto laughed. "Oh no. Definitely not."
"Did you just run away from the seminary?" she asked abruptly, rushing through the words.
The delivery was brilliant, Ianto thought. Gorgeous. Absurd. He found he desperately wanted to tell her yes. It would be so much easier.
"Er. No," he said. "But I don't get out much. Work, you know." Then he cursed himself. Because of course, the proper response to that was -- yep, right on schedule.
"So, what do you do?"
"Um. I file things. Mostly. That doesn't sound very impressive, does it? Actually, I'm an archivist. Boring really to anyone but, um, me. Look, can I start over? My name's Ianto. What's yours?"
She laughed and shook her head. "Asha."
"Lovely to meet you," he said.
Then he pointed over to the booth where Jack was still sitting there watching them. "That's Jack."
Jack raised his glass to her and smiled.
"Good god," she said and took a long swallow of her drink. "So, I'm guessing he's the source of this mysterious dare."
"Sort of," Ianto said, trying to figure out if he should just come out with the question baldly, or if a more subtle plan of attack were in order.
"And you're not gay. Is he your brother?" she asked.
Ianto choked. "No."
"Father? Cousin? Uncle? Sponsor? Friend?"
"No, no, no, no, and among other things, yes."
"But you're not gay."
"No," Ianto said. "Not really."
"Not really?!"
"Yeah," Ianto said.
"Okay, let me try another tack. Is he gay? Or rather, are you propositioning me for him? Wait, that sounds awful. Are you propositioning me? Oh god. I think I have to start over now," she said.
Ianto laughed, but was still utterly stymied as to what to do next.
Jack was enjoying watching the show. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but she was evidently both talkative and not annoying. Things that annoyed Ianto always showed on his face. Besides, Jack was pretty sure he'd use just about any excuse to duck out of this thing, so if he was still talking to her she must have been all right.
Ianto, for his part, was clearly flustered, which was something else Jack found amusing, and not just because he'd started this evening feeling spiteful as hell towards the man. There was, much as he would never really admit it to Ianto, something incredibly appealing about him when he seemed young and bewildered. Jack supposed he'd been upfront about that during sex, but out here in the real world? It wasn't something to be mentioned.
Jack frowned. They were both still laughing but the body language had changed. Things were getting awkward, and there was increasingly more space between them, not less. That wasn't good.
Ianto pointed to him and Jack saluted the girl with his glass and hid his grin in another sip as he saw her react to him, like the devil Ianto had surely told her he was. Ianto had ten more seconds, and then he was clearly going to have to intervene.
Whatever Ianto was saying now was causing her to sputter and exclaim, and at that, Jack abandoned his countdown and made a beeline for the action.
He strode over to the pair of them and slid behind her bar stool. She was still turned in towards Ianto, and this way he could lightly ghost his fingers over her shoulder, as if brushing off an imaginary hair.
Jack caught Ianto's eye and smiled slightly before doing exactly that.
"Hello there," he said, as she tried not to crane her neck to look at him. "What lies has our Ianto been telling you?"
She laughed a little nervously. "I was just trying to figure out what exactly the two of you had in mind here."
"Many, many things," Jack purred.
"Asha, this is Jack," Ianto interjected somewhat apologetically. "Jack, Asha."
"Lovely name," Jack said.
"Mmm, thank you," she replied. "So there's a dare of some kind going on here?"
Jack raised his eyebrows at Ianto, who shrugged.
"Not exactly how I'd have put it," he said, moving a little closer so that he was almost touching her back now. She sucked in her breath at that, and he knew she'd be responsive and eager in bed. Good choice, he congratulated himself.
"Jack, you're making her nervous," Ianto said, feeling like it wasn't fair for Jack to come on so strongly without telling her what they were about, even as he knew that engaging her brain in the idea was probably best done not as the first order of business but as the last.
She poked a finger into Ianto's shoulder. "I can speak for myself, thanks," she said, almost playfully.
"Am I making you nervous?" Jack purred, pressing the side of his face against hers.
She seemed to allow herself a split second to enjoy his presence and then turned around; obviously, Ianto realised, of the two of them, it would appear much safer to have her back to him and not just because he was the somewhat known quantity. "Yes, actually, you are."
She took a step back from the bar and, therefore, from both of them. "What's the game, boys?"
Ianto opened his mouth to speak. So did Jack, although maybe it was just to kiss her, he wasn't sure. It didn't matter, because it was at that precise moment that Asha's friends started screaming for her attention.
She waved them off and then looked from Ianto to Jack. "I think you have thirty seconds."
"Ianto," Jack said smoothly and gestured to him, the now or never perfectly clear. Ianto would ask, and Jack would clean up the mess. As a plan, Ianto could live with it. Certainly, it was a reversal to their usual day-to-day way of things.
"We're... together?" Ianto said, not meaning to make it a question, but they'd never said anything about it to anyone before, not really, and so was grateful when Jack nodded. "But we both like women. Too!" Oh god, he was so nervous; this was not suave, and Asha was staring at him like he had three heads. "And I told him I wanted to see him with a woman, and here you are and we are and... well it's more interesting than escaped from the seminary, right?"
Jack gave Ianto a slightly bewildered look himself but figured all of that could be addressed later. Like when their thirty seconds were up. Poor Ianto.
He reached for Asha's hand and murmured, "Come home with us." It wasn't a question. Ianto had made enough things that weren't questions, questions and clearly someone needed to have a firm grip on this thing until the man got his balance back.
She let him take her hand but then looked over at her friends, who were now all staring, mouths agape. "Uh... I don't know. I mean..." she trailed off, before adding, "I don't really do the pick up in bars thing any more. Maybe we can -- you could give me your number, and...."
"One night only offer," Jack said, smiling. "Take it or leave it."
She swallowed, looked from him to Ianto and then said, "I shouldn't. Fuck it. Okay. Let me tell my party I'm taking off."
Jack stepped back courteously to allow her to pass, and then they watched as she made her way back to the table.
