Fic: Consequential Confrontation (Torchwood Jack/Ianto PG)
Title: Consequential Confrontation
Author: magikalrhiannon
Beta: kajmere
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to Season 2 Episode 9 Something Borrowed
Summary: Gwen apologises to Ianto but it doesn't quite go as she planned...
Word Count: 2137
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.
Follows on from Consequential Velocity, and requested by remuslives23 who requested Ianto and Gwen come face to face after she called him a part time shag.
Ianto had just finished making another pot of coffee and poured everyone a cup. Sometimes he felt like a waiter, loading up and passing them out, but at least it put the skills he learned in the coffee shop he worked in part time while at university in London to good use so he didn't complain about it. Rather than take the tray around this time, though, Ianto decided to do individual trips. He was procrastinating. His eyes were hurting from staring at the computer, and the longer he took to go back to it, the better he'd feel.
He took Jack's in to him first, along with a small plate that had a couple of biscuits on it. It had been a while since their last meal, and Ianto hadn't gotten around to ordering dinner yet. He'd get to it eventually. Jack looked up from the piles of files he was going through and smiled.
“You are a lifesaver,” Jack smiled when he saw Ianto holding his blue and white striped mug.
“I do my best, sir,” Ianto smirked, and placed the treats down on Jack's desk. “Chinese, Indian or Italian for dinner?”
“Surprise me,” Jack said around a mouthful of biscuit.
Ianto chuckled. “Greek it is then.”
“Oh wait, can we get that thing from the Turkish place up at the-”
Ianto nodded. “I'll see to it.”
Jack lifted his mug of coffee in salute. “Thanks. Hey, any progress on the...?”
“Not yet. I'll let you-”
“Yeah.”
Ianto pointed to the door. “I'll just go finish handing out the sustenance and then see about dinner.”
“Keep up the good work,” Jack called out cheekily.
Ianto chuckled and went back into the kitchen and picked up Tosh's mug and danish that she likes and walked it over to her desk, placing them next to her computer. Tosh looked away from her computer and smiled gratefully.
“Thank you, Ianto.”
“You're welcome. Jack would like Turkish for dinner. Any requests?” he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Oh, I'll have whatever you're having,” she said, reaching for the danish.
Ianto nodded and returned to the kitchen. He picked up the last two mugs and drew in a deep breath. Steeling himself, he went back out to the main floor, placed Gwen's mug down on her desk and turned to walk away.
“Thank you. Oh, Ianto?” He turned to face Gwen, mask firmly in place. “I'll have-”
“Yes. I know your regular order of chicken tikka mossalla and mushroom pilau rice.” He raised an eyebrow. “Anything else I can do for you?”
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. “No.”
Ianto turned again and headed for the tunnel exit, the cog alarm announcing his exit up to the Tourist Office. When he got up there, he phoned through the order for everyone's dinner and sighed. It had been an extremely long day and it didn't seem like there was going to be any end in sight. At least not until Jack told everyone to stop looking for any lead on the artefact that had dropped through the rift that afternoon. Ianto wasn't sure why there was such an urgency to find out what it was, but the spike in energy of the rift when it came through was astronomical, and Ianto knew that it worried Jack. He wouldn't rest until the puzzle had been solved.
His phone started to play “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard. He frowned. What the hell? He turned his mobile over. Jack was on the display. He hit the accept button.
“Really, Jack? 'Pour Some Sugar On Me?'” he asked in greeting. He was met with Jack's rich laugh, and he knew that Jack had thrown his head back, and would have leaned back in his chair, maybe even stuck his feet up on his desk.
“What can I say? I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet,” Jack replied.
“Mmmm. Just when did you get ahold of my phone, by the way?” Ianto asked, logging into the computer in the Tourist Office staff alcove.
“While you were sleeping, before I woke you up with the blow job this morning.” Jack's voice thickened. “Mmm this morning was pretty amazing.”
“Parts of it, yes,” Ianto agreed. “Did you call for a reason?”
“I'm bored.”
“Jack,” Ianto sighed. “You're supposed to be researching.”
“I know, but these files are boring, and old, and hard to read and how come I got stuck with the worst research job?” he asked.
