Tales Of A Time Agency - 1/?
Title: Tales of A Time Agency - 1/?
Rating: 15 for now, although NC-17 possible later on.
Characters: Jack, Ianto, John Hart, Toshiko, Owen, Gwen, Martha, The Doctor
Pairings: Predominantly Jack/Ianto (eventually), but it’s the Time Agency so expect Jack/John, Tosh/Owen, John/the consenting population of the universe……
Chapters: Chapter Number One
Spoilers: Anything Torchwood could be hinted at. Could also include a dash of Doctor Who too.
Summary: Ianto Jones is thrown into the world of excess of the Time Agency Academy, but will he sink or swim? Even when the enigmatic Jack Harkness starts looking his way…
Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, none of the characters, zip. Wish I did though.
Author’s Notes: This is my first proper AU so please go easy on me! It’s like nothing I’ve attempted before so I really hope you like it. Big thanks have to go to my beta 2nd_toshiko for sticking with me! And as always, any comments your guys give me really do mean so much and keep me writing! :)
Dedicated to the wonderful 2nd_toshiko , naddypants , skullgirl013 and morgia for simply supporting my writing. You’re all great writers in your own right and you make my writing so much more enjoyable! Thank you!! :D
There were some feelings you could do without in a morning. The splitting headache now raging through Jack’s skull was most certainly one of them. Although it did generally mean in his experience that he had had a good night, and that the worse the headache, the better the night it had been…..
Grunting at the light, Jack pulled himself upwards, sitting upright. He rubbed at his eyes before stretching, feeling his over used muscles ache and grind within his body. Snippets of the night before flashed before his eyes, causing him to look to his left and take in the body lying next to him for the first time that morning. The chiselled features and toned body struck a particular chord inside him, grey eyes watching him lazily.
“You?” He groaned, watching as John Hart sat up beside him, hair sticking up from where he had laid on it. “Not again.”
“It’s such a waste.” John replied, staring at him with glazed grey eyes. “Then again……..” He threw him a casual smirk. “It’s a habit I’m quite enjoying getting into.”
“Well don’t get too used to it.” Jack sighed, shaking his head. “As soon as I find someone to replace you with…..”
“Oh I’m hurt.” John leaned out of bed, reaching down for his trousers and pulling out a shiny silver cigarette, stacked to the hilt with pure nicotine. Placing the tube between his teeth, he slowly twisted the end, a spark crackling from inside the metal casing. “You obviously haven’t realised how much you’ll be missing.”
“Please, you’ll be the one missing me.”
“And what makes you think you’re so great Jack fucking Harkness?” John laughed, puffing out a large cloud of thick sickening smoke into the air around them. He winked at him, inhaling deeply. “Do you have anything to drink in this place?”
“Only if you give me a go.” Jack grinned, reaching out to take the cigarette from him.
“Strange, that’s what you told me last night……”
“Oh very funny.” Jack rolled his eyes, pointing out towards the far end of the room. “In there, second container on the left.” He tried to hold back a smile as he watched John climb out of bed, skin completely exposed as he padded across the cold metal flooring. If he was being honest, it was more than chance that drove him to bring John back to his bed most nights…..
“Hyper vodka?” The other cadet gave him a quizzical look, raising one eyebrow as he turned his head. “Is this all you drink?”
“What else is there? Plus, I like the buzz it gives me at the start of the day.” The answer seemed to satisfy John, who gave him yet another hearty smile, before pulling the lid off the bottle and downing a hefty measure of it. Jack was unable to look away, holding the cigarette in his mouth as his eyes watched the soft movement of the other man’s adam’s apple as he swallowed down the liquid.
“Better?” He managed to grin, attempting to hide the swell of lust in his throat.
“Much. Want some?”
“Is there any left?” Jack quipped, watching him intently as he climbed back into bed, making no attempt to cover himself with the sheets. John noticed his wandering eye, handing him the bottle with another cock of his eyebrow. “Enjoying the view?”
“I’ve seen better.” The older man laughed, taking a deep slug from the bottle, cigarette still balanced between his fingers. “Don’t we have training in fifteen minutes?”
“Yeah, what about it? We’re never on time.”
“True, but today isn’t a normal day. It’s “freshies” day.” Blowing out another puff of nicotine and sickly smoke, Jack gave John a knowing smile.
“I don’t believe it. You’re in bed with me and you’re already thinking about fresh meat?” The other cadet said bluntly, taking the cigarette back from him in mock offense. “You’ve cut me deep Jack.”
“You know me. I’m open to new experiences.”
“I do know that.” Finishing the cigarette in a single drag, John glanced at it quickly in disgust, before clicking the end shut and throwing it to the floor. He turned to Jack, blue grey eyes almost black with a sudden lust that was characteristically John’s. “You’re open to pretty much everything.”
