Fic: The Dregs Of Wrath (Torchwood Jack/Ianto M Prompt Fic)
Title: The Dregs Of Wrath
Author: magikalrhiannon
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: M for language
Spoilers: none
Summary: Jack broke the cardinal rule. For that he must be punished.
Word Count: 1945
Disclaimer: All rights belong to BBC and Russell T Davies. I'm just finger-painting in someone else's masterpiece. No infringement intended.
Notes: For kajmere, cuz she owns me.
Prompt: by comicinks Ianto/Jack Instant coffee. Sometimes Ianto isn't around or busy and Jack doesn't want to wait 10 minutes for coffee. So occasionally he makes instant and every time he does Ianto finds out, he finds the preground disgusting goop left overs in dirty mugs and he cringes. Jack knows Ianto knows and he knows that it drives Ianto crazy that he can put that sludge in his body when he has the option of his fin brew. Some sort of stewing Ianto, followed by confrontation, Ianto freakout Jack being sweet.
Ianto sighed as he climbed the stairs up from the archives to the main level of the Hub. He silently gathered all the empty mugs as he passed by his colleagues desks, since none of them bothered to take them back to the kitchen or wash them out for him. When he reached Jack's office and picked up Jack's mug, he noticed the dregs in the bottom of the mug.
“Ianto,” Jack walked in behind him, his hands finding Ianto's hips as he nuzzled Ianto's neck. “Just who I was missing.” Ianto's lips formed a thin line. He pulled away from Jack, turned around and showed Jack the mug's contents. “Ah. Um, yeah. See, I can explain.”
“Really,” Ianto put the mugs down on Jack's desk, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against Jack's desk. “Go on then. I can't wait to hear this.”
Jack opened his mouth, and gestured towards Ianto. “Well. See. You... and I... um...” He rubbed the back of his neck as he blushed.
“Mmm,” Ianto nodded. “Very articulate.”
“You looked busy!” Jack exclaimed.
“I looked busy.” Ianto looked at him in disbelief. “That's your excuse for breaking the cardinal rule, to which you agreed to might I remind you,” he said as he stood upright, his hands hanging by his side. “I looked busy so you made instant coffee.”
“Um... yes?” Jack looked at Ianto pathetically. “I wanted coffee!”
“Then you should have asked! I would have come up and made a pot.”
“You're not my slave, Ianto!” Jack returned. “I can't believe you're seriously arguing with me about me making my own cup of coffee! This is ridiculous. You're being ridiculous.”
“I'm being ridiculous?” Ianto choked out. He turned as Jack walked around to the other side of his desk. “Right! Well. If it's so ridiculous then, you can live on your instant coffee then.” Ianto snatched up the coffee mugs and stormed out of Jack's office.
“Whoa, hey, um Ianto!? You're not serious, are you? I mean, you're just kidding, right? Ianto? Ianto!”
Ianto didn't turn back, just kept going to the kitchen, muttering under his breath as he washed out the mugs. In fact, he wasn't going to make anyone coffee for the week. Fuck them all! They could make their own, wash their own fucking mugs. He was done. He checked his watch. Actually, it was after 7pm. He really was done. He flipped open the top of the coffee machine and removed a small but vital part - just as a precaution, then replaced the lid of the machine. That would teach them.
He turned and walked out of the kitchen to the main Hub level. “Tosh? Anything on the rift predictor?”
She looked over her shoulder at Ianto and frowned. “Oh. Uh, no? Hey, have you put on a pot of coffee? Because -”
“No, sorry Tosh. Machine's broken. You'll have to do with instant until the new part comes in. Apparently Jack has a stash, just for such occasions. As he's so proficient at making it, why don't you ask him to make you a cup?” He felt bad for putting that look of horror on her face as he turned on his heel and ran into Jack's chest.
“That was a little uncalled for wasn't it?” Jack lifted an eyebrow.
“Don't push me right now Jack,” Ianto's eyes blazed.
Jack sighed. “Machine's broken, is it?”
“Go try it yourself, that is if you can work out how to use it. Since it's well after 5pm, and there's nothing on the horizon, I'm assuming you don't need me anymore, Sir? After all, you seem quite capable of making instant coffee yourself.” Ianto stared at Jack.
