A/N: Written to celebrate Ianto's 27th birthday. What are you saying? I should have written "what should have been Ianto's 27th birthday"? Did I miss something? What? CoE? Well, everyone knows that that was just a prank. And the same is for Exit Wounds. Ianto, Tosh and Owen are alive. Okay, okay, this story is AU. A girl can dream. As always excuse me if there are mistakes, English is not my first language.
Disclaimer: As you can see from the soliloquy above I don't own Torchwood, but I would treat its characters way better than RTD, that's for sure.
Happy Birthday Mr. Jones!
Saying that Ianto was upset was the understatement of the century. He was beyond any form of rage known to human kind. And it was his birthday.
Wasn't one supposed to be happy the day of his birthday? Well, apparently not if this someone was Ianto Jones.
The Welshman looked at his watch, almost midnight, at least this horrible day was going to end soon, he still couldn't believe it and while laying alone on his bed he replayed all in his mind.
The day had started pretty well, with a gorgeous and naked Captain by his side and a very good breakfast. And, even if Jack hadn't mentioned his birthday, he wasn't bothered, he knew that the American wasn't a morning person and that wanting him to remember something before eleven am was madness.
They drove together to the base talking a laughing. It had been a very good start.
He remembered how, while entering in the hub, he thought that Tosh and Gwen would have greeted him with smiles and presents bringing also Owen in, at that point Jack would have remembered and he would have said that he knew it, and that he was just waiting for the right moment.
But nothing of that happened, when he got in he was greeted with a quick smile from Tosh, a file thrown at him from Owen and a request of coffee from Gwen, nothing else.
He was far too shocked to make them notice, so he decided to go down the archives, what was wrong with them? Well, Owen he could understand, they had never been very close, he wasn't even sure that he knew what day it was let alone knowing what that day represented to Ianto, but Tosh? They were friends and she hardly forgot something, maybe she was just busy creating a new program.
And what about Gwen? Wasn't she the "heart of Torchwood"? Or Jack? They were together, you're supposed to remember your partner's birthday. Unless, of course, you don't care about your partner…
No, he couldn't start thinking like that, he just had to wait and see, and if no one remembered he would have told them.
But the more the day continued the more he was pissed, at some point in the afternoon he even started serving decaf, but apparently no one noticed.
He even snapped at Gwen when, while filing a report, asked him if he knew what day it was. He remembered every single word he said to her "Yes Gwen! I know what fucking day it is! But apparently you can't even check a bloody calendar!". Their faces were indescribable thought Ianto, while a little evil smile spread across his face, he didn't regret the outburst, they deserved it.
He did however regret how he left Jack, the look on his face when he left the office was a mixture between a beaten puppy dog and a teenager who's had his heart broken for the first time. He still felt guilty about it, he walked in the Captain's office with the worst coffee he could made without giving himself a seizure, and without even sitting down he told Jack that he was leaving and when the man asked why he told him he was very tired.
"Are you ill? Please Yan, if you're ill you gotta tell me. You want me to call Owen?" the American's concern could be seen a mile away, but right then Ianto didn't care.
"No Jack, I'm just tired because if you haven't noticed I do twice as much your job here" replied Ianto with a sigh.
"Mmm, okay, if that's it go home, I'll come later if you want"
"No Jack, thank you, but I really am tired, I think I'll just eat something and go to bed" and then he got up and leaved, looking one last time at his lover's confused and hurt face.
And there he was, hours later, laying in his bed feeling lonely, mad and a bit guilty, he looked at his watch again, midnight and one minute, thank God it was over.
Suddenly he heard a loud knock, the Welshman contemplated for a moment the idea of not answering, but it could have been an emergency, so he got up and opened the door, he wasn't ready for what he saw.
The first thing he sensed was the multitude of confetti thrown at him, then there were the four voices that said "Happy birthday Ianto" with various shades of enthusiasm and when he finally could see again after the paper storm, his eyes were greeted by the sight of four grown human beings wearing colorful party hats.
Ianto looked at them one by one, Owen seemed (and probably was) very annoyed, he held a bag of liquors in his right hand and he had most likely been blackmailed to be there, Tosh held something like twenty balloons and there was the it-wasn't-my-idea look on her face, Gwen was smiling sweetly, a big cake in her hands, and right in front of him stood Jack, his trademark smile and a pile of presents. The Welshman first instinct was to burst out laughing but then he remembered that he was supposed to be mad.
"I'm sorry guys, but my birthday is August 19, not the 20" he said trying to keep a straight face.
"We know, in fact today is August 19" replied Torchwood's leader.
"No Jack, I'm pretty sure is the 20, see" Ianto said handing his cell phone to his lover.
"Well, I could have changed your telephone's date" stepped in Gwen.
"What?" now Torchwood's teaboy was really confused.
"Remember the day before yesterday when I told you that you had to be retconned and that you lost a whole day? Well, that wasn't entirely true, we wanted to surprise you, but you always know everything and it seemed the only way to make you believe that the day of your birthday wasn't really the day of your birthday" rambled on Jack with an apologetic look, he just started to have doubts about the entire operation, maybe the lie wasn't really a good idea.
"But, what about my computer's date?"
"That would be me" said Toshiko timidly.
"And my desk digital calendar?"
"Me" said Owen raising a hand.
"You did this to me?" asked Ianto.
"We did this for you" replied Jack with a gentle smile.
"And you thought it was a good idea? Lie to me and make me feel bad for the whole day?"
"It did seem a good idea when Jack proposed it" answered Gwen with a sheepish smile.
And at this point the Welshman saw it. The funny side of the whole story and started laughing so hard that after a few seconds tears started running down his cheeks.
He let everyone in and while the others were pouring the drinks and cutting the cake he and Jack stayed behind for a moment.
"You are amazing" he said to his lover.
"I try my best" replied the American.
"You are the best" said Ianto kissing passionately his lover.