“It’s one of my charms.” Jack smirked, reaching up to grip at his face, pulling it down harshly for a kiss. He groaned slightly, his mouth opening as he felt the other man’s hands wind their way around his bare back, gripping roughly at his skin.
“We’ve got a whole fifteen minutes.” Jack smiled, pulling away briefly.
“I’m not sure that’s long enough.”
“Oh I know you John. It’s long enough.”
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The first day of training was always the most daunting, and even a cadet like Jack could remember being petrified as he was led from his transport ship along a network of tunnels and highways into the city. Salvana, the shining capital of Adronax Minor, home of the biggest organisation around. It was a world away from Boeshane, sand coloured bunkers and lodgings replaced by metal behemoths which threw shadows across the walkways scattered amongst them. The buildings were all alike, tall, strong, robust and circular, each wall looking like an endless stream of pure metal. The exterior walls of every building gleamed a bright white, as the sun shone onto them and was reflected out into the city creating a vanilla like haze. Small gardens were nestled in between houses and buildings alike, leaving patches of deep green strewn across the landscape, bright coloured apple grass sprouting up around every immaculately manicured flower bed.
Dominating the heart of Salvana lay the Time Agency Recruitment Academy or TARA as it was more commonly called. It was one of the biggest buildings around, the white exterior equally matched by its interior, dominated by plastic and chrome. A huge crescent shape, it lay right in the centre of the city, with every street and highway seeming to branch off from it. A huge towering white wall surrounded the Academy and its four dormitories, setting it aside from the rest of the city. The dormitory building themselves were circular, each “block” as it was called a circle building providing rooms where each student would live through out the course of their training, each containing everything each cadet would need to live during their training at the Academy. Initially it took three years to train as a fully fledged Time Agent, and for those years, the TARA was your life. Or at least, it was supposed to be.
The planet, Adronax Minor, had been chosen for its agreeable conditions for most species, predominantly humans or humanoids. The temperature range was very similar to the nearby New Earth, and so was the surrounding flora and fauna. The cities themselves were all mostly humanoid settlements, each gleaming in their own metallic glory. For most of the cadets, Adronax Minor really was a home away from home. For Jack and John especially.
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He wasn’t quite sure how they’d managed it, but Jack Harkness had made it to the great hall of TARA relatively on time. It was already packed with other cadets like himself, each sporting their red or yellow uniforms and stood in their ranks according to whichever block they had been assigned to. The new training year always started and ended with a formal inspection, one of the few occasions when everyone was gathered together. Quickly and quietly John and Jack both filed into the room, straightening their clothing as they fell into rank.
“You’re late.” Telmaya Xantir, a tall, willowy brunette said softly as they slipped into the gap next to her. She shot Jack a mischievous look from behind a curtain of black hair, a smile radiating across her pale features. “Could you two be anymore obvious?”
“Don’t know what you mean.” Jack winked in return, giving her a gentle jab in the ribs. “What have we missed?”
“Nothing yet. Inspection is about to begin.” Telmaya nodded, reaching up to straighten the collar of her shirt. She gave Jack a quick nod. “Nice to see you’ve made an effort.”
“Nervous?” John smirked, straightening the tunic of his own uniform cockily. He eyed the woman beside Jack eagerly, before returning his gaze to the stripes that lay across Jack’s shoulders. “You sure you deserve to be wearing those?”
“I deserve them as much as you.” Jack quipped, casually throwing a wink in his direction. “Will you be going out tonight?”
“I might do.”
“See you at the same club, same time?”
“Deal.”
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Ianto Jones was a long way from home.
He swallowed hard, feeling his heart drum in his chest as he glanced around the huge white library that sprawled out around him. So much for trying to find somewhere familiar he thought to himself.
Adronax Minor was the complete opposite of his home planet, Salax 9, an old earth colony turned space port. He was used to bustling streets yes, but nothing like this. Everything was so big around him, so different that he felt like the culture shock has hit him squarely in the jaw and thrown him backwards. He never could have been prepared for this.
I’m lucky to be here. He kept telling himself over and over as he was lead off his transport ship and to the room that he’d been assigned to. No one gets an opportunity like this. He tried to convince himself as he unpacked his things, sat in the room that felt so luxurious around him. He was right, it was unheard of for anyone from Salax 9 to make it anywhere in the universe, never mind waking up one morning as a Time Agent drummed at their door. After all, you didn’t go looking to become part of the Time Agency, the would come looking for you. The city he’d grown up in had been a tough place to live, the space port attracting the galaxies low life’s with its promise of a open trading routes and a low police presence as it lay on the outskirts of the galaxy. In fact Salax 9 had driven all of Ianto’s friends to that life, either out of desperation or greed but all that had just made Ianto realise how much he wanted to get out, made him realise how much he needed to make something of himself. And it was this realisation that had lead him to bury himself in any books he could find, his intelligence astounding those around him. With that and his acute temporal senses detectable only by the Time Agency, it had only been a matter of time until they found him…….
