Jealousy Has Never Sounded So Strange
"Where the hell is Jack," Ianto muttered to himself as he unbuttoned his coat. He was alone- the exact reason why he gave himself the luxury to swear. The man in question, his lover and boss, had been harassing him the whole day- cornering him in the kitchen, visiting him in the Archives and whispering dirty things on the meeting as Tosh explained about the new security system. However, two hours ago he had disappeared and Ianto had been left with no other option than to go home alone.
Home... their home. They had bought it a few months ago, together. It was a little apartment with a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and one extra room they had turned into a study for Ianto so he could bring home his work and not worry where to put all of his paperwork. It was nothing fancy but then again neither of them liked fancy. They were just happy to be together.
Ianto slid out of his clothes and after neatly folding them, no matter how tired he was he couldn't stand a mess, he got under the covers. It had been a busy day, even though there had been no Rift activity he still had his jobs in the Archives, making coffee, cleaning after everyone and putting up with Jack. Which was why a minute later he was soundly asleep.
Sweet, butterfly kisses planted on his neck woke him up slowly. He smiled, partly because of the dream he'd had, nightmares were almost distinct since he was living with Jack and partly because he knew those kisses. A small groan fell from his lips and he blinked his eyes open. And sure enough there Jack was, smirking down at him, naked as the day he'd been born.
Ianto smiled sleepily, his smile getting even wider from the kiss that was laid on his lips. He was tired but just like the cleaning, this was something he'd do even if he couldn't keep his eyes open. More than that- he trusted Jack that even in that situation the immortal man would make the experience unforgettable.
Ianto wrapped his hands around Jack's neck and lifted himself up, just enough to be able to bury his face in the crook of the other's neck. He closed his eyes and breathed in that unique and tempting scent, created not only by the 51st century pheromones. But this time something was wrong, something in the very scent of Jack's skin was completely and utterly wrong...
"You smell," the Welshmant mumbled, his words slurred and nearly unrecognizable and his voice- tired. Whether it was from the lack of sleep or his recent discovery no one but him would know. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying that this will help against the images that started playing in front of his eyes.
"Doesn't it just drive you nuts," teased Jack and Ianto could hear his smirk. But even then his words sounded somewhat fake and overly playful. As if he believed that if he acted like nothing was wrong, then... nothing would be wrong! Like an ostrich burring its head in the ground.
'Really, Jack, this is childish, even for you,' the Welshmen thought, while deep inside his heart he wished that this was how things worked.
"No, Jack." Ianto sighed and pushed his lover away, something to which the other didn't oppose and timidly fell on his side of the bed. "You smell of a woman."
"It never bothered you before," mumbled Jack like a cursing child too afraid their parents would find out if they were too loud but still having the need to demonstrate that tiny knowledge.
"You never tried to kiss me while every pore of your body was sodden with your last date's perfume!"
"So this is what everything's about?" asked Jack and propped on his elbow to look closely at his lover's face. He was getting really confused with the path the things had headed. And what was more he hadn't expected that kind of greeting when he headed home from that chick's motel room, too tired and lazy to have a proper shower first.
Ianto responded to that sudden interest with his face with turning his back on the other man and commanding him in his 'no-bullshits' voice, "Go to sleep, Jack."
That was enough to make it clear to the immortal man that they were having an argument. He wondered how to make things right and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
"But Yan! Sometimes I just need it. There are things that I can do with a woman that I can't with you. Not that you aren't good! You are perfect and there are a lot of things that you can do that no woman could."
Oh, how much he wished he wasn't such a bloody idiot and sometimes, just for a change, didn't put his foot in his mouth. A heavy silence stretched, so thick that even their breaths sounded lonely and insignificant in it.
"Maybe someday I'll need it, too." It was said so slowly, tiredly and quetly, that it resembled a dying man's last breath. It could have been missed, disguised by their loud heartbeat, that sounded like one even in a moment like that. But Jack heard it and it hurt him more than he could have ever imagined. He tried to hide that hurt in the only way he knew.
"Then I'll have to kill you." Dangerous words but spoken in a playful voice. How could Ianto know if it was true? He turned around and glanced at his lover. The man in question was looking at him with a smile and naughty flames in his eyes which quickly died out when he heard his next words.
"Then maybe you should kill me."
"W-what?" For the first day today (and maybe that year) Jack was at a loss of words. Was Ianto cheating on him? But... wasn't he supposed to be the faithful one, the righteous one? "You have a secret relationship?" he finally managed to utter.
"No, but I still love someone I used to date. He was called Jack, too, you know."
At first the immortal almost sighed with relief. His Ianto was talking about Lisa. Even if she was still a sour topic for him it was better than some nameless chick, or worse- a man, out there, ready to take away his lover. But then his mind registered the second part and it bloody hurt!
"So, I wasn't your first one?" he asked quietly, mostly to himself than the man beside him.
"Oh, no, you were the man that took my virginity. He was the one that took my heart. He was perfect, you know. Sweet, gentle, caring- even if he hated being called on it. Yet so bossy and arrogant and irritating. A walking contradiction he was and every time I saw him I wanted to kiss him sensless. I adored him, and so did he- in his own weird perverted cute way." Ianto fell silent, soaking in those precious memories.
"Then what happened?" asked Jack. He wanted to know more about the man that could bring such a sweet smile on the lips of his Welshman, even if it hurt that he knew he would never be like him.
