Title - Of Coffee, Cards and Glitter
Author - pmw10261
Giftee - maiwen05
Beta - Royalladyemma
Pairing - Jack/Ianto
Summary - Ianto doesn't know, and Owen finds out.
Rating - G
Contains - Fluff and fish heads
Warnings - nil
Word Count - 6,030
A/N - Thanks to the wonderful Royalladyemma the best damn beta around.
Of Coffee, Cards and Glitter
From the aerie, Ianto could see most of the Hub. Tosh, at her computer, Gwen, on the phone – Ianto smiled, she was most probably arguing with Rhys. Owen, here Ianto sighed; it had been a mess, a horrible mess. Owen, undead, no, make that angry and undead. He giggled, thinking back on what Jack had described when he'd gone to get Owen from the Police cells. He turned to the pteranodon and threw another fish head at her, "I was so glad I didn't have to clean that mess up."
The displaced dinosaur tilted her head to the side, watching the person who gave her the nice food, and chirped as she nodded towards the pan of food. "Yeah, yeah, you want more, you're a greedy guts, you know that? You keep eating like this you'll get fat, Myf, you'll be too big to get off the ground." But he couldn't resist the bright, knowing gleam in her eye as she looked at him and he threw another fish head at her.
As the fishy morsel was devoured, Ianto looked through the glass wall into Jack's office. "Myf, I wonder what he is up to in there; you know, he's locked himself in there a couple of times over the last week. I have no idea what he's up to and…" he turned as he was nudged, very gently for such a wild beast. He stroked her long beak as she made a cooing noise, "Yeah, you like that, don't you,"
'You have very talented fingers, human, and they smell deliciously fishy. You may touch me any time.' Myfanwy bent her head and rubbed against Ianto's shoulder.
Scratching halfway along the beak, Ianto looked at her and softly crooned, "My sweetie, my love, my gorgeous one." He smiled as she closed her eyes and made gentle huffing noises of encouragement. Ianto moved his hand upward to softly caress the edge of her crest and then laughed when she leaned into him, nearly knocking him over. "You like that, sweetie?" He slipped down the half-wall of the aerie, sitting on the straw as the pteranodon flopped down next to him.
"I wonder what he's up to, Jack, locking himself in his office; besides this week he's done it at least three times last week. I hope he's okay, it's just not like him." Shaking his head in bewilderment over his boss' strange behaviour, Ianto pulled out a small bar of Belgian dark chocolate from his pocket and slowly unwrapped it.
Excited by the delicious aroma, Myfanwy bumped him with her head as she made a series of squeaky sounds. 'My favourite! It has nuts!'
"Shhh! This has to be our little secret, okay? Don't tell Owen, he's been a right pain. He's been going on about how much chocolate you eat and how it can't be good for you, but you know what? I think he's just grumpy cos he can't eat it any more. I use to get extra chocolate Hob Nobs for him." He held the bar on his palm and watched as Myfanwy pecked it off without even touching the man's hand.
Ianto smiled as he heard his beloved dinosaur make the grumbling grunting noises that mean she was very happy, but he couldn't keep his eyes from Jack. "Myf, he's worrying me, Jack I mean, not Owen, although he's a worry as well."
The sigh was long and low, filled with all of Ianto's frustration. "Caru, what do you think I should do, leave him to stew over whatever is upsetting him, and personally, I think it's Owen, or do I just let him work it out himself. He just doesn't seem to want to talk about it. Well, he did and we did and then I thought it was fine, then this shutting himself away started."
"Owen!" Gwen's voice was loud and shrill, echoing up into the rafters and making both Ianto and Myfanwy look down. "What on earth have you done now, you 'gwaedlyd dwp'...!"
"Okay, Myf, I better get down there, sound like some mediation is needed."
As Ianto descended back to the main Hub level, he saw Owen and Gwen standing toe-to-toe, both with hands on hips glaring daggers at each other. Gwen was red in the face and Owen was… well, he wasn't. He was pale, and the contrast from how he used to look when arguing made Ianto pause and sigh with sadness. Gone was the huffy breathing, the nostrils flaring and the eyes glaring in anger, his body language was showing he was mad, but the face was eerily pale, almost clammy looking.
