The cool and shade of Rock Creek Park were soothing. Especially when you desperately needed something to make you feel just a little bit closer to home in a completely foreign place. Okay, not so completely foreign. It would have been much worse, if he ended up in a place where no one spoke English of any sort. Although not seeing any Welsh signs and not hearing people around him use any Welsh words was new.

Ianto rubbed his eyes and sighed. The last month had been the craziest time of his life. It had barely been 32 days since his father gathered the four of them round the dinner table to share the news he had got. Some big wig from his company (whose job was supplying the royal armed forces with weapons and ammunition) knew someone who knew someone at the Pentagon and he had been offered a job in America. And not just any job, but a consulting job at the Pentagon, complete with a set of complex confidentiality agreements and stuff. Everyone rejoiced, except for Ianto. Rhiannon had always wanted to go to America, and she was hoping to be able to transfer from the University of Cardiff to one in D.C. Maybe Georgetown? Their mother was always willing to follow their father wherever life threw him, and not having a job or any attachment other than her weekly mani-pedi appointments, she could do that.

Only Ianto was anything but happy.

He had to leave all of his friends, his girlfriend, the familiarity of Cardiff, the beauty of Wales and come to this entirely new world that felt a little bit like another planet.

So now he was thrown into a brand new life, forced to get used to a different education system (and a prestigious new school, the Benjamin Banneker Academic High School), alienated from his classmates not just by the fact that they'd spent the last three years or more getting to know each other, and he stumbled (literally) into their school in the middle of the semester, but also by his accent. He even thought he'd fit in better if he came from the Middle East or Eastern Europe, not Wales. And after barely a week he was beyond exhausted of telling everyone that no, he was not English.

The school was full of rich arseholes whose daddies worked high up in the government or the army, or whatever, and despite the fact that his own family was certainly not poor, Ianto felt uncomfortable around them. He didn't want to be considered one of them, and was grateful that they lived in the comparatively "normal" neighbourhood of Manor Park and not a posh one like Chevy Chase. (He'd already learnt that was where all the snobs lived.)

The only thing he was allowed not to be parted with was Myfanwy. The Welsh sheepdog had been his faithful friend – often a better one than any of his mates back home who seemed to forget his existence the moment he touched down in D.C. – for going on five years. So now he was trying to spend as much time as he could, with the crazy amount of schoolwork he had, out on walks with her.

They'd already been circling the park for an hour, when a rustle in some shrubs to their left caught their attention. Soon after followed the murmur of a whispered conversation and a moan, that made Ianto quite convinced he wanted to get out of there before whoever was there realised they weren't alone.

But before he could retrace his footsteps without making too much noise, someone ran out of the bushes. It surprised Ianto when he recognised the boy. He was, like Ianto, a junior at BBAHS. His name was John Hart and he was a son of some wealthy entrepreneur and his supposedly very beautiful wife. What made his face remarkable among all the other over four hundred students at the school were his razor-sharp cheekbones.

There was something odd about the way he looked now, though, Ianto noticed. His shirt had been apparently pulled out from where it had clearly been tucked into his trousers, his face was flushed, and he was obviously flustered.

And then he noticed Ianto staring at him, and other emotions overtook his expression. Shame. Anger.

'What're you staring at?,' he barked at him, taking a menacing step in Ianto's direction (or at least it would've been menacing if John wasn't shorter than Ianto).

'Nothing, I was just walking by. With my dog.'

At that, Myfanwy growled, baring her teeth, ready to defend her master.

Hart snorted, trying to hide his continued unease (though he wasn't exactly successful, if Ianto was to be the judge). 'I'm scared shitless,' he said mockingly and walked quickly away.

As soon as John disappeared at the turn of the path, a soft chuckle drew Ianto's attention back to the shrubs to his left. It was quite shocking to find that he knew that person, too. It's starting to get creepy, he thought.

Jack Harkness, the son of a well-respected Republican senator, was standing casually, leaning on a tree and smirking, with his hands buried in the pockets of his trademark long coat. They had a couple of subjects together, so Ianto knew him by name and had noticed that the guy was incredibly cocky, but also unexpectedly intelligent. Jack was also one of the most popular students at BBAHS, but for a reason unfathomable to Ianto. He wasn't a Hollywood-film cliché of a jock, he wasn't dating cheerleaders, and he largely kept to himself – apart from spending most of his lunch breaks with a group of misfit friends. The only explanation for his popularity could be his extremely good looks, with those electric blue eyes, dark hair, dimples and that blindingly white smile.

And as if he was reading Ianto's mind, he smiled that exact smile at him.

'You're the Welsh guy from Banneker,' he said simply, surprising Ianto with getting right his nationality.

'Yeah,' Ianto replied warily. He hadn't figured Jack out enough to just trust him in the middle of Rock Creek Park. Especially after seeing another guy basically running away from him. 'You're Jack Harkness.'

'Yeah.' He shot Ianto that smile again; it felt like he was flirting and Ianto didn't know how he felt about that. 'And you are...?'

In a languid, graceful movement he pushed himself away from the tree and took a couple of steps in Ianto's direction.

Ianto swallowed and licked his lips; why did he feel so strange and uneasy around this guy? So completely different to what he felt around John a couple of minutes earlier.

'Jones,' he stuttered. 'Ianto Jones.'

'That's a cool name, Jones, Ianto Jones,' Jack said, reaching to Myfanwy to pat her on the head. She sniffed his hand suspiciously, but eventually let him touch her.

'No, it isn't,' Ianto snorted.

Myfanwy licked Jack's hand, and he crouched in front of her, scratching her behind her ears.

'That's a good boy,' he said.

'It's a she,' Ianto corrected him automatically. 'Guess you can only tell males and females apart when they're human.'