“Need any help?” A hand was tapping him on his shoulder, causing Ianto to spin round and drop the books that he was already carrying. He heard the figure above him laugh gently, before stooping down to help him gather them up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s ok.” Ianto managed a smile, eyes meeting with the woman’s in front of him for the first time. “I’m new.”
“I gathered as much.” She gave him a gentle nod, passing him one of his books before holding out her hand. “I’m Toshiko anyway. Toshiko Sato.”
“Ianto Jones.”
“Doing a bit of light reading Ianto?” She grinned indicating down to the books in his arms. “Isn’t it easier to read them on one of the computers?”
“Yes…….” Ianto paused, suddenly feeling very sheepish. “But I prefer to read them this way. I hate staring at those screens.”
“Gods!” Toshiko laughed kindly. “I’m the same. I end up spending most of my time in here.” She gave him a kind smile. “Come with me. We’ll get you a seat.”
They found a table nestled next to one of the many bookshelves and sat down, Toshiko talking constantly to cover the noise. He liked her, she was sweet and kind, and although she was completely different to her, she spoke with an intelligence that made her seem somehow familiar, someone he could relate to in the new and lonely world. Over the time that they sat together, Ianto learned that Toshiko was just starting her second year of training, although she wasn’t aiming to become a field agent like most of the cadets at the Academy.
“Halfway through my first year they asked me if I wanted to train to be an engineer.” She smiled softly, idly picking at the sleeve of her yellow tunic. “Told me I showed more promise for that department than in field work.”
“That must have been a real honour.” Ianto replied, intoxicated by listening to her, hearing about a life so alien to his.
“Not really.” She met his gaze, before continuing. “It doesn’t really count for much around here.”
“How do you mean?”
“There’s a hierarchy. People like you and me, we’re just you’re average cadets. But……” She looked around them, until a certain group of people came into view. Laughing slightly, she pointed a slender hand in their direction. “You see those guys over there?”
“Yeah. What about them?”
“They are the stars of the Academy. The best cadets hand picked to go straight out into the field as soon as their trainings finished.”
“Isn’t that like most of us though?”
“Are you kidding me?” She smirked, leaning backwards in her chair. “At the start, sure. But over the course of the training they sort through you, the clever ones go into engineering and the technical side of it all. The sheer muscle? You’re looking at them.”
“Don’t you have a choice?”
“Yeah. The choice was whether or not we wanted to become cadets. Now we’re here, its all up to the Academy.”
They sat in silence, Ianto’s head still spinning. He had never realised any of this, not in all the research that he had sifted through to get to what he thought was the truth about the Time Agency. It all seemed so different to what he was expecting, although his logic deemed it reasonable. After all, the Time Agency needed more than just agents; they needed teachers, medics and scientists. They were a real organisation of course. He sighed, glancing down to his pristine navy uniform, the colour worn by all the new cadets. If he was correct, the noisy group that Toshiko had pointed out earlier were all in their final year, white stripes emblazoned across the shoulders of their heavy looking scarlet tunics. As he continued to stare at the group, one man stood out in particular, possibly the loudest of them all, stood dead centre of all the commotion. He was devilishly handsome, and it was obvious that the rest of the group agreed with Ianto by the way they were all looking at him. Ianto smiled, not even conscious that he was still staring at the man until suddenly his blue eyes met with his own. Ianto held back a gasp, heart jumping in his stomach as he looked away quickly, feeling his cheeks flush with sudden colour.
“I think I might get back to my room.” He said quickly, giving Toshiko a quick nod.
“Want me to come with you?”
“No, you stay here. You’ve done enough for me already.”
“Ok.” She smiled softly, handing him a small piece of paper. “If you need me, my wrist strap is on this frequency. I’ll see you around I guess.”
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Jack Harkness was in shock. He’d been aware of the pretty young eyes resting on him for a while, and just as he’d replied with his best returning look, the man had left, obviously in some sort of hurry. But that wasn’t what shocked Jack the most, he was pretty much used to being stared at and was definitely used to embarrassing people. No, what shocked Jack the most was the fact that he cared. Why he was still thinking about the freshie that had been sat across the library hall from him five minutes after he’d left. Now that was most something that he very rarely did.
“Jack?” He felt an elbow jab him in the ribs, bringing his attention back to the people around him. “You still in there?”
“Of course I am.” Jack laughed, shunting John to one side playfully.
“Good. Can’t have you going quiet on me. Well, not until tonight anyway….”
