Five sets of powers Jack and Ianto never had [fic]
Title: Five sets of powers Jack and Ianto never had
Author: shadowbyrd
Rating: PG
Fandom: Torchwood/Xmen
Prompt: Five ways for jantolution
Word Count: 2089
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Summary: Pretty much what the title says.
i.
Jack isn’t always able to read the Doctor’s mind. However, he doubts that he’s wide of the mark in thinking that he’s left Jack alone in the room with the team’s latest addition on purpose.
they’re all going to be around here for a while the Doctor would tell him sternly whenever Jack complained. you need to get used to these people, try to get close to them.
“So.” says the other man experimentally. Just looking at his face it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking - his eyes are totally obscured by his red-lensed sunglasses - though he seems to be waiting on Jack to continue.
Jack shrugs. “When did you first discover your powers?”
From the Doctor’s thoughts, Jack understands that this is a common question amongst mutants, and usually saves having to ask what someone’s powers are. The new guy’s thoughts, previously an anxious mix of relief and first-day nerves snap into sharp definition why don’t you tell me what your powers are attraction pheromones
“I was taking a short-cut through a construction site and it just,” he gestures toward his glasses.
Jack blinks. “Ow.”
The new one - Ianto, Jack catches, scraping the back of his mind - nods. “Worst part was I hit one of the metal beams, nearly crushed a few people on the street.” He holds his head up and smiles, a hint of pride in his voice as he continues. “I managed to blast it before it hit any of them, though.”
“Quick thinking.” Jack compliments. That’s probably why the Doctor brought him here.
Ianto pulls a face. “They didn’t think so.” he mutters, leaning back. Jack can hear the abuse hurled at him along with the bricks, clear as a bell in Ianto’s mind. Ianto clears his throat and the crowd’s screams recede, forcefully pushed to one side. “What about you, when did you find out?”
Jack usually follows the Doctor’s lead here and lies; his story is something of a conversation stopper. But there’s something about this new kid that makes him stray a little closer to the truth than usual.
“When I was twelve I was playing with my brother and I just heard him.” Jack shrugs “I thought he was playing around at first. Then he started freaking out and told mom on me.”
Ianto laughs and as Jack continues he finds himself joining in. “I was grounded for a week. Kept hearing people’s thoughts, loud and clear as thought they were in the room in with me.” The laughter dies, but the smile sticks, turning wistful. “I thought I was going mad. That or Gray had come up with a very creative revenge.”
Ianto’s smile is gone now. “What did your parents do when they found out?”
“It was just my mum at that point and she…didn’t really do anything. She was terrified someone would find out, though. There had only been a few mutants in my hometown, most of them had to move away.”
“Can you hear what I’m thinking, right now?” Ianto asks, the usual (baffling) touch of scepticism in his voice. should be interesting wasn’t thinking anything bad embarrassing how much can he hear
Jack smirks. “I heard one or two things, actually. No worries though,” he adds as Ianto face slowly sinks into a horrified expression “I get a lot of that. Especially about the hands.” He holds his hands up and wiggles his fingers, laughing as Ianto slowly turns a rather charming shade of pink.
there’s no escaping the telepathy Jack sing songs. Ianto groans.
ii.
“Got everything?” Toshiko asks over the earpiece.
“Yeah.” says Ianto, rubbing his hands together. Phasing when wearing his comm. tended to scramble the signal, which meant Toshiko wouldn’t be able to pass on any information to him.
“Okay, the electrical fence is off, you guys should be able to get through.” Toshiko tells Martha. “Ready?” she asks Ianto.
“No.”
“Good luck. Tosh, out.”
Ianto cracks his knuckles and takes a breath before stepping neatly through the thick metal door. He tries to sneak forward and gets only two steps before he gives up and raises his hands over his head as every semi-automatic in the room swings around to point at him.
“Er, hi,” he says, Ianto doesn’t usually do distractions; with his mutation he’s usually the one sneaking in or doing the front crawl through the computer systems. He’s the one that needs the ones to be distracted from. But on the CCTV screens behind the over-armed guards now facing him he can see the rest of the team are nothing like done. He clears his throat.
“Now, I think I know what you’re thinking but you have to trust me on this - that’s a very bad idea, for any number of reasons, but the most important one being -”
There’s a bang somewhere to his left as one of the jumpier goons squeezes his trigger. The bullet passes bloodlessly through the side of Ianto’s skull and into the door behind him.
