Author : Mirumo. My real name is Claire, I'm in my last year of highschool in a lovely rainy and grey part of France, English isn't my first language, I'm a bit of a geek, and I support two things in this world : LGBT and the campaign for the return of Ianto Jones. I'm also a serial reviewer and I haven't written any fanfic in a looong time ; I used to write Harry Potter fanfics in my first language, but I've found inspiration with my addiction for new series, so here it is ... Enjoy or endure.
Title : Another type of fairy
Summary : Set after 1x05, the episode of the fairies, which is also the episode right after « Cyberwoman ». Jack didn't get a lot of support from his team after his hard decision, but aren't we forgetting someone ?
Rating : For all tolerant people. A bit of a warning for the ones who have problems with homosexual sex and love, but this is hardly explicit ... It's more fluffy than smutty, in fact. I'll try to reduce the gooey-ness to a minimum, still.
Themes : Romance, friendship, sex between colleagues
Pairing : Jack and Ianto. What else ?
Disclaimer : Torchwood isn't mine, neither are the characters (*sigh*). If I owned it, the page of Torchwood on Fanfiction wouldn't even exist, because people wouldn't have to write tons of Janto fluff and / or smut to compensate the death of Ianto. If I owned it, he would be immortal, OK ?
A few words from the author : Don't think of me as a creep because of this title : as I was searching for one, I just suddenly made the connection between the fairies of this episode and the « wedding fairy » mentionned by our beloved Ianto in Gwen's wedding. And the way I saw Ianto in this OS was how he could bring his support to Jack while the rest of the team was mad at him, though he was still suffering from Lisa's recent death. As I rewatched the first season the other day, and I saw this episode, I realised at the end that this would be exactly the kind of moment where Ianto would be important to help Jack cope. Actually, it seemed that, somehow, a scene was missing, and this little humble OS is an attempt to fill this lack. So I know that the title seems to indicate that there's going to be fluff, or that it's a gay joke, but it isn't. Or maybe it does imply all that, but mostly, it's just to show that Ianto is a little guardian angel for Jack. OK, this title really sucks ... Please help me find another one !
Jack stormed into his office, throwing randomly his greatcoat, which landed hanging sadly and rather unstably on the back of a chair. For once, he didn't pay attention to the outfit, but furiously hit his desk with his foot instead. It was already dark outside, and nobody was in the Hub Gwen and Tosh had both immediatly gone home as soon as they had arrived to Millenium Square, while Owen had headed to a pub. Not one of them had said anything during all the way back, and they had been avoiding his gaze. Jack hated that. It wasn't the first time his team didn't approve his decisions, but he expected them to affront him instead of ignoring him and exchanging meaningful glances when they thought he wasn't watching. Furthermore, he was sure he had heard them whispering as soon they had been more than ten meters away from him.
The Captain sat comfortably, sighed longly, palming his face, and suddenly realised how exhausted he felt. It had been a rough couple a days Estelle's death, along with all the other mysterious ones, the constant impression of this buzzing following him, this little girl disappearing in the woods, and, of course, having to face the despair of the mother, and the judgement of the others ... The tension on his shoulders was hardly bearable. A cup of coffee would have been more than welcome, but for a man who had lived so many lives, he was surprisingly unable of brewing a decent coffee. He had once really tried to learn properly, but, surely because of some weird karmic coincidence, he had met the same day a young Welshman who had given the words « coffee magic » their true meaning. Since then, he relied trustfully on him, and didn't even approach the machine anymore, dreading that the big object would remember his disastrous last attempt (which included two broken cups, five burned fingers - three of them were Owen's - and the large brown stains that had been on the wall since then) and would somehow break itself if he was too near. And God knew how our Teaboy was weirdly strict when it came to this machine. Last time Owen had tried to use it because he had arrived early and was too hungover to even think of starting to work, he had ended up being furiously lectured for twenty minutes in the autopsy bay some words had reached his office, and Jack could swear he had heard a few Welsh insults.