"Okay, you two, do I have to send you to the naughty step? What's going on?" Ianto grinned expecting both of them to turn on him. The other problem with Jack locking himself in his office was that Ianto was left to mediate all the childish squabbles that broke out more often nowadays, what with Owen as tetchy as he was now. He turned to Gwen, "Stop arguing or no coffee, or worse, I'll let Owen make the next round."
Gwen gasped in horror, "You wouldn't!"
"No?" He cocked an eyebrow at her before turning and looking sternly at the medic, "Come with me." Owen scowled and opened his mouth to protest but Ianto focused on him and said in a low menacing voice, "NOW!"
"What do ya' want now, Tea-Boy?" Owen glared at Ianto.
"Jack wants me to give you a lesson on coffee-making," Ianto sighed, remembering the argument he'd had over Jack's latest idea.
((tw))
"Ianto, he needs something to do." Jack sat at his desk looking forlornly at the piles of paperwork spread around its surface. Usually the bane of his existence, at the moment it was definitely friendlier than the thunderous look on Ianto's face.
"I know, but the coffee machine? My machine?" Ianto paced in front of Jack's desk, running his hand through his hair over and over again, making it stick up at all angles. "There's so many things wrong with Owen touching my machine!" Jack was quite sure he heard a squeak in Ianto's voice at the end of his sentence.
"Enlighten me then, Ianto, if not coffee, what can he do? Perhaps he could start helping you in the Archives?" Jack looked up at the younger man, wincing at the look on his face but he wasn't ready to give up just yet. "Maybe he could take over running the Tourist Office upstairs."
"No!" Ianto yelped again. "He would destroy my Archives and scare off every visitor who came looking for help!" He was gobsmacked that Jack would even suggest such idiotic ideas.
Jack sighed, "Ianto, you're not leaving me any options here. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute, the man is going insane having nothing to do."
"I know, Jack, but my coffee machine! I don't want to disparage him, but he... Jack… my machine!" Ianto spluttered uselessly, knowing he'd lost the battle.
"You've never been reticent before about saying how you feel about Owen, so what's changed?" Jack looked up at his young Welshman quizzically.
Ianto looked at his boss-cum-lover and sighed, dropping heavily into the chair opposite Jack. "I was raised to never speak ill of the dead, even if they're not completely dead." He shook his head and tried for a smile but it was a weak shadow of its usual self. "The semantics… it's like using English for time travel, just seems wrong."
Jack chuckled, smiling fondly at the younger man. "You can teach him, Yan, after all, you taught me to make a reasonable cup!"
"Yeah," Ianto's features softened as he looked at his lover, "I really didn't want to be the one who made the post-coital coffee all the time. Sometimes it's nice to just bask in the afterglow."
"You cheeky brat!" Jack burst out laughing. "Just for that, even though it's my turn you can make our next post-shag cuppa."
Ianto shook his head and smirked knowingly at the other man, "Oh do you really want to wait that long...?"
Eyes opening wide as saucers at the thought of going for hours without a mug of hot, steaming nectar, the immortal quickly relented. "Okay, fine! I'll keep to the post-shag coffee making schedule," Jack pouted.
"That's all I ask," Ianto nodded with approval.
"All right then, I'll teach him to make coffee and anything else I can think of because that's not going to keep him busy, even with the amount of industrial strength you drink." Ianto leaned over and started to organise Jack's paperwork into more logical stacks which meant he noticed when Jack slipped a folder into his desk drawer. Ianto raised an eyebrow but Jack didn't notice, too intent on hiding the folder.
"Do you need any help with your reports, Jack?" Ianto looked at him, wondering what he was hiding.
"No, no, I'm fine, not much to do rea…" they both turned towards the door when the sound of raised voices coming from the Hub's floor reached them. "I think it's time to give Owen a lesson, though, before whatever that is becomes physical." Jack gave Ianto a big toothy grin that didn't really convince the younger man.
"Fine, but don't hold me responsible for the taste of the coffee! He's like a bull in a china shop, there is no finesse in Owen Harper." Ianto keep mumbling about Owen's lack of subtlety as he left the office and clattered his way down the stairs.