At that moment the door snaps off its hinges, falling forwards straight through Ianto and the hail of bullets begins. They continue to pass through Ianto and ricochet off Jack’s metallic body (shedding his clothes in the process, Ianto notes as he glances over his shoulder). Ianto starts forward, makes his arm tangible long enough to knock out two of the guards, and reaches the command while Jack lays the remaining out cold.
“Sorry about that.” Jack says, metal armour disappearing back into his skin. “Had to give up on stealth.”
“Let me know next time.” says Ianto, watching the CCTV. Toshiko’s holding the cargo bay doors while Gwen, Owen and Martha make their escape.
Jack steps back and gestures to Ianto. “After you.” Ianto grins and shoves a hand into the computer, watching as the images on the screens stutter and warp.
“See, this,” Ianto drags a hand through the control panel, twitching at the occasional spark “is why I don’t trust technology. It’s all very good until something goes wrong.”
Overhead the lights start to flicker and every alarm in the base starts to go off.
Jack grins, metal sliding into place over his skin. “Now we’re in trouble.” He lets out a yell and charges at the wall, leaving a large Jack-shaped hole. Ianto sighs and sprints after him. So much for the subtle approach.
iii.
“Is this what you look like normally?” Jack asks, ruffling Ianto’s dark hair.
Ianto blinks at him, half-asleep. “What do you mean?”
Jack shrugs. He knows what he means but can’t think how to phrase it. “What you look like when you’re not shape-shifting. Before you started shape-shifting. What did you look like?”
Ianto frowns and shifts back from him. “I’m not really comfortable - looking like that.”
“Ianto, whatever you look like, I’ve seen some pretty unusual stuff. I highly doubt you’re going to shock me.”
“Really? Even if I had two - y’know,” Ianto loses his attitude halfway through his sentence, gesturing vaguely downward.
Jack scoffs “You really think that’s going to put me off?”
Ianto laughs. “Fair point.”
There’s a moment of quiet while Ianto settles closer to Jack.
“So?” Jack prompts.
“So what?” asks Ianto.
“Can I see?” Jack asks, running a fingertip down Ianto’s nose.
Ianto sighs heavily and closes his eyes. His hair flashes red under Jack’s fingers and pale, pinkish skin tone sinking into a dark blue, his body and features otherwise unchanged.
Jack raises an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
Ianto’s cheeks flush a dark navy and he pulls his arms away from him.
“Hey, I mean it,” says Jack with a smile, poking his cheek. “I always knew blue looked good on you. How come you don’t go around like this more often?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Ianto asks, yellow eyes wide and incredulous. “At Torchwood London? They’d probably have mistaken me for an alien.”
“That’s ‘cause they were stupid.” says Jack with a lazy smile. “You ever feel like going blue around here, you feel free.”
Ianto smiles wryly. “I wouldn’t want to scare anyone.”
Jack snorts “We see weirder things than you everyday. I think that we can handle it. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed you don’t have the two -”
Ianto smacks him in the mouth.
iv.
Ianto is really starting to hate the leather gloves. When he first met Jack they used to make him laugh; Jack encouraged it, pulling suggestive poses and making kinky jokes. He used to like the way they felt against his face; just smooth enough, just rough enough.
But then he began to want to feel Jack hands, Jack’s skin on his.
It took Ianto a long time to convince Jack to kiss him on the lips. The last thing that Ianto remembers about it is wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck. He woke up a week later with Jack sat beside his bed, watching the heart monitor.
“We held on too long.” Jack told him, taking one of Ianto’s limp hands in his two gloved ones. “I couldn’t break contact in time. I’m so sorry.”
Ianto tries keep his frustrations hidden (it’s not Jack’s fault, after all) but Jack can be irritatingly perceptive, usually at the worse possible time.
One quiet night in they’re sat watching TV, legs tangled together, but upper bodies as far apart as possible (the last time they brushed foreheads Ianto nearly fainted).
“Do you ever wish you were with someone else?” Jack asks. It’s oh-so casual, except it isn’t, and that’s the part that takes Ianto by surprise. There’s genuine anxiety in Jack’s voice.
Luckily the answer’s very easy. “Nope.”
Jack’s relief is almost palpable. “Really?”
