Of Pawns and Kings
By SSQ
He was a pawn, that's all he was in this sadistic game of chess. Once upon a time he thought he was a King, playing on the Captain's heartstrings to make things go his way. Yet his queen had fallen to the Captain's (The black king's) unfair amount of knights-After all, Jack had three where as Ianto had none, leaving him but a pawn in the King's court, the chess game lost.
Yet was the game really his to play? He wondered, unknowing. He didn't think so now he was just a pawn. He had Tosh and Gwen's place mixed up as well, just as he once thought he was King. No, Tosh was a bishop, faith unwavering, and Gwen was a mere pawn as well. She was nothing, the newest addition, yet that was the funny thing about pawns: They always want to be a queen.
(Ianto had wanted to be Jack's Queen, Jack's right hand everything, the piece that could always protect Jack because it could go anywhere, more than anything. More than having Lisa back, in fact. Because Lisa was unfixable, and he didn't love her as much as he wanted to make sure his last piece didn't topple over like all the others had, and Jack…Jack was everything. Jack was summer and light and love and everything and nothing all at once.)
He wanted to be a queen, but he'll never say a thing. What's so bad about being a pawn, after all? Pawns are dependable, reliable. (Neither Ianto nor Gwen ever were a true pawn, Jack would never sacrifice them without a second thought. )
Gwen didn't, though. She wanted to be Queen and didn't make it a secret; She wanted the freedom to move wherever she wants and to always have Jack to come back to; Jack to play the fairytale King in the story she made up called her life.
Yet she didn't know Jack already had a queen-Or, Ianto supposed, a Doctor-Who he will always protect, (Because that was the most precious piece after all, the one that could go anywhere in Time and Space and save so many lives.) And always come back to, because that's Jack's Queen, and the King always loves his Queen.
And that fact more than anything else squeezed at Ianto's heart, and he wished so hard that there would be two hearts instead of one, that Jack would love him.
He guessed it was a pawn thing, always loving his (Marvelous, wonderful,) King, even if he would never love him back. So he played the part of dutiful pawn, always moving one square forward and eliminating possible threats as often as he could. (Which wasn't often, most things had the sense to stay from being killed by something so demeaning as (Ianto) a pawn.)
Finally, once Jack was back from running after his (Doctor,) Queen, Jack doesn't care so much about his (Doctor) Queen. Something inside Ianto swells, and somehow he know he's reached the end of the chessboard.
He was dependable, (Reliable, unlike the Doctor,) and now he was the one who Jack would protect the most, because (somehow) Ianto was the most important piece on the chessboard. Ianto (For now) was one of a kind. (though so easily replaced.)
Yet he still essentially felt like a pawn, and nothing really change. Silly white pieces underestimate him; they think they're safe because like a harmless little pawn. So he conquers every threat he can, and he feels unbeatable.
Gwen nears the end of the chessboard, and suddenly it didn't feel so much as though Gwen were a black pawn as compared to the white Queen. (The white Queen and the black Queen in a dangerous dance; taunting each other to take that final move and take them down.)
Though when Tosh (The ever-so-faithful Bishop) and Owen (the sarcastic knight who hid his feelings behind armor,) toppled and fell, Ianto cursed himself for letting his view of the chessboard fall, for letting something so petty as his feelings dictate who was the enemy and who was not rather than the chessboard its self. Now there were only three left in their number, and Ianto lost a dear friend though Jack lost something more akin to a daughter.
Ianto was a pawn-made queen, and only after so very few moves being of what he dreamed of ded a supposedly unstoppable player find the chess game of Torchwood. They were called the 456 and they played the game. They played the game so difficultly that Ianto, caught up in the chess game, felt immortal.
(So silly, he felt unstoppable. He shouldn't have felt so, he shouldn've remembered that if the game was lost the only one who would be there was Jack; Jack the king who was always the same and Jack's (Doctor) Queen, because he lived forever (or nearly) too.)
Ianto Didn't live forever, and only after he finally won (Jack's Heart) his place of queen, the white King took his piece in manic glee.
But that was alright. He was always a better pawn than a queen, anyways, (Just the teaboy. Cleans up messes, no questions asked. Just a teaboy.)
He was, after all, just (the teaboy) a pawn.
A useless little (Once-Queen) pawn who served his purpose and was discarded. And Ianto…Was alright with that. Because for a moment, no matter how brief, he kept Jack safe.