Title: Alcohol, Retcon, and Sex
Pairing: Owen/Ianto
Rating:
18
Disclaimer: Nope. Not me. Guess again.
Pairing: Owen/Ianto,
no Jack (not yet) and no other team members in this part.
Summery:
Ianto has been retconned (is now called Gareth) but continued to live
his life in Cardiff. It wasn't long before he came into contact
with another Torchwood member; Owen Harper. In this part (1/3?) Owen
and Gareth meet under the influence of alcohol.
1.
GARETH
The club was packed, full of laugher and warmth. Gareth
Nye, a lanky, twenty-two-year-old brunet with beautiful pale
blue eyes, was surrounded by friends. One nudged him about three
hours into the evening when already a few of them had left the
post-graduation gathering. "Hey mate, that guy at the bar has
been eyeing you up all night." Paul told him drawing Gareth's
eyes to the skinny brunet sitting at the bar, an empty shot glass
abandoned near by and a pint sat in front of him, barely half full.
The man immediately averted his eyes when Gareth looked
over.
Gareth's intoxicated brain decided then and there than the
brown eyed brunet in the black leather jacket was entirely fuckable.
And of course, in the way of all drunks, he had to act on it. So,
when half an hour later Gareth had observed the other man still
looking at him, he decided to confront the man.
He sauntered up to
him, carefully noticing the way the other man now avoided him
completely. Until he spoke. "Do you want to fuck me or
something?"
2. OWEN
He'd come to the club to chill. To
relax. To let the alcohol numb him until he felt a blissful nothing.
Since Jack ran off six months ago things had gone from worse to
strength to worse and back again. The term 'good day' had taken on a
new meaning. Gwen was attempting to balance her role as team-leader
with planning a wedding, Tosh was running programmes in order to
predict rift opening and also taking on a bigger role in field work
as well as finding new ways to catalogue information for efficiently.
Owen was the field work expert and best with weapons and obviously
the team doctor. And now they had lost Ianto it was all the more
harder.
But tonight, here in this bar somewhere in Cardiff between
the Hub and Owen's flat, Owen had spotted the guy. Tall, lanky even,
with neatly cut brown hair which was missing its usual dose of gel
and had curled on top of his head. He was clothed in tight black
jeans and a blue unbuttoned shirt revealing a white t-shirt with a
band insignia on it. He looked to be in his early twenties but Owen
knew his eyes were older. He looked to be laughing but Owen knew it
wouldn't last. Especially if he noticed Owen.
But God hates human
beings (otherwise he wouldn't have invented hangovers) so Owen's eyes
were drawn to the man all night long. And eventually, a little
drunkenly, the man came over and announced, "Do you want to fuck
me or something?"
Owen's eyes widened and he thanked the
human-hating god that he hadn't been drinking at that moment or his
drink would have ended up all over the bar. He was tempted to say 'or
something' and disappear into the night enigmatically but he wasn't
Jack bloody Harkness and really he had no desire to be. Truth was he
honestly hadn't been thinking about fucking him, but now the idea was
lodged into his brain no matter how bad the idea was, how dangerous,
and deceitful. How unforgivable. So instead he took another manly
gulp of beer and said, "What makes you think I want to fuck
you?" He said it because he was stupid. He really was. Looking
at his track history... the guy he fucked in hospital that got him
fired, fucking Suzie-the-psycho, fucking Gwen and fucking himself up
over Diane. All stupid fucking things. And here he was, about to do
it again.
The man pouted - he actually pouted! "Are you
saying you don't?" He asked, taking a sip of Owen's beer
cheekily.
Wow.
Unexpected. It was unexpected because Owen was
still thinking of this man as the man he'd taunted and demeaned for
three years instead of the man who'd been created.
"I have a
place about ten minutes from here." Owen said, sealing his
fate.
The guy smiled. "I'm Gareth." He said. I know,
Owen wanted to stay. Instead he smiled and brought his lips to meet
'Gareth's', hungrily kissing the man.
"Nice to meet you,
Gareth."
They fucked until five in the morning and finally Gareth fell asleep, mumbling something about how unpleasantly sticky he'd be in the morning and how he'd left a cup on the table, where were the coasters! Owen couldn't sleep, though. his thoughts plagued by memories of the first few weeks after Jack had left, as he watched the man sleep, innocence incarnate.
FLASHBACK
"Oh my God. What have you done,
Owen!" Screamed Gwen shrilly.
"Please, tell me you know
how to reverse it," Tosh begged.
"Well, it's not like I
killed him or anything!" Owen protested.
They were all
looking at Ianto in shock. Still dressed immaculately in a black suit
with his purple tie and blue shirt, but it no longer fit perfectly.
He'd lost about a stone of weight and oh, five or six years off his
age. Ianto looked at himself. "At least we know what it does
now." He said quite calmly.
They stared at him, gob-smacked
he could be so calm.
"Yes, you're right, it's like I've
died." He said dryly. "I've only regressed a few years
physically. I'm still alive, I still have my memories." He
sounded irritated about the last bit.
They worked with the device
for a few more days until Ianto came to visit Owen one night while he
was pouring over Ianto's blood tests.
"It won't kill me, will
it?" Ianto asked quietly.
Owen shook his head. "You are
as healthy as a horse. More healthy because most horses haven't got
an extra six years on them."
"Retcon me." Ianto
said. Owen nearly dropped the glass vial he'd been
holding.
"What!"
"I want you to Retcon me. I've
already complied a new identity and put everything into place. My
name will be Gareth Nye and I'll be a soon-t-be graduating student of
Cardiff university, and the reason no one knows me is because I'm an
open university student. Technically it's not a lie. I have been
doing an open uni curse since Lisa died."
"Why? I mean,
we haven't even figured out how to change you back!" Owen
said.
Ianto smiled sadly. "And you won't figure it out. It
doesn't matter anyway, it's easier to create a false past for a few
years than for six or seven years. And I'd hate to have
amnesia, it would only stimulate me to discover my own past."
"You
shouldn't do this."
"I will. With or without your help."
He held out a needle towards him. It was filled with eight ml of a
glucose solution which would simulate the affects of a hangover
when he woke up. It was laced with retcon.
Owen nodded. "Is
it Jack?"
"It's Torchwood." Ianto
replied.
Understanding, Owen took the needle and plunged it into
Ianto's sink.
END OF FLASHBACK
Owen still wasn't sure he'd done the right thing, but Ianto/Gareth had been happy tonight. Until Owen.
3. GARETH
He woke at eight-fifteen on the
Saturday morning thinking 'fuck, what God invented hangovers'.
Looking at the man next to him, who he assumed was sleeping, he
rolled out of the bed and quietly picked up his clothing before
dressing and exiting the flat. He felt odd, like he was trying to
think of something, a memory that was buried, but the pain in his
head was stopping him.
He really wanted a shower.
4.
OWEN
He listened to the younger man as he dressed and left then
sighed. Fuck it, he'd screwed up again. But he couldn't yet tell if
it would come back to haunt him or not.
Tell me what
you think.
It's not over, there is more to come.