“Really. I do wish that I could - that we could - y’know,”
Jack slips out a dirty laugh. “If you can’t say it, maybe it’s better that we’re not doing it.” he says, gloved hand patting Ianto’s leg.
Ianto swallows. He holds up one hand and wiggles his fingers, coating them thickly in ice. Jack, eyes still focused on the TV, tugs one of the gloves off, a leather finger at a time. His bared fingers slide over the ice, and then grip Ianto’s hand.
“Too cold?” Ianto asks.
“It’s melting.” says Jack.
Their fingers continue to twine around each other, slip-sliding over the melting ice and Ianto smiles.
v.
People are always quick to call Jack demonic with his yellow eyes and his pointy ears and pointy teeth and pointy tail. The two-fingered hands the T-rex toes don’t help matters much. People tended to ignore the blue fur - that was more kids TV characters. Which was a shame, because of two personas, the latter was the one he played up to.
He’d been the star of the Munich circus, and even though he’d left them a long time ago the showmanship remained. He turns cartwheels for no reason, sometimes walks on his hands because he’s bored (and that one time Owen stupidly bet him he couldn’t go the whole day doing it) and has that winning, crowd-pleasing smile.
Ianto can never resist smiling along with him. That he can be so happy, looking like he does and with all the prejudice that he encounters, even from within the mansion. When Ianto first met Jack it shamed him that he was feeling so sorry for himself. However Jack’s lust for life is infectious and the more time that Ianto spends with him the less Ianto feels sorry for himself.
Despite this a few of the others think Jack’s a bit of a bad influence; Ianto’s becoming more outspoken, getting involved in pranks. Most of them are happy he’s finally opening up and having fun.
People are always quick to refer to Ianto as being angelic, with his big white wings and his round young face and his quiet disposition (oh how little they know…).
Because of their respective appearances, neither of them can go out into the world very much. Except for flying, sometimes. Jack loves flying with him and, with his ability makes him an ideal passenger; if Ianto drops him, he can teleport to safety before he hits the ground. It also means that he can teleport them back up into the air when Ianto’s trying to bring them in to land.
They keep each other company and quickly become inseparable. It amuses the others in the mansion, and it must seem like an unbearable cliché to those who don’t know better. Sitting on the roof watching Jack go through front flips, back flips and somersaults, Ianto’s not sure that he cares.
Author: shadowbyrd
Rating: PG
Fandom: Torchwood/Xmen
Prompt: Five ways for jantolution
Word Count: 2089
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Summary: Pretty much what the title says.
i.
Jack isn’t always able to read the Doctor’s mind. However, he doubts that he’s wide of the mark in thinking that he’s left Jack alone in the room with the team’s latest addition on purpose.
they’re all going to be around here for a while the Doctor would tell him sternly whenever Jack complained. you need to get used to these people, try to get close to them.
“So.” says the other man experimentally. Just looking at his face it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking - his eyes are totally obscured by his red-lensed sunglasses - though he seems to be waiting on Jack to continue.
Jack shrugs. “When did you first discover your powers?”
From the Doctor’s thoughts, Jack understands that this is a common question amongst mutants, and usually saves having to ask what someone’s powers are. The new guy’s thoughts, previously an anxious mix of relief and first-day nerves snap into sharp definition why don’t you tell me what your powers are attraction pheromones
“I was taking a short-cut through a construction site and it just,” he gestures toward his glasses.
Jack blinks. “Ow.”
The new one - Ianto, Jack catches, scraping the back of his mind - nods. “Worst part was I hit one of the metal beams, nearly crushed a few people on the street.” He holds his head up and smiles, a hint of pride in his voice as he continues. “I managed to blast it before it hit any of them, though.”
“Quick thinking.” Jack compliments. That’s probably why the Doctor brought him here.
Ianto pulls a face. “They didn’t think so.” he mutters, leaning back. Jack can hear the abuse hurled at him along with the bricks, clear as a bell in Ianto’s mind. Ianto clears his throat and the crowd’s screams recede, forcefully pushed to one side. “What about you, when did you find out?”
Jack usually follows the Doctor’s lead here and lies; his story is something of a conversation stopper. But there’s something about this new kid that makes him stray a little closer to the truth than usual.
“When I was twelve I was playing with my brother and I just heard him.” Jack shrugs “I thought he was playing around at first. Then he started freaking out and told mom on me.”
