Fic: The Stars Might Stick You Where You Stand (5/7)

[methylethyl]

Title: The Stars Might Stick You Where You Stand (5/7)
Author: methylethyl
Rating: NC-17 (very light NC-17)
Summary: Following the fall of Torchwood One, Jack Harkness went to ask Torchwood Three for a job. He didn’t expect to fall a little bit in love with its director, the practical and ever-calm Ianto Jones. He also probably didn’t expect that Ianto Jones

Comments

[bluelilacs]

I guess that explains why Ianto is so terrified of the fairies. An experience like that was bound to scar him for a very long time.

It was rather strange to see Jack and Gwen working together on this. Not really surprising their alliance didn't last though.

I hope Jack comes up with some answers about Gray soon, or answers Ianto's question, which seems to be what needs to happen if he wants to find him.

[methylethyl]

Yep. I knew I had to have Ianto aware of the fairies on some level, in order to have the scene in the next part in which Jack watches Ianto give Jasmine over. I didn't want to copy what had happened with Jack, and I was able to use the fairies to work out a really excellent background story for how Ianto joined Torchwood (you'll find out tomorrow).

Gwen and Jack may normally hate each other, but Jack has a thing about kids, and Gwen cares about everyone, so they were able to work together for a while. But yeah, it totally didn't last. They entertain me greatly. *g*

[duochan_maxwell]

This is really good! I liked your (further) characterization of Jack, in my eyes he has much of DW Jack, still somewhat immature and inconsequential (fairies = Chula ambulance anyone?) and Ianto as the one who makes the hard decisions and (silently) suffers with the burden of immortality. The contextualization of the fairies incident was really good (and Ianto's reaction made a LOT of sense with his son being a Chosen One) and also Gray. Oh God, this is going to be SO good!!

[methylethyl]

Thank you! S1 DW Jack is exactly how his characterization is modeled, just with a warped sense of empathy and a somewhat improved set of morals (if you discount the xenophobia). Jack's attempt to con his way into Torchwood 3 with bullshit alien weaponry was totally a nod to the Chula warship and the other cons he no doubt ran that we didn't hear about.

The fairies were important for a number of reasons, but primarily, they gave Jack a case that he could heavily invest in because of the loss of his own brother to unknown spooky-dos. And we see some of Ianto's backstory, which is rare, as he's not really the anecdote-telling type as Jack is.

Yeah, this chapter sets things up quite nicely. I'm glad that you liked the story!

[jedi_harkness]

Wow, Ianto's son was a Chosen One? That's quite a twist!

I'm loving all the twists you've put into this story. This is one of the best AUs I've ever read!

[methylethyl]

Indeed. *g*

Mostly because I needed Ianto to be aware of the fairies in order for the rest of the story to play out as it does, but also because it worked in nicely with the rest of the story and adds a nice dollop of angst to Ianto's past.

And I'm honored to hear that you think so highly of it! I haven't actually seen anyone do an AU in which Jack and Ianto have changed roles like this, and that's always surprised me. It's such an interesting concept, and I think that it puts them on a very nice level ground.

[jedi_harkness]

The Jack/Ianto role reversal AU seems to be popular these days; I've been hooked on xefer's A Good Man, which is still in-progress. The author's put some interesting twists in there as well.