As soon as Ianto was gone, Jack opened the drawer he had hidden the file in and pulled the manila folder out, opening it carefully and checking to make sure he hadn't spread and spilt any of the glittered glue in the wrong places.
He looked over his work and smiled proudly, "They're gonna love them."
((tw))
Ianto sighed deeply as he reached the bottom of the stairs, summoning all the courage and patience he possessed; he was not looking forward to this at all. Walking up to Owen, who was sitting at his desk scowling at the non-responsive computer screen and complaining loudly to all and sundry, "But I only want to access the games to keep me from being bored! You lot get to work, but me, I just get to hang around like a... Like a..."
"Dead weight?" Gwen replied and then burst into giggles, snorting into her hand.
"A zombie?" Ianto looked over at Tosh, who covered her mouth to hide the giggles her own comment gave her.
"Tosh, I'm surprised," Ianto gasped, "that's the sort of comment I would've expected from Owen, not you. But I must admit... Well said." He gave her an approving wink which just made her giggle more before she bent her head over her computer, blushing prettily.
Ianto turned to Owen, "Owen, time for your first lesson as support coffee."
Both Gwen and Tosh looked up suddenly, giggles completely gone and identical looks of horror on their faces.
"Owen is going to be making the coffee?" Gwen squeaked in alarm.
"Yes, he is, and I believe he'll do a good job of it," Ianto replied crossing his fingers behind his back in a childish attempt to negate his lie.
Tosh whispered loud enough for only Ianto to hear, "liar, liar, pants of fire."
Twitching his lips, trying not to laugh, Ianto continued, "So if you will just follow me, we will begin."
Ianto headed off towards the kitchenette, leaving Owen no choice but to trail behind, grumbling about 'jumped-up Tea-Boys."
When the two men had left the main floor of the Hub, Gwen and Tosh looked at each other and burst into laughter.
((tw))
"One more time, Owen, gently, you don't have to force the ground coffee into the porta-filter, just a press with the tamper is enough. Then slide it into the machine, press this button to get the water running through it, and it will drip out here, into the cups." Ianto ground his teeth in frustration as he watched Owen forcing the parts of the machine together, pushing down with the tamper enough to bend the hand on the porta-filter. He nearly pushed Owen out of the way, worried for the safety of his coffee machine.
They stood side-by-side watching the deep brown liquid drip into the cup. Ianto sniffed, the coffee was burnt; he shook his head, lamenting Owen's complete inability to follow simple directions. 'How did this guy get to be a doctor when he can't do something this simple?' Ianto could feel his blood pressure starting to rise and he wanted to snap at him that even Jack could make a decent cup. But he held his tongue, the mantra repeating in his head, 'never speak ill of the dead'.
Owen stomped off bitching and moaning beneath his breath; Ianto had sent him off to get some replacement parts for the coffee machine. "Stupid machine, it's made of metal, it shouldn't have bent and broken! What bit did Tea-Boy call it, a porta-filter? It should've been stronger." Still mumbling as he made his way to the main level store room, Owen kicked the door open, then looked at his foot. "I gotta be more careful, I don't heal anymore; if I break anything, it ain't gonna repair."
Stopping and leaning against the open door, Owen swore a blue streak, cursing everything he could think of and some things twice before he calmed down. Looking around, making sure no one had heard him, the medic softly banged his head against the door. "Jesus, I have to be careful, I guess this is why I can't… can't do what..." his voice hitched and his eyes widened in panic. "I am not gonna cry," he insisted, even though that was exactly what he wanted to do. "Now what was it I had to get?"
Owen started opening cupboards at random and pushing things around in each, disrupting the straight lines of items, each with its label facing outward, not noticing the neatly printed list attached to the outside of each door, clearly labelling what was in which cupboard. "What a mess, Tea-Boy! I guess you're not perfectly organised after all. How on earth do you expect me to find anything down here?" Owen felt better for having a go at Ianto.
Unable to find whatever it was he was supposed to be looking for, Owen moved over to a small set of cupboards and pulled open the top door so hard the entire unit rocked forward, and before he could push it back to the wall, two books had fallen out.
