Is Ianto worth it?
Ianto sat up at his desk in the Archives and stretched out his back hearing the satisfying crack as the bones realigned themselves. He checked his watch it was 6.15pm and he was exhausted. His normal practise was to work until 8pm, make one last coffee for Jack then head for home about 9pm. Well today he fancied an early night, he smiled to himself, he deserved it after last night. The memories of last night floated through his mind. It had been their anniversary not that either man had actually made a direct reference to it but it was 1 year exactly since Ianto had finally made his mind up and propositioned Jack. The following 6 months had been about physical release made up primarily of hot, fast couplings in secret, neither man acknowledging it as anything else. It had taken Jack's death at the hands of Abaddon and subsequent 3 month disappearance with the Doctor for Ianto to realise his feelings for Jack had changed and become much deeper, it had been an unexpected bonus that Jack too had returned from his time away with the whispered admission that he wanted more too. Ianto still didn't know what had happened while Jack had been away but he knew it had not been good and Jack had been hurt quite badly and he hoped Jack would open up to him soon.
In the 3 months since Jack's return the relationship had been different. They no longer had to hide it and they spent time together outside of the bedroom, even going on a couple of dates. However, 2 weeks previously it had almost ended before it truly started. Owen had been killed, shot through the heart and Jack had taken it hard. So hard in fact that Jack had put himself at risk to steal the other Resurrection Gauntlet from the Weevils and used it on Owen despite Ianto's objections. Now Owen, the man who loved the excesses of life, alcohol, sex and fighting, was the walking dead unable to heal and unable to enjoy the pleasures of life. Ianto had been so angry, he had taken Jack to task for being so selfish, so unthinking and so uncaring, all his own frustrations and insecurities in his relationship with Jack had fuelled the argument and it had got heated neither man backing down and for two weeks the men had hardly talked.
Then last night, their anniversary, when Ianto had delivered the final coffee to Jack's office he'd found Jack waiting for him perched on the front edge of his desk. He'd taken the coffee out of Ianto's hand then grabbed the hand before Ianto had a chance to turn stiffly on his heel and march out as he had planned to do. Jack had apologised softly, holding on to Ianto's hand, rubbing his thumb in soft circles into the palm, he'd admitted he had been wrong, that he hadn't been ready to give up any of his team, that it had hurt too much but that he had been selfish. He'd pulled Ianto in to him, cupping one hand to Ianto's face. "Let's not argue any further, Ianto, not tonight, especially not tonight. I need you." Ianto had not been able to resist, the apology was all he'd needed and the acknowledgement of the date, no matter how obscure, had washed away any remaining doubts. He'd pushed his mouth against Jack's in a hungry, devouring kiss and the coffee had been forgotten.
Last night had been their most satisfying encounter to date. Ianto had whispered in Jack's ear that he would deny him nothing. It had been an unspoken anniversary present for Jack and the look on his face had been priceless and he certainly hadn't wasted the opportunity. Jack had hardly allowed Ianto to sleep, he'd probably snatched no more than 2 hours sleep in total in between Jack's insatiable demands. The vision came to him of himself riding Jack, Jack bucking uncontrollably beneath him, skin shining with a layer of perspiration, Jack's fingers digging into his hips holding him in position leaving little round bruises on his hip bone. Later himself inside Jack, Jack's head thrown back urging Ianto on, to go harder and faster, with a look of a wild animal in his eyes, feral and untamed. Ianto more than happy to obey. The noises that came from Jack's throat had been both obscene and totally untranslatable, the look of pure lust and abandonment on Jack's face when he came with a roar, thank god the others had gone home already, and then a strange look had crossed Jack's face, surprise or maybe even shock? The whole night had been very intense. Just thinking about it was arousing him again, but also reminding him that he was still a little sore or to be more descriptive 'totally shagged out'. He chuckled to himself as he made his way up to the Hub. He passed Gwen on the way out taking advantage of the quiet day to get back to her soon to be husband. He quickly made another a round of coffees for himself, Tosh and Jack. Giving Tosh her drink she acknowledged it with a small nod and grateful smile, she'd probably be another hour or so and Owen seemed to be hanging about waiting for her. He made his way up to Jack's office, Jack was leaning back in his chair his feet on the desk peering at a report with a slight frown on his face. He suddenly noticed Ianto in his doorway and the frown disappeared and was replaced by his trademark grin.
