Trope Bingo – Pining

Ficlet feat. Jack

LGBT+ Month – Jack x Ianto

There was no way that Jack actually meant anything with his incessant flirting. Jack flirted with everyone – Gwen, the police inspectors, even some of the people whom they'd eventually needed to Retcon. And yet Ianto found himself wanting the older man, flirting back with him, dry sarcasm dripping from his replies. Jack was a mystery to him; though they'd worked together since Canary Wharf, Ianto had never known the head of Torchwood Three to reveal anything particularly personal. Six months after transferring to Cardiff, Ianto was no longer rebuffing Jack's flirtatious advances and was indeed returning the affection.

Ianto was currently making coffee for the team, something that had unofficially become part of his job. Technically, his job description only included the cover stories, the archiving, and the occasional field mission. However, he often overextended his duties, taking care of the team. Any time something needed to be done, Ianto was often in and out before anyone noticed. Like coffee. He knew the team's schedule intimately – he knew exactly when the team would want coffee, when Owen took his unofficial breaks; he could tell when Tosh was almost at a breakthrough in her latest code, or when Gwen wanted to challenge Jack. Ianto was in essence their butler, but he was so much more than that. He made sure that the Hub worked like a well-oiled machine, in spite of how broken they all were, and nobody thanked him for it.

Ianto made the rounds, taking Jack's coffee upstairs after going about the stations on the main deck.

Jack looked up from his paperwork as he detected the fragrant aroma of coffee. "You always know," he chuckled, eliciting a small smirk from the younger man.

"All in a day's work, sir," Ianto replied dryly, smirking.

"No, really. Thank you, Ianto," Jack said sincerely. Ianto looked at Jack, feeling his cheeks tingle.

"Thank you, sir," he placed a subtle accent on Jack's rank. He wondered if Jack noticed, if the senior agent had any inkling of the yearning that he aroused in the archivist.