Back at her table, her friends were staring at her.
"Is there a reason you haven't brought them over here with you?" was the first question she was asked, not that anyone gave her a chance to answer it, which was probably for the best. After all, what could she possibly say?
Not that they weren’t perfectly happy to guess. "What mischief have you got up to now?" was the nice version. "What are you doing?" wasn’t.
"Two of them!" her friend's younger sister exclaimed. She was succinct if nothing else.
Asha grinned. "Listen, I'm off. I'm sure you can see why. Happy divorce, Mel. This lot'll keep the party going, yeah?"
"No! You're leaving with them? Both of them?"
"I am," she said firmly. "I've got my mobile. So if you don't hear from me by tomorrow morning, you can start describing them to the police. If any of you call me before tomorrow morning, I'll kill you."
They laughed, and she grabbed her coat, waved, and rejoined the two men at the bar.
"I'm ready," she said. "I've told them if they don't hear from me by tomorrow morning, they're to start ringing up the police. So don't get any ideas about doing away with me."
"Last thing on our minds," the older American fellow, with the incredibly hot military coat -- Jack? -- said.
"I can't believe I'm not even making you buy me dinner first."
"We'll make it up to you," Jack said, and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"
Ianto shook his head and laughed as she linked her arm with Jack's and they walked out.
"So," she said, the small talk suddenly feeling very difficult, "do you do this sort of thing a lot?"
"First time for him," Jack said, nodding at Ianto.
"He, on the other hand, has an appallingly chequered past," Ianto added, chuckling.
"Hey! It helped get it done, so none of that."
Asha laughed. "You were having trouble getting to the point, you know."
"Well, wouldn't you?" Ianto offered.
"Good thing about being a woman, I don't really need to know, yeah?"
"She has a point," Jack noted.
When they got to the car and Ianto unlocked it, Jack moved to open the passenger's side door for Asha.
"Jack," Ianto said, stopping him.
"What?"
"What's a back seat for if not entertaining our guest?"
A smile broke over Jack's face slowly, and he gave Ianto a small kiss for (in all things but the actual pick-up) his rather unerring competence. "All right, then," he said and moved his hand to the other door.
Ianto got into the driver's seat and paused to unnecessarily adjust the mirror, really so he could keep looking into it and see, beautifully framed, the vision of Jack climbing into the back and smoothly putting his arm around the woman, before tilting her face up to his so he could finally kiss her.
It was gorgeous, breathtaking even, and Ianto felt his heart pounding in his chest with a strange mixture of awe, lust and envy. He swallowed, almost unable to move, until Jack pulled away and caught his eyes in the mirror.
"Well?" he said. "Are we going?"
Ianto cleared his throat. "Yes," he said, starting the car. "Don't stop on my account."
"Don't worry," Jack said with a grin.
"Try not to drive into a tree," Asha added helpfully.
"He won't," Jack said. "He's very good at not getting distracted."
"Pity," she said, before Jack bent his head to kiss her again.
When he let her up for air, she bit her lip and gasped.
"There's something about you," she said. "I feel... you're so...."
"He gets that a lot," Ianto said, trying to keep one eye on the road and the other on the spectacle in the back. "Try not to compliment him too much; there'll be no living with him."
"Don't listen to him," Jack said. "Tell me more."
Asha shook her head and laughed. "This has got to be the most surreal night of my life."
"If it's any comfort, you're not alone in that regard," Ianto said, and she laughed.
She might have been drowning in Jack, but Ianto knew it was him that she was actually comfortable with. It was a strange bargain, but Ianto found he didn't mind it at all.
Jack kissed her throat, and Ianto watched as best he could in the rear view mirror as she raked her nails up through the back of Jack's hair.
Jack sighed happily. "Nothing like that in the world," he said.
"What now?" Ianto asked.
"A woman's nails."
"Ah, yes," Ianto said, wondering how many times he would remember and remember and remember tonight, and how many times it would gut him just a little because Lisa was gone and with her all his other ties to the world of ordinary people. That part of his life -- filled with girls who smelled nice and were soft and were eager to find him sweet and hot and full of mischief -- was over. There was Jack now, and no matter what happened with that, with Asha, with anyone, it would always be Jack as the basis of comparison, the basis of memory, the basis of desire, from now on.
In that light, it almost seemed cruel to do this to Asha. Maybe Jack would stick in her head the same way, not necessarily as the best she'd ever have and certainly not as a guy she'd get the wrong idea about -- she didn't seem the sort and Jack could be so kindly clear -- but maybe as some lost sensation, some half remembered act of recognition she'd always have to be chasing now.
Ianto hoped not. Hoped it was just him and his grief and the way he had shaped himself to Jack, first for Lisa's survival and then his own, that felt the other man like a line between lives. But it wasn't an idea he was confident in. After all, didn't it make sense that a man who couldn't die would divide lives from themselves without even trying? with nothing more than a kiss and a lick and a wink? Strange, selfish, overwhelming Jack who was staring at him via the rear view mirror.
"Eyes on the road, Ianto," Jack said.
"Eyes on the girl," Ianto replied, and Jack laughed.
Continue to next part
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto + [OFC]; cameos by the torchwood team
Authors:
rm & kalichan Rating/Warning: NC-17, plot and porn. voyeurism. threesome [m/m/f]
Summary: For Ianto and Jack, two's company and three is an education. Takes place after 2x11: Adrift.
Wordcount: ~20, 200 [in three sections because LJ is stupid]
Authors' Notes: Hi! We have finally found a name for this arc: I Had No Idea I Had Been Traveling. Since we are now officially calling it an arc with a plan and all, we should note that there are several more stories to come including a story post-Exit Wounds, another one post-Journey's End and two more sequels that we don't want to divulge any more about at this time. You will also be seeing prequel pieces for both Jack and Ianto individually that will wrap the whole thing together. We are, believe it or not, going somewhere very specific here. Finally, not precisely part of this arc, but definitely in the same 'verse, we're apparently writing a fic about life on the Valiant, solely because we found the best title ever for it. Hope you enjoy the calm, such as it is, before the storm in this particular installment. Jack & Ianto don't know what's ahead. But you do... This is the fifth installment of I Had No Idea I Had Been Traveling.