“Because you said they were too fragile for anyone else to handle?” Ianto reminded him. “Which is a little offensive if you ask me,” he muttered.
Jack took his cue, “Well, if that's how you feel, they're all yours.”
“Nice try, Harkness,” Ianto said, typing another string of words into the search bar of the program he was using to search what he had already pieced together of their archives over the last three years. “You made your bed, now you can research it.” Ianto checked his watch. “I better go and pick up dinner. Need anything else while I'm out?”
“No, just hurry back okay? I think the troops are getting restless.”
Jack disconnected the call. Ianto stared at his phone. Sometimes he could wring the man's neck. Shoving the phone into his pocket, Ianto shut his computer down, grabbed his jacket and slid it on as he made his way to the door of the Tourist Office. As he exited the building, he turned over the opened sign to closed and pulled the door shut behind him before heading down towards Mermaid Quay to the Turkish takeaway where they got their meals from.
“Ianto!” Ianto turned around and saw Gwen running up behind him. “Wait!”
Ianto frowned, but stopped and waited. “Gwen? Is something wrong?”
She came to a stop in front of him. “You haven't spoken to me since this morning. I just wanted to make sure that we were... we were alright.”
Ianto blinked. “If you're referring to your blatant disregard for Jack's privacy, ignoring the fact that the base is now where I reside as well-”
“Well I didn't know that!”
“I'm well aware of that, Gwen. The fact remains that you still see fit to enter a private residence whenever you want to. How would you like it if I used a spare key to let myself into your apartment at 5 in the morning because I was bored at home?” he asked.
She frowned. “I hadn't thought of it like that.”
“No, I'm sure you didn't. And while we're on the topic of things you didn't think of, I'd really appreciate it if you would refrain from openly hitting on my partner and keep your overt flirtations to your own in future, thank you very much.” Ianto slid his hands into his pockets.
“Ianto!” Gwen's bottom lip started to tremble and her eyes filled with tears. “I-I don't know what to say!”
Ianto sighed. “Look, I know Jack is a flirt. It's his default behaviour. Quite frankly, I'd be taking his temperature and checking for signs of infection, alien abduction or possession if he'd stopped flirting with everything that moved or breathed. He's not innocent in all of this, believe me, and I've already had words with him about it, but Gwen... you have Rhys. He's quite an exceptional man, really, given the circumstances. He adores you, he puts up with Torchwood, which we all know isn't easy and he's taken a bullet for you. Yet in the time you've been at Torchwood, you've not only been openly and continually flirting and hitting on my lover who is your boss, you've had an affair with a colleague and continually lied to Rhys' face. This is a man you claim to love, cherish and forsake above all others.” Tears were streaming down Gwen's face by this time. Ianto reached into his pocket, pulled out a clean handkerchief and handed it to her. “Here. Take it.”
She sniffled and accepted the offered cloth. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You're welcome.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me you'd moved in with Jack?” Gwen asked quietly, dabbing the hanky at her eyes.
“First, we weren't telling anyone. Tosh figured it out on her own when she noticed my belongings were missing from the staff locker room. Jack accidentally told Owen when I was out of it getting stitched up from the bite by the weevil. It's not like we set out to deceive you, Gwen, but judging by your reaction, it wouldn't have gone down well no matter when we told you,” Ianto replied.
Gwen nodded and tilted her head back to get her hair off her face. “So. It's serious between you then.”
Ianto didn't reply for a long time. “Oh I'm sorry, was that a question?”
“I always thought-”
“What Owen did, that I was a part-time shag, a bed-warmer while he waited for you. Yes, I'm well aware what you and Owen thought. In fact I think all of the lunch time crowd at the Millennium Centre today is aware of what you think of me and what I mean to Jack. The funny thing is, Gwen, what you think, what Owen thinks, it doesn't matter. Neither of you are involved in what I have with Jack. If you want to believe that what we have is a fling, go right ahead. To be honest, I don't give a rat's fucking arse. The only person's opinion I care about is Jack's.”
“Ianto, I'm sorry.”
“Are you?” he asked bluntly. “Or are you just sorry that Jack's not interested the way you wanted him to be?” And without another word he turned and walked towards the shop, leaving Gwen staring after him.