Ianto laughs and as Jack continues he finds himself joining in. “I was grounded for a week. Kept hearing people’s thoughts, loud and clear as thought they were in the room in with me.” The laughter dies, but the smile sticks, turning wistful. “I thought I was going mad. That or Gray had come up with a very creative revenge.”
Ianto’s smile is gone now. “What did your parents do when they found out?”
“It was just my mum at that point and she…didn’t really do anything. She was terrified someone would find out, though. There had only been a few mutants in my hometown, most of them had to move away.”
“Can you hear what I’m thinking, right now?” Ianto asks, the usual (baffling) touch of scepticism in his voice. should be interesting wasn’t thinking anything bad embarrassing how much can he hear
Jack smirks. “I heard one or two things, actually. No worries though,” he adds as Ianto face slowly sinks into a horrified expression “I get a lot of that. Especially about the hands.” He holds his hands up and wiggles his fingers, laughing as Ianto slowly turns a rather charming shade of pink.
there’s no escaping the telepathy Jack sing songs. Ianto groans.
ii.
“Got everything?” Toshiko asks over the earpiece.
“Yeah.” says Ianto, rubbing his hands together. Phasing when wearing his comm. tended to scramble the signal, which meant Toshiko wouldn’t be able to pass on any information to him.
“Okay, the electrical fence is off, you guys should be able to get through.” Toshiko tells Martha. “Ready?” she asks Ianto.
“No.”
“Good luck. Tosh, out.”
Ianto cracks his knuckles and takes a breath before stepping neatly through the thick metal door. He tries to sneak forward and gets only two steps before he gives up and raises his hands over his head as every semi-automatic in the room swings around to point at him.
“Er, hi,” he says, Ianto doesn’t usually do distractions; with his mutation he’s usually the one sneaking in or doing the front crawl through the computer systems. He’s the one that needs the ones to be distracted from. But on the CCTV screens behind the over-armed guards now facing him he can see the rest of the team are nothing like done. He clears his throat.
“Now, I think I know what you’re thinking but you have to trust me on this - that’s a very bad idea, for any number of reasons, but the most important one being -”
There’s a bang somewhere to his left as one of the jumpier goons squeezes his trigger. The bullet passes bloodlessly through the side of Ianto’s skull and into the door behind him.
At that moment the door snaps off its hinges, falling forwards straight through Ianto and the hail of bullets begins. They continue to pass through Ianto and ricochet off Jack’s metallic body (shedding his clothes in the process, Ianto notes as he glances over his shoulder). Ianto starts forward, makes his arm tangible long enough to knock out two of the guards, and reaches the command while Jack lays the remaining out cold.
“Sorry about that.” Jack says, metal armour disappearing back into his skin. “Had to give up on stealth.”
“Let me know next time.” says Ianto, watching the CCTV. Toshiko’s holding the cargo bay doors while Gwen, Owen and Martha make their escape.
Jack steps back and gestures to Ianto. “After you.” Ianto grins and shoves a hand into the computer, watching as the images on the screens stutter and warp.
“See, this,” Ianto drags a hand through the control panel, twitching at the occasional spark “is why I don’t trust technology. It’s all very good until something goes wrong.”
Overhead the lights start to flicker and every alarm in the base starts to go off.
Jack grins, metal sliding into place over his skin. “Now we’re in trouble.” He lets out a yell and charges at the wall, leaving a large Jack-shaped hole. Ianto sighs and sprints after him. So much for the subtle approach.
iii.
“Is this what you look like normally?” Jack asks, ruffling Ianto’s dark hair.
Ianto blinks at him, half-asleep. “What do you mean?”
Jack shrugs. He knows what he means but can’t think how to phrase it. “What you look like when you’re not shape-shifting. Before you started shape-shifting. What did you look like?”
Ianto frowns and shifts back from him. “I’m not really comfortable - looking like that.”
“Ianto, whatever you look like, I’ve seen some pretty unusual stuff. I highly doubt you’re going to shock me.”
“Really? Even if I had two - y’know,” Ianto loses his attitude halfway through his sentence, gesturing vaguely downward.
Jack scoffs “You really think that’s going to put me off?”
Ianto laughs. “Fair point.”
There’s a moment of quiet while Ianto settles closer to Jack.
“So?” Jack prompts.
“So what?” asks Ianto.
“Can I see?” Jack asks, running a fingertip down Ianto’s nose.