"Ianto, your early tonight, this is a nice surprise"
"I'm going to get away a bit earlier tonight" Ianto replied, a smile turning up the corners of his own lips in response to Jack's obvious delight in seeing him. "Bad night last night, couldn't seem to get any sleep, kept being woken up by a recurring nightmare" he teased.
Jack raised his eyebrows and pouted in mock hurt. "So no chance of a repeat performance then?"
Ianto actually groaned at that. "Can't, if I don't get some sleep tonight I'll be good for nothing tomorrow and my boss will have my hide…he is very demanding."
Jack laughed. "You certainly need to make sure you are ready to meet all his demands. Go home sleep, come back tomorrow ready for anything" Jack waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Ianto let out an exaggerated sigh and turned leaving the office he heard Jack's laughter following him down the stairs.
He returned to the Archives with his last cup of coffee for the night. He tidied away the files he had been working on then collapsed onto the old armchair in the corner of the room cradling the mug between his hands. He leant back resting his head, he'd spent a few nights sleeping in this armchair when he was looking after Lisa, the thought of Lisa still made his gut twist uncomfortably but memories of his recent exchange with Jack helped calm the tension and brought back a small smile to his lips.
Ianto woke up with a start, his heart thumping wildly his gaze travelling the room as his mind caught up. He was in the archives in the old armchair….oh he must have fallen asleep. His coffee cup was lying in his lap, luckily he had finished it before he dropped off, but the last dregs of coffee had spilled out and stained his trousers, another trip to the drycleaners would be required he sighed to himself. He carefully stood up, sleeping in the chair had not helped his already aching body and it complained loudly. He checked his watch, almost midnight, he must have dropped off about 7pm so that meant he'd been asleep 5 hours. Well he'd better clean up and get home, a hot bath might help him relax and get rid of some of the kinks that had formed in his spine, although he probably wouldn't get much more sleep tonight. He grabbed his mug and headed up to the hub to rinse it out ready for the morning. As he approached the Hub he could see it was in switch-down mode, the lights lowered, so Jack wasn't pulling an all-nighter which he did sometimes. Ianto smiled to himself maybe last night had even tired Jack out. As he entered he could hear the constant hum of the machines which wasn't noticeable during the day but always sounded so loud at night. Then he became aware of something that wasn't right, there was a noise that didn't belong. Ianto stopped and listened carefully, yes there it was. He moved slowly, as silently as he could to align himself with the discordant sound and found himself facing the old couch. He stopped in shock, although the lights were lowered the Hub was never left in total darkness so he had an excellent view of the naked torso of a young blonde girl, her small breasts bouncing enticingly as she moved up and down on the prone and equally naked figure of Jack…bloody…Harkness. The pair had their eyes closed obviously caught in the moment, neither spoke but their heavy breathing was now easily recognisable for what it was. Ianto was sure he hadn't made a sound but Jack's eyes suddenly snapped open. No more than 5 seconds probably passed as their eyes locked together but it felt like an eternity, in those 5 seconds Ianto realised that Jack was not going to stop. Ianto turned smartly on his heel, placing his mug on the nearest surface, which in this case was Gwen's desk, he left the Hub by the quickest route. He got in his car, he drove home, he entered his house, drew a bath as he had planned, not once allowing his mind to acknowledge what it had seen or start computing what that meant.