Frowning, Owen looked down at the books at his feet; one had fallen open and he could see that it was a photo album. Curious as to whose it might be, he picked it up and was surprised to see the open pages showed snaps of half-inebriated men and women making comical faces at the camera. They were obviously in a pub and judging by the background, Owen concluded it was a posh sort of micro-brewery.
"Not Cardiff though," he said to himself, not recognising the locale, "Must be London." He looked at the happy faces and a wave of jealousy swept through him. Some of his happiest moments had been spent in pubs, both posh ones like in the photo and the lowest of the low; Owen closed his eyes and tried not to let himself get upset. "No more drinking for me. Don't want to repeat what happened in the lock-up again," he mumbled to himself. Putting one of the two, he had now realised that they were photo albums, on the top of the cupboard he leaned against the wall and opened the book to the first page.
The first few pages showed a group of happy, young people in different locations all enjoying themselves and written under the pictures were names. Skimming through the names, one caught his eye and made Owen look, really look at the pictures. He saw Lisa Hallett, Ianto's Lisa, a beautiful vivacious girl, smiling at him from every photo. "Oh Ianto, she was a looker," and there was a tinge of both admiration and regret in his tone.
Turning the pages, Owen found himself smiling back at the same group of friends at a pub; they were all dressed up for a party in their 'Glad Rags', which was written in a gold pen at the top of the page in big flowing letters. He stopped and went back to the first page, looking closer at the pictures; in every one Ianto Jones was in the middle of all the people, smiling brightly and looking years younger than the version Owen knew.
"He looks his age, like he's fun to be with, I bet I would of been one of his mates." Turning the page he found himself laughing out loud at the photo of several very drunk males, Ianto included, who were lying on the floor, obviously giggling at something, "Yeah, I reckon we would have been mates."
Towards the middle of the album there were a few pictures of just Ianto and Lisa, one on a very cold-looking beach, the two of them huddled together in a sleeping bag and smiling for the camera, "definitely a 'selfie'," Owen chuckled. He smiled, remembering sharing times like this with his Katie. Another at a family 'do' Ianto was sitting with a small baby in his arms, under was written, 'First meeting with David, how long before I'm not cool enough for him?' More pictures of Ianto and Lisa followed with another baby, 'Sister for David, the lovely Mica.' Other photos showed a woman, older than Ianto but the same snub noise and colouring, 'Rhi complains that we don't visit enough, but she'd complain if I was living back here again.'
He turned to the next page to find that there was only one photo, a close-up of brown eyes; looking at the photo he noticed bits of metal on the edge of the photo. Owen looked again and felt a jolt in his gut as he realised that Ianto had tried to get a photo of Lisa as she had been, not what she had become. He traced a finger over Lisa's face, whispering with true regret, "I wish we could have saved you, but there was just no way."
The next few pages showed the team at various activities, lunches, dinners, working. Owen looked at the photos, really looked at them and then realised why they looked so different from the others. It was Ianto; whereas before he'd been the centre of the group, in the new ones he was hardly ever seen. Owen was sure, given some of the angles and viewpoints, that Ianto had taken quite a few of the photos, but some were obviously stills recovered from the CCTV.
There were even a few that he remembered had been Tosh's photos, taken when she'd gotten a new camera and wanted to practice before going on holiday. Regardless of their source, in the few where he did show up, Ianto was always standing away from the others, clearly not part of the group. With a growing sense of unease, Owen flicked back to the first few pages and the truth hit him like a sledge hammer; he finally saw firsthand r how distant Ianto had become and he realised it was not Ianto being aloof or stuck-up as he'd always thought.
No, Ianto himself had changed; between experiencing the Battle of Canary Wharf and then trying and failing to save Lisa, the fun-loving and well-liked young man in the first pictures had been fundamentally changed. The photos clearly were a damning record showing the evolution of an outgoing, gregarious man into the quiet, lonely and withdrawn person who now kept to the shadows of the Hub.
The next few pages appeared to be all work related, showing Myfanwy, pieces of tech the team had retrieved, various aliens Owen had autopsied, and the team. Owen found it very curious that there were no more photos of his sister and family, surely those kids had to be about eight and ten years old by now; "I wonder if he has contact with them now?"