Ianto sighs heavily and closes his eyes. His hair flashes red under Jack’s fingers and pale, pinkish skin tone sinking into a dark blue, his body and features otherwise unchanged.
Jack raises an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
Ianto’s cheeks flush a dark navy and he pulls his arms away from him.
“Hey, I mean it,” says Jack with a smile, poking his cheek. “I always knew blue looked good on you. How come you don’t go around like this more often?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Ianto asks, yellow eyes wide and incredulous. “At Torchwood London? They’d probably have mistaken me for an alien.”
“That’s ‘cause they were stupid.” says Jack with a lazy smile. “You ever feel like going blue around here, you feel free.”
Ianto smiles wryly. “I wouldn’t want to scare anyone.”
Jack snorts “We see weirder things than you everyday. I think that we can handle it. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed you don’t have the two -”
Ianto smacks him in the mouth.
iv.
Ianto is really starting to hate the leather gloves. When he first met Jack they used to make him laugh; Jack encouraged it, pulling suggestive poses and making kinky jokes. He used to like the way they felt against his face; just smooth enough, just rough enough.
But then he began to want to feel Jack hands, Jack’s skin on his.
It took Ianto a long time to convince Jack to kiss him on the lips. The last thing that Ianto remembers about it is wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck. He woke up a week later with Jack sat beside his bed, watching the heart monitor.
“We held on too long.” Jack told him, taking one of Ianto’s limp hands in his two gloved ones. “I couldn’t break contact in time. I’m so sorry.”
Ianto tries keep his frustrations hidden (it’s not Jack’s fault, after all) but Jack can be irritatingly perceptive, usually at the worse possible time.
One quiet night in they’re sat watching TV, legs tangled together, but upper bodies as far apart as possible (the last time they brushed foreheads Ianto nearly fainted).
“Do you ever wish you were with someone else?” Jack asks. It’s oh-so casual, except it isn’t, and that’s the part that takes Ianto by surprise. There’s genuine anxiety in Jack’s voice.
Luckily the answer’s very easy. “Nope.”
Jack’s relief is almost palpable. “Really?”
“Really. I do wish that I could - that we could - y’know,”
Jack slips out a dirty laugh. “If you can’t say it, maybe it’s better that we’re not doing it.” he says, gloved hand patting Ianto’s leg.
Ianto swallows. He holds up one hand and wiggles his fingers, coating them thickly in ice. Jack, eyes still focused on the TV, tugs one of the gloves off, a leather finger at a time. His bared fingers slide over the ice, and then grip Ianto’s hand.
“Too cold?” Ianto asks.
“It’s melting.” says Jack.
Their fingers continue to twine around each other, slip-sliding over the melting ice and Ianto smiles.
v.
People are always quick to call Jack demonic with his yellow eyes and his pointy ears and pointy teeth and pointy tail. The two-fingered hands the T-rex toes don’t help matters much. People tended to ignore the blue fur - that was more kids TV characters. Which was a shame, because of two personas, the latter was the one he played up to.
He’d been the star of the Munich circus, and even though he’d left them a long time ago the showmanship remained. He turns cartwheels for no reason, sometimes walks on his hands because he’s bored (and that one time Owen stupidly bet him he couldn’t go the whole day doing it) and has that winning, crowd-pleasing smile.
Ianto can never resist smiling along with him. That he can be so happy, looking like he does and with all the prejudice that he encounters, even from within the mansion. When Ianto first met Jack it shamed him that he was feeling so sorry for himself. However Jack’s lust for life is infectious and the more time that Ianto spends with him the less Ianto feels sorry for himself.
Despite this a few of the others think Jack’s a bit of a bad influence; Ianto’s becoming more outspoken, getting involved in pranks. Most of them are happy he’s finally opening up and having fun.
People are always quick to refer to Ianto as being angelic, with his big white wings and his round young face and his quiet disposition (oh how little they know…).
Because of their respective appearances, neither of them can go out into the world very much. Except for flying, sometimes. Jack loves flying with him and, with his ability makes him an ideal passenger; if Ianto drops him, he can teleport to safety before he hits the ground. It also means that he can teleport them back up into the air when Ianto’s trying to bring them in to land.
They keep each other company and quickly become inseparable. It amuses the others in the mansion, and it must seem like an unbearable cliché to those who don’t know better. Sitting on the roof watching Jack go through front flips, back flips and somersaults, Ianto’s not sure that he cares.