A/N: because GDL turns 30 today, and this makes me miss Ianto like WHOA
When he sees him, it's like everything is suddenly right again.
He'd been sure that it was finished—done and gone. Ever since that day, two years ago, that one moment where everything thing stopped and his world ended. He'd been sure that they'd never meet again, they'd never kiss again, make love, hold each other tight.
He'd been positive that he'd never get the chance to say "I love you" back.
But now he's here. Impossibly, amazingly he's fucking here. He knows he should question it—he knows that this is too good to be true, and he's Jack Fucking Harkness, of course it isn't going to turn out well.
And yet.
There he is. Ianto Jones, looking as gorgeous and impeccable and perfect as ever. Dressed in his norm—a three piece suit that looks to be made just for him. Smiling that smile that drove him insane, and just there. Alive. Breathing.
Jack doesn't breathe, doesn't move for a long, long time, but then he surges forward, and he has Ianto held tight in his arms. The first words out of his mouth are I'm sorry, followed by OhgodIantohow? But then he doesn't really give a flying fuck because Ianto is here. And, yeah, he did cry a lot initially, but suddenly he's crying even more and it doesn't matter. It doesn't fucking matter because—God, Ianto.
"The Doctor may have helped a bit." Ianto says into his ear. "Just a little."
"But—two years—" A broken voice and a heart that Ianto is mending just with his eyes.
"I know, cariad. It was a…difficult…process. Especially since I wasn't allowed any coffee."
Jacks laughs a breathy laugh at the weak joke, and stares at this incredible man that hasn't changed at all. He wants to say things, lots of things, but what comes out is, "I love you."
Ianto stiffens, making Jack wonder if cariad was just used because maybe the Doctor has made him more affectionate—not because he still loves Jack. It's terrifying and so entirely real, that he wishes he was dreaming for just a second.
Then: "I love you, too." paired with a chaste kiss to the mouth that somehow captures all of their emotions.
Yes, thank you so much, yes.
But then comes stuttering and unfinished thoughts and a throat that can't release the right words, "I wish—I wish I'd told you then. When the 456—I just." And—holy shit—he's Captain Jack Harkness, and suddenly he's speechless.
"It's alright, it's fine." That sweet smile that makes him want to kiss the Welshman.
And it is, because he has Ianto back and it doesn't matter if he can't say the right things now and it doesn't matter that he's going to need a better explanation because right now he's going to cherish every moment he has with the man he's hopelessly in love with.
When Ianto does die, decades later, they part ways with smiles and minimal tears and I love yous lingering contentedly in the air.