Previous installments:
1. A Strange Fashion of Forsaking
2. Dear Captain, Last Night I Slept in Mutiny
3. To Learn This Holding and the Holding Back
4. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Loyalty, Jack reflected as he watched Gwen steadily burn all those missing people fliers, was a double edged sword. What he couldn't quite figure out, despite the years of research he'd put into the problem, was which edge it was better to slit your throat with.
Purely an academic question, of course.
Right.
Even if he did say so himself, he had been, it had to be noted, an excellent second in command. He did it well; thinking for himself when he had to, commanding the small missions but not the big picture, clever and quick on his feet, able to improvise when necessary (or even just for fun), pointing people in the right direction and making them follow him, but at the end of the day, really there in order to prop someone else up. Someone whose job it was to make the final decision, the hardest call. His job had always just been to execute. And, often, pick up the pieces that remained, put the C.O. back together and make sure they lived to fight another day.
Until Torchwood. His Torchwood. And the five souls that made it up, that he'd culled together out of the wreckage the universe had left of this beautiful, brilliant, broken lot. And now he was responsible, and oh, how he hated it.
Thing was, he thought, he knew it from both sides. What it meant to give your trust unshakably to one person, one idea -- and no matter what they did (abandoned you, despised you, disappointed you) you couldn't ever take it back. He got that -- and how much it hurt. He'd sworn he'd never do that to his people, if and when he ever got them back. He'd never let them go, never let them down, never not forgive them for what they couldn't help.
So why didn't he get to reap the rewards? Why did it all have to bite him in the ass coming and going? Sure they loved him -- but they didn't trust him. Not like that. Why didn't they ever fucking listen? Ever admit that maybe, just maybe, he might have some better fucking idea of what was good for them then they did. That he was just trying to make it easier, make it better.
Jack raged helplessly as he watched Gwen -- trying to hold her head up but the fight clearly beaten out of her -- make her way out of the Hub.
Did they think he wanted this? That he liked having to slap them down, or watch them make these ridiculous self-righteous mistakes that just caused so much damn pain? Did he really seem that inhuman? That much of a monster?
Jack ground his teeth, everything inside him rebelling at the idea.
And Ianto. Leaving out the fact that Ianto had smoothly managed to play him again (and while Jack admired that, it was really getting to be a bit much) he honestly couldn't believe that out of all the people in the world, Ianto had betrayed his confidence to decide that he knew best.
But what was he going to do about it?
Nothing. Fuck all. His hands were tied. You couldn't hold people back. They had to grow and change and do what they were going to do. Even if (when) it killed them. Not like it could kill him, he thought bitterly.
Sometimes he felt like a parent whose horde of teenagers were out joyriding -- all hormones and insanity and criminal recklessness -- as he sat there trying to keep hold of everything and slowly went mad from fear for their lives and well being, while at the same time trying to hold down the job of defending the goddamn earth for fuck's sake.
And who the fuck was he to be a parent anyway? He wasn't designed for this slamming on the brakes shit. Maybe he should cut them loose -- let them really have their heads for a while. Let them follow through on all their ideas and see where it got them.
He made his way back up to the office, sat down at his desk. He tried to read some reports Ianto had left for him and only stopped when he realized he'd read several pages without understanding a word.
Strolling to the glass window, he looked down at where Owen and Tosh were comforting themselves by playing video games. Owen claimed that post-death, video games were one of the few pleasures that remained unaltered.
Where was Ianto?
Jack scanned the floor looking for him, but he wasn't anywhere in sight.
Hiding, Jack thought. In the archives probably. Well, fuck that. He thought he knew best, he could fucking come out and deal with it. You wanted to play with the grown ups, Jack thought. Okay, Ianto, you're about to see the follow through. See what happens when you get what you want.
He went back to sit in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk before putting through the call. Might as well be relaxed while he put the screws on.
Ianto sat in the archives, cataloguing. It was mindless and dreary and exactly what he needed. Soothing even. He was re-ordering the whole system from an alphabetical system to an alpha-numeric one that took into account more alien geographical variables, and it was incredibly tedious but needed to be done.
Maybe not right now, but it did need to be done.
And at least it kept him from seeing the devastated look in Gwen's eyes.
Ianto swallowed. They'd really bollocksed it up this time, he thought, he and Gwen. But wasn't it better to know? How could they get along, really be a team if it was all this endless slew of secrets?
He'd tried to tell Jack that Gwen wasn't going to let it go, that he ran the risk of losing her completely if he didn't tell, and probably Tosh too, once she found out about it. For Jack, that'd be unacceptable. He didn't cut his losses. Not really, not ever.
But Jack hadn't listened, and he'd had to take matters into his own hands.
The phone rang, and Ianto looked down at it automatically, still lost in his thoughts.
Oh shit, he thought, seeing Jack's name blinking on the screen. It was time to pay the reckoning.
He thought about ignoring it, but then realized that would just make everything much worse.
Feeling his stomach begin to churn, he clicked the button.
"Hello?" he said faintly.
"Ianto," came Jack's voice through the speaker.
"What can I do for you, sir?"
"I don't know," Jack said, dangerously pleasant. "Your abilities seem limitless."
"Uh... yes. About that. If you'd just let me--"
"Save it," Jack said, cutting him off. "I don't really want to hear it."
"Oh," Ianto said.
There was a pause, and then Jack sighed.
"Okay," he said. "Tell me. What did you want to say?"
"I just wanted... look, you have to understand I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Neither did Gwen. But she wasn't going to let it go, Jack. I tried to tell you; we can't keep all this going if it's all built on lies and deceit and skeletons in the closet."