As Owen looked through the remaining photos, slowly turning the pages, remembering the incidents, the trips to the pub, the meals shared in the conference room, he saw that Ianto was gradually becoming part of the team. He thought back on all the hard times he had given the youngest member of the team for no more good reason than it made him feel better about his own shitty life. Owen had heard the basics of Ianto's story before, but now, seeing physical proof of how much he'd lost, the medic was truly amazed that the young archivist was still sane.
"Mate, you're stronger than I would have been," Owen acknowledged with a new albeit grudging respect for Torchwood's Tea-Boy. Turning to the last page on the album, he realised it was a photo taken not long after Jack had skivved off with his damned Doctor. It was Tosh, sitting at her desk and staring at her computer monitor; she looked as if she was trying not to cry. Squinting his eyes, Owen peered at the picture, and it took a moment for him to figure out that she had paused the CCTV footage on the scene where Jack, having woken up from his 'death' caused by Abaddon, was being greeted by the team. The monitor showed Tosh wrapped up in the safety of Jack's arms while Ianto could be seen standing just a few feet away, smiling warmly at Jack.
With a sigh, Owen closed the book and stared at the second volume, wondering what was inside.
((tw))
Ianto was up in the aerie again, looking down towards Jack's office. The blinds were pulled up and he could swear that Jack was playing with red glitter. Myfanwy hopped over to him, snuggled down by his side, and together they stared down into the Captain's office. "This angle is helping, Myf, but just not enough; I still can't work out what he's doing and why it's so secret. I have to find out!"
The pteranodon nudged his side expectantly, trying to dip her beak into his pocket. "Sorry, old girl," he murmured distractedly. "Gave you all the chocolate I had this morning." He peered in the direction of the office again, "Oh look, Myf, isn't that cute? He has his tongue out, just like a little kid when they're concentrating too hard."
((TW))
The next album sat on the top of the cupboard and Owen felt like it was mocking him, tempting him, waiting for him to pick it up and discover its hidden treasures. He stared at it for several minutes, wondering if he should keep looking, prying actually, into Ianto's life. Hadn't he already crossed the line by going through the first book? "Hell yeah!" Owen exclaimed. "Maybe I'll find some good blackmail material," and he quickly snatched the book down and opened its cover.
Turning to the first page he crowed with delight when he saw a photo of Jack, chained by his outstretched wrists and ankles, looking dirty, dishevelled and definitely miserable. "Wow, you are a kinky fellow! I wonder where this was taken, I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the Hub that looks like those pipes, and I can't imagine Ianto chaining Jack up in a public place. Tea-Boy's way too uptight for that!" He flipped the page but there were no other pictures like that. "Huh, very strange, there's just this one." Owen mentally shrugged his shoulders and dismissed the photo, although he did notice that written under the photo was a single word, 'tytnw', and being in Welsh, that didn't enlighten him as to where or when it had been taken.
After that one disturbing picture of Jack, there were photos of John, Beth, Tommy, and Martha. Owen looked at the last photo, it was also from the CCTV and it showed Jack, Martha and himself laughing while Ianto glowered at them from behind his silver serving tray. "Hahaha! That was brilliant! Scared Tea-Boy right out of his shoes!" He remembered that moment clearly; he had nearly zapped Ianto with the singularity scalpel.
Still snorting at the memory he turned the next page and if he had any breath left in his body, it would have caught in his throat. He was staring dumbfounded at a photo of himself, also from the CCTV, lying flat on his own autopsy table and he was dead. He felt rather strange, standing there looking at himself dead; it was actually quite surreal to say nothing of truly disturbing.
He quickly turned the page and found photos of a wedding dress and then Gwen in the same dress, followed by photos of him and Tosh sitting at a table in the reception hall, watching the dancers. He remembered the look of surprise, pride and pleasure on Tosh's face when Ianto had first cut in on Jack and Gwen and had then left Gwen standing there by herself as he'd danced off with Jack. "I reckon Gwen was expecting Ianto was cutting in to dance with her, not Jack," he chortled. Laughing he turned the page and realised there were no more photos, just empty pages.