By the time he got back to the Hub, Jack had gathered everyone in the conference room for dinner. Ianto handed everyone's meals out and they sat around and ate together. The meal was rather subdued, with stilted conversation from Jack, Owen and Tosh who tried to cover for the tension between Ianto and Gwen. When the meal was over, Tosh and Owen escaped pretty quickly. Ianto shooed Jack out of the room so he could clean up in peace. Gwen hovered.
“Ianto?” she asked softly, picking up the rubbish from her side of the table and moving around to put it in the rubbish bag he held.
“Yup?”
“You were right. About everything. And I really am sorry.”
Ianto studied her. “Okay. Apology accepted.”
Gwen gave him a watery smile. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome. Now go on, get back to work before Jack thinks you're slacking off.” He gave her a small smile. Gwen reached out and squeezed his arm, then left the room. Ianto continued to pick up the trash and then tied up the rubbish bag.
“That was awfully big of you,” Jack said, and Ianto looked up to see him leaning on the doorframe.
“No point in being angry. It's just wasted energy and emotion and it doesn't do anybody any good to hold a grudge.”
“So I can invite the Doc over for dinner then?” Jack asked, grinning.
Ianto looked pained. “Oh, God. If you have to.”
“I thought you were all about forgiveness?” Jack teased, moving into the room.
“There's forgiveness and then there's just inviting trouble.” Ianto fussed with the rubbish bag. “And that man is trouble.”
Jack took the bag out of Ianto's hands and put it on the table, and lifted Ianto's chin so that he was looking into his eyes. “Yan, I'll never leave you to travel with him again. Not like I did before.”
Ianto huffed. “Promise?”
Jack pressed a kiss to his nose. “Promise. And if I ever do leave, I promise that I'll always come back to you.” Jack's lips sought Ianto's. “C'mon. I'm going to send everyone home.”
“But we haven't found out about the thing yet.”
“Don't care. I need some quality time with you,” Jack grinned, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Jack grabbed the rubbish back and headed out of the room. “Ianto! Let's go!”
Ianto chuckled and shook his head, then hurried after his lover. It had been a long day. Perhaps Jack was right. It was time to turn in for the night.
Author: magikalrhiannon
Beta: kajmere
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to Season 2 Episode 9 Something Borrowed
Summary: Gwen apologises to Ianto but it doesn't quite go as she planned...
Word Count: 2137
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.
Follows on from Consequential Velocity, and requested by remuslives23 who requested Ianto and Gwen come face to face after she called him a part time shag.
Ianto had just finished making another pot of coffee and poured everyone a cup. Sometimes he felt like a waiter, loading up and passing them out, but at least it put the skills he learned in the coffee shop he worked in part time while at university in London to good use so he didn't complain about it. Rather than take the tray around this time, though, Ianto decided to do individual trips. He was procrastinating. His eyes were hurting from staring at the computer, and the longer he took to go back to it, the better he'd feel.
He took Jack's in to him first, along with a small plate that had a couple of biscuits on it. It had been a while since their last meal, and Ianto hadn't gotten around to ordering dinner yet. He'd get to it eventually. Jack looked up from the piles of files he was going through and smiled.
“You are a lifesaver,” Jack smiled when he saw Ianto holding his blue and white striped mug.
“I do my best, sir,” Ianto smirked, and placed the treats down on Jack's desk. “Chinese, Indian or Italian for dinner?”
“Surprise me,” Jack said around a mouthful of biscuit.
Ianto chuckled. “Greek it is then.”
“Oh wait, can we get that thing from the Turkish place up at the-”
Ianto nodded. “I'll see to it.”
Jack lifted his mug of coffee in salute. “Thanks. Hey, any progress on the...?”
“Not yet. I'll let you-”
“Yeah.”
Ianto pointed to the door. “I'll just go finish handing out the sustenance and then see about dinner.”
“Keep up the good work,” Jack called out cheekily.
Ianto chuckled and went back into the kitchen and picked up Tosh's mug and danish that she likes and walked it over to her desk, placing them next to her computer. Tosh looked away from her computer and smiled gratefully.
“Thank you, Ianto.”
“You're welcome. Jack would like Turkish for dinner. Any requests?” he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Oh, I'll have whatever you're having,” she said, reaching for the danish.