“That a promise?” Jack cocked an eyebrow, meeting his gaze. “Besides, I think I might have found someone better for tonight.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. First freshie of the year.”
“Who?”
“The kid that just left. Was sat at the far table on the right.”
“Him?” John gave him a thoughtful look, rubbing at his chin. “10 credits says that you can’t do it.” He winked, resting his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I mean, did you see how he blanked you just then?”
“Please, that was just nerves.” Jack sniggered. “Make it 20 credits and we have a deal.”
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Ianto Jones was beginning to hate the Academy already. That or he was regretting blowing off Toshiko back at the library. He was lost, except not just lost mentally, now he was physically lost too. He’d left the library in such a hurry he’d not even bothered to check which corridor was which. And since every porcelain walkway looked the same, he’d become disorientated in no time.
Uncovering his new wrist strap, Ianto fiddled with the controls, pressing them repeatedly until a small map appeared on the screen, a red dot showing his current position. He squinted at it, lifting his arm up higher so that he could see the small codes written by each of the corridors on the map. Corridor 42 C apparently. He sighed glancing to his right. Corridor 42 B is where I need to be. He shook his head, inwardly kicking himself for taking such a big wrong turning.
“Lost are you?” For a second time a voice behind Ianto caused him to jump out of his skin, except this time the voice was more confident and less concerned than Toshiko’s had been, an American tang clinging to every syllable.
“No thanks, I’m fi-” Ianto froze as soon as he came face to face with the man that he had inadvertently been running from all along. He opened his mouth to continue, but it was dry, the words unable to escape from it. He really was beautiful…..
“Something wrong?” The older man before him raised his eyebrows, maintaining that perfect eye contact that Ianto was desperately trying to avoid.
“No………..not at all.”
“You sure?” The other cadet smirked, craning his head so that he could look at Ianto’s wrist strap. “Ahhhh, so you are lost.”
“Was it that obvious?” Ianto felt himself quip, unable to explain why he felt so comfortable around the dashing man in front of him.
“Just a little. There’s a shortcut, head to the end of this block and take a left, if you carry on along there long enough you’ll find block B.”
“Thanks.” Ianto nodded quickly, turning to leave so that Jack couldn’t see the crimson now flowing across his cheeks.
“Wait. Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”
“Are you going to tell me yours?”
“Fair play.” The man chuckled as Ianto turned round. “The name’s Jack, Jack Harkness.”
“Ianto Jones.”
“Interesting. Old earth name right?”
“You could say that.” Ianto said sadly thoughts of home washing over him like a painful tide. He shuddered, edging away from Jack slightly. “Look, I’ve really got to get going. It was nice to meet you Jack.” Avoiding the other man’s gaze, he backed away further, heading down the corridor at the quickest pace he could muster. Anything to get him away from those eyes, however beautiful and mesmerising they might seem…….
“Hey!” Footsteps were ringing after him reverberating through the corridor around him as Jack caught up with him, maintaining his pace so he could stay a few steps in front of Ianto. “What’s the rush?”
“I’ve got to unpack…..I’ve only just got here…..”
“Ok. I’ll believe you.” The other man grinned, holding his gaze in his. “You don’t have any plans for tonight do you?”
“Does it matter?”
“It might.” Jack smirked, resting his hand on the other man’s arm. Ianto felt his knees almost buckle under the contact. “There’s a club, Poseidon, that we always go to.”
“We?”
“Just me and my friends.”
“Good for you.”
“You’re a tough one to crack Jones.” Jack chuckled quickly. “Meet me there yeah? Tonight?”
“I don’t know......”
“Why not?”
“It’s my first night here. I don’t know anyone and-”
“Quit making excuses.” Jack laughed. “You’ll meet plenty of people tonight. You’ll enjoy it. Trust me.”
As he watched an embarrassed Ianto leave him in the corridor, Jack couldn’t help but smile. He was used to chasing after those he found attractive, but there was something that told him that Ianto Jones was different. But more than that, this wasn’t just the usual thrill of the chase that Jack craved, the thrill that kept him going for new partner after partner just to keep it alive. This was something more than that, a genuine, deep attraction. There was something there in the younger man’s eyes, a depth that told him that he wasn’t like the others. If he was determined to find out one thing, he wanted to find out just how different he was. And that meant Jack Harkness would be damned if he was going to lose this particular bet…….
Ok, so that’s chapter one done and dusted. Long and errrr long winded? Is it worth continuing? I hope that you guys like this, even though I’m not even sure if I like it myself…….hmmm anyway, as always I shall beg for your comments, since they do keep me scribbling these random stories. But thank you so so much for reading so far, and I really hope that you’ve enjoyed it. :)
Just Being Me
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Click here for Chapter Two!!
