"I trusted you," Jack ground out between gritted teeth, fingers clenching and unclenching around the gun in his hands.
Ianto met his gaze without flinching, his own weapon aimed at Jack as they circled each other slowly. "Maybe you shouldn't have," he replied evenly. "One would think you'd know better by now."
Jack was sure he was going to break a tooth if he clenched his jaw any harder. "I guess I'm just too gullible," he responded, stalling as he searched for a way out of the situation. "But you know what? I don't think you're going to do this. If you really wanted to shoot me, you could have done so before I even noticed you instead of stopping for a chat. I don't think you really wanna do this."
The tea boy smiled thinly. "It's just a lot more satisfying this way than if I caught you unaware." He seemed to be prepared to say more when the comm in his ear crackled to life, distracting him for long enough that Jack could take his shot.
He didn't.
Instead, he watched as Ianto regained his composure and listened, eyes trained on his team leader again, and then carefully took one hand off his weapon to press against the earpiece as he replied: "I've got Jack at gunpoint. You take care of Gwen, I've got this."
"If you shoot me, I'm taking you down with me," Jack threatened.
The smile was back as Ianto brought both hands to his gun again. "You can try."
"Look, this won't be any use to you anyway," the Captain reasoned. "I'm just gonna get back up."
"Not here," Ianto cut in. "Not this time. This time, you won't be getting a second chance. You know that, Jack."
The immortal took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "What if I shoot first?"
"Go on," Ianto responded without a hint of hesitation. Jack just glared at him harder. "See? You're far too soft."
"Oh, am I?" Jack demanded sharply. "You know, I don't think so. I think you like to make an impression and go all dramatic and everything, but I don't believe you actually have the guts to pull this off. Come on, do it. Do it! What are you waiting for? Made up your mind? I knew you wouldn't dare to –"
Ianto pulled the trigger.
Jack stumbled back with an incredulous, choked-off sound and stared down at the splatter of red on his chest before he looked back up at Ianto, who was now practically beaming.
So that was what betrayal felt like. He'd almost forgotten.
Jack looked down at the red stain, back up at Ianto, who was casually re-loading his gun, and then threw his arms up in a what the hell-gesture. "The shirt? Really? I liked that shirt."
Ianto rolled his eyes. "Pity."
With a growl, the immortal raised his weapon to aim it at the tea boy. "I told you I was taking you down with me and believe me, Ianto, you're going down."
Ianto just smiled at him. "You're dead. You know the rules."
Jack glared for a moment longer, then he huffed and threw his gun to the floor, resisting the childish urge to stomp his foot.
"I hate Paintball."