When I See You Again (Jack/Ianto)
Title: When I See You Again
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen.
Rating: PG
Summary: By request, a “we’ve been engaged to be married since we were three but this is the first time we’ve met and your portraits really don’t do you justice” AU.
Author's Notes: Exactly what it says on the tin.
“Gwen! Gwen, wake up!” One of these days, Gwen thought, Ianto would realise that intruding into other people’s rooms was a bad thing to do. Much to her misfortune, that day was not today. “Wake up, Gwen!”
“What?” she moaned. “What is it?”
“It’s December 14th!” Gwen peered up at where Ianto was sat on the edge of her bed and saw the twinkle of excitement in his blue eyes.
“Yeah, I know,” Gwen said, finally giving in and sitting up. “So what?” Even as she spoke the words, the realisation made its way into her foggy brain “Oh my God! It’s December 14th!”
“Isn’t it great?!” Ianto pressed, making himself comfortable next to her. Her cousin (and current heir of the Jones Manor) was in reality more like a brother to her even since her parents had died and her aunt - Ianto’s mother - had taken her under her wing. She’d been five and Ianto had been four and they’d both been promised for marriage soon enough.
Now, though, Ianto seemed to suddenly care about that exactly on the day where their soon-to-be spouses were bound to arrive. She smiled indulgently.
“Sure is,” she said, “but you haven’t seen my fiancé, have you?”
“Oh, I have,” Ianto assured her solemnly. “He’s not that bad, honest. And I haven’t seen mine since I was little. I hardly even remember him.”
“Then why are you so excited?” Gwen was mystified. Few things outside of books - and Gwen herself - amused Ianto and she couldn’t say she was used to this kind of behaviour.
“There’ll be new people new people in the Manor! How are you not excited? Everyone we ever talk to are Mother and Father.”
“There are also Tosh and Owen,” Gwen reminded. Tosh and Owen were the children of Ianto's parents’s friends, and she wasn’t surprised when Ianto grimaced.
“Tosh doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t tick and Owen is always so miserable,” he confided in her. “And they live over the hill. But our suitors? They’ll have to move here. And mine,” he added, “is very handsome; I’ve seen portraits. And he is going to be interesting. He has to be.”
o.O.o
“Now, Jack, let’s see if you remember everything.” Jack groaned, but his mother went on. “Ianto Jones is two years younger than you; he turned eighteen a week ago. Make sure to congratulate him on his birthday. He has a cousin called Gwen Cooper, who is soon to be married to...”
Jack noticed that her voice had faltered and realised that she was waiting for him to fill in the gap. “Rhys Williams,” he said automatically. In his mind, he was still back home, staring at the portrait of Ianto Jones. It had been painted and sent specifically for Jack - so he could see what his fiancé looked like days before the wedding - and he’d been pleased. The boy was young-faced but easy to remember, with his blue eyes, dark hair and terribly pale skin. Jack was somewhere between anxious and impatient to meet him and he started when he realised that the carriage had stopped.
They had arrived.
He wordlessly followed his parents outside and into what appeared to be the vast garden of the Jones Manor. He went up to greet Mr and Mrs Jones, as he was instructed to, and then looked around himself.
“Excuse me if I’m being too forward,” he spoke at last. “But does my betrothed happen to be here?”
“Of course, dear boy!” Mrs Jones exclaimed. “He was just around…” she looked behind her back and gritted her teeth, only to turn back to Jack with a nervous smile. “…here. I apologise. I’ll go get him.”
Jack grinned when he looked over her shoulder. “There’ll be no need, Ma’am,” he assured her. “I’d like to introduce myself, if that’s fine with you.”
“Of course,” she nodded quickly, clearly trying to summon every bit of patience inside her so as not to go and throttle her son. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Jack’s steps hastened as he neared the swing set in one of the more secluded corners of the garden. The swings seemed to be made the size of grown adults and were both occupied by a boy and a girl - both dark-haired and pale, the girl in a dark green dress that brushed the ground as she swung herself harder, and the boy in a black suit and overpolished shoes. They both froze when they saw him and soon enough stood up to greet him.
“Hello,” the girl spoke as she neared him and he noticed that her eyes were hemlock green, almost like the bow in her hair. “I’m Gwen Cooper, and this is Ianto Jones. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She had a heavy Welsh accent - which was to be expected here, after all - and had a slightly otherworldly air around her. She curtsied and Jack answered with a little bow of his own before his eyes strayed to the person he’d been arranged to marry since he’d been a child.
He was... unexpected. The portraits had been pretty enough, but they hadn’t been nearly as kind on the eyes as the man himself in reality.
His eyes were bigger than Jack had thought - actually, bigger than any pair of eyes Jack remembered seeing in his life - and his skin, where it was visible, was soft and unblemished, like porcelain. “Hello,” he spoke at last and his voice was deep and not at all what Jack had expected it to be. “It’s nice to meet you again at last.”
“Indeed,” Jack intoned, his eyes still fixed on his fiancé’s face. “And I’m sure we’ll have the best of times together.”
“Oh, that, Jack,” Ianto said with mirth in his blue eyes, “is something I’m entirely sure of.”