"Or in the basement?" Jack said blandly, before stopping and then saying, "Sorry."
"Yeah, and look how that turned out. Shouldn't we be learning from our mistakes?"
"I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone," Jack said. "But you did. Both of you. And not just other people. You hurt yourselves too."
"You can't save us from ourselves, Jack."
Jack laughed humourlessly. "Yeah. Getting that."
"Look, do you want me to come up there so we can have this out properly?" Ianto asked, a bit exasperated.
"Not really," Jack admitted. "I'm probably still pretty likely to just deck you."
"If that's what it takes," Ianto said dryly, "I'd rather get it over with."
"And reply in kind?"
"Of course, sir."
Jack snorted and then went silent.
"Sir?" Ianto asked.
"I really hate this. And I hate that you keep fucking playing me, Ianto. Not a good thing."
"I didn't play you, Jack," Ianto said viciously, annoyed by the expression and its petty hoodlum connotations. "Playing you would have been me ferreting out information for the express purpose of giving it to Gwen to get away with something that ideally you'd never even know about. I played you with Lisa. This time? I told Gwen something I already knew because you wouldn't listen. There's a big difference."
"Results are the same," Jack said, working to keep his temper.
"Really? And what are those?"
"You fucked over some people. She's miserable. You're miserable, and I'm furious."
"But I'm not worried you're going to shoot me this time, Jack," Ianto said quietly.
Jack sighed again. Ianto imagined him running a hand through his hair in exasperation.
"Fucking hell, Ianto."
"Can we go get a drink and sort this through?" Ianto asked, still not wanting to deal with it, but very aware Jack was in a mood that would make this not just odd, but pear-shaped if it were allowed to fester.
Jack thought for a moment. "No," he said brightly. "We're not going to do anything like that. But we are going to go get a drink."
"Jack?"
"I don't want to be fucking thinking about this. And I sure as hell don't want to waste two hours with us making the same points to each other and getting nowhere. You'll listen when you're ready to listen, Ianto. The same's probably true for me. So let's just get out of here and act like big boys, yeah?"
Ianto didn't like Jack giving up on anything, even on what was ultimately merely a petty argument; on the other hand, how normal. And they'd probably wind up talking about it anyway.
"And what's your definition of that, sir?" Ianto asked, unable really, to stop himself from taking the bait.
"Stop calling me sir," Jack snapped.
"Why?" Ianto asked
"Because you want to drive? You drive, Ianto. Plus, I seem to recall something about you picking me up a play thing."
Ianto swallowed. He'd be nervous under any circumstances, but this was a bad idea if Jack was in a mood. Jack certainly wasn't going to listen to reason though. He already knew that. That was the point, after all. So he could protest and get them into an even more pointless argument, or he could suck it up and manage it well.
"Two things, then."
"Yes?" Jack said, voice wary.
Ianto smiled. Good. "One. Don't even think about putting her in the middle of our shit."
"Fair," Jack agreed. "And two?"
"Your plaything, your errands. Go pick up some condoms. I've filing to do," Ianto said curtly and snapped his phone shut, only to find he was breathing hard and terrified. But he could do this. He really could. He rolled his eyes. Fucking Jack.
Jack put the phone down on his desk and smiled grimly to himself. Ianto really underestimated his ability to be subtle in such matters. But he'd made an agreement, and he'd stick to it. In letter, anyway. In spirit? That was a whole other story.
He settled down with the report he'd been unable to read before. Now maybe he'd be able to get some actual work done. As for rubbers, he was pretty sure he'd be able to steal some from Owen's desk. Wasn't like he needed them any more anyway.
When Jack finally put down the third to last report with a sigh of relief an hour or so had passed. Presumably, Ianto was done making his point, and would be ready as well, although Jack was never certain about how long it took Ianto to descend from his high horse, especially since this time, as far as Jack could tell, it was completely unwarranted.
He shrugged on his coat and sauntered down the stairs. Owen and Tosh were on the evening-shift, but things seemed quiet for once, and they were still fooling around with some of the alien toys out by the sofa. Probably Owen wouldn't even notice Jack going through his workspace, and Jack didn't want to distract him from his time with Tosh anyway.
He opened Owen's file drawer. Sure enough, a box of rubbers, and what was this? A little note.
Jack,
Don't look so shocked. Of course I sodding well know you pinch stuff from our desks. Help yourself, not that it matters much what I say anyway. It's not like I've got any bloody use for them. By the way, if you rub it in about that, I'm going to get creative on you with a scalpel. Also, fuck you. =)
Owen
Jack laughed to himself, and stole one of Owen's pens to scrawl Thanks across the bottom of the note. Then he grabbed six or so, and shoved them into the inside pocket of his coat. Good enough. No need to be greedy.
"We're off, kids," he shouted to Owen and Tosh.
He listened for their acknowledgment before heading down to the archives to collect Ianto. They'd be okay, the pair of them. Tosh was a bit rattled, but Owen was doing a decent job of cheering her up.
And now, the ride really got started. Well, Jack thought as he made his way down the stairs, at least he was pretty certain it wouldn't be boring.
"Done yet?" Jack asked breezily as he leaned in the doorway.
Ianto knew better than to think Jack had somehow suddenly let go of his anger, and narrowed his eyes at him.
"Just about," Ianto said, knowing he was being passive aggressive and that it was obvious.
Jack smirked. "Losing your nerve?"
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Jack, you hardly need goad me into my own fantasy."
Jack barked with laughter.
"Please be nice," Ianto said. "Please don't do anything that means we'll have to retcon her."
Jack cocked his head. That was interesting. "Why do you care?"
"Are you perfectly serious?"
"Yeah, actually, I am."
"Because part of the appeal is leaving her with something gracious and sweet and absurd, Jack."
"Really?"
Ianto slammed the file drawer he was working in closed. "Really. And I learned that from you. So please stop baiting me."
Jack chuckled. "Can I help it if I like you feisty?" Jack tried.
