Title: And then Came Love
Genre: Romance
Rating: K+
Pairing: Jack x Ianto
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: I fooled around and fell in love.
Word Count: 558
Warnings: Drabble

Disclaimer: Not mine. Summary is a line from an Elvin Bishop song.

A/N: Inconsistent timeline errors, apologies.


He didn't realize it at first. How much he cared, really. Jack Harkness was… well he was Jack. He was a force of nature, honestly. He was vibrant and energetic and exciting and at first that was all there was too it. Because Ianto was none of those things, not really. He was boring, cookie-cutter. He was suit and tie even on the weekends. He was pack your own lunch the same every day, synchronize your watch boring.

But Jack… Jack didn't care, liked it even, if he could be believed. And in the beginning, that was what drew Ianto to him – the thought that someone like Jack Harkness, who could have anyone he wanted, would actively seek out Ianto Jones, was something so hard to fathom that for weeks Ianto thought it was a joke. But Jack wasn't the type to make jokes like that, jokes that would hurt someone, so that couldn't be it.

The niggling idea that maybe Jack wanted him was slow to form. And when the thought suddenly popped into Ianto's head, he almost fell off his chair in shock. When he marched into Jack's office, he had an entire speech planned, he really did. He was going to ask, very politely, what the punchline was or what he wasn't getting, because there seemed to be a little misunderstanding, thank you very much. What he said instead was much different.

"Are you hitting on me?"

The pencil tip snaps against the paper Jack is writing on as he looks up, eyes wide and startled. When he sees Ianto, the look fades and instead a slow smirk inches its way across his face. Jack leans back, arms stretched above his head. "Took you long enough."

Ianto blinks. He had not been expecting that. But… the thought provokes an interesting urge. The long, lean line of Jack's body provokes another. And before he makes a conscious decision, they are making out like teenagers on his desk.

It is a blur of emotions and moments after that. But they are all centered around one thing: pleasure. They do not date, not really. They make out in cars and in hallways and in every room in Torchwood, but they don't go to the movies or have lunch dates (not unless it's at work, and that doesn't really count). It is friends-with-benefits. So it takes a long time for Ianto to realize that he's fooling around with more than just Jack. Jack is fooling around with him, with his emotions.

Not on purpose, no, it's nothing like that. It is Ianto. He is putting more into this than he thinks he should, but he doesn't know why and he can't seem to stop. He sees Jack all the time, but still misses him when he's not there. He stores up anecdotes from his day simply to have an excuse to seek Jack out and talk to him.

It is with sudden clarity, like the shattering of a glass, that Ianto realizes he might, possibly, maybe be a little bit in love with Jack Harkness.