fic: Watching The Tide Roll Away, Torchwood, Jack/Ianto
Watching The Tide Roll Away
Jack/Ianto. 900 words. PG. For day four of horizonssing
The Bay is beautiful in the summer. Sunshine diamonds twinkle across the water and people mill quietly, creating a soft hum of life. Gulls fly overhead or nose-dive like spitfires for chips and bits of bread on the weathered wood. It’s almost impossible to be miserable on a day like this.
That is, if you’ve never heard of Torchwood; if you weren’t at Canary Wharf; if you aren’t Ianto Jones.
He glances at his watch. He’s been on his lunch break for half an hour. He’s got as much time as he wants, really. It’s with a pained bitter laugh that Ianto thinks Torchwood has excellent flexibility and generous sick pay.
He starts on his sandwiches; cheese and pickle on white bread. Ianto is sure pickle sort of counts as those vegetables Jack keeps going on about. Ianto doesn’t know what his nutritional advice is worth though. Jack eats like a bottomless rubbish bin.
Ianto feels a smile somewhere in his mind but it doesn’t reflect on his face. A familiar shadow closes in on him.
What torments Ianto most as he ends his first month at Torchwood three is not the burgeoning depression as he goes home to a dark lifeless house or acute desperation as he fusses over the mechanics of Lisa.
Rather it’s a creeping sensation of guilt. Not about Lisa. If he’s thinking rationally, he knows it’s not his fault at all. Of all the things he can be held accountable for, cyberman invasion is not one of them.
No, this is about Jack. Ianto had done a thorough assessment of Torchwood Three as best he could but he hadn’t expected Jack. Ianto gets the impression nobody ever expects Jack Harkness and that for most of his life, he’s been knocking people sideways as a matter of course.
He can’t eat lunch with Jack. He can’t spend more time with him than he needs to. He feels it, the threat of being drawn in, like there’s a magnet inside his ribcage. He’s not so deluded as to think Jack has fallen in love with him but whatever Ianto is feeling, the almost irresistible urge to rediscover the heat of the night they found Myfanwy, he can tell Jack feels it too. When he flirts, when he looks at Ianto in that way, he’s simply feeling exactly what Ianto let him believe he could feel.
All Ianto can do now is find a safe place to hide. Today it’s Mermaid quay. Tomorrow it might be the pier. He might even wander around the shops, non-committal but distracted. Anywhere but where Jack is.
Whatever Jack Harkness might be and for all they don’t know about him, he doesn’t deserve to be betrayed more than he already has been.
Ianto brushes the crumbs from his suit trousers and turns his head upwards to feel the sun properly on his face, hoping to find some solace in the rays. The tightness in his heart loosens only slightly.
He’s there for ten more minutes, sipping his coffee and blitzing the Guardian crossword, before he’s quite unexpectedly found. Jack had always just texted if he needed him but now a shadow falls over him and he can feel Jack’s breath ruffle his hair. Jack points at the page and says, “Four down. Liberty. This is one hell of a lunch break, Jones.”
Ianto is frozen. Jack is not supposed to come to find him. Jack is not supposed to sit beside him and toss an arm carelessly (or maybe quite deliberately) across the back of the bench. He swallows the lump in his throat and says, “Owen took two hours yesterday. Came back.. not sober.”
Jack nods. “That’s a good point. Also it was a joke. Trying to get a smile from that pretty face. No such luck?”
Ianto looks sideways at Jack. They hold eye contact for only a couple of seconds before Jack looks out to the water. “Apparently not. You know, Ianto…”
Ianto looks down at his fingers gripping the pen hovering above the newspaper. “Jack?”
Jack glances back again and Ianto can feel the hand across the back of the bench shift to touch his shoulder softly. “I’d like to see you around at lunch-time when we get the pizza in.”
The sentiment is so simple and touching that Ianto is more surprised by it than if Jack had gone on a winding ramble about his emotions. Ianto feels that pull in his chest again and he can only nod and croak out an unconvincing, “Ok.”
Jack peers at him only a second more. Ianto can feel defiance coming off him in waves. He will make Ianto Jones fall for him. Somewhere deep at the back of his mind, Ianto fears it might pay off.
“Hey.” Jack nods at Ianto’s last sandwich. “Are you eating that?”
Ianto shakes his head, “You have it.” and hands it over. Jack chomps an absolutely gigantic mouthful and chews and swallows before he gets up. “Back to the Hub soon, Jones. Something I’d like you to do for me.” Jack grins like a particularly mischievous wolf. “Then you can get on with your work.”
Jack winks and turns to stride back towards the tourist office. Ianto sighs heavily. Whatever Jack Harkness is - overfriendly, intrusive, disrespectful of personal space and a walking bottomless rubbish bin for food - he doesn’t deserve betrayal.
