Title: Let's Make a Change
Category: TV Shows » Torchwood
Author: Rebekah Reynolds
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Romance/Friendship
Published: 07-25-11, Updated: 11-20-11
Chapters: 13, Words: 30,269
Chapter 1: Has Ianto Changed?
It was 8am and Ianto was in the locker room in the HUB trying to dry himself off before the rest of the team got in. He had been coming in later over the past few weeks, he was still earlier than everybody else and he usually spent his extra time in the mornings staring at his kitchen clock until it was time to go to work but he was determined that he wasn't coming in as early as he used to any more, a 7am start was actually quite ridiculous if he didn't finish till eleven and it was one of the many changes he had decided to make in his life. Another of these changes was not keeping spare suits at the HUB, he was regretting that this morning as he had walked to work in a rainstorm but even if he did have to spend the day in jeans and a t-shirt it was better than feeling like he always had to be prepared for everything. He had thrown out his check lists and schedules as well as three of the five first aid kits he kept in his flat - there was such a thing as being over-prepared.
Changed and dry, Ianto walked exited the locker room through the gym which had been his project for the last month. Remodelling the disused rooms adjoining the shooting range which hadn't been used in over a century had been difficult without a building crew but he had managed, and he had found that by the time the gym was complete, he had little need for the free weights and half of the other "boys equipment" as Gwen had called it as he had toned himself up while working on the new rooms. So this morning he passed by the weights, the treadmill and the punch bag and walked through an open set of double doors to a second large room, this one devoted to gymnastics equipment. It hadn't been in his original plan but Tosh had once told him how much she loved gymnastics at high school so he added a beam and various other items to his shopping list and made sure that the floor was padded to minimise the risk of injury. Barefoot and dressed in the crumpled jeans and t shirt which had been stuffed into the bottom his locker Ianto pulled himself up onto the beam and went through a basic routine he had learned from Tosh the day before and was almost finished when Owen's voice came over the speakers he had set up in the room, it was easier than everyone having to wear their headsets while they work out.
"Tea boy! If you're done dancing about down there I'm gagging for a coffee" Ianto just rolled his eyes and jumped down, landing with his knees bent and a smile at how much his dismount had improved from the first time when he all but fell off the beam.
By 0930 the entire team - including Gwen – were in the HUB, Ianto passed out the first round of coffees and headed up to the Tourist office to open it up for the day. As he opened the door he was surprised to find a man stood on the doorstep apparently waiting for him to open.
"Erm, Hi" Ianto had never had a customer waiting for the office to open before, and that wasn't the only thing that was odd. - Early morning customers usually consisted of older women or walking tours of Chinese tourists taking a break from snapping pictures of bins. This guy couldn't be older than 25 and looked like he'd just stepped out of a magazine, if the man hadn't been soaked to the skin from the downpour which he himself had been caught in earlier that morning then Ianto might have thought that he had drifted off and he was having a dream fuelled by the month of sexual frustration he was currently suffering from.
"Hey Ianto" The man moved to get past the dumbstruck Welshman and inside the office forcing the receptionist to take a step backwards to let the visitor in out of the rain, as they moved inside they pressed together and Ianto hurried back behind his desk to avoid the pull he felt towards a total stranger.
"So, how can I help you today?" he said, handing the man a hand towel he kept in the little room beyond the office, his guest took it gratefully and rubbed it on his head; leaving his blonde hair messy but no longer dripping onto the carpet.
"I'm looking for a map, I've been in town for a while but I keep getting turned around" his accent was strange; Ianto couldn't place it because it sounded like a little bit of everything. Ianto gave the man a map, took back his towel and a few minutes later the gorgeous blonde had gone back out into the rain leaving Ianto feeling that he should really take Tosh up on her offer of taking him out clubbing, he may even ask Owen to go with him as the man might be a better person to go out on the pull with.
The day passed quickly, Ianto had gone out with the team to respond to a big rift spike. They had tracked a lost alien soldier who had been pulled through the rift to Splott, the creature had been confused and in the end Owen had shot it with a tranquilliser to transport to back to the cells rather than trying to calm it down where it could potentially harm the public. Ianto spent the rest of the day with Tosh and her translation program until the soldier apparently poisoned himself in his cell, choosing to end his life rather than being held captive. Tosh had been quite upset and Ianto had followed her downstairs where he found her on the beam going through a pretty complicated routine, she didn't react when he came in and he moved to stand beside the beam, spotting her in case she should fall. She completed the routine she was doing and sat down on the beam so that she was looking down at her friend, neither of them said anything Ianto just lifted his arms and helped her down.