Rating: 15 for now, although NC-17 possible later on.
Characters: Jack, Ianto, John Hart, Toshiko, Owen, Gwen, Martha, The Doctor
Pairings: Predominantly Jack/Ianto (eventually), but it’s the Time Agency so expect Jack/John, Tosh/Owen, John/the consenting population of the universe……
Chapters: Chapter Number One
Spoilers: Anything Torchwood could be hinted at. Could also include a dash of Doctor Who too.
Summary: Ianto Jones is thrown into the world of excess of the Time Agency Academy, but will he sink or swim? Even when the enigmatic Jack Harkness starts looking his way…
Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, none of the characters, zip. Wish I did though.
Author’s Notes: This is my first proper AU so please go easy on me! It’s like nothing I’ve attempted before so I really hope you like it. Big thanks have to go to my beta 2nd_toshiko for sticking with me! And as always, any comments your guys give me really do mean so much and keep me writing! :)
Dedicated to the wonderful 2nd_toshiko , naddypants , skullgirl013 and morgia for simply supporting my writing. You’re all great writers in your own right and you make my writing so much more enjoyable! Thank you!! :D
There were some feelings you could do without in a morning. The splitting headache now raging through Jack’s skull was most certainly one of them. Although it did generally mean in his experience that he had had a good night, and that the worse the headache, the better the night it had been…..
Grunting at the light, Jack pulled himself upwards, sitting upright. He rubbed at his eyes before stretching, feeling his over used muscles ache and grind within his body. Snippets of the night before flashed before his eyes, causing him to look to his left and take in the body lying next to him for the first time that morning. The chiselled features and toned body struck a particular chord inside him, grey eyes watching him lazily.
“You?” He groaned, watching as John Hart sat up beside him, hair sticking up from where he had laid on it. “Not again.”
“It’s such a waste.” John replied, staring at him with glazed grey eyes. “Then again……..” He threw him a casual smirk. “It’s a habit I’m quite enjoying getting into.”
“Well don’t get too used to it.” Jack sighed, shaking his head. “As soon as I find someone to replace you with…..”
“Oh I’m hurt.” John leaned out of bed, reaching down for his trousers and pulling out a shiny silver cigarette, stacked to the hilt with pure nicotine. Placing the tube between his teeth, he slowly twisted the end, a spark crackling from inside the metal casing. “You obviously haven’t realised how much you’ll be missing.”
“Please, you’ll be the one missing me.”
“And what makes you think you’re so great Jack fucking Harkness?” John laughed, puffing out a large cloud of thick sickening smoke into the air around them. He winked at him, inhaling deeply. “Do you have anything to drink in this place?”
“Only if you give me a go.” Jack grinned, reaching out to take the cigarette from him.
“Strange, that’s what you told me last night……”
“Oh very funny.” Jack rolled his eyes, pointing out towards the far end of the room. “In there, second container on the left.” He tried to hold back a smile as he watched John climb out of bed, skin completely exposed as he padded across the cold metal flooring. If he was being honest, it was more than chance that drove him to bring John back to his bed most nights…..
“Hyper vodka?” The other cadet gave him a quizzical look, raising one eyebrow as he turned his head. “Is this all you drink?”
“What else is there? Plus, I like the buzz it gives me at the start of the day.” The answer seemed to satisfy John, who gave him yet another hearty smile, before pulling the lid off the bottle and downing a hefty measure of it. Jack was unable to look away, holding the cigarette in his mouth as his eyes watched the soft movement of the other man’s adam’s apple as he swallowed down the liquid.
“Better?” He managed to grin, attempting to hide the swell of lust in his throat.
“Much. Want some?”
“Is there any left?” Jack quipped, watching him intently as he climbed back into bed, making no attempt to cover himself with the sheets. John noticed his wandering eye, handing him the bottle with another cock of his eyebrow. “Enjoying the view?”
“I’ve seen better.” The older man laughed, taking a deep slug from the bottle, cigarette still balanced between his fingers. “Don’t we have training in fifteen minutes?”
“Yeah, what about it? We’re never on time.”
“True, but today isn’t a normal day. It’s “freshies” day.” Blowing out another puff of nicotine and sickly smoke, Jack gave John a knowing smile.
“I don’t believe it. You’re in bed with me and you’re already thinking about fresh meat?” The other cadet said bluntly, taking the cigarette back from him in mock offense. “You’ve cut me deep Jack.”
“You know me. I’m open to new experiences.”
“I do know that.” Finishing the cigarette in a single drag, John glanced at it quickly in disgust, before clicking the end shut and throwing it to the floor. He turned to Jack, blue grey eyes almost black with a sudden lust that was characteristically John’s. “You’re open to pretty much everything.”