“By all means,” Jack motioned for him to leave, and Ianto wasted no time in hightailing it out of the office.
He was so mad at Jack. He knew exactly how Ianto felt about coffee, about instant coffee. The inferiority of it. The sludge that clogged up the human body and ruined the tastebuds. There was nothing that replaced a good cup of fine coffee. And to bring in a tin of instant coffee to Ianto's workplace was nothing less than an insult as far as he was concerned. Jack was not just his boss, but his lover. Sure, he'd teased Ianto about his obsession with coffee on more than one occasion but, well, Ianto thought Jack had realised just how he felt about the matter.
Apparently not.
It had just been made clear to Ianto how little he mattered to Jack.
And when he realised that, his anger turned to hurt.
When he reached his apartment, he made his way slowly up to his apartment, unlocked the door and closed it softly behind him, leaning back against it. Suddenly he was sad and tired. Sighing, he locked the door and pushed off it. Going into the kitchen he consoled himself by patting his own coffee machine.
“He obviously doesn't care as much as I thought he did,” Ianto mumbled to himself. He sighed. Well. There was no point in dwelling on the matter. It was time to put his shields in place, and start pulling back. After all, eventually the Doctor would show up again and Jack would run off once more. Or Gwen would give up the pretense of not being in love with Jack when everyone knew she was.
Ianto was bound to be the one left sad and alone. “Much like I am now,” he muttered.
He opened the refrigerator door and found a six pack of beer he didn't realise he had. Excellent. He pulled one out, slammed the door shut, twisted off the lid and took a long pull on it then made his way into the lounge. He left the beer on the coffee table and went into his bedroom, slid his suit jacket off and hung it up, then took off his waistcoat and hung it up too.
He removed his cufflinks and left them on top of his tallboy, then rolled up his shirt sleeves as he kicked off his shoes then picked them up and put them in his closet. Pulling off his socks, he tossed them in his hamper, and yanked off his belt, hanging it up on it's hook as he passed it. Flipping off the lights, he unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt and walked back into the lounge barefoot, picked up his bottle and sat down on the lounge.
He turned on the TV and flipped channels. Nothing. He sighed. His eyes caught his James Bond collection. Nothing made him feel better than James Bond.
~*~
There was a knock on the door just as Auric Goldfinger told James Bond he was expected to die. Ianto groaned and hit pause. The knock repeated, more insistent than the first.
“I'm coming,” Ianto muttered and jogged to the door. He opened it without checking first. “Jack.” His eyes narrowed as he took in his boss standing there, greatcoat and all. “What do you want?”
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
“C'mon Ianto, please?” Jack begged. He held up a bag. “I come bearing gifts.” Ianto smelled curry from their usual take out joint. His stomach betrayed him and he glared down at it when it rumbled loudly. “Your belly's on my side. Please?”
“Fine. But only because I haven't eaten yet. Hurry up. James Bond is about to make a fool of Auric Goldfinger and I love this part.” He turned on his heel and stalked back to the sofa. Once he collapsed down, he picked up the remote and pressed play.
Jack grinned as he made his way inside the flat, shut and locked the door, hung up his coat on the hook behind the door and dished up some dinner. He carried it over to his lover, who quietly thanked him and they ate in silence as James Bond once again escaped from peril and saved the world from a madman.
Ianto took the empty plate from Jack when they were both finished and made his way to the kitchen to wash them up and put them away. Jack followed him.
“Can I help?” Jack asked, as he leaned against the counter.
“No need, I'm fine,” Ianto replied brusquely. He didn't need help to efficiently wash the dishes and set them to dry.
“O-kay.” Jack bit his lip. “Look, Yan, about today, I'm sorry-”
“It's fine, Jack.”
“Clearly it's not, because you're so pissed off you won't even look at me right now.” Jack gripped the edge of the counter with his hands to prevent himself from reaching out for Ianto, who clearly didn't want to be touched.
