How To Be
Title: How To Be
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/other, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Exit Wounds
Wordcount: 450
1913
"Jack."
There was no answer; not at first anyway.
"Jack. Talk to me."
"I can't." He lifted his head, though, from where it had been resting on his knees, pulled up against his chest.
"You just did."
Jack leaned back against the wall, looking up from where he sat on the floor. "I can't do this."
"Why not?" Jack closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of cloth brushing and floorboards creaking as his lover sat down in front of him; when he opened them again, his partner's eyes were on a level with his.
"I can't...I don't know if I'll ever die. I might live forever."
"Or you might not."
"A girl told me once - she said other things, things she shouldn't have known, but she was right about them - she told me that I'd still be here in a hundred years. Even if I don't make it forever, it'll be a long time. I - I don't know how I can manage, I'll go crazy..."
"No. You won't."
"How can I not?"
"I'll help you." Jack opened his mouth to say, sure, but you won't be around forever, but got cut off. "And after me, you'll find someone else. Someone you trust. Someone who can help you hold yourself together when you don't think you can. There'll always be someone, Jack - for you, there will always be someone who cares enough to be there."
2008
Ianto's lips were soft under his, unresisting. Jack kissed him again, just to find out if he still tasted the same as he had a second ago. He didn't, quite - his lips were a little saltier where a tear had dripped on them. Jack hadn't even realized he was crying; he wiped it away before Ianto opened his dry eyes and noticed.
"'Lright, alright, I'm awake already," Ianto grumbled. For a morning person, he could be surprisingly grumpy when he woke up. "Jack - what's wrong?"
Damn; apparently his quick wipe hadn't hidden quite all the evidence of crying.
"I missed you."
Three words. So much meaning - so much pain, loneliness, emptiness.
"I know." Ianto's arms wrapped around him and he pushed his lips against Jack's; a proper kiss this time, long, deep, and satisfying, not the light nibbles he'd woken Ianto with.
"Two thousand years, Ianto."
"I know, Jack."
"I don't know if I can go out there again," Jack said. "Back into the world, into my life - it's all too much." And the question that he'd never asked before, not of this man: "Help me?"
"Anything you need, Jack."
"Don't let me forget how to be human," Jack whispered. "Don't ever let me forget."
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/other, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Exit Wounds
Wordcount: 450
1913
"Jack."
There was no answer; not at first anyway.
"Jack. Talk to me."
"I can't." He lifted his head, though, from where it had been resting on his knees, pulled up against his chest.
"You just did."
Jack leaned back against the wall, looking up from where he sat on the floor. "I can't do this."
"Why not?" Jack closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of cloth brushing and floorboards creaking as his lover sat down in front of him; when he opened them again, his partner's eyes were on a level with his.
"I can't...I don't know if I'll ever die. I might live forever."
"Or you might not."
"A girl told me once - she said other things, things she shouldn't have known, but she was right about them - she told me that I'd still be here in a hundred years. Even if I don't make it forever, it'll be a long time. I - I don't know how I can manage, I'll go crazy..."
"No. You won't."
"How can I not?"
"I'll help you." Jack opened his mouth to say, sure, but you won't be around forever, but got cut off. "And after me, you'll find someone else. Someone you trust. Someone who can help you hold yourself together when you don't think you can. There'll always be someone, Jack - for you, there will always be someone who cares enough to be there."
2008
Ianto's lips were soft under his, unresisting. Jack kissed him again, just to find out if he still tasted the same as he had a second ago. He didn't, quite - his lips were a little saltier where a tear had dripped on them. Jack hadn't even realized he was crying; he wiped it away before Ianto opened his dry eyes and noticed.
"'Lright, alright, I'm awake already," Ianto grumbled. For a morning person, he could be surprisingly grumpy when he woke up. "Jack - what's wrong?"
Damn; apparently his quick wipe hadn't hidden quite all the evidence of crying.
"I missed you."
Three words. So much meaning - so much pain, loneliness, emptiness.
"I know." Ianto's arms wrapped around him and he pushed his lips against Jack's; a proper kiss this time, long, deep, and satisfying, not the light nibbles he'd woken Ianto with.
"Two thousand years, Ianto."
"I know, Jack."
"I don't know if I can go out there again," Jack said. "Back into the world, into my life - it's all too much." And the question that he'd never asked before, not of this man: "Help me?"
"Anything you need, Jack."
"Don't let me forget how to be human," Jack whispered. "Don't ever let me forget."