Christmas
"I knew it was a bad idea." Ianto is fuming as he walks into the Hub, slamming the door to the corridor that leads to the underground garage behind him. "I should never have taken you to Rhi's." Well, when he says fuming, he mostly means shooting death glares at both Jack and himself, keeping his voice low and full of ice, and generally walking around with a promise of decaf – or, even worse, instant – if any of them dare say a word to defend their actions. "I sort of expected that from John, but you, Jack? I thought you knew better."
Leaning against the rails a few steps away, Jack hasn't even taken off his coat yet. Arms crossed in front of him, he's still holding on to that innocent, almost angelic smile of his. When he looks at him, they both end up giggling like school kids caught after a particularly funny prank. On his way to the depths of the Hub, Ianto stops on his tracks and spins around, throwing daggers at both of them.
"You... You even find it funny, don't you?" Hands on his hips, Ianto looks furious. Which also means sexy and hot, and he really likes an edge of anger in a lover, from time to time. "This was supposed to be a family meal! After what happened at Christmas, with the three of us storming out when those bloody things came through the Rift, I wanted to make it up to Rhi." He leans on the railings, mirroring Jack's stance, one foot on the lower railing. Ianto looks from him to Jack and back, and shakes his head. "Instead, you two... I don't even have words!"
"Oh, come one, Eye Candy, what's the big deal?" Ianto rolls his eyes and takes a couple of steps towards him. Which makes him very grateful for the high ground. "We went for a stroll, after that lovely dinner your sister and her other half cooked for us. Gorgeous woman, your sister, by the way I can see where the family smile comes from." He's pretty sure he'd be ducking real knives now if Ianto had any handy, given the way he's fisting his hands, knuckles white. "So, she caught us snogging in the snow, so what? At least we still had all our clothes on."
"And John didn't even invite her to join." Jack shrugs, as if trying to play the whole thing down. "With John, that's best behaviour." Ianto walks up the stairs, and he spins around, his back to the railings. He's got to admit, he's never seen Ianto this upset about anything that didn't involve aliens, dry-cleaning, or both in some nasty combination or another.
"Have you got any idea all the explaining I have had to do?" He rolls his eyes. Ah, so that is. 21st century, antiquated ideas, quaint little categories and labels for every human emotion. And the ever-present lack of understanding and rejection of anything that doesn't fit into neat boxes or is slightly unusual. "Rhi was worried. She thought I didn't know about you two! Should have seen her face when she told me. Almost apologetic." Ianto falls back onto the sofa under the great "Torchwood" sign. "Rhi is never apologetic!"
"See, I told you it would be less complicated to tell her the truth from the start." He raises his eyebrows when Ianto shoots him a murdering look. "What? The whole 'colleague we're taking in for Christmas so he doesn't spend these days alone' story never quite seemed believable, if you ask me."
"Yes, John, you made your objections known from the very beginning." Oh, there we go, Jack's bringing up the conciliatory tone. He'll be asking for a group hug in a minute, trying to leave all hard feelings behind. "I think Ianto is right, we should have behaved." He looks at Jack, surprised. Since when does His Immortalness admit he did something wrong? Jack winks at him. Ah. So that's it. Let's placate Ianto before he condemns everybody to caffeine withdrawal and sleeping on the couch.
But he's not going to play along. It's not fair for Ianto. It somehow feels wrong to see him so upset about his family finding out about his life. About people who are important in his life. Something tells him Ianto is making a mountain – or at least a hill – out of a mole hole, that he is too worried thinking about how others could react if they knew to actually notice that, when they find out, they don't seem to be at all bothered by it. Once Rhi found out her kid brother knew what was going on, she didn't seemed at all fussed about it. Jonny... well, he'll take the mickey out of Ianto for the rest of his life for it, but he's pretty sure it's more brotherly banter than actual disapproval.
"No, Ianto is not right." Oh, great, twin eye roll and death glare. He's pretty sure those two practice, nothing else explains such synchronicity. "What's with all the hiding, and the pretences?" Ianto cringes at the words. Well, truth tends to hurt like that when thrown at someone, he damn well knows it, cos he's been on the receiving end of that more than enough times, thanks very much. "She's your sister, Ianto, and in case you haven't noticed, she loves you. And, from what I've seen today, she's got a very healthy 'I don't care what you do in your bedroom' attitude that a lot of this fucking backwater century would benefit from." He doesn't need Ianto standing up to know he's treading dangerous territory. "All she was worried about today was you being hurt. Come on, boys, I'm sure you both noticed that squeaky little laugh when you finally told her..."
Silence. A heartbeat. Two. Three. Then Ianto drags him into a hug, muttering things that sound too much like apologies for him to actually pay attention to them. He wraps his arms around him. He knows these 'archaic' times better than he'd like to admit, and he can certainly appreciate the conflict inside Ianto. Still it almost hurts to see him hide who he is and who he loves from everybody that cares for him; hiding what he does should be enough – although he still thinks a bit of publicity could be beneficial to Torchwood.
"Having said that, you are right, we should have behaved. Should at least gone for a walk around the block, give the neighbours something to talk about." Ianto slaps the back of his neck, and he nearly jumps out of his arms. "And I still think you should have told her from the start." Ianto gives a reluctant nod, anger and threat vanishing from him as quickly as they appeared. He gives Jack a look and takes a mock-bow – yet another incident quietly and efficiently defused by John Hart and his deep – or thereabouts – understanding of the human mind.
Ianto heads down the stairs again, a faint smile on his face. When he stops, just before entering the corridor, and looks towards them, there's a hint of mischief in his eyes. Something tells him they are not out of the woods yet, and Ianto will devise – or has devised already – his own very peculiar form of revenge.
"Are you two coming or what?" Without a word, Jack carefully drapes his coat over the railings before gingerly almost running down the stairs after him. When they reach Ianto, he opens his arms and hugs them both. "And no, before we ask, we won't be going to my sister's next Christmas. She also had something to say about your choice of presents for Mica and David..."
As they head down the corridor, he can hear an old – well, not invented yet – Winter solstice song in his head. Yes, it's good to be home, where the loved ones are. Even if home is Torchwood.