Ianto sighed and leaned against the counter, his head hung down. It seemed like such a stupid thing to get so upset over, but … it wasn't trivial to him. It meant something, and if Jack couldn't see that, if he couldn't understand that, well... it just signified that Jack didn't know him at all. And Ianto really was what Owen had said he was to Jack. A part-time shag, a way to pass the time.
“Please go, Jack.” He hated how broken he sounded, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to deal with Jack breaking his heart right now. He wanted to just lick his wounds in private.
Jack didn't leave though. Instead he pushed off the counter and moved behind Ianto, wrapped his arms around him and pulled him back into his arms. Ianto struggled.
“Hey, hey, hey, c'mere.” He forced Ianto to turn around, and lifted his chin to look at him. “Ianto, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously when we talked about banning instant coffee from the office. I honestly didn't think you'd be this upset. And I hate seeing you this upset.” He leaned forward to rest his forehead against Ianto's. “I hate knowing that I made you this upset. I'm so sorry.”
“How could you not take me seriously, Jack?” Ianto asked quietly.
“I'm an idiot?” Jack offered pathetically. He lifted his head. “I didn't think. I didn't think how it would make you feel. I'm sorry. In case you hadn't noticed, I can be pretty self-centred.”
“Well, thank you for that news flash, Captain Obvious,” Ianto muttered sarcastically.
“Yeah, okay, I deserved that.” He smiled. “Please, forgive me? I promise I have removed all tins of Instant Coffee from the Hub.”
“Really.”
Jack saluted. “I swear.”
“You're still on decaf tomorrow as punishment.”
Jack considered. “Okay, that's fair.”
“And you have to promise that if you cannot work the coffee machine, you must call me if you want coffee. Unless it's life and death peril, I'll be more than willing to take a break to make you coffee.”
Jack grinned. “I promise.”
“Okay.” Ianto smiled small. “I guess you can be forgiven.”
“Great! Can we have sex now?” Ianto rolled his eyes, and shoved his lover away. “What?! C'mon! Ianto... Yan!?”
Ianto left Jack in the kitchen and walked into his bedroom. Jack followed but waited in the lounge room. It was only after Ianto's work shirt hit him in the face that Jack grinned and followed him inside. He knew he was truly forgiven.
Author: magikalrhiannon
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: M for language
Spoilers: none
Summary: Jack broke the cardinal rule. For that he must be punished.
Word Count: 1945
Disclaimer: All rights belong to BBC and Russell T Davies. I'm just finger-painting in someone else's masterpiece. No infringement intended.
Notes: For kajmere, cuz she owns me.
Prompt: by comicinks Ianto/Jack Instant coffee. Sometimes Ianto isn't around or busy and Jack doesn't want to wait 10 minutes for coffee. So occasionally he makes instant and every time he does Ianto finds out, he finds the preground disgusting goop left overs in dirty mugs and he cringes. Jack knows Ianto knows and he knows that it drives Ianto crazy that he can put that sludge in his body when he has the option of his fin brew. Some sort of stewing Ianto, followed by confrontation, Ianto freakout Jack being sweet.
Ianto sighed as he climbed the stairs up from the archives to the main level of the Hub. He silently gathered all the empty mugs as he passed by his colleagues desks, since none of them bothered to take them back to the kitchen or wash them out for him. When he reached Jack's office and picked up Jack's mug, he noticed the dregs in the bottom of the mug.
“Ianto,” Jack walked in behind him, his hands finding Ianto's hips as he nuzzled Ianto's neck. “Just who I was missing.” Ianto's lips formed a thin line. He pulled away from Jack, turned around and showed Jack the mug's contents. “Ah. Um, yeah. See, I can explain.”
“Really,” Ianto put the mugs down on Jack's desk, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against Jack's desk. “Go on then. I can't wait to hear this.”
Jack opened his mouth, and gestured towards Ianto. “Well. See. You... and I... um...” He rubbed the back of his neck as he blushed.
“Mmm,” Ianto nodded. “Very articulate.”
“You looked busy!” Jack exclaimed.
“I looked busy.” Ianto looked at him in disbelief. “That's your excuse for breaking the cardinal rule, to which you agreed to might I remind you,” he said as he stood upright, his hands hanging by his side. “I looked busy so you made instant coffee.”