« There you go, Sir. »
Jack opened his eyes suddenly, gasping a bit. So there was one person in the Hub, and speaking of the devil ... He hadn't heard the very discreet Ianto Jones entering his office and deposing a steaming cup of coffee on the desk, right in front of him. Jack couldn't help but smile : Ianto seemed to always know what people needed, even when they weren't in the same room. He took a sip of the beverage, which burned his tongue a little, exactly how he liked it. That was another gift of the younger man, who was now picking up the greatcoat and hanging it carefully to the coat rack : he always knew what people would love. Jack had to admit that for the last two Christmas, him and Owen had to ask the Welshman what he would think Tosh would want as gift. They had previously quickly given up after two hours of relatively intense shopping, because, as Owen had remarked, « whatever bloody shoes I buy, the girl would always have preferred the black pair, and not the blue one ». They had therefore pleaded Ianto to give them ideas : instead, he had gone shopping, bought gifts, confided them all wrapped and decorated a week and a half before Christmas, and the young woman happened to love her presents.
Jack gave Ianto a warm glance as he walked by in the other way after having cleaned up the dust from the coat's shoulders, picking up the already empty cup.
« Could you refillt it ?
- Of course, Sir. »
However, he didn't go away, but sat in the empty chair facing Jack, a serious look on his face. But was he ever not serious ?, Jack thought out of the blue. He waited for a few seconds for the Welshman to speak, but he didn't seem to be about to.
« Yes, Ianto ? Anything you needed ?
- Tosh told me what you did. »
The tone was sharp and the beautiful Welsh vowels even harsher than usual, but the voice was polite and no judgement seemed to show through. He let another few seconds pass, then added, softlier.
« About the fairies, and the girl.
- How did she even have the time to tell you that ? She went home immediatly when we came back.
- She texted me when you were on your way. I asked her to tell me regularly what was going on while you were there.
- Why's that ?
- I was worried about you. You looked really bad. »
Jack grinned and sniggered a bit. A whole package of jokes and innuendos about how perfect he always looked, no matter what, were running through his mind, but it somehow didn't seem right at the moment to give Ianto new reasons to lengthen that list of « Why I should complain about sexual harassment in Torchwood », a list Jack dreaded to really exist (but it could also be totally fictional how could you know, with Ianto's dry humour ?). Anyway, Estelle had just gone, and the Welshman was surely still mourning Lisa. Not a time for flirting. Gosh, he really didn't think he would actually say that one day.
« Well, did she say anything else ? They weren't exactly talkative with me.
- They're mad at you, obviously. »
Jack let out an offenced laugh, and put his folded hands on the back on his head, trying to control himself. Trying very vainly.
« Why wouldn't you, right ? Because you all except me to be some kind of hero, who'll tell you what to do and will always know everything, but when anything screws up a little, when I have to let something bad happen so that nothing worse will take place - like with that ... that little girl, you look at me with those judgemental eyes, and wait for me to leave so you can whisper behind my back how selfish a jerk I am. I didn't want this to happen, but I let it, because that was the only way ! And yet, you want me to always find a solution that will suit everyone. But that was the only choice I had not a good one, but the only one ! And the right one ! »
The captain rose abruptly, stuffing his fists in his pockets with rage. He looked at the wall behind his desk while he was trying to calm down, then he turned around. The stoic and unreadable blue eyes of Ianto Jones were staring at him, and they fixed him for a while, then he answered :
« I know that. And they do too.