"One day he just disappeared. And then I met you- so much like him and yet so very, very different." He felt silent for a couple of minutes, letting what he said to sink in and then breathed out, "Goodnight, Jack."
Ianto turned around and tried to fall asleep but with his loud heartbeat and his lover's uneven breath it was long before he drifted into the land of dreams.
In the morning Ianto woke up with a start from the sudden coldness that washed through him. He looked around with heavy from sleep eyes and immediately found the reason of his abrupt awakening- he had moved to Jack's side of the bed, which was as cold as ice. For a whole second he wondered about where had his lover vanished but then the argument from last night came to his mind and his heart clenched. Had Jack left him? After everything he'd said it would have been a miracle if things had carried on how they used to be. But he had been barely asleep... he could use that card... No, everything he had said was true and he could be anyone but a liar he wasn't. He stretched lazily and was just about to get up when the door opened and revealed a smiling Jack, carrying a tray with food.
"Good morning, sunshine," proclaimed happily the immortal and bent down to kiss his lover's forehead but Ianto ducked it, without thinking. A barely noticeable cloud passed across Jack's face but it was quickly replaced by a sunny smile once again.
"Are you fawning on me?" almost asked Ianto but he was cut off by his lover and something in the older man's eyes made him listen very carefully.
"I made you your favourite." He nodded toward the tray with bacon and eggs and tea (Ianto had absolutely forbidden him to touch the coffee machine). Then he placed it on his lover's lap and landed heavily next to Ianto's legs.
"Look, I thought about what you said the whole night," he started seriously, his hand, most probably unconsciously, started rubbing the other's knee. "And I know you meant it all. I'm sure you won't deny it, you are not that kind of a man to use excuses. And I can tell you that I'm sorry and that 'I'm not going to do it again', I can give you a hundred and one reasons to forgive me... but I'm not that kind of a man either. Therefore, no matter how much it hurts, I find only one solution. We should break up."
He said it so confidently, his voice so cold and even that made it all the more painful to Ianto. His heartbeat slowed and he could feel every clench and unclench. He gasped for air, he felt as if someone was squeezing his neck.
"Ye-yeah," he finally said, eyes downcast. He couldn't bare to look at his lover, now ex-lover. He quickly thought about where he could go now, even if it was just a trick to busy his mind so he didn't burst in tears in front of Jack. They were going to sell the apartment, that was for sure, but until he got the money where would he go? Rhi? No, her house was full even without him. Maybe Tosh would take him, she'd been complaining to him how lonely she felt. Perhaps they could be lonely together?
And what about work? Maybe Jack would be fine with acting like nothing had ever happened between them? He didn't have a half-robotic girlfriend hidden in the basement anymore but he still wanted to keep his job. He had come to like it- it and the people he shared it with. But if Jack didn't want to make it easy on him he would be forced to quit...
"So you could go back to that Jack of yours."
Huh? Either his boss had taken his words in the utterly wrong way or he was about to get himself a new lover... real quickly. Ianto looked up and met Jack's smiling face. "Something tells me that he'll take you at the very second you ask him. And I'm sure that he's sorry that he lost you for a scum like me."
"Yeah?" Ianto smile, too. He was now almost completely sure but he couldn't be too careful.
"Yes. So do we have a deal. Leave me and take him?"
The younger man smiled- a reaction that would have seemed inappropriate from an outsider's point of view but he didn't care. It didn't matter that he was probably going to make a fool of himself, either.
"I'm not sure, sir. Maybe I should be reminded how that 'Jack of mine' kisses? Any other way would be extremely unfair for you!" He said it teasingly but his heart was clenched. He couldn't stop worrying if he had taken Jack's words the wrong way.
The immortal's actions eased all of his worried. Quickly, he leaned down toward the other man and kissed him. Sweet and chaste, like a feather's touch, and with so much love. Their tongues didn't battle for dominance- they caressed each other and played together, then tangled in a sacred dance.
"Hello, Jack." Ianto brightly smiled when they simultaneously broke the kiss. Then he looked down and scold appeared on his face, which looked weird with his lips still curled into a smile. "You spilled my breakfast!"
A wicked smile replaced the gentle one as Jack's eyes followed his lover's to the place where the tea had spilled over the red sheets and the younger's man stomach as he silently thanked God or whatever creature humans worshiped in that time that it was an ice tea.
"As I see it you are in a need of a shower. Come, I'll show you that your Jack can do a lot more than kissing." He dipped down to kiss Ianto again and when they parted his eyes had the same soft look in them as when he looked at his Welshman when they laid curled together in the afterglow of their passionate night. "And I'm sorry for all I put you through. I took you for granted and it could have been the biggest mistake in my life if you hadn't make me realize it."
"Don't worry, it's not your fault, after all," replied Ianto with a reassuring smile. It really wasn't. Even if it sounded childish, the other Jack was at fault, the one with whom he had broken up today. The one who he hopped to never see again.
A/N Almost always I put my A/N on the top of the fanfiction but I figured I might spoil the fanfic with it for you so here. This is something that I came up with in the bed (everything important happens in the bed- see even in the story it's like that) and I thought it fitted Jack and Ianto because for me Jack really did change. Spoiler!All season one he chased after Ianto and when he got him he was like "Mmmm, I don't really care about you" And, yes, I realize that in some weird way that was exactly what Ianto wanted but for me that wasn't because he didn't love Jack but because he wasn't ready to admit to the world that he was gay. Anyway, I'll now stop acting like a wiseacre! Drop a review?