“Um... yes?” Jack looked at Ianto pathetically. “I wanted coffee!”
“Then you should have asked! I would have come up and made a pot.”
“You're not my slave, Ianto!” Jack returned. “I can't believe you're seriously arguing with me about me making my own cup of coffee! This is ridiculous. You're being ridiculous.”
“I'm being ridiculous?” Ianto choked out. He turned as Jack walked around to the other side of his desk. “Right! Well. If it's so ridiculous then, you can live on your instant coffee then.” Ianto snatched up the coffee mugs and stormed out of Jack's office.
“Whoa, hey, um Ianto!? You're not serious, are you? I mean, you're just kidding, right? Ianto? Ianto!”
Ianto didn't turn back, just kept going to the kitchen, muttering under his breath as he washed out the mugs. In fact, he wasn't going to make anyone coffee for the week. Fuck them all! They could make their own, wash their own fucking mugs. He was done. He checked his watch. Actually, it was after 7pm. He really was done. He flipped open the top of the coffee machine and removed a small but vital part - just as a precaution, then replaced the lid of the machine. That would teach them.
He turned and walked out of the kitchen to the main Hub level. “Tosh? Anything on the rift predictor?”
She looked over her shoulder at Ianto and frowned. “Oh. Uh, no? Hey, have you put on a pot of coffee? Because -”
“No, sorry Tosh. Machine's broken. You'll have to do with instant until the new part comes in. Apparently Jack has a stash, just for such occasions. As he's so proficient at making it, why don't you ask him to make you a cup?” He felt bad for putting that look of horror on her face as he turned on his heel and ran into Jack's chest.
“That was a little uncalled for wasn't it?” Jack lifted an eyebrow.
“Don't push me right now Jack,” Ianto's eyes blazed.
Jack sighed. “Machine's broken, is it?”
“Go try it yourself, that is if you can work out how to use it. Since it's well after 5pm, and there's nothing on the horizon, I'm assuming you don't need me anymore, Sir? After all, you seem quite capable of making instant coffee yourself.” Ianto stared at Jack.
“By all means,” Jack motioned for him to leave, and Ianto wasted no time in hightailing it out of the office.
He was so mad at Jack. He knew exactly how Ianto felt about coffee, about instant coffee. The inferiority of it. The sludge that clogged up the human body and ruined the tastebuds. There was nothing that replaced a good cup of fine coffee. And to bring in a tin of instant coffee to Ianto's workplace was nothing less than an insult as far as he was concerned. Jack was not just his boss, but his lover. Sure, he'd teased Ianto about his obsession with coffee on more than one occasion but, well, Ianto thought Jack had realised just how he felt about the matter.
Apparently not.
It had just been made clear to Ianto how little he mattered to Jack.
And when he realised that, his anger turned to hurt.
When he reached his apartment, he made his way slowly up to his apartment, unlocked the door and closed it softly behind him, leaning back against it. Suddenly he was sad and tired. Sighing, he locked the door and pushed off it. Going into the kitchen he consoled himself by patting his own coffee machine.
“He obviously doesn't care as much as I thought he did,” Ianto mumbled to himself. He sighed. Well. There was no point in dwelling on the matter. It was time to put his shields in place, and start pulling back. After all, eventually the Doctor would show up again and Jack would run off once more. Or Gwen would give up the pretense of not being in love with Jack when everyone knew she was.
Ianto was bound to be the one left sad and alone. “Much like I am now,” he muttered.
He opened the refrigerator door and found a six pack of beer he didn't realise he had. Excellent. He pulled one out, slammed the door shut, twisted off the lid and took a long pull on it then made his way into the lounge. He left the beer on the coffee table and went into his bedroom, slid his suit jacket off and hung it up, then took off his waistcoat and hung it up too.
He removed his cufflinks and left them on top of his tallboy, then rolled up his shirt sleeves as he kicked off his shoes then picked them up and put them in his closet. Pulling off his socks, he tossed them in his hamper, and yanked off his belt, hanging it up on it's hook as he passed it. Flipping off the lights, he unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt and walked back into the lounge barefoot, picked up his bottle and sat down on the lounge.