He was sure his not-well-thought-through retort was going to offend Jack, but he only laughed.

'I'm so so sorry, m'lady,' he cooed at Myfanwy. 'What's her name, then?'

'Myfanwy,' Ianto said. 'M-Y-F-A-N-W-Y.'

'Okay, you're right, that is a cool name.' Jack looked up at him from under his lashes (now Ianto was sure he was being flirted with).

'It- er- Yeah, it is.'

Then there came a longer pause, filled only with Jack's murmurs to Myfanwy, who seemed to have taken to him very fast. Ianto dug his hands deep into his pockets. He was never a champion of socialising, it took him unusually long to get close to anyone, he could never feel completely at ease around people he didn't know well, and now all he could count on was Myfanwy pulling all of Jack's attention on herself.

But apparently he counted on too much.

'Don't worry about Hart, he's not gonna do anything,' Jack said suddenly, glancing at Ianto. 'Officially, we don't talk to each other.'

'Oh.' Ianto paused. He wished he had never wandered into that part of the park. 'I didn't mean to- you know- walk in on you two or anything.'

Jack chuckled.

'God, you're uptight. First, you didn't walk in on us, and there was hardly anything to walk in on anyway.' Ianto raised an eyebrow at him dubiously. 'Okay, yeah, maybe there was. But you didn't. Second, don't say "you two", there's no "us two". It sounds like we're a couple, and we're as far from that as anyone ever could be. We just hooked up a few times when we were drunk, and he keeps denying that it happened.'

'Oh,' Ianto repeated. 'I'm not gonna say anything, don't worry.'

He took a step back as Jack stood up. They were the same height and Ianto wasn't entirely sure he wanted the guy inches from his face like that. Maybe if he knew him better, maybe if he knew what he could expect from him.

'I don't care. Not like I have a reputation to protect.' Another flash of teeth. Like there was something to be proud of in what he said. 'Hart might not take it as lightly, though.'

'Why? Does he have a reputation to protect?,' Ianto asked. He realised that somehow they weren't standing anymore; they'd set off in a slow pace in the direction Ianto had been going before stumbling upon the two other boys.

'He does,' Jack said, 'though it's not really his own.'

Ianto looked at him quizzically. 'What do you mean?'

'I guess you haven't had enough time to find out what it's like in this town, have you?' Ianto shook his head. 'Hart's dad's like the go-to guy when a Republican presidential candidate is looking for endorsements.'

'Oh.' Ianto was beginning to feel really stupid for saying that.

'Yeah.'

Something occurred to Ianto and he stopped abruptly.

'Wait a second, isn't your dad a Republican?'

They stopped in unison. Jack dropped his head and let out an unamused laugh. It took him a second before he turned back to Ianto.

'Yeah. Should I be worried I have a stalker?'

'What?' Ianto knitted his eyebrows. 'No! God, no.'

Jack shrugged his shoulders. 'I wouldn't really mind, though.'

Ianto rolled his eyes in response, making the other boy laugh.

'You really can't take a compliment, can you?'

'Guess not.'

They exchanged a look and much of Ianto's tension melted away. Jack was peculiar, but had a way of making people comfortable. And he certainly had a lot of charm, no one could deny that. Ianto wasn't even going to try to fool himself he didn't fall victim to it a little bit.

They continued in a measured pace, heading back towards Brightwood and Mansion Park.

'So, you don't have your dad's reputation to protect?,' Ianto asked after a short while.

'Technically, yes. But I don't really care anymore, and it's not like he's making much effort to do it himself, being a dickhead and an asshole, so I'm not gonna help him.'

'Oh, er- sorry I asked.'

Jack waved his hand dismissively. 'Nothing to be sorry for.' He paused for a second. 'I didn't even ask if I could walk with you. Is this weird?'

A corner of Ianto's mouth tugged up, even though he tried to stay straight-faced.

'It is most certainly weird. But it's fine.'

'Not the type to get freaked out by a guy making a pass at you, are you?'

'S'pose not. Maybe a little at first.' He dared a glance at Jack. 'Now I'm mostly just flattered.'

Jack looked happy with himself, but his face soon fell as they reached the edge of the park and it became clear this wasn't the direction he was supposed to go. Ianto couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, too. For the first time since coming to America he felt like he had a semblance of a friend.

'I guess I should be going back. I didn't even realise we've walked all this way here,' Jack said, his eyes shooting nervously back down the path they'd just come. 'Anyway, nice talking to you, Jones, Ianto Jones.'

Ianto snorted at the cheesy way he'd introduced himself repeated by Jack.

'Nice talking to you, too, Jack No-Reputation-To-Protect Harkness.'

They both laughed at that, and simultaneously realised they clicked. It wasn't a semblance of a friend. Somehow they knew that if one of them needed a sidekick in anything, there he was, right in front of them.

'See you tomorrow, Ianto. And if you need a place to sit at lunch, sit with us.'

'You know I may take you up on that offer?'

'I'm counting on it.'


A/N: I've been writing this story very slowly off and on for a few months now, which doesn't mean it's anywhere near being finished, nor does it mean that I've grown any surer about its quality. One day I just thought, 'What if I wrote a Janto high school AU?' And it set things in motion in my head. I've been toying with the idea of making this an original story, but the characters are so very Torchwood in my mind I've decided to stick to them the way they are, for now at least.

I can give no guarantees about how often I will update, but I do have a few chapters written in advance. Also, as the linguist freak that I am, I'd like to clarify that I'll be using British English for the spelling and (mostly) grammar, but together with a lot of American vocabulary. Oh, and (sadly) I have never been to neither D.C. nor Cardiff, so don't lynch me for getting anything wrong about them.