Feeling both satisfaction that he had a better understanding of Ianto and shame that he'd invaded the young man's privacy, Owen picked up the books and put them back in the cupboard, hoping that they were back in their original spots. "I can't believe you survived so much shit, Ianto Jones; you're the youngest person around here and yet you've have had the worst shit thrown at you."
A quick glance at his watch showed him that he'd been in the supplies closet for the better part of an hour. "Crap! Don't want Tea-Boy to come looking for me; now where is this thing I have to find." He turned back to the cupboards and searched through them, carefully this time, mindful for the first time ever of who would be tidying up any mess he made.
((tw))
It was three days later and Ianto still hadn't found out what Jack was up to when he'd been hiding away in his office. His sharp eyes had noticed that one day there had been some cotton wool stuck to the back of Jack's pants, just a small blob, but just where a rabbit's tail would be. And just today, he could swear there was some green glitter on Jack's cuff, stuck near the Spitfire airplane cufflinks. "I know everything and I will not be beaten by this," Ianto grumbled as he went to wash his hands after feeding Myfanwy and he froze in his tracks when he saw what looked suspiciously like sparkly red glitter on the tap.
After two hours of plotting and scheming, Ianto had it all planned out; he would wait until Jack had been in his office for a good half hour and was thoroughly immersed in whatever it was he was up to, Ianto would show up ever so casually and ask Jack if he wanted Coffee instead of just automatically bringing him up a cup. He believed Jack was able to smell him coming with the coffee, what with his supposedly extra-special 51st century senses.
Waiting until he knew that Jack was totally involved in what he was doing, Ianto snuck up to the door as quietly as he could. Holding his breath and overly conscious of making any noise that would give him away, he carefully turned the handle, he pushed the door and stepped in.
Startled by Ianto's sudden appearance, Jack jumped and then quickly threw papers over the surface of his desk and when he caught sight of his hand, he shoved it behind his back.
As if there were nothing out of the ordinary going on, Ianto looked at him and asked "do you want a coffee?"
Jack looked at the other man and smiled gratefully, "Yeah, I'll come down and have with it with everyone though, be just a sec, okay?" He held his breath as Ianto turned and made his way to the coffee machine; there was a happy spring in the young Welshman's step from knowing that Owen no longer had to learn how to make the coffee. Ianto mentally made a note to check the CCTV to see if there was a good photo of the doctor trying to use the machine for his photo album. He started to make the coffee and contemplated what to do next to find out what Jack was up to. Despite his careful planning, Jack had been too quick for him and had covered up all the evidence before Ianto had gotten a good look.
((tw))
Ianto was frustrated. Jack was frustrating, but not that way. He smiled fondly, remembering what they had gotten up to after Jack had dragged Ianto back to his place. They had been going to his place more and more often over the last month. Not that Ianto was complaining, mind you; his bed was much bigger and far more comfortable than Jack's narrow cot, but Jack's did have its advantages too. Being smaller meant you had to stay closer to one another, and he kind of liked sleeping entwined with Jack all night; with no room to wiggle away, he was held securely all night, a definite plus.
No, Ianto was frustrated because no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find out what Jack was doing that was so secretive. Glitter kept turning up in the most unusual places, but only in little bits; there was one time when he'd found a streak of red glitter in Jack's fringe, and then just last night when he'd discovered some on Jack's cock. That happened to be silver and it was only one or two flakes, but Ianto was very, very intimate with that part of Jack and it was noted.
He stretched his arms and legs, arched his back and rolled his head to relieve his neck muscles; he was tired from several late and long nights, and he was taking advantage of the quiet time to just enjoying sitting on the Hub's sofa, watching Tosh working away on her computer, Owen, with his computer access back, happily shooting aliens, and Gwen, on the phone to Rhys, as usual.
Jack walked up and kissed him on the head. Smiling he then sat beside Ianto, leaning into his Welshman's side. "I'm willing to tell you what I'm doing, Yan," he said softly, "all you have to do is ask."
The younger man looked at him, cocked an eyebrow and said, "Where would be the fun in that?"
Jack laughed with delight and ran his hand through Ianto's hair, leaving a sprinkling of purple glitter behind.
