Ianto loved winter.
Winter meant jackets; and in Ianto's opinion, nothing made a suit look better than a jacket to go with it. It meant he looked smarter, felt better and had more pockets to hold an assortment of lists, pens and back up weaponry for the team in. There was nothing Ianto felt more comfortable in these days than a full suit.
Winter followed autumn, and anything that was compared to autumn always seemed a thousand times better to Ianto than it actually was. He hated autumn. It was filled with sickness, unpredictable weather and streets littered with leaves that refused to go away for months. It was unorganised, everything was scattered, and there were often days that one could simply spend wondering if the heavy, looming clouds were going to become rain. Winter, on the other hand, was neater, cleaner, lively. The crisp, cold air that hit you in the face each morning made everything feel refreshingly clear. He loved the cold.
Winter brought Christmas with it, and as much as he would have liked to pretend otherwise, Ianto truly loved Christmas. It brought back good memories… of his childhood, his parents, of Lisa, even some of the last year or so at Torchwood.
Winter meant cold nights, and it was always so much easier to sleep curled up in a warm ball than trying to sleep in the heat. Everyone slept better in winter… Ianto knew this for a fact. In the days that he had kept Lisa a secret from the team, he had stayed late every night – long after Jack had decided to retire to bed. A few hours after Jack had done so, Ianto had heard him wake up with a shout from nightmares that Ianto knew he couldn't even imagine. But in winter, it had seemed to happen less often. Some nights Ianto hadn't even heard Jack wake up at all. It made Ianto much happier to think that his boss – the man that had given him a chance – was sleeping somewhat happier.
But most of all, winter was the best season for coffee.
In winter, when Ianto served it to the team, they would always be just a little more grateful. They would smile with absolute affection, and take the coffee with obvious gratitude in their eyes.
"You're an angel, Ianto." Gwen would say. She would grin over at him momentarily, and then take a sip, usually followed by burning her tongue, and then a burn-induced-lisp that articulated both a curse and a second thanks.
"Yeah, nice one, mate." Owen would say, a little atypically. He would take the mug, raise it in a 'cheers' sort of a gesture, take a sip and get back to work.
"Just what I needed." Tosh would say. She would smile at him over her glasses, the steaming mug often fogging them up, and gulp down the coffee whilst still typing rapidly on her keyboard.
And Jack would accept the mug and wink… which, in a way, seemed to mean more than all the words put together.
In winter, Ianto felt needed.
He may have worked beyond the government's control, but didn't have the most important job in the world; he knew that. But in winter, on the coldest days, the few seconds that the team gave him to really thank him made him feel… good. It sounded ridiculous, but in those few moments, it was as though the four of them – Jack, Gwen, Tosh and Owen, probably the four most important people on Earth – well, as though they really cared about him.
Even if it was only for bringing them coffee. For a few seconds, he really felt loved.
And that made him love winter more than anything else in the world.