“It’s one of my charms.” Jack smirked, reaching up to grip at his face, pulling it down harshly for a kiss. He groaned slightly, his mouth opening as he felt the other man’s hands wind their way around his bare back, gripping roughly at his skin.
“We’ve got a whole fifteen minutes.” Jack smiled, pulling away briefly.
“I’m not sure that’s long enough.”
“Oh I know you John. It’s long enough.”
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The first day of training was always the most daunting, and even a cadet like Jack could remember being petrified as he was led from his transport ship along a network of tunnels and highways into the city. Salvana, the shining capital of Adronax Minor, home of the biggest organisation around. It was a world away from Boeshane, sand coloured bunkers and lodgings replaced by metal behemoths which threw shadows across the walkways scattered amongst them. The buildings were all alike, tall, strong, robust and circular, each wall looking like an endless stream of pure metal. The exterior walls of every building gleamed a bright white, as the sun shone onto them and was reflected out into the city creating a vanilla like haze. Small gardens were nestled in between houses and buildings alike, leaving patches of deep green strewn across the landscape, bright coloured apple grass sprouting up around every immaculately manicured flower bed.
Dominating the heart of Salvana lay the Time Agency Recruitment Academy or TARA as it was more commonly called. It was one of the biggest buildings around, the white exterior equally matched by its interior, dominated by plastic and chrome. A huge crescent shape, it lay right in the centre of the city, with every street and highway seeming to branch off from it. A huge towering white wall surrounded the Academy and its four dormitories, setting it aside from the rest of the city. The dormitory building themselves were circular, each “block” as it was called a circle building providing rooms where each student would live through out the course of their training, each containing everything each cadet would need to live during their training at the Academy. Initially it took three years to train as a fully fledged Time Agent, and for those years, the TARA was your life. Or at least, it was supposed to be.
The planet, Adronax Minor, had been chosen for its agreeable conditions for most species, predominantly humans or humanoids. The temperature range was very similar to the nearby New Earth, and so was the surrounding flora and fauna. The cities themselves were all mostly humanoid settlements, each gleaming in their own metallic glory. For most of the cadets, Adronax Minor really was a home away from home. For Jack and John especially.
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He wasn’t quite sure how they’d managed it, but Jack Harkness had made it to the great hall of TARA relatively on time. It was already packed with other cadets like himself, each sporting their red or yellow uniforms and stood in their ranks according to whichever block they had been assigned to. The new training year always started and ended with a formal inspection, one of the few occasions when everyone was gathered together. Quickly and quietly John and Jack both filed into the room, straightening their clothing as they fell into rank.
“You’re late.” Telmaya Xantir, a tall, willowy brunette said softly as they slipped into the gap next to her. She shot Jack a mischievous look from behind a curtain of black hair, a smile radiating across her pale features. “Could you two be anymore obvious?”
“Don’t know what you mean.” Jack winked in return, giving her a gentle jab in the ribs. “What have we missed?”
“Nothing yet. Inspection is about to begin.” Telmaya nodded, reaching up to straighten the collar of her shirt. She gave Jack a quick nod. “Nice to see you’ve made an effort.”
“Nervous?” John smirked, straightening the tunic of his own uniform cockily. He eyed the woman beside Jack eagerly, before returning his gaze to the stripes that lay across Jack’s shoulders. “You sure you deserve to be wearing those?”
“I deserve them as much as you.” Jack quipped, casually throwing a wink in his direction. “Will you be going out tonight?”
“I might do.”
“See you at the same club, same time?”
“Deal.”
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Ianto Jones was a long way from home.
He swallowed hard, feeling his heart drum in his chest as he glanced around the huge white library that sprawled out around him. So much for trying to find somewhere familiar he thought to himself.
Adronax Minor was the complete opposite of his home planet, Salax 9, an old earth colony turned space port. He was used to bustling streets yes, but nothing like this. Everything was so big around him, so different that he felt like the culture shock has hit him squarely in the jaw and thrown him backwards. He never could have been prepared for this.
I’m lucky to be here. He kept telling himself over and over as he was lead off his transport ship and to the room that he’d been assigned to. No one gets an opportunity like this. He tried to convince himself as he unpacked his things, sat in the room that felt so luxurious around him. He was right, it was unheard of for anyone from Salax 9 to make it anywhere in the universe, never mind waking up one morning as a Time Agent drummed at their door. After all, you didn’t go looking to become part of the Time Agency, the would come looking for you. The city he’d grown up in had been a tough place to live, the space port attracting the galaxies low life’s with its promise of a open trading routes and a low police presence as it lay on the outskirts of the galaxy. In fact Salax 9 had driven all of Ianto’s friends to that life, either out of desperation or greed but all that had just made Ianto realise how much he wanted to get out, made him realise how much he needed to make something of himself. And it was this realisation that had lead him to bury himself in any books he could find, his intelligence astounding those around him. With that and his acute temporal senses detectable only by the Time Agency, it had only been a matter of time until they found him…….