- Oh yeah ? Then how come I always end up being called a monster ? »
Although he kept his poker face on, Jack could see a nerve on Ianto's cheek twisting, and he couldn't help but blink, with pain in his eyes. The older man wondered whether he was pained because of the indirect allusion to Lisa, or because of him mentioning it like if he wanted to pain him. Either way, he felt he had gone too far, that for sure. He grumbled « Sorry » while he leaned against the other side of the desk, just next to Ianto, staring at his feet. However, the Welshman didn't seem to be spiteful he adressed him a brief reassuring little smile before continuing :
« They know your decision was the right one, but they can't assume it, and would rather be mad at you, and blame you for letting it happen, so that they feel their conscience is clear for a while. With time, they'll recognize that you were right, but for a moment, they'll make you feel like you were wrong. »
Jack couldn't help but smile pallidly : it was surely the longest he had ever heard Ianto talking in an intimate discussion. Not that they had been a lot intimate, for Jack's greatest despair. Twice, actually. Although, twice could depend on whether you were thinking how many times or how many times. First, it was a few months ago : in principle, it was a plan to finally try to make his way to this mysterious Teaboy who was driving him crazy because of how both flirty and inaccessible he was, and the pretext was « you're too busy, too pale, too thin and too depressed you're going out to a bar with me, now » (in those exact words, which had let the Welshman speakless and incapable of saying no as Jack was dragging him outside the tourist office). Put into practice, the theory had kind of worked the other way round : now that Jack thought about it, he realised that this night out had been a bless for Ianto, who was at this time drowning into his Lisa's issue without being able to tell anyone. They happened to have a lot of fun, and the captain was actually surprised when they ended up confusely kissing, trying to arrive to the bedroom in Ianto's flat. They never did, as a matter of a fact, and had sex twice in his kitchen-living room that night. The next day - a Friday - , Ianto acted very proper and dignified, as always, and never seemed embarrassed or guilty, not during the morning when he woke up on his couch next to a very naked Jack, nor the whole work day, during which he spotted his boss staring at him intently whatever he did. The others also noticed that Jack was almost drooling all over him, but it had became quite usual those last few months, as he had obviously developped a huge crush on Welsh coffee geniuses. However, at the end of the day, as soon as Tosh, Owen and Gwen had left, Ianto had arrived in his office to explain that what had happened was a drunken mistake and shouldn't be repeated for their own good. They ended up having sex all over the Hub for the week-end.
After having shared some scorching moments during the night, thed had called the others to tell them they had their two days off. Jack wished he had let Ianto call Tosh and Gwen, while he would have called Owen, instead of the contrary : none of them was born yesterday, and « You don't need to come this week-end, stay at home ... No, no, really, I have to work ... Don't worry, I'll be fine : Ianto is here if I need help ... Just - take your week-end off » didn't let room for imagination, especially coming from Jack Harkness, but at least the two girls hadn't made any comments, while the doctor had hissed in exasperation : « Seriously, Teaboy, that's what hotel rooms are for » and yelled before he hung up : « And don't dare doing it anywhere near my desk or places I work, or I'll hunt you down and slay you both open on the autopsy table, Harkness ! ». If Jack had explained what he would have liked to do if he had to spend two days with Ianto in the base, this would have been pretty much the same gist : having sex in the reunion room, ordering pizza, signing and filing some papers to look like they had really been working, having sex in the tourist office (just to have the opportunity to sweep over all the neatly listed brochures), eating pizza, talking over a beer, having sex on Owen's desk (of course), and resting in Jack's hole. He actually fell asleep for several hours, which rarely happened to him. When he had woken up, Ianto was making coffee, and Sunday had been quite the same as Saturday, although he did also learn that archives could become a very inventive place in the company of Ianto Jones, and that, on the contrary, shagging in the autopsy bay wasn't a good idea. At least it had been, until he had the vivid vision of a scabbed Weevil cut open in half on the table just two weeks ago, the same table where his bare ass was sitting. Not the best idea of dirty talk, had remarked the Welshman when Jack had shared his remembrance.
For Jack, it had been a damn good week-end. But now that he thought about it again, after discovering about Lisa, it explained the young man's behaviour in a totally different way. When he went feeding Myfanwy, checking if everything was allright in the tourist office, making coffee at the dawn of the day, was he in fact visiting his cyber-girlfriend in the basement ? And the enraged fervour with which he had sex, was it out of the despair that was fretting him ? And how guilty did he feel after that ?
Since then, they hadn't had sex, but the Lisa incident, instead of tearing them apart, had settled a certain tension and closeness between them two. It could also partly rely on the fact that Ianto had woken up being fervently kissed by Jack, and hadn't exactly broken it immediatly. The immortal man had given his share of life kisses, but he had rarely put this much intensity in it. And saying that he hadn't took advantage of it would have been preposterous and obvious lying.
