* Big thanks to EvilRuthyLuvsWales from Torchwood Australia forum for doing proofreading for me! :D
Author's Notes: My first Torchwood fanfic, inspired by an interview with the costume designer in the Torchwood mag. It's fun to imagine Ianto's life after work and Jack showing his softer side to his lover.
Jack noticed Ianto had spent half the wages on suits since they were together. Even though Jack had once lived in a period where men were extremely focused on their clothing, he still couldn't figure out why Ianto needed to spend that much when he worked for Torchwood. He even speculated that what kept Ianto going after the cyberwoman incident, was making coffee and wearing suits.
However, Ianto was different from those who purely loved clothes shopping. When Jack spent the night at Ianto's place for the first time, he couldn't help taking a peep at Ianto's closet because he was really curious about how many suits Ianto had. Ianto, who had gone to get their drinks, came back into the bedroom and his smile disappeared. Ianto stepped forward and pushed the closet doors closed without uttering a word, as if secrets were hiding behind those doors. He took Jack's hand dragging him to the living room. They didn't talk about this afterward but Jack felt he was being watched. Although Ianto later seduced Jack by having sex in the bathroom and shower together, Jack knew it was just a trick Ianto played to keep a close eye on him.
Jack sneaked out of bed after Ianto fell asleep at midnight. He opened the closet doors, feeling really disappointed at what he saw. There was no special device except lots of suits, waistcoats and some casual clothing hung in an organised manner. A box in the corner drew his attention before he was about to close the doors. The box was full of leather notebooks, which was filled with comments about the fabrics of suits and ties from several brands, the collection of suits, shirts and ties. There was even a trivial note under some suit name about the upper sleeve being ripped a bit accidently by Jack as they snogged and that of course made Ianto question the stitching.
Jack realized these notebooks were Ianto's "suit roster" and believed the journals about coffee shops and beans were placed somewhere in the kitchen cabinets. All of these plus working journals and the diary Jack previously found, made him wonder how much time Ianto had spent on writing these things. The workload in Torchwood could be heavy, and the private life of Ianto was more mysterious than he had imagined.
Jack browsed the one in the bottom of the box. It was apparently the first one of these notebooks according to the date, and it was when Ianto started to work for Torchwood 3. He mentioned in the note under his first suit how uncomfortable he felt when wearing it, but he would try to keep wearing a suit everyday because someone had once said "Love the suit" to him. Jack's eyebrow raised as he read this. He did know who that "someone" was. However, Ianto's tune about suits had been changed gradually. It was easy to see his passion for suits from these notebooks.
It gave Jack some ideas for picking a gift for Ianto's upcoming birthday. He decided to buy Ianto a suit.
However, Jack was a bit frustrated after browsing a few shops. He wasn't sure if he was too old to have an eye for picking clothes or he simply browsed the wrong shops. Not a single suit displayed there was better than the ones Ianto had worn. It troubled Jack for a while. He had never bothered to buy gifts for more than one hundred years, but now he bothered about it for a 24-year-old young man.
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Jack and Ianto went back to the hub from the birthday party the team members threw for Ianto.
"Here, birthday present for you!" Jack took an old but clean box from his office cabinet. "It was actually the suit I wore at my wedding...a hundred years ago. I don't like the stuff I saw in the shops of nowadays, so... Fortunately, it looks well-preserved!"
"Sir...erm...Jack," Ianto was petrified by the suit in the box. "I can't take it. It must mean something to you."
"Ianto Jones," Jack raised his voice. "The one who means a lot to me now is YOU! I'll be very upset if you don't accept it."
Jack leaned forward to seal Ianto with a passionate kiss before Ianto said anything and thrust his tongue into Ianto's mouth. They couldn't help making love in Jack's office, but Jack handled Ianto's beloved suit with care this time. He didn't want to be on Ianto's roster again even if he won't check those notebooks in the future.
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"Just crawled out of Grandpa's closet?" Owen side-eyed Ianto, who was passing coffee to him.
"What do you mean? Anything wrong?" Tosh with her glasses on looked up from computer moniters, trying to figure out why Owen said that.
"You don't go out with men often, do you?" snorted Owen. "It's not your fault you can't tell the difference."
"That's news! I didn't know you go out with men more often than Tosh?!" interjected Gwen, with a suppressed laugh, stepping into the gate of the hub with her bag.
Owen attacked immediately with a sharp reply. Ianto ignored the bickering between Owen and Gwen, delivering coffee to Jack's office.
Jack lifted his eyes from the documents on the desk, feeling a bit tired. He walked out of the office and saw Ianto coming along. Their eyes met across the hallway, and Jack smiled with a nod. He was surprised Ianto would wear the suit that soon.
"51th century pheromone. I get the idea now, sir." said Ianto calmly. He handed the coffee to Jack. "It seemed to be much stronger than it is now. I hardly concentrated on cleaning it. I just wanted to wear it and hurry to work."
Jack chuckled. "You look good in it."
"I look like my father. It's not good for me to wear it too often." Ianto looked down at his suit. Jack sensed a bit of joy in Ianto's voice. "Well, I have to go upstairs now in case those bloody kids come and mess around again."
"Ianto," Jack called as Ianto was leaving. "What do you say you and I go shopping together next time and buy you a new suit?"
Ianto turned and smiled. "Shopping with me can be really boring, sir." His eyes shone with lustre, which Jack had never seen before.