Ianto nodded and returned to the kitchen. He picked up the last two mugs and drew in a deep breath. Steeling himself, he went back out to the main floor, placed Gwen's mug down on her desk and turned to walk away.
“Thank you. Oh, Ianto?” He turned to face Gwen, mask firmly in place. “I'll have-”
“Yes. I know your regular order of chicken tikka mossalla and mushroom pilau rice.” He raised an eyebrow. “Anything else I can do for you?”
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. “No.”
Ianto turned again and headed for the tunnel exit, the cog alarm announcing his exit up to the Tourist Office. When he got up there, he phoned through the order for everyone's dinner and sighed. It had been an extremely long day and it didn't seem like there was going to be any end in sight. At least not until Jack told everyone to stop looking for any lead on the artefact that had dropped through the rift that afternoon. Ianto wasn't sure why there was such an urgency to find out what it was, but the spike in energy of the rift when it came through was astronomical, and Ianto knew that it worried Jack. He wouldn't rest until the puzzle had been solved.
His phone started to play “Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard. He frowned. What the hell? He turned his mobile over. Jack was on the display. He hit the accept button.
“Really, Jack? 'Pour Some Sugar On Me?'” he asked in greeting. He was met with Jack's rich laugh, and he knew that Jack had thrown his head back, and would have leaned back in his chair, maybe even stuck his feet up on his desk.
“What can I say? I'm hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet,” Jack replied.
“Mmmm. Just when did you get ahold of my phone, by the way?” Ianto asked, logging into the computer in the Tourist Office staff alcove.
“While you were sleeping, before I woke you up with the blow job this morning.” Jack's voice thickened. “Mmm this morning was pretty amazing.”
“Parts of it, yes,” Ianto agreed. “Did you call for a reason?”
“I'm bored.”
“Jack,” Ianto sighed. “You're supposed to be researching.”
“I know, but these files are boring, and old, and hard to read and how come I got stuck with the worst research job?” he asked.
“Because you said they were too fragile for anyone else to handle?” Ianto reminded him. “Which is a little offensive if you ask me,” he muttered.
Jack took his cue, “Well, if that's how you feel, they're all yours.”
“Nice try, Harkness,” Ianto said, typing another string of words into the search bar of the program he was using to search what he had already pieced together of their archives over the last three years. “You made your bed, now you can research it.” Ianto checked his watch. “I better go and pick up dinner. Need anything else while I'm out?”
“No, just hurry back okay? I think the troops are getting restless.”
Jack disconnected the call. Ianto stared at his phone. Sometimes he could wring the man's neck. Shoving the phone into his pocket, Ianto shut his computer down, grabbed his jacket and slid it on as he made his way to the door of the Tourist Office. As he exited the building, he turned over the opened sign to closed and pulled the door shut behind him before heading down towards Mermaid Quay to the Turkish takeaway where they got their meals from.
“Ianto!” Ianto turned around and saw Gwen running up behind him. “Wait!”
Ianto frowned, but stopped and waited. “Gwen? Is something wrong?”
She came to a stop in front of him. “You haven't spoken to me since this morning. I just wanted to make sure that we were... we were alright.”
Ianto blinked. “If you're referring to your blatant disregard for Jack's privacy, ignoring the fact that the base is now where I reside as well-”
“Well I didn't know that!”
“I'm well aware of that, Gwen. The fact remains that you still see fit to enter a private residence whenever you want to. How would you like it if I used a spare key to let myself into your apartment at 5 in the morning because I was bored at home?” he asked.
She frowned. “I hadn't thought of it like that.”
“No, I'm sure you didn't. And while we're on the topic of things you didn't think of, I'd really appreciate it if you would refrain from openly hitting on my partner and keep your overt flirtations to your own in future, thank you very much.” Ianto slid his hands into his pockets.
“Ianto!” Gwen's bottom lip started to tremble and her eyes filled with tears. “I-I don't know what to say!”