Jack suddenly realised that the same Ianto that was haunting his present thoughts was also looking at him patiently in real life. The young man had the same inscrutable expression as usual, but he also had a kind and encouraging thin smile on his lips, apparently willing to make his boss feel better. « And yet, » thought Jack, « he would have all the reasons in the world to let me rot here, considering what I did to him ... ». The captain almost felt unworthy of Ianto's help and attention. The young man continued to stare at him absdorbedly, then turned away his glance, watching his hands as he started to talk again :
« Actually, they do more than respecting you for that : they're admiring you. »
Jack couldn't repress the snort. A little too scornful to his taste, but once again Ianto didn't seem to mind he carried on.
« You took a decision that they know was the right one, although it was hard, and they know that they would have been incapable of doing it if they had been in the same situation. »
Ianto raised prompty his head, and Jack found himself being lost in the penetrating blue glance of the Welshman.
« It's not the first time it happened, and it won't be the last. And there will always be this moment where they will judge you and be mad at you, because they know they couldn't take it while you can. Thats why you're the right boss for them, Jack. Because of that. They need you. »
Jack felt a corner of his mouth shudder.
« And you, Ianto, don't you need me ?
- No ... »
The older man frowned before even thinking of curbing it. Although Ianto's voice didn't sound that convinced, he wished his young colleague wouldn't have answered so quickly. Without intending to be narcissist and mean, Jack knew Ianto hardly had a life : he was very quiet (quiet enough to hide material to convert people into Cybermen and a woman halfway there in a Torchwood base, at least), but the boss was also nosy. The Welshman had lost all of his close friends during Canary Wharf he had a sister, but didn't visit her anymore he wasn't familiar at all with Gwen, Owen was a tool when it came to « Teaboy », and although he came along well with Tosh, they never had the occasion to spend time together. No close family, no neighbours remembering him apart from the « well-dressed and very polite young man », no favourite restaurant or bar where he would have his habits ... As ironic as it could sound, the man he had had savage sex with, had betrayed, had threatened with a gun, had hated to the very core of his soul, had punched in the nose, had been threatened to be killed by, and then had snogged half-consciously was surely the closest person to him.
« When did you last ask me something about my life ? »
Jack remembered vividly Ianto blaming him for not caring about him. But what could he have said ? He did care he had never asked anything, but he had spent nights reading everything he could find in Torchwood 1 archives about the young man. Digging for hours into people's personal files was Jack's way of caring. And it hurt him that Ianto would be so prompt to answer that he didn't need him.
But Ianto breathed deeply, then added with a resigned half-smile :
« ... at least, that's what I like to tell myself. »
He rose softly and smiled at Jack, who became suddenly conscious of their physical closeness :
« Good night, Sir. »
A far, far away part in his brain reminded him that he should ask his employee to stop calling him Sir, but most of his cells were telling him to lean in and kiss Ianto. But he didn't. Not tonight. One day, he would.
Amazing, surprising Ianto Jones. Not only had he put Jack's thoughts away from Estelle, the team's anger and the screams of the mother he had hurt by taking her partner and her daughter in less than five minutes, he had also gave him back his hunger for life - or whatever he could call his « life » - and made him accept those pains with just some well-chosen words, and the older man somehow had the feeling that no one else could have done it. Could the young Welshman have become this indispensable ?
« Anything else you needed ?
Jack reached his hand on his right for a cup that wasn't there, but in Ianto's hands. He thought the Teaboy would have forgotten it here after their conversation, but he had already picked it up again.
« I'm going to get you a refill. » added Ianto before his boss could even ask for it, and turned away.
Jack smiled. The perfect invisible coffee provider. And yet it didn't fit to the young man anymore. Nor did « Teaboy ».
« Ianto ?
- Yes, Sir? »
Jack paused for a second, then finished with a broad smile.
« Remind me to make you come with me more often on the field. »
A nod, a sincere and maybe grateful smile, a deep glance.
« Good night, Jack.
- Good night, Ianto. »
Post-OS comments :
The end wasn't very prepared, and was written in a raw. I don't know what to think of it : I'm quite happy with it, because I wanted to really feel like it would fit as a nice scene between those two lovebirds in the show, and, from my point of view, it kind of does, especially the ending (not so sure about the beginning). But maybe that from an exterior point of view, it's too cliché, too telenovela. Any comment and / or suggestion will be well received.
Please point at every mistake I might have made.
Lots of virtual hugs for everyone who took the time to read this. Claire.