"We're going out"
Tosh looked up at him, confused. "What?"
"Clubbing. We are going to have fun, and act like idiots and forget all about work" The way Tosh smiled up at him made him feel almost guilty that he had really wanted to go out to pick up whoever he could to scratch the itch that had been bugging him for the last few weeks but he found that al he could do was smile back and listen as she chattered contentedly about where she wanted to take him and how much fun they were going to have.
At 930, after they both stopped off at home to get changed Tosh and Ianto found themselves queuing outside ClubX, a popular gay bar on Charles street, for a Wednesday night it was pretty packed but they reached the front of the queue at a few minutes before ten so didn't have to pay a cover charge, Tosh was apparently friends with some of the staff .Inside they stuck together and made their way down to the bar where Ianto got them some shots pretty quickly by flirting with the bartender; a man in his late twenties dressed in painfully tight black jeans and a white vest top. Ianto had decided on decided on jeans for the evening as well, these had been the ones that Jack always liked but he refused to stop wearing them just because Jack was gone, they were dark grey and were tight enough in the right places that he soon found that he didn't need to buy drinks, he and Tosh were getting enough booze for free from random people at the bar. 20 minutes and eight shots later they decided to take a break, splitting up to find partners on the dance floor. Tosh was blushing like crazy and dancing with a student who she knew was far too young for her while Ianto found himself moving to the music with a tall blonde who after a few drinks and with the dim lighting of the club Ianto couldn't tell if it was the man who had come into the tourist office this morning and had given Ianto something to fantasize about all day, his partner seemed to notice the physical effects of the memory and Ianto found himself being led off the dance floor to somewhere a little quieter.
The next morning Tosh woke up for the second time in a month cursing the inventors of Sambuca. Before she opened her eyes she knew that she wasn't at home and could feel the warmth of another person beside her but couldn't contain her surprise when she opened her eyes to see that there were three other people lying spooned together on Ianto's king size bed. The messy brown hair at the far end of the bed belonged to Ianto but she could not identify the other two people, the man next to Ianto had short blonde hair and was wearing a black t shirt and red boxers and the man next to her was dark haired, bare chested and looked about 19. Groaning she got out of bed and phoned Owen to let him know that they wouldn't be in till late.
By 11 o'clock when Ianto was finally in a fit state to go in to work they had managed to get their "dates" out of Ianto's flat. Tosh was glad to see the practically pubescent student go and was glad she had only gone as far as kissing him but the Viking like blonde who Ianto had spent far too long in the toilets with last night had left Ianto his number before he left.
"So" Tosh said as they walked out of Ianto's apartment building "thanks for taking me out last night, and you and Sven seemed to really hit it off"
"Was that his name?" Tosh was shocked, she had never known Ianto to get involved with someone so casually, from what she had seen in his mind when she had the pendant he hated casual relationships.
"Look, I had a lot of fun but maybe you should go with Owen next time, I don't really like picking people up in bars – after Mary I'm a little suspicious of them"
"Sure" Tosh was starting to get freaked out by how quiet Ianto was being this morning, it was like he wasn't even listening to her.
After they arrived at the HUB Ianto spent most of the day in the archives while Tosh got to work on a computer program she hadn't quite finished and deleted photo's she ad been tagged in last night from her facebook account before Owen could find them and laugh at her for it.
Gwen spent most of the day in the Tourist office, (they took it in turns now that Ianto was a field agent) and the only interesting thing she saw was a delivery for Ianto from a flower company, there was a small bouquet of yellow roses and a card that read;
Ianto, I had a lot of fun last night and I hope to see you again soon. I hope that we can be friends, Sven XOX
Gwen's gossip sense was going crazy as she ran down to the HUB to show Tosh and ask her what had happened last night.
AN/ okay, well here's the first chapter of the sequel to Let's start again, if you haven't read that then I would recommend doing so.
So…what do you think? Who the hell is Sven and why is he so interested in Ianto? (other than the fact that he's hot and welsh that is)
PS/ club X is an actual gay bar in Cardiff, I'm not going to be detailed in my description of it or anything I just like to use real locations as much as possible, and yes I know they're not open on a Wednesday but this is fiction guys... plus how awesome would it be if they were?
