Title: Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
Summary: Ianto likes to sing and every chance he gets he competes in a little country town pub karaoke night.Who would he meet there?
Rating: T
A/N: I promise that this fic will not end in a tragedy like my last. But you never know as I haven't written it all yet….. No seriously.. no tragedies.
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or the characters or anything associated with Torchwood (although I do have an assortment of books, comics, photos, etc but that's just paying into the Torchwood hype and making RTDavies happy that people are buying this stuff even when he kills off characters, yeah I'm still smarting about killing off the best characters in TW, I'll won't get over it any time soon)
Chapter One – Karaoke Night
The thunder of the applause was deafening as Ianto stepped off the stage, he knew that he had a good voice but his modesty didn't allow for him to knowledge the applause. A few of the locals slapped his back as he walked back to his table.
"And that was Afan Jones, lets give him another round of applause" the club announcer said in the microphone, "another great song"
Ianto took a sip of his beer that the bar maid had ready for him, as it was his usual thing to do after he sang in the local karaoke competition. Thanking her he gave her a tip with a smile which she returned.
"Up next is Arwen Gwynn" as a slim dark haired girl stepped up onto the stage, "and what are you singing tonight?" the club announcer said enthusiastically.
"I….I'm singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight" the girl said a little timidly.
"Interesting choice" the club announcer said.
As the song drifted over Ianto he noticed a pretty girl eying him from the bar, he dipped his head and smiled nervously. When he raised his head the girl was standing at his table, "Do you mind if I join you?"
"Ah….no….no" Ianto said looking a little more closely at the girl, and liking what he saw, "please, sit"
"Thanks" the girl sat in the chair opposite Ianto, "you don't come often but my god when you do you always raise the roof"
"Thanks, I like the atmosphere here and it's nice to get away from work" Ianto said warming to her.
"Yeah I figured you weren't a local. The only time I see you around town is here"
"There's something about the country, the fresh air, no traffic, very little crime and this pub" Ianto said smiling. The girl just stared at Ianto, seeing the lift in his face, similar to the lift when he sings, as he spoke of the country town that she loved. When she didn't say anything for some time Ianto cleared his throat.
"Oh…sorry, rude, didn't mean to…I….um.." she said shaking her head, berating herself for getting lost in his smile.
Ianto smirked, "No that's okay. Sorry I should have introduced myself, I'm Ia….Afan Jones and you are?"
"Chelton, Tegwen Chelton"
"Well hello Tegwen. So do you sing?"
"Oh gosh no" Tegwen smiled, "you wouldn't want to hear me sing. Sounds a bit like a cat being straggled"
Ianto laughed at her description of her singing, "So you're a local?"
"Yeah sort of, my mum and dad own the local general store and I'm down for the weekend. Lived here for ages, grew up here then I moved to Cardiff to go to university"
"Oh what are you studying?"
"Molecular biology, I'm a bit of a nerd" Tegwen said apologetically.
"Mmmm interesting" Ianto said, "no really" he added when he saw that she looked like she didn't believe him.
"So where are you when you're not here?" Tegwen asked.
"Believe it or not, I work in Cardiff" Ianto laughed, knowing that Cardiff was a big city and so for them not to bump into each other in Cardiff is not unheard of, "I really like this friendly little town, it's a great place to escape to and sing at the local karaoke pub night".
"Really? That's what I love about the country, everyone is so close, more friendly" Tegwen gushed, "here we are both Cardiff citizens and I've never seen you but here everyone is more approachable"
The rest of the night was spent listening to the rest of the participants of the karaoke competition and chatting. When the announcement was made of the winners of the karaoke competition Ianto blushed when they announced "And first place is…. Afan Jones. Come on up Afan"
Ianto reluctantly got up with the insistence of the people around him including Tegwen. "Thanks but I would like to donate the money to the charity of homeless teenagers" as he was handed a cheque for a hundred dollars. Quietly Ianto said to the owner "I would like to equal that with my own cash as usual, please don't announce that, I will give it to you later, okay?" The owner nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Thanks" Ianto said. The owner knew that Ianto was good for it as this wasn't the first time that he had won the karaoke competition and he done the same before, his voice was amazing, he wished that Ianto would come more often, actually he offered him to sing a set on a Friday night, but Ianto couldn't commit to a definite date saying that his work was too unpredictable and he couldn't guarantee that he could make it if he said yes to a gig.
At around 11.15pm Ianto felt his mobile vibrate in his pocket, excusing himself from Tegwen he went to answer it. "Yes sir, I'll come straight away"… "No it's okay"… "I'll be there in hour"
Returning to Tegwen Ianto apologised that he had to leave as he was needed back at work.
"Really, at this time?" Tegwen said in disbelief.
"Sorry my job requires me to be on standby"
"And what is it you do?" not quite questioning, but more curious.
"Um…computers, they run tests all the time, there's bugs in the system, and I'm needed to sort it out" Ianto said thinking quickly, knowing that wasn't too far from the truth and he knew of IT specialists that at times would need to work odd hours to fix 'bugs in the system', only the type of bugs that he dealt with weren't the same, a weevil is a kind of bug, he convinced himself so he didn't feel that he was telling an outright lie.
As he drove off down the country lane and onto the highway he berated himself 'damn I forgot to get her number'
TWTWTWTW
When Ianto walked into the Hub at around midnight Jack took a long appreciatory look at the clothes that Ianto was wearing and raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
"I did disturb your night" Jack stated.