“Need any help?” A hand was tapping him on his shoulder, causing Ianto to spin round and drop the books that he was already carrying. He heard the figure above him laugh gently, before stooping down to help him gather them up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s ok.” Ianto managed a smile, eyes meeting with the woman’s in front of him for the first time. “I’m new.”
“I gathered as much.” She gave him a gentle nod, passing him one of his books before holding out her hand. “I’m Toshiko anyway. Toshiko Sato.”
“Ianto Jones.”
“Doing a bit of light reading Ianto?” She grinned indicating down to the books in his arms. “Isn’t it easier to read them on one of the computers?”
“Yes…….” Ianto paused, suddenly feeling very sheepish. “But I prefer to read them this way. I hate staring at those screens.”
“Gods!” Toshiko laughed kindly. “I’m the same. I end up spending most of my time in here.” She gave him a kind smile. “Come with me. We’ll get you a seat.”
They found a table nestled next to one of the many bookshelves and sat down, Toshiko talking constantly to cover the noise. He liked her, she was sweet and kind, and although she was completely different to her, she spoke with an intelligence that made her seem somehow familiar, someone he could relate to in the new and lonely world. Over the time that they sat together, Ianto learned that Toshiko was just starting her second year of training, although she wasn’t aiming to become a field agent like most of the cadets at the Academy.
“Halfway through my first year they asked me if I wanted to train to be an engineer.” She smiled softly, idly picking at the sleeve of her yellow tunic. “Told me I showed more promise for that department than in field work.”
“That must have been a real honour.” Ianto replied, intoxicated by listening to her, hearing about a life so alien to his.
“Not really.” She met his gaze, before continuing. “It doesn’t really count for much around here.”
“How do you mean?”
“There’s a hierarchy. People like you and me, we’re just you’re average cadets. But……” She looked around them, until a certain group of people came into view. Laughing slightly, she pointed a slender hand in their direction. “You see those guys over there?”
“Yeah. What about them?”
“They are the stars of the Academy. The best cadets hand picked to go straight out into the field as soon as their trainings finished.”
“Isn’t that like most of us though?”
“Are you kidding me?” She smirked, leaning backwards in her chair. “At the start, sure. But over the course of the training they sort through you, the clever ones go into engineering and the technical side of it all. The sheer muscle? You’re looking at them.”
“Don’t you have a choice?”
“Yeah. The choice was whether or not we wanted to become cadets. Now we’re here, its all up to the Academy.”
They sat in silence, Ianto’s head still spinning. He had never realised any of this, not in all the research that he had sifted through to get to what he thought was the truth about the Time Agency. It all seemed so different to what he was expecting, although his logic deemed it reasonable. After all, the Time Agency needed more than just agents; they needed teachers, medics and scientists. They were a real organisation of course. He sighed, glancing down to his pristine navy uniform, the colour worn by all the new cadets. If he was correct, the noisy group that Toshiko had pointed out earlier were all in their final year, white stripes emblazoned across the shoulders of their heavy looking scarlet tunics. As he continued to stare at the group, one man stood out in particular, possibly the loudest of them all, stood dead centre of all the commotion. He was devilishly handsome, and it was obvious that the rest of the group agreed with Ianto by the way they were all looking at him. Ianto smiled, not even conscious that he was still staring at the man until suddenly his blue eyes met with his own. Ianto held back a gasp, heart jumping in his stomach as he looked away quickly, feeling his cheeks flush with sudden colour.
“I think I might get back to my room.” He said quickly, giving Toshiko a quick nod.
“Want me to come with you?”
“No, you stay here. You’ve done enough for me already.”
“Ok.” She smiled softly, handing him a small piece of paper. “If you need me, my wrist strap is on this frequency. I’ll see you around I guess.”
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Jack Harkness was in shock. He’d been aware of the pretty young eyes resting on him for a while, and just as he’d replied with his best returning look, the man had left, obviously in some sort of hurry. But that wasn’t what shocked Jack the most, he was pretty much used to being stared at and was definitely used to embarrassing people. No, what shocked Jack the most was the fact that he cared. Why he was still thinking about the freshie that had been sat across the library hall from him five minutes after he’d left. Now that was most something that he very rarely did.
“Jack?” He felt an elbow jab him in the ribs, bringing his attention back to the people around him. “You still in there?”
“Of course I am.” Jack laughed, shunting John to one side playfully.
“Good. Can’t have you going quiet on me. Well, not until tonight anyway….”