((tw))
The whole team sat sprawled on the floor and couches in Ianto's lounge room, the living having fed their faces to the point of discomfort, and even Rhys had said he couldn't fit another bite in. The zombie member of the team just smiled at them all, thinking of the hangover he wasn't going to have; he'd watched Gwen drink nearly a whole bottle of red by herself, Jack's usual water was replaced by spiked eggnog, both Ianto and Rhys had had a few bottles of Brains between them, and Tosh's tipple had been some sweet apple cider.
All around the group lay the tattered remains of the wrapping paper which had been ripped off the presents by everyone, well everyone except Ianto, that is. Jack had ripped the paper off for when he'd tried to carefully peel the tape away. Suddenly there was a flurry of movement amongst the drifts of paper as Moses the cat had decided that they were more fun to play with than the clockwork mouse Tosh had given him. Ianto smiled as he watched Moses, hyped on catnip (courtesy of Jack, naturally) dash about like a madman, leaping in the air, diving into the papers and rolling around on the floor like a kitten. Jack leaned over and whispered in his lover's ear, "I'll help in the morning, tidying up." Ianto smiled and kissed Jack.
Ianto was quite surprised when Jack didn't use the kiss to go for the full-out snog, but instead jumped up and went to his great coat. "I almost forgot! I've got something else for you." He rummaged in the pockets and pulled out four envelopes and handed them around. In neat script on the front, written with Jack's beloved Ink Pen were their names. Ianto looked at the envelope, wondering what might be inside, and then watched as Tosh opened hers first, pulling out a handmade card.
"Oh Jack, it's beautiful!" In the centre there was a picture of Tosh with Jack, their heads bent over the Syrack clock they'd recovered, and around the photo was a delicate pattern filled in with pastel shades. She opened the card and inside, written in exquisitely beautiful Kanji script, was the words 'Merry Christmas'. Tosh jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Jack's neck. "Thank you, it must of taken you hours, it is so pretty."
"Just like you, my beautiful Toshiko," Jack replied as he kissed her forehead.
Anxious to see what hers looked like, Gwen ripped the envelope to get to her card; again there was a photo of Gwen with Jack, they were sitting on the couch under the red dragon mural laughing. Her photo was surrounded by a joyous exuberance of colours, bold glitters and shiny bits and bobs. Inside the card, again in a riot of colours, he'd written, 'Nadolig LLawn'. "Just gorgeous, Jack, thank you." Gwen smiled at her card.
Rhys looked over his wife's shoulder, smiling at the picture; the jealously he'd felt was in the past, Gwen had married him and he was content with that.
Owen opened his, careful not to get a paper cut and when he pulled it out he burst into gales of raucous laughter. The photo Jack had chosen for his card was of him and Jack, and they were covered in purple alien slime from an exploding Choady. The decoration around the photo was purple and Jack had made it look like the slime had spread from their bodies onto the card; it even seemed to phosphoresce just like the real slime had. The only thing missing was the smell; "I remember that alien, Jack, he smelt like cookie dough."
Jack smiled happily at his medic, content that Owen had finally gotten his life… or death back in order.
The five of them looked expectantly at Ianto, who blushed under their scrutiny. He carefully opened the envelope and peered inside, just a little concerned about what Jack might have put on his card. He was pleasantly surprised however, it wasn't what he expected at all; he had visions of the two of them in a compromising position, either partially or fully undressed, but it was neither. Jack had chosen a picture of him and Myfanwy; it had been taken after a long day when he'd sat down after feeding her and fallen asleep.
Myfanwy had hopped over to him, rested her head on his lap and draped one wing over his legs as best she could. Ianto hadn't even realised the CCTV worked in Myf's lair. The card was decorated with beautiful line drawings of the pteranodon. He looked up at Jack, "I never realised you could draw, Cariad; they're beautiful."
Jack smiled at his Welshman and whispered in his ear, "I have another card for you but it's definitely NSFW."
Ianto laughed and kissed him properly before asking if anyone else wanted another drink.
The End
Gwaedlyd Dwp - Bloody Stupid
Nadolig LLawn - Merry Christmas
Caru - Love