"No more than I can help it that I loathe you condescending," Ianto said and brushed past him.
Jack snagged Ianto's wrist and pulled him to him. They stared at each other hard for a long moment.
"I can't get you to look away, can I?" Jack asked quietly.
"Not anymore, sir," Ianto said, and Jack released his wrist. "Let me get my jacket, then we can go."
As they approached the garage, Ianto instinctively tried to hand his keys to Jack, who shook his head.
"Nope," he said. "Not today."
Ianto looked at him quizzically.
"I'm serious," Jack said. "I told you. This is on you."
"Okay," Ianto said hesitantly, still not quite able to trust Jack's mood.
Jack waited for him to unlock the door, and then slid in to the passenger seat. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"Some place not nearby," Ianto said as he put the key in the ignition. "Some place we won't necessarily ever need come back to."
Jack grinned. "Not just a pretty face," he said. "Let's go."
As they drove to Cardiff's university district, Jack kept his mouth shut, allowing the somewhat unnerving silence to build in the car. Either Ianto would start babbling or the tension would thicken. Whichever it was, the ball was in his court. And Jack was going to do everything in his power to keep it there.
The way Jack saw it there were pretty much only two directions this thing could go. Either it'd blow up in Ianto's face, and they'd be able to have a nice, useful discussion about the wisdom of learning your limitations. Or, Ianto would manage to keep hold of himself and would be one step closer to... well, whatever the hell he was growing into. Which way it was going to break? Jack realized that he wasn't quite sure, and surprisingly, considering his fury of earlier, he didn't really care.
Not that he planned on sharing that information. Whichever way it turned out, Ianto could use a little shaking up. So Jack kept the slight, inscrutable smile playing around his lips; the same one that could either mean mischief or amusement or pure rage depending on context.
Ianto could interpret it however he chose.
As Ianto drove, he tried to surreptitiously examine Jack's face from the corner of his eye. The smile and the silence were distinctly not comforting.
"Just so you know," Ianto said finally, "I think this is probably a pretty terrible way to take your mind off of today's events."
"Second thoughts?"
"Not really," Ianto said. "Because you're not going to cede the point and I know that."
Jack nodded, managing to appear both smug and impressed at the same time.
"Right. So now that that's out of the way... do you actually have any preferences I should know about?"
"I'm not really as much of a slut as you think I am, Ianto."
"Yet another debate for yet another time," Ianto said, trying not to be annoyed and wondering if Jack was trying to throw him even more off-balance.
Jack hummed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway."
"Told me what?"
Jack shook his head. "Sorry. Like you said, there's a time. This isn't it."
Ianto shot Jack a puzzled look. "Too much to hope that, that was a failed bluff, I gather."
"Yup."
"Great," Ianto said, trying to push the matter aside. "Preferences?"
"None that you need to know before we see the selection," Jack said, bracing a foot against the dash.
"One, not a shopping trip. Two, put your foot down. Jesus," Ianto said shaking his head and laughing half-heartedly.
Jack laughed and didn't move. "You have a list for everything."
"Gets the job done," Ianto replied.
"Only sometimes," Jack said, before swinging his foot down and sitting in a more normal position.
They drove on in silence for a while before Ianto spotted a parking space and backed the car into it.
"Did you have a place in mind, or are we going to wander about?" Jack inquired.
"There's a bar I used to go to when I was at university," Ianto said. "Haven't been there since, actually, but I thought we'd have a look."
"Co-eds," Jack said. "A little obvious maybe, but could be interesting."
"No one says co-eds anymore, Jack. Move with the times."
"Can't," Jack said, baring his teeth in something that could have been a smile but probably wasn't. "I've been told on good authority it's a medical condition."
Ianto didn't rise to the bait but simply led the way towards the seedy little bar. He noted that Jack waited for him to take the lead instead of just starting off the way he always did whether or not he knew where he was going. He really wished he knew what was going on in Jack's head. On the other hand, why should this day be any different from other days?
The place was relatively busy when they got inside, with a good mix of people. Jack scanned the crowd automatically as they walked through it, noting mostly university students, some people who might be admins or lab people, a couple of older folk who looked down on their luck, and a gaggle of slightly older women, late twenties or early thirties, that he couldn't quite place.
Ianto headed for an empty booth and Jack followed, unable to stop the running commentary in his head. First, establish a base of operations. He supposed he should get over his surprise that Ianto was systematic and focused on the task at hand. Logistics were never, ever going to be where Ianto fell down on anything. It was the getting past that, that would likely make everything blow up.
When the waitress came around, Ianto ordered them both pints, and when Jack mentioned she was attractive, Ianto rolled his eyes.
"Not the waitress."
"Why?"
"We'd have to wait 'til she gets off shift. Too much time for too many people to lose their nerve."
"It's not gonna be me," Jack said, laughing.
Ianto shrugged. "First time for everything."
"Don't hold your breath."
Ianto glared in an attempt to make it clear he certainly wasn't going to take that bait and then scanned the pub. Plenty of cute, but not a lot he felt inclined to deal with in order to make this happen.
"Anyone you fancy?" Ianto asked after the waitress had set their drinks down and departed.
"It's your fantasy, Ianto."
"And your prick," he said dryly.
Jack snorted. "She's cute," he said, pointing to a blonde thing who couldn't have been older than twenty.
"Yeah, but too young," Ianto said.
"You're the one who picked the university area," Jack said. "What did you think we were going to find here?"
Ianto laughed. "There are limits. You might enjoy feeling like a dirty old man. I've not got any ambitions in that arena."
"If I waited for them to be my age, I'd never get laid," Jack said. "Not on this planet anyway. Think how tragic it would be. Especially for them."
"My heart bleeds," Ianto said.
"Tragic for you too," Jack added.
"Right," Ianto said, and the clipped word came out sharper than he had intended. "Besides I'm not into blondes. You aren't either, are you?"
"There've been a few memorable ones. Although some of them dyed their hair. Does that count?"