He turned on the TV and flipped channels. Nothing. He sighed. His eyes caught his James Bond collection. Nothing made him feel better than James Bond.
~*~
There was a knock on the door just as Auric Goldfinger told James Bond he was expected to die. Ianto groaned and hit pause. The knock repeated, more insistent than the first.
“I'm coming,” Ianto muttered and jogged to the door. He opened it without checking first. “Jack.” His eyes narrowed as he took in his boss standing there, greatcoat and all. “What do you want?”
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
“C'mon Ianto, please?” Jack begged. He held up a bag. “I come bearing gifts.” Ianto smelled curry from their usual take out joint. His stomach betrayed him and he glared down at it when it rumbled loudly. “Your belly's on my side. Please?”
“Fine. But only because I haven't eaten yet. Hurry up. James Bond is about to make a fool of Auric Goldfinger and I love this part.” He turned on his heel and stalked back to the sofa. Once he collapsed down, he picked up the remote and pressed play.
Jack grinned as he made his way inside the flat, shut and locked the door, hung up his coat on the hook behind the door and dished up some dinner. He carried it over to his lover, who quietly thanked him and they ate in silence as James Bond once again escaped from peril and saved the world from a madman.
Ianto took the empty plate from Jack when they were both finished and made his way to the kitchen to wash them up and put them away. Jack followed him.
“Can I help?” Jack asked, as he leaned against the counter.
“No need, I'm fine,” Ianto replied brusquely. He didn't need help to efficiently wash the dishes and set them to dry.
“O-kay.” Jack bit his lip. “Look, Yan, about today, I'm sorry-”
“It's fine, Jack.”
“Clearly it's not, because you're so pissed off you won't even look at me right now.” Jack gripped the edge of the counter with his hands to prevent himself from reaching out for Ianto, who clearly didn't want to be touched.
Ianto sighed and leaned against the counter, his head hung down. It seemed like such a stupid thing to get so upset over, but … it wasn't trivial to him. It meant something, and if Jack couldn't see that, if he couldn't understand that, well... it just signified that Jack didn't know him at all. And Ianto really was what Owen had said he was to Jack. A part-time shag, a way to pass the time.
“Please go, Jack.” He hated how broken he sounded, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to deal with Jack breaking his heart right now. He wanted to just lick his wounds in private.
Jack didn't leave though. Instead he pushed off the counter and moved behind Ianto, wrapped his arms around him and pulled him back into his arms. Ianto struggled.
“Hey, hey, hey, c'mere.” He forced Ianto to turn around, and lifted his chin to look at him. “Ianto, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously when we talked about banning instant coffee from the office. I honestly didn't think you'd be this upset. And I hate seeing you this upset.” He leaned forward to rest his forehead against Ianto's. “I hate knowing that I made you this upset. I'm so sorry.”
“How could you not take me seriously, Jack?” Ianto asked quietly.
“I'm an idiot?” Jack offered pathetically. He lifted his head. “I didn't think. I didn't think how it would make you feel. I'm sorry. In case you hadn't noticed, I can be pretty self-centred.”
“Well, thank you for that news flash, Captain Obvious,” Ianto muttered sarcastically.
“Yeah, okay, I deserved that.” He smiled. “Please, forgive me? I promise I have removed all tins of Instant Coffee from the Hub.”
“Really.”
Jack saluted. “I swear.”
“You're still on decaf tomorrow as punishment.”
Jack considered. “Okay, that's fair.”
“And you have to promise that if you cannot work the coffee machine, you must call me if you want coffee. Unless it's life and death peril, I'll be more than willing to take a break to make you coffee.”
Jack grinned. “I promise.”
“Okay.” Ianto smiled small. “I guess you can be forgiven.”
“Great! Can we have sex now?” Ianto rolled his eyes, and shoved his lover away. “What?! C'mon! Ianto... Yan!?”
Ianto left Jack in the kitchen and walked into his bedroom. Jack followed but waited in the lounge room. It was only after Ianto's work shirt hit him in the face that Jack grinned and followed him inside. He knew he was truly forgiven.