Ianto sighed. “Look, I know Jack is a flirt. It's his default behaviour. Quite frankly, I'd be taking his temperature and checking for signs of infection, alien abduction or possession if he'd stopped flirting with everything that moved or breathed. He's not innocent in all of this, believe me, and I've already had words with him about it, but Gwen... you have Rhys. He's quite an exceptional man, really, given the circumstances. He adores you, he puts up with Torchwood, which we all know isn't easy and he's taken a bullet for you. Yet in the time you've been at Torchwood, you've not only been openly and continually flirting and hitting on my lover who is your boss, you've had an affair with a colleague and continually lied to Rhys' face. This is a man you claim to love, cherish and forsake above all others.” Tears were streaming down Gwen's face by this time. Ianto reached into his pocket, pulled out a clean handkerchief and handed it to her. “Here. Take it.”
She sniffled and accepted the offered cloth. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You're welcome.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me you'd moved in with Jack?” Gwen asked quietly, dabbing the hanky at her eyes.
“First, we weren't telling anyone. Tosh figured it out on her own when she noticed my belongings were missing from the staff locker room. Jack accidentally told Owen when I was out of it getting stitched up from the bite by the weevil. It's not like we set out to deceive you, Gwen, but judging by your reaction, it wouldn't have gone down well no matter when we told you,” Ianto replied.
Gwen nodded and tilted her head back to get her hair off her face. “So. It's serious between you then.”
Ianto didn't reply for a long time. “Oh I'm sorry, was that a question?”
“I always thought-”
“What Owen did, that I was a part-time shag, a bed-warmer while he waited for you. Yes, I'm well aware what you and Owen thought. In fact I think all of the lunch time crowd at the Millennium Centre today is aware of what you think of me and what I mean to Jack. The funny thing is, Gwen, what you think, what Owen thinks, it doesn't matter. Neither of you are involved in what I have with Jack. If you want to believe that what we have is a fling, go right ahead. To be honest, I don't give a rat's fucking arse. The only person's opinion I care about is Jack's.”
“Ianto, I'm sorry.”
“Are you?” he asked bluntly. “Or are you just sorry that Jack's not interested the way you wanted him to be?” And without another word he turned and walked towards the shop, leaving Gwen staring after him.
By the time he got back to the Hub, Jack had gathered everyone in the conference room for dinner. Ianto handed everyone's meals out and they sat around and ate together. The meal was rather subdued, with stilted conversation from Jack, Owen and Tosh who tried to cover for the tension between Ianto and Gwen. When the meal was over, Tosh and Owen escaped pretty quickly. Ianto shooed Jack out of the room so he could clean up in peace. Gwen hovered.
“Ianto?” she asked softly, picking up the rubbish from her side of the table and moving around to put it in the rubbish bag he held.
“Yup?”
“You were right. About everything. And I really am sorry.”
Ianto studied her. “Okay. Apology accepted.”
Gwen gave him a watery smile. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome. Now go on, get back to work before Jack thinks you're slacking off.” He gave her a small smile. Gwen reached out and squeezed his arm, then left the room. Ianto continued to pick up the trash and then tied up the rubbish bag.
“That was awfully big of you,” Jack said, and Ianto looked up to see him leaning on the doorframe.
“No point in being angry. It's just wasted energy and emotion and it doesn't do anybody any good to hold a grudge.”
“So I can invite the Doc over for dinner then?” Jack asked, grinning.
Ianto looked pained. “Oh, God. If you have to.”
“I thought you were all about forgiveness?” Jack teased, moving into the room.
“There's forgiveness and then there's just inviting trouble.” Ianto fussed with the rubbish bag. “And that man is trouble.”
Jack took the bag out of Ianto's hands and put it on the table, and lifted Ianto's chin so that he was looking into his eyes. “Yan, I'll never leave you to travel with him again. Not like I did before.”
Ianto huffed. “Promise?”
Jack pressed a kiss to his nose. “Promise. And if I ever do leave, I promise that I'll always come back to you.” Jack's lips sought Ianto's. “C'mon. I'm going to send everyone home.”
“But we haven't found out about the thing yet.”
“Don't care. I need some quality time with you,” Jack grinned, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Jack grabbed the rubbish back and headed out of the room. “Ianto! Let's go!”
Ianto chuckled and shook his head, then hurried after his lover. It had been a long day. Perhaps Jack was right. It was time to turn in for the night.