Ianto gulped down half his beer in one go, while Jack lifted his eyebrows at him.
"Need some dutch courage, eh?"
"Fuck you, Jack," Ianto responded as amiably as he could.
"What about her?" Jack nodded towards an older girl, maybe a graduate student, sitting at the bar.
Ianto looked over and blinked. Jack looked back at the girl -- black, short-haired, pretty -- and realized what he'd done.
"Never mind," he said, hurriedly. "I think she might actually be dating the girl sitting next to her. Don't want to get in the middle of that."
Ianto swung his head back around and nodded blindly.
Jack cursed himself, but Ianto shook his head a little and then seemed to regain his equilibrium.
He looked around and said, "I don't know. Maybe we should try somewhere else. I'm not seeing--"
"Look over there," Jack suggested, interrupting him.
Ianto swiveled his head in the direction Jack was indicating and saw a group of women sitting in a booth across the way. There was a woman standing up to edge her way out, obviously off to collect some more drink from the bar. She -- and her friends, Ianto noticed -- looked slightly out of place here; not quite the right age, dressed like grown-ups, though a little too provocatively for the office.
Actually, she was bloody gorgeous, Ianto thought.
Ianto made a distracted sound, knowing he had to acknowledge Jack somehow, but he didn't want to say yes just yet, because maybe she'd be rude to the server or be too drunk to walk or have some sort of horrible laugh that he could never ever abide, but from this distance it seemed clear none of those things were going to be true.
Which was good. Because she was tall and curvy and had dusky, golden skin and knew how to dress -- black slacks with heels and a shiny, silky plum blouse that was definitely unbuttoned more than was appropriate for the office and yet was somehow still tasteful, like she didn't know she'd done it, but of course she had.
Jack grinned, pleased with himself and Ianto's rather clear focus or lack there of, depending on how one looked at it. "You like her," Jack crooned, pleased.
Ianto nodded, and took another long swallow of his beer. "I do," he said, not even bothering to look at Jack.
"Well then," Jack said, stretching and leaning back against the corner of the booth in a way that forced Ianto to finally turn to look at him. "I'd best get busy if I were you."
Ianto forced himself not to scowl. This was not how he pictured this thing. He had, from the time it had first come up, imagined himself asking Jack for advice, as surely as he had imagined he and Jack companionably discussing the relative merits of various women as if they were merely mates trying to back each other up on a hunt for some far more ordinary fun.
But Jack was Jack and had dumped him into the deep end of the pool, and while he sometimes did things like that out of odd compassion, this certainly wasn't one of those times.
"Fine," he snapped, and drained the rest of his beer.
He slid out of his seat and stood up, and then realized he had something more to say. "You know, Jack, this was supposed to be fun, not punishment."
Jack stared at him.
"And you know I'll do it anyway, even if, especially if it's what you think I deserve," he continued. "But I just had to say it."
He turned away, and Jack's hand shot out to seize his wrist in a hard grip.
"What?" he said.
"It's not punishment," Jack said evenly.
Ianto raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.
Jack smiled. "Really, it's not."
"Okay," Ianto said, not sure whether he was telling the truth, but observing that the smile seemed real.
"I'm still sending you off to get her," Jack said, still smiling. "But it's not punishment. Call it a learning experience."
Ianto shook his head. "You are so--"
"What?"
"I don't know. Okay. I'm going. Wish me luck."
"You won't need it," Jack said with a wink. "Go on."
Ianto approached the bar and slid onto a stool next to the woman. He signaled the bartender and lamented, not for the first time, his lack of the same magic that allowed Jack to negotiate and overwhelm these small rituals with so little effort.
Up close, she seemed even more out of place. The bartender approached with her drink, and she began to fumble in her bag for her wallet. Ianto took some courage from the fact that he was still wearing a suit, and so probably looked just as odd, and touched her on the shoulder, nodded towards her drink and said, "Can I get that for you?"
She turned and looked him up and down, realized he wasn't ten years younger than her, and smiled. "Sure. Thanks." she said. "Hello. God, I didn't realize I'd feel so old here."
Ianto slapped a few quid down on the bar, and smiled at her. "You don't look it," he said.
She laughed.
"But I have to say you don't precisely look like a university student," he added.
"Well, neither do you," she said.
"Not anymore," he said. "I used to come here when I was though."
"Me too," she said. "What brought you back?"
"Bit of nostalgia, among other things."
"On the pull, are you?" she said with a grin. "Here for all the young lasses."
He laughed. "No thanks. I'd be afraid to be hauled into the dock for child molestation. What brought you back?"
She grimaced theatrically. "A divorce party."
Ianto chortled. "Really? Not yours, I hope. I mean... I wouldn't know what to say."
She waved her hand. "Not mine. Hers," she said pointing to one of her friends. "And that's her younger sister. Who organized it. And brought us here."
Ianto had no idea what to say and decided to pray that dry wit worked as well on girls as it did on Jack. "I'm so sorry."
She laughed. "Thank you! So really, what are you doing here? Although I suppose that should be obvious. What with the drink and all."
Ianto opened his mouth and nothing came out. "It's a little more complicated than it seems," he finally came up with.
"Am I supposed to guess?" she asked.
God. She was perfect for Jack. Perfect, Ianto thought. "It might be more polite if I let you," Ianto offered.
She laughed, seeming slightly nervous but mostly amused. "All right. Surely there's a dare involved."
Ianto thought about it. "Arguably, yes."
"And it involves talking to me?"
"Well, you are the lucky winner, but that's because you're the best dressed woman here."
She looked him up and down again, narrowing her eyes at Ianto's impeccable suit. "Are you gay?" she asked.
"No, but you're very warm."
"Actually," she said, sipping her drink, "I'm very confused. Although I'll give you points for intriguing and a good suit."
"What do you do?" Ianto asked abruptly, switching topics in a way he knew was idiotic.
"What do I do? What are you doing? You don't do this a lot, do you?"