“That a promise?” Jack cocked an eyebrow, meeting his gaze. “Besides, I think I might have found someone better for tonight.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. First freshie of the year.”
“Who?”
“The kid that just left. Was sat at the far table on the right.”
“Him?” John gave him a thoughtful look, rubbing at his chin. “10 credits says that you can’t do it.” He winked, resting his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I mean, did you see how he blanked you just then?”
“Please, that was just nerves.” Jack sniggered. “Make it 20 credits and we have a deal.”
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Ianto Jones was beginning to hate the Academy already. That or he was regretting blowing off Toshiko back at the library. He was lost, except not just lost mentally, now he was physically lost too. He’d left the library in such a hurry he’d not even bothered to check which corridor was which. And since every porcelain walkway looked the same, he’d become disorientated in no time.
Uncovering his new wrist strap, Ianto fiddled with the controls, pressing them repeatedly until a small map appeared on the screen, a red dot showing his current position. He squinted at it, lifting his arm up higher so that he could see the small codes written by each of the corridors on the map. Corridor 42 C apparently. He sighed glancing to his right. Corridor 42 B is where I need to be. He shook his head, inwardly kicking himself for taking such a big wrong turning.
“Lost are you?” For a second time a voice behind Ianto caused him to jump out of his skin, except this time the voice was more confident and less concerned than Toshiko’s had been, an American tang clinging to every syllable.
“No thanks, I’m fi-” Ianto froze as soon as he came face to face with the man that he had inadvertently been running from all along. He opened his mouth to continue, but it was dry, the words unable to escape from it. He really was beautiful…..
“Something wrong?” The older man before him raised his eyebrows, maintaining that perfect eye contact that Ianto was desperately trying to avoid.
“No………..not at all.”
“You sure?” The other cadet smirked, craning his head so that he could look at Ianto’s wrist strap. “Ahhhh, so you are lost.”
“Was it that obvious?” Ianto felt himself quip, unable to explain why he felt so comfortable around the dashing man in front of him.
“Just a little. There’s a shortcut, head to the end of this block and take a left, if you carry on along there long enough you’ll find block B.”
“Thanks.” Ianto nodded quickly, turning to leave so that Jack couldn’t see the crimson now flowing across his cheeks.
“Wait. Aren’t you going to tell me your name?”
“Are you going to tell me yours?”
“Fair play.” The man chuckled as Ianto turned round. “The name’s Jack, Jack Harkness.”
“Ianto Jones.”
“Interesting. Old earth name right?”
“You could say that.” Ianto said sadly thoughts of home washing over him like a painful tide. He shuddered, edging away from Jack slightly. “Look, I’ve really got to get going. It was nice to meet you Jack.” Avoiding the other man’s gaze, he backed away further, heading down the corridor at the quickest pace he could muster. Anything to get him away from those eyes, however beautiful and mesmerising they might seem…….
“Hey!” Footsteps were ringing after him reverberating through the corridor around him as Jack caught up with him, maintaining his pace so he could stay a few steps in front of Ianto. “What’s the rush?”
“I’ve got to unpack…..I’ve only just got here…..”
“Ok. I’ll believe you.” The other man grinned, holding his gaze in his. “You don’t have any plans for tonight do you?”
“Does it matter?”
“It might.” Jack smirked, resting his hand on the other man’s arm. Ianto felt his knees almost buckle under the contact. “There’s a club, Poseidon, that we always go to.”
“We?”
“Just me and my friends.”
“Good for you.”
“You’re a tough one to crack Jones.” Jack chuckled quickly. “Meet me there yeah? Tonight?”
“I don’t know......”
“Why not?”
“It’s my first night here. I don’t know anyone and-”
“Quit making excuses.” Jack laughed. “You’ll meet plenty of people tonight. You’ll enjoy it. Trust me.”
As he watched an embarrassed Ianto leave him in the corridor, Jack couldn’t help but smile. He was used to chasing after those he found attractive, but there was something that told him that Ianto Jones was different. But more than that, this wasn’t just the usual thrill of the chase that Jack craved, the thrill that kept him going for new partner after partner just to keep it alive. This was something more than that, a genuine, deep attraction. There was something there in the younger man’s eyes, a depth that told him that he wasn’t like the others. If he was determined to find out one thing, he wanted to find out just how different he was. And that meant Jack Harkness would be damned if he was going to lose this particular bet…….
Ok, so that’s chapter one done and dusted. Long and errrr long winded? Is it worth continuing? I hope that you guys like this, even though I’m not even sure if I like it myself…….hmmm anyway, as always I shall beg for your comments, since they do keep me scribbling these random stories. But thank you so so much for reading so far, and I really hope that you’ve enjoyed it. :)
Just Being Me
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Click here for Chapter Two!!