Chap 1
When Ianto woke one morning, he knew it was going to be one of those days.
The bed was empty, the house was heaving with life, and the girly scream of outrage about the rain could be none other than Owen. Why he had to come so early in the morning was beyond Ianto's ability to comprehend, and now he looked at the alarm clock.
With a curse, he threw back the covers and climbed from the bed. He was halfway towards the bathroom when John burst into the room mid rant and froze. A very naked Welshman was facing him with a look of thunder and the conversation he'd hoped to have fled along with most of the blood from his brain. Wowsers. Jackie is a lucky boy.
"I'm late!" Ianto snarled as he waited for John's brain to reengage.
"Really? Shit, a girl saying that would have got an entirely different answer just then, eye-candy," John leered.
"SHIT!" Ianto jumped as Jack screamed from the doorway.
"Christ Jack, maybe the neighbours across the way want to join in the conversation?" Ianto snarked, and Jack gaped at him.
"Really? Like they want sound with their viewing pleasure?" Jack waved his hand at his husband's considerable goods, and Ianto looked down with a frown.
"Grow up, Jack. They can't see through the tinted windows and John's seen it before!" Ianto threw over his shoulder as he rushed to the bathroom.
As the sound of the shower started, John beat a hasty retreat and Jack rushed after him, intent on finding out what Ianto had meant by that quip.
.
.
.
"Did you ask him?" Owen demanded as the men flew into the kitchen.
As the two men shook their heads and glared at each other, Tosh reached between them and pulled a plate from the stack on the bench. They were a new design of white china with a red rosebud pattern that suited Ianto's red kitchen. They also matched the frosted glasses with hand-painted roses that adorned the built-in china cabinet where the pigeonholes had been for the firemen's payslips and such.
The house was almost perfect. Ianto's sweating over every detail had paid off - it was a masterpiece, and Jack was proud of his husband's display of good taste. As he told everyone, "he did choose me so he must have impeccable taste."
"Walter, breakfast, baby!" Tosh called, having noted the time.
Walter burst from the side room with a hiss and a roar, then sat at the table with his hands clasped together. Tosh apparently was the only one in the family who knew how to make blueberry waffles. Anyone else who tried was just being silly, as far as Walter was concerned.
With a whimper of pleasure, he watched her slop a mountain of whipped cream on top of his stack, and he dove in with his fingers.
"We use utensils in this house, Master Caveman Harkness-Jones!" Ianto snarked as he entered coughing, still struggling with his tie. "Who turned off the bloody alarm?"
"I did. Bloody thing woke me up," Jack pouted as Walter ruefully ate with a fork.
"I beg your pardon? What was it supposed to do? Serenade you with a Nat King Cole number?" Ianto huffed, the coffee machine bending to his will as everyone waited patiently for a Ianto Special.
"Shit. School visit!" Jack finally remembered why the alarm had been set, and Ianto smiled softly at his husband.
Jack had been a little forgetful since retiring from the force. He and John had been thinking about going into business together and Ianto had swallowed his pride, thus allowing John back into the house. Probation, not a pardon.
Walter looked up from his breakfast, eagerly nodding as he anticipated his first visit to the school he would be going to when he turned five next month. He couldn't wait.