The world is black and white.
Not in a moral sense. No, working at Torchwood teaches Ianto that morality is in shades of grey—the perfect in-between—but the world remains black and white, even as he meets Lisa, holds her hand, kisses her, touches every part of her body, and eventually loses her.
The world is black and white, to him at least, but everything else is in color. He doesn't know his own eye color, or Lisa's (before she died, but that's beside the point), but Gwen once told him that his and Jack's eyes are the same color. That would be helpful, except he can't see that color, either.
There's a reason he wears suits: they're black. Any color matches with black, and shirts are usually sold with ties, which leaves him coordinated and almost normal.
But he's gotten ahead of himself. He's gotten used to thinking in a non-linear manner, but it's so much easier to have everything neatly lined up.
Fact: the world is black and white.
Fact: Jack is dead (dead because of them, because of him, which really isn't helping his already fragile state of mind).
Fact: Jack is alive.
Neatness isn't a common factor in Ianto's life, as much as he wants it to be.
Ianto has never seen anyone come back to life, but Jack did. Jack doesn't usually follow the rules, but there are some that most of the universe follows; not Jack, which should be surprising but it isn't. In an otherwise bleak world, Jack stands out. Not because he's in color, no, he's just as black and white as his surroundings, but because he has such a big personality.
And so Ianto approaches his big personality, a hand stretched out hesitantly, but Jack grabs him and kisses him.
Fact: Jack's lips are on his.
Fact: the world bursts into a vivid technicolor.
Ianto doesn't know if it's the same for Jack. All too soon, he breaks away to answer questions, rejoice with the others, and Ianto is left to pretend that everything is normal. He's good at maintaining his composure. Even with the world in a sudden technicolor, even when Jack is gone, he is impassive.
At the end of the day, after the Weevils are fed and they've figured out where Jack's run off to, Ianto goes back to his flat. He's exhausted and, to be perfectly honest, miserable, but he heads for the bathroom.
There's a full-length mirror in it—he put it in there instead of the bedroom because the lighting is better—so he closes his eyes and approaches it. He's scared, and he's not shy to admit it. No, he's not scared; he's absolutely terrified.
When he opens his eyes, he is shocked. Not because he's not used to seeing things in color—he's had a day to get used to it, after all—but because it's everything like he expected and nothing like it at the same time.
He doesn't know the names of the colors, just that his shirt is white and his suit is black, so goes and gets a book that he's only leafed through once.
It's like a large dictionary, but with patches of colors on every page, compete with variations of shades and a brief history. It's heavy and a bit overwhelming, but after an hour, he can identify all the colors he's come in contact with for the past week.
Myfanwy is a dark green. Jack's greatcoat is a greyish-blue. Gwen has a fondness for light greens and browns. Tosh and Owen don't really have a pattern, and Ianto himself tends to favor blues and purples, with the occasional red. In the mirror, he sees that his eyes are blue; Jack's eyes must be, too.
He changes his sheets to a burgundy and begins shopping online for other furniture; the black makes his flat look dreary (and yes, it is, but that doesn't need to be aesthetically reflected). The new furniture arrives in several days, and Ianto assembles it at night, since he spends the entire day at the Hub, trying to keep it running in the power struggle between Gwen and Owen.
Gwen ends up 'winning' and Ianto notes that Owen isn't too sad about that. He watches as Owen settles back into the autopsy bay, as Tosh continues working on her computers, and as Gwen attempts to lead. He intervenes when she tries to take over Jack's office, which raises Owen's eyebrows, then reminds all three of them who manages the budget.
Ianto takes on more work, both inside the Hub and outside of it. His life is no longer black and white, now a shining cycle of colors, and he's not used to it.
He's not altogether used to the colors, either, and the sudden brightness he's faced with—usually yellows and oranges—causes migraines. He asks Owen for painkillers, not saying why—Owen probably knows, but doesn't comment, which Ianto is infinitely thankful for—and attempts to deal with the new addition to his life.
It is three months after Jack's kissed him—after the black and white simplicity turns colorful, after Jack disappears, after he's found himself running the Hub but still the General Support, after the flaring pain of migraines that aren't affected by painkillers becomes a background difficulty—that the half-life he's settled into turns on its end once more.
Fact: Jack was gone.
Fact: Jack's back.
Fact: Jack's eyes are, indeed, a lovely blue.
Now, it's not like Ianto's world revolves around Jack—he's managed just fine for three months, after all—but Jack's back and something is right about that. (And it has nothing to do with the way Jack looks at him when he says, "I came back for you.")
After they've dealt with John Hart and relived the day, all Ianto can complain about is the absence of his ineffective pills. Later, he is taken aside by Jack and they have their first kiss since The Kiss, and half of Ianto expects the world to go back to being black and white, admitting its mistake and remedying it.
It doesn't.
For the second time in as many days, Ianto notes the exact shade of blue that Jack's eyes are, and Jack catches him looking. He blushes. He wasn't looking, he was gazing, and even though Jack's already said so much to imply the seriousness of their relationship, it feels wrong to be doing something so normal.
The worry sits on his chest until Jack smiles and brings their heads together with a soft murmur, "Red's a good color on you, Ianto."
They kiss again—a third kiss with so much feeling from both sides—and Ianto knows that everything is going to be alright.
(Yeah, I love soulmate!AUs...)
Thanks for reading! :)