Fandom: Torchwood
Pairing/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen.
Rating: PG
Summary: By request, a “we’ve been engaged to be married since we were three but this is the first time we’ve met and your portraits really don’t do you justice” AU.
Author's Notes: Exactly what it says on the tin.
“Gwen! Gwen, wake up!” One of these days, Gwen thought, Ianto would realise that intruding into other people’s rooms was a bad thing to do. Much to her misfortune, that day was not today. “Wake up, Gwen!”
“What?” she moaned. “What is it?”
“It’s December 14th!” Gwen peered up at where Ianto was sat on the edge of her bed and saw the twinkle of excitement in his blue eyes.
“Yeah, I know,” Gwen said, finally giving in and sitting up. “So what?” Even as she spoke the words, the realisation made its way into her foggy brain “Oh my God! It’s December 14th!”
“Isn’t it great?!” Ianto pressed, making himself comfortable next to her. Her cousin (and current heir of the Jones Manor) was in reality more like a brother to her even since her parents had died and her aunt - Ianto’s mother - had taken her under her wing. She’d been five and Ianto had been four and they’d both been promised for marriage soon enough.
Now, though, Ianto seemed to suddenly care about that exactly on the day where their soon-to-be spouses were bound to arrive. She smiled indulgently.
“Sure is,” she said, “but you haven’t seen my fiancé, have you?”
“Oh, I have,” Ianto assured her solemnly. “He’s not that bad, honest. And I haven’t seen mine since I was little. I hardly even remember him.”
“Then why are you so excited?” Gwen was mystified. Few things outside of books - and Gwen herself - amused Ianto and she couldn’t say she was used to this kind of behaviour.
“There’ll be new people new people in the Manor! How are you not excited? Everyone we ever talk to are Mother and Father.”
“There are also Tosh and Owen,” Gwen reminded. Tosh and Owen were the children of Ianto's parents’s friends, and she wasn’t surprised when Ianto grimaced.
“Tosh doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t tick and Owen is always so miserable,” he confided in her. “And they live over the hill. But our suitors? They’ll have to move here. And mine,” he added, “is very handsome; I’ve seen portraits. And he is going to be interesting. He has to be.”
o.O.o
“Now, Jack, let’s see if you remember everything.” Jack groaned, but his mother went on. “Ianto Jones is two years younger than you; he turned eighteen a week ago. Make sure to congratulate him on his birthday. He has a cousin called Gwen Cooper, who is soon to be married to...”
Jack noticed that her voice had faltered and realised that she was waiting for him to fill in the gap. “Rhys Williams,” he said automatically. In his mind, he was still back home, staring at the portrait of Ianto Jones. It had been painted and sent specifically for Jack - so he could see what his fiancé looked like days before the wedding - and he’d been pleased. The boy was young-faced but easy to remember, with his blue eyes, dark hair and terribly pale skin. Jack was somewhere between anxious and impatient to meet him and he started when he realised that the carriage had stopped.
They had arrived.
He wordlessly followed his parents outside and into what appeared to be the vast garden of the Jones Manor. He went up to greet Mr and Mrs Jones, as he was instructed to, and then looked around himself.
“Excuse me if I’m being too forward,” he spoke at last. “But does my betrothed happen to be here?”
“Of course, dear boy!” Mrs Jones exclaimed. “He was just around…” she looked behind her back and gritted her teeth, only to turn back to Jack with a nervous smile. “…here. I apologise. I’ll go get him.”
Jack grinned when he looked over her shoulder. “There’ll be no need, Ma’am,” he assured her. “I’d like to introduce myself, if that’s fine with you.”
“Of course,” she nodded quickly, clearly trying to summon every bit of patience inside her so as not to go and throttle her son. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Jack’s steps hastened as he neared the swing set in one of the more secluded corners of the garden. The swings seemed to be made the size of grown adults and were both occupied by a boy and a girl - both dark-haired and pale, the girl in a dark green dress that brushed the ground as she swung herself harder, and the boy in a black suit and overpolished shoes. They both froze when they saw him and soon enough stood up to greet him.
“Hello,” the girl spoke as she neared him and he noticed that her eyes were hemlock green, almost like the bow in her hair. “I’m Gwen Cooper, and this is Ianto Jones. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She had a heavy Welsh accent - which was to be expected here, after all - and had a slightly otherworldly air around her. She curtsied and Jack answered with a little bow of his own before his eyes strayed to the person he’d been arranged to marry since he’d been a child.
He was... unexpected. The portraits had been pretty enough, but they hadn’t been nearly as kind on the eyes as the man himself in reality.
His eyes were bigger than Jack had thought - actually, bigger than any pair of eyes Jack remembered seeing in his life - and his skin, where it was visible, was soft and unblemished, like porcelain. “Hello,” he spoke at last and his voice was deep and not at all what Jack had expected it to be. “It’s nice to meet you again at last.”
“Indeed,” Jack intoned, his eyes still fixed on his fiancé’s face. “And I’m sure we’ll have the best of times together.”
“Oh, that, Jack,” Ianto said with mirth in his blue eyes, “is something I’m entirely sure of.”