A/N: this isn't a happy Jack/Ianto love story. Jack is a bit of a bastard, though even he's not sure why, Gwen & Ianto are best friends, and it does get very strange. So if you're going to read this - keep an open mind. Only rated teen right now, but will be rated M for language and sexual content in later chapters.

Set after Jack comes back after leaving to help the Doctor bring the Earth back in Journey's End

Ianto trailed behind the others as they walked across the square towards the pub; Gwen holding hands with Rhys, Jack walking slightly in front of them, making puppy dog eyes at him – as usual.

Ianto wasn't pissed at Jack for leaving them again – he & Gwen had told him to go after all. What he was pissed about was that he had brought the Doctor back with him. Well – he didn't exactly come back with him.

Jack had returned after the Dalek invasion was foiled just as he'd said he would. He'd brought Martha with him; trying for several days to convince her to stay and be their new medical officer. Martha wouldn't be persuaded though; she'd said she had to go home and sort things out. Ianto was sure she'd be back though; that was okay with him – he liked Martha. And since her fiancé was always away with 'Doctors without borders', it shouldn't make any difference to him which city he came home to.

After Martha went home, things returned to some sort of normality for their little group. There were the obvious adjustments of course, with both Tosh and Owen being gone; but he'd thought they were doing really well. Rhys was around a little more now; not so much at the Hub itself, but he often turned up on their pub outings. That was okay with Ianto as well, as it let him have more of Jack to himself. It was far from being lost on Ianto how much it bothered Jack to have Rhys around; ever since Rhys found out about Torchwood last year and Gwen refused to Ret-con him – Jack had been different; like he'd lost something. Ianto had a feeling he knew what it was. When Rhys didn't know about Torchwood, Jack had a part of Gwen all to himself – a part that Rhys never had access to; now Rhys knew all about Torchwood – Jack no longer had that part of Gwen. To Jacks credit, when Rhys went out with them, he tried hard to conceal the way he felt – but he wasn't doing a very good job.

That was until the Doctor turned up; apparently he was companionless at the moment and was at a bit of a loss. At first Ianto had thought he'd turned up to try and convince Jack to go with him, but then he stayed – and had yet to leave.

Two weeks earlier.

Jack had been back for about a week. Martha had left a couple of days ago, and things were starting to get back to some semblance of what passed for normal when you worked for Torchwood.

Gwen was tracking some recent Rift activity, which she seemed to think was not much to worry about. Ianto had been reorganising some files in the Archive; the filing having been severely neglected over the last few months. Since the Earth returned to where it was supposed to be – things had been relatively quiet. Jack had been quiet – especially after Martha had left – but he seemed okay.

Ianto had yet to stay over at the Hub since Jack's return; things had cooled off a fair bit between them in the last six months. Jack just didn't seem as interested as he once was; Ianto sighed as he remembered their late night games of naked hide and seek around the Hub.

"Tonight's the night," he thought to himself as he dropped the files he was holding onto the nearby table, and headed upstairs to see Jack.

He saw Gwen still at the computer, and was amazed at how quickly she had picked up the tech side of things; his mood deflated a little as he thought that she'd not had much choice since Tosh died. He walked over to her and smiled.

"How's it going?" he asked from over her shoulder.

Gwen glanced up at him. "Yeah okay," she replied, turning back to the computer screen. "Not much to report. Seems like a fairly benign occurrence."

Ianto lent down close to her. "Feel like an early night?" he whispered in her ear conspiratorially.

She looked to him again and smiled. "Got something special planned?"

He smiled back at her and shrugged his shoulders. "It's been a while."

"Well," Gwen replied. "I did tell you that Andy was asking after you."

Ianto grimaced slightly at the thought of Gwen's old partner. "I remember."

"He's not that bad Ianto!" Gwen admonished.

"Well you didn't seem to think that when he had a crush on you!" came Iantos retort.

Gwen opened her mouth to reply – but she couldn't deny it. "You are right – but I was going out with Rhys at the time."

"Anyway," Ianto began; they were starting to get off topic here. His thoughts were on seeing Jack under him tonight – not Andy. "Early night or what!"

"Yes, yes – I'm going," Gwen replied as she stood and gathered her things. She turned to Ianto and pointed a finger at his chest. "You have to text me later though with the details."

Ianto rolled his eyes as he gripped her shoulders and turned her towards the door. "You know I will," he whispered to her before he gave her a little push.

Jack looked up from the paper work he was lost in as he heard the Hub door open; he watched as Gwen walked out, then he looked at the clock. "She's early," he thought to himself. His face darkened as his thoughts continued. "She hasn't said more than two words to me all day, and now she's leaving early to rush home to him!" With a loud sigh, he returned to his desk and flopped heavily in his chair.

Just then Ianto appeared in his doorway. "Coffee Sir?" he asked, all business.

"No thanks," Jack replied without looking up.

"Tea?"

Jack looked at Ianto and frowned, he never drank tea. "No, thankyou."

Ianto paused for a second, taking a deep breath to try to steady the nerves that had just appeared out of nowhere.

"Me?" he asked hopefully; giving Jack what he hoped was an irresistible look.

Jack had looked back down after the tea offer, and much to Ianto's dismay, he didn't raise his head at this, and didn't seem as though he was going to answer.

"Jack?"

Jack shifted in his chair slightly; finally he looked up and met Ianto's eyes. "Ianto…I…"

Ianto didn't need to hear what Jack had to say; his look told him everything he needed – but didn't want – to know.

"It's okay Jack," he said as he turned to go. Then he stopped, suddenly very annoyed, and turned back.

"Actually – no Jack! It's not okay."

Jack was taken back by this; he hadn't expected Ianto to approach him – let alone challenge him like this. After a moments thought though he couldn't blame him; Jack knew he'd been pulling away from Ianto for months, without any sort of explanation. He knew it wasn't fair – but he didn't know what to tell Ianto; how could he – when he didn't know what was happening himself. So he just sat there.

"I want to know what's going on – I think I deserve better than the way you've been treating me," Ianto said nervously. He was waiting for Jack to say something scathing and throw him out.

The reply he got however shocked him. "You're right Ianto – of course you are."

Ianto was temporarily speechless. "Yes, well," he finally managed to get out.

Jack stood and walked to him, placing his hands on his shoulders. "You do deserve more," he said as he looked into Ianto's guileless eyes.

Moving his hand to cup Ianto's cheek, Jack seemed to be searching his face. "You deserve so much better than me."

Ianto moved his hand to cover Jack's, he revelled in the contact he was receiving from his Captain; it seemed like eons to him since Jack had touched him. "No Jack, all I want is you."

Jack smiled at him and brought his lips gently to Ianto's; pulling back he looked into Ianto's eyes again. "Will you stay?"

Ianto initiated the kiss this time; the last thought he could remember was "thank God, I came up from the Archives."