"I said it was fine Jack, I knew I was on standby" Ianto said trying to ignore the leering look that Jack gave, "so what have we got"
"Weevils, night club, they're contained but I need you to construct some stories of the witnesses"
"Right on it" Ianto said going straight to his computer.
Three hours later after some convincing stretching of truth Ianto had resolved the issue of several clubbers who saw the weevils tearing apart a clubber who was unlucky to come across two weevils outside the club.
"Ianto, do you think you could rustle up some coffee, Gwen has gone home and Owen has finished cleaning up"
"Sure"
As Ianto set down the coffees for Jack and himself, "So what were you doing before I disturbed your night?"
"Oh nothing much….just catching a movie"
"Dressed like that?"
"Yeah why not?" Ianto looked at Jack in a quizzical way to say 'that's enough of the staring'
Jack gave him a sideway arching of his eyebrows.
"I think I will go home now, and catch some sleep before coming in later for the day"
"You could sleep here, I've got a bed in my bunker"
"Could you be any more suggestive sir?"
"Yeah I'm sure I could" Jack laughed.
"Good night sir" and with that Ianto swallowed the last of his coffee and left, laughing and shaking his head.
"Can't help a man to try" Jack said as Ianto scampered off.
It was not that Ianto wasn't attracted to Jack, he was, big time, but he knew of Jack's reputation and didn't want to be another one of his conquests.
TWTWTWTW
It was five weeks before Ianto could go back to the little country pub for the weekly karaoke competition. He was received warmly by Dedwyr, the pub owner who welcomed him to enter himself again in the competition for the night.
"Oh Afan, you may have a little competition, there was bloke here last week who tore the house down with his singing, very different voice and style from yours but it was impressive"
"Oh….love a bit of competition" Ianto said with his trademark smile, "will he be here tonight?"
"Don't know, he only came the once, but said that he would come again" Dedwyr said, "he was very flamboyant and a bit over the top but the locals enjoyed his antics"
Ianto chuckled, "Sounds interesting" as he looked around to see if Tegwen was around. He couldn't see her and sighed.
"Looking for Tegwen?" Dedwyr asked with a smile.
"I….ah…I suppose" Ianto said nervously.
"What is it with you great singers, you get all the great girls"
"Huh?"
"Pretty boy, the bloke I told you about, the one with a great voice, he made a move on Tegwen as well"
"Oh? Oh!" Ianto said, "I wasn't making a move on Tegwen, she was just interesting to talk to"
"Yeah okay" Dedwyr said smirking, "what are you going to sing tonight for the comp?"
"I thought I would just enjoy the evening tonight, no singing, love the atmosphere here"
"Oh okay, just to let you know we are holding our big annual event where we invite all our previous winners and other winners from other nearby country pubs along"
"When is that?" Ianto asked his interest peaked.
"In three weeks time. I hope that you can make it. I know that your work keeps you away a lot. Please keep the date free" Dedwtr said hopefully, he and the other pub owners held this competition as a friendly rivalry between them but he felt that he wanted to win this one this year especially if Afan entered or even the flamboyant handsome one from last week entered.
"I'll try my best" Ianto said titling his head in acknowledgement.
The rest of the night Ianto spent enjoying the country hospitality before returning back to his apartment in Cardiff, feeling refreshed and ready to help keep Cardiff free from alien threat. His time spent with 'normal' people reminded him what he was fighting for, what the purpose of Torchwood was about. Keeping the population of the world free from alien threat and keeping alien tech away from people who would use them to harm others, help to keep everyone safe, Jack reminded him so many times that the twenty first century was when it all changes and he should be ready, he wanted to be ready to save the people of Earth, the people that didn't know that an alien threat was imminent, but every so often he needed to be with the people that he was fighting to keep safe.
TWTWTWTW
The next morning Ianto approached Jack, "Umm Jack I'm wondering whether I could have the Saturday night off in three weeks time?"
"Oh? And why would that be?" Jack asked his interest piqued; he wondered what the gorgeous man would need to have the Saturday off, could he have a girlfriend or a boyfriend perhaps?
Ianto expected Jack to ask why he would need the Saturday off and he had a ready answer, "My sister is needing a baby sitter as she needs to go to a wedding"
"Oh uncle duties! You know if you want company I could help you baby sit. I'm very good with kids" Jack said in the vain hope that he could spend some time with the young man that he desperately wanted to get to know more, he harboured a secret fascination of the gorgeous man, he wanted to show him that he was more than a 'sex on legs' sort of man.
"Yes thanks Jack, but I think I can handle two children under twelve, they mainly will play their computer games or watch tv, but thanks for the offer"
"Oh… okay, sure" Jack said reluctantly, he thought how was he going to show Ianto that he was interested in him and not just for the physical aspects.
A/N 1: I 've never posted a story where I hadn't already written it in entirely before posting but I like 'firsts' (well for me) so I am just gonna let this story write itself, although I have some ideas where this is heading (just as you, dear reader, probably know where this is going) but anyone wants to see a something different just send me a line. This short story (probably just 2 or3 chapters) is just a bit of fluff to make up for the tragic ending story I wrote last time.
A/N 2: Oh and I have another story in the works that will have a more meatier story line and I am hoping to post the first chapter soon but not for another 3-4 weeks as I am on my way to Canada and Alaska for a holiday and wouldn't leave you hanging waiting for more.