Ianto laughed. "Oh no. Definitely not."
"Did you just run away from the seminary?" she asked abruptly, rushing through the words.
The delivery was brilliant, Ianto thought. Gorgeous. Absurd. He found he desperately wanted to tell her yes. It would be so much easier.
"Er. No," he said. "But I don't get out much. Work, you know." Then he cursed himself. Because of course, the proper response to that was -- yep, right on schedule.
"So, what do you do?"
"Um. I file things. Mostly. That doesn't sound very impressive, does it? Actually, I'm an archivist. Boring really to anyone but, um, me. Look, can I start over? My name's Ianto. What's yours?"
She laughed and shook her head. "Asha."
"Lovely to meet you," he said.
Then he pointed over to the booth where Jack was still sitting there watching them. "That's Jack."
Jack raised his glass to her and smiled.
"Good god," she said and took a long swallow of her drink. "So, I'm guessing he's the source of this mysterious dare."
"Sort of," Ianto said, trying to figure out if he should just come out with the question baldly, or if a more subtle plan of attack were in order.
"And you're not gay. Is he your brother?" she asked.
Ianto choked. "No."
"Father? Cousin? Uncle? Sponsor? Friend?"
"No, no, no, no, and among other things, yes."
"But you're not gay."
"No," Ianto said. "Not really."
"Not really?!"
"Yeah," Ianto said.
"Okay, let me try another tack. Is he gay? Or rather, are you propositioning me for him? Wait, that sounds awful. Are you propositioning me? Oh god. I think I have to start over now," she said.
Ianto laughed, but was still utterly stymied as to what to do next.
Jack was enjoying watching the show. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but she was evidently both talkative and not annoying. Things that annoyed Ianto always showed on his face. Besides, Jack was pretty sure he'd use just about any excuse to duck out of this thing, so if he was still talking to her she must have been all right.
Ianto, for his part, was clearly flustered, which was something else Jack found amusing, and not just because he'd started this evening feeling spiteful as hell towards the man. There was, much as he would never really admit it to Ianto, something incredibly appealing about him when he seemed young and bewildered. Jack supposed he'd been upfront about that during sex, but out here in the real world? It wasn't something to be mentioned.
Jack frowned. They were both still laughing but the body language had changed. Things were getting awkward, and there was increasingly more space between them, not less. That wasn't good.
Ianto pointed to him and Jack saluted the girl with his glass and hid his grin in another sip as he saw her react to him, like the devil Ianto had surely told her he was. Ianto had ten more seconds, and then he was clearly going to have to intervene.
Whatever Ianto was saying now was causing her to sputter and exclaim, and at that, Jack abandoned his countdown and made a beeline for the action.
He strode over to the pair of them and slid behind her bar stool. She was still turned in towards Ianto, and this way he could lightly ghost his fingers over her shoulder, as if brushing off an imaginary hair.
Jack caught Ianto's eye and smiled slightly before doing exactly that.
"Hello there," he said, as she tried not to crane her neck to look at him. "What lies has our Ianto been telling you?"
She laughed a little nervously. "I was just trying to figure out what exactly the two of you had in mind here."
"Many, many things," Jack purred.
"Asha, this is Jack," Ianto interjected somewhat apologetically. "Jack, Asha."
"Lovely name," Jack said.
"Mmm, thank you," she replied. "So there's a dare of some kind going on here?"
Jack raised his eyebrows at Ianto, who shrugged.
"Not exactly how I'd have put it," he said, moving a little closer so that he was almost touching her back now. She sucked in her breath at that, and he knew she'd be responsive and eager in bed. Good choice, he congratulated himself.
"Jack, you're making her nervous," Ianto said, feeling like it wasn't fair for Jack to come on so strongly without telling her what they were about, even as he knew that engaging her brain in the idea was probably best done not as the first order of business but as the last.
She poked a finger into Ianto's shoulder. "I can speak for myself, thanks," she said, almost playfully.
"Am I making you nervous?" Jack purred, pressing the side of his face against hers.
She seemed to allow herself a split second to enjoy his presence and then turned around; obviously, Ianto realised, of the two of them, it would appear much safer to have her back to him and not just because he was the somewhat known quantity. "Yes, actually, you are."
She took a step back from the bar and, therefore, from both of them. "What's the game, boys?"
Ianto opened his mouth to speak. So did Jack, although maybe it was just to kiss her, he wasn't sure. It didn't matter, because it was at that precise moment that Asha's friends started screaming for her attention.
She waved them off and then looked from Ianto to Jack. "I think you have thirty seconds."
"Ianto," Jack said smoothly and gestured to him, the now or never perfectly clear. Ianto would ask, and Jack would clean up the mess. As a plan, Ianto could live with it. Certainly, it was a reversal to their usual day-to-day way of things.
"We're... together?" Ianto said, not meaning to make it a question, but they'd never said anything about it to anyone before, not really, and so was grateful when Jack nodded. "But we both like women. Too!" Oh god, he was so nervous; this was not suave, and Asha was staring at him like he had three heads. "And I told him I wanted to see him with a woman, and here you are and we are and... well it's more interesting than escaped from the seminary, right?"
Jack gave Ianto a slightly bewildered look himself but figured all of that could be addressed later. Like when their thirty seconds were up. Poor Ianto.
He reached for Asha's hand and murmured, "Come home with us." It wasn't a question. Ianto had made enough things that weren't questions, questions and clearly someone needed to have a firm grip on this thing until the man got his balance back.
She let him take her hand but then looked over at her friends, who were now all staring, mouths agape. "Uh... I don't know. I mean..." she trailed off, before adding, "I don't really do the pick up in bars thing any more. Maybe we can -- you could give me your number, and...."
"One night only offer," Jack said, smiling. "Take it or leave it."
She swallowed, looked from him to Ianto and then said, "I shouldn't. Fuck it. Okay. Let me tell my party I'm taking off."
Jack stepped back courteously to allow her to pass, and then they watched as she made her way back to the table.
