Jack strayed sometimes, Ianto thought. Everyone does, so he can't assign blame. It's a natural reaction to be drawn to the prettiest thing in the room. Ianto isn't hurt that it's not always him. He doesn't want to be a pretty boy. Not that Jack is. But he just wishes that Jack would learn to keep his feelings under the surface like everyone else does. Because it's painful when he sees Jack looking at Gwen that way. On the wedding day he had to intervene. Jack didn't seem to mind. If anything he was grateful.
And the fact that Jack could have anyone in the team, anyone in Cardiff, hell, anyone on the planet, and that he chose Ianto was what kept him going. The fact that Captain Jack Harkness chose him above all others. He saw Jack looking at others but so did he. And the intensity of the looks that he received from Jack grew stronger and deeper every day.
And he knew that Jack was going to be loyal to him to the end. The conversation that they had after the wedding made him sure of this.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you awake?"
Jack had sighed and sat up on one elbow.
"What's wrong?"
Ianto hadn't known how to put it. He wanted to get his point across but he didn't want to offend Jack.
"Spit it out Ianto. You look like your brains gonna burst."
He took a deep breath. He was going to need it.
"Am I just the latest? One of the ones you're just going to use up and dump?"
He looked down, unable to meet Jack's eyes. It wasn't the best way of putting it, he thought. And this shocked silence seemed to him as if Jack thought so too.
"Look at me Yan."
Jack cupped his face with his hand and forced his head up to look him in the eye.
"You are not just the latest in a very, very long line. You're special. I love you. This is one relationship that I'm going to be loyal in. You may see me looking away but at the end of the day it's you I love and it's you I will always come back to."
Ianto smiled and Jack leaned in and kissed him and at that moment, Ianto was complete.