Jack/Ianto. 900 words. PG. For day four of horizonssing
The Bay is beautiful in the summer. Sunshine diamonds twinkle across the water and people mill quietly, creating a soft hum of life. Gulls fly overhead or nose-dive like spitfires for chips and bits of bread on the weathered wood. It’s almost impossible to be miserable on a day like this.
That is, if you’ve never heard of Torchwood; if you weren’t at Canary Wharf; if you aren’t Ianto Jones.
He glances at his watch. He’s been on his lunch break for half an hour. He’s got as much time as he wants, really. It’s with a pained bitter laugh that Ianto thinks Torchwood has excellent flexibility and generous sick pay.
He starts on his sandwiches; cheese and pickle on white bread. Ianto is sure pickle sort of counts as those vegetables Jack keeps going on about. Ianto doesn’t know what his nutritional advice is worth though. Jack eats like a bottomless rubbish bin.
Ianto feels a smile somewhere in his mind but it doesn’t reflect on his face. A familiar shadow closes in on him.
What torments Ianto most as he ends his first month at Torchwood three is not the burgeoning depression as he goes home to a dark lifeless house or acute desperation as he fusses over the mechanics of Lisa.
Rather it’s a creeping sensation of guilt. Not about Lisa. If he’s thinking rationally, he knows it’s not his fault at all. Of all the things he can be held accountable for, cyberman invasion is not one of them.
No, this is about Jack. Ianto had done a thorough assessment of Torchwood Three as best he could but he hadn’t expected Jack. Ianto gets the impression nobody ever expects Jack Harkness and that for most of his life, he’s been knocking people sideways as a matter of course.
He can’t eat lunch with Jack. He can’t spend more time with him than he needs to. He feels it, the threat of being drawn in, like there’s a magnet inside his ribcage. He’s not so deluded as to think Jack has fallen in love with him but whatever Ianto is feeling, the almost irresistible urge to rediscover the heat of the night they found Myfanwy, he can tell Jack feels it too. When he flirts, when he looks at Ianto in that way, he’s simply feeling exactly what Ianto let him believe he could feel.
All Ianto can do now is find a safe place to hide. Today it’s Mermaid quay. Tomorrow it might be the pier. He might even wander around the shops, non-committal but distracted. Anywhere but where Jack is.
Whatever Jack Harkness might be and for all they don’t know about him, he doesn’t deserve to be betrayed more than he already has been.
Ianto brushes the crumbs from his suit trousers and turns his head upwards to feel the sun properly on his face, hoping to find some solace in the rays. The tightness in his heart loosens only slightly.
He’s there for ten more minutes, sipping his coffee and blitzing the Guardian crossword, before he’s quite unexpectedly found. Jack had always just texted if he needed him but now a shadow falls over him and he can feel Jack’s breath ruffle his hair. Jack points at the page and says, “Four down. Liberty. This is one hell of a lunch break, Jones.”
Ianto is frozen. Jack is not supposed to come to find him. Jack is not supposed to sit beside him and toss an arm carelessly (or maybe quite deliberately) across the back of the bench. He swallows the lump in his throat and says, “Owen took two hours yesterday. Came back.. not sober.”
Jack nods. “That’s a good point. Also it was a joke. Trying to get a smile from that pretty face. No such luck?”
Ianto looks sideways at Jack. They hold eye contact for only a couple of seconds before Jack looks out to the water. “Apparently not. You know, Ianto…”
Ianto looks down at his fingers gripping the pen hovering above the newspaper. “Jack?”
Jack glances back again and Ianto can feel the hand across the back of the bench shift to touch his shoulder softly. “I’d like to see you around at lunch-time when we get the pizza in.”
The sentiment is so simple and touching that Ianto is more surprised by it than if Jack had gone on a winding ramble about his emotions. Ianto feels that pull in his chest again and he can only nod and croak out an unconvincing, “Ok.”
Jack peers at him only a second more. Ianto can feel defiance coming off him in waves. He will make Ianto Jones fall for him. Somewhere deep at the back of his mind, Ianto fears it might pay off.
“Hey.” Jack nods at Ianto’s last sandwich. “Are you eating that?”
Ianto shakes his head, “You have it.” and hands it over. Jack chomps an absolutely gigantic mouthful and chews and swallows before he gets up. “Back to the Hub soon, Jones. Something I’d like you to do for me.” Jack grins like a particularly mischievous wolf. “Then you can get on with your work.”
Jack winks and turns to stride back towards the tourist office. Ianto sighs heavily. Whatever Jack Harkness is - overfriendly, intrusive, disrespectful of personal space and a walking bottomless rubbish bin for food - he doesn’t deserve betrayal.