Back at her table, her friends were staring at her.
"Is there a reason you haven't brought them over here with you?" was the first question she was asked, not that anyone gave her a chance to answer it, which was probably for the best. After all, what could she possibly say?
Not that they weren’t perfectly happy to guess. "What mischief have you got up to now?" was the nice version. "What are you doing?" wasn’t.
"Two of them!" her friend's younger sister exclaimed. She was succinct if nothing else.
Asha grinned. "Listen, I'm off. I'm sure you can see why. Happy divorce, Mel. This lot'll keep the party going, yeah?"
"No! You're leaving with them? Both of them?"
"I am," she said firmly. "I've got my mobile. So if you don't hear from me by tomorrow morning, you can start describing them to the police. If any of you call me before tomorrow morning, I'll kill you."
They laughed, and she grabbed her coat, waved, and rejoined the two men at the bar.
"I'm ready," she said. "I've told them if they don't hear from me by tomorrow morning, they're to start ringing up the police. So don't get any ideas about doing away with me."
"Last thing on our minds," the older American fellow, with the incredibly hot military coat -- Jack? -- said.
"I can't believe I'm not even making you buy me dinner first."
"We'll make it up to you," Jack said, and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"
Ianto shook his head and laughed as she linked her arm with Jack's and they walked out.
"So," she said, the small talk suddenly feeling very difficult, "do you do this sort of thing a lot?"
"First time for him," Jack said, nodding at Ianto.
"He, on the other hand, has an appallingly chequered past," Ianto added, chuckling.
"Hey! It helped get it done, so none of that."
Asha laughed. "You were having trouble getting to the point, you know."
"Well, wouldn't you?" Ianto offered.
"Good thing about being a woman, I don't really need to know, yeah?"
"She has a point," Jack noted.
When they got to the car and Ianto unlocked it, Jack moved to open the passenger's side door for Asha.
"Jack," Ianto said, stopping him.
"What?"
"What's a back seat for if not entertaining our guest?"
A smile broke over Jack's face slowly, and he gave Ianto a small kiss for (in all things but the actual pick-up) his rather unerring competence. "All right, then," he said and moved his hand to the other door.
Ianto got into the driver's seat and paused to unnecessarily adjust the mirror, really so he could keep looking into it and see, beautifully framed, the vision of Jack climbing into the back and smoothly putting his arm around the woman, before tilting her face up to his so he could finally kiss her.
It was gorgeous, breathtaking even, and Ianto felt his heart pounding in his chest with a strange mixture of awe, lust and envy. He swallowed, almost unable to move, until Jack pulled away and caught his eyes in the mirror.
"Well?" he said. "Are we going?"
Ianto cleared his throat. "Yes," he said, starting the car. "Don't stop on my account."
"Don't worry," Jack said with a grin.
"Try not to drive into a tree," Asha added helpfully.
"He won't," Jack said. "He's very good at not getting distracted."
"Pity," she said, before Jack bent his head to kiss her again.
When he let her up for air, she bit her lip and gasped.
"There's something about you," she said. "I feel... you're so...."
"He gets that a lot," Ianto said, trying to keep one eye on the road and the other on the spectacle in the back. "Try not to compliment him too much; there'll be no living with him."
"Don't listen to him," Jack said. "Tell me more."
Asha shook her head and laughed. "This has got to be the most surreal night of my life."
"If it's any comfort, you're not alone in that regard," Ianto said, and she laughed.
She might have been drowning in Jack, but Ianto knew it was him that she was actually comfortable with. It was a strange bargain, but Ianto found he didn't mind it at all.
Jack kissed her throat, and Ianto watched as best he could in the rear view mirror as she raked her nails up through the back of Jack's hair.
Jack sighed happily. "Nothing like that in the world," he said.
"What now?" Ianto asked.
"A woman's nails."
"Ah, yes," Ianto said, wondering how many times he would remember and remember and remember tonight, and how many times it would gut him just a little because Lisa was gone and with her all his other ties to the world of ordinary people. That part of his life -- filled with girls who smelled nice and were soft and were eager to find him sweet and hot and full of mischief -- was over. There was Jack now, and no matter what happened with that, with Asha, with anyone, it would always be Jack as the basis of comparison, the basis of memory, the basis of desire, from now on.
In that light, it almost seemed cruel to do this to Asha. Maybe Jack would stick in her head the same way, not necessarily as the best she'd ever have and certainly not as a guy she'd get the wrong idea about -- she didn't seem the sort and Jack could be so kindly clear -- but maybe as some lost sensation, some half remembered act of recognition she'd always have to be chasing now.
Ianto hoped not. Hoped it was just him and his grief and the way he had shaped himself to Jack, first for Lisa's survival and then his own, that felt the other man like a line between lives. But it wasn't an idea he was confident in. After all, didn't it make sense that a man who couldn't die would divide lives from themselves without even trying? with nothing more than a kiss and a lick and a wink? Strange, selfish, overwhelming Jack who was staring at him via the rear view mirror.
"Eyes on the road, Ianto," Jack said.
"Eyes on the girl," Ianto replied, and Jack laughed.
Continue to next part
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-06 03:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 04:36 am (UTC)I've always thought of Jack as being more comfortable as an XO rather than a CO; it seems very much the role he plays on Who especially, and he seemed very happy with himself there, when he has the Doctor to answer to. Contrast that with his -- shall we say angsty-ness - on Torchwood, and for us it seemed to fit. Glad it worked for you, and hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 12:18 pm (UTC)Be doubly flattered in that case, because I normally avoid Jack/Ianto like the plague.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 04:13 pm (UTC)I actually am VERY OTP about Jack, because I believe that Jack loves deeply and quickly, and that most of his liasons are, in fact, OTPs in that moment, however brief, however long.
I realize, this shifts the fannish definition of OTP somewhat, but there you go.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 04:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 04:23 pm (UTC)That said, I'm glad I did do a bit of sifting to find this :)