He settled down into the warm water allowing it to soak into his aching body as he felt the ache draw out of his bones he felt the barriers in his mind start to fall. What the hell had that been, well obviously that had been Jack sleeping around. Jack had never promised commitment and Ianto had suspected Jack was still sleeping with other people...so why was his stomach twisting in a sensation that felt suspiciously like jealousy and hurt. Had it been because it was a woman?. No he knew Jack liked both sexes, liked any sex more accurately, and if it had been a man that would have been worse, yes his stomach definitely didn't like the thought of Jack sleeping with another man straight after he'd slept with him. Ianto sank down into the bath letting the water cover his head and cocoon him in its warmth. Last night with Jack had been incredible for him, he thought he'd made it incredible for Jack too, he'd never seen Jack quite like that before, like he'd been able to totally let go. Ianto's mind was filled with the image of Jack riding him hard, the flush in his cheeks running down his neck and chest as he approached orgasm, his face contorted almost as though he was in pain. The feral noises escaping from between Jack's lips had been such a huge turn-on that Ianto had been driven by an almost primal need to take and own and he had flipped them over pulling Jacks legs over his shoulders to give himself the best approach and he had driven into Jack hard as Jack had encouraged him on. When Jack had came it had been with an explosive shout of "YES, IANTO, OH FUCK YES" which would have brought the whole neighbourhood running if they hadn't been hidden underground in Jack's bunker. But even so it had obviously not been good enough!
Ianto's head remerged from the water so he could breathe. Yes that was it, the crux of the matter. He was obviously so insufficient that Jack had, had to go out the very next night to find satisfaction. He didn't fulfil Jack, couldn't fulfil Jack. He thought back to the scene that evening when he'd accidently disturbed the rutting couple. How Jack had obviously become aware of his presence although he'd hardly made a sound and how Jack's gaze had met his own. It had been steady and unwavering although he was supposedly mid coitus. The girl hadn't noticed him, she'd been too far gone in her own pleasure. Maybe no-one could fulfil Jack, or maybe that should be no-one except his Doctor. But that wasn't quite true, his mind still held the image of Jack the previous night, a herd of elephants could have stampeded through the room and neither of them would have noticed. That image moved and overlaid itself with the image of Jack from this evening. Tonight Jack's face had been composed, his eyes had been focussed as he had stared at Ianto there had been no noise other than some heavy breathing in the room.
Ianto sat up suddenly in the bath the water splashing over the sides unnoticed. They did have something and he wasn't going to let his natural self-deprecation let Jack just destroy it. He and Jack needed to talk, it was past time that Ianto laid down his own ground rules.
Jack was angry, Jack was nervous and Jack was confused. He was in his office waiting for Ianto to arrive. Ianto usually arrived about 7am and it was almost that now. Jack paced to the door again to peer out as if he suspected that Ianto might still be hiding in the shadows somewhere like he had been last night. Where had he come from, why had he been there, had he been spying on Jack, had he become a stalker? What mood would he be in, would he even come in today? When their eyes had met last night he'd seen the hurt and confusion in Ianto's eyes before he'd slammed his barriers up and turned and left the room. Jack had briefly considered pushing the girl away and chasing after him but his anger had got the better of him. He'd made no promises to Ianto, what right did Ianto have to spy on him! Then had come the guilt. He wasn't even sure why he'd done it. Despite the image he liked to project he didn't go trawling the clubs and bars for sex half as much as he made out. Having lived 150 years he'd tried most things more than once and with an eternity to go even sex could lose its thrall a bit. He loved to flirt and he loved the chase but nameless sex could be a little….boring after a while. So why had he gone out last night, he hadn't intended to. Ianto had just been up to say good night and they had flirted a little and Jack had felt a warm glow remembering the night before. Ianto was proving to be as surprising as Jack had suspected and was gradually revealing a deeper, passionate and slightly darker side of himself that Jack was really enjoying, in fact Jack had been a little shocked how much he'd enjoyed the previous night. Although said as a joke he'd been disappointed when Ianto had turned down a repeat performance and that had shocked him too. Ianto was supposed to be an occasional diversion, a very entertaining and satisfying one, but he couldn't afford to get reliant on anyone, he couldn't afford to let anyone in too close. Look what had happened when Owen had been shot, if that had been Ianto….His mind shied away from that one in panic. He'd decided to go out and remind himself that there were other fish in the sea so to speak, that he wasn't getting too attached to Ianto. He'd met Tina with her friends in the first bar he had walked in to. She had been pretty and bubbly with a great, sexy, throaty laugh. She had only been down for the weekend and sleeping on a friends couch so they couldn't go back to her place, so they'd come back here. She was an attractive girl and very sure in her own sexuality, more than willing to do the work, which as he was still pretty tried from the previous night he had appreciated. He had been lying there feeling quite relaxed as she moved up and down on him, when he'd caught a familiar scent. His eyes had snapped open and he'd been looking straight into Ianto's eyes. His first emotion was shock, quickly followed by anger and then guilt as an image of the previous night went through his head when it had been Ianto impaled on him.
