"Morning!" Jack… chirped, doing breakfast on the cooker.
"You're certainly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Ianto said, giving him a look.
"Why not?"
"No reason."
"And are you telling me I need to diet? How bushy is my 'tail' getting, anyway?" Jack asked, looking down his back.
"Your 'tail' is fine," Ianto smirked.
"Good. So's yours."
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Yeah. You've got tea on?"
"Yep, in the pot."
"Thanks. So, what is with this? Not forgetting something, am I?"
"You don't forget anything," Jack said. "Just woke up in a good mood."
"It was like old times, last night," Ianto said, stroking Jack's back and kissing his cheek.
Jack shook his head. "No, it wasn't, actually. But it was what I would have liked 'old times' to have been."
"You're right," Ianto said, taking a plate of breakfast from Jack as they sat at the breakfast table. "No Rift alerts, no Weevil incidents…."
The night before, they'd had Gwen and Rhys (and Anwen) round for dinner – a Chinese takeaway and a case of beer – and an evening playing cards. It was next to impossible to win a round against Ianto - who always knew what everyone had in their hands by the second trick – so they'd changed up partners more than once to keep the game 'fair.'
Jack reached over the table and held Ianto's hand between his. "This is what I'd always hoped 'normal' would be, Ianto."
"Me too, Jack," Ianto said, closing his other hand over Jack's.
"So many times I tried this… finding a 'home' here. I get it now, though. Home isn't a building… it's belonging. I finally found that."
Ianto stood up and came round the table where he took Jack's face between his hands and leaned down to kiss him. Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist and held him close, while Ianto carded through Jack's messy hair.
"I love you, too, Jack," Ianto said softly.