Ianto had turned on his heel and left the room and Jack had groaned. Tina thinking it meant he was close had increased her efforts, her body starting to tense as she got closer to her own release. Jack closed his eyes, holding her by the waist he thrust up into her as he felt her quiver and come around him, after all it wasn't fair on her. But as soon as she was done he gently withdrew, he was softening quite quickly now the moment had been broken, maybe she wouldn't realise he hadn't been able to finish.
He'd somehow managed to get her a drink laced with retcon, got her dressed and in a taxi and on her way home within 10 minutes of Ianto's appearance. He considered following Ianto home there and then but decided that wouldn't be a good idea. So he had waited for the morning.
Finally he heard the hub alarm go and the cog door opened and Ianto entered looking clean and refreshed. Jack frowned. He wasn't sure what he had expected but Ianto looking so unconcerned wasn't it. Ianto had shot a look up to the office and Jack had faded back into the room. He grabbed a seat and pulled a report from his in-pile to start reading while he waited for Ianto to appear. Ten minutes later Ianto entered the room with a polite knock. He placed Jack's coffee in its usual place and stood at attention in front of Jacks' desk. Jack looked him up and down. "Ianto we need to talk" he tried to start the difficult conversation. He wasn't sure what he was going to say but something along the lines that he hadn't promised monogamy, that he came from a different time with different morals, always a good line that, although it was mostly rubbish. That, he hoped that Ianto would continue with their arrangement but he'd understand if he couldn't, although truthfully he wouldn't understand at all and would do his best to make Ianto change his mind. So he wasn't prepared when Ianto took over the conversation instead.
"Yes Sir. I owe you and your companion an apology for my sudden appearance. It appears I was more tired than I thought yesterday" Here Jack noticed a light colour creep up Ianto's neck. "It seems I fell asleep in the archives. I had no idea you were …entertaining…in the Hub. I hope I did not embarrass you or your friend".
Jack was a bit taken aback by this direct response from Ianto but also concerned by the formality. He decided to take a lighter tone.
"It takes more than that to embarrass me, you should know that by now Ianto" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. He was rewarded with a slight twitch at the corner of Ianto's mouth but otherwise the face stayed passive.
"Indeed I do, Sir but I was not sure about your friend."
"Oh she will be ok. She won't even remember it" Jack dismissed Ianto's concerns still unsure what this reaction actually meant for them. "Actually it should be me apologising to you Ianto" Ianto's eyebrow raised in a question. "Umm.. I'm not that much of a bastard that I would deliberately flaunt…well you know…" Jack faded away at the end.
"I figured that, Sir, I gather from your earlier comment that Retcon was used, will you need me to monitor the lady in question to ensure there are no ill effects?"
"No that won't be necessary I only used a tiny dose I only needed to delete an hour" said Jack still a little distracted.
"Only an hour?" Jack looked up, was that a smirk on Ianto's face?
"Hey I was tired" Jack tried to justify himself and the smirk on Ianto's face grew. "At least I didn't fall asleep in the archives!" Jack spluttered feeling his virility was being unfairly impugned.
"But I'm not the immortal being who claims he doesn't need to sleep" pointed out Ianto.
"Come back tonight and I'll show you how little sleep I can get by on" growled Jack levering himself out of his chair, intending to grab the young up-start and show him who was the boss.
Ianto reading his intention moved quickly to the office door evading the other man, turning back he replied.
"Nope. You are going to have work much harder that that if you want me back in your bed…Jack.' Ianto's face then turned serious, a glimmer of anger in his eyes "I also want monogamy for however long we last, you'll have to decide whether I'm worth it…so no more one night stands..." Ianto paused then a look of mischief entered his eyes "...unless of course it involves us both". With that Ianto disappeared leaving Jack gaping after him. Then a small smile crossed his face, Ianto was definitely worth it and Jack intended to prove it and the first thing he was going to do was tell him everything about the year that never was and just why he had panicked. Maybe then they could try to hunt down Tina again, the